Chapter Eleven

Dominiko

I could tell the prince was trying hard to be calm, and I was proud of him for maintaining his composure as long as he had. He was still very young, no matter how often he reminded me he was “of age.” Whatever that meant. In my world, there was no certain age when we suddenly became an adult. It sounded like foolishness to me.

I felt terrible for bringing him into this, but if he hadn’t been onboard, the Tygerians would have shot me right out of the sky. And if I’d stayed, I truly believed Davos would have had me executed. To be absolutely honest—at least with myself—my initial thought was that once I left Jago on that ship, I’d never see him again.

His parents or his grandparents would snatch him up and take him far away from me to the other side of their galaxy if they had to. And they’d keep him locked down so tightly that he’d never get free of them.

He had come to me to save me, and I turned around and betrayed him. It wasn’t my finest hour. I’d probably earned myself years and years of bad luck for that, when he was doing me a kindness. He might never forgive me, and I wouldn’t truly blame him. But I still couldn’t be sorry. He was here beside me and he was mine. I intended to keep him.

We slipped inside the wormhole and after a moment of bumpiness, things smoothed out and we were gliding through it. “I’m cutting power to the lights and just keeping life support systems on until we traverse it,” I told him, and I could hear his rapid breathing beside me.

“How long will we be inside?”

“About six hours using your method of telling time. Sleep if you can.”

He made a little scoffing sound, but I thought he might sleep soon anyway. It would be impossible to maintain outrage and panic for too long, especially in a healthy young man like he was. I knew he’d be able to manage as soon as the adrenaline in his body began to subside and then with any luck, he might grow drowsy.

“Try and regulate your breathing, princeling. Everything is going well.”

“So there’s nothing else to worry about for a while—until we come out the other side.”

“No, nothing at all.”

Unless the hole suddenly destabilized and collapsed to the point known as a singularity. The effect of this on space-time would be to distort it so that nothing could escape, not even light.

Probably better not to mention all that.

I think he did actually sleep after a while. With all except for the life support systems cut off, he would feel the weightlessness inside the cabin that would let his body rise slightly and press against the straps holding him in his seat. As his body began to rise slightly, he flailed his arms out and grabbed my hand. He fell asleep still holding tightly to it and I made no effort to pull away. I was enjoying the warmth of his small hand in mine, I had to admit, and there was no sense in continuing to deny it. Sitting there in the darkness, with only the faint glow of the controls as company, I had time to do nothing but think for perhaps the first time since I’d initially met him on board my ship.

He'd been so angry and so obstinate when I first saw him and yet so attractive, right from the first moment. He looked slightly feminine, though he’d hate me even more than he already did for saying so. It was more accurate to say his body was built on a small frame, and that was typical of many species in the universe. He wore a long robe and his hair fell down to his waist, and his face was simply beautiful, with high cheekbones and a slightly upturned nose. His movements were graceful too. In my culture these were feminine assets, but I knew better than to let that be my guide. He had lost no time in telling me he was male. Since I was attracted to both male and female, it didn’t bother me in the least what he was anyway—other than mine.

Itaka’s words rang in my head again. “He belongs to you, dear. But you already know that, don’t you?”

An outrageous thing to say, but ever since Itaka had declared it, I had begun to think she was right. She had a history of making “predictions” that could be disturbing. I would definitely have to claim him as mine in front of the emperor to keep him safe, when we arrived on Pton. I had to do it clearly and firmly, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that he belonged to me. I’d have to make Linnius believe it and even more importantly, I’d have to make Jago truly believe it, because it was true.

In order to keep him safe, I would claim him as my prize and my bounty. If anyone disputed or challenged that claim, or if anyone tried to take him away from me, I’d kill them.

I should have acted long before this when it came to Linnius. I had a duty to my father, whom he’d surely murdered. Plus, I despised the fool, and that alone was reason enough.

I’d been too young to avenge my father’s death at the time, but Itaka had stoked the fires of my hatred for his murderer over the years. I didn’t plan on poisoning him, like he’d done to my father. That was a method I considered cowardly. I wanted to stare him in the face when I killed him, and watch the light die in his eyes. But I did want to survive afterward, at least long enough to enjoy it. He had wised up and now surrounded himself with bodyguards. That might be difficult but not impossible to overcome.

I didn’t necessarily fear retaliation after the fact. His sons were cowards, and the council was reasonable. They’d recognize my right to avenge my father’s death, even after all the years that had passed. Revenge was a concept the Pton understood. Linnius was a deeply unpopular ruler, too, and that would help, but I would still need an exit plan to leave the planet for a while until things calmed down.

I suppose I should never have brought Jago along with me, but now that I had, I needed to protect him and get him back home again. At the time, it was all I could think to do. I didn’t think the Tygerians would really harm Itaka, but that was also a prime consideration. If the Tygerians and I both held a hostage, then that was insurance in a way. Once the deed was done, we’d be heading back to Tygeria or Loros, depending on where Itaka was being held.

I closed my own eyes and decided to try and get a bit of rest. The alarms would wake me if anything went wrong, and we still had a long way to go. I didn’t even realize I’d dozed off myself until the lights suddenly switched back on inside the cabin. Beside me, Jago jumped and sat up, staring wildly around us.

“Calm down, princeling, everything is all right. We’re coming out of the worm hole on the other side, and we hit some bumpiness. We’ll be out of the rift again soon.”

We still were a long way from the star system I lived in, so I tried again to pull up the maps I’d need to guide us there. This time I was able to access the Pton Command systems and find what I needed. I set our course and sat back in my seat, glancing over at the princeling.

“Don’t look so scared. It will be a few hours before we reach the Pton star system. We need to figure out what we can eat in the meantime. I’m hungry.”

“There are rations in the back,” he said, and turned his chair to begin rummaging through the clutter. After a few minutes, he came up with a package or two of emergency rations and looked so pleased with himself I didn’t have the heart to tell him I hated Tygerian food, and I didn’t imagine freeze drying it or whatever process they used to preserve it had improved the taste.

When I opened the package from him and took a bite, though, I was pleasantly surprised. “These aren’t Tygerian.”

“No, they’re from Earth. This is the craft that Blake uses, and he hates Tygerian food.”

“Thank the gods. I mean, does he?”

I opened them and found some kind of sliced bread with meat and cheese inside the slices. I took a bite and found it acceptable. Jago watched me intently.

“Do you like it?”

“Like is too strong a word, but I can eat it, so it already exceeds my expectations.”

Jago held his up. “It’s called a ‘sandwich.’ Blake loves them.”

“That’s your grandfather—the pretty blond man who argued with King Davos at the meeting. The one who helped me escape by giving you the access codes?”

“Yes, that’s Blake. He didn’t know you were going to kidnap me though. He’ll be furious.”

“Where are your parents?”

“They live on Earth now. My father is Prince Anarr, the co-commandant of the planet, along with my other father, General Ballenescu.”

“Why aren’t you living there with them?”

“I’m too old to live with my parents for one thing.”

I raised one eyebrow and he frowned at me.

“I am. I told you, I’m of age now.”

“Yes, yes, I’ve heard that. Your dashall Rakkur said you were nineteen. Close to twenty.”

He shot me such a dirty look I had to smile and settle him down. “It doesn’t matter, princeling. Eat your bread and meat. You’re going to need your strength.”

“Why? What’s going to happen?”

He gave me a little smile. “That remains to be seen, and I know you’re nervous.” I held up a hand to forestall his protests. “Anyone would be, naturally, going to a planet in a different galaxy. This is your first time for intergalactic travel, isn’t it?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Try not to worry. Eat your fill and try to get a bit more rest until we arrive. I’ll wake you in plenty of time.”

Surprisingly, he obeyed me and after he ate, he lay back in his chair and closed his eyes. I felt a growing hunger for him as I watched him. One that food wouldn’t satisfy. Now that I’d tasted him, I’d crave more until I had the time and opportunity to have him again.

It was a few hours later that I saw a glow in the distance, and realized it was the star that was our sun. It had a pale-yellow light, softer than that of the surrounding stars. I sat gazing out the front screens as we entered my own planetary system.

It would be a while before Pton came into view, with its four moons ringed around it, two of them encircled by thin clouds of dust around their middles.

They were simply named by their closeness to Pton, ranked in order of distance. In our language, they were called Naha, Doco, Tri, and Mara, or Pton for “one, two, three and four.” As I said before, we were not a poetic people.

I had decided to stop there first and make some kind of plan for when I reached the surface of the planet. I’d had no time for anything like that yet, and I wanted to take a day or so to regroup and figure this out.

I sat back to wait, as we had hours yet to go before reaching the moons, and I engaged the cloaking devices on the ship and laid a course for the biggest of them, Mara. It would be a good place to hide until I could figure out exactly how to approach the planet.

I was too fatigued to think properly now, having had no sleep through the long night. I put my head back against the seat and closed my eyes for a moment. I think I may have still been shocked at the rapid turn of events and my fortunes, but I could only feel it in a dull, distracted way, the exhaustion laying over my emotions like a smothering blanket. The light in the cabin was dim, and I felt myself drifting.