17 Zinnar

I’m up before the crack of dawn because I haven’t slept a wink all night. I couldn’t get Rosalynn off my mind.

She eats a decent breakfast and clings to my arm as we walk through the massive holovid planetary simulation rooms.

“Where’s your planet?” she asks.

Mine falls third to last. We stay behind as the others on the tour, looking up at the different number of stars, planets, moons, and nebulae each solar system has to offer.

“Most of our planet is farmland or city. We have only a few ore mines but they have many channels inside to hunt for precious metals that Nebs are apparently looking for even on earth. We’re going to have to unite the forces even more if we hope to stand a chance of fighting off the shadow soldiers.”

Rosa gasps as we enter the Irhoul system. “Is this it?”

I motion to my home. “The green one is Ferrim. The gold one is the Anlatom homeworld. They sort of look like us, but have denser skin, almost like metal.”

“Do they have your other talents?” Rosa waves a hand around.

“Nope. Just us. Others are known to develop the skills, though, with enough time on our planet.”

“Interesting. Looks beautiful with all the rolling hills and green crops,” she says, pointing at a holovids screen at eye-level. “I’m excited to see it for real.”

I’m anxious about how she’ll receive my family and my people as well as how well they’ll like her. But she seems to like the creatures and the world so far. Only time will tell.

We wander through the last two rooms where the skyscrapers of Nytherali are lit up on a night backdrop.

When the tour of the planetary systems is over, we share a light lunch of sandwiches and coffee on a large veranda overlooking the race grounds. Rosalynn tells me all about how the shape of the mountain reminds her of sledding in the snow with her sister as a kid.

“It sounds nice to have a sibling.”

“It was .” Rosalynn is quiet for a long time.

The Abr announcer calls for the next event, so we turn in our seats to listen in. “What you will be doing is basically playing dodge ball but with a glitter ball. It is packed full of—you guessed it—glitter. But it isn’t just any type. It’s a lot like the maze powder.”

“Oh great,” I mumble. “Another challenge to my self-restraint.”

Rosa takes my hand and frees a finger from a fist I don’t remember making.

“Why so tense?” she asks.

I don’t know how to tell her that I’m still worried she’ll break off our pact, that something will hurt her, or someone. That a race activity might end up putting her in Tori’s position and I won’t see it. It’s a protective desire that’s grown stronger with every passing day, most strongly after our mating activities.

“Stop worrying.” She curls her tongue around my finger. The warm wet surface of it sends a hot flash of need through me. “Be here, with me.”

“You keep that up and I will take you on this table right here. You are playing with fire, Miss Cyphur.”

The announcer calls for us to line up to get our suits.

When I stand, I round the table, take Rosa in my arms, and pull her against me so she can feel just how stiff her little tease has made me. Then I nibble her ear and force myself to let go and walk away to join the other males.

She gives me a kiss through the air and then laughs like she’s embarrassed herself and it makes me smile. I have not felt so light and hopeful for my future as I do now. I just wish I hadn’t made a stupid pact.

Inside the locker rooms, we are handed an anti-gravity suit sized to fit us. It comes with boot thrusters and hover pads to keep us distanced from the other players.

“Is this going to work on me?” I ask an attendant.

“I don’t see why not,” he replies. “Just don’t use your gift here or it will start screwing up the game.”

“Understood.”

I climb into my suit like the other males and clip into my boots. They hug our feet and ankles up to our shins.

We follow the others down a long transparent hallway that circles the glass antigravity arena, our boots clomping like quiet thunder.

The females enter from a different door and mix with us again.

I do not envy some of my kind, especially those with wings that must be bound for events like this. That has to be uncomfortable.

As we head to the landing pads, I get a message on my crest. I tap an earbud on and listen.

“Zinnar.”

It’s my father’s voice. My joy fades. What does he want?

“I’m proud of you for going after her and protecting her from the thieves. You have represented us well, my son. I have made time to watch tonight’s event Live.”

I slow. My father has never watched me do anything, not fight or train or study or play sports. He did not show when my squadron was fighting for their lives in fields. He rarely stopped by to see me when I was small.

Disgust churns my stomach, mixed with a hefty dose of anxiety.

“Don’t cock it up.”

Ah, there it is.

Someone bumps me. I look down and see Rosa in her suit, bobbing along in the hallway, playing in her anti-grav boots like a kid skipping down a path. “These are sweet. I want a pair!”

“No boots on in the tunnel,” an attendant calls back.

Rosa instantly drops to the ground with a thump and keeps marching with the rest of us. “Whoops.”

“Rules are dumb, right?” I ask.

She gives me an abashed glance. “Definitely ruin some fun.”

As we reach the platform and our teams are listed on the reader board, I find I’m not on her team.

“Damn.” She frowns. “That means I have to try and hit you with the ball when really I just want yours—” She points to her mouth and grins. “Haven’t tried that yet. Might be a tight fit.”

My balls tense at the sheer concept of what she’s suggesting. “Psychological manipulation is unfair, Rosa.”

She blushes. “Sorry. Thought you liked to be teased since you do it to me.”

“I like it a little too much.” My erection strains against my hard plated suit, but I force myself to ignore it and offer her a fist. “Good luck.”

“You too.” She taps her fist to mine.

“You look really good in that suit. Might make you a Stellar Knight if you want. My planet could always use more soldiers in the sky.”

“Let’s see how this goes.” She studies the game floor as we walk away. “Pretty and productive are very different things.”

“Not pretty.”

She looks back at me with a hint of surprised disappointment.

She’s not confident that I want her, not confident in her self image, and I know it’s partially because of our pact and mostly because of her past. I’ve got to set the record straight sooner than later.

“Damn sexy , Rosa.” I can’t restrain my grunt from the hunger I’m repressing.

She beams at me and gracefully leaps off the platform on her side.

I kick on my boots and follow my team off of the landing and into the bubble of near zero gravity.

The announcer lifts a large purple ball. “May the best team win!”

Then he tosses it into the arena and closes the landing pad doors.

A large Jorbiun snatches the ball for Rosa’s team and immediately takes out two females on mine, thrusting pink clouds of glitter into the air. The women’s boots slowly lower them to the floor where they walk out of the arena.

The ball ping pongs around, releasing more and more powder, then finally heads toward me. I catch it gently, releasing a small portion of glitter, and sling it back toward Rosa’s team.

For many long minutes, the ball zings around, taking out my teammates and hers and filling the space with sparkling clouds that tease my mating desires until I’m a hot mess of urges and staring right at Rosa when the ball smacks me in the head.

Rosa guides herself toward me as my boots let me down easy. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about me,” I say. “Save yourself!”

She laughs and skips through the air, avoiding another hit. With fewer targets, the arena becomes more of a pinball machine filled with glitter. It reminds me of the snow globe of winter trees from Earth that my mother loved, the one that sits on my nightstand in the castle—the one thing I have left of her.

Even as I walk out and know I’ve not lasted as long as the female I’m interested in, my pride isn’t hurt. I turn and cheer for Rosa in the shimmering globe. The scene would’ve made my mother happy. And for a moment, I feel her with me again.

The game is quickly down to two people, Rosa, and a Nytheralian. But the way Rosa seems at ease spinning aside and slinging the ball back, tells me she’s got this in the bag.

Finally, through a cloud of ricochet dust off of the wall, Rosa blindsides the male and takes him out.

Her surprise is palpable as she throws her arms in the air and shouts loudly enough it makes the speakers crackle. “I won!”

The Abr announcer eases down beside her on a set of boots and asks her how she did it.

“You ever been to a mall with a big perfume stand?”

“No.”

Rosa smiles. “Hundreds of little glass bottles on shelves makes for a lot of practice catching them and avoiding bumping the displays at all costs. Plus, a certain someone who likes to play Frisbee in the halls was always on my watch list. Zatim! ”

The badge on my chest beeps with an incoming call. I connect it to my earbud. “This is Zinnar.”

“Your Highness, bad news I’m afraid.” Rorlin does not often sound panicked. Pissy, naggy, and annoyed fit him better.

Dread curls up inside of me and I slink back from the crowd into a private corner. “Tell me.”

“The king is missing. Your father was watching you on the holovid, his guards turned their backs, and now he’s gone. No one can find him.”

“Did anyone check the secret tunnel?”

“Yes, sir. But there’s more. The Nebs returned. The only thing we can figure is that they’ve come to find out where our other supply stores are. What would you like to do?”

I look up at Rosa as she descends. Even as I say it, I regret it. “Kingdom before self.”

It is who I am, like it or not. “Get ready to depart lunar airspace. I’ll come as soon as I’m out of this suit.”

“Understood.”

I rush to Rosa’s side and give her a long hug. “That was amazing.”

“What’s the matter?” she asks, worry in her eyes. “You smell different. Your tone—what’s happened?”

I kiss her forehead, hating that I have to leave when things are finally getting going for us.

“Zinnar?”

I close my eyes and memorize the way she says my name in case she runs while I’m gone, or something goes awry in the next few hours, and I never see her again. I hope I’m wrong. I hope she’ll wait. I hope the castle isn’t overrun.

I want her to be mine. it’s just going to have to happen another time.

“I’m so sorry.”

Her lips tremble as she frantically scans my eyes.

“I have to go.”