“What is he going to do with me?”
“I don’t honestly know. Humans are not…thought highly of…in the rest of the universe. You are so ignorant and backwards. I do not know if he wants you as his pet to show off to the rest of the world, or if he wants you as something else.”
I shivered, thinking of his fingers making a soft trail down my spine the night before. I had an idea of what he wanted…
Delicha suddenly put a hand to her head and her eyes glazed over. I waited as she spoke to someone else with her mind. Her eyelids finally fluttered open and she stood up.
“Someone else will come to escort you back to your quarters. I am needed on the bridge.” She bowed slightly. “Thank you for enjoying your breakfast with me, Daphne. Please feel free to read the universal news on your computer terminal in your quarters. Maybe that will help you understand the magnitude of your opportunity here with us.”
Then she was gone, and I was left alone at the breakfast table with orange, bubbling milk and purple jelly eggs.
This was going to be difficult…What Delicha had said about Kajo repeated in my mind. She clearly was loyal to and loved him dearly. I hated my boss, Rhone of the Bordash. If I was going to choose any team in this wretched world, it would certainly be the team working against his evilness. That was Kajo. But, not having the chance to choose was not going to make things any easier.
Even more difficult at this moment, as my stomach rumbled again, I wondered: if I did stay with them, and assuming I wasn’t made a sex slave or freak show act, would I ever adjust to this food? I was starving.
I wiggled the purple eggs on the biscuit and sat it down as a new technician appeared to have the rest of breakfast with me. They weren’t making me eat it; at least I didn’t have to obey all the commands here.
Six
Daphne
I was escorted by three technicians, including Delicha, from the landing pad of the spaceship, to board an open-air hovercraft. We floated through a bustling city with spiraling minarets, sprawling markets, and graceful bridges suspended in the air. The buildings varied, made either from glass and metal or roughhewn stone. Green vines wrapped the columns and steeples, making curls of bedding for vibrantly colored birds with long tailfeathers and a whispering call that somehow still echoed in my head even after we had entered the expansive palatial grounds of the King of Farian. The cobblestone driveway wound through beautiful red and orange trees, green fruits decking their limbs, as rivulets of crystal-clear water paralleled the path. The palace itself had billowing domes, surrounded by parapets, and razor-sharp edges of stained-glass making mosaic prisms as sunshine burned through its panes.
My mouth dropped open and my heart started beating fast as we passed through the giant archways that led to the courtyard. Brilliant lights burned in each hallway we passed through on the way to the fourth floor and my private quarters. No matter which way I looked, the lights branched in that direction, suspended without tether, directed without manual input, as if by magic.
The technicians left me without many words. They said Kajo would call on me after he had settled some state affairs. He had been gone from the kingdom awhile, seeking out Fyland and Rhone.
The three days on the spaceship prior to reaching Farian had passed without much incident. I had seen Kajo for breakfast each day and, each day, I had started to soften toward him. There was something gentle under his beastly exterior and rough mannerisms. I had spent much more time with Delicha, and she could never say anything about Kajo without tears welling in her eyes. To her, he was a hero. To me, he was my captor.
I wondered if Vania was missing me on Earth. If my step-brother, Sean, had called me for more money. There wasn’t really anyone else that even cared about me. Perhaps a couple women at the book club, or my favorite barista that I flirted with every now and then, but really, I had no one.
Maybe this life wouldn’t be so bad…
I spent most of the afternoon on the balcony of my room. It suspended over the rivulet’s pool. Small fish with many fins and turtle-like creatures with large snouts made ripples in the pool’s clear water. It looked inviting enough to swim in, but I was having to judge everything around me as toxic, strange, to be feared. After all, I was a human. How was I to be certain how my body would react to any of these things?
A knock on my door made me spin back to the room from my lounging chair. I stood and walked across the threshold, the gossamer fabric of the window curtains wrapping about me in a splendid array of color and softness.
King Kajo stood in the doorway, his hands in fists at his side, his mouth set in a straight line, his blue eyes keen and questioning.
“May I enter?”
I had noticed he had started to offer more and more deference my way. Perhaps it was the fact that I was bold enough to tell him when I didn’t want to do, eat, or wear something. Perhaps it was because I was a question mark in a life he had already conquered. I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like he honestly liked me…
“Yes.”
Kajo
