Vai
I was surprised but pleased when Emma came to the main bridge, her hair still a little wet from the shower she must have taken.
I didn’t expect her to leave her room for at least a few hours.
The clothes I’d ordered for her had been scanned in local shops and built to her size using our advanced 3D printers.
I couldn’t help but fidget and glance at her every few minutes.
Even in her plain t-shirt and faded blue pants she looked good.
Her hand hung by her side and I wanted to take it and feel it in mine.
I wanted to feel her soft skin pressed against mine, preferably while I was inside her…
I snapped out of wayward thoughts and focused on the floors as they zipped past.
The elevator felt small and pressed in on every side.
The space between us shrank smaller and smaller.
“How big is this ship?” Emma said.
“Huh?” I said, a million miles away.
“This ship. It must be huge. We’re passing a floor every few seconds and we’ve already been traveling for a few minutes.”
“Oh. Yes. It’s quite big. But it’s built more for speed than battle. Weight doesn’t matter much in space but it does when you enter the atmospheres of alien planets. That’s why this ship has to be smaller than the war frigates.”
“This is a small ship?” Emma let out an impressed whistle. “I’d love to see one of the larger ones.”
I smiled over at her.
With my father as an admiral, I could show her as many ships as she wanted.
If she acted on our status as fated mates, we would have the rest of our lives to explore them.
But only if she decided to mate with me.
The truth was, not every fated mate ended up choosing their destiny.
Some were too afraid and hated the idea that their destiny had already been decided for them.
They fought against it every moment of every day during the mating cycle until the time ran out and it was over.
It was just the way it was.
I considered telling her about the truth of the situation, how it was also my intention to sleep with her and prove we were fated mates.
I wanted nothing more than to be honest with her but couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Not after everything she’d been through.
But I would, I promised myself.
I would—when the time was right.
But not now.
The flashing lights of each passing floor slowed to a stop and the doors hissed open.
I motioned for her to go first.
She smiled and stepped off the elevator.
“This way,” I said, leading her down the corridor to a door that hissed open at our approach.
The room was plain with a latticework of lines drawn over its surface.
Beneath us, the floor moved like a giant conveyor belt.
Either of us could move in any direction we wanted without affecting each other’s ability to move independently.
When we stepped inside, Computer scanned us.
Emma clutched her hands over herself as the light passed over her.
“What’s going on?”
“The machine needs to scan us so it can put us inside the programs.”
“Scan us?”
“It will make sense when the program boots up. Computer, begin the training program.”
Computer beeped to the affirmative and the latticework faded and morphed into a room with black walls.
“Wow,” Emma said. “Don’t we need to wear goggles or something?”
“No goggles. Treat this room like it was real. This is going to be your training.”
“My training? For what?”
“For your protection.”
Emma frowned.
“I thought you were going to protect me?”
“I will. But if things go south, I might not always be there. At some point, you might find yourself alone and there will be no way for me to help you.”
“I thought Iav couldn’t get through the minefield?”
“No Shadow has before. But that doesn’t mean he won’t.”
Emma frowned at me, a dimple of concern on her brow.
“It’s best to be prepared in case he does manage to get through,” I said.
“Okay,” Emma said, still unsure.
I formed the image of a weapon in my mind and in an instant, it snapped into reality.
I handed it to Emma.
“An ax?” she said. “It’s too heavy for me.”
“Then make it lighter.”
She just looked at me.
“Make it lighter how?”
“Think it and it will be so.”
Emma’s frown deepened.
She struggled to raise the ax in front of her face with both hands.
She stared at it and turned cross-eyed.
She shook her head.
“I don’t think I can do it.”
I imagined the ax looking the same but made from a lighter metal.
I didn’t know the name of it and in all likelihood it didn’t even exist, but that didn’t matter so long as it existed in my imagination.
Emma noticed the weight reduction immediately.
The ax flew up and almost struck her in the head.
She removed one hand from the handle and hefted it, marveling as she waved it around.
“How did you do that?”
“I imagined it was made from a lighter material.”
“You can do things like this on your planet?”
“No. But we can do them in the Shadow Realm.”
Up until now, Emma had been swinging the ax through the air so it made a deep “whoomph” noise.
She paused and peered at the room.
“This is what the Shadow Realm looks like?”
“Yes. And the rules there are a little different. The rules of physics in our galaxy are bent and twisted in theirs.”
“They can imagine things into existence?”
“In the Shadow Realm, we can pull upon our surroundings and use the shadows as if they were a physical thing. We can turn them into weapons or defense or any number of things. It’s easier to think of the Shadow Realm as a nightmare, one you’re fully awake inside.”
“I don’t think I want to go to this Shadow Realm much.”
“And you probably won’t, but there’s no telling what might happen over the next two days. If you get taken, your knowledge of the Shadow Realm might be what saves you. I’m going to teach you the basics so you can escape and defend yourself.”
That confident look of hers that I’d fallen
