Samantha
The moment we surfaced, I gulped air greedily, lungs expanding with something close to relief.
Not that breathing underwater had been difficult—if anything, it had felt disturbingly natural after a while—but I was still human, still tied to the comfort of air filling my chest.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever fully adjust to the sensation of drawing water through my lungs, no matter what Kaerius said, and he said disturbingly little: “You will be fine.” I guess he was right, but I didn’t feel right.
As the last traces of water slid from my skin, I blinked and realized what I wasn’t seeing—the ornate hall of some ancient palace—but rather the interior of a ship.
I didn’t know what I’d been expecting, but a dress that felt dry even after complete submersion and a room like this one wasn’t it.
So the Ondrithar were as alien to this planet as I was, but how long ago had they arrived?
Nothing about this was in the files the USS Legacy had on planet Sanos.
My gaze swept across the smooth, curved walls, the metal plating beneath my feet, and the intricate panels of what could only be control systems embedded into the far side of the chamber.
Even the massive throne sitting at the head of the room looked more like a command chair than something a king would lounge upon.
This wasn’t just a palace—it was a vessel.
A shiver trailed down my spine.
Kaerius was already striding forward, water dripping from his broad shoulders, utterly unconcerned with the small group of Ondrithar waiting for him.
Three men dressed in elaborate robes that looked both regal and militaristic stood stiffly, their expressions unreadable.
The woman beside them was similarly adorned, her eyes sharp and assessing as they flickered toward me.
I straightened instinctively under her scrutiny, my heart hammering against my ribs.
But Kaerius didn’t slow or acknowledge them beyond the briefest glance.
If they were expecting some sort of formal greeting, they were sorely mistaken.
He moved past them as though they weren’t even there, his grip tightening around my wrist as he guided me toward a door at the side of the throne room.
One of the officials—an older male with streaks of silver through his dark hair—opened his mouth to speak, but Kaerius cut him off with a single glare.
“I am not to be disturbed,” he growled, pressing his palm to a panel on the wall.
A soft chime sounded, and the door slid open.
I saw almost identical, resigned expressions on the faces of all the men, and a furious glare came from the woman.
She had green in her hair, just like Undina.
I hoped that didn’t mean they were related.
She let out a huff, clearly displeased.
“Kaerius—” The door shut in her face before she could finish.
I tried not to feel amused, but her fish-out-of-water gasp was kind of funny.
I barely had a moment to take in my new surroundings before Kaerius released me and moved toward a console that looked far too much like something from the USS Legacy’s bridge.
It only cemented my earlier realization—this place was once a ship, and in many ways, it still was.
The room itself was smaller than the throne room but still carried that same sleek, functional design.
It reminded me of a ready room, a space where a captain would retreat to make decisions away from the prying eyes of their crew, or where he could hold meetings with his senior staff if he so wished.
The long, ornate table with some kind of holographic map above it could easily seat a dozen.
The map made my curiosity spike, tempting me closer so I could peer at the shape of the ‘palace’—oblong and sinuous—where it lay on what appeared to be a shelf or a cliff.
It was a real-time representation of what was happening outside, for I could see blips moving around, as well as hues of various corals that dotted the cliff, plunging into the inky depths on one side and spreading like lush pastures on the other.
Forcing myself not to get caught up in all that was hard, but Kaerius was just as pretty to look at.
I turned toward him.
“You really know how to make an entrance.”
His lips twitched slightly, but the amusement didn’t reach his eyes.
“They are politicians. They talk too much and say too little.” He was beginning to unwind around me; it was only a little, but I sensed it, and it made my feelings spike with something perilously close to happiness.
I shouldn’t get attached.
I should be asking the hard questions, not wondering if this king thought I was his mate and what that entailed.
I crossed my arms, glancing toward the sealed door.
“And what does that make you?” I made myself sound stern and perched against the edge of the table so I stayed rooted in place.
Kaerius looked too tempting, and now that he was on two legs, his skin was a rich honey color that made me want to lick him.
Bad, bad girl.
In my defense, he was only wearing a cloth-skirt-like thing around his hips in azure blue, like a mini toga.
There really was an awful lot of body to ogle.
“A king,” he said simply.
“One who does not have time for posturing.” I snorted, but the sound died quickly when he turned that piercing silver-blue gaze on me.
I realized he was deadly serious and that he looked weary, as if he were carrying too much weight on his shoulders.
I supposed that, being king and all, it was not a surprise.
The impulse to go to him and offer my help right that instant was strong, but I curbed it.
I still didn’t know enough to make decisions purely based on my gut.
I was a scientist; I needed a little more to go on.
“I need information about your people,” he said, his voice low as if he were asking me secrets.
“Specifically, about your access to a certain type of fuel.” He said that as if it were almost impossible to get the words past his lips, but once they were out, his shoulders lowered and his posture became more relaxed.
I frowned.
“Fuel?” What could he possibly want with fuel?
Immediately, I glanced around the ready room, then back at the map where the shape of the ship sat on the sea shelf, integrated into the corals and reefs as if it had been there forever.
Did he want to leave Sanos?
Did he dream of flying his people back into the stars?
Or home?
I felt a pang of pain at the thought.
Would I want to go back to Earth if that were possible?
I didn’t know, because Earth was a poisonous, polluted mess.
It wouldn’t be safe to go back.
Kaerius tapped something on the console, and a projection flickered to life—a diagram of a glowing substance encased in some sort of crystalline structure.
It pulsed with an eerie blue light, and the sight of it sent an odd jolt of familiarity through me.
I had seen that before—but a very long time ago, back in college at the very least.
It had nothing to do with botany, either, so I couldn’t even remember the name of the chemical structure he was showing me.
“This,” he said, pointing to it.
“Does your ship have it?”
I shook my head slowly.
“I don’t know. I’m not an engineer.” My brain began turning rapidly now.
This was good, though—if we did have it, we had bargaining power.
Excitement filled me.
Could this be the answer?
Did the Ondrithar even have livable land inside their territory?
My study of the maps we had indicated yes, but I wasn’t sure if it was big enough to suffice.
Kaerius’s expression remained unreadable, but I could feel the intensity rolling off him in waves.
“But you are a scientist.” This was extremely important to him for some reason, and I was struggling to believe it had anything to do with spaceflight.
Kaerius and this ship seemed pretty rooted in this world, this ocean.
Who would want to leave a clean, beautiful paradise like this, anyway?
My people would kill to be allowed to live here.
I exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through my damp hair.
“Yes, but not that kind of scientist. I’m a botanist. I study plants and ecosystems, not advanced propulsion systems.” My explanation was said by rote, as I’d met more than one jerk who didn’t know one kind of science from the next.
The fact that I was a doctor—officially, but not a medical doctor—boggled many a mind.
He studied me for a long moment, then inclined his head.
“If I give you access, can you find out?” His intense expression made me want to say yes in a heartbeat, but I hesitated.
The USS Legacy’s database had a vast amount of information on the resources we carried, even beyond our primary mission parameters.
If I could get access to a terminal, cross-reference the materials stored in our cargo holds…
maybe.
I lifted my chin.
“Why would I do that? I still don’t know why I am here or what you want of me. My people need safe harbor; we need a bit of land to live on. You offer me a deal, and I’ll try.” Whoa.
Okay.
Guess I had a little bit of negotiator in me after all.
That was good.
That was firm.
And my strange but oh-so-handsome alien king wasn’t biting my head off.
Kaerius nodded once, decisive.
“We can discuss this. I do not see why we can’t work together. You can use this console.” His hand waved toward the one with the floating blue crystalline particle that he was after.
Then, without another word, he turned and strode out of the room, leaving me standing in the center of what I was beginning to suspect was far more than just an alien palace.
I glanced back at the console, at the softly glowing projection hovering in the air, my mind racing with possibilities.
What had I just agreed to?
And what would happen to me and a future treaty if I didn’t find what he was after?