Page 9 of You're Not My King!

I decided it was time to rejoin the merry band, if only for protection purposes, but as soon as I took my first step, the snap of a branch behind me had me startling. I whirled around, blindly whipping my bound hands like a weapon, eyes darting from side to side. It took a second for me to chill out enough to realize there was nothing there. My brow furrowed. I’d definitely heard something. Or someone.

Were the trees playing tricks on me?

Scoffing, I turned back around, cursing my overactive imagination, only to come face to face with the translucent snout of a gigantic horse-slash-stag beast with a fucking lizard dude straddling its back.

I didn’t even have the time to process it, I just gasped and stumbled, my back hitting one of the squidgy trees with a resounding thwop. I had no brain function left to feel gross about the tacky sap seeping through my clothes when my heart was pumping a mile a minute, my chest heaving.

How the fuck had an alien lizard and his nightmare-inducing, eight-foot-tall, see-through mount managed to sneak up on me in a wide-open forest?

The horse… thing snuffled, shaking out its vine-like mane as a regular horse would, but I couldn’t really focus on that right now, or the fact that its bones, blood, and veins were clearly visible. Not when the mismatched eyes of its rider were staring down at me, one scarred and pure pitch, the other emerald, both roving from my head to my toes like a starving lion eyeing up an injured gazelle.

I stared back in awe and terror, rooted to the spot as the stranger flexed his clawed fingers in the hair—weeds?—of the giant skeletal beast before meeting my gaze head on. The surreal green and black simmered with hunger, and the filthiest, most arrogant smirk crept over the corner of his mouth.

It was embarrassing to admit, even to myself, that the sight made my skin flush and my belly heat.

Shit, he was handsome. In that unusual, alien sort of way. It was probably the authoritative presence that did it for me. He oozed dominance, and had that cocksure attitude that never failed to make my knees weak. He looked wild and primitive. His long, grayish purple hair was styled into a single, messy braid, and scars littered his burgundy skin as if brawls were common for him—the gnarliest was a silvery-pink slash across his throat from ear to ear, and I found myself imagining the story behind it.

Unlike the others of his kind that I’d seen, he had luminous white tattoos on his face and body, intricate lines and symbols glowing in the rays of light filtering through the trees. He had the same spikes and ridges as his fellow lee-zurds, but also wore rows of jewelry on his fingers, ears, and wrists, like one of those embellished pirates in the movies. I wondered if they signified something, like his status in the clan, or medals for being a good team player.

He certainly looked high and mighty, but that may have had everything to do with his position on the horse, and not his eccentricity.

For a long time, neither of us made any move to leave, both either too stubborn or too nosy to break the tension flowing thick and heavy between us. Even the horse was on its best behavior, standing stock still as its master undressed me with his contrasting eyes, making me feel exposed and vulnerable. It was kinda exhilarating, I couldn’t lie. No one had ever looked at me as if they wanted to throw me down and treat me like a sleeve for their dick.

Crying shame, really.

After another heady beat passed, the guy opened his mouth as if to speak, and for some unknown reason, my breath caught, my skin prickling with sweat. He didn’t get to say anything, though, as the clamoring shouts of the group disturbed our peace, and I damn near leaped into the fucking sky. Moment ruined. My absence had been discovered.

The stranger huffed a laugh, smirking as if to woo the devil before urging his horse to retreat. I almost called out to stop him, to ask his name, or something, but I managed to slam my lips closed. This was no fucking fairytale, and I needed to get a grip. Watching him disappear into the forest, I wondered what the hell was in the air here, but the increasingly loud barking of Zaay-el and his team got too hard to ignore. I let out a bone-deep exhale, rolled my eyes, and headed back.

The second I stepped into the clearing, sand crunching under my feet, all eyes were on me. I would’ve hunched over laughing at their distress—one dude was half way up a tree, for fuck’s sake, like he’d actually thought I was some kind of Tarzan and had escaped via hanging vines or some shit—but the accusatory glares nipped any amusement in the bud. As if I hadn’t come back of my own accord. I held up my bound hands, shrugging, unbothered by their irritation, but not willing to die when I’d endured this far. “I needed to pee.”

They glanced at each other, muttering, and I was about to act out taking a piss when Zaay-el sighed, nodding as if he understood.

“Glad to have your approval,” I deadpanned, but instead of answering, he offered up his water skin.

“Hoo-man, drink.” He didn’t give me the chance to refuse, just rested the nozzle against my lips and poured. I glared at him as I gulped it down, disappointed to note that it tasted like regular water, nothing special, before waving at him to stop. A few droplets slid down my chin, but I wiped them away with my sleeve.

“Thanks,” I muttered, earning a grunt of acknowledgment. I was then lifted onto Knee-tar’s back again and wrapped in a secure cocoon of pelts. He mumbled something at me, probably checking to make sure I was snug, but I wasn’t listening. My thoughts were already wandering.

I had no clue who that stranger was, or why he’d stopped to gawk. Had he planned on stealing me? Had I meandered into his territory and he’d come to investigate? Something about him intrigued me, had my blood racing and nerves buzzing—it was the most interest I’d taken in anything for months.

He was on my mind the whole way to camp.

REUBEN

The first thing I noticed as we entered the camp was the giant weeping willowesque tree slap-bang in the center, and the pool of iridescent water it stood in. It was freakishly big, sheltering almost the entire encampment. The branches didn’t quite move like the ones in the forest had, but they seemed… alive. They glittered and shivered, but otherwise it looked and acted like a regular ole tree. Just with white leaves instead of green, and way, way taller than average.

So, nothing like the trees I knew, really, but it was a damn sight more normal than Creeper Woods.

The second thing was the entourage of red aliens gawking at me as if I were relaying the Olympic torch. You’d think, all things considered, that would’ve been my primary concern, especially with how they were lined up, spears in hand and super hard to miss, but that tree really was eye-catching. Plus, I was trying my best to ignore my situationand pretend I’d just been conned into a vacation at some over-the-top cosplayers’ resort.

It wasn’t working.

I tried distracting myself by checking out the place as I was paraded through the camp. I scanned the rustic, kinda charming red and pink huts made from foliage, pelts, and rocks. They all had patches of grass outside for planting, and the roofs and window holes were decorated with tiny animal skulls and flowers. Creepy, but they were clearly well loved.

My nosiness worked as a diversion to a point, and it helped me figure out that this planet was obviously very small, more like an island floating in space, if what I’d already seen and learned was any indication. I hadn’t managed to get a look at it from the spaceship, so there might have been more to the place than the clan areas I was supposed to be escorted through suggested, but if this was it, U’suhk was basically just a planet made up of tiny villages.

I was no expert, so I hadn’t a clue if that was even possible, but hey, aliens existed, so real life was bullshit, right?

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