Page 56 of Alien Prince Fake Fiancé

“Ashlyn,” the Lumerian said, his voice a low rumble, “I am Brennar Phavaen. We must speak.”

“You know my name? I mean, I..I think Zade mentioned you. Are you Bren?”

“I am.”

“What’s happening to him? Why isn’t he waking up?”

Bren’s expression softened in sympathy as she moved closer to Zade.

“He is Saltrec,” Bren began, his tone heavy with meaning. “Some of them have learned how to enter a state of near-death, a survival instinct unique to their kind. It is a dangerous form of stasis that not even my people were able to master,” Bren explained, his eyes fixed on Zade’s face.

“I don’t understand. Are you saying he’s some kind of…of,” she mentally searched for the right word, came up with nothing that made sense. “Like a vampire?”

“They can lay inert, like stone, immune to hot and cold, for several hours or days––long enough to survive until help arrives. Unlike your myths of the vampire, the Saltrec do not drink blood. I believe Zade put himself into this state when he realized how close he was to death.”

Stasis. Not dying. Not in a coma. Like stone.The word echoed in Ashlyn’s mind, both a comfort and a terror.Like a gargoyle? No freaking way.

“Unfortunately,” continued Bren, completely unaware of the shock she was in, “Zade is only half Saltrec. He was raised in a royal house, surrounded not by the Saltrec, but by his father’s people in the Northern Sector. His mother was the only connection he had to them. She encouraged Zade to learn the ways of her people, but his father forbade him from learning this particular technique after the first attempt nearly killed him.”

Ashlyn gasped, her eyes giant round orbs of horror. “Oh, no. What happened?”

“He was unable to pull himself out of the trance on his own.”

“How long ago was that?”

“It was many years ago. I cannot be certain,” he hedged.

“I know you guys live a long time. Take a guess.” Ashlyn crossed her arms.

“More than a hundred years have passed. He was a very young man at the time.”

Ashlyn glanced at Zade, the weight of Bren’s words sinking in. “So, you’re saying his mind is trapped while his body is in some kind of hibernation? He might not be able to get out of it and it’s been more than a hundred years since he last tried? Unsuccessfully tried,” she corrected herself.

Bren’s silence was answer enough. A fresh surge of desperation poured through her. “I have a friend. She’s a healer. Really powerful. She saved my sister when the base on my planetwas attacked. Saved a lot of people, actually. Maybe she could help him.”

Bren shook his head. “No. He doesn’t need physical healing. His body is now free of injury.”

“Then what can we do? How do we help him?”

“That depends..”

“What does that mean? Please, don’t fuck with me. Just tell me what to do.”

Bren’s gaze met hers, and in their depths, she saw a flicker of hope. “For now, we need to take him back to his homeworld, to Caldor. The Saltrec elders might be able to draw him out of this state, as they did once before. We cannot take all of Caldor’s ships out of Earth’s orbit with a Dark One so close, but we could take this one.The Reaper. The other princes of Caldor will remain to assist with Earth’s defense.”

Ashlyn nodded, determination hardening her resolve. “Then we go to Caldor.”

As Bren contacted the crew and directed the ship to change course, Rachel and Cam entered the room. Rachel’s eyes were heavy with sadness as she took in the scene, her hand instinctively reaching for Ashlyn’s.

“Sorry it took so long to get here. We thought they would take Zade to the medical bay on the base, so we went there first, then Cam was delayed with emergency meetings. How is he?” Rachel asked quietly.

Ashlyn quickly explained the situation, and Rachel’s expression turned steely. “We’re coming with you.”

“That’s good, because I think we’ve already left Earth’s orbit.”

Cam stepped forward. His windswept, sandy brown hair and warm amber markings belied the worry in his keen, intelligent brown eyes. “I will inform Dagan of the new development. He has ordered all base personnel to begin preparing for war with the Dark Ones.”

“War?” The idea of being at war with those things, when Earth couldn’t even hold a candle to Caldorian technology, made her nauseous. “What about the Council members? Do they have ships? Are they going to help? Are the Dark Ones going to attack Earth? How did that Dark One know about the Lumerians?” She glanced from Cam to Bren. “Well? How did that thing know?”

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