Page 1 of Obsidian Prince

Chapter1

Decision

When Colonel Alexander Bennettopened his front door, Liliana the spider-kin seer noted that he didn't have to unlock it. He probably thought it was pointless to lock his door in the middle of Fort Liberty surrounded by security drones, cameras, and soldiers. A skilled assassin could walk right through all that. Like she had.

The lamplight behind the handsome Fae lit the scars on one side of his dark-skinned face as if they still burned. He looked down at her petite form from his towering height, dark brows furrowed in puzzlement. “Liliana.” He looked behind her at the quiet neighborhood for officer and family housing to see if anyone else accompanied her. The light from a streetlamp on the corner lit the yard, making it clear she was alone. “How did you get on base?”

“I walked in through the front gate. You gave me permission, remember?” He’d given her a base pass with her name on it the last time they spoke.

“I never forget when someone saves my life.”

“I was saving my friends. You were just in the same room that would have exploded.”

He huffed, not quite a laugh, but an amused quirk touched the edges of his lips. “So, what brings you here?”

As she’d told him, if his future path continued, he would be murdered soon. What she hadn’t told him was that more than once, she considered not waiting for fate to end his life and simply killing him herself. A landed Fae prince here in Fayetteville, North Carolina would draw a lot of danger to her new friends. Liliana had been alone a long time. Now that she had friends, she would not allow anyone to hurt them. “I need to know whether I should save your life.”

“Still trying to make up your mind?”

“Yes.”

“Well, come in then.” Colonel Bennett opened the door and stepped aside. He held his custom-made wide-barreled pistol casually down behind his leg. He probably thought she wouldn’t notice. She’d already seen it with her fourth eyes before she closed them outside the door. “I apologize for not being properly dressed,” he said. “The gate guards didn't tell me you were coming.”

“I didn't want to talk to them. They would have made me go through the scanners and stand still to let the cameras see me.” The cameras would have documented her face for authorities whose notice she’d been careful to avoid.

He raised his eyebrows. “You walked in through the front gate, but avoided the gate guards, the cameras, and scanners?”

“That's OK, though. I like the way you're dressed.” His sweats and t-shirt looked comfortable. The short sleeves showed off the rich dark mahogany of his well-defined arms.

“I'm glad to hear it.” He chuckled. “I'm wondering if I should come down hard on the guards for being lax or put you on the payroll as a security consultant.”

Liliana shrugged. “It's not their fault. I am good at getting past guards. I am content with my current profession, though. Thank you.” She enjoyed her fortune telling business, guiding people away from danger and toward happiness.

She looked around. The entryway was a small, tiled area with a bench, side table, and mirror. Shiny black dress shoes and matte green combat boots were lined up in a neat row under the bench. A camo jacket hung on a coat hook on one end of the bench above the combat boots. A deep blue jacket brightened by an array of colorful ribbon bars hung from the other end above the shiny dress shoes. Keys, a wrist phone, and a wallet lay in a bowl on the small table next to the bench.

"Can I offer you anything?" he asked.

"You don’t have any tea."

He chuckled. "No, I'm afraid I don't."

"That's okay. I'm not thirsty." Liliana stepped into the large open living room, trying to think of something complimentary to say as social rules required. His house was furnished like a picture in a magazine. A sleek modern room-bot dusted the baseboards. There was no indication anyone lived here but the cleaning bot. Aside from the insistence on order, there were very few clues to the personality of the Fae prince in his living space. "I like your back door." It was good to have an alternative exit in any home in case, for instance, someone walked in one door and accused you of murder. You could escape out the other one.

Colonel Bennett glanced at the curtains that were pulled nearly shut across the sliding glass door on the other side of the big living room, hiding the view from human eyes. "The back yard is one of my favorite places. Would you like to see it?"

"Yes." Liliana opened her fourth eyes since he had invited her to. The cat-slanted swirly lavender and teal eyes above her eyebrows focused through the curtains. She could see any time or place with her fourth eyes, so this was a simple matter. The yard was dark, so she refocused to see it in tomorrow morning’s sunlight. "It's very pretty."

Colonel Bennett chuckled. "I meant, would you like to walk out in the back yard and see it with me? There's something I don't get to share with many people that I think you can appreciate."

"Oh." He was offering to share something of himself to help make her decision. That was exactly why she came. "Okay."

He opened the curtains, then slid the glass door aside for her. The back door wasn’t locked either. The small back patio formed an island of natural flagstone surrounded by a sea of green and a riot of blooms, even in the dark of the late spring evening. The cool air smelled rich and alive. The stars seemed somehow brighter, their subtle colors visible even to her human first eyes, but she opened her second eyes anyway so she could see the beautiful place more clearly. The metallic green domed eyes on her temples brought nearly a full circle into view, lit with the unnamed colors of wider spectrums that made night as bright as day.

The Fae prince slid the door closed behind her.

Without turning around, she watched him with her second eyes. The gun was still in his hand down by his thigh. "Are you afraid of me?" she asked him, still looking out at the garden with her human first eyes. She breathed deep, drinking in the heady richness of night-blooming jasmine.

“Why do you ask?” He stepped up beside her, the breeze didn't so much as ruffle his high and tight buzzed black hair. Alexander Bennett seemed like a perfectly adapted piece of the night. His army green t-shirt and grey sweatpants managed to look regal on him. She suspected with his proud bearing, he would look like a king even if he wore dirty rags. "Should I be afraid?" His deep voice blended with the richness of the jasmine on the breeze.

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