Page 33 of Her Alien Prince
"I'm escorting you to Elder Ezra," he replied simply.
"She means the commotion through the palace," Trent pressed, and took a step forward. It was almost like we were in whatever this was together, backing me up when needed, but allowing me to take the lead. I liked it too much and knew it would sting when it was over.
"Loric is leading a search of the palace to find where Luan disappeared to. She's not in her usual places, and she's missed her one-on-one in the grotto. But I wouldn't call it a commotion, they won't reach this side of the palace for a while yet, they must search every section thoroughly."
"On the other side?" I repeated in a hushed whisper. How was I hearing the loud thumps of their feet? They had to be closer than that.
Trent got my attention, and I watched him point to his horns. I quickly made sure my hair was covering my forehead, and sighed in relief that everything was hidden adequately enough. He frowned while folding his arms over his chest in annoyance. Was he annoyed with me? For covering my horns... my kan, as he called them? He wasn't pointing his horns to warn me about my own in front of Gaven, I realized. It was a gesture to say the kan was why I could hear the footsteps on the other side of the palace.
Trent grumbled, "Vibrations of such a large number of warriors searching the grounds is easily detected by my kan."
"They don't care about your sensitivities," Gaven snapped, the only sign he had any emotions at all. "They care about finding Luan, and so should you." He turned his back to us and walked down the hall towards the palace exit closest to the research facilities. Walking there would take some time unless we rode a few of the muffals. A few were waiting for us mewling with snorts, and shuffling their claws that allowed them greater traction on smooth stone surfaces such as the plains we were about to cross.
Staring out over the vanishing point of green mayluck stone, veined with black tarnpul. My namesake, I thought, reminded of how Almder once told me the story of how these plains used to be nothing but sand until a great storm threaded lightning through the ground, bringing the tarnpul deposits closer to the surface that attracted the moon's radiation. The mayluck sands heated up and adapted, turning to stone. Where the tarnpul is harvested, the mayluck turns to dust.
I was like the mayluck, hardened when supported by the stronger tarnpul that feeds it energy, and nothing but dust by myself. Sighing, I bowed to the muffal to show my respect, its boney snout nudged me with approval. This one knew me well enough by now, part of his jaw was missing from some predator it encountered on the plains, but it still returned to seek what the strange estrelds were doing at the great palace made of tarnpul. A few muffals were trained out of every litter to know we provided food and entertainment for allowing us to ride them, but they were still very much wild creatures.
Trent opted to fly beside us. My wings itched to spread out and join him, but I didn't know how to fly, and I certainly didn't want to learn in front of Gaven. I kept them folded back, hidden by the way light refracted around them. I guess I could be thankful I didn't have to have that conversation just yet about being krelin.
Riding across the stone, pockets of dust from the scuffling of the muffals's claws billowing around like a soft green fog, was usually a welcomed break from reality. There was a suddenness of feeling alone, despite Gaven riding beside me, and Trent flying above. An emptiness ate away at my stomach the closer we got to the glinting walls of the Mating Research Facility. The muffal snapped and gnashed its teeth before it sat down, making me slide from its back. It rushed off into the plains again without staying for a treat, probably sensing my dismal attitude.
The large domed building awaited, and neither Trent or Gaven said a word. They waited for me to choose when I was ready to approach, and they didn't dare push me to speed things along.
Bhedre guarded the door, and she nodded for me to enter. My footsteps echoed, clacking against the brown stone floors. Even the walls were beige, like the skies with a bit of pink in them. I went straight to the labs, not wanting to wait for Elder Ezra like a guest. I'd worked here long enough, and she hadn't officially fired me from my role as advisor yet. The closer we got the more I could just make out her voice talking to someone possibly on a video communication.
"It'll be taken care of. She's already arrived. Removing her eggs should prevent full maturation. We won't have to worry about revealing who her mother was. She'll be safe, I assure you. Her mother would rather she lived than risk the queen killing her. This is what is best, Almder. Yes, I've secured a few larva sacks, and have created a few synthetic versions to test viability. I can test compatible fertilization samples from our off-worlders, and see how Mabel feels about transferring to care for the newest batch of offspring from the current mating cycle. She will have the family she always wanted... we simply cannot tell her they are hers."
I fell to my knees in the hallway.
"Mabel?" Gaven reached to assist me.
"Stay back," Trent growled at him. A darkness vibrated in his voice, and I stared blankly at the ground, unable to process what I wasn't supposed to hear. My heart was shattering in my chest, and I heaved as if the very air around me was too thin to fill my lungs.
Images of me caring for offspring that had my eyes, or my nose, or even a few mannerisms that I would dismiss as simply a byproduct of my proximity flooded my mind. Mine in body, but disconnected from my spirit as I’m constantly reminded they are someone else’s spawn, not my own. Too many differences with an off-world donor, I would never know. But they would have been my own, and they would have grown up the same as me… thinking they were abandoned to be raised by the sad estreld in the offspring training center, who looked at them with longing in her dull eyes.
My wings spread out, making Gaven gasp when I whirled on him, glaring up from the stone floor. "Did you know?" I sobbed out with venom.
He shook his head. "You're krelin..."
"Not that," I screamed, not caring if Elder Ezra realized she had company, that her private conversation with Almder was not so private anymore. "Did you know there was nothing wrong with me?"
"What are you talking about?" Gaven's brows pinched, and he tried to soften his tone like he was speaking with a particularly dumb diplomat that needed hand holding. It was how he sounded when he was placating a dignitary from off-world.
Shaking my head, I felt my whole universe collapsing around me. I trusted Elder Ezra... she was just as much like a mother to me as Almder, or even Elmon, my caretaker at the offspring training facility, and... she was speaking with Almder on the vid comm. They both betrayed me.
Elder Ezra heard my scream and walked calmly into the hallway. She was always a scientist first, assess the situation before you jump in sort. Her grey eyes took in my teary-eyed appearance and my position on the floor, then back up to the two males facing each other off.
"Good Morning, Prince Trent," she spoke sharply, like he was to blame for whatever was going on, then she shook her head at me with pity, "Mabel, do not waste your sorrows on either of them."
"Elder Ezra," Gaven questioned her intentions, and I wasn't the only one. How could she act like she was looking out for my best interests like she didn't just betray me moments before?
She waved her hand at him, "I do not care if she chooses to waste her life with a sire or not, she is much too precious for either of you. Mabel, come inside and let's discuss the next steps for your recovery."
I scrambled to my feet and took a step back. Only then did Elder Ezra actually pay attention to the wings spread from my back, her eyes widened. "Mabel, you need to come inside," she insisted.
Shaking my head, I narrowed my eyes at her. "You," my voice quivered with anger. "You know who my mother is, and you never told me. You knew nothing was wrong with me, yet you lied to my face. No," I rejected that, it wasn't accurate enough, "You've been lying to me my whole life." I took another step backwards, everything in me needed to get out of there immediately before someone decided it was best to detain me for the rage brewing in my gut.
Wings wafted, and a dust cloud blurred my vision, making everything hazy. Elder Ezra coughed, and fell against the wall, sliding to the floor. "Mabel, you must understand," she tried to clear her throat to explain.
