Page 18 of Seeded By Two

But I was not there on my behalf, but my father’s.

I would not let him down.

I shut my eyes, turned my head away, and gripped the Ukmat by the arm.

We held on tight and squeezed each other hard.

The creatures were strong even if they were not a real warrior race.

Finally, I managed to raise my eyes to the creature’s tube-eyes.

How could anyone trust any beast that did not have eyes you could look into?

Then I realized that even if it morphed into a pair of Krev eyes, I knew any emotion it showed would be just as fake.

The moment we released each other, I turned and marched towards the door.

I subconsciously rubbed my hand over my arm where I had touched the creature.

“Prep my shuttlecraft,” I said. “I’m leaving immediately.”

“Already prepared, my Prince,” my chief of security said. “Now that the treaty is signed, do you wish for the military to stand down?”

“No,” I said. “They will break the agreement. When they do, I want us ready. Maybe seeing us ready for war will make them think twice.”

As I neared the launchpad, my communicator buzzed.

I raised my forearm and the hologram of Feon flashed into life.

It was amazing that he could look identical.

I might as well have been looking into a mirror.

Even from a young age, I thought it strange there was another creature in the galaxy that looked so similar to me, and yet, shared no relation at all.

Every senior member of the Royal Family had a decoy — often many decoys — to make it more difficult for our enemies to hunt us down and attack us.

Usually, Feons were kept at a distance and not allowed too close to their royal counterparts but I had few friends growing up and the next brother was five years younger than me.

The gap could have been larger considering the differences between us.

When Feon had shown up, he had been a lost, confused little thing, and I had taken pity on him.

We were of a similar age but we couldn’t have been more different.

At least, back then.

I shared my toys with him, shared my secrets, my thoughts and feelings, and each time he was dispatched in my place, I felt a gut-wrenching sensation, knowing he could very well die in my place.

I knew in my heart I would never be able to fully forgive myself if that happened.

I extended to him my very best security in such situations — often to the frustration of my security personnel who would much rather protect me than my decoy.

But as I always told him:

“It would look strange if you had more security around Feon than the supposed prince, don’t you think?”

The argument never failed to produce a growl in the security officer’s throat.

---