In any other situation, I wouldn’t have minded flirting with them. They were incredibly attractive, and I have always wanted to try roleplaying.
“You guys sure know how to make an impression,” I muttered as I glanced between them, studying each man’s demeanor. Their inability to understand English—or at least make an attempt to reply thus far—concerned me. The two emerald-skinned cosplayers instantly backed away from me, looking at the sapphire-colored male behind them as if seeking his guidance.
Was he their leader? Was that why they were deferring to him?
Rubbing my arms, I tried to suppress a shiver as I took in my surroundings.
I sat on the floor of a dark metal room, with the air conditioning cranked up too cold for comfort. The only lighting came from several dimmed blue lights along the edge of each wall. A pile of neatly folded metallic fabric was tucked away in a corner.
Was this a prison?
I leaped to my feet, ignoring the three males who knelt before me, and ran to the nearest wall. Pressing my hands against the cold surface, I scrambled to find an exit, searching for cracks in the metal.
“Hey! Open up!” I yelled, banging on the wall. “I have rights! I am a US citizen!”
I shot a glance behind me to find the three males still kneeling in the center of the room. Shredded white material lay right beside them. The puzzled looks on their faces made me pause.
“Are you going just to sit there? Or are you going to help me?”
The two emerald males turned to their leader again, who stood carefully with wings and arms spread.
“Ek la sluwma Sekhi,” he replied slowly. His voice was smooth like honey, and under any other circumstances, I would have sat next to him just to listen to his exotic accent. But it was clear this metal box was a prison cell, and I was trapped in it. What I didn’t know was whether these men were in league with my abductors. “Ek la sluwma Sekhi,” he repeated, stepping closer to me.
“Look, dude. I don’t know what the fuck you’re saying.” I raised my hands in a defensive stance. I wasn’t trained in self-defense, but he didn’t know that. If anything, I wasn’t afraid of kicking him in the crown jewels and using my claws. I knew growing out my nails would be worth the trouble. “But don’t come any closer, do you hear me?”
His icy blue eyes widened, and I noticed something I hadn’t before. They swirled like a little glowing galaxy was embedded in his eyes. I shot a glance behind him at the others, unable to make out their irises clearly, but they did glow slightly just like his.
Was that new technology? They must be testing some kind of lit contact lenses.
Lucky them.
“Sekhi, wek isma yunkaz.” He halted a foot away, locking his amazing eyes with mine.
“I don’t understand you,” I replied, shaking my head, unable to pull my gaze from his. “And I’m pretty sure you don’t understand me, either.”
One of the males called out behind him, making him break eye contact. Lowering my arms, I glared at the one who interrupted my moment. I may not have been able to communicate with the blue cosplayer, but I was in the middle of trying.
Movement in my peripheral vision caught my eye. The leader was slowly reaching out for me, attempting to grab one of my arms.
In a knee-jerk reaction, I kicked him—and hit my target.
Instantly, he dropped to the floor. Cupping his loincloth, he emitted a loud groan, as tears gathered at the corner of his gorgeous, pale-blue eyes.
“I told you motherfuckers that I don’t understand you,” I hissed. “I don’t know where you come from, but when a woman tells you not to come any closer, you listen!”
Four
LUWYN
Cupping my manhood through my loincloth, I winced as if I were the one who had been kicked. My hearts went out to Celyze. No matter the transgression, no male deserved to have their most prized possession attacked.
“So, what do we do now?” I asked. “Because your plan isn’t working. Are you sure she’s even royalty?”
“Isn’t her coloring enough proof for you?” Auro hissed. “Only those of royal blood are born with those colors. Clearly, she’s been traumatized by being captured and stolen away from the lavish lifestyle she’s accustomed to.”
As I stared at the bewildered female, I studied her features, not liking what I saw. I didn’t need to be a Cosmic Soul to sense that something wasn’t right about her.
While she had the features of a royal Swynemi, her coloring was wrong, tainted somehow. Instead of the body color of an opal stone—creamy-white with translucent rainbow speckles throughout—her skin tone was a pale tan with uneven splotches of color. She had breathtaking hair, long and white, and shining like a liquid prism flowing from her head. Out of all her features, her wings concerned me the most. Their coloring was near perfect, full of cascading purples, blues, and greens. But they weren’t alive. It was as if they were stuck in a default position with no ability to move.
Royal Swynemi would never venture out from their clan’s hive, built into the sides of the mountains of our home planet. Even the ones who had dared to expand beyond Swynem and established rule on another planet lived in a hive-like community with other royal Swynemi, never far from their family and staff.
The fact that she was here and alone was concerning. Had the Vhalxt eaten her clan before capturing her? Or had she wandered too far from her hive on accident?
Typically, the only females who ventured alone were Cosmic Souls, and that was because the Stars guided them to the destiny the Fates had chosen for them.
I believed in the Cosmic Powers, but not blindly. My family produced an abnormal abundance of Cosmic Souls compared to other clans; that was what we were known for. However, I was the only child of twelve who had been born without the power, while Celyze was the first Cosmic Soul in his family's lineage. At one time, I had been jealous of him, and I couldn’t lie and say that I was completely fine with it now. Why had he been gifted the powers of the universe, and I hadn’t? I knew that I deserved to be a Cosmic Soul, as a member of a clan blessed with such a rare pedigree. But after years of seeing Celyze in action and having to deal with his extensive problems, I came to terms with being ordinary.
After all, he was the one groaning on the floor, cupping himself at the moment.
“Are her wings broken?” I asked, watching how they hung limply, draped unnaturally behind her. Their lopsided tips dragged on the floor. “You would think she’d be willing to let Celyze touch her so she could be rid of all the pain.”
“Maybe if you were gentler while removing the webbing from her face, she would be more open to his touch,” Auro scoffed. “You misjudged your strength and nearly scratched her eyes out. No wonder she doesn’t trust us.”
“Then explain why she doesn’t speak Federation Common, or even our native tongue, Veryan,” I growled, pointing at the female tied to our sick and twisted destiny. “Everyone allied with the Federation is taught its universal language. Stars, even our enemies know the basics. What she speaks isn’t even an old dialect!”
“Shouldn’t you be able to communicate telepathically with her?” Auro asked our fallen healer. “Maybe she was captured as a youngling and was never taught our languages? That would explain her deformed wings and the marks on her body.”