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“You should already know. You lost so many of your own during the war … I thought you’d like to finally have your revenge.”

“The only way I’ll get revenge is if I get to kill the bastards that put my uncle in prison. That’s all I care about. The soldiers that were fighting us during the war were only doing what they thought was right. They were only following the chain of command.”

He gave her one last long look, opened the door, and left the room.

“You bastard!”

Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 45

The painkillers in her system weren’t making her at all drowsy. Instead, she couldn’t seem to close her eyes for any longer than five minutes. She wondered if it was her human genetics having an adverse reaction to the medication. She probably should have mentioned that to Aries … if only she hadn’t been so damned hotheaded.

Breathing deeply, she tried to calm her rattled nerves. She felt a deep gnawing pain at the thought of her uncle not being alive. Problem was, she’d suffered so many heartbreaks that she had numbed herself to the thought of his death. It would hit her in full force in a couple of days. Hit her so hard that she would feel like retreating to her bedroom and never coming out. Then, her grief would ebb, and she’d have her memories to cling to. She had some pretty great memories of her uncle. He’d been such a caring man ….

“Snap out of it, Freya.” Her voice echoed through the empty room, making the hairs on the nape of her neck stand on end. Rubbing the back of her neck, she threw back the covers on her bed, and swung her legs over the side. The bed was levitated off the floor. Her eyes widened and her heart stopped for a brief second, when she realized she was literally floating in mid air. They had obviously mastered a great deal of technology despite their ancient looking tapestries, and some of their archaic ways.

“Okay, so this is weird.” She sighed, her throat constricted. She’d gotten in way over her head, and she didn’t know how she’d be able to manage to get herself out of this bloody mess. Could she make the jump to the floor without injuring herself further?

She knew she had to get out of this bed, and then, she had to get out of the room.

From there, she had to figure out a way to get back to Earth to warn them of the incoming attack. There was just no other way. She had to do her duty to her home planet, and forget any sort of duty or emotions she might have acquired for Aries. Under normal circumstances, she would have no problem making the jump, but her brain felt foggy and her body felt sluggish. Maybe she should just bide her time and wait until her body had healed enough to make the long journey ahead.

Aries had mentioned their people being the first ones to master the doorway to the stars planetary traveling device, maybe she could find it, and travel back to Earth that way. It was worth a try. And, where there was a will there was a way. She had plenty of will, now she had to show Aries that she matched him in every way.

She looked around for some sort of step platform that would aid her in getting off the bed.

“Brilliant.” Here she was talking to herself, and she had a head injury that still needed to heal. She had to be crazy to even contemplate her escape. She was in no physical condition to put herself through such a strain, and yet, she didn’t have any choice.

“Choice is a very tricky thing, isn’t it?”

The female voice came out of the air. She whipped her head around, making her head throb with pain.

“Who’s there?”

Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 46

“Someone.” A trickling silvery laugh, only served to annoy her further.

She inhaled. “Okay, look, I’m not really in a mood to talk to thin air.”

“Yes, you’d rather talk to yourself, wouldn’t you, Freya?”

“What’s up with all of these rhetorical questions? They’re giving me an ass ache on top of my gigantic headache.”

“I would advise that you rethink the foolhardy decision you are about to make.

You do not have the stamina needed to jump the distance from the bed to the floor.”

“Who are you?”

“Why don’t you guess? I’m not from Earth, if that clue will help you.”

“I doubt I’ll meet very many Terrans here on the capital planet of Gaia.”

“I would think you’d be correct, although our Gaian males have been bringing back quite a few females from Earth.”

Dryness prickled at the back of her throat. Licking her lips, she wished for a glass of water.

“You are thirsty. I shall get you a drink of water. And this time, you’ll be drinking water … not Gaian Vodka.” A hint of amusement bled through the nameless woman’s voice.

Freya could hear water being poured into a glass. She scanned the room and finally located a table with a water pitcher and glasses on it. The water pitcher was raised in the air, almost as if someone had a hold of it and they were pouring her a glass of water. So, one mystery was solved, she wasn’t losing her mind, there was another physical entity in the room with her, albeit the entity had to be in stealth mode.

“You’ll probably be wanting some sustenance soon as well. You worried Aries greatly, when you were so gravely injured. He’s quite in a dither about the bounty that’s been placed on your head. I assure you, he will eradicate the threat against your life.

Aries has a way of making trouble go away.”

“I don’t need Aries to protect me.”

“At the moment, you don’t sound or look very convincing. You are a woman that is strong, and I applaud you for your independent spirit, I have one myself, so I can’t fault you for your headstrong ways, but I will tell you to err on the side of caution.”

“I like to throw caution to the wind.”

“That is a weakness of yours, one which you would be well advised to fight.”

Freya watched in a mixture of surprise and horror as the water glass started to float toward her. Against her better judgment, she pulled her legs up covering them again with the bedcovers.

“You will not be sorry that you have fought your inclination to flee.”

“
Flee?
” Her thoughts swirled in her head. She knew she had a raging pain in her head, she could have sworn that she’d never once mentioned her thoughts of escape aloud.

The water glass stopped its voyage. She squinted her eyes, hoping to see some sort of silhouette or shadow.

“I meant to say ….” The woman’s voice faded.

“You meant to say exactly what you said. You were just hoping that I wouldn’t put two and two together to make four.” She pursed her lips. “I want to know who the hell you are and why the hell you’re spying on me. Have your kind lost all sense of decorum and scruples when it comes to giving an individual the amount of privacy they Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 47

deserve? Huh?”

“You do not need to raise your voice. I can hear you loud and clear. I’ve been watching over you for most of the day and night these last two weeks. Aries would not have left to attend to his duties as Regent, if I had not agreed to watch over you.”

“Now I need a bloody watchdog. Fantastic.”

“I would not call what I was doing, a watchdog. I was protecting you. I was making sure you did not slip away into that dark cavern that we all must journey to at the end of our lives.”

“I wish you hadn’t. I would have preferred death to a life of serving Aries as his breeder.”

“Breeder? I don’t think you are using the right term. Aries loves you deeply. He would do anything for you. You disrespect him by saying he is only using you as a

‘
breeder
.” The woman sounded angry and the sound in her voice plainly described her utter and complete disgust at the thought of her viewing Aries as her slaver.

“Aries took me against my will. He kidnapped me and made me ....” She broke off suddenly as the full recollection of what had transpired between Aries and her hit her in full force.

“You can’t say it because even you don’t believe it.” The triumph in the woman’s voice grated on her nerves.

“I’d really feel a lot better about having a conversation with a complete stranger if I could see said complete stranger!”

She sat forward. The glass of water had now reached her. It floated inches in front of her face. Cautiously, she reached out and grabbed a hold of the glass. Tipping it to her mouth, she sipped the water to taste it. This tasted like water, but then so had the Gaian vodka.

“You are drinking water. We would not bring you this far back from the valley of death only to poison you in the end.”

She snorted. “I wouldn’t bank my life on that. You’re about to attack my kind, how do you expect me to trust you? Even now you keep yourself veiled in secrecy, hiding yourself from me for some reason beyond my comprehension.”

“You should have told Aries about how you felt. I will have to get the doctors in here again to access your situation.”

“I’m fine. I only felt a bit woozy … I’ll be fine. It’s not as if I’m going into some sort of arrest or anything. I’ve felt worse, I’ll weather this storm. Don’t you worry your little invisible head. And while I’d admire your ability to change the subject, I would not be distracted easily. I might have almost had my head knocked loose two weeks ago, but I’m well on the mend, and my faculties seem to be in tip-top condition.”

“You are right. You do have a keen and cunning mind. You also have the ability of great duplicity.”

“I’m no traitor. Don’t even say it again. I take great offense at that. I would never betray Aries.”

“And yet, you would run away from him, and tell your commanders of his plotting against them? I wouldn’t call that loyalty.”

Sourness invaded her mouth. She drank down the rest of the water. And then, tried to figure out where she could put the empty glass.

“I’ll take that.” The glass was wrenched out of her hands. “You lie to yourself, Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 48

Freya. Though you might have a sweet soul, you will do whatever it takes to stay true to what you believe in. And at the moment you don’t truly believe in Aries. You don’t believe that he loves you, and you can’t fathom why
he
would want you. You are so used to being discarded at the drop of the hat that you are now painting my Aries with the same brush.”

“For not being Terran you sure do use a lot of our sayings.”

“I have researched your culture. Why would that surprise you? We need to know our enemy in order to emerge victorious.”

“I’m not used to being discarded. Everyone has left me because they had no choice. They were killed.”

“Yes. Even though you don’t want to admit it, some have left you, and they are still alive.”

“Wait a minute. Let’s rewind, shall we? It’s no use staying hidden from me. You just gave away your true identity. Though I must say I’m quite humbled to be in your presence,
Empress
.”

The silvery laughter met her ears again. She frowned. Even though it was quite a lovely sound, her patience was wearing thin at the moment. It had to be her injury that was making her feel so damn bitchy.

“You are quite impressive. Now I truly know why my son selected you. Your brilliance precedes you, for a Terran.”

“That’s great. You’ll never let me live down what I am, will you? So, there’s basically no point in me staying here. Once I get well enough for space travel, you’ll have to help me find my way back home. You don’t need to tell me that you think I’m not good enough for your son. I just heard it in your voice. And I can’t really blame you. I’m not familiar to you, I have conflicting values, and I don’t want to be with your son. You only want what’s best for your son, and I’m not the best wife your son could have. So, since we share a fragile understanding, you have to allow me to return to where I belong.”

“As soon as Aries lost his heart to you, you were right where you belong.”

“You’re impossible. Your son and you both suffer from the same affliction.”

“And what is that?”

“You suffer from the sickness of not taking no for an answer. You want everything your way no matter what you might think of me. Your dislike for me will continue to grow, and what will you do once I’ve had a child by your son? You will see me in your grandchild, and you might just come to resent that. Why don’t you just keep your line pure? I’m sure there’s a Gaian female somewhere that could have at least one child with Aries.”

“I doubt it. As he no doubt already told you, your people have sterilized the age groups of our Gaian females that are able to bear children. Earth knew what they were doing, when they put that sterilization agent in the air. They knew that almost all of our childbearing females would be there. Alas, the ones that were not taken in by the enemy are too old. The younger generation has betrayed us. We need to look toward the future.”

“Nice. So, basically, I’m still a prisoner here as far as you’re concerned. I might have all of the comforts of home, but I will never be trusted, and you will always view me as an outsider in your midst.”

“You can earn my trust. I do not think you are a vile creature. Quite the opposite.

Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 49

You will make a fine wife to Aries and a loving mother to his children. Your heart is pure when it comes to that … you desire children, you long for them. Why don’t you just allow Aries to make you happy? We will not enslave the population of Earth, I would not allow that. Slavery is against all of my ideals. However, I will encourage Aries in all of his endeavors. I will completely support his hankering for war.”

“You named him well, then. The hankering for war must have been in his blood since he was born.”

“You are referring to your ancient God of War. He was a distant relative of mine.

Yes, you are quite right, he was quite bloodthirsty. But the Royal House of Gaia has changed a lot since then. What more could be expected, several thousand years have passed.”