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“Exactly. I’m not so stupid when it comes to this war thing as you thought I was.

Now I know why we lost. The great battle strategies our side had could do nothing once our moles ferreted back our weaknesses. I won’t forgive her for that. I lost a lot of good friends during the war. I lost my heart during the war. She’ll pay for that.”

“Your heart?” His eyes darkened.

“Yes. My heart. I lost my first love in the war. I lost the man I was going to marry.”

“Did you? I’m sorry.”

She laughed. “In a way, Talia helped you. Her actions inadvertently killed the man I loved so you could kidnap me and make me your wife. Had those events not occurred, I would be married, and it wouldn’t be to you.”

Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 55

Chapter Ten

“I am amazed at your ability to wound me time and time again.” He perused her face, looking for some form of regret in her eyes. He could find none, and it disappointed him further. He did love her. He didn’t know how many times he would have to continue trying to convince her of that but he would not give up or give in.

“I only speak the truth. I didn’t mean to maliciously cause you grief.”

“I’m sure you didn’t.” His voice sounded hollow to his ears. He couldn’t stay long with her, he had more war planning to do. Earth had turned out to be a remarkably cunning adversary. He had believed himself to have the element of surprise, and now they had taken that power away from him.

“I’m hungry.” Her admission was a soft whisper on her lips.

“As am I. We should retire to the dining hall for our meal. I have instructed the servants to make up a meal that is palatable to your Terran tastes.”

“Wonderful. As long as I can keep it down with the way my stomach is rolling.”

“I think you’ll find it will settle on your stomach. I’ve instructed them to keep the menu bland and light.” The room was beginning to become claustrophobic to him. He needed to get out and get some fresh air. No matter how hard he tried to give her everything she could ever want, she still found a way to push him away. He would have to continue pushing back, hoping that eventually she would let her guard down and allow him into her heart. She had to know that he wasn’t going to let her go. He’d come too far to backtrack now.

“Bread and water then?” He knew from the sound of her voice that she was in jest, yet her barb still hit a raw nerve.

“I keep telling you that you are no prisoner.”

“I know. And I appreciate you telling me that even if I can’t quite believe it.”

“Perhaps my mother was wrong when she told you that you weren’t able to kill me. Should I be worried? Do I need to watch my back when you’re in the room?”

“I would never kill you like that. I like my opponents to have a fair fight. Killing in cold blood has never been in my nature.”

“It hasn’t?”

“Do I look like a murderer to you?”

“You look a pretty sad sight to me right now. You’re paler than I’ve seen you, and your eyes are fairly dull. You’re in no shape to give me a fight, and I’m in no mood for one, come to think of it. I do not want you to hate me, nor do I want you to feel uncomfortable around me. I want the air to be clean between us.”

“You should have thought of that when you kept those secrets about my uncle and Talia from me. Now that we’re back on that subject, I want to see Talia before you make your final judgment on her.”

“You want me to send her back to Earth, so I will.”

“You relent too easily, Aries. You want her blood, I know it. And if Mathias was a member of the Royal House as you say, then others shall want her blood as well. I don’t want your people to be enraged with you because you set her free.”

Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 56

“They won’t. They never question my decisions. They will know that I’ve set her free for a reason, even if she doesn’t suspect.”

“That’s the problem. She might suspect. You’ll have to listen to my counsel on this. I say you give her a drink with a biological tracker in it, then, let her think her craftiness has ensured her escape. She’ll go for it. She always has had an arrogant streak in her. Why do you think she probably volunteered for this job?”

“Mathias selected her as his wife.”

“Did he really? How sure are you of that? Did he pick her out like you picked me? Because your little fiasco really was a bolt out of the blue for me, I never saw you coming. Talia on the other hand ….”

“I’ll have to make some inquiries.”

“Do that. I could probably get the information you need, if my head didn’t currently feel as if it was going to split in half.”

“You’ll feel better soon.”

“I’ve always been a slow healer. I think it will surprise you how slowly I heal.

There wouldn’t be any possibility of you getting your hands on some Earth medicine would there? I don’t know how much longer I can go taking your stuff. I feel like I’m looped out.”

“I’ll see what I can do. We’ll have to have access to Earth medicine soon anyway.

Your women will need it when you go into childbirth.”

He liked the way her jaw dropped at that remark of his. Finally, he’d gotten back at her.

“You are good.” She smiled. He couldn’t help but return her smile.

“Now we should go and retire to the dining hall. No doubt my mother is waiting in great anticipation of us.”

“I can’t go there like this. Why can’t my food just be brought to us? Me, I mean. I have a bandage wrapped around my head, I’m in my night wear, and you said yourself that I look a sad and sorry sight.”

“All the more reason to make sure that members of my staff see you. They’ll be more inclined to sympathize and accept you at that point.”

“I’m not certain I’ll ever be accepted by your people or by your family.”

“They’ll accept you. Don’t worry. I always get my way.”

“I know. It’s one of your rather less refreshing qualities.”

Now it was his turn to smile. He had chosen his wife well.

* * * *

Startling. She was actually enjoying his company. He had given her his support, and she had taken it eagerly. But she was going to put her foot down when it came to him parading her in front of his staff in her nightclothes!

“I won’t step a foot further, Aries. I’m staying here. If you are unwilling to bring my food to me here, then I will readily go without food.”

“You need to feed your body.”

“There you go again. You’re giving orders. And here I go again. I’m not going to take them. I’m a stubborn assed mule when it comes right down to it.”

“Will it make you feel better if I say that only a few people will be attending to us?”

“It might.” She narrowed her eyes at him. He was at it again. He was trying his Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 57

best to convince her to see it
his
way again.

“Then let us go.” She looked down at her bare feet.

“Slight problem. I’m not prancing through the palace in my bare feet. That’s taking being a barefoot Princess to a whole new level.”

He guided her back toward the wardrobe. “One of these slippers should fit you.”

“I feel like a fairytale princess.”

“You certainly look like a fairytale princess. I want you to get back to your same vibrant self, Freya. The dull glint in your eyes and the pallor of your skin really does alarm me. Just try your best to get well, and then we can pick where we left off with our arguing when you are better.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Slowly, her heart was softening toward him. Before she knew it, she’d be head over heels in love with him. She was on a downward spiral, there was no fighting it, and she had to face her feelings toward him.

* * * *

The dining hall looked like something straight from a fairytale. Rose colored, marble pillars lined the room, and crystal chandeliers lit the space. Frescos covered the ceilings, and portraits of the past royal families lined the walls. She felt as if she was in a moment of pure beauty.

“My mother is sitting at the other end. She’ll appear once my father arrives. I have no idea what’s made her want to walk around in invisible mode these last few months, but I think it has something to do with the oncoming war. She doesn’t like the fighting aspect of ruling. Even though she is a strong and formidable woman, she doesn’t like death.”

“Who would?”

“The war will bring death to our worlds. She is already mourning.”

“Your mother is a wise woman. But think of the death you will bring to Earth’s many worlds.”

He thinned his lips. His lavender colored eyes sparked. His dark hair looked so ruffled that she resisted the urge to smooth it with her hands.

“Your father, why doesn’t he rule in your place? Your mother has placed a lot of responsibility on your shoulders.”

A light shimmered, the Empress appeared. “His father is not of the hereditary line of inheritance. His mother did not lay the responsibility on his shoulders, until he was ready for it. I assure you, Freya, my son was an adult when I gave him control over our vast armies. Before that, I ruled alone, and I ruled well. My husband was always in this marriage for the love he had for me. He is an artist, he has no heart for ruling. I’ve never had to worry about a power struggle with my husband, and in a way that has been a relief for our marriage. There are times, however, when I wished for his counsel.”

“Was someone just talking about me?” Freya turned around at the sound of
the
voice. It resembled Aries’s voice so much that it nearly gave her the goose pimples.

He looked like Aries as well. He wore long robes resembling that of a wizard’s robes from so many of the fairytales, and his long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail and clasped with a Celtic looking barrette.

“Ah. The lovely Freya.” He bowed low. “I am your humble servant, Lysander D’Halen-D’Raven.”

“Not Lord D’Halen-D’Raven?”

Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 58

“Well, I guess, yes. However, let’s disregard formalities in lieu of more personal addresses. I like your name, and since I plan on calling you, Freya, you may call me Lysander.”

“Lysander it is.” She smiled. He was a man that oozed warmth. He looked as if he had paint on his fingers, and a smudge of something pink was on his cheeks. He was a man full of life, and she could understand why Aries’s mother had fallen in love with him. He didn’t seem as hard as Aries, but then, Aries was a war general, his father was a man of the arts.

“I would love to visit your planet. The art you have there would give me great insight on the history of art in our culture.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I follow.”

“Aries has told you that our people once inhabited Earth didn’t he?”

“Yes, thousands of years ago.”

“We left an imprint on your people, and I wanted to see how much of our artistic ways bled over into your culture. It would be an honor.”

“You resemble the ancient Indo-European cultures of our world. So, I can understand why you think you’ve left an indelible imprint on our world.”

Lysander chuckled, nodding his head. “I can see why you fascinate Aries. I trust you’re feeling better? Aries tells me you took quite the hard knock on the head. I’ve been off in a far province of ours giving lectures about one of our greatest artisans.”

Aries sighed. “You should be taking more interest in our space faring affairs, Father.”

“Yes, yes. I’ve heard quite a lot about your recent escapades with The Doorway to the Stars traveling device. I always told your mother that you’d bring our peoples into the next great war.”

“I can’t believe that even you are anticipating war!”

“I don’t anticipate it, my darling Freya.” He sighed. Lysander walked over to the chair next to his wife and sat down. “I merely knew it was inevitable. Once your Earth compatriots took the first strike against us by bewitching our women and sterilizing them, we were put on this path. This Manifest Destiny that Earth has taken on, must be stopped.

We are the only ones that can stop them. I am an artist, Freya, but I can still recognize wrongdoers when I see them. Your government has strayed to far from the true path of its predecessors. Now they need to start learning their lesson. I applaud everything that Aries has planned.”

“You should have attended the meeting, Father. I won’t have to take the conflict to Earth. They’re coming to us.”

“Sorry?” Lysander looked perplexed. He looked around. “When will our meal be coming? I’m famished. My day of painting has given me quite the roaring appetite.”

She rolled her eyes. Aries’s father had his head in the clouds in the worst way. He was an incorrigible dreamer.

“I said ….” Aries and she walked to the other end of the table and sat down in matching chairs. They were high backed and looked as if they were lined in silk, she was grateful for the cushion under her butt. When she’d knocked her head, she’d bruised up the rest of her body as well. When she’d told Aries that she was a slow healer, she hadn’t been kidding.

“I think you should start getting ready for them to arrive within the next few days.

Doorway to the Stars by Marly Mathews 59

Your intelligence might tell you their ETA is in one week, but with my experience with Earth’s present Government, I would say that they are always early.”

She spoke her bit of advice without even realizing she was talking, until she had already done her damage.

“Why, she’s settling right in, Aries. She’s already trying to help you like a good mate does. There’s hope yet that the two of you will achieve the level of intimacy your mother and I have.”

“I’ll take that into consideration, Freya.” Aries gave her a soft smile.

“Thank you.” She didn’t know why she was being so cordial. The only thing she did know was that she had to try to keep the Gaian people from being massacred. Earth was on the rampaging warpath. They had no doubt given their officers one instruction-to leave no witnesses this time around. They wanted the Gaian’s gone for good. If they were wiped from existence, they would no longer pose a threat to Earth. And, if that happened, there would be no hope for Earth. The current Government would continue to rule. They had abolished democratic elections, eliminating any hope for a new government to come and right the wrongs of the old one. They would be doomed to be ruled by an absolute government. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She had to put her best foot forward in fighting the regime. And when she put her best foot forward, she gave her heart and soul into the task.