Whimsy (19 page)

 
“I didn’t
hear any talking,” he said but relaxed his stance. The light in his hands
vanished.

 
“Guards,
seize him. Take him to the dungeon. We will transfer him to the prison tomorrow
after his trial.”

 
This was
out of control. Her father’s words left no doubt to the fact that he would find
Gaedrian
guilty.
Gaedrian
allowed himself to be led away. “I will fix this,” she called after him.

 
She was
dragged from the room by her parents. Veracity trailed them at a run.
“Oh, my!
What was he, Whimsy?”

 
She
whipped her head around to glare at her sister. She would focus on the most
unimportant matter. They led her to their bedroom. Faith ordered Veracity to
return to her own bedroom. Veracity groused but closed her mouth after one look
at her mother’s serious expression.

 
“Whimsical,
what were you thinking? This is what you do after I took a stance to keep you
from being banished? If I hadn’t had him hauled away, it would bring your
innocence into question.”

 
“You
wouldn’t listen. I tried telling you that
Gaedrian
wasn’t responsible for what happened. He was unaware that they purchased me
until later. He let me go.”

 
“He let
you go? Then how is it that you lost your virginity?”

 
“Tradition
demanded that they bring me back. He didn’t hurt me. For weeks, I waited for
rescue, but no one came. He loves me and I love him.”

 
“He loves
you, does he? Has he offered to marry you?”

 
“N-not
yet, but he will.”

 
Her
father sneered. “Why should he?”

 
She
glanced at her mother before explaining
fate
and how
Gaedrian
came to choose her. Her parents
seemed no more understanding than before. Instead, they seemed appalled. “And
this is the type of man you would wish us to give you to in marriage? Supposing
he ever proposes, that is. They are little more than barbarians,” her mother
said. She shook her head. “No. We’ve heard you out on this one, Whimsical, but
I agree with your father in this matter. He should be imprisoned for what he
did to you.”

 
Her
cheeks burned as she said, “He didn’t hurt me. Every moment in his arms was
bliss.”

 
“You said
he was drugged. How do you know you weren’t drugged also?” Raul shook his head.
“No. We cannot allow his actions to go unpunished. You are too important to the
colony now with True gone. I cannot allow you to continue this dalliance.
Serri
has made me aware that he would not object to
continuing the betrothal.”

 
“No! I
will not marry that tiny coward.”

 
“You’ve
always liked
Serri
,” her mother pointed out.

 
“I love
Gaedrian
and I will have no other!”

 
Both of
her parents were looking at her like she was crazy. She couldn’t blame them.
She’d never defied them, never given them cause to worry. She tried to calm her
breathing so that she would sound convincing.

 
“You are
obviously suffering from Stockholm Syndrome,” Raul stated calmly. “In the
morning, you will begin to see a therapist. In the meantime, you should return
to your room. We will see to our guests.”

 
“About
Gaedrian
––“

 
“We are
finished discussing this.” He opened the door and called to one of the guards.
“Please escort Princess Whimsical to her bedroom. I want someone posted at her
door until I come for her in the morning.”

 
Whimsy
ground her teeth together in frustration. She knew they were doing this because
they loved her and believed themselves to be protecting her. But she was an
adult. She didn’t need or want anyone making her decisions for her. She would
try again in the morning at
Gaedrian’s
“trial.” They
weren’t willing to listen to her tonight but they would have to in the morning.

 
She
followed the guard to her room. Once there, she paced the small confines. She
was far too keyed up to sleep. Her third go around the chamber and she slammed
into the hard wall of Dark’s chest. She squeaked.

 
“Stop
doing that!”

 
“You have
to help me free him.”

 
“I will,
but at the moment I can’t even free myself. If you’d use a door, you’d know I
have security keeping me here.”

 
“I can
handle that.”

 
“No!” She
grabbed his arm. “We handle this my way with no bloodshed. I will speak at
Gaedrian’s
trial tomorrow. I need to plan my speech.”

 
“No
offense, but your parents are beyond listening to pretty speeches. If we don’t
get
Gaedrian
out now, tonight, there’s going to be an
apocalypse tomorrow.”

 
She shook
her head. “I don’t understand.”

 
“Let me
tell you a little story about a planet called Dark Sphere.”

 
“Your home world?
Is this really the time for stories?”

 
He
continued as if she had not interrupted. “The ruling family has long been the
Dark family, thus the name Dark Sphere. Many of this planet’s inhabitants are
known to have special talents. Some can tell the future. At the birth of any
child into the royal family, a fortune teller is brought in to read their aura
and foretell their future. The last family, before the planet…disappeared, had
two sons and a daughter. The oldest boy was called Parker, the middle son was
Raven, and the youngest, the girl, was Symphony. The night Raven was born there
was a horrible storm and the fortune teller almost died in her attempt to make
it to the palace for the birth.

 
“But make
it she did. Her prediction, when it came, was not the usual benign affair about
fortune and love. She said that Prince Raven would one day bring about the ruin
of Dark Sphere. Well, of course, the king and queen did not care for her
prediction and had her thrown out of the palace. This offended the fortune
teller and she spread her tale far and wide.

 
“Those
who would have sought to take the place of the royal family pounced upon this
chance to overtake the crown. The king thought to protect his son and sent him
away to another planet where he could be raised as a warrior. He thought this
would end the matter.

 
“He was
wrong. The people were terrified that one day the prediction would come true.
And so they slaughtered the king, the queen, Prince Parker and even little
Princess Symphony.

 
“Only
Prince Raven was spared as he was unreachable. They sent an envoy to capture
the boy, but he was protected by the warriors. When word reached the boy, his
pain and anger were immeasurable.

 
“Never
mentioned before was the fact that Prince Raven was…very talented. The king
feared it would only make matters worse. Perhaps he was quite right.” Dark
shrugged. “In any event, in his rage the young prince cursed his home world.
And overnight, it disappeared.”

 
Whimsy
gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

 
Dark
reached into his shirt and pulled out a necklace. The pendant was faintly
oblong and flat. It appeared to be made of gold. The surface was etched with
cloud shapes. As she watched, the clouds scudded over the oval. She swallowed
as she realized what she was looking at. This was what was left of Dark Sphere.

 
His cold
eyes met hers over the pendant. “So you see
,
the fortune
teller was right. And now you know why the foretelling of the future can be
dangerous.” He returned the necklace so that it was hidden beneath his collar.
“I consider
Gaedrian
to be family. If I would do this
to my home world, what do you think I will do to yours?”

 
She
shivered. He was basically only a boy. To wield such power was a great
responsibility. He had also suffered so much loss at his young age. “I-I won’t
let you kill anyone.”

 
“Can you
stop me?”

 
A knock
interrupted them. Veracity entered. Her mouth formed an “O” when she saw that
she was not alone. “Maybe,” Whimsy said in response to Dark’s question,
reaching up to undo her hair. “Veracity, I’m going to need to borrow your
dress. I’ll explain, but please hurry. Dark, I know you’ve seen it all before,
but could you turn to face the wall.”

Chapter Twenty-One

 
“I prefer
the other one.”

 
Whimsy
halted outside of the glass and steel cell where they had housed
Gaedrian
. The ceiling was so low that when he stood he was
slightly hunched. She glanced down at the puffy lavender dress she wore. The
guard had barely glanced at her. He’d seen the dress and assumed she was
Veracity. “I’ll change once we get you out of here.”

 
Dark
appeared at her side. “How do these doors work?”

 
“They
open with a card key or with-“

 
He placed
his hand over the lock and the door swung open. She glared at him. “
Why
did you need me?”

 
“Do you
think he would leave without you?”

 
Gaedrian
crushed her to his chest and kissed the top of her
head. When he held out his hand, she took it. She was ambivalent about leaving
while there was this fission between her and her parents. But she knew if she
didn’t leave right now, she’d never get another chance.

 
“I’m
sorry Whimsical, but I can’t let you leave.”

 
“
Serri
?
What are you doing here?”
Her eyes dropped to his hand. He was holding a laser gun.

 
“I
suspected you might try something like this and I just couldn’t risk it. Now
come to me so that I don’t have to hurt your big friend here.” He gestured
towards the gun. “I assure you, it’s set to kill and not stun.”

 
Dark
stepped in front of her. “Please say I can kill him?”

 
“I don’t
know who and what you are, but I will kill you if you interfere. This is
between me and Whimsy. I’m her betrothed and she belongs to me.”

 
Gaedrian
growled. “I do not know what the fuck that means,
but
Gaedrianna
belongs to me. She is my wife.”

 
She
jerked at the lie.

 
“If I
believed you, it would mean I would have to kill you. Whimsy will marry me and
then I will become ruler of C7.”

 
It
finally clicked with her why he had been proclaiming his love for her. He
wanted to be king. She shifted from behind Dark so that she could see him.
Gaedrian
growled and pulled her back.
“
Serri
.
That will never happen. I refuse to marry
you.”

 
“What
part of the fact that I have a gun don’t you people understand? I am in control
of this situation.”

 
She heard
Serri’s
scream and then heard the clatter of metal
hitting metal. The gun came clattering her way. It was red and glowing. It
disappeared seconds later.
Serri
was gripping his
hand. Blood dripped from his curled palm. “Dark, can you heal him?”

 
“I don’t
want to. He’ll heal on his own and the scar will serve as a reminder.”

 
“We have
no more time to waste,”
Gaedrian
said. “Dark, lead us
out of here.” As he passed
Serri
, he casually flung
his fist out, hitting the other man squarely in the jaw and sending him
crashing unconscious to the floor. “Sorry. Could not resist,” he muttered.
 

 
Gaedrian
didn’t relax until they were safely in the larger
ship and headed on their way back to C21. Whimsy could see the tension visibly
drain from him. He didn’t want a violent confrontation any more than she did.
They’d stayed at the helm of the ship and watched it pull away, Whimsy sitting
in
Gaedrian’s
lap the entire time. She could feel his
arousal but he said nothing.

   
When
he led her back to his chamber, he backed her against the wall and covered her
mouth with his, his tongue plunging deep. She moaned and wrapped her arms
around him, her fingers burying themselves in the thick black waves of his
hair. Oh, how she loved him.