Princess for the Alien Commander by Tammy Walsh

Sofia

I scoopedup the dust that’d fallen across the bedroom floor and cleared it up so no one would know how we managed to escape.

Then, I tied the blankets together, forming a long rope, and together with Ikmale, tossed it out the window.

“Why did you do that?” Ikmale said.

“So they’ll think we climbed our way out of here. We don’t want them getting curious and discovering the secret passageways, do we?”

I reached up for the torch sconce which I knew would be tucked inside a crevice on the wall.

I found it and pulled it down.

I felt along its side until I found the button I was looking for.

The light the torch emitted was bright and Ikmale immediately turned away from it, covering his eyes until I reduced its brightness.

“This way,” I said.

It was a single long passageway that headed down at a discreet angle.

I kept my hand on the wall and felt along it as I stepped gingerly down the incline.

Slip and I may not get up again—not until I reached the bottom of the slide.

I changed out of my wedding dress and into the robe Ikmale had handed me.

It was loose and baggy, and although I was naked underneath, I would have felt even more exposed if I was still wearing my torn wedding dress.

At least the robe had no chance of slipping off.

“How did you learn about this place?” Ikmale asked.

“My brother,” I said. “He always liked creeping through them. He liked sneaking up on our unsuspecting parents and playing pranks on the servants. He’d always been playful.

“One day when he got out of bed, I followed him and found him messing with the fireplace in the room that’d been converted into our prison. My brother told me I couldn’t tell anyone about the passageways. If I did, we’d both be in big trouble.”

Much like many of the early memories I had of this palace, I thought it wasn’t a memory at all but remnants of a dream I’d had once—a dream of a castle with secret passageways and adventures to be had around every corner.

What child didn’t want that place to be real?

What child didn’t want to live in a house full of servants to cater to their every wish?

I came to the end of our tunnel, which then split into a series of other tunnels that funneled off into the darkness like strands of a spider’s web.

“We have to head down—” I said.

Ikmale bumped into me from behind, not realizing I’d come to a stop.

I felt his toned body press against my back and the unmistakable length of him through his pants leg that leaned into my ass.

Even in its rested state it was intimidating in girth and size.

“Sorry,” he said.

“It’s… fine,” I said, a little flustered, and tugged my dressing gown a little tighter about myself.

A stiff breeze wound through the cavernous underground hallways, whistling over the craggy walls.

I shivered, and Ikmale was quick to shrug off his jacket and drape it over my shoulders.

I was about to decline his kind offer when I felt his warmth through the material.

I gave him a nod of thanks.

The change in Ikmale was truly breathtaking.

In the forest, he’d seemed so in control of himself.

The ultimate leader.

To compare that with his terrifying mask of outrage after we found ourselves locked in that room together, I couldn’t believe it was even the same creature.

When he pinned me to the bed and tore at my dress, I feared the worst.

I felt certain he would finish what my father had started earlier in his study.

Then, suddenly, he stopped.

At first, I didn’t understand why, not until he asked about my bruises.

The muscles in his face unwound gradually until all the hatred and bile had been wrung out and he was left with nothing but shock.

He returned to that calm and collected persona I’d met in the forest.

Which was the real him? I wondered.

Ikmale peered down one passageway and then another.

“How do you know which way to go? They all look the same.”

“Practice,” I said with a grin. “Hours and hours of practice. I couldn’t describe to you which way to go, never mind draw a map of the place, but if I’m here, I can sense which is the right way. Funny, isn’t it? How the body remembers things.”

I felt along the wall and turned left.

“I had no idea there were secret passageways in the palace,” Ikmale said.

“Nobody does. It’s one of the closest guarded secrets in the kingdom. If any of my father’s enemies learned of their existence…”

Ikmale nodded in understanding.

I wondered if, now that he knew of their existence, he would be one of those enemies to make use of them one day.

I shoved the concern out of my mind and focused on the route we were taking.

“I’m taking us to Camila first,” I said. “She’s going to come with us.”

“Camila?”

“My nanny. She raised me and is just about the only person I trust.”

I could tell he didn’t want to take the risk to head back into the palace, but he gave his concerns no voice and simply nodded.

What choice did he have anyway?

I was the only one who knew the way through these tunnels and if left to his own devices, he could end up heading in circles until he starved to death.

“It’s just down here,” I said.

I felt along the wall and counted my steps as I went.

There was an internal logic with the tunnels.

They didn’t only exist deep beneath the palace, but slipped between some of the rooms and drifted under others.

It required concentration to negotiate properly.

I took the next right and then an immediate left.

The trouble with these passageways was that there were as many dead ends as there were active ones.

I pressed my hand to the wall and rubbed the dampness between my fingers.

I frowned and sniffed it.

It smelled fresh, not stale as old water might have done.

Strange, I thought. I didn’t remember there being dampness on any of the walls before…

But that had been fifteen years ago.

There was no telling what sort of cracks and damage might have been done to the passageways in that time.

I ran a hand over the wall until I came to the wire I knew would be there.

I gripped it and gently pulled it back.

As it began to wind out, the fireplace shifted and the doorway opened.

The room on the other side was dark, the lights having already been extinguished.

Just like Camila to go to bed early—even on a special occasion as a royal wedding in the palace!

I slipped inside and crept over to the bed.

“Camila?” I said. “Are you there?”

I ran my hands over the blankets and was surprised to find they were perfectly smooth, having not been disturbed all night.

I cast about the room, afraid I might have picked the wrong tunnel, but I was certain it was the right one.

I had insisted Camila be given this guest bedroom as opposed to one in the servants’ quarters where she was supposed to stay.

Her suitcase tucked neatly under the bed was another sign this was indeed the right room.

“Camila? It’s Sofia. I’ve come to get you so we can escape. Camila?”

I rounded the bed but found the other half of the room was empty too.

She wasn’t in the bathroom either.

“Where is she?” Ikmale whispered.

“Not here,” I said.

“So, where is she?”

I considered where Camila might have headed after the party but for the life of me couldn’t think where she might have gone.

“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s not like her to be out. She’s usually so—”

Ikmale pressed his hand over my mouth and wrapped his other arm around me.

I struggled against his grip, fearful he might attempt to complete his earlier attack.

“Sh!” he hissed softly in my ear. “I think someone’s coming.”

I froze immediately and focused on listening.

I felt the soft warmth of his breath on the back of my neck and the strength of his body.

Then I heard it.

Footsteps outside, loud, as if the people walking didn’t care who heard them coming.

That ruled out Camila.

She moved quieter than a shadow.

Guards, then?

That was most likely, as the king wouldn’t have rested easy after having so many guests—and enemies—under the palace roof during the wedding.

Ikmale didn’t release me until the footsteps had passed.

I felt comfortable in his embrace, his strength protecting me from our enemies.

I hated to admit the effect it was having on me, the desire for him to lower his hand and slide it under the dressing gown, to cup my breast in his—

Stop it!

Stop it right now!

Now really wasn’t the time.

Never was the time!

He might have been my husband on paper but it didn’t mean I had to think of him that way!

Once the footsteps had passed, Ikmale released me.

“Sorry. I thought you might get their attention.”

Well, you certainly got mine!

I smoothed down the dressing gown and nodded.

“Yes. Right. Fine.”

I cleared my throat and looked up at him through my eyelashes.

“So, where’s this nanny of yours?” Ikmale said.

“I don’t know. But I have to find her.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? With all the guards around, do you really want to go creeping through the hallways? She could be anywhere.”

“I won’t leave her here!” I snapped.

Ikmale raised his hands to calm—and quieten—me down.

His eyes lit with an idea.

“Then leave her a note and put it somewhere only she can find it. Tell her about the passageway and how to get to my castle.”

I didn’t like the idea of leaving Camila behind, but when she could be anywhere, what other choice did I have?

I found a sheet of paper in the desk drawer and scribbled a note.

I hesitated before telling her about the secret passageway and decided against it.

If I made a single mistake with the directions, she could end up wandering them forever, trapped.

And who knew, maybe the passageways would be useful again at some point in the future.

I foldedup the letter and slid it into Camila’s Bible, knowing she would turn to it first after discovering I had disappeared.

She claimed to find many answers to her problems when she consulted the holy book.

Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t, but I knew for certain this time she really would find the solution inside!

I nodded to Ikmale, and together we headed back into the passageway, covering our tracks as we went.

I lead Ikmale down the long and seemingly infinite passageways, turning one after the other, concentrating not only on the tunnels we were taking but aligning them with the palace’s surrounding layout.

Occasionally, we froze, hearing a guard cough or sneeze or entering into a boring conversation they shared through the wall.

Finally, I came across the tunnel I was looking for.

It was long and lonely, without a single other tunnel branching off from it.

It also slanted at a gradual upward incline.

As we continued, Ikmale didn’t complain or second-guess me once.

I felt the fresh breeze on my face and smelled the strong hint of nature on its invisible fingers.

I reached what appeared to be a dead-end and once again pressed my hand to it.

I tried to move the vines aside but they wouldn’t give beneath my hands.

“What’s wrong?” Ikmale said.

“It’s this wall,” I said.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing… Except it’s not supposed to be here!”

I pressed against it harder and added my weight to it.

I hammered on it with my fist and there was a rattling noise but the wall didn’t move.

“Let me try,” Ikmale said.

He switched places with me.

I held the torch over my head, giving him enough light to see.

He ran his hands over the obstruction and flattened his palm before sliding his fingers through the wall.

It seemed like magic…

Until he grabbed the vines and wrenched them open.

They tore and snapped like ragged curtains beneath his strength.

He listened for a moment before poking his head out and peering left and right.

Then he stepped out and adopted a fighting stance.

I returned the torch to its holder and switched it off.

I followed him outside into the dense forest foliage.

I looked back at the tunnel entrance and found it exactly as it had been all those years ago—buried in the heart of a tree.

Only now, the tree was dead and dark vines had grown over the opening.

I got Ikmale to reassemble the vines so it covered the entrance once more.

I let him take the lead now.

The forest was, after all, his territory and not mine.

We headed deeper and deeper into the darkness every bit as seemingly endless as the tunnels.