Princess for the Alien Commander by Tammy Walsh

Sofia

I was halfwaydown the tunnel when the alarm blared.

It was a loud, shrill noise that sounded like all the forest’s birds had erupted into warning songs at once.

It was an unlovely sound, designed to get everyone’s attention.

It certainly had mine.

No doubt the alarm exploded the same way when the king discovered Ikmale and I had managed to escape.

I froze and turned to peer up the tunnel and in the direction of the king’s apartment.

“Ikmale…”

I ran back up the tunnel, my elbows and knees clumsily catching the craggy rocks on either side.

I reached the top and found the door had been shut already.

I felt for the lever to force it open when I heard the sharp bite of metallic weapons on the other side.

I hesitated.

The kauah were fighting the palace guards.

It was the only possible explanation.

What’d happened?

Had they been caught?

And what possible help could I be except to get in Ikmale’s way?

My hand was still wrapped about the entrance lever but I didn’t pull it.

Instead, I listened, waiting for one side or the other to win.

Please, Ikmale. Surrender!

There’s no need to die today!

Another loud grunt and a creature crashed into the fireplace, sending shudders up my arm.

I leaned forward and scrambled for a crack or crevice to peer through.

I found one—a hairline crack that gave little more than a keyhole-sized view of the room.

I arched my neck to get a better view of which side was winning, if Ikmale was injured or still fighting.

“That’s enough,” a deep voice said.

It was the king.

I changed the angle so it faced his direction.

I saw him there, fully dressed in his crown and jewels, a superior grin on his sinister face.

“Lay down your weapons and order your men to do the same. There’s no need for them to lose their lives. Not yet, anyway.”

I shifted once more to look for Ikmale on the other side of the room but one of the palace guards blocked my view.

I heard the clang of metal and the crack of wood as the ancient weapons were dropped to the floor.

“There,” the king said. “Isn’t that better? Now we can talk like civilized people. It must make quite a change as a kauah.”

Ikmale didn’t honor him with a response.

“Tell me,” the king went on, “what was the point of escaping my palace only to break back in a few days later? You could have saved yourself a whole lot of trouble by staying put and doing what was best for your people.”

“You have no concept of what is best for my people,” Ikmale said, spitting on the floor.

His voice quivered with anger but it was a relief for me to hear it.

To hear he was uninjured or at least still breathing.

Once more, I angled for a better view of him but still couldn’t make him out around the same palace guard’s back.

I shifted back to the king.

“Surely peace between our people is what we both want?” the king said.

“We want peace,” Ikmale said. “You want subjugation and tyrannical control. And you’re willing to betray both our people to do it.”

The king’s smile was thin.

“I have betrayed no one.”

I didn’t like the curl of his mouth or his creepy voice as he said it.

He was setting another trap, I thought.

A psychological one.

“Allying with the dras,” Ikmale growled. “And for what? To take vengeance on the kauah for the death of your son? It was as much his fault as ours.”

“I didn’t ally with those filthy dras! No more than I would ever sully myself with allying with your people!”

It took a moment for Ikmale to formulate a response.

“But the dras kidnapped the princess… They said—”

“They said what I told them to say,” the king said with a superior air. “I hired them to kidnap the princess and bring her to me. If I had her under my thumb, I could convince the people she was on my side and spread rumors about how you mistreated her, a daughter of their king.

“They would have risen up and turned against you. And when they came to batter down your door, you would have stood down because otherwise, I would harm Sofia. I knew you’d fallen for each other when you escaped the palace and my informants told me about your little late-night rendezvous.

“And do you want to know the most delicious part of this? The cherry on the top? Come close and I’ll tell you…”

If Ikmale leaned in close, I didn’t see it.

The king took great delight in saying his next few words:

“There never was any dras threat! None at all! The plan for them to invade the kingdom? Fake! I paid for the dras to walk through the forest carrying weapons as if they were planning an imminent attack. I paid those mercenaries to kidnap the princess. I had intended for her to be returned to me, but no matter. They shared my little piece of information that brought you here. You fell into my plan every step of the way!”

The blood drained from my face.

The dras never planned on invading the kingdom?

I braced myself on the wall.

It was a gut punch and made me question everything that’d transpired since my mother’s funeral.

Had any of it been real?

Had it all been part of the king’s devious plan?

No, I thought, some of it had been real.

I was a princess, for better or worse.

If it was all fake, he could have chosen anyone to play my role.

Instead, he’d chosen his real daughter.

I guess I was more convincing.

The feelings I had for Ikmale were real and true.

Those could not be denied.

Just as Ikmale still cared for me.

Even the king couldn’t make us forget those emotions.

Ikmale’s voice was haunted every bit as much as I felt.

“The dras… aren’t real?”

“Of course they’re real!” the king snapped. “They’re probably marauding some unsuspecting merchant ship out there as we speak. But not here. Not while I’m king.”

He stepped toward Ikmale, causing the soldier blocking my view to peel out of the way.

I could make Ikmale out.

He was on his knees, his hands tied behind his back.

A handful of his kauah soldiers had been slain and lay face down dead or dying.

Ikmale had suffered a handful of cuts to his face and arms but appeared to otherwise be in good health, if a little shocked at the king’s revelations.

The king crouched before Ikmale, who wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“You’ve failed your people, Ikmale. I don’t blame you. No one could have done any better in your situation. You simply cannot compete with superior human intellect, but no matter. Once the kauah come under my control, they shall be put in their place. They have their strengths and uses, just as every species does. They’ll be used to the best of their ability and will have you to thank for it.”

Ikmale was hardly listening.

His eyes flicked up, not quite meeting the king’s.

I’d never seen him look so beaten.

“The princess… Was she part of this plan?”

My mouth fell open, agog.

Part of the plan?

How could he even ask such a thing?

The king thought for a moment and a twisted grin contorted his handsome face.

“Yes,” he lied. “She was part of it. One of the chief proponents, in fact.”

I watched as Ikmale’s face crumbled inward on itself as his heart broke.

“No…” I whispered, my hands forming tight fists at my side. “No…”

I wanted to pummel the wall and scream that it was all a lie, that I would never do that to him!

But it was clear that Ikmale had drunk the king’s words in and found them believable.

The king rose to his feet and dusted off his hands as if his work was done.

He nodded to his men.

“Take him and his men to the dungeon. Feed them, water them. We’ll make an example of them in the morning.”

The guards seized the kauah and dragged them toward the exit.

Ikmale’s body might have been lifeless for the amount of fight he put up.

And just like that, everything I held dear had been torn from me.

Once the kauah were gone, the king turned to a palace guard.

“Any word on the princess?”

“Not yet, sire. But we’ll find her.”

“Search the passageways. When you discover her, bring her to me.”

The guard bowed and snapped his heels smartly together.

I backed away from the door as the guards approached it.

As they reached for the lever to yank it open, I turned and ran back down the tunnel.

This is impossible!

No one but me knows about the tunnels!

Me, and my dearly departed brother.

It was then I realized the king must have ordered a full search of the palace after we escaped on our wedding night.

He hadn’t bought my sheets out of the window escape plan idea and discovered the passageway.

He would have had each of them searched and mapped out.

Right now, the palace guards would be moving through them methodically, searching for me.

I felt along the passageway with my hands, not risking the chance a guard might spot the torch’s light.

I approached a corner and listened intently to the darkness, but I didn’t need to be so careful.

Fiery blooms of torchlight moved solemnly down one passageway after another as the guards made their search for me.

It was only a matter of time before they found me.

Unless I can sneak past them…

I watched the lights moving slowly, meticulously checking every inch of each passageway.

But they couldn’t hope to cover everywhere at once.

I would sneak behind one as he headed down another passageway and head up to the nearest exit.

I watched as a guard peered down a tunnel, found a dead end, and headed down an adjacent tunnel.

I stepped out and shot past him.

His torch turned around so I immediately leaped into another tunnel.

A second guard was working this one, his back heading away from me.

I prayed he wouldn’t turn around or he would see me for sure.

The first guard hesitated a moment before turning to head down the same tunnel I’d just come from.

The passageway I needed to move up was long and it would leave me exposed.

But I had no other choice.

I shoved myself off the wall and ran up the tunnel one step after another.

I half-crouched and felt along the wall to ensure I didn’t trip and fall over and make noise.

The doorway at the top seemed to stretch further from me the longer I ran.

Finally, I emerged into the bedroom—Camila’s former bedroom—and moved for the door.

If I could enter the palace, I would have many other options to find a good hiding place—

“—check on the others!” a voice bellowed directly outside the door.

I acted on instinct, leaped back, and slid under the bed, tugging my arm under the mattress as the door swung open.

A pair of standard-issue guard boots marched across the floor and stood at the passageway’s entrance.

“Any sign?” he yelled into it.

“None yet. We’re still looking!”

“You’d better. The king isn’t going to be happy if we don’t find her and I don’t intend on being the only one who takes the rap!”

The guard marched back out of the room and slammed the door behind himself.

Okay, so this was not a good position to be in.

Trapped under a bed in a palace full of guards desperately searching for me.

Strangely, it wasn’t the thought of them finding me that hurt the most.

It was the look in Ikmale’s eyes when he thought I had betrayed him.

I wanted to break down and weep but I held myself together.

I didn’t have time for that.

Maybe later, but not right now.

I reminded myself of what Camila had told me about what Mom was like when she was my age.

Strong, a fighter.

Not someone who ran and hid.

She confronted her enemies and looked them in the eye.

I found a new sense of confidence borne from the knowledge I had nothing else that could be taken from me, and when you had nothing left to lose, you were at your most dangerous.

I had to take action and do what was necessary.

I slid out from under the bed and snatched up a handful of flowers that hung lazily over the edge of their pot.

Whatever was necessary.