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The rational part inside me told me that I should probably be listening in on their conversation, but I was too captivated by the surrealism around me.
As we moved deeper into the dome, our surroundings became even more magnificent. The ceiling, high above us now, was turning dome shaped again and allowed some of the violet light in that played off the matte alabaster walls.
Here, walkways curved every which way in a confusing labyrinth-like manner. Some split in the middle to make room for sprawling fountains, or small ponds filled with turquoise water, or maybe it was internal lighting that made it appear that way.
Small, glowing, colorful fish swam inside them, too many to focus on one.
The walkways ran in different intersecting levels throughout the vast expanse of the dome, and when I looked down, I became dizzy realizing how far up we were.
Finally the walkways became straighter and narrower, leading toward a set of white open doors, intricately carved with gold ornaments. They were framed on both sides by several guards lining the walls, holding long, spear-like weapons in their hands, pressed against theground.
On their thighs they carried what I learned were called blasters, and their bodies were clad in black, tight-fitting uniforms, hugging their muscular bodies.
Unperturbed, Lady Madeema ushered us by them, and we entered a massive hall, lined on both sides by gleaming gold pillars. Straight ahead on a raised platform, stood two thrones, one empty and the other occupied by a Pandraxian man, whom I recognized as Emperor Daryus.
Last time I saw him he had worn a dark uniform like the guards, but today a golden cape framed his wide shoulders, held together by a large, golden pin. Like Garth, his torso was naked underneath the cape and his legs were covered by dark, leather breeches. A wide golden belt was slung around his narrow hips.
Both of his arms rested on the wide armrests of his throne, holding on to what appeared to be heads that were carved into the armrests, of some vicious-looking creature with elongated fangs, giving them the appearance of snarling at us.
But if their sight had been frightening, Daryus's thunderous expression put them to shame and belied his seemingly relaxed posture on his throne.
"Ah, Lord Protector Garth of Astrionis, how nice of you to finally show up," Daryus remarked menacingly.
Two aliens standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the throne turned and my stomach somersaulted at recognizing Sir Priough, making me assume the other to be King Crough. The alien who had authorized the attack on Earth and was responsible for the slaughter of millions of people, my abduction, and everything that had happened to me.
Pure, undiluted hate filled my veins.
"Had I known thevermin had already arrived before me, I would have come sooner to rescue your delicate ears from being assaulted by their frygging chirping," I said, coming to a halt a few paces from the hated Cryons.
I grinned at Daryus and gave him a mocking bow while placing my hand on Silla's arm, whose fury came off her in waves at the Cryons.
"We did have a pleasant journey, thank you for asking," I added for good measure, narrowing my eyes at the Cryons.
"I hope you came to return my cape?" I inquired of Priough, who stared hatefully at me.
I was thankful to Lady Madeema having already prepared me on the way to the throne room of King Croughand Sir Priough's presence, filling Daryus's ears with lies, accusations, and demands.
"You!" King Crough barked at me. "You destroyed millions of credits worth of equipment, destroyed years of research and stole—"
"You stole from me!" I countered, leaning on one hip, glaring at the Cryon king. "Did you or did you not give me this merrily as a gift?"
I hated talking about Silla that way, what I did jokingly in private was between us, but here—out in the open, among all these courtiers, the emperor and the sniffling Cryons—I hated it with every fiber of my being. It was necessary though and I hoped she would understand and forgive me.
"We only removed her from your chamber to get her cleaned up," Sir Priough interjected.
"Youremovedher, to harvest my DNA!" I shouted, loud enough to echo off the walls and to turn everybody's attention to us, who wasn't already solely focused on the spectacle.
"We would never…" King Crough sputtered and I didn't interrupt him, giving him time to hang himself with his own rope.
"That would be a gross misconduct, punishable by death," Lady Madeema offered dryly, but loudenough.
On the throne, Daryus leaned forward, placing his elbow on the armrest of his chair while resting his cheek on his fist. His eyes narrowed and his expression turned dark enough to send servants running. Not us though, even though his wrath could be deadly if turned on us—every person remaining in the great hall possessed enough power to take his darkening mood as a warning, not a threat. Yet.
I grew up with Daryus though and the slowly increasing pace of the pulse in his thick neck indicated that he was about to fly into one of his famous imperial rages. Most of them were generated by him to intimidate his opponents, but I had seen him fall into a rage that sent my stomach fluttering for a few ticks. When that happened he became unpredictable, even for me.
"Whatever may or may not have happened onmyplanet, does not concern you. May I remind you that the Cryons arenotpart of the empire and thus do not fall under your jurisdiction," Crough chirped pleasantly. "Unless you want to change our current arrangement and invite us into your empire, you have no say over what we do or don't do with our conquered species."
"If you use them as vessels to extract our DNA, we do." Lady Madeema narrowed her eyes at the king.
