The Talamute Prince
Chapter 19

I step out of my room looking back at Melena positioned by the door. To my surprise and delight she stayed put, so did my maids. I walk over to the platform that transported me up and down. I fiddle with my hands nervously looking at the panel of confusing buttons not labeled to my ability to understand. I'm not sure what button to push as they're just numbers and I had no clue where they were to. I press the one with the eleven on it and braced myself as it took off downward.

It stops and I wondered down the hallway that it had taken me to. There are huge paintings on the walls. I look over each one coming to the very last one. By the looks of it I think it was Patrick and his family during the rule of his father. They all almost seem to blend in the outfits that adorn them. I study the faces of all of them and wonder what they are thinking. Soon enough I find myself bored with this area and find another platform at the end of the seemingly useless hall of pictures. I press a random button and am whisked away to somewhere else.

"Your majesty." A woman bows as she stops polishing what looks like an old suit of armor. The round room is full of a progression of uniforms that have improved and dramatically changed over time. There are dates it appears at the bottom of each platform, but it is nothing like the dates we use back home. Everything even the way they write is different. Even though it sounds the same as the words I use it's a different language that is scrolled on the plaques of bronze adorning the stone pillar that suits of strange garments stand still upon. I don't look for long as the history of my captors bores me. It makes very little difference to me what they came from as it seems their technology has a negative effect on their barbaric nature.

I don't even leave the platform just hit another button and whisk away I go to another section of the castle. This room is also round and in the center is a podium much like the holographic room aboard the ship. Feeling a bit woozy from the back to back trips I step away from the platform and over to the podium. The device is the same as the last one. I push random buttons. Stars and planets appear moving in circles above my head. I walk from the center and walk through the images as they distort when they pass through me or rather I through them. I see my home planet in the mixture of this illusion, and I reach out to touch it. Suddenly the room fills with the streets of my home planet. I'm standing in the middle of the marketplace. My heart jumps as I see my people moving around as though I am not there. Sadness fills my heart as I rue the day I left.

"Home sick I take it." I jerk around to see Patrick standing behind me.

"You said I would be alone." I glare at him with a straight face. He had to have been watching my movement through the castle if he found me so quickly.

"It's merely coincidence, my queen. I came up here to review the footage from the last few days and the assassination attempts on both you and me. I plan on studying the events before I question our prisoner." He hits the switch and the room goes blank. My heart drops as I think on the kiss from the Talamute on my balcony. Would he see my lack of fight? Would he see I didn't alert the guards to his presence, in fact, I hid him from them?

"I shall remove myself from your way then." I begin to head to the nearest transport platform. He grips my arm as I pass.

"Laoonica, do you fear me?" His eye focus on my face with an earnest begging in them.

"Yes." I didn't hesitate, my expression has remained unchanged. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ (F)indNƟvᴇl.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Why? What have I done to frighten you?" I turn my head to the side and stare at the platform collecting my thoughts before I turn back to him.

"The idea of never being truly free that frightens me the most. The idea that you know how to manipulate my senses to maintain a level of control over me even if it's not the control you truly seek. You're still able to reach me in my rage; what happens when you can't? What happens when you lose your temper and I lose mine in return?" I pull away from him and stand on the platform, I don't want to wait for a response as I push the button and I am whisked away again. I'm lost deep within my thoughts as I don't realize the platform has stopped again.

I'm taken down to the docking deck. There are people scrambling around working on different things. I look at the ship floating in the bay. It's much bigger than I had remembered. The crashed ship is gone, but from what I could tell some of the scrap metal in a pile to the side had to be from it.

"Your majesty. Attention on flight deck." A man yells and every stop what they are doing and turns to face me. All at once they stand straight with no expression on their faces. Their chests puffed out and their hands straight by their side.

"Oh, no. Please go back to what you were doing. I didn't mean to interfere I was just exploring." I say and I get a few strange looks.

"I am sorry your majesty usually when a member of the royal family comes down here, they demand respect. It's custom for us to stop what we are doing and attend to them." The person who originally spoke says as the others stand still.

"I'm not here to interfere and I'm not so sure I find your customs very useful or nice." I look at him and got even more looks. "Get back to whatever you were doing I was just looking around. I don't need anything from you." He nods and motions for everyone to go back to work. I guess my father was right about the cruelty of these people. I walk over to the edge with the flower in my hand and look down at the forest. Was he down there, or was he somewhere in the city watching me?

One step over the side and my body would fall to the surface. Sure, it would shatter and break, but I would heal. I would heal and be free from the monstrous people that hold me here. Patrick would most certainly not let me be free for long but even for a moment or two to be alone truly alone and allowed to be my curious self. A slight smile comes across my face as I step a bit closer to the edge continuing to look down.

"Are you okay your majesty?" I look to see a young boy covered in black grease. His hand on my arm slightly his eyes wide and warry at the fact I'm so close to the edge. His grip is firm and quite strong for someone so small.

"Yes, I'm fine just a bit lost that's all. I set out to explore and I seem to not be finding anything special." I say smiling as I step back from the ledge. He releases my arm leaving a spot of grease where he had grabbed me. He hands me a towel but it's as dirty as his hands were, so I don't take it. He shrugs and tucks it back into his pocket.

"I don't know what you seek, but there isn't much down here. I've spent my entire life trapped in between the walls so I wouldn't begin to assume to know what a beautiful woman, I mean what our queen would find special. Yet I do have something that could help you with being able to find your way around." He says shying away a bit after making what he felt was a mistake in calling me beautiful. I saw no harm in his innocence but I'm sure my husband would. I tilt my head to the side as I study him for a moment. I turn my attention back to the edge of the platform. I stare out for a second before returning my attentions to the boy.

"Please don't be afraid of me. I'm nothing like the royalty you're used to serving." He smiles a bit as he looks up at me slightly hesitant to believe me as he studies the kindness, I try to express to him. He fiddles a bit in silence.

"Here come let me show you something." He says and I follow him to an area secluded from the others here. "Here, but don't tell anyone where you got it." He hands me a panel with a map of the castle on it. I reach down to press the screen and a tiny three-dimensional image popped up.

"This is fantastic, but why don't you want anyone to find out I have it?" He fidgets uncomfortable glancing past the edge of the machine that we have hidden behind. I glance over my shoulder but don't see anyone either.

"I made it. I'm an engineer's son and therefore my place is here fixing things. Occasionally I go up to fix things, lift platforms, or whatever the royal family needs. I'm not allowed to invent things without permission from the royal council. There are secret passages in the walls to allow people like me to get around without being seen. This map includes those." I poked my finger into the castle, and it zooms into the room my finger hit. This boy is a prime example of the barbaric thinking of the royals of this race. How could they force such a fate on their own people? Then it hits me, if they're so willing to put such restraints on their own people, I don't stand a chance.

"Don't worry I'll keep it all to myself. I promise, I won't let them hurt you for this okay." He starts to walk out peeking around the corner to make sur no one had noticed our meeting.

"Thank you, your majesty." He bowed and ran off faster than I could keep track of. I scrolled through the images looking for anything in the castle that would strike my interest but unfortunately there wasn't much that struck my interest. Other than the prisons in the bottom. Patrick had said he kept his half Talamute cousin somewhere in the bows of the castle. I searched but I didn't find anything on the map that appeared to be a place for them to hide a person in. I wanted to meet her if for nothing else to see why she was truly hidden away. I made my way back to the platform and pushed another button. I was whisked away to a floor. Tasha was entering a room in the center of the floor. I went over to the door and peeked in. I saw Patrick standing in the middle of the room.

"Tasha, Tasha, Tasha, you have been speaking to Laoonica haven't you?" Patrick is circling her with his hands behind his back.

"I've asked a few questions, but I haven't given her any information I'm not supposed to, my king." She kept her head down.

"See that you keep it that way. Your orders were simple care for her but don't engage her especially about the Talamute." Patrick stopped in front of her and gripped her chin firmly getting so close to her face there was only an inch between them.

"She figured out my relationship to the prisoner on her own. It's not my fault we do sort of look alike." Tasha tried to pull away but when she gripped his grip causing him to grab the back of her neck holding her in place. I wanted to barge in to save her, but I figured it would make it worse. I paused for a second as I listened in.

"Don't encourage her curiosity." His voice was deep and rugged.

"What are you afraid of cousin, that she'll find out the truth about the Talamute prince or that she'll find out that you're a monster." I watched as Patrick raised his hand raise up and come down with such force it knocked her to the ground. I felt a hand slip around my mouth, and I turned around.

"The Talamute prince doesn't stand a chance. I'm not the monster he is. His people will pay for what they've done, and I won't let him take my queen." I couldn't see Patrick but standing in front of me with his hand on my mouth and his finger my mouth stood the Talamute prince. I wasn't sure how he had gotten in here but there he was.

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