My 1000-years love

Chapter10

"Learn what? Could you speak in complete sentences?" I didn’t quite understand what I had just managed to do.

"To set up mental blocks. Even against me. On this ship, no one succeeds in doing that. Not even T-GInArA."

"How do I know you’re not lying just to calm me down?"

"Why would I? It’s very convenient for me to talk to people by answering their thoughts right away: there’s much less room for misunderstandings.”

"And you don’t find that unethical? Or brazen?"

“I’m an Archon and within my rights.” Again, that impassive, annoying tone of his.

“So, you’re no longer reading my thoughts?”

Smiling silently, he even nodded contentedly. I definitely need to test this!

“So now, when you don’t know what I’m thinking, I can calmly come up with an escape plan? And you know what? I’ll never stay with you, do you hear? Never!” I clearly articulated in my mind.

He continued to look at me peacefully. No reaction. No clenched jaw, no dilated pupils.

“And also: Laor is an amazing lover!” I went on in my loud thoughts. He had to react to this somehow, right?

The Archon extended his hand to me again:

“If you’re done thinking nasty things about me to test the truth of my words, then let’s finish your tour and get you something to eat.”

I was overjoyed. Not holding back a victorious smile, I contentedly extended my hand. He smiled back just as contentedly and pulled me slightly closer:

“I’m genuinely glad about your little victory. This only further proves your status. Someday, willingly, you’ll let me into your head, and you’ll even be able to penetrate mine. Maybe it won’t even drive you crazy.”

Time will tell. But I said nothing in response. There’s no point in irritating myself and him with pointless arguments.

He led me through the corridors at a deliberately slow pace. Showing off, perhaps? Walking two steps behind, I had to admit there was plenty to look at. Tall height, broad shoulders, athletic muscles wrapped in a white T-shirt. Gray jeans...

“What? Jeans and a T-shirt?” I exclaimed, only now noticing his utterly earthly clothing. “Is this some kind of joke? Where did you get jeans and a T-shirt?”

“What, are earthlings the only ones who can have comfortable clothes?” He smiled in a completely boyish way.

“No, no,” I stammered. “It’s just so unusual to see the terrifying Archon of the entire galaxy in such common clothes.”

Sarcasm is the best defense.

“I can walk around the ship even without clothes and still remain the terrifying Archon. It’s what’s inside that counts. It doesn’t matter what rags you’re wearing.” For some reason, imagining the Archon without clothes, I involuntarily bit my lower lip. “By the way, we’ve arrived.”

The double doors in front of him silently opened, and the quiet of the corridor was filled with the sounds and smells of a very ordinary cafeteria. Although, no, not quite ordinary. Enchanted by the large gathering of alien beings, I drifted past the Archon inside, still feeling his smiling gaze on me. I had barely taken a few steps when, among the fifty men chewing, a deathly silence fell over the large hall. I immediately wanted to shrink and hide somewhere. Instantly, Sgannar stepped forward and slightly shielded me with his broad shoulder:

“Well, guys,” he said softly, but his voice almost physically filled the space. “Let me introduce to you... my llieiro and your Archaite Haagnarath!”

In that instant, he teleported behind me, pressing his entire body against mine. Taking my hands in his, he spread them apart with a satisfied smile, inhaling my scent with relish. “He’s really crazy,” I thought fearfully.

Sensing he’d gone too far, the Archon moved me back behind his shoulder and barked sharply:

“And these,” he said, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, “are the best cutthroats in my empire and the entire United Intergalactic Fleet of the Third Universe!”

Now I noticed that those seated at the tables were not just men. They all looked like they had just left either a biker club or the set of a sci-fi action movie. Though, I think I saw a few female faces, as far as I could tell. They were dressed in all sorts of ways: leather vests, arm bands on biceps and forearms, jeans, bracelets, laces, rings, and piercings. Many were shaved bald, many had mohawks or wore long hair braided into intricate patterns, some had shaved temples and napes. Many faces and hands were covered with tattoos that extended under their clothes. It was clear they belonged to several different races. Their skin colors varied: cream, bronze, brown, blue, reddish, olive. Different ear and eyebrow shapes. Though they were all humanoid and very similar to humans. Fortunately, no scales, tentacles, or slime were apparent on anyone at the moment. I expected anything at such a distance from Earth, but not this gathering of huge nonconformist. Stunned, I opened my mouth and absentmindedly glanced around the room, afraid to look anyone in the eye.

“Don’t be afraid, little one,” the Archon said quietly, not taking his eyes off me. “None of them will touch you. You are not just their Archaite; you are the heart of their captain, and each of them would give their life for you. What will you say to the guys?”

Testing me? What could I say? That my ideas about the most elite military unit in my universe did not match this gathering at all? I didn’t want to offend the guys at the first meeting. So, I blurted out the first silly thing that came to mind:

“If I were a judge at a hairstyle contest, you’d win.” The hall erupted in approving laughter.

“Alright,” Sgannar barked. And silence fell immediately. His discipline here was ironclad. “We’re hungry. Trey, bring all the best food,” and turning to me: “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my officers.”

Passing several long tables, each seating six or seven people, he unceremoniously evicted a guy, freeing up a chair. Flopping onto it, he placed me on his lap like a doll. My clumsy attempt to resist did not even cause a single muscle in his arms to tense, as if it hadn’t happened at all.

“Not now,” he whispered hotly into my ear. Almost immediately, a steel tray with several wonderfully smelling dishes, resembling either porridge or minced ratatouille, appeared in front of me. My stomach growled as five more pairs of curious eyes watched me. Sitting on his lap was actually convenient because the tables were a bit higher than usual Earth ones, and if I weren’t on Sgannar’s lap, the plate would have been right at my chin level. It would have been comical. Pulling my longing gaze away from the fragrant food, I thought it would be impolite to start eating without introducing myself. Deciding to skip all formalities and, moreover, not give them the chance to start calling me by the rough term “arhaite,” I simply introduced myself:

“You can just call me Haag. For now.”

A red-skinned giant in the center, looking like a seven-foot blond Viking with a beard, a ponytail, and shaved temples, thundered:

“We’re all very happy that the captain has finally found his heart. He’s such a soulless bastard sometimes. Maybe now he’ll finally soften up.” My jaw dropped. Sgannar is going to kill him right now or throw him into space to Laor. Glancing back anxiously, I saw his relaxed, smiling face.

“No, I’m not going to kill him for that. As long as he doesn’t betray me.” Sgannar’s steely gaze was fixed on nothing. “Among them, I am like among brothers, Haag.”

"Captain,” the red-skinned giant spoke again. “If I may. We all regret that you had to part with Laor. But can we know what he did? He came to our aid back then, and then...” Under Sgannar’s heavy gaze, this Viking choked on his own words and bowed his head like a guilty schoolboy.

“He did one of the few things I cannot forgive, Agron.” His multidimensional voice rang out. “That’s all you need to know, guys,” he added more softly.

“Eat, Haagnarath. The guys will introduce themselves later. And stop staring at her, let her eat in peace.”

I was already faint with hunger myself. And after the command, everyone grabbed their forks. Just ordinary Earth forks.

“Is there any animal in this food?” I asked, staring at the aromatic brown stew.

“No. We don’t eat living beings. Just like you.”

“And how did you know I don’t eat them?”

“By the smell, of course.”

Okay, let’s finish the formalities and get to the food before I drop dead. Under the gazes of six burly “bikers,” I decided not to stand on ceremony and pounced on the most delicious stew I had ever tasted.

“This is just amazing!” I exclaimed, rolling my eyes. Until I saw out of the corner of my eye a boy standing at a respectful distance from the table. Clasping his hands, he watched me with delight.

“Hey, Trey. Our Haag liked your porridge. Must be from hunger,” one of the thugs commented, addressing the boy standing behind. The boy beamed even more.

“Hi, Trey,” I decided to be polite and grateful. “If you made this, I express my great human gratitude! Thank you!”

“Ari Haag, I am so happy,” he seemed to start stuttering. “If I had known you would honor us with your presence, I would have prepared something more exquisite, in the best traditions of the imperial palace, Ari!”

“Thank you,” I blushed. I still have a lot to get used to with this kind of address. It seems it will be easier to talk to these thugs than to stuttering kids. At least they don’t faint from reverence. “But please, don’t prepare anything special. I’ll eat the same as everyone else.”

When the food was gone, and it was gone terribly fast because I never took more than three minutes to eat, I leaned back contentedly, immediately finding myself enclosed in Sgannar’s embrace. Honestly, during the meal, I had completely forgotten that I was sitting on a living chair. He intimately buried his nose in my hair, causing goosebumps to run down my spine and a wave of heat and moisture to stir between my legs.

The men at the table started glancing at each other and smirking, some at their plates, some into their beards. Sgannar stood up, and I quickly slid to the floor, sighing with relief.

“We still have things to do,” he said, grabbing my hand and heading for the exit.

Already in the corridor, I decided to ask.

“And you don’t eat?”

“I eat, once a day or every few days. And only because I also like Trey’s creations. In this, we are alike,” he gave me a conspiratorial look. ”I can go without eating at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can replenish my energy reserves from prana alone.”

“I see.” Lately, I find myself often at a loss for words, resorting to interjections and exclamations. Soon I’ll start grunting like a Neanderthal.

He led me by the hand through the corridors, and I had to take quick steps to keep up.

“So what’s next?”

“Now we’ll have a little chat until we reach the Zaor mines.”

He pulled me into a dark room, and I tensed up inside.

“Don’t be so scared,” he dragged me further into the darkness. “Just watch.”

And when my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw. The darkness wasn’t complete; here and there, colorful lights flickered. But this was inside the cabin. Outside the huge window, a vast area of pitch-black darkness was moving toward us. Stars, approaching it, stretched into icicles, swirling around it in a deadly dance, and disappeared forever.

“T., what do you say we show my llieiro how we jump into a wormhole?”

"Oh no,” was all I could manage. “Is that... Is that a black hole? We’re going to get smeared just like those stars.”

“Activate the tachyon field, T-GInArA,” he commanded.

“Yes, Captain.”

“The black hole would crush us, of course,” he said, smiling. Very funny. “But we find a point of gravitational singularity within it—a wormhole. T-GInArA quantizes our ship, and us with it, into tachyons, particles that move faster than light. We travel faster than starlight, and then we jump. Very precisely. Right into that very point. So no one gets crushed. In a minute, we’ll reassemble in another part of the universe.” He whispered intimately in my ear. It seemed to be a habit of his. But right now, it didn’t affect me. Terror gripped my entire body.

Then a tremor and a muted hum passed through the ship. We surged forward, and I was pressed against Sgan, who didn’t even flinch. Suddenly, I was acutely aware that I had disintegrated. Into billions of particles, each aware of itself separately. Yet these particles were held together in one field, not mixing with Sgan’s field. It was still me. We were engulfed by complete darkness, where our cloud-like bodies floated. This must look beautiful from the outside, one part of me thought. I’m going to be sick, thought another part. You can’t just throw a girl into a black hole right after lunch.

In the darkness, a small rainbow-colored dot appeared, rapidly approaching. Within moments, the ship was enveloped in a radiant fire through which we sailed with all our cosmic sails. Another jolt forward, as if T-GInArA received a strong push, and I, once again solid, should have crashed to the floor. But I didn’t have the chance, as I was caught by the large raath, who held me close with a smug smile.

“Gotcha?”

“Is it over? All done?” I opened one of my tightly shut eyes and saw the grinning face of the alien. “What a ride.”

I decided it was safe to open both eyes. The room was dimly lit by the faint light of a lonely, dull star.

“I remember once riding a roller coaster with a loop. When I got off, I swore I’d never go near them again. Now, I guess I don’t have that option. I’ll have to hop through your wormholes like a cosmic rabbit.”

“You’re funny,” Sgan said, his smile fading. Now he was staring at my lips. His breathing changed, and his eyes shone even brighter than usual. The world narrowed again to a bright point in the dark tunnel. Two bright points. His eyes. They not only beckoned but also frightened me. Because if I gave in, there would be no turning back. And would my guys accept my new life? Would they be part of it on the new planet? My stomach clenched again, and Sgan’s brow furrowed.

“I don’t like feeling your fear. Don’t be afraid, lleiro. Never be afraid of anything. Now you are with me. And no creature will harm you.”

“I’m not afraid of some creatures, raath.” I hadn’t meant to, but when he spoke to me like that, the little girl mode switched on by itself.

All the years of estrangement in family life had forced me to always be independent and strong. So much so that I had long since become the man I was supposed to marry. But now, something inside me wavered. The armor of the cool, independent woman had a small crack of doubt. Did I like this? Depending only on myself? Trusting no one? Knowing that the only “family” in the world was me and my kids. Maybe my mom. But those were the ones I had to care for. Support and protect. But who would protect me? Not depending on anyone was safe. But being in the cocoon of such enormous, powerful, warm, and insanely sexy Archon’s arms was something indescribable.

“What is my heart afraid of?”

“You’re not reading my thoughts anymore.”

“I still feel your emotions. My empathy is something no one can block. And you, my heart, feel very intensely.”

“Why do you call me that?” I hadn’t noticed when I started whispering.

“Until a raath finds his lleiro, his Heart, he is incapable of experiencing many emotions. He doesn’t understand what love, tenderness, compassion, or empathy are. That’s why my race says that when a raata finds the soul with whom he achieves Union, he finds his heart. And begins to feel.”

Now his burning gaze seemed to scan me.

“So you didn’t know what love was? You said you remembered our feelings.”

“I remembered what love was but had never felt it in this incarnation.”

All this time, he held me in his arms like a feather. His breathing remained steady, and his heart... I was sure it was beating faster and stronger not from the weight of my body.