The Ilia's Lovers - Chapter Twenty-Nine

Almost two weeks after Dahnus confronted the first and second chambers, the news cycles were still playing the feed. The news dissected it from every angle, with people along all political and social spectrums giving commentary. Being there was a powerful moment. Standing over the first chamber and watching their reactions as Dahnus dressed them down for removing her security detail was intimidating, but with Hadith and Aran at her side, she got through it, and even managed some grace doing it.

Ariana was pissed she didn’t get to see it in person, but she was still recovering from birth and Tyne and Vedian were supporting her. So now, on their way to Ket’Kitara, Ariana kept watching the video, cackling at the look on Quennen Vitari’s face whenever he appeared on screen.

“Here it is… here it is.”

Ariana sat on one of the large sofas in the main guest suite of Dahnus’s personal cruiser. They were an hour from disembarking down to their destination having not long shared breakfast together. Derrum was sleeping against her chest, his little body scrunched up, his legs tucked under him, his heavy breaths filling the room.

Ariana was pointing at the quartex playing the speech for the fortieth time since Elaine stood in the first chamber and watched Dahnus give the speech live.

“Never in all our history has an Ilian, Ilidan or Ilia ever had to beg for the safety of one of their lovers.”

The camera focused on Dahnus’s face as he stared the first chamber down, his eyes hard, fury on his face, disgust in the curl of his lip.

All resistance to Elaine’s security stipend came to a screeching halt not only because Dahnus showed them a small glimpse of who he was, but the small defiant group led by Quennen Vitari abandoned him when public opinion not only agreed with Dahnus but showed how little the public liked the first chamber.

Who could blame them? Their government was made up of hereditary peers who didn’t give a damn about them.

“Through your actions, this chamber opened Lady Franklin to this attack as surely as though you arranged it yourselves.”

“Woohoo!” Ariana’s cheer was quiet, to allow the baby in her arms to sleep.

“I have never seen the Ilan so angry,” Tyne said. Adeen was sat in Tyne’s lap, her adanni holding her against him, her chin resting in his hand, her head still too heavy for her to support. Even so, Melida watched everything in the room with a slightly annoyed look on her face as though she was impatient to be up, walking, talking and interacting with events in the room. Elaine could almost see her trying to work out what was happening around her and getting frustrated when she couldn’t. Melida was going to be a handful. Elaine already adored her.

“He should be angry. The first chamber’s actions, while not unlawful, were immoral. They knew Elaine was at risk. They pulled her security detail because there are elements within who would be happy to see Elaine brought before the IGC now that the other humans have disappeared. They wanted her to be caught and kidnapped. They wanted her humiliated. They don’t even care if the humans are guilty. They just don’t like that a human has the gall to be a favoured lover of the Ilan.” Aran was standing with his back to the room as he spoke, staring out of the view screen at Ket’Kitara which grew closer every moment.

Elaine could still feel the atmosphere in the first chamber even now. It was tense even as they entered. It was obvious they resented being called there by the Ilan in the first place, but when they saw Elaine walk in, there were actual protests, whispers, looks.

“The next person to make Lady Franklin feel unwelcome will meet me in the courtyard with Adunis sticks,” Dahnus shouted into the temple chamber.

Shock replaced the hostile looks. The chamber became completely silent.

Dahnus descended into the first chamber with a departing kiss for both Elaine and Hadith forcing the first chamber to scramble down after him to take their seats.

Elaine never saw cameras, apparently, they were everywhere, hidden in the ancient architecture of the room, but every moment, every reaction, including Elaine’s were broadcast to Amaran space and beyond.

It was one of the highest watched pieces on the quartex of the Amaran year and Dahnus’s approval rating shot up as a result.

The first chamber weren’t happy. It was obvious from the thickening atmosphere. They sat in their oval pit facing the Ilan while the second chamber stood around Elaine on the balcony. When Dahnus said they opened her to the attack, there were boos and hisses which quickly ended in the face of Dahnus’s anger and from the cheers coming from supporters both in the first and second chamber around her.

The public were pissed. Most Amarans didn’t buy that humans had sabotaged their own ship and blown up the IGC and while there was public opposition in general to lovers of the Ilan and his mates receiving public money as incomes and security stipends the general consensus was, if others got it, so too should Elaine and she needed it more for being a vulnerable human, traumatised from slavery, and as a target from bad actors within Amara.

Meanwhile, Elaine was trying to figure out a way to make enough money to pay for her own detail. She didn’t like feeling dependent on Amaran taxpayers and eventually Dahnus and Hadith would find their mate and when they did, Elaine couldn’t be there to watch them be happy. Initially, Elaine thought if she could be in such an open, polyamorous relationship like that. But the more time she spent with Dahnus and Hadith, the more she loved them, the more she knew it would break her to see them love another woman.

She simply couldn’t do it.

Maybe she would move to Tessa and find a Tessan male to bite her. But that felt wrong too. Whatever happened, Elaine needed to make plans for her future. She knew she wouldn’t be here forever.

“Is the plant life of that planet orange?” Elaine asked, wanting to change the subject and get out of her head.

“Orange and a rather vibrant green,” Aran said. “With turquoise water.”

Vibrant green was one way to put it. To Elaine, it looked slightly darker than average lime, with oranges ranging from the actual fruit, towards red. The planet was made up of medium land masses, with lots of islands.

“Apparently, most of the seas are shallow. Where it is deep, it’s incredibly deep. Kuyon scientists are still developing the technology to get to the bottom of those trenches.” Aran was still talking mostly to the view screen.

Elaine crossed over to him and stood at his side, watching the planet come into view. The Ilans cruiser dropped out of FTL a few hours before. In an hour, they’d step foot on Ket’Kitara and start a pro-Earth summit. Though, Dahnus wasn’t here for that. He was here to talk to those still on the fence to talk through options.

Tacitly, Dahnus was showing his support.

“I better get back to the royal suite. Get ready to go down,” Elaine said.

Aran turned to look at her and smiled.

“You hate being centre of attention, don’t you?”

Elaine swallowed and nodded. She still remembered the way Castus dragged her up in front of all those males, the day he was going to sell Pyri, the day the Adosians took her.

They stared at her from their seats with faces ranging from lust to disinterest to glee. Castus forced her to her knees and for a moment, she thought…

Elaine forced the thoughts away.

There were going to be cameras. Reporters. Elaine didn’t know what that looked like on an alien world, but she was afraid.

Saying her goodbyes, Elaine took the short walk to the lift and went to the top deck to Dahnus’s personal suite.

Dahnus was standing in front of Hadith who was fussing over his clothes. They wore suits that, while they didn’t match, they were obviously designed to complement each other.

Both turned to her as she walked in, their faces lighting up.

Occasionally, Elaine felt like she was completely out of her depth being with Dahnus and Hadith. She was no one. An engineer, an ensign, a human on a world with technology far above Earth.

Then these two would look at her, and somehow, they saw someone worth their time, attention, and their love.

“Come, my heart. Hadith will dress you for our arrival.” Dahnus held out a hand, inviting her to join them.

Whether she deserved them or not, and for however long she had them, Dahnus and Hadith were hers.

Smiling, Elaine joined them.

*****

Hadith looked at the viewscreen to the port beyond. The arrival port was chaos, with diplomats arriving from dozens of world, everything was coordinated for world leaders and their representatives to arrive one by one so that the press could have a chance to take pictures and hurl questions. But there were a lot of other people coming to the summit. Some to support, some to protest. No one had invited the Prince Eternal from Surila, yet he’d come anyway.

Prince Ardirion Ventaryn’s security detail jammed up the works at the port for several metre after their arrival, forcing Hadith to sit with Elaine holding her hand and entertaining her before Dahnus got the all clear that they could finally leave.

“Why is he called the Prince Eternal?” Elaine asked as they stood, getting ready to leave.

“He’s been the prince of his world since an assassination attempt on him two hundred years ago. His whole family were executed by enemies, Ardirion was the only survivor.” Dahnus said as they waited for their guards to surround the craft and act as an additional buffer, to the Tessans already out there, against the crowd of reporters.

“Is his race long lived like the Caelin, or—”

“No. He’s lived this long because he was augmented. Most of his body is cybernetic.”

Hadith felt Elaine shiver in revulsion and couldn’t help but silently agree. He’d met Ardirion a couple of times and was always left feeling deeply unsettled by him.

They left the shuttle and made their way to the vehicle below, Elaine shaking, but looking graceful, beautiful at their side.

Elaine was rapt from the first moment she saw the Kuyon akoras.

Hadith turned his attention to the personal vehicle as they approached them, trying to see what held Elaine’s attention.

They seemed bulky to Hadith. Corsam flyers were much sleeker compared to the akoras which had curved edges and was compartmentalised into repulsors, which also housed the wheel, and wings that curved against the body, but extended when the akora was airborne, making them more aerodynamic than corsams.

Their cavalcade left the port and ascended into the sky, heading to Tayce, the resort town Thanesh booked for the Summit. It was already early evening by the time they arrived, and as the akoras headed to the horizon, the system’s star descended past the terminus, until they were looking out at Ket’Kitara in the dark.

Dahnus was smirking at Elaine as she moved this way and that, but instead of looking out at the planet, she was studying the akora.

“Do you like it?” Dahnus asked her.

Elaine looked at Dahnus and grinned.

“It’s gorgeous. It reminds me a bit of the first flying cars on earth, but they had rotary wings.

“This has rotary wings as well,” Hadith said. “Hidden in the body of the akora. If repulsors fail, the wings extend further so that the vehicles glide. If the wings fail, the rotors emerge.”

“What if the rotors fail?” Elaine asked.

“Then the body of the akora detaches from the frame on which all three sit. It has its own repulsors and because the body is lighter without the frame, it speeds up substantially.”

“Why do they overengineer it like that?”

“The Kuyon were renowned for overengineering. They believe in safety and efficiency and design everything accordingly.” Hadith pointed down to the city over which they were passing.

“All of their buildings are designed with passive systems were possible. They take designs from nature for heating and cooling. Their buildings are built to use the least amount of energy possible and where it is was possible to use none, they will.”

“I’ve heard of that. We have some buildings on Earth like that. But instead of designing passive things, they just built more power plants.”

“That seems inefficient,” Dahnus said, studying her.

Elaine nodded.

“Energy costs money. Energy companies are private. They lobby our government against building codes that would install these systems to keep the prices, and their profits, up.” Elaine shrugged. “People don’t have the power to change anything.”

Dahnus glanced at Hadith and Hadith could see the anger in his eyes at the injustice of that. This was one of the many reasons Hadith loved Dahnus. He cared about the poor of his world. Not how they viewed him, not so that people loved and revered him. He cared about making their lives better. Often people claimed to feel that way, but their actions were lacking. Dahnus fought constantly to make his people’s lives better.

“We’re here,” Dahnus said, changing the subject.

The akoras were descending and as they did, the house where they would be staying came into view.

The house was huge. Eight large octagons sat around a central body which was topped with a prospect tower. They were roofed in dark emerald tiles, the walls were the same cream as the sand. Lights lit the exterior up. Each octagon had wrap around balconies on the ground and first floors with pillars holding up the level above and the roof. Doors stood on every wall. As the akora descended to a platform which sat on the sea at the end of a long pier, he saw that the central body also had a large balcony, the pillars were two stories high, the roof, on which stood another balcony, sitting high above and giving the whole front, which was huge windows, a spacious feel and connecting the balcony to the large atrium inside. The orange green plant life sat tight to the estate, giving the feeling of privacy from the nearby houses while at the same time providing shade against the star’s heat. It sat directly on the beach, with a pool sitting in front of the balcony on one side, with the sand directly on the other.

"Is that house sitting on caves?" Elaine asked.

Hadith looked closer at the pool and realised Elaine was right. There were caves sitting under the house. They were lit from the inside.

“There are natural pools inside the caves,” Dahnus said. “When Dester Avolny offered the house, he said it was built there as the pools provide a natural spa. All the bottom levels of the house are a private fully functioning spa. It even has a separate entrance for the staff. He’s engaged them for the length of our stay. I thought you might enjoy the use of it, Elaine.”

“I have access to a fully staffed private spa?” Elaine asked, disbelief in her voice.

Dahnus grinned at her reaction.

“Why do I now feel the need to tear out part of the palace and create a private spa for you?”

Elaine’s eyes widened, causing Dahnus to chuckle.

“Because you’re a crazy person,” Elaine said, her voice a little above a whisper.

The akora set down.

They waited as the guards secured the whole area, taking possession from the Tessen guards who seemed to have been guarding the house in anticipation of their arrival.

“Is that Thanesh and Alethia?” Hadith asked when he saw the silhouette’s approaching the platform. There were other figures behind them, but Hadith dismissed them as they got out of the akora and into the warm night.

“Let’s not keep them waiting,” Dahnus said.

“Elaine!”

A voice called out, feminine and human.

Elaine’s head whipped to the figures walking behind Thanesh and Alethia. She screamed and took off running. It took a moment for Hadith to realise the scream was joyful, not fearful.

One of the figures had broken away and the two women ran to one another.

“Ah, Pyri and her pack,” Dahnus chuckled.

When the two women came together it was in a clash of limbs, hugs, laughter and, by the time they were close enough to hear them, tearful greetings.

“Semeia is so beautiful,” Elaine was saying. “Where is she?”

“At our villa next door, surrounded by about a billion Adosian guards,” Pyri answered

“Is that all?” Talis Ikaltis said. “I need to hire more.” He and his pack had chased Pyri up the pier when she broke away, behind them, Thanesh and Alethia joined them, Alethia was staring at the pack with an amused look on her face.

“Idriss Ikaltis, Idra Bjornsdottir.” Dahnus smiled.

“Ilan Ascendi,” Talis said, his face deadly serious. “Thank you for inviting us.”

“There is a spa in this house,” Elaine was telling Pyri and Alethia. “A spa!”

“I know, we saw it while we were waiting. We’re going to explore this entire house,” Pyri responded. “Are you joining us, Alethia.”

Alethia nodded.

“I can’t wait to see it.”

“Well, Elithan is confirming he’s taken control from your guards, Thanesh, thank you.”

Thanesh nodded.

“Shall we go inside?”

“Yes, please,” Elaine said, in a singsong voice.

Hadith looked at Dahnus who had a look of genuine happiness on his face. Seeing Elaine look so happy and unburdened after the attack was everything. Hadith had a feeling the comment about the spa hadn’t been nearly as much a joke as Dahnus was making out.