The Ilia's lovers - Chapter Two

Please be aware, this is a first draft of The Ilia's Lovers. That means this hasn't been edited. There will be multiple errors and even consistency errors. Feel free to share comments highlighting them, but you don't need to contact me personally, unless you see a major consistency error. Please also remember, this book has been written in three parts across three different years due to the health concerns I've had since 2023. Thanks for understanding.

Elaine hadn’t seen Danari’s ship when she first came aboard. When she killed Castus, when she fell apart, one of the Adosians injected her with something, knocking her out. She’d come too in the room where she’d spent her journey to Amara with Danari and a female doctor who was overseeing her care. They’d told her how she’d come to be there and why Pyri wasn’t with her.

Until the lift doors opened on the shuttle bay, Elaine wasn’t even aware the ship was large enough to hold such a space, small though it was.

Elaine followed Danari the twenty paces to the shuttle.

It was sleek, silver, with a style that reminded Elaine slightly of art deco, with an intricate almost filigree design along the lines of the ship.

Danari led the way inside and directed Elaine to sit next to her, giving her instruction on how to fit the restraints.

‘The shuttle is fast, so we’ll be there quickly, or, we could take a little longer, and I can show you the planet and our moons?’

Delaying the moment she’d be introduced to the leader of an entire world?

‘Can we do that?’ Elaine asked, hating how breathy and unsure her voice sounded.

Danari smiled. ‘Of course. I love showing off my world.’

The Illisa turned and started talking to someone as her hands worked over the dash. Lights came on and Elaine heard the hum of the engine come alive. It was low, a deep, happy purr.’

‘Here we go,’ Danari said, nodding at the shuttle bay doors which were opening.

A moment later, they were in space.

Elaine felt her anxiety rise. She’d never been a fan of shuttle rides. The proximity to space, compared to the engineering section of Endurance which had been set snugly in the belly of the ship, always made her nervous.

Still, she’d prefer to be here with Danari, then on the planet, in the palace of the Ilan.

‘I’m sorry if I seemed irritated on the bridge. I’m not going to lie. We were hoping to keep confirmation of your presence here secret as long as possible. That’s why I ordered the Devori ship captured. If we can keep them from talking for a while, it’ll give you some time to settle in before the IGC start demanding we turn you over.

‘Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t realise.’

‘There’s nothing to be sorry for. I’ll let Dahnus know, and he’ll alter his plan accordingly.’

‘He has a plan?’ Elaine asked, surprised.

‘No. He knows you’re coming, but not the details. But Dahnus is very good at this kind of thing. He’ll have a plan as soon as I fill him in.’

Elaine nodded, unsure what to say.

The Ilan knew she was coming, but not the circumstances bringing her to him. She was sure, once he knew, he’d not want her there. Not a murderer. Not a terrorist.

But if they turned her away, where would she go?

While Elaine was lost in thought, Danari piloted the shuttle around the ship. When it banked, Elaine gasped.

When Castus brought them to the planet where he experimented on them, they’d been unconscious. When the Adosians handed her over to the Amarans, she was unconscious. Though she’d lived in Castus’s compound for that time and logically, she knew she was on another planet she’d spent the vast majority of that time in a cell, in a basement with no windows and no idea of the world outside, this was the first time she was seeing an alien, habitable world from space.

There were pictures of Tessa, the Tessan homeworld, that Earth showed on news broadcasts constantly. From space, the planet was purple, red and blue. Stunning, alien.

Amara didn’t seem that different to Earth on first glance. Green and blue with some white mountain caps, and the polar caps. But when she spent a little time looking, she could see the green was paler, the geography was different.

‘Three moons?’ Elaine asked, looking at Danari.

‘Yes. We consider them to be representatives of the three main sexes. The pale moon is the male, Tarokan. The dark moon, Denisteer, the Adalan and the fertile moon is Athia the female.’

For the next few minutes Danari filled Elaine in on the planet, but Elaine couldn’t force herself to pay attention. When Danari finally realised Elaine was having trouble listening, she fell silent. She piloted around the planet for a while longer, giving Elaine the time she needed to adjust to the immediate future, then finally, the shuttle banked, and they headed to the surface.

Amara filled the screen, then the shuttle was shaking as it passed through the atmosphere, until the turbulence stopped suddenly.

Danari flew the shuttle towards a mountain range. In the dying light of the day, the mountain seemed to glow golden.

‘There’s buildings up there!’ Elaine said.

‘That is the city of Corus,’ Danari said. ‘It’s the capital of Amara. The Palace of Light is on the centre peak. You’ll be able to see it properly in a few minutes.’

It was strange, Elaine had felt disconnected for days, months even. But now, as they approached the low-lying mountain range, she found herself fascinated by the sight resolving in her vision. With every second that passed, she could make out more and more of the city sitting across several plateaus.

‘The higher the peak, the more exclusive the area of the city is,’ Danari said. ‘The Palace of Light and the Temple Chambers, the seat of our government, are on the two highest plateaus. That’s the Temple Chambers,’ Danari pointed toward the second highest plateau. It sat on a flat mountain top, surrounded on all sides by mountain walls.

Temple Chambers was a complex of buildings that reflected the same golden light as the rest of the city, as the mountains themselves.

‘That used to have a peak, our ancestors carved the complex from the mountain. Much of what was left over was used to build civilian living areas further down the mountain and on the base.’

Elaine could hear Danari’s pride in her people in every word she spoke. She banked, turning around so that they could take a long look at the complex.

Returning her attention to the Temple Chambers, she could see that two buildings sat at the heart of the complex. It appeared much like a Greek temple, with a peaked roof and hundreds of columns surrounding the outside. Though she was a distance away, she could see that the columns didn’t look uniform. As they passed over head, she realised why.

‘Are those pillars naked people?’

Danari chuckled beside her. ‘Yes. Naked males, females and adalan. They’re believed to be the first priests of the temple and the sponsors who helped pay for it to be built. If we were closer, you’d see the temple set towards the back was built, rather than carved. That’s because it was built later, when this moved from being a religious place to our seat of our government.’

Elaine nodded absently, but frowned. ‘How did they get in? There’s no path or gate.’

‘It’s inside the mountain. There’s a landing pad on the eastern wall, and an entrance into a passage that leads to the Temple Complex from there. There are also older pathways inside the mountain leading from the other peaks. It’s all interconnected.’

Elaine stared at the complex until they’d passed, and she could no longer see it.

‘And this, is the Palace of Light.’

Elaine turned to see where Danari was looking.

For some reason, Elaine had almost expected something like Neuschwanstein Castle, that had inspired so many fairy tale castles in movies and literature, with turrets, crenelated walls and arrow slit windows.

Instead, the palace was a huge, sprawling complex never more than three stories in height, though, because of the way it hugged the mountain from which it had been carved, it ran more than a hundred, a hundred and twenty feet up.

There were courtyards across the complex, and at the front, a bridge connected it to the next peak several hundred feet away. Elaine couldn’t even imagine the engineering feat it took to make that happen or how they managed to keep it up there. Gravity demanded its destruction, so there had to be something else keeping it up. A material Earth didn’t know about, or forcefield, or something that negated or fought gravity.

The planet’s star hit low on the horizon as they approached and the golden glow seemed to blaze, until the palace appeared almost like it was on fire.

Elaine gasped, the sight was exceptional, at the same time, almost terrifying.

‘This is the most beautiful place on Amara,’ Danari said. ‘I’m privileged to call it my home. And it’s yours now, for as long as you need it.’

Dread built up inside Elaine. She was sure once the Ilan knew what she’d done that he’d cast her out. What then? Would the Tessans come for her? Would the IGC? Elaine swallowed over a dry throat with a lump firmly lodged that seemed to be anchored in her heart.

Burnt umber blood spraying against her skin and clothes!

‘Elaine? Are you okay?’

Elaine turned to Danari, who was splitting her attention between bringing the shuttle into land and her.

‘Yes,’ she lied.

‘You flinched. Like someone struck you?’

‘Did I?’ Elaine frowned. Was she reacting that way every time that thought inflicted itself on her? She had no idea. She had no memory of it.

‘You’re safe now, Elaine. We’re going to take care of you?’

Doubt seemed to flare hotter every time Danari said something like that.

With a gentle thud, the shuttle landed.

Danari flicked her hands over the controls and the hum of the engine died, leaving Elaine with the din of her own memories.

Following the Illisa’s lead, Elaine unbuckled herself and let Danari lead her to the door and out of the shuttle.

Amarans approached. Elaine’s step hesitated for a moment before she recognised the signs of engineers.

Stepping clear of their path she looked around as Danari made her way across the balcony towards the balustrade. The palace must have been planned down to the most finite detail, because everything was carved from the same stone. There wasn’t a join, or seam anywhere.

Over the balustrade, Elaine could see the city on peaks across the range, they crawled up the sides of the mountains, inhabited every plateau, gave way only to the streams and rivers that fell from some of the higher, uninhabitable peaks, and cascaded down the mountainside as waterfalls.

Danari entered the palace through a huge arched doorway, disappearing into the shadows within. Elaine followed, realising she’d fallen behind in her fascination with her surroundings. Danari was waiting for her when she caught up, a kind smile on her face. When Elaine reached her side, Danari fell into step with her.

‘This is the family wing of the palace. Our family claimed it when our ancestor overthrew the previous Ilan several centuries ago.’

‘I read about that,’ Elaine said. ‘The old Ilan wanted to keep spreading the Amaran empire, but your ancestor didn’t.’

Danari nodded. ‘He felt we’d spread ourselves too thin and wanted to pull our forces back to our space. Of course, our space was much bigger then, before we started handing territory back to those it rightfully belonged to.’

The inside of the palace didn’t have much of the stone it was carved from on display except for the odd accent wall here and there. In some places, the plaster had been sanded down to show patches of the stone, as though to prove it was the original palace all the way through. Otherwise, it was either plastered and painted, or in some places, covered in marble like stone in different colours. They came across a staircase that was made from teal stone, polished to a high shine. Danari took the steps, and Elaine followed, having to modify her step as the stairs were deeper than those on Earth. At the top, they walked down a long hall which was all the exposed stone of the mountain, this too had been polished to a shine. At the end, they came out on a balcony overlooking a massive courtyard filled with plants. A small stream ran through it, cutting under a wall on each side, in and out.

Danari pointed at the stream. ‘The stream is open throughout the palace. It comes down the side of the peak, falls into a collecting pool in the glass house way up there,’ Danari waved a hand towards the peak. ‘It goes all the way through the palace, from the top levels where the archives and libraries are, down to the palace entrance and the bridge. You can follow it to the balcony before it falls over the edge.’

Elaine tried to imagine what Danari was describing, but struggled. She didn’t know if it was everything catching up with her, or the sense of exhaustion that was making her limbs feel heavy. She decided to find the glass house at some point and follow the river down the palace to the waterfall. See it all for herself.

All throughout her description, Danari had been leading Elaine around the balcony. Finally, they stopped at a door.

‘This will be your suite while you’re here, as our honoured guest.’

Danari opened the door and led Elaine inside.

They walked into, what appeared to be, a small sitting room.

‘This, is your greeting room. If you have guests, and you don’t want to invite them into your rooms properly. It’s tradition on Amara to have a greeting room, so guests know their stay won’t be for long, but are still made to feel welcome.’

The room was beautiful. The natural stone of the mountain, warm yellow, was complemented by a white and gold stone tiled floor. It was covered by rugs, all dark creams with a white and gold threaded flower pattern. The tables set throughout the room were ochre with a darker wood inlay. The top of the tables were all thick, and sat on delicately carved legs covered in filigree patterns. Paintings of the palace and the mountains they were on covered one of the walls, along with some portraits of ancient Amarans in strange clothes smiling at the portrait painter.

‘Let me show you the rest of the suite, then I’ll leave you to settle, have some food sent up to you.’

Elaine turned to Danari and realised she’d spaced out. Nodding she followed her into the next room.

‘This is your main living space,’ she said, as Elaine walked in.

It was a massive room, divided into different areas. There was a section of wall covered in books, with a small comfortable sitting area where she could sit if she could read any of the Amaran books. Or read anything other than the odd romance novel.

A larger sitting area stood across the room, next to doors that let out onto a large balcony, through which she could see plants, tables, chairs, loungers.

A more formal area sat in a small nook, and the rest of the room was filled with small seating areas. Elaine imagined if she had a group of friends to bring here, they could sit in different areas, conduct private conversations and never overhear each other. This seemed too much, too big, just for her.

‘This door, leads to your private bedroom,’ Danari said, walking over to it.

Dutifully, Elaine followed and peered inside the doorway.

Another huge room sat in front of her. There were two huge fireplaces sat across from each other, on the wall opposite to her was a small balconied area set within an alcove and reachable by four steps. Inside sat a four poster, canopied bed with curtains. The alcove had curtains too.

Elaine swallowed, unsure if drawing both the alcove curtains and bed curtains would make her feel safe, or claustrophobic?

‘It’s beautiful,’ she said honestly. So far, every room was. All decorated in the same colours as the greeting room, creams and yellows, golds and ochres.

Danari showed her the bathroom, which again was far too big for her needs. The bath was a pool set into a small grotto, the back wall had shelves of products.

Danari led her back into the main room.

‘Would you like me to send a meal—’

‘Where’s my sister?’

Elaine jumped, turning in the direction the voice had come from.

Several people walked into the room.

Danari grabbed Elaine’s arm. ‘He’s worried for me. He means nothing by it.’

‘Danari?’ A voice called.

The people already in the room, guards, Elaine realised, were lining up between the door and Danari.

‘I’m here Dahnus,’ she called.

Elaine had seen pictures of Ilan Dahnus Ascendi. He always looked so noble and royal in them. Wearing formal Amaran clothing, which was always open on a man. So she knew he was tall, over seven feet according to Earth’s media, with a broad chest, platinum blonde hair and light turquoise eyes.

She knew these things.

It didn’t prepare her for his entrance, power and purpose as he strode into the room, his eyes fixed on his sister, a concerned look on his face.

‘What happened? Tell me everything.’

‘I’m not telling you the whole thing now.’ Danari turned to Elaine. ‘This is our guest. Elaine.’

Dahnus turned, his eyes widening when he looked at Elaine. She didn’t think he’d even seen her standing there until Danari pointed her out, his concern for his sister’s safety had been his entire focus until suddenly his focus was on her.

‘Elaine?’ he glanced at Danari briefly, then turned the full force of his attention back to Elaine. She swallowed nervously.

‘Ensign Elaine Franklin,’ she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

‘Ensign Elaine Franklin,’ Dahnus repeated. His expression shifted suddenly. ‘Everyone out.’

Elaine turned and saw the guards, and the other people who followed him into the room leaving.

‘Not you, Hadith. I need you here.’

One of the people who’d followed him, an adalan, Elaine realised, stopped in his retreat, and turned back to face them.

His eyes moved to Elaine and she was struck by the colour of them; mauve blue that lightened to bright aqua around the outer edge. They watched her curiously. He had the trademark darker grey skin of adalan, whereas male and female Amarans were lighter skinned. Adalan had once been a separate species, but when female Amarans suddenly stopped producing young, it was discovered an adalan could aid in fathering a child. With that, the adalan were folded into the Amaran race, only the males though, and many of them, according to the Amaran history books, against their will.

That was in Amara’s ancient past however. Now, they accepted their place as Amarans, and filled a unique place, becoming a third sex within their race.

Hadith had long golden blonde hair which he wore half up. He had full lips and a sharp, strong bone structure, though not as strong as the Ilan’s.

Elaine was knocked from her reverie by the sound of the doors closing. She turned to look at the Ilan and his sister and found them staring at her.

‘You are a crew member of Endurance?’ he asked, murmuring the question.

Elaine nodded and watched the Ilan share a look with his sister, something, some silent communication moving between them.

‘And how did you come to be here?’

Burnt umber blood spraying against her skin and clothes!

‘I, er, I…’ Elaine took in a deep breath. The moment of truth was upon her. ‘I killed the Devori who… er… who’

‘Enslaved you.’ the Ilan finished for her.

Elaine swallowed and nodded.

‘Good. Vrokking keth deserved nothing less. But I am sorry you were the one who had to do it.’

Elaine looked at Danari. She didn’t have to do it. She wanted to tell him that, but Danari was keeping her mouth shut.

‘Well you are welcome here, Elaine, as long as you need to be here, and longer if you wish.’

He didn’t know though.

‘It is good. Castus was a member of the Oromar family.’

‘So this is a diplomatic issue now?’ Dahnus asked.

Here it was. Here was the moment when he told her to leave.

‘Then it’s all the better you are here, where we can protect you.’

A dam broke. A sob broke from deep inside, tears following a moment later.

‘Elaine!’ Danari pulled her into her arms. She was aware she was shaking as her mind struggled to accept that maybe, for the first time in over a year, she was finally safe.

Chapter One

Chapter Two