The ship took off, and it soared through the clusters of stars and passed other planets. Alexis was silent as she watched all of it go by from the expansive windows in the command room. She felt so lucky that she got to see what was happening outside of that ship again that she didn’t dare speak a word. She was too afraid the privilege would be taken away from her. She half expected to be put in chains herself and shipped off to whatever dark space the other women were sitting in right now, probably wondering where they were headed.

Alexis felt the stroke of a hand up against the back of head, running through her silken, golden hair. For just a moment, she sat very still, imagining that the hand belonged to Nabvan, even though she knew it didn’t. Even if he were to ever touch her again after the fight they had, he wouldn’t dare do it in front of all the others: in front of the king. “I have never seen hair such as yours. It is one of the many reasons I chose you. I can only imagine what this would look like on a young Milisarian knight.” King Shene’s voice broke her out of her happy place, and she spun around to look at him. He might have been feigning it, but there was a look of tenderness on his face that she had not seen before. At least he was trying to do more of what she wanted, and it made her wonder what exactly happened in all that time since she had seen him last. Changes of heart did not happen so easily. He must have had an epiphany of some kind, or he was up to something that she needed to be suspicious of.

“There are lots of humans with hair like this,” she commented, feeling foolish after she said it. It made her sound like some depressed nobody, when in reality, she was just trying to play down his obsession with her. She wanted to prove that there was no reason to covet such a thing so much.

“Yes, but there is something different about you, though I cannot figure it out yet. I have seen humans before; I’ve had many dealings with them for political purposes. They just don’t look like you. Not even most of the other women on board are like you. It is why I decided to set you free.” Alexis wanted to choke on that word. She was not free. She was not free to choose whom she wanted to be with and where she wanted to go. She was only free in the sense that she did not visibly have any chains or shackles: just threats and limitations that felt the same.

“I’m flattered,” she told him sarcastically, standing up and walking away from the window, though it tried its hardest to pull her back. The universe passing her by had a calming effect like nothing else, and she craved to feel that at peace again. Every moment with the Milisarians had her on edge, and it was exhausting her.

She felt foolish, though, as she sort of walked around in a circle with nowhere to go. She was trapped in the command center until the king took her out of there or ordered someone else to do it. Things were all new to her now that she was out in the open, and she doubted she would need much of a keeper anymore, though she could have been wrong.

“It would be nice to have some sort of support from you. I am going off to battle,” King Shene mentioned, coming up to where she was. He was going to follow her no matter where she moved and paced; she could see that.

Alexis openly laughed at that, getting King Shene to look her over strangely. She could feel other eyes on her as well. The other men probably thought she was insane. Maybe she was, just a little. “You go off to battle all the time,” she reminded him with the first genuine smile on her face around the king. He was easy to joke about if he wasn’t good for much else. “It doesn’t seem to me that you’ve died yet. Why should this time be any different?” she asked, daring him to give an answer worth hearing.

“It is good to know that my chosen mate has so much confidence in my ability to conquer a civilization. It makes me feel like I am a strong king that can be counted on.” Alexis could not believe it, but King Shene was actually making a joke. She didn’t think such a man would even be capable of those things. She had to laugh once, being stunned was over with. It was just so damn funny.

“Did King Shene just make a joke?” Alexis held back a snort. “Where did that come from?”

King Shene leaned down into her, a little closer than she was prepared for. It sent chills running up her spine, and she was not sure yet if she liked it or hated it. “Have you ever considered that I have been studying?” It came out in a snake-like whisper that some women would find sexually appealing. In the past, Alexis might have as well, if she had let herself have the time to be with a man. That didn’t happen very often. But it was strange to let herself surrender to that knowing the way he treated her before and knowing that the man she truly wanted to be with was in the same room. On the other hand, who was to say that she couldn’t find a way to enjoy the life she was stuck in? Anything she could do to make it better and livable, she should do.

Before she could respond to him, the ship began to descend, and she looked out to see that they had arrived at their destination. It was not a planet she had studied much about before, mostly because it was mineral rich and often being taken over by other races. It had little of its own identity, but it was beautiful from what she could tell at that angle.

Alexis ran to the window to sit and watch as they passed below the line of the faraway sun and moon and into the gap that separated it from another planet that was closer than she had ever seen one planet to another. The fact that they passed across each other but never crashed or knocked each other out of orbit was baffling. Human history had been so certain that planets could never survive being so close.

The ship came down gently onto what looked like sand. There seemed to be sand as far as the eye could see, and she doubted she would get a chance to find out if there was any more to the planet. All the men lined up, ready for battle, and King Shene led them off the ship without saying much else to her. She did not know how long she would be alone this time, but she dreaded it. Nabvan was left to guard her again. All that time would be spent in painful silence.

The sounds in the days that followed were the sounds of war, and Alexis had felt a pang of guilt in her gut for whoever was lost in the process. She was, after all, a Milisarian now. She was known as the mate of the king, though they had not actually mated. She doubted anyone beyond herself, the king, and Nabvan knew that, however. She was part of a culture that was happy to destroy and enslave other planets, other races, but when she thought about it, Earth was not much different.

The sounds had stopped that day when the ship opened up its mouth to reveal the returning triumphant knights, including King Shene. Most of them did not even look worse for the wear besides a little sweat on their pale skin. If there was an argument at all for survival of the fittest, the Milisarian knights fit the bill.

“You’re back,” she noted when the king came up to her, looking satisfied, following another one of his victories. He had turned the army into a well-oiled machine with the help of Nabvan’s training. This generation of Milisarian knights was unstoppable.

“Disappointed?” he asked in a joking tone before letting it go. “Here, I have something to show you.” Alexis felt nervous as he took her arm and began to lead her out of the ship. She looked back to Nabvan for help or an explanation, but he had gotten lost in the celebratory crowd. For all she knew, he wouldn’t do anything to save her if the time came anyway. Until that moment, she had not accepted that it was all over with him, but there was some finality to the ship’s door closing behind them. The sorrow was so heavy, she almost didn’t notice the scene around her. Almost.

Alexis stood still on the now quiet planet. She didn’t know if they had landed in an area that was not that populated or if many of the inhabitants had died in the fight to take over the planet, but serenity was the only way to view what was before her. Beyond the sand was more sand, but out from the sand jutted several tall rocks. Some resembled mountains on Earth while others looked more like towers and spires made of a dark mineral she had never seen before. She wanted to touch it, but she had no way of knowing if it was safe.

King Shene took her arm again and led her through a crack between two towering rocks, and the view got even better. Her feet struck a body of water that was shining and glistening, its tides coinciding with another pool of water across a bridge of rock and sand. The water shined so much, she was sure it had to be cold like ice, but as it lapped over her feet, she could feel a supreme warmth coming over her, as if it was fed from a volcano. And perhaps it was.

King Shene reached down to hold her hand as he led her on a walk along the warm, glistening shores, and she let him. He had let her have a taste of what she always wanted. She had to give her gratitude.

"I thought you might enjoy this," King Shene said finally, dragging them back towards the ship far too soon. "I saw the way you watched out the windows like you longed to see what was out there. I can give that to you if you would just let me."

Alexis felt that chill again, and she let the silence be her response. She was going to let fate decide for her what she was meant for.