CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Enemies

Lita pushed the button that raised the glass casing covering the cockpit and immediately placed both hands on the top of her helmet. Slowly she stood up and turned to face the legion of Saturnian soldiers. She carefully stepped out onto the wing and gently hopped to the ground. Keeping her hands firmly in place on her helmet, she stood absolutely still and waited. Her eyes swept to the side as her captor leapt down from his jet and jogged over to where she stood. He stopped about twenty feet away from her flanked on either side by armed soldiers. She felt her body tingle with electricity as she eyed each of the guns fixed on her. One swift command and she could wipe them all out. She strained to keep her cool. I will not be responsible for another interstellar war, she told herself firmly.

He removed his helmet, but Lita's bangs obscured her view and tickled her nose. She wished she could take off her helmet and scratch it. He turned slightly toward the tail end of her jet. At that moment, Lita remembered that the symbol of her house was painted on the aircraft. She gulped.

"Slowly remove your helmet," commanded her captor. Lita was perplexed that he seemed to be giving the orders around here, but she complied. He approached her cautiously and several of the soldiers followed, never lowering their guns. When her helmet was lifted, she brought her hand to her face and pushed her bangs out of the way.

He was beautiful.

His eyes were as green as her own, but his hair was a sandy blond and cut to just above his ear. His features were angular and shaded with a smoky stubble. Lita's heart slammed against her chest but she couldn't tell if it was because she had landed herself in enemy territory or if it was the effect he had on her. She felt herself blush as she approached.

"You're the Princess Jupiter?" he finally asked, incredulously.

Unable to speak, Lita nodded.

"But you're just a child!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide in surprise.

Lita was not quite in possession of all her mental faculties and therefore, it did not occur to her at that moment to be insulted. She said nothing.

"So tell me, Princess," he said smugly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "What exactly are you doing in my jurisdiction?"

Jurisdiction? Lita thought. He speaks like a royal.

"I…um," Lita stammered. "Um, I got lost?"

He threw his head back and laughed; it was a deep, belly laugh, but not unkind. "I really don't think you got lost, Princess. From what I could tell up there—" He gestured toward the sky, "You're quite the flyer. And I bet your navigation skills are on par with your flying technique."

Lita blushed a deep crimson at the compliment, but said nothing more.

"I guess I'll have to resort to alternative means to get you to talk to me," he said.

Lita winced. She hadn't counted on being tortured today.

"Take her into the interrogation room," he commanded. Lita submit as two soldiers approached her and took hold of each of her arms and escorted her into an aluminum-paneled building near the airstrip. She was taken into a room with harsh white lights and, after she was briefly searched, she was seated in a straight-backed plastic chair. "Leave," her captor ordered his subordinates. They saluted and exited the small room leaving the two of them alone. He pulled out the chair opposite her, turned it around, and sat in it backwards facing her. He calmly removed a cigarette case from his breast pocket and let it dangle from his lips for a brief moment as he searched for a lighter. Lita's eyes darted around the room as he lit his cigarette and took a long drag. As he exhaled, he stared at her.

"Princess," he said. "I'd really like to know what the commander of the Inner Alliance military fleet is doing in Saturnian airspace." He blew out a puff of smoke and Lita crinkled her nose. She absolutely abhorred smoking. In fact, she'd banned it at the base. But suddenly she felt grateful for the intrusion of the poisonous cloud into her body. It cleared her focus and distracted her from her fixation on the dimple carved into his left cheek.

"And I would like to know," she responded coolly, "why the Saturnian military is doing training drills?"

He smirked at her. "You have a lot of guts coming into my house and demanding answers, Princess, I must say." Lita didn't respond. "Well," he continued, "as far as I know, this is the first cross-Alliance interaction since the Great War. We might as well introduce ourselves."

Lita glanced at him. Raising her chin most regally, she replied, "I am Her Royal Highness, the Princess Litania of the Citadel Kingdom of Jupiter."

He tried to stifle a smile. "And exactly how old are you, Your Royal Highness?"

Lita sensed he was mocking her, but did her best to ignore it. "I'll be thirteen soon."

"Only twelve? Wow," he said, shaking his head and grinning.

"And who are you?" she challenged, getting tired of his charade.

He straightened back in his chair and said: "I am Prince Titus, next in line to rule the Halcyon Kingdom of Saturn."

Lita's mouth fell open. She had so many questions and they all crowded together in her brain until they had become a jumble of unintelligible thoughts. After a whole minute went by in silence, she finally managed: "What are you doing way out here?"

"I live out here," he answered. "The palace lifestyle really isn't for me. I came out here when I was about your age to serve my time in the military and I just loved it. So I stayed. I'll head back to the mainland when it's time for me to rule, but until then, I get to shoot down rogue enemy warbirds!"

Lita grimaced. "You did not shoot me down," she corrected.

"Fine, fine," he conceded.

"And what do you mean when it's time for you to rule? Has the Outer Alliance done away with the matriarchy?"

Titus looked away. "Not exactly," he said. "But my sister is sick. She's about your age. We don't think she'll live long enough to rule."

Lita cleared her throat. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that." Titus took another drag on his cigarette. Lita made a face.

"Is this bothering you?" he asked innocently. Lita didn't answer. Titus flashed a smile and smashed the cigarette out onto the table. "Litania," he continued. "You still haven't told me what you're doing out here. And all alone." Lita pursed her lips and looked away. Titus sighed. "Fine. It doesn't take a Mercurian to figure it out. You saw us drilling and came out to investigate. Make sure we stayed on our side of the Line."

Lita replied: "Well? Why are you drilling?" She looked away and added, "Most people call me Lita, by the way."

Titus grinned, flashing that dimple again. "Lita," he repeated. "I like it." Lita glowered. "Well," Titus continued, "I can't actually tell you why we were running formations, but I can tell you one thing: we have no intentions to go anywhere near the Armistice Line."

"I'm sure you'll understand if I don't take your word for it."

"Of course," said Titus. "Royal to royal, I don't trust you either."

Lita scoffed. "Well, we have better things to do then pick a fight with an inferior force."

Titus smirked. "With all due respect, Princess. I've got twelve thousand armed soldiers just outside this door. You're here all alone. No backup."

Lita narrowed her eyes. Suddenly, her expression grew dark and her hair began to rise, charged with unseen static electricity. The symbol of Jupiter emblazoned on her forehead started to glow and emit tiny bolts of lightning. "I don't need backup," she growled.

Titus gasped. Lita saw the sudden fear in his eyes and calmed down.

"It's been a very long time since—since I've seen the Light," he said quietly. "I was six years old. My sister was just born. My mother passed it to her. It was a brilliant purple, just like her eyes."

Suddenly Lita felt ashamed of herself. "Titus," she said. "I don't want there to be some kind of incident between our worlds. Why don't you just let me go and it'll be like I never came?"

His expression was soft. "No one wants a war. Come on, I'll escort you to your aircraft."

….

Zoisite cringed when he thought of what had happened at dinner. I should have coached him more about the marital protocols of the royals, he thought, wringing his hands. But who could have known conversation would have taken that turn? Zoisite reached inside his cloak and withdrew a small silver flask from his chest pocket. He carefully unscrewed the cap and tossed his head back and poured the brown liquid into his open mouth. The sticky, sweet liquid burned his throat and quickly dulled his senses. Edges blurred and thoughts clouded on top of one another as he sank into his bed. Lately it required more and more of the stuff to drown her face out of his mind. Her small body, lifeless and cold. Her face ashen and dull, but still lovely. Zoisite twitched until his body finally succumbed gratefully to sleep.

….

"Well, Princess, thank you for visiting the Kingdom of Saturn. I hope you enjoyed your stay," said Titus as he helped Lita climb into her Jaguar jet.

"It was definitely…educational," she replied smiling. As Lita settled into the cockpit and pulled her helmet down over her now-tangled locks, Titus reached up and dropped a small electronic device into her lap.

"In case you ever want to…chat," he said. Lita thought she detected a slight reddening of his cheeks. She quickly inspected the foreign design of the communicator before securing it tightly in the storage compartment below her seat. She smiled at him and gunned her engine. Before she knew it, Hyperion was just a small orb below her as she raced back home.

….

Dear Darien,

It's been all over the papers. I can't believe you are the Prince Endymion! And I can't believe you're going to rule! This is really great news. The people were really worried about Earth's future when Queen Terrania's rule comes to an end. (Some were even saying we might be annexed by the Kingdom of Mars – can you imagine?) I am so excited for you! You always wanted to know where you came from and now you know.

Things here are about the same. Mechanis is as boorish and crass as ever, but he's been leaving me alone lately and spending lots of time in pubs bragging about how the Prince Endymion used to spend his days with "his" daughter. I'll be of legal age in the next couple weeks and I'll finally get the keys to my safe deposit box from Hadean House. I can't wait to see what's in there. I hope to finally have some clues about where I came from. (Who knows, maybe I'm secretly a royal too!)

I hope to hear from you soon, Darien. I was a little surprised and hurt that you hadn't written to me yet. But I guess being a Prince has kept you very busy. Please write back when you have a moment. There is something I need to tell you about.

Love,

Beryl