Juliet's Tryst

Chapter 42: Prey

Juliet avoided Dee for the first time. There was no more cuddling. If she woke up to Dee in the bed next to her, she moved over to the large couch sitting at the opposite end of the room. They spoke in monosyllables and glances. The implications of this pattern loomed over them, but neither brought up separating.

There was no changing the past. There had not been a choice for her, to fall in love with Dee or to fall into this world. The incomprehensible responsibility of being Dee's finally fell into her lap. She was ready.

Both of them wanted children. They would be future Rulers. She knew Dee would never force her to have children, but Eros made it clear how her position was viewed. It was a matter of time before Dee knew that it was possible to create children, and by extension, the rest of the world. It felt unfair and outdated. The irony of it being with a female partner was not lost on Juliet.

She tried to find Eros, but he vanished. She hated that she lost her only friend. Was she allowed to have friends? Both females and males could be potential romantic threats in Dee's eyes. Something to figure out eventually.

Marriage was mentioned once or twice, but it was not a priority. The more Juliet thought about it, the more she became convinced that her position in the castle was contingent on their union. The ability to create relationships, and effect changes for her own quality of life would be improved. This realization happened when she was the furthest from wanting a proposal.

It was the other kind of responsibility that scared her shitless. She was a natural liaison between human and Kyrion relationships. A new species of human-Kyrions would be created because of her. There was no way she was going to live her life in the shadows, amusing herself with Kyrion technology. Dee wanted subservience and beauty. That was wrong. The world was transitioning without a say from the humans. Juliet was the only way the humans would be able to advocate for themselves on a Kyrion's Earth.

How does one even get into politics? She was a political pawn who wanted to move across the chessboard. How could she do this without betraying the queen?

A quiet night's dinner was interrupted when Dee walked in and plopped in the chair across from Juliet.

"You are home tonight?" Juliet raised an eyebrow. She was used to being alone, researching nights away in the archive. It was not helping. She needed to know what was happening right now. There was no news of the war inside the castle.

"You are speaking to me now?" Juliet pretended not to admire the muscles straining under the skin tight bodysuit. The cloak fell onto the back of the chair.

"Tentatively."

"What have I done to deserve such good spirit?"

"Nothing. Just curious."

"We are at sixty percent control of the whole human population. There have been less rebellions than projected and therefore less deaths."

"How many deaths?"

"A thousand humans and three Kyrion." Dee said this with pride. It was a whole planet, after all. Those who died had refused treatment.

"And how many...girshas?" Girshas were the humans who were enslaved to help build new Kyrion cities.

"Only the ones who voluntarily become so." Dee said, snidely.

The other option was getting imprisoned. The Kyrions recently had taken an interest in manipulating human memories. The mind could become a prison. Juliet sipped her wine, the intensity of the situation flooring her. She was just stuck here. Stuck, stuck, stuck. "The only person whose life has changed substantially is yours. The others get to live their normal lives."

"They are being controlled," Juliet said.

"We do it better than you ever could." Dee's dish was placed in front of her. It was some sort of meat from a Kyrian animal with a side of vegetables and mashed potatoes.

That anger came again. This was not a better reality. The best reality was the Kyrions leaving the humans alone to destroy themselves. For planet Earth, sure, it was a better reality. Earth was nothing on the cosmic scale. For humans? No, it wasn't.

"You are not better than us, better than me." Juliet's tone was quiet and soothing. "It could have been the other way around."

"Really? Do you believe this?"

Juliet chose silence as an answer, finishing off the last bite of her evening meal. She motioned to leave.

"Sit down." Dee ordered, copying the passive aggressive tone. "Have dessert."

Juliet met the Kyrion's gaze. Her eyes narrowed and dark. There was a cruel upturn in her lips. With that look, there was no option to disobey. Juliet paused, letting the moment linger in the air and then sat. This was all the disobedience she could afford.

"What do you want?" She was shivering with annoyance and fear at the same time.

"Your anger is perfectly natural and so satisfying."

Again, Juliet did not dignify that with an answer. Dee ate slowly, sitting straight in her chair. She was trapped in the room with a predator, a natural state for prey. 

Edited by the ever lovely -MissElle <3