Forbidden Rule (An Alien Love #2)

Chapter Two

Jace's POV

The ability to fall into my previous routine of commandeering the troops around me was strangely comforting, given the assumed pressure of what we had to achieve while here. These were the men that had willingly followed me for the past few years, from mentorship to present-not an easy feat. For me to have become any kind of general, I would have had to have a certain number of pledges; given the fact that it had more than surpassed the expectations of the king and Council, and my proven ability to do what was needed, I was deemed First General. After all, what was the point to choosing a general no one would follow to death? Not to mention the brutality I had to endure to prove myself worthy of the position. 

"Jaceannel."

I turned, momentarily jolted from my reverie. It was Jaric, accompanied by LIrah and one other troop member by the name of Inswin. The trio had come from gathering the last of the belongings from the ship; the rest were outside, either waiting for us to finish, or had accompanied the volunteers and civilians inside to the Council Hall. It was quiet but for the exception of breathing, heartbeats, and small whirring from the resting ship. 

"Let us go. We must get this over with. Who shall we see first?" Jaric continued, eyes flashing from my face to Lirah's to mine again. Inswin, with his chocolate brown hair and abnormally short stature for our kind, was stone faced and ready. His natural form was...below average, but I accepted him into my troops for the simple, unspoken need for him to prove himself. I was not about to discuss what I truly desired in front of him.

"The king. I am assuming the others are seeing the Council right now, correct?"

Both Jaric and Inswin nodded. Lirah stood as still as a tree, face set in a mask of bored sadness, but I knew what she was doing. In fact, she was sad, but actually, she was putting on the beginnings of the show- the show of the victim, the lost relative of the First General come home at last. I studied her features once more. She had the same color of eyes framed in dark lashes that accentuated the leaf like shape; her skin, still that of the human, was pale and as creamy as Skyler's was now. But she was much taller and willowy, much like a tree. We knew how our circle worked: snake like and ready to pounce on weakness. 

"Let's not keep him waiting."

Upon exiting the aircraft, the violet sky seemed to twinkle especially bright, as if a child had dropped handfuls of purple glitter on a bed of expensive jewels where the light of the two suns filtered. I breathed in, chest expanding. A mixture of happiness and unease twisted under my ribs, still that of a human as I now preferred. My black robe fit loosely, but more comfortably. The king almost never visited the Council Hall if he could help it, so we would need to travel to the castle-like fort he deemed home. That was fine by me, because I could use a refreshing run after the trip we'd just had. 

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Skyler's POV

The foyer of the Council Hall was needlessly extravagant: marbled cerulean floors glistened in the soft light of candles that hung from an intricate webwork that made up the silvered chandelier. Floating globes of soft light illuminated the farthest reaches of the high ceiling. The eery glow of violet light that spilled in from oddly shaped windows would take getting used to, because as of now, it was starting to send chills down my spine. The entrance hall was lined with multiple large openings that led into various chambers. Our whole house back on Earth would've been able to fit in here. 

"Close your mouth," Rowan whispered slyly. The aliens around us milled about, looking as if they were waiting for something. 

But then my eyes snagged on the little fuzzy form of a gremlin, the same type of little shit that attacked us back at home. I nearly dropped the blanket as it neared, holding in one of its' tentacled limbs a tray of orange blobs. I was horrified when a Morfilian man accepted one of the blobs as it passed.