Page 14 of Alien in the Depths
Charging through the door like she owned the place, Carmen answered. “No, you can stay. Isn’t that right, Sof?”
“Yeah. Sure. Whatevs and stuff,” Sofia answered from the confines of her comfortable bedspread. “Just pour me a lot of that booze.”
“What’s going on?” Carmen asked. “And why do you have a problem with my husband?”
“Really,” Arccoo said, “I can leave and let you two—”
She rolled over on her back to stare at the ceiling. “No. No,” she said with a huff. She rubbed her face hard enough to scrape away some skin and then sat up straight, ignoring the dizziness caused by the blood rushing from one end of the body to the other. “It’s just that you two are everything I don’t want to see right now.”
Arccoo set the glasses down on the table beside the dresser as Carmen handed him the wine bottle without turning away from her kid sister. “This is my third, and final, offer to leave,” he said, popping the cork.
“Just pour,” Sofia said.
“C’mon, girlie,” Carmen said. “Talk to us.”
When the first glass was filled to the brim, the prince brought it over. “Your medicine, first-sister-in-law.”
Sofia thanked him and downed half the glass. The alcohol started working its magic the instant it reached her stomach. “May the gods bless alien wine,” she said.
“Okay,” Carmen said, accepting her own drink from her husband. “What’s got you so worked up?”
It was Sofia’s turn for an info dump. She let the wine do the talking, providing as much detail about her time with Zaraq and the story he told her as she could muster. It was like speaking on autopilot. She didn’t censor herself or correct any slight inconsistencies. By the time she was done, Arccoo was pouring her a second drink.
“In conclusion,” Sofia said, a pleasant lightheadedness taking shape. “Whenyoumet a sexy alien—sorry, I called your husband sexy—the secret he kept from you was that he was a fucking prince. WhenImet a sexy alien, the secret he kept from me was that he used to hurt people for a living and was on the run from a bunch of space cops. Mazel tov,” she said, downing the remainder of her wine.
Carmen and Arccoo sat silently at the little table across from the bed, appearing to be mulling over the story. The prince twirledthe maroon liquid in his slender glass. “Did he say who this boss was?”
“I didn’t ask,” Sofia answered, cringing at the memory of kicking Zaraq out without any follow-up questions. “What does it matter?”
Arccoo frowned at his drink. “I’ve met my fair share of dangerous businessmen while serving as an ambassador. From what I gather, some hold a tighter grip on their grudges than others.”
“Meaning?” Sofia asked.
“Meaning that he might have been right to keep this from you,” Arccoo told her.
Carmen visibly tensed as if noticing a snake hiding in the corner. She let go of her glass and folded her hands in the ornate lap of that royal wardrobe of hers. “Please let him elaborate before losing your temper,” she said carefully, the words sounding neutral and flat.
“You know I’m almost drunk. Right?” Sofia said. “That can mean bad things for someone who says the wrong thing.”
Arccoo cleared his throat. “Please do not misunderstand. He was wrong to get involved with you to such an extent. I am, by no means, defending his decision to bring you into—as your sister might say—hisdrama. But if this boss has a vendetta againsthim, simply knowing of his existence may make you a target of his wrath.”
Sofia understood what her brother-in-law was trying to say but wasn’t so sure she liked it. By his logic, she and Zaraq never should have gotten to know each other. She’d thought the same thing before they showed up, but hearing it reinforced like that annoyed her. Why couldn’t they be calling her out for not trying to find out more about the situation? Why were they confirming her worst fear?
“Then again,” Carmen began. Sofia turned to her sister with a quiet need to hear a counterpoint that didn’t make her feel quite so bad.
“Then again, you live in the annex of the Thryal capital. You are now related to a prince—a highly regarded ambassador and a gifted keeper of the peace. If some interplanetary law enforcement comes sniffing around, you are in the position to defend Zaraq if he was framed. And if some petty crime lord shows up looking for revenge, you are protected by an entire military.”
Sofia stared at her sister. She had wanted the counterargument, but this was more than she had expected.
Carmen leaned forward, gazing at her sister somberly. “I guess what really matters is… Are you willing to forgive him and fight for him?”
The following morning, Sofia needed to destress. She woke up with the early tremors of a hangover and decided to get ahead of it. After being hit with such a bomb the night before, she was not about to let herself lie in bed feeling bad about herself. She showered, hydrated, and made her way to work out.
Walking through the doors of the recreational gym, she saw warriors sparring, runners dashing from side to side, and her super intelligent baby sister punching and kicking the crap out of a holographic pummel dummy. The hologram was designed to resemble a limbless dummy, similar to the ones found back on Earth, but with a polite smiling face that appeared to love the abuse it was taking.
“Great job!” it exclaimed after a roundhouse to the chin. “Were I a physical object rather than a complex prism system of energy or light, that certainly would have knocked me out. Keep going!”
“How can you stand that thing?” Sofia asked, setting her towel and water bottle beside Elena’s. “It’s so annoying.”