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Deathworlders Should Not Be Allowed To Date! 54
🕑 Added 2024-09-30 18:14:47 +0000 UTCLuna VI query: Set the source to the leaked files of the first reconnaissance operation of Irisa.
Done!
Luna VI query: How was Nathan doing three months after the big news?
***
Seated on a chair that felt just a little too small, Nathan struggled to focus on the floating window projected by his brain-IO interface. The display showed a detailed analysis of the genetic material from the plants he’d collected over the past few days. But right now, that task felt insignificant, almost trivial, compared to what Amara was handling—taking care of her health, effortlessly stepping into her role as the future queen, and, naturally, preparing for parenthood with a grace that left him feeling inadequate.
In the vast room that had gradually stopped being just hers and had become theirs after three months of cohabitation, Nathan couldn’t help but compare himself to her. He was acutely aware that this was her planet, her kingdom. Amara could command anyone at will, solve problems with a wave of her hand, in ways he could never hope to replicate. It stung—how little he seemed to contribute to their life together, especially now.
The days when his survival skills had been crucial in the valleys felt distant. Here in Caladris, Amara quite literally ruled, and though they hadn’t grown apart, Nathan felt his role shrinking. He had gone from being the competent, cool boyfriend who could protect her from nature, to... well, a would-be dad with a part-time job that didn’t seem to matter much.
Sure, he was a human, part of a post-scarcity society. His money, here on Irisa, could buy anything he wanted. If he wanted to spoil Amara, there were plenty of ways he could use his resources to impress her, plenty of accessories and pieces of tech he could order. But that felt cheap, like cheating—an easy win handed to him by humanity’s accumulated wealth.
He sighed, dismissing the floating windows with a thought, and stood from the chair. He marched toward the door but stopped abruptly, realizing there wasn’t much waiting for him on the other side. Returning to the surface was pointless—his drones had already cataloged every species of plant in the vicinity. Ryo might be up for a chat, but they’d only built a tentative friendship. Besides, Ryo was a stickler for schedules and was likely busy with something else. Finding Amara would be simple, but she was undoubtedly swamped with work, and he’d be more of a distraction than a help.
Realizing this, Nathan changed course and walked toward the window. Below, the streets were alive with pedestrians, the gleaming buildings stretched into the distance, and far off, the royal palace stood—a place where he might find Mia and Reynolds, both of whom had opted not to return to the space station.
He sighed once more. They, too, were busy with their work. His best chance for something fulfilling would be when Amara returned. She had mentioned wanting to move to a place with more space—extra rooms, more privacy—and he knew they’d get caught up in all the options once they started looking.
Moving out of Aldrinch’s building was a significant decision for Amara. It had been her home ever since she ended things with Thozor years ago, a refuge away from the royal palace, and the only place where she had felt truly safe after losing trust in her mother.
The irony wasn’t lost on Nathan. He had come to Irisa to study the planet, and now here he was, excited about shopping for homes with his girlfriend. Well, she was certainly more than just his girlfriend at this point, but that was a conversation he’d been skillfully avoiding—for reasons even he couldn’t fully explain.
Minutes passed as Nathan leaned against the window, lost in thought, when a sudden, loud knock echoed through the room.
Accustomed to the quiet demeanor of the Irisians, the sound startled him. As he made his way toward the door, his thoughts were clear—this had to be either Mia or Reynolds, stopping by for an unannounced visit.
Nathan opened the door, expecting to see a familiar face, but was instead met with a line of Aldrinch’s guards standing rigid in the corridor. His heart skipped a beat when he saw their skin—a deep, uniform purple. Anxiety. Fear. He blinked, confused, as he took in the scene. For each guard, three weapon-bearing Irisians surrounded them, their weapons raised in silent threat. The guards’ faces remained expressionless, but the color of their skin betrayed the danger they felt.
Nathan’s mind raced. Something was terribly wrong.
Without thinking, he began to close the door, panic flaring in his chest. He needed to get his gun. But before he could fully pull it shut, two large, imposing Irisians lunged forward, their claws sinking into the doorframe with a sharp screech. The painting gave in under their grip, leaving scratches as Nathan tried to push them back, adrenaline surging through his veins.
He struggled, but they were far too strong. Another Irisian, equally formidable, stepped forward and leveled a gun directly at Nathan’s chest, stopping him cold. The cold barrel gleamed in the dim light, and for a moment, all Nathan could hear was the rapid pounding of his own heartbeat.
Nathan’s mind raced as a single thought shot through him—Had Zandrid’s loyalists finally made their move? But before he could even ask, the answer came quickly.
“Queen Khala is waiting for you upstairs,” said the male holding the gun, his voice cold and steady.
Nathan’s eyes widened. Amara’s mother? He knew the queen didn’t like him, but he hadn’t expected her to send armed guards to invade this building just to get to him. Still, eyeing the armed Irisians surrounding him, he thought, what chance do I have against them? Resistance was futile.
"Alright," he said, forcing a weak smile. "What’s better than a friendly chat with the mother-in-law?"
The attempt at humor fell flat. Instead of easing the tension, the gun pressed harder against his chest, cold and unyielding. Clearly, this wasn’t the time for jokes.
With no choice but to comply, Nathan let himself be guided up the stairs to the upper floor. His footsteps echoed in the silence as they moved toward a window at the end of the corridor, where Queen Khala stood waiting, alone.
Watching the empty corridor, Nathan braced himself for the gun to remain against his chest throughout the encounter. But to his surprise, the Irisian guard finally withdrew, leaving him to face the queen alone.
The resemblance to Amara was striking—the same regal features, the same short hair, though Queen Khala’s was intricately braided rather than left loose like her daughter's. However, where Amara radiated warmth and joy, Queen Khala's expression was cold and distant, devoid of any affection. He could sense this, even though her blue skin concealed the emotions beneath.
“If you possess even a drop of intelligence, then surely, by now, you’ve realized the truth.” Queen Khala’s tail swayed with measured grace, her gaze fixed on the horizon beyond the window. “You do not belong at Amara’s side.”
Nathan frowned. He had questioned his role many times, but never once had he doubted whether he belonged with Amara. "If you're worried I might try to lead your people, rest assured—I have no such ambitions."
Queen Khala remained silent, letting the moment stretch uncomfortably. It was the same tactic Amara used when speaking with someone she found distasteful. Nathan knew the game, but that didn’t stop his nerves from tightening when she finally responded.
"You? An alien. A male alien, leading us?" Her tone was cold, exuding amusement. "I am more concerned about the stars freezing in the sky than that absurdity."
Nathan swallowed hard, forcing himself to stay calm. His next question slipped out before he could stop it. "Then why are you here?"
Her reply came swiftly now, sharp and cutting. “Your presence is a danger to my daughter, and a threat to this world. She has grown soft since you entered her life—partial, blinded by affection." Queen Khala whipped her head toward him. "She dismissed her most trusted advisors, openly aligning herself with humanity. She is no longer even pretending to negotiate with the Alliance; she rejected their contact outright.”
This sort of talk was well above Nathan’s pay grade—not the kind of conversation he ever liked to have with Amara, either. She dealt with political maneuvering all day, and when they had time together, she preferred to share parts of her world with him that had nothing to do with politics. Sometimes she’d teach him more about the Irisians, or simply take him to visit the children again.
But one thing Nathan knew for certain—Amara was not soft. This was the same woman who once leaped from a tree to take down a drone. The same woman who suggested they cross the treacherous valleys of the Ebon Range on foot, even when she lacked proper shoes. She was the princess who could handle a gun, and when it came to pulling the trigger, she was fiercer than him.
“I can guarantee you she hasn’t grown soft,” he said, his voice steady as he took a step closer to Queen Khala. “If she and the elders are making choices you don’t agree with, it has nothing to do with me.”
“But it has everything to do with you.” Her tail snapped toward him, pointing with precision as she closed the distance, fearless. Her voice, though barely more than a whisper, cut like a blade. “Before you, she would have never let her guard down—not around that old woman from Earth. Now, she risks our future, chasing a foolish dream and hoping that whatever grows inside her will survive.”
Queen Khala moved so close that her tail pressed against his chest, cold and unyielding. Her eyes burned into his.
“If that is not weakness,” she hissed, “then tell me, what is?”
When Nathan had first opened his door to the corridor filled with unknown, armed Irisians, he’d felt a rush of surprise—and yes, even a hint of fear. But when he learned it was Queen Khala behind his abduction, anger had barely flared. Something inside him understood that he had killed her son, and maybe, just maybe, he deserved whatever she would do to him.
But now, as she stood before him, accusing Amara with such blatant hypocrisy, his blood began to boil.
"Listen." He grabbed her tail from his chest and tossed it aside. "I never wanted to get between you two, but Amara told me you haven’t exactly been a great mother. You call her weak, yet you let your son tear your people apart for years. I’m the one who had to kill him to save your daughter. That should’ve been your decision. And it should have happened long before I came along."
For the first time, Nathan saw Queen Khala lose control of her carefully guarded emotions. Red blossomed from the side of her neck, creeping across her skin, visible even beneath her opaque clothing.
"And what could you, a human, possibly know about us?" Her claws stiffened, and for a moment, Nathan feared they’d find his skin. "Do you think you could have done better than me? Choosing who lives—your son or your daughter?"
She retreated a step, breaking eye contact, but continued in a bitter tone. "I understand that Amara did what she had to do to survive."
With a vague expression, Queen Khala moved toward the window, her voice softening. "What I will never understand is why she would ever declare you her chosen. A human will never comprehend the level of commitment that role requires. Not even most of our males do. One day, the infatuation she feels for you will fade. It always does, sooner or later. And when it does, what will you be to her then? The human who murdered her brother?"
Amara had warned him about her mother’s tactics, and how she would try to plant seeds of doubt. But now, hearing it directly from the queen’s mouth, Nathan felt the weight of it. She had taken one of his deepest fears and shoved it in his face. For an instant, he wanted to lash out, to argue and curse—but then he realized that was exactly what Queen Khala wanted.
Instead, he forced himself to stay calm. He recalled the tricks Amara had taught him—how not to fall into traps, how to shift the conversation suddenly.
“She told me everything about her life growing up,” he said evenly, though it took effort to keep his voice controlled. “Amara.”
Queen Khala’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.
“How you pushed her through one competition after another, how you made her judge inmates as a teenager. You wouldn’t accept anything less than perfection. I wonder why you would put your own daughter through that.”
Khala’s response was blunt, cutting through the air like a blade. "Simple. Amara was always meant to be my heir, and she will never be afforded the luxury of weakness."
Nathan found no hint of emotion in her, but he kept his voice steady. “You see, when the mission started, Amara thought she’d made a serious mistake. She locked herself in her room for ten days. You probably know about that, don’t you?” He paused, watching for a reaction. Khala’s gaze remained cold, but he continued.
“What I don’t think you know is that when we were in the valleys, she waited until her feet were bleeding before asking for help, as if asking for help would make her weak.”
Finally, Queen Khala turned to face him, her eyes sharp but silent. Nathan held her gaze, unflinching.
“I’m here for her," he said softly but firmly. "Even if she feels weak for a moment, I’m still here for her. That’s what you don’t understand about why she wants me as her chosen.”
For a moment, Nathan thought he’d delivered the perfect line. He expected Queen Khala to snap, to lose her cool, but he had underestimated her. She was far too skilled at maintaining her composure—she had been doing it her whole life.
She kept staring at him, her expression unmoving, before ignoring all his reasoning and honing in on his final statement. “You are here for her—until things get hard. Then you will go back to Earth, and she will be left to deal with the consequences of your departure.”
Nathan was speechless. Leave her? The idea was absurd. He and Amara had faced danger together before, and he’d never let her face anything alone. Their bond had been tested time and again, and each time, they had come out stronger. But Queen Khala’s words scared him, planting a seed of doubt. Had he made that clear enough to Amara? Did she truly know he would never leave her?
“I—” Nathan began, but was interrupted by the sudden clatter of weapons hitting the floor below. A lot of them.
He and Queen Khala exchanged a brief look before Nathan turned toward the stairs. When he reached the top of the staircase, he saw all of the Irisians who had accompanied the queen kneeling against the walls of the floor below, their weapons laid on the ground in surrender.
Queen Khala didn’t even glance in their direction. Strangely, she remained at the window, staring out as if nothing had changed. Nathan looked back down the stairs and spotted more Irisians below. None of them seemed to notice him. And then, among them, he caught a glimpse of Amara.
Their eyes met, and in that instant, the deep purple of anxiety on her skin began to fade, replaced by a fierce red. She was a tigress of rage now, her emotions plain even beneath her opaque clothes. Amara climbed the stairs with steady pacing, a few of the new faces trailing behind her.
When she reached the top, her gaze was sharp despite the emerald rings around her eyes and the tips of her long ears peeking from loose strands of hair, which just made her look cute to his eyes. Her belly, now showing a faint but unmistakable curve, seemed to stand in stark contrast to the seething red that pulsed from her body.
Her eyes moved first to her mother, then to Nathan. “Did she hurt you?” Amara asked, her voice steady but edged with barely contained anger.
Nathan knew that, no matter what he said, Amara would take the invasion personally. She had left the royal palace years ago to escape her mother’s controlling grip, carving out her own life in this place. And now, even her safe haven had been breached. But despite knowing how deeply this cut, Nathan didn’t want to see mother and daughter locked in a confrontation—not in her condition, and certainly not because of him.
"Amara, I—" he began, stepping closer. Without a word, he slid his hands beneath her arms, lifting her off the ground. The guards exchanged confused glances as he pressed her gently against the wall. Amara’s eyes widened for a moment, clearly surprised, but Nathan didn’t wait. He kissed her, shutting out the rest of the world.
When he finally pulled away, he whispered, "I love you, you know."
It was the first time he’d said those words, and the effect was immediate. The red in her skin receded, giving way to a soft, glowing yellow. Her clawed hands settled on his shoulders, and she leaned forward, her breath warm against his ear.
"Was that a show of power?" she whispered.
Nathan frowned. "No. I mean it. I just couldn’t wait another second to tell you."
The yellow on her skin brightened, her gaze softening as the tension melted away. She didn’t even glance at her mother again, nor did she ask to be set back down. Instead, she turned to the soldiers who had accompanied her and gave a calm but firm order. "Take the queen back to the palace."
The guards hesitated, visibly stunned, before finally gathering themselves and moving to escort Queen Khala down the stairs. As they did, she glanced back at Nathan, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly, a flicker of something unreadable passing over her face. But she quickly turned away, her posture rigid as she descended the stairs with regal poise.
Nathan couldn’t help but feel a small surge of satisfaction. He was the only one on this entire planet who could have avoided that fight and gotten away with it. And as long as he never forgot how to melt her heart, he realized, everything would be fine. She would become the next queen, the most powerful woman in Irisa, and he’d still be a botanist—and that was perfectly fine with him.
No words were exchanged as they watched Khala’s entourage disappear down the stairs. When they were finally alone, Amara’s touch didn’t become more gentle. If anything, it grew more urgent, more aggressive.
They kissed again, Nathan holding her as they moved from wall to wall, their lips speaking more than words ever could. But when they reached the window, where the view of the city stretched out before them, Amara suddenly stopped, pulling back slightly.
“Change of plans,” she murmured, her eyes gleaming. “Today, you belong to me. We are not going to look for another place with more space.”
Nathan smiled, no complaints on his mind. “Well, there’s always tomorrow.”
“No.” Her tone was firm, and her tail stiffened as she pointed toward the royal palace in the distance. Only when Nathan’s eyes widened did she continue. “I have already decided where we will live when our baby is born.”
***
This was an account based on Nathan's state after a week. The previous narrative is based on the events of the fourth month of the exploratory mission of Irisa. According to your current settings, no queries will be suggested.
