Juliet's Surrender [Juliet's Tryst #2]

Chapter 6: The Perfect Song

"You've always loved a library," Annie stared in wonder. Shelves with hundreds of tablets morphed and shifted. The Archive hummed. Learned Kyrion clustered in little groups. Among them was Eros, who smiled and waved.

"I don't know if any library can compete," Sasha looked around with awe. 

"Literally any old, big and pretty one," Annie sniffed. "Everything they do is an illusion." 

If a bookcase hit her, she would find it perfectly solid. 

"Dee could not provide a first dance song. You have to choose something."

Her skin burned with intense embarrassment. A song? They did not have one, unless soft moans in the middle of the night counted.

"You don't have a song? That's fine. My first song was A Thousand Years. John could not care less. It was only after the wedding that we remembered that we met while "All of Me" was blasting in the bar," Annie pulled Juliet behind her for safety as she explored. 

"That's a great idea. Maybe we can choose a generic one? What's popular right now?"

"I hate to be that person," Sasha grimaced professionally. "You're getting married to the Alien Queen. It has to be weird, I mean, Kyrion-traditional. If there's anything that you recognize, I  vote for that." 

"Vote, or strong arm me," Juliet joked, but the frown she got in response pointed to the latter. Why was everyone such a fucking buzzkill these days? This was her wedding, her "bachelorette" party. She got one friend and a PR professional. The friend was not even ethically on board with the situation.

"May I be of assistance?" Eros spooked the wedding party, each of whom let out varying exclamations of alarm. A perfect victim to rope into the festivities.

"Eros, do you know of any Kyrion top 100 hits?" Juliet, as best she could, tried to send him subconscious signals to break the tension in the party. He bowed deeply.

"I can certainly show the most utilized Kyrion song." 

"Perfect, the more popular, the better," Sasha's eyes glazed over in a peculiar way. Eros flagged a bookcase and pulled out a tablet. An irregular, a-melodic song started to play. It was a chant to prepare for war. Eros, seeing the immediate negative reaction of Annie and Sasha, quickly switched it off. 

"Do you have anything love themed?" Sasha looked as though she finally understood the impossibility of her ask. The next song sounded the same to human ears. 

How one moon morphs to another, 
For Dear Kyria, we conquer, 
For Dear Kyria, we love. 
Dear Kyria, we love-

To you I offer protection. 
(My Love goes to Kyria, and to no other)
To you I offer protection, 
(It's all I have). 

It faded. She wanted away from this. Away from allegiance, away from power, she just wanted love.  A realization stung her mind.

"How about lullabies? Maybe one with the word Gninluck?"

Eros smiled wide, "Ah yes! That's a song usually sung for an alara to lure her into your grasp." It was clear Sasha would not recover from him. 

"Lure, you say," Annie nudged her, giggling. "Big bad alien luring little human, I see it now."

 The universe is long and wide,
I see the stars right by your side,
I cannot fathom life without
My Love...

It was slightly whispery, but a recognizable melody. The recording, or rendition, had a ghostly quality, an echo of what it was supposed to be.