Renegade

Renegade Chapter 1 and Prolouge

Darkness closed in on Aria. She tried to scream, but the sound was stolen from her. Her voice wouldn't come from her throat, no matter how hard she tried. Those people, those thugs, had taken Rex. It was dark on Luna outside of Luna City, the capital city of the Terran Empire. Just like most evenings when both of them were in town, Rex and Aria had gone for a walk outside the biodome. Stupidly she had gone without one of her personal guards. Someone had to know that was what they were planning to do, because one moment Rex had been beside her and the next she was fighting off attackers, trying to scream for help. Again, no sound came out of her mouth. She tried once more to scream, and this time it roused her into a different darkness.

Chapter 1

This time the scream was real. Aria sat up in her bed, scared and confused, blankets falling from around her shoulders. Her room, and the furniture in it, looked as distorted and dark as the dream-world she had just left.

Lights flashed on, banishing the distortion and confusion. "Princess, are you alright?" came the voice of one of the palace guards, running into her room.

I think that's Petro she thought. Aria sat up against her bed's headboard, still reeling from her nightmare. "Yes, I'm fine," she replied.

Petro came up to her bedside and kneeled down, saluting her with two fingers across his chest. "Did you have another nightmare?" he asked, concerned.

Aria nodded silently. She was still visibly shaken, and she didn't want to speak because she was sure her voice would be shaky. Trying to steady herself, she pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Is there anything I can get you? Would you like Maria or Rose to make you a cup of tea?" Petro suggested, standing up now. He was only a guard, but growing up with the Crown Princess had bred a certain familiarity with her. He did think of Aria as a friend, and he cared for her as such.

"Tea, yes. Tea would be good. Maria makes the the best," she replied.

"I'll get her," said Petro, nodding. He left Aria's bedside to wake up Maria, who slept in the room nextdoor.

Maria, Rose, and Lucy were Aria's handmaids. Rose was the oldest of the three, about twenty-five years old, and came from the American province. Lucy was the second oldest, about twenty-two years old, and came from a small town in the province of Ireland. She was out of town for a week visiting her family. Maria had just turned eighteen, so she was barely older that Aria. Her family came from the Spanish province.

few minutes later Maria entered the room carrying a silk bathrobe that she wrapped around Aria. Petro joined them with a tray with a teapot and a few teacups on it.

"Are you feeling any better, Princess?" Maria inquired in her musical voice.

"Honestly, no. Not really. These nightmares have been going on for six months now. Rex should have been found," Aria said. Her voice had stopped shaking. Now, she just sounded tired.

Petro set the tea tray down, grabbed a cup and handed it to Aria. "Maria made it just the way you like it," he said.

"Lemon juice, no sugar or milk," explained Maria.

Aria nodded. "Thank you," she whispered. In a louder voice she asked "What time is it?"

"About 3:30 A.M.," Maria answered. "You can still get in more sleep before your cousins get here."

Aria sighed and then smiled. "I suppose it is too late to cancel my birthday party."

"Why didn't Nils come in with you, Petro?" Maria inquired, pouring herself a cup of tea.

"It was my turn. Nils came in last time," he replied and then yawned, stretching his arms.

All of them sat in silence while Aria and Maria drank their tea. Before leaving Petro said, "I'll be just outside with Nils if you need anything else, ladies."

After reading for a while, Aria was able to get in an hour of dreamless rest. When she woke up it was 6:30 A.M. Her favorite cousins, Cyrus, Hellen, Katherine, and Lawrence Allistair, and Raven, Ambrose, Bastien, and Dacia Blaythe were going to be arriving soon to celebrate Aria's 18th birthday. Kokona and Gabriel Erasmus, Aria's two best friends from the Imperial Military Academy would also be there. In fact, the only person that wouldn't be at her 18th birthday party would be Rex, her betrothed fiancé.

Honestly, Aria wasn't bothered by the fact that didn't have a choice in who she was going to marry. An arranged marriage would help sift through all the people that only wanted to marry her for the wealth, prestige, and potential for power that came from being married to the next-in-line for the throne of the Terran Empire, instead of wanting to marry her because they loved her. Besides, Rex and Aria had known each other for years before they had become formally betrothed when Aria was 13. Now that Aria was turning 18 a date for the wedding was supposed to be set, but with Rex missing, and no signs of where he disappeared to showing up, she didn't know if, or when, that would happen.