Coveted Truth

Chapter 4

 Chapter 4

The blinds were pulled down in my room and I had tucked myself into a cocoon of blankets. My entire body was sore. Father had thought it was a good punishment, and a good way to show my powers to Lord Ren, by competing in a sparring match. It’s needless to say that even though I have more power, my hundred and eighty years of experience doesn’t compare to Father’s six millennia. I’m the youngest ruler Dalian has ever had, and thus the most inexperienced.

The average life-span for a citizen from one of the sister planets is ten millennia, and as of now I am not looking forward to the other nine-point-eight millennia I had left. If life was like this, I’d like to know how all the elders made it through it. The stress of living up to expectations set by parents and citizens, of being a fair ruler, of work and war, and of men.

Men. Without them, there would be no war, there wouldn’t be harsh punishments waiting for slightest little show of emotion, and I wouldn’t be expected to be a perfect daughter. Alright, so maybe I’m pinning a bit too much on my father. I sat up and glared across the room into the full-body mirror. My hair was fluffed out around my head and I could see bruises -scattered along my shoulders from my spar with Father. Hand-to-hand combat was definitely not my specialty, even when I can beat over three-fourths of my army. I pushed my blankets off and jumped off the bed. The mirror reflected my flinch of pain at any movement.

The simple spandex briefs and band around my breast were black and blended in with my bruises. My stomach, legs, and shoulders were spotted with deep bruises and I’m sure my back matched. I once again flinched as I moved to my closet, pulled open the door and shuffled to the back wall. Behind my armor was a hidden cover, I pulled on the top edge of it and it fell open to reveal a keypad. I quickly glanced over my shoulder in order to assure myself there was no one watching me, and then typed in the code. The top part of the wall shifted, moving to reveal the lines of a panel that folded down and revealed the shelves I had stocked with items I had gathered over the years of my expeditions. I scanned the shelves until I spotted a large group of pink bottles shaped from the coral gems of the Ocalta population, a small population on the planet Pleat which held four dominant species. The Ocalta were similar to what the humans had called mermaids, and I believe they had set up a new society posing as the mermaids of human legend. The reason for their new society had been to separate from the old government and creating a new utopia of equal rights.

I popped the lid off the bottle and took a strong whiff of the lotion. The scent of berries invaded my nose and I relaxed almost instantly. I shut the panel and waddled my way back into my room, stopping in front of the mirror. I scooped up a small bit of the lotion and started to rub it into the largest bruise on my stomach. The bruise steadily disappeared as the lotion was rubbed in. the healing abilities of those underwater berries were truly amazing.

I picked up the holo-phone from my dresser, pressing in the number to connect to Amy. I made sure the holo-projector wouldn’t show any of my indecency. A full body image popped up of her saluting me.

“Yes my queen?”

“I need you here as soon as possible,” I grunted as I moved to rub more lotion in.

“Yes my queen.”

Her image dissipated. I finished rubbing the lotion on all the bruises I could reach. My back was the only place that still needed to heal. This time Amy didn’t even bother to knock as she waltzed into my room. I had my back to her, trying to sort out my thoughts in the mirror. She gasped when she saw the damage I was unable to see, I grunted in pain as I turned around and shuffled to the bed.