Wexxon the Great Alien Warrior - Juno Wells Page 0,56

be the arena’s greatest champion? Who else is going to keep things orderly in our cities?”

A laugh then escaped Palqeet’s mouth, even as she continued to cry. “And who is going to tell me that I cannot buy everything in the market, just because I feel like it? I will have no money to my name if you are not here to watch over me and my wallet, Wexxon.”

I shared in her laugh as I looked over at her. “Thank you for coming to see him, Palqeet.”

“Of course.” Palqeet smiled at me through her tears. “Wexxon would do the same for me. Always.”

Palqeet then paused for a moment before she looked away from me. “I’m sorry, Rachel.”

“It’s not your fault, Palqeet—”

“I still loved him.” Her voice was at a whisper. “Reddin. And I should’ve been honest with you. Even though we hadn’t been lovers for such a long time, there was still a connection between us. And I don’t know if I…I don’t know if he was able to sense where you were based on my connection to him. Sometimes, it felt like he was able to read my mind, even when I was fast asleep. It just felt like he was…trying to reach into my mind—”

“Palqeet, this will never be your fault,” I interrupted her explanation before I quoted my warrior, word for word. “And if you hold onto that as your guilt, you will only poison yourself for years to come.”

“…I know.” Palqeet sniffled, her eyes drifting back down to Wexxon’s frame.

After that, Palqeet and I sat in silence, each of us with our gaze trained on Wexxon, as if we were trying to will him to wake up, as if we were waiting for us to join us in conversation at any given moment.

“…How did you come here, Rachel?” Palqeet asked as we sat side by side in the castle’s kitchen, our bowls filled with a warm soup-like meal. “I always meant to ask you, but it seemed like it was never going to naturally come up in our conversation.”

It took me much longer than it should’ve to answer the question, my mind still focused on Wexxon, unconscious in his bed several rooms away. “…I don’t know, actually.”

“What do you mean? You don’t know?” Palqeet squinted over at me. “I assumed you were a visitor. Or maybe Wexxon picked you up during one of his dealings, some kind of prize, even.”

“…Prize?” It was my turn to ask the questions. “You don’t mean, like, slaves or anything, do you?”

“Not slaves.” Palqeet grinned. “Presents, the kind that powerful males like Wexxon often like to receive.”

“Wexxon would never,” I replied as I shook my head. “And I…I think I came here by mistake. I…I don’t know. I was in a room, back on Earth. Maybe they were running some kind of experiment.”

“…Can you tell me exactly what happened?” Palqeet seemed genuinely interested in my origin.

And I shrugged as I filled her in on the details. “I walked into a room. The door shut behind me. And then, everything felt…thick. So thick that I couldn’t really breathe. And then, I woke up in the purple sea.”

“Do you have any idea what kind of experiment they could’ve been running?”

“No,” I admitted. “It was my first day on the job. Well, on my internship. Maybe if I would’ve stayed on a bit longer, I would’ve been able to figure it out for myself.”

I then looked over at Palqeet as I asked, “Why? Do you think there’s something else to it?”

“I…” Palqeet’s mouth opened and closed, like she was going back and forth about what she wanted to say.

And I playfully nudged her in the arm, encouraging her to speak. “You can tell me, Palqeet. I’m not going to say anything to anyone. Who else would I even tell besides you, anyway?”

“I wonder if there are more of you,” she murmured. “I wonder if…I wonder if there could be more like you, Rachel. I’m sure by now you’re aware of our proximity to a black hole. It’s just something I’ve been wondering about, whether or not there’s something that connects the dots.”

“I’ve wondered about it, too,” I replied, with a light smile. “But I’m not sure there’s anything to it. Honestly, this whole thing could’ve just been a freak accident. And there’s no way to test it, not without risking—”

“Oh, I never planned on going that far.” Palqeet waved a hand between us. “It was just an idle thought. Something meant to discuss while