Jasmine of Draga: A Space Fantasy Romance (The Draga Court Series Book 3)
Emma Dean & Jillian Ashe
Chapter One
Princess Kaita of Khara
Inner City
Planet Seprilles
Kaita glanced over her shoulder and pulled her hood up over her head. This stupid shikta planet was a wasteland compared to her homeworld. Terra-forming had done nothing to make it lush and fertile; there was no way when for most of the cycle Seprilles was too far from the sun to grow much outside of a greenhouse. The air was barely breathable outside the domes and the air inside of them was stale and bitter.
It had been months since she had barely escaped the Khara galaxy and her home planet with nothing but her life. All alone with only a few men and women loyal to her, they fled to the Draga galaxy. Kaita had no plans for the future other than to survive and search for her people, the ones lucky enough to escape.
When she’d heard Prince Nash had survived the attacks as well and somehow managed to get to Draga Terra, and how he pleaded with the King for assistance – Kaita had been relieved. Grateful she wasn’t the last royal of the Khara galaxy left alive.
Unfortunately, there was no safe way to send a message to her fellow royal, not on the border where Draga had forsaken their own and only the noble family of Seprilles ruled this barren world. Even the nobles were on Draga Terra, and the stewards and cousins had to rule in their stead.
Her boot splashed through a puddle she didn’t wish to know the contents of. With her knives strapped to her back, her fighter’s uniform and billowing cloak she was nobody among the crowds of people pushing through the market.
Metal was everywhere. It formed cubes of buildings, stalls and the stench of the tang permeated everything. Kaita fastened her mask over the lower half of her face. The piece of tech hid her features from scanners and filtered the air. She pushed past the dirty miners, the soldiers, and the merchants until she reached her destination. The tavern was busy as usual. It was after work hours and the citizens liked to let off steam with alcohol.
It was like any world in that sense, Kaita supposed. Despite their lack of beauty on this planet the citizens were surprisingly happy. Word had come the capitol had sent warships and soldiers with supplies to refortify the border. With the Neprijat a quick jaunt away the relief was palpable.
At the back of the tavern near the bar was a large table, and she slid into the chair next to Mak. “No luck,” she told her soldiers. “The genetic ping revealed nothing in the immediate area. Hoping and waiting for Prince Nash to find us is a fool’s hope. We need to make a better plan.” Kaita slapped the table and the metal groaned. Shikta gravity made her stronger than normal and it was difficult to get used to.
“Are you sure we cannot contact Prince Nash? The person I spoke to said he’s friends with the Prince of Thieves. He has to know we’re here.”
“And then what?” Kaita snapped. Her pale, rosy pink eyes held his and the male flinched. “Wait around for sweet Prince Nash to rescue us? We’ve been here for months – and months before that limping through space. I’m done hiding and skulking about. We need to head to Draga Terra. The royals finally acknowledged our alliance and if they have granted sanctuary to Prince Nash they will grant sanctuary to a Princess of Khara as well.”
Her second shook his head. “We don’t have the fuel to reach Draga Terra, or the food. The starships are running on fumes. Unless we can get our hands on more gold we’re stranded here until we can make contact with Prince Nash and his forces.”
The drab flight suits they all wore had their insignia ripped from the sleeves. Nothing indicated they were anything other than Draga citizens. Their tech hid their true identities, and the small bit of gold Kaita had smuggled out had kept them from going hungry, but they were down to their last few ingots and something had to be done.
Kaita considered her soldiers. The males and females who followed her looked tired and worn out, there wasn’t a spark of hope left in their eyes. She was a princess which meant they all looked to her. Kaita protected them and she had to step up, make sure she fulfilled her duties.
“I want all of you to scatter, find out if there are fights, legal or illegal I don’t care. Find something that makes us cash. Bring me back the info and we’ll go from there. A few fights and we’ll have all the gold we’ll need. We’ll head to Draga Terra and join with Prince Nash as a united front.”
The soldiers perked up and started to smile. A good fight would bolster everyone’s mood. Kaita turned her hand palm up. “Once we have the gold to repair our starships and tech I will send out a coded message to the Prince. From what I’ve heard he’s looking for us, which means he has not forgotten we exist despite his romantic flirtations.” Each of her soldiers placed their hand over hers in agreement and she gave them all a nod. Kaita took care of her own.
She took care of her people while Prince Nash cavorted with the royals in luxury as his own people suffered. Kaita shook her head. It wasn’t fair to him, but the last few months had been the hardest of her life and she had no more energy for sympathy and understanding. Kaita wanted retribution. She wanted justice.
Her plans to gather enough forces to rip those monsters limb from limb hadn’t quite panned out yet, but never once had she wavered from her goals. Those monsters had murdered her entire family. A few were missing, but she hadn’t dared ping their genetics while in Khara space. Not even on Seprilles, they weren’t far enough away from the Neprijat and Kaita didn’t know enough about the Neprijat tech. Her ping could alert those abominations to her family’s location.
Just last week they’d been able to modify the genetic tech and encoded a transmission, but it had been too long since the original attack. There weren’t any pings of her people in the Outer Rim other than the ones already with her. Kaita sighed and signaled for a round of drinks.
“Hey turn that up!” someone yelled.
The livestream constantly displayed on the wall showed Prince Nash clasping the arm of the King of Draga. It looked like he was saying goodbye. Kaita narrowed her eyes and focused. The voice coming from the livestream explained Nash had been granted permission to travel to Seprilles in search of his people. Apparently a princess had been sighted.
Relief flooded Kaita; she was ashamed at how much she’d secretly wished Nash would remember her. He had an entire contingent of soldiers with him and with their tech he would be on Seprilles in a matter of days. All that prancing about in the palace had finally gained some traction.