Shattered Destiny: A Galactic Adventure, Episode One by Odette C. Bell Page A

laughing at me, because his eyes sparkled all the more every
time he did it. “Where did you think you would sleep? At Xarin’s
foot?” he commented.
    Maybe the comment was intended to be
innocent. It wasn’t. It was like a punch to the gut.
    I felt my heart shudder, my breathing become
so shallow my chest began to fill with a cold pressure.
    If Mark saw my disproportionate reaction,
he didn’t comment on it. “You get your own quarters, Shar. This
ship is big enough that crew don’t have to share. If you ask one of
the armory guards, they’ll let you know where it is. But I have to
go now.” He turned to walk away, but couldn’t appear to do it. He
flicked his gaze back to me. I couldn’t be sure, but I felt as if
it lingered.
    I didn’t blush. I never felt embarrassed.
And yet I had the strangest desire to shrink away from him. “…
Yes?”
    “Never mind.” With that, he turned and
walked away.
    I watched him.
    “Good luck,” I muttered.
    He didn’t turn.
    With nothing else to do, I found my quarters
and settled in.
    Before I knew what I was doing, I flopped on
my bed, locked my hands over my eyes, and stared at the ceiling
through my interlacing fingers.
    Though I tried hard to fight it
– though I used every mental technique I knew – I couldn’t stop
myself. My every thought returned to the prince .

Chapter 6
    Several weeks passed.
    My reaction to the prince only became
stronger, though I barely saw him.
    I’d now learnt that he had an entire deck of
the ship to himself, and it was practically a mortal crime to go
there without being invited.
    I wanted to say that I’d grown to hate him
completely, but that wasn’t true. Sometimes on the edge of sleep, I
would catch myself thinking about him, almost longing for him. The
thought was such a sickening one, that it made me want to
retch.
    I went through my training quickly.
Extremely quickly, according to Mark. Because the training was too
easy. Too regimented. It prepared the Arterian soldiers for
ordinary battle, but battle was never ordinary. Once you’re thrust
into a real life-or-death situation, people do not react
predictably. They do everything they can to survive.
    I was not as restless aboard the ship as I
thought I’d be. The other soldiers in my unit were coming to
begrudgingly accept me.
    And as I stood there in the deployment
bay, waiting for my orders, I noted nobody glared at me as if I
didn’t belong anymore. They barely noted my presence at
all.
    That I could deal with.
    I brought my hand up and checked my helmet,
sliding my fingers along the point at which it connected to my neck
plating.
    It was secure.
    Though at first my armor had
felt like a coffin, now I was accustomed to it. It was like a second skin.
    Suddenly the massive doors into the
deployment room opened, and in strode Mark. He was in his full
Arterian armor. It caught the powerful lights in the room and
glistened.
    His helmet, however, wasn’t on.
    I frowned.
    That frown only became all the more powerful
as a quick nervous feeling sunk through my gut.
    I knew exactly what it meant. A second
later, the massive deployment doors opened once more, and Prince
Xarin walked in.
    Mark straightened up, an odd look flashing
in his eyes as he twisted his gaze and locked it on Xarin.
    Xarin cleared his throat as he stared at
each soldier in turn. His gaze never met mine, though, and he
appeared to look right over the top of my head.
    I hardened my jaw. I barely existed to this man . Though he’d had the
hubris and arrogance to kidnap me from my life and draft me into
his army, he’d already forgotten about me. I was simply another set
of hands that could hold a blaster.
    Xarin didn’t say anything, then he turned
sharply to the side. He was wearing his armor, including his
ceremonial cloak. It shifted over his shoulder, scattering down his
back with a smooth slipping sound. He began to talk to Mark in a
low tone.
    Though I couldn’t pick up the exact words,
there was