4.5

Palien was horrified when he saw the third princess chatting merrily among the four officers who were reveling in her presence. A couple of them grabbed her around the waist and kissed her neck and arms as she laughed loudly. The commander did not want to anger Kamily just once; her reaction could be unexpected due to the princess being in such a harem situation. He approached the noisy company with a serious look and intervened:

"Avilena?"

The girl shuddered and turned to him.

"Hello, Palien!"

"I don't remember we have met before! How long have you been staying here?" He asked with dissatisfaction.

"A couple of days."

"Does the Queen know that you are on the ship? Princesses are forbidden to leave Zaria without a special permission."

"No... I didn't know that I had to ask for time off," Avilena frowned.

"Then I must take you to the palace."

"Palien," Ramies was alarmed, "You see, she likes being here, she's happy with everything, we don't offend her."

"You are having too much fun, and we have a lot of problems here," the Commander besieged him.

Avilena stood up with a guilty look and said goodbye to the guys, blowing them a kiss. They sighed sadly, seeing her off with obvious regret.

"Will you tell the Queen where I was?" Avilena could barely keep up with Palien, who was quickly walking along the corridor.

He looked back at her angrily, his eyes glaring.

"Most likely, she already knows and does not understand your choice. They specially saved you so that you wouldn't end up here."

"Will she punish me?"

"How strange you are!" Palien wondered out loud.

"I hear it all the time, that I'm weird. I just enjoy life, I'm very sociable and like to have fun. What's strange about this? I spent my whole life locked up, thinking: finally freedom, but here they are also restricting me."

"Your behavior is shocking: you chose your kidnapper, but that didn't seem enough to you, you flew here and are having orgies here."

"But it's strange for me to hear such reproaches from you; for you, this is generally a common thing."

Palien stopped abruptly and grabbed her hand roughly.

"You're also impudent, talking to the Ruler like that. You have no idea what you're talking about, stupid! Don't you dare fly here again, I forbid it!"

He pierced her with his gaze, trying to suppress her will and penetrate her mind, but she boldly looked at him and was not going to obey.

"All the rules of your social system are immoral, but for some reason I am being raised to be an obedient girl."

"You were spying here!" Palien guessed. "For what? Do you want to become Queen? Admit what you're up to!"

Avilena was silent, holding back her thoughts and not succumbing to hypnosis. He let go of her hand, realizing that somehow the princess knew how to resist him. She was a human just recently and has already gained the power to counteract his powerful spells?

He promised himself to find out what was stuck in the head of this young ambitious person.

Palien brought her straight to the Queen with menacing words:

"So that I don't see her on my ships anymore!"

He cast a sad glance at Kamily and left.

Avilena stood in front of the Queen, her head bowed guiltily.

"Bravo!" Kamily laughed, defusing the situation. "You made him angry. Did you say something to him? He does not tolerate wayward women."

"Aren't you angry with me?" The princess asked timidly.

"Well... No, but I don't quite understand you, why you chose your kidnapper and went on an adventure on his ship, knowing full well that the officers would pester you. We protected you from such a fate. But you are a smart woman, you calculate everything in advance, who knows what you were guided by. It turns out you love being around men. I do not judge you."

"He realized that I was a spy," Avilena admitted. "And he tried to enchant me to get into my consciousness. These aristocrats in my arms easily shared the secrets of their race, which you would not learn about anywhere."

"And what did you manage to find out?" The Queen tensed.

"We are female Essences, devoid of memory, serve the Source and are bound by a contract that we cannot terminate. Most likely, we are not spiritually syrinxes, but some other creatures with special qualities. The Source infiltrated the human race of Xantari a long time ago, subjugated and developed the bodies of syrinxes based on people with the help of plasma crystals that can correct any form of life into the desired one, so they are very beautiful to drive you crazy and enchant."

Kamily thought deeply: such information is difficult to comprehend.

"Thank you for the information for which you sacrificed your body," Kamily said sadly. "I knew some of this before, but what I have learned now is not easy to live through. When did you suspect that there were such secrets?"

"I've been thinking about this since childhood, when I learned to read ancient books. The two races on the same planet Zaria were in a very unstable relationship before the invasion. Sometimes they made peace, sometimes they fought. And the fact that syrinxes multiply among people, although the nature of their bodies is completely different from human ones, raised many questions. Living here, I continued to search for answers. It's a pity that I didn't manage to stay longer in the fleet; Palien saw through me. I would like to explore the plasma world that Ramies took me to once."

"How did you find out about this? This is classified information."

"Selestra told me about this. I even managed to make a wish there - not to succumb to hypnosis, and it came in handy."

"You have to know that syrinxes are not binary creatures at all. They are able to please each other without women. Girls are not just for reproduction, but for group fun. Don't expect any of them to take you seriously."

"I'm not waiting. Ramies also said that it is very rare for a hermaphrodite to be born in their immortal race. He looks like a guy with exceptional looks... Is it true - Lariel?"

"Don't start a conversation with him about this, it irritates him greatly. I couldn't convince him to reproduce this way, so we are forced to be pregnant..."