Chapter 1

THE PRICE OF GOLD

Death wasn’t looking forward to his wedding night at all.

Oiled and clad in a white silk robe and matching pants, he stood in front of the window of the honeymoon suite prepared for himself and Lee Glow. The moonlight of Earth was more vibrant than the collective radiance of all three moons on Preyida. Its harsh, diamond-like luminosity pierced his eyes.

A resident of Earth for three months, he’d yet to grow accustomed to the brilliance of colors. However, he had pledged his heart to a woman he barely knew. He needed to get used to it. He’d better get used to it.

The spacious suite, with its accoutrements of silk and satin, and a canopied bed acting as the focal point of the room, managed to evoke a sense of confinement. The walls seemed to draw in, as if to prevent him from escaping. If he could run out of this room right now and never look back, he would.

The bright wooden floors creaked under his bare feet as he pivoted away from the snowy night scene of the city in continuous celebration. Along with his marital vows to Lee Glow, which had taken place hours earlier, it was also the first day of the new year for this planet.

Everyone in the Milky Way Planetary Alliance knew that no one partied like Earthlings. These people would stay up till all hours of the night and still have energy to burn.

Death marched to the other end of the room, which was untouched by the moonlight. Here, his wound-up nerves eased in the comforting darkness he preferred.

Lee Glow’s arrival to their quarters for their marital consummation was an hour overdue. Perhaps she sought escape from this marriage? He could hardly blame her. If he could have done anything other than marry this woman he would have. By marrying her, he deceived her, but there was no other choice.

What if she found out?

Acerbic bile coated the back of his throat. The thought of discovery wrenched the breath from his lungs. He slumped against the wall. If Lee Glow got a hint of the deceit he placed her in, the alliance with Earth would crumble. Preyida needed this treaty with Earth. Without it, his world...

A thread of hysteria lined the muscles quivering in his stomach. Swallowing the bitterness which sheathed his tongue, he clenched his fist and tried to rein it in.

A sudden, putrid stench pervaded the darkness. It intensified until Death covered his nose with his hand. Before he could speak, he heard the words, “Lord Haddaway.”

Death straightened up from the wall and glanced around for the source of the slight nasal voice. “Where are you?” The surrounding darkness moved in a strange way. Twice, it expanded and collapsed on itself like the opening and closing of a portal. The third time, a form coalesced. It stood four feet high in Earth measurements. Edged by an aura of frutyrea, a radiation only Preyidans could detect with the natural eye, the main bulk of the figure was shadow.

“I am here, sire.” The frutyrea-lined figure knelt before him.

Death coughed. “I can tell. Your scent precedes you.” Why did this creature smell so awful? “I expected you three days ago.”

“I was detained, sire. But I did receive your message and came as soon as I could.”

“Then you understand the situation?” Their prior meeting had been a rushed affair with the Jat’oakin merchant and space train conductor, Ti’luku P’hita, in attendance to present introductions.

“Yes, my lord.”

Death waited for the creature to continue. When silence reigned for long seconds, he huffed. “Well, what do you have for me?”

“May I rise, sire?”

Flustered at his lack of etiquette, Death gave the directive. “Rise and address me.” He would have ended the command with the creature’s name had he known it but he didn’t. Not that it mattered.

The creature stood again. “Thank you, Lord Haddaway. I must respect Preyidan protocol even though Earth lacks such formalities.”

“Yes, yes,” Death waved away the sentiment with an impatient hand. “What do you have for me?”

“According to the message I received from Conductor P’hita, Earth will expect you to somehow use your Preyidan resources to turn useless rocks into raw gold.”

“Correct. The Htarians did no one any favors when they stole ninety-five percent of Earth’s gold.”

“There are no more Htarians, either,” the creature remarked in a quiet manner.

Death nodded once. Earth had gone cataclysmic in its retaliation. Earth’s former ruler, John Turner, had ordered an attack on Htara and practically destroyed the planet.

The Htarians weren’t missed, however. The planet had been home to serial killers, murderers, and the degenerate cesspool of the galaxy. Not a single member of the Alliance gave token criticism of the extinction of the race. “Why did you promise this feat knowing Preyidan resources were incapable of such an act?”

“Does it matter why?” Death blustered in an offended tone, reluctant to let this unknown creature in on his secret. “All I require is that you have the capability to do as I have asked. Can you turn rocks into gold?”

Death’s gaze followed the frutyrea-outlined creature as it wandered over to the other side of the honeymoon suite. The closer it moved to the light, it shed its darkness like molting skin. When the silver beams of moonlight alighted on his visitor, his eyebrow arched.

The creature had concealed itself in a fitted beige-colored body armor. A white, oval-shaped facial plate with a thick, dark seam which ran lengthwise down the center of the mask, obscured its face.