by Roxie Ray
Alora, Kali and I turned to look at the doors. Leaned up against them was the last Lunarian I wanted to see aboard the ship right now—save, perhaps, for King Brixta himself.
“How kind of you to join us, Jaix.” Annoyance simmered at the back of my throat as I laid eyes on the white-haired specter. “Do you require something, or are you just here to spy?”
“Spy? Why, Ronan, I cannot imagine what you mean.” Jaix blinked twice with soulless black eyes.
“You know exactly what I mean,” I grumbled. “Specters aren’t good for much else anymore.”
“Perhaps I simply wanted to view our future queen with my own eyes.” Jaix crossed his arms over his chest as he regarded Alora, then arched an eyebrow. “And might I say…I am impressed.”
“Then I welcome you to go spread the word. I am sure your impressions will be more welcome elsewhere.”
“I…think I’m missing something.” Alora stepped between Jaix and me. Even seeing her a single step closer to him made my shoulders stiffen and my claws twitch protectively. “Hello there. Jaix, is it?”
“It is, my queen. I am at your service, Your Highness.”
“I would rather that you were not,” I growled as Jaix bowed low before Alora. When she stuck out her hand for him to shake—that old human habit again—he made a great show of kissing her fingers.
I could have ripped his lips off for it. I regretted that I could not.
I had been politely kind to Jaix in the past, even going so far as to defend his past actions—but things were different now that it was my female’s hand he was kissing. Alora might have been King Brixta’s by right, but she was mine by destiny.
As for Jaix, he was a known wife-stealer. Once already he had run off with the mate of a high lord. He had paid dearly for the offense, serving a punishment of years in exile when he and his lover were finally apprehended.
I believed in rehabilitation, of course. Anyone who served their time could become a functional, law-abiding member of society again.
But in order for that to happen, they had to change their ways. Given the way Jaix was eyeing Alora…I had a strong suspicion that in his case, he had not.
“It seems I am unwelcome here,” Jaix said as he glanced over at me. To my relief, he took a step back from Alora. As far as I was concerned, the more distance between the two of them, the better. “I will take my leave. But should you need a dance partner in the future, my queen, I hope you will think of me.” He gave Alora a smile with just a hint of sinisterness in it. “It would be a pleasure to have you right in my grasp.”
Alora finally had the good sense to look uncomfortable as Jaix left the room again. I was glad that she caught on eventually. The capital would be thick with lecherous males like him when we arrived on Lunaria—especially now that King Brixta had claimed the sole right to all unmarried females of a breeding age.
“Who was that?” Alora asked when Jaix was finally gone.
“A specter,” I explained. “Not the trustworthy kind, either.”
“Specter?” Alora furrowed her brow as if she was searching her memory for mentions of the word in her precious briefing.
“They’re intelligence agents,” said Orion.
“My mom says they’re like James Blonde,” Kali added.
“James who?” Alora blinked for a moment, then laughed. “Oh. I think I know what you mean. But…his eyes. I read that they’re all black like that. Are they born that way, or…?”
“Not born, no. Injected with a serum. It is the mark of all specters, enabling them to better conceal their emotions,” I told her. “Most are loyal to House Brixta, and none of them are to be trusted. No matter how elegantly they kiss your hand.”
Especially the good-for-nothing wife-stealing kind, I wanted to add—but did not.
After all, I hardly had any room to speak on that front. Now, more than ever, I only wished to find some way to stop Alora’s marriage to King Brixta. To say those vows to her again, only for real.
If anyone was in danger of stealing the king’s wife at this point…
It was me.
7
Alora
We trained for the rest of the week. My feet ached from learning every dance the wedding festivities might call upon me to perform. I learned how to greet members of each caste and class of Lunarian society, from the lowest to the highest, and how they should greet me as well. I said my vows so many times, I found myself whispering them as I drifted off most nights. They were deeply ingrained in my mind by the end of the week.
I knew I didn’t love my future husband—and there was a good chance I never would. It made me wonder if it was wrong to say I knew my vows by heart.
Sometimes, Kali played the part of my groom and dance partner. Orion, who was taller than me but a worse dancer, would occasionally take over while Kali ridiculed him mercilessly every time he missed a step.
But more often than not, when his other duties aboard the ship didn’t call him away, it was Ronan I was paired with. I couldn’t say I was disappointed by that. Even after catching a few glimpses of the other warriors aboard the ship, I could tell he was by far the most handsome of them all. When we danced, I felt incredibly safe in his arms—all four of them. He lifted me and spun me around like I weighed nothing at all, even in my heavy wedding gown.
Every time I looked into his eyes as I parroted the words of my vows, I could almost imagine meaning them, too.
“I love watching the warriors try not to notice you,” Kali said with a cruel snicker as we returned to my room after our final training session. The next time I danced the traditional Lunarian waltzes I’d learned here on the ship, it would be with my husband. The next time I said my vows, they’d seal my fate. “They’re trying so hard not to stare, but all they end up doing is making themselves even more obvious when they look at you anyway.”
“No one’s staring at me, Kali.” I smiled at two dark-haired warriors coming from the opposite direction as we neared them in the hall, just to prove my point. They both immediately stepped aside and pressed their backs to the wall, clearing a path for Kali and me. As I suspected, they kept their eyes on the floor. “See?”
“Sure,” Kali whispered as we passed them. “But if you turn around right now…”
I glanced over my shoulder and let out a laugh I had to stifle by putting my hand over my mouth.
Sure enough, both warriors were blatantly gawking at me while they thought I wasn’t looking.
“How silly.” I linked my arm with Kali’s and gave both warriors a nod of acknowledgment. One immediately started staring up at the ceiling as a deep orange blush rose up on his cheeks. The other nearly fell over as he was suddenly overcome with an intense need to relace his boots. “Earth has been sending women to Lunaria for more than a decade now, and you all rescued so many more abducted ones before that. I’m hardly the first human they’ve seen.”
“Almost all of those humans ended up in King Brixta’s harem, though,” Kali reminded me. “And I don’t think they’re staring because you’re a human, Your Highness.”
“No? Then why?”
“Oh, please.” Kali rolled her eyes. “You know what you look like. And you’re not just any human—you’re their future queen.”
Queen. That was still a title that I wasn’t quite comfortable with. I was beginning to wonder if I ever would be. When Kali called me Your Highness, it felt like it only put more distance between us. Like any friendship we might have after my marriage would forever be overshadowed by my station as well as my age. Kali and Orion were just teenagers, but aside from Ronan, they were the only people I could even feel a little bit close to here on the ship.
And, Ronan…When he called me his queen, it was almost worse.
When he said it, I felt like he meant it. Every syllable. Every word.
“Alora. What a pleasure it is to see you again.” My shoulders stiffened when another Lunarian emerged from the shadows as Kali and I reached my room. Jaix was
tall and nearly as handsome as Ronan was, but when he was near me, I didn’t feel comforted. I felt endangered. “Are you prepared to meet your beloved today?”
“Go away, Jaix. We have no need for a specter right now,” Kali snapped at him. “Especially not one like you.”
“I will take my leave in a moment.” Jaix crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring Kali. “First, I would like to hear your answer, my queen.”
“I look forward to doing my duty to both of my peoples,” I answered him politely. At least Jaix wasn’t hitting me with questions I hadn’t practiced my response to. “I am grateful, always, for the opportunity to serve.”
Jaix arched an eyebrow but said nothing as Kali waved her hand across the doors.
That should’ve been the end of it. Innocent question, innocent answer.
But as we entered my room, Jaix’s voice called out after me in a way that gave me goosebumps on the back of my neck.
“An interesting prospect, Your Highness—but that was not what I asked.”
Kali was quick to close the doors behind us. Finally, alone again, she let out a low growl.
“I don’t like the way he looks at you at all,” she snarled. “Wife-stealing baz-terd.”
“I…don’t like it either, truth be told.” I sighed as I turned so Kali could unlace my top. I’d be meeting King Brixta in only a few hours now, which meant a quick bath and a wardrobe change before the ship landed on Lunaria. Just thinking about it made my chest feel tight—and not because of my laces, either. “What do you mean, though?”
“About what?” Kali tugged at the bindings of my top. It only released the pressure on my ribs a little, even when she took the top across the room and hung it up.
“Wife-stealing? Is that why Ronan says not to trust him?”
“Ronan says you shouldn’t trust him because every specter on Lunaria not already locked up or dead is loyal to King Brixta—and only King Brixta.” Kali returned to unlace my skirt.
“But King Brixta will be my husband…doesn’t that mean they’ll be loyal to me as well?”
“No.” Kali laughed sharply. “No, it does not. You’re going to be queen, Your Highness. Not king. Your no-good husband will rule the country. You’ll just give birth for it. Never forget that.” Kali’s fingers moved a little more gently as she slipped my skirt from my hips. From the tone of her voice…I got the sense that she actually felt a little sorry for me. It made me frown. I’d never taken to pity well. “And as for Jaix…you’re not the first female he’s looked at like that. Years ago, before I was born, he ran off with the wife of some high lord. The last king put him in exile for it.”
“People do crazy things for love,” I argued. I didn’t want to trust Jaix. I didn’t trust Jaix. But if there were really so few Lunarian females, and they were all being forced to marry into the nobility…I was just surprised Jaix’s case of so-called wife-stealing was the first that I’d heard. “Besides, you just said he’s loyal to the king.”
“Loyal or not…I wouldn’t put it past him to try again.” Kali hung up my skirt and moved to the tub. She turned the faucet on, and hot water began to splash into its basin. “I’m not sure Jaix is capable of love, but lust?” Kali shook her head, eyes wide. “The things some Lunarian males would do for that would turn your blood cold, Your Highness. Trust me on that.”
Kali’s words were still lingering on my mind long after I’d been bathed and dressed in the finery that I would meet my new husband in. My wedding outfit had been mostly chaste-looking, especially since it was in funeral colors. But my new outfit…the harem pants were slung dangerously low on my hips. My top barely covered my breasts at all.
Lust. It wasn’t exactly the thing that had started this situation between Lunaria and Earth, but I wasn’t dumb enough to think it had nothing to do with it.
I’d heard of the things that the humans kidnapped by the now-extinct Rutharians had been through. They hadn’t just been bred; They’d been raped. Brutalized. From what I knew of the Rutharians, they didn’t need to force themselves on women or beat them to make babies. Throughout the galaxies, artificial insemination had existed for even longer than it had existed on Earth.
On Lunaria too, it was a problem now. The first contract for breeding slaves they’d placed with Earth had assured my father that it was human wombs the Lunarians were interested in, nothing more. I knew now that had been a lie.
I suspected my father did too. Maybe he always had.
Why else had the Lunarians asked for fertile virgins?
Why else had my husband-to-be constructed a harem that enlisted every fertile woman on Lunaria to serve him, not just to give him cubs, but to play his concubine as well?
My shoulders were tense as I met Ronan in the ship’s hold near the exit ramp. I was dressed like…well, like a space prostitute. The heavy charcoal Kali had swiped around my eyes and the bright red on my lips and cheeks made me feel like one, too.
“Hello, Ronan.” I came up to his side and gave him a smile. I hoped if I did my best to look cheerful, it would at least help me pull off the intense look my clothes and makeup were giving me. “How do I—”
“Moons, Alora!” Ronan jumped back a step and blinked several times as he looked down at me. “What did Kali do to you?”
“Followed the instructions King Brixta sent along about how I was supposed to be presented to him, I guess.” I touched my cheek gingerly. I would have liked to rub the rouge off my skin, but it was on so thick, I feared I’d only smear it around. “How bad is it?”
“Not…bad, necessarily,” Ronan said carefully.
“Ronan.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t lie to me.”
Ronan chuckled. “I do not think anything could look truly bad on you, Alora. You have the kind of face that could still look beautiful beneath anything—be it rouge, mud or blood. But…”
“It’s too much, isn’t it?” I didn’t need to ask. I’d had almost the same reaction as Ronan when I looked in the mirror after Kali had finished.
“I prefer you without it, is all.” Ronan stroked the back of my head reassuringly with one of his hands. He smoothed the now-wild waves of my hair down. It felt so good, I almost purred. “Just because you can still look beautiful beneath so much face paint… Well, who am I to question what King Brixta wishes, I suppose?”
He offered me one of his arms and I took it gratefully. It was nice to have something to hold onto. I might not have felt the most comfortable in this makeup or this costume—it was so skimpy, I would have felt more self-assured wearing nothing at all—but at Ronan’s side, I knew I could at least relax a little.
“Are you ready to meet your husband today?” Ronan asked.
My smile faded a little. I had a feeling he was just being polite.
“Do you want what I’m supposed to say, or the truth?” I asked him. Jaix, Ronan himself had warned me not to trust. But if there was anyone on this ship I felt I could have faith in, even when I wasn’t acting my part or sticking to the script, it was Ronan.
“You may be honest with me, Alora.” Alora, he called me. Not Your Highness or my queen for once.
“I’m nervous,” I admitted quietly. “And I’m scared.”
“That is understandable.” He looked down at me with misty gray swirling in the purple of his eyes. Sadness, I was pretty sure.
I didn’t blame him.
I wasn’t too happy about this either.
The ship rumbled slightly as it entered Lunaria’s atmosphere.
“It is not too late, Alora,” Ronan said after a beat. He was speaking so quietly now, even I could hardly hear him. “We have not yet landed. If you want out of this—if you need out—”
“No,” I told him. “I…I have to do this. I can’t back out.”
Not now. Not ever.
“I understand.” Ronan stood up a little straighter. Beneath my hand, the arm I was holding onto stiffened like it belonged to a corpse. “Of course.”
Ronan drew in a slow, tense breath.
“Maybe,” he said.
And just like that, I knew that even my hopes for a handsome husband wouldn’t come true.
Once we were off the ship, Ronan guided me to a broad, car-shaped vehicle that hovered a few feet off the ground like it had been suspended there by magic. He sat next to me the whole ride to the palace. Kali sat on my other side. Both had their jaws clenched so tight, I was worried that if they were called to speak before the king, they’d find their mouths stuck shut.
As the hover-car hummed toward the royal palace, I caught my first glimpses of the Lunarian capital. There were markets bustling with vendors selling strange-shaped fruits and beautiful lengths of cloth, spices of every color piled high in their stalls. I saw Lunarian men with hair every color of the rainbow—and occasionally, a woman or two, heavily draped from head to toe in thick veils as they stuck close to their husbands’ sides.
But everything I saw, I only saw because I was trying not to look at him.
Ronan’s face in profile was just as gorgeous as it was straight-on. The way he was clenching his teeth only showed off how chiseled his jawline was. His nose would have been almost delicate, except for the bump in it that told me it had probably been broken one…or two…or more times.