Her Fated King: A SciFi Alien Romance

by Roxie Ray

  Now, it would be Alora’s. Proof of the vows I made to her as I fastened it around her lovely, slender wrist.

  “Alora, my queen—”

  “You don’t need to vow anything to me, Ronan,” she said with a laugh. “I think we know what we mean to each other by now.”

  “But I want to,” I told her. “Listen, precious one, I vow to protect you with all the strength of my body.”

  “You’ve already done that.” Alora smirked. “More times than you should have.”

  “I vow to obey you,” I continued. “Your every wish. Your every whim, I vow to fulfill.”

  “My every whim, huh?”

  “Shh. I am almost done.” I reached over to little Rex, who reached out to capture my finger in one of his many fists. “I vow to love to you, Alora—and our cub as well. This one, and as many more as you wish to give me.”

  I clasped the bracelet around her wrist and my smile broadened.

  For so long, I had thought of Alora as my bride.

  Now, it was real. Not just a dream, but the truth.

  “It feels so light,” Alora said as she turned her wrist over, making the gold in the bracelet shimmer in the fire’s brightness. “Much lighter than the last one. I almost wish it was heavier.”

  “That is how love should feel, vringna.” I cupped her cheek with one of my hands and caressed the softness of her skin. “Light as air.”

  “And what are my vows to you?” she asked. “I feel like we should have practiced this. I didn’t prepare this time at all. Do you want me to swear to protect and obey you too?”

  “I do not need your protection, lovely one. Or your obedience.” I winked at her. “Your love, though…I would not mind hearing a vow like that from your pretty lips.”

  “Oh, I love you, all right.” She beamed up at me. “I love you, Ronan, and I always will.”

  The crowd cheered as we kissed. Even far off in the distance, where there was no way they could have seen the way my lips claimed those of my bride, they shouted and whistled for us. The sound echoed through the hills, all the way back to the palace’s gates.

  “Moons bless you all,” Mother Jara said as she stepped forward with the crowns. “Now—lower your heads.”

  I knew what came next. I had dreamed it so many times, it felt as though it had already happened.

  What my dreams had missed was the way Alora smiled up at me when I placed her crown on top of her head. It was radiant. Glorious. The light in her eyes burned even brighter than the fire before us.

  I would be king of Lunaria from this point onward, but Alora’s smile meant more to me than any crown.

  It lit the way for our future—and even in the dark of night, I could tell that for as long as we had each other, it would be a bright one.

  I did not need any prophetic dreams to know that.

  21

  Alora

  The feasting hall was fuller than I’d ever seen it. Nervous-looking lords and ladies flitted in and out of throngs of lowborn guests. Lunarian cubs and half-human children raced around the outskirts of the party, playing chasing games and giggling with delight. The chandeliers glowed golden. The purple crystals hanging beneath the lights left little shards of lavender light scattered all around the hall. And on top of a table in the corner, a minstrel sang a bawdy song about a flame-haired human and a warrior-king, the plot of which seemed…oddly familiar.

  Even the sexual parts.

  Especially the sexual parts.

  “That minstrel knows too much.” As we sat at the places of honor behind the high table, I gave Ronan a suspicious look. The minstrel was in the process of describing my pale rose peaks over mountains of virgin snow which, while flattering, was a little too spot on for comfort. I placed my hands over Rex’s little ears as I bounced him on my knee, though I doubted that at five months old, he had any idea what was going on. “Did you tell him about our sex life?”

  “I did not, my queen,” Ronan assured me. “He must be guessing based on how he sees me looking at you while you do not think I am watching.”

  “And how’s that?” I asked.

  “Like you’re a fine dessert that I am very excited to attend to once the rest of the feast finally ends.” Ronan’s fingers brushed against my knee as he used another hand to brush my hair behind my ear. “You are very beautiful, Your Highness. You should not be surprised when minstrels and poets take notice.”

  “I suppose I should be used to it by now.” I leaned into his touch as the back of Ronan’s hand kissed my cheek. “You really think my breasts look like snowy mountains?”

  “A little,” Ronan laughed. “Especially while they are full of milk as they are now. They are certainly big enough, at any rate.”

  As the night progressed, we were approached by nobles and commoners alike. Ronan’s mothers proved to be excellent at managing them, with Mother Jara organizing them into a line, Mother Yeta guiding them along when Ronan and I had heard their kind words, and Mother Mozula ruthlessly smacking anyone with the business ends of her walking sticks who lingered for too long.

  We greeted Kloran and his wife, Bria, who was pregnant again. I was happy for them—especially since I remembered Kali mentioning that she’d lost a younger brother during Brixta’s initial assault on their palace.

  “It is a boy, we think,” Bria whispered to me as she kissed each of my cheeks. “Conceived in the dungeons beneath the palace, if you can believe it. He’ll never fill the place Arex left in our hearts, but Mother Mozula told me that sometimes, Lunarian spirits find their way back home again. So…we can hope.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be gorgeous,” I assured her. “Healthy and handsome and perfect.”

  Kali and Orion approached us next. They were hand in hand and both grinning from ear to ear.

  “Mother says I’m not allowed to be betrothed until I come of age,” Kali admitted.

  “And my father says a commoner like me has no business marrying such a fancy lady,” Orion added with a laugh. “But as soon as my mother saw how Kali wields a sword, she was sold on the idea.”

  “You two deserve all the happiness in the world,” I told them.

  “But not until you are of age,” Ronan warned them with a wag of his finger. It amused me how much of a dad he’d turned into since Rex’s birth. “That is an order from your king.”

  We met with Nion and Alyse, Orion’s parents, next. Along with them was Orion’s twin, Phoenix, who looked even more out of place than the other humans and I did among all the orange-skinned Lunarians with his sharp horns and red complexion. He bore his differences well, though—and when Apex and his pink-haired wife, Atlanta, arrived with their daughter, Nova, a few moments later, I saw I wasn’t the only one noticing Phoenix.

  “Would it be weird if I asked Phoenix to dance later?” Nova asked me while Ronan embraced his friends. “My father says it’s ridiculous, but my mother has always encouraged me to take initiative, and—”

  “I think you should,” I whispered to her as I nodded in Phoenix’s direction. Nova looked just in time to see Phoenix staring at her as well. She giggled as their eyes met and he looked away. “Assuming he doesn’t ask you first.”

  They weren’t the only young half-humans who seemed interested in each other, either. When Lord Haelian and his wife, Sawyer, came to give Ronan and me their regards, their son, Leo, hung around to crack jokes while the healer Coplan and his wife Atlanta’s daughter, Phoebe, giggled and blushed.

  “Careful, Phoebe,” Jaix warned Coplan and Atlanta’s blue-haired daughter. He held his own cub on his hip as he winked at Leonix. “Leo is named after my wife here, and he has her, ah…fighting spirit, one could say.”

  “If only I had his sense of humor.” Leonix smiled as she ruffled her daughter’s hair with her good hand. Her other had been fitted with a prosthetic, but I noticed the way she still kept it tucked in her skirts. “Still. You might have your hands full.”

  “Can we play with your little cub for a while, L
eonix?” Phoebe asked.

  “You’ll have your hands full with her too,” Leonix joked as Jaix handed the cub over.

  “I feel like we’re seeing the next generation of Lunarians find love before our very eyes,” I whispered to Ronan as Phoebe and Leo took Leonix and Jaix’s daughter away to tickle and coo over. “It’s cute, isn’t it?”

  “Humans and Lunarians together, their cubs already imagining their own betrothals…” Ronan turned to me and let Rex grab hold of his fingers with all four of Rex’s tiny, chubby fists. The smile on Ronan’s lips didn’t seem capable of fading. “I cannot imagine a more perfect future for our people. Our planet. Our cubs.”

  “Cubs?” I laughed as Rex relinquished one of Ronan’s fingers so he could tug at my ear. “You’re already thinking of having more?”

  “I thought we could discuss it, at least.” Ronan looked around the hall and winked at me. “Once the festivities are done and I can have you all to myself again.”

  “Who do we have left?” I asked, following Ronan’s gaze. It seemed like we’d spoken with everyone present this evening—peasants and nobles alike.

  “Well…” Ronan sighed. “There is one more family I hoped to hear from, admittedly—but I am not sure that it will be possible.”

  “Really? Who?” I wracked my brain for the names of Ronan’s old commanders and comrades. Kloran, Haelian, Coplan, Nion, Apex—even Leonix and Jaix. We’d spoken with their partners, met their children.

  Who else was left?

  “I sent messages out to try to contact his ship, but to be honest…I am not certain of even where he might be these days.” Ronan smiled down at me, a little wistfully. “My old comrade, Gallix. We were stranded on the planet Edon together with his cousin, three human females and a Rutharian male. When we returned to Lunaria after leaving Edon, I created a diversion so they could get away without being captured. They should have a cub about a year older than little Rex here by now…but I have heard nothing from him since we last parted.” Ronan shook his head as his smile faded. “For all I know, they might be—”

  Ronan was cut off by the sound of the doors to the feasting hall bursting open. The crowd parted in a small flurry of panic, revealing a tall, yellow-haired Lunarian with his arm around a human female with hair almost as red as mine. In her arms, she held a chubby yellow-haired toddler. Another half-human, half-Lunarian.

  “Dead,” Ronan finished with a chuckle. “Gallix, you old baz-terd—”

  “Ronan!” Gallix kissed his human companion on the cheek then raced across the hall, shoving a few pinch-faced lords and ladies out of the way in the process. The two of them embraced like long-lost brothers. “Barely got your message in time, you good-for-nothing—”

  “Idiot! Gallix, you empty-headed idiot, I tried every space port from here to Praxia!”

  “We were out beyond Praxia. Stopped at one of the fringe ports and finally heard your signal.” Gallix said, laughing. He brushed his fingers against the crown on Ronan’s head. “Nice dung-head hat, four-arms. It suits you.”

  “Almost as much as a lordship might suit you.” Ronan raised an eyebrow. “House Brixta’s lands will need a new nobleman to rule and protect them…”

  “Ah, now that’s the kind of welcome I was hoping for.” Gallix’s grin split all the way across his face. “Always knew I was cut out for a proper title. Just needed you to hurry up and become king to give me one. No one else would be so dumb.”

  Gallix presented his wife, Eve, and their daughter, Bessie, to us with pride.

  “Redheads, huh?” Gallix nudged Ronan in the ribs with his elbow. “We’ve done pretty well for ourselves, haven’t we?”

  “We have,” Ronan agreed as his gaze passed over Rex and me. His eyes were full of love. “We certainly have.”

  As the feast continued, Gallix and Eve took seats on either side of Ronan and me at the high table. Gallix and Ronan couldn’t seem to decide whether they were talking old war stories or current events, so Eve and I left them to it.

  “They’re cute together,” Eve said as she bounced her toddler on her knee. “Always have been. But Ronan seems…”

  “Different?” I asked.

  Eve smiled. “Happier, actually. I think Edon was a bit of a crisis for him. For all of us, really…but especially for him.”

  “I can imagine,” I said.

  “So you’re the woman from his dreams, huh?”

  I laughed. “Apparently. When he told me, I thought he was losing his mind…but now it looks like dreams really do come true.”

  “So how did you two—” Eve started. She was cut off by a buzz from my pocket—one that I scrambled to respond to.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, trying to pull my communicator away from Rex. With four chubby hands to grab at it, that was easier said than done. “I’ve been waiting to hear from my brother. Back on Earth, the rebellion—”

  “Oh,” Eve said softly. “You’re… the president’s daughter, aren’t you?”

  “I am,” I said. “Rex, stop!”

  “Here.” Eve reached over and pulled Rex onto her lap. “You were just a little girl when I left Earth, you know. We didn’t get much news in Sector Five, but—”

  “You were in Sector Five? I’m…so sorry.” Sector Five was a terrible place—exactly the place that my brother and Nyssa were supposed to be liberating today, if all went well.

  “It’s okay,” Eve said. “I’ll hold baby Rex here. You take your call. I’ve been wondering about what’s happened on Earth. Maybe your brother can fill us in.”

  I hit the answer button on the communicator and Knox’s face filled the screen. There was dirt on his cheeks and ash in his hair…but he was smiling.

  Beaming, actually.

  And he wasn’t alone.

  “Hey there, little troublemaker.” Knox pulled the slender, gray-eyed blonde he had tucked beneath his arm a little closer. “I’ve got good news.”

  “You and Nyssa were able to liberate the work camps?” I smiled back at him. “I’m so proud of you, Knox.”

  “I’ve done better than that.” Knox turned his smile to the blonde. “Meet Lily. She’s, ah…well, she was a prisoner here. But now…”

  “Lily?” Eve’s ears perked up at that name. She leaned over to look at my communicator and gasped as she saw Lily’s face. “Lily! It’s you! After all this time—”

  “Eve?” Lily narrowed her eyes as she craned her neck to get closer to the screen. “Holy…Eve! You’ve barely aged—”

  “It’s a long story,” Eve said with a laugh. There were tears in her eyes. “I guess yours is pretty long too. It’s been, what? Sixteen years…” Eve glanced at me and laughed again. “Sorry. Lily and I…we were friends in Sector Five. She was supposed to come with us to Lunaria, but—”

  “I think fate might have had different ideas for me,” Lily admitted. She beamed up at Knox. “Do you want to tell them, or should I?”

  “Lily and I are…well, it’s early, but sometimes you just know.” Knox pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Every president needs a first lady, right?”

  “You move fast, big troublemaker.” Lily appeared to be a little older than Knox, but she was beautiful and looked completely taken with him. “I’m happy for you both.”

  “Be good to her, Mr. President,” Eve said. “Lily deserves the world.”

  “Well, I can give her a country.” Knox winked at us through the communicator. “From there…we can talk.”

  Eve and I caught up with Knox and Lily for a little while longer. They hadn’t set a wedding date yet, and there was a lot of work left to do in the sectors before everything was set right again…but things were looking up here on Lunaria, and back on Earth as well. Despite all of the hiccups and disasters we’d faced along the way, it was looking like the plan Knox and I had devised was actually going to work.

  The gray-classes on Earth would have their freedom. Sector Five would be abolished. Lunaria could help with resources while the sectors were re
structured back into a proper democracy, and no one would be tied to the class system there ever again.

  When we were finally finished saying our goodbyes, Eve nudged my arm gently.

  “Look,” she whispered. “I think they like each other.”

  On Eve’s lap, Rex had wound all four of his arms around Eve and Gallix’s little girl. Their foreheads rested against each other as they both snored gently, fast asleep.

  “Well, would you look at that?” Gallix chuckled as he leaned over and watched our cubs sleeping. “You know, Ronan, I didn’t want to be the one to say it…but my Bessie would make an excellent future queen.”

  “Then you should have named her something more regal than Bessie,” Ronan teased him.

  “And you should’ve named your cub something less pretentious than Rex,” Gallix teased back.

  “They’re just babies, Gallix.” Eve rolled her eyes. “But I think someday they could be good friends, at least.”

  “Toast!” A shout rose up from a crowd of lowborn Lunarians across the room. I spotted Nion’s flash of green hair as he stood and raised his goblet to Ronan and me. Nion’s wife, Alyse, was quick to follow. “A toast from our new king!”

  Ronan glanced at me. “I haven’t prepared anything, but…”

  I placed my hand over one of his. “Just speak from your heart, Ronan. It’s never served you wrong yet.”

  Ronan cleared his throat as he gathered up his goblet and stood.

  “I was not born to be king,” he said slowly. “On the Lunaria I was born into, I had no hopes of a lavish life. No hopes of a mate and even fewer for a child. But…” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “When Earth and Lunaria came together, it quickly became clear that the moons intended for the fates of our two planets to become intertwined. Now as I stand before you all, a king—a husband—a father—I must admit that I regret any moment I doubted what destiny had in store for us all. In my dreams at night, I see a new horizon approaching us. One that will lead us to not only one better world…but two. United. Prosperous. Free.”