A Bride For The Alien King (Protectors 0f Svante Book 1)

by Roxie Ray

  “You and Sophia will masquerade as Rosa and I,” Quatix said. “You will board the Imperial Destroyer and leave Svante’s atmosphere, leading the Sives away from Svante. Meanwhile, Rosa and I will board one of our other ships and make course for the wormhole. You and Sophia can meet us in the Lyrae Galaxy once you’ve managed to shake off the Sives.”

  “Understood,” Brags nodded.

  “What ship will you choose?” Sophia asked.

  Quatix looked thoughtful. “I’d prefer to take a smaller spaceship, but it has to be as strong and durable as the Destroyer.”

  “The Miriallen?” Brags suggested.

  “Strong, but not small enough for this mission,” Quatix said. “I want to fly under the radar, especially when we’re in the Lyrae Galaxy.”

  “The Red Comet?” Sophia suggested.

  “A good ship.” Quatix nodded. “But unfortunately, its firepower is limited. We need to be prepared for a space battle, and the Comet, despite its defensive resilience, does not have the offensive strengths.”

  “The Cirrendel?” Brags suggested.

  “The ship is too well known,” Quatix said. “Most of the galaxy can already recognize it as a Svantian Protector ship.”

  “I have it!” Sophia said. “The Zernike.”

  Brags frowned. “The Zernike has never been flown before.”

  “Which is precisely why it’s perfect,” Sophia said. “It will not be recognized as a Svantian ship, and it has everything you need, Quatix. It is small enough, but incredibly strong and fitted with the best and most powerful defenses, as well as an offensive arsenal.”

  Quatix nodded slowly as he realized that the Zernike was the best option. “Perfect. We must inform the Protectors, Brags. We have two ships to prepare.”

  Brags nodded with resignation and steely-eyed determination. It looked like he was gearing up for battle already.

  “We will find this vuter,” Quatix said, as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “We will deal with the Sives. And once our planet is safe, we will have our mating ceremony, and then we will have the grandest coronation Svante has ever seen.”

  I looked at Quatix with wide eyes. “A coronation?” I repeated.

  “Of course,” Quatix nodded. “Svante has a new queen. We must make it official and celebrate. Now if you’ll excuse me, my love, Brags and I have to prepare the Protectors for this mission.”

  Quatix kissed the top of my head and headed out of our chambers with Brags. Sophia stayed behind, and I was glad. I needed someone to talk to. The moment we were alone, Sophia reached out to me.

  “Are you sure, Rosa?” she asked. “Are you sure you want to make this trip?”

  “Would you let your husband go off on a dangerous space mission while you stayed behind?” I responded.

  She smiled. “We shall be great friends, you and I.”

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” I admitted. “The Svantian people have been nothing but lovely to me since the moment I got here, but it’s nice to have another human around.”

  “I know the feeling,” Sophia said sympathetically. “It can get a little lonely being the only Earthling around.”

  “This mission is going to be difficult, isn’t it?” I asked, looking out onto the beautiful canopy of jungle that lay at our feet.

  “It is.” Sophia nodded. “And yet you seemed more frightened at the idea of your coronation than this mission.”

  “I was born to a poor family in the slums of the lower sectors,” I said. “It’s strange to go from there to… well, to this.”

  “From a hovel to a castle, huh?” Sophia smiled. “That story sounds familiar.”

  “Is it yours, too?”

  Sophia nodded, and her eyes looked dreamily back at the past. She actually looked quite peaceful as she recollected her time on Earth, and I wondered if that was because there was enough distance between her old life and her new one.

  “I enlisted in the armed forces when I was eighteen,” Sophia told me. “I was desperate to get out of the lower sectors. From there I was placed in the Special Task Force unit.”

  “The Special Task Force?” I repeated. “That branch of the government has always been shrouded in mystery.”

  “Because in large part it has become a unit that deals with extraterrestrials. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. They hand pick young men and women with specific characteristics and move them from the armed forces into training for the Special Task Force. It’s a much longer process, two additional years of training.”

  “Wow, and you were comfortable with it?”

  “I don’t know that I had much of a choice,” Sophia admitted. “But in any case, I was thrilled. Learning that aliens existed was a big deal for me, and knowing that I might one day come face to face with one — well, I was more than a little excited.”

  “Is that how you met Brags?” I asked.

  “I met Brags on an assignment,” Sophia explained. “My unit had been charged with tracking down a fugitive who’d escaped Earth. The man was in cahoots with a dangerous alien, who was incidentally another fugitive that Brags was trying to find at the time.”

  “Once we realized we were after two fugitives who were working and travelling together, we started working together, too. And in the process —”

  “You fell in love.” I smiled.

  Sophia’s eyes softened with the memory. “I can’t believe it’s been ten years.”

  “Was it love at first sight?” I asked curiously.

  Sophia laughed under her breath. “It was for him,” she said. “But then he had his bonding instinct to rely on.”

  “Bonding instinct?” I repeated.

  “It’s this strange primal connection that a Svantian feels when they meet their ideal mate for the first time. All it takes is one glance.”

  “Quatix tried to explain it to me,” I said. “But it’s still hard to understand.”

  “Love comes slower for us,” Sophia said, putting her hand on mine. “But trust me, it comes. And when it does, it will burn as fierce and as strong as their love for us.”

  “I do love Quatix,” I admitted. “I didn’t expect it to happen so fast, and I certainly didn’t expect it to be so intense, but there it is.”

  “There it is.” Sophia smiled. “You are lucky. Quatix is a good man; his strength and power has not made him any less compassionate. It’s one of the reasons he’s such a good ruler. That’s why his people love him so much.”

  I smiled, feeling incredibly proud of Quatix.

  “Sophia?” I asked.

  “Hmm?”

  “What is the mating ceremony like?” I asked nervously.

  “It’s a simple and beautiful ceremony,” Sophia told me. “You have nothing to be nervous about. Traditional Svantian mating ceremonies take place outside amongst the trees, under the skies. A high priest officiates the mating ceremony, and there is a series of small rituals that will need to be completed.

  “First, there is the ritual prayer that must be observed, then there is the blood exchange —”

  “Blood exchange?” I gasped.

  “It’s the most important part of the ceremony,” she said. “That is what creates the soul bond between two mates.”

  “Soul bond?”

  “Are you aware that most Svantians possess psychic abilities?” Sophia asked carefully.

  I nodded. “I am, though I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

  Sophia smiled. “Well, the soul bond will tie you to Quatix — it’s a link that means you can sense things about each other that perhaps you weren’t able to before. It will also provide you with certain defenses so your mind won’t be so easily read.”

  A sudden and horrifying thought jumped to mind. “Does that mean every Svantian I’ve come in contact with since arriving on Svante has been able to read my mind?”

  “Well, not exactly.”

  “But technically, yes?” I gasped.

  Sophia chuckled. “Calm down, Ros
a,” she said. “They can only hear clear thoughts, ones that you are focusing on at the time. If your mind is flitting through several different things at the same time, the chances are they’ll miss the bulk of it. There’s a spectrum, even among the mind readers. Some are better at it than others.”

  “Oh my God,” I said, coloring with fear as I thought about all the secrets I wanted to keep hidden. I was intensely grateful that Quatix seemed unable to read me at all.

  “Why do you look so worried?” Sophia asked. “I think it’s worked to your advantage.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Why do you think you’ve been embraced so fully by the Svantian people?” Sophia asked. “Even those who cannot read your mind clearly can sense your love and respect for them. They can sense that you want to be a good queen and you want to do right by them.”

  I felt the corners of my mouth turn up. “I didn’t even realize that.”

  “You don’t have to be nervous,” she said. “Thoughts are not as easy to read as you might think. It requires concentration and strength, and in truth, most Svantians prefer not to mind read. They find it to be a burden.”

  “I suppose that’s a small relief,” I sighed.

  “You make it sound like you have some deep, dark secret you wish to hide,” Sophia said, in a tone that was half serious and half teasing.

  I bit my lip and smiled guiltily at her. “We all have secrets,” I said softly. “Uh, I still want to know more about the blood exchange, though.”

  Sophia smiled. “Don’t worry, it’s not as unappealing as it sounds. It can be quite romantic, actually. The priest will prick your finger and then Quatix’s. You will be required to suck away the drop of blood on his finger and vice versa. Finally, you and Quatix will hold hands, kind of like a handshake, and the high priest will bind your hands together using a thin rope of white Svantian silk.

  “Once the rituals are complete, you will lie down and mate, and be forever bonded as husband and wife. Consummating the mating ritual is what cements the soul bond.”

  “When you say lie down and mate, do you mean in front of everyone?” I gasped.

  “In the ancient days, that was how it was done,” Sophia admitted. “But modern Svante is different. Now, the couple simply leaves the ceremony altar and finds a secluded spot amongst the trees so that they can mate in private.”

  “Thank God for that,” I breathed gratefully.

  Sophia smiled. “I’m sure your mating ceremony will be beautiful. As will you be.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “I’m actually excited for it now. It’s the coronation that has me feeling butterflies. I’d rather we kept it small and understated.”

  “Well, if you tell Quatix about how you feel, I’m sure he will listen. He’s putty in your hands.”

  I smiled, trying to savor my small victory. I turned back to my magnificent view and felt a little jolt of gloom at the thought of leaving Svante so soon after arriving here.

  “It’s so weird,” I said, out loud. “I spent decades on Earth and it never felt like home. But barely a week on Svante, and I’m sad to leave it.”

  “You’ve finally found a place where you belong,” Sophia said. “Just as I did. We are not Earthlings any longer, Rosa. We are Svantians now.”

  16

  Quatix

  The Zernike was less than half the size of the Destroyer, and yet it looked twice as lethal. It had been crafted from Abraxa black steel and fitted with only the best parts that had been procured from all over the galaxy. Its wings were silver, tipped with black, and its form mirrored a three-winged bird in flight.

  I remembered commissioning the Zernike almost two winters ago, but since there was no urgency for it, my interest had fallen by the wayside. Now I saw the wisdom in investing in so many different ships. They were more than a necessary part of our lifestyle; they were weapons as well as vessels of transport.

  “How many sleeper guns is it equipped with?” I asked, turning to Brags.

  “Two on either side.”

  I nodded. “It will do.”

  The royal hangar was a massive space that was situated at the base of the mountain on which Elisior Castle stood. It had been expanded over the years to hold all the different spaceships that were commissioned. There were eleven different entrances into the hangar, but only two were accessible directly from the castle.

  One such entrance was situated directly in front of me, about fifty feet away, and just as I turned towards it, the doors slid open to reveal Rosa and Sophia. Rosa’s chosen guards, Lexor and Antallon, accompanied them. Both guards held a large chest with Rosa’s belongings. Brags immediately moved towards his wife, their eyes communicating in a way that I hoped Rosa and I would achieve one day.

  “Are we all set to leave?” Rosa asked as I walked over to meet them.

  I nodded and reached out for her at the same time that she reached for me. Those little coincidences were becoming more and more frequent, and I realized it was because we were growing more familiar with one another. We were establishing little ritualistic modes of behavior that I had seen Brags and Sophia employ a million times in the past.

  As wary as I was about her joining us on this mission, I could not deny being pleased that she did not want to be parted from me. A small, insecure part of me wondered if perhaps her feelings for me were not as they should be. Love was different for humans. It came easily and went too soon. Sometimes it didn’t come at all. But I had been lucky with Rosa — her purest nature was love. All she needed was someone to value, respect, and love her unconditionally in order to bring that nature to light.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, when her hand was firmly in mine.

  She smiled. “This mission is going to be a success,” she answered.

  “Is it?” I asked, with one raised eyebrow.

  “It has to be,” Rosa replied. “For our people.”

  Our people; the words sounded beautiful as they floated out of her mouth, sounded natural and easy on her lips, and my heart shivered in my chest. She truly had cast some sort of spell on me. It felt like I was shackled to her for the rest of eternity, a prisoner bound by a timeless sentence — except I loved my chains and would never choose to be released from them.

  “My King, we are ready to board.”

  I turned to Comadin, who was standing by the slim entrance ramp to the Zernike. I nodded once and turned towards Sophia and Brags.

  “You will leave first,” I told them. “Once you have cleared Svante’s atmosphere, send word to us, and then we can leave.”

  “Understood,” Brags nodded, he stepped forward and clasped my wrist in. “Be careful out there, my King.”

  “And you, my friend,” I replied.

  Rosa and Sophia exchanged a hug, and then we watched as Brags and Sophia led a small contingent of men onto the Destroyer, which had been moved outside of the hangar. I could feel Rosa’s body tense against me as we heard the Destroyer’s engines rev into high gear.

  “You still have time to change your mind,” I reminded her.

  Rosa glared at me. “Nice try,” she said. “You can’t get rid of me that easy.”“Trust me, my love, getting rid of you is the last thing I’d ever want to do,” I assured her. “I just want to keep you safe.”

  Rosa reached out and cupped the side of my face with her palm. “What are the odds,” she said softly. “A woman from Earth and a king from Svante, two tiny creatures in a vast galaxy — what are the chances we found each other?”

  “Slim to none, one in ten trillion?” I replied. “And yet here we are.”

  “My mother used to talk about fate all the time,” Rosa said suddenly, as her eyes blurred with memory. “She believed in destiny. I used to think she was nuts, but now, I don’t know… maybe she had a point.”

  It was the first time she had spoken about her mother. I sensed the emotional turmoil raging inside her. If only I could see into that beautiful mind of hers, I would know exactly what to say t
o soothe her. I wanted to ask more, but I feared she would shut down if I did. I decided to let things lie; the fact that she had brought the topic up herself made me hopeful. Perhaps there would come a day soon when she would tell me all.

  “Your Grace?”

  Rosa and I turned to Comadin. “We have just received word from the Destroyer. They have cleared Svante’s atmosphere and are travelling at light speed toward the West.”

  “Do they have a tail?” I asked urgently.

  “Two Sives ships are following them.” Comadin nodded.

  I ground my teeth together. It was what we had expected; at least now Rosa and I didn’t have to worry about being followed into the Lyrae Galaxy.

  “Let’s go,” I said, grabbing Rosa’s hand and leading her into the Zernike.

  The interior of the ship was as sleek and understated as its exterior. The corridors were longer and narrower, unlike the Destroyer’s broad circular passageways, but they were well lit, with internal lighting on the ceilings and the floors.

  The moment Rosa and I were inside, the ramp rotated back inside the ship and the doors slid shut and sealed themselves off. I moved directly to the control room with Rosa and Comadin.

  The atmosphere in the control room was slightly tense, but I could sense the pulse of excitement that clung to the walls. Terrox’s expression was better contained, but Brailin looked like an eager pup about to make his first hunt.

  We moved out of the hangar quickly enough, and not long after, the Zernike was hovering over the landing pad, about to make its first push into space. I was impressed with the smooth ease with which the ship got off the ground. Its movements were nearly soundless, and its speed impressed me, too. Soon we had left the brightness of the Svantian sun behind, and blue darkness curtained the ship.

  Rosa stood at the back of the control room, but her eyes missed nothing. She watched as Brailin adjusted the ship’s internal mechanisms while Terrox made sure the craft’s exterior parts were working well.

  “We travel at light speed,” I told my crew. “I want to get to the wormhole as fast as possible.”