The New King: An Alien War Romance (Galactic Order Book 5)

by Erin Raegan

  After she left, I growled and tossed my spoon into the tub. Isin smacked my fingers with his spoon and I bared my teeth at him.

  “Alyn could very well be our future queen. Mind yourself, human.”

  “Are you serious? That cake takes me too long. I don’t have enough time!”

  “I will finish here. Start on it now.” He shoved me toward the icebox, and I groaned. “No one else can make the gross thing.”

  “Isin, you are so weird. Cake is not gross. It’s amazing.”

  The first time Isin tried my cake, he had taken a bite and spat it on the floor. The rest of the Dahk had been begging for it every day. The castle was convinced Isin was behind the “sweet loaves.” I wondered how they would feel about them if they knew a human was making them. I was a damn good baker, always had been, but even I had to admit, cooking with the Dahk’s ingredients took cake to a whole new level of amazing. And they had never had it! It was unbelievable.

  Isin poked my pudgy little belly. “Perhaps that is why you grow fat.”

  Roxanne choked and Lydia giggled, as did the other three Dahk in the room.

  “Isin, I’m sure you meant that as an insult, but I love my belly.” I palmed my belly protectively. I had been skin and bones for the last year and I was enjoying the weight my cakes were putting back onto my body. After growing accustomed to hunger pains on Juldoris, I would never pass up a meal again. Especially cake.

  Isin growled and smacked my hip again. “There’s no time to waste!”

  “Fine, fine, but it won’t be as good if I have to rush.” I ripped open the icebox and tossed ingredients onto the counter.

  “It better be perfect or you’re on peeling for the next ten sunrings!”

  I groaned. Isin may look like a puppy dumped in nuclear waste but he had the attitude of a bear.

  5

  Mona

  One hour later, I was sweating and hungry. Last meal had been served, and I was finishing the cake while Isin watched me with a wild, anxious light in his eyes. Uthyf and Alyn were eating in their rooms—a meal that Isin had slaved over, shouting the kitchen down, terrified of making the precious royals wait too long.

  I scowled at the sloppy cake then at him.

  “It’s ugly,” he said slowly, seemingly in shock.

  “I told you there wasn’t enough time.” On Earth, I never would have sold this in the cake shop where I worked. My boss, Carrie, would have tossed it in the trash. It was a far cry from the beautiful cakes I normally made. I was embarrassed just looking at it. No way could I give this to a king.

  Isin sighed gravely. “There is no time for you to make another.”

  “No shit. Just tell her we couldn’t do it.”

  If he were wearing pearls, he would have clutched them. “No!”

  “She’ll get over it.”

  “It is ugly, yes, but how does it taste?”

  I dropped my hands on my hips. “You know it’s good.”

  “It does not look it.”

  I scrubbed my face. “It was too hot for the piping to hold, so it melted a little, but trust me, warm cake is even better than cold.”

  He eyed it warily. “Take it to the king’s rooms.”

  I laughed. “No.”

  “Take it,” he snapped and grabbed the tray, thrusting it at me.

  “Derys serves him,” I told him, looking around for the female Dahk. She was Uthyf’s personal servant, waitress, back scrubber, everything. A jack-of-all-trades.

  “She has retired for the night.” He pushed me away and sliced two enormous pieces of the cake before plating them and putting them on the tray. Great, Derys had retired for the night, and I hadn’t even eaten yet.

  I picked an orange hair off one slice and debated who deserved the hairy cake more, Uthyf or Alyn? It was a toss-up. Isin cleared his throat and plated another piece, carefully keeping his furry arms away from the icing.

  “Fine, you take it,” I told him stubbornly. I put the tray down and crossed my arms, widening my eyes pointedly.

  Isin chuckled. “I will not serve my king this ugly thing.”

  “Okay, that’s insulting.”

  “Take it,” he snapped and shoved me from behind, two of his hands on my ass.

  If he were anyone else, I would have drop-kicked them, but Isin had been slapping and pinching me since I met him and he would barf before he ever looked at a human or a Dahk sexually.

  “You don’t want to take it, I don’t want to take it, so let’s not and pretend we forgot.”

  Once I was through the wooden door of the kitchen, he slammed it and grinned evilly from the cut-out in the center.

  “You owe me so huge.” Spinning on my feet, I shouted over my shoulder, “I get to make the menu tomorrow!”

  His curses faded as I walked up the stairs on lead feet. Gryl winced as he stepped up beside me.

  “Don’t say a thing,” I warned him.

  He and my other guards chuckled. They must have been listening outside the kitchen. It was the only place they didn’t follow me. Not only would they eat everything and Isin would freak, but it was so hot in there. The Dahk liked the cold. Their planet was a floating ice ball, after all.

  Uthyf’s rooms were at the top of the castle. He had the entire fifth floor to himself. Half was his rooms, and the other half was for his House companions. At the top of the stairs, you could either go down the hall to the left and through the double doors to Uthyf’s rooms, or to the right where they lived. I spun left, not even daring to look right.

  I’d had to clean up there once, and though I had been warned, there was no way to properly prepare someone for meeting a spider that was bigger than the average human.

  Uthyf had three Arachtinus that stayed in their part of the fifth floor. I occasionally spotted Mantu climbing the stairwell, but it was rare and he never tried to speak in my mind. I had heard the Arachtinus could do that.

  Unfortunately, tonight was a night Mantu had decided to visit his friend, the king. He was sitting high in the corner of the domed ceiling, above Uthyf’s door. Gryl chuckled heartily as I gulped and shivered when I spotted the Arachtinus. Mantu was right above my head as another guard knocked on the door. All three dozen eyes watched me.

  I knew it was Mantu from the blue streak of fur on his underbelly. That and the intelligent way he eyed us. The other Arachtinus barely spared me a glance the one time I had ran into them—promptly screaming and running the other way. But Mantu had been curious. I shivered.

  “Hey there,” I murmured. Every time I saw him, I was afraid he would smash me into Mona-mush as I had done to so many of his Earthen brethren.

  Vivian had a giant pet fur ball with a spiky tail named Gus. And though Gus was creepy, he was also a sweetheart. Mantu was not sweet. He was terrifying.

  I braced for his answer in my mind, but it never came. I knew he could speak in your mind, Vivian paled every time someone spoke of him. But I had never had the experience myself. The guards chuckled and nodded to Mantu. I eyed them suspiciously. Was he mind-talking with the guards right now? The door swung open, and one of Uthyf’s guards waved me and Gryl inside. My other guards remained outside the door, silently communicating with hulked-out spider. I ducked and tripped into the room to avoid one of Mantu’s elongated legs.

  Uthyf’s rooms were enormous. I could fit eight of my former apartments inside his room. It was all open space and finely carved marble furniture. Strangely, he didn’t have the heetbull rugs decorating his floors. Instead, he had the furs of aliens I had never seen before. It was weird, seeing so much color instead of the lavender I saw everywhere else. I averted my eyes from the bones and heads displayed on tables and chests. It was an alien-hunter's dream room. I didn’t have the brain capacity to try to figure out what type of dead aliens were lurking all around me.

  The guards shifted uncomfortably in the large sitting room. From the door off to my left, I heard Alyn whining. Uthyf was growling and shouting, then Alyn was sobbing. Great, a lover
s’ spat.

  I trudged over to a large velvety bench, looked at the cake, and my stomach growled. If this went on much longer, I wouldn’t get to hit the remains of the buffet in the great hall before it was cleaned up. I was tempted to drop the cake on the elaborately decorated dining table and go, but I didn’t trust the guards not to eat it. Then Alyn would flip and Isin wouldn’t let me pick the menu tomorrow and I wanted to, badly.

  I looked over the table and noticed the meal Isin had so frantically prepared had been barely touched. I shook my head and was going to leave the cake anyway when the door swung open and Uthyf stomped out. I jumped to my feet. He saw me, and we both froze. Alyn squeaked, running into him from behind.

  She looked around his shoulder, and she couldn’t mask her scowl in time. I saw the bitch behind that pretty alien face of hers.

  “What is this?” Uthyf asked, looking between the tray and me.

  I shifted on my feet. “Uh, Alyn asked for it to be sent up for you.”

  Uthyf didn’t look away from the cake. His face twisted, and I stiffened.

  “I know it doesn’t look like it usually does, but she asked for it late and I didn’t have enough time to let it cool.” Crickets. “It’s good, I promise.”

  “You make the sweet loaves?”

  I winced and nodded. Nobody had bothered asking who made them. They just accepted them as Isin’s. Vivian and the other girls knew they were human cakes but seemed amused that the Dahk assumed they were a Findilis dish. Was it so bad that I made them?

  “My apologies, my king. I thought Isin made them.” Alyn scowled at me. I didn’t have cooties. What the hell was she apologizing for? I made every meal she ate, as did Lydia and Roxanne.

  I looked between them. They looked good together. I was uncomfortable. I was interrupting, and I didn’t know how to navigate the situation. Gryl cleared his throat and I jumped, nearly dropping the tray. I practically tripped to the table and put the plates down.

  “I’ll just …” I threw my thumb over my shoulder.

  “Have you had last meal?”

  Alyn gaped at Uthyf.

  My stomach growled. Loudly.

  Uthyf walked to the table and held his hand out to a wide chair. I debated leaving, but with his two guards and Gryl nearby, I wouldn’t get far, and Uthyf had apologized earlier. Arguing with Uthyf day in and day out was exhausting. If there was a chance we could call a truce, I wanted to take it. Plus, the pinched look on Alyn’s face was too tempting to miss.

  Still, I hesitated. This was supposed to be a romantic dinner. Joining them would be rude … wouldn’t it?

  Uthyf cleared his throat. His eyes seemed to dare me.

  And I was Mona McCanty, and a McCanty never backed away from a dare. My grandfather would find a way to haunt me across the universe if I left after that. I sat.

  Alyn huffed and sat in the chair he held out for her across from me. The chairs were wide and allowed her wings to rest along the back. Uthyf sat at the head of the table, between us. Uthyf watched me, as did Alyn. I looked at the plate in front of me. It was uncomfortably awkward.

  Gryl quietly snickered behind me, and I stiffened. Ignoring all the eyes on me, I served myself a plate of the beautiful meal Isin had slaved over. The now frozen meal. Then out of habit, I served Alyn and Uthyf. Neither of them protested. Strange, being a guest at the king’s table but also a servant. Isin would shit himself.

  The food was cold, but Uthyf ate it as though it was piping hot. Alyn picked at her food delicately. I wanted to have her table manners, but that had been beaten out of me a long time ago. My plate was clean and I was reaching for seconds before she’d had her third bite.

  When I finally sat back with a satisfied sigh, patting my protruding belly, I looked up. Alyn looked on with revulsion. I warily looked at Uthyf, and though he had that fascinating tilt to his lips, his eyes held a gentle understanding that made me uncomfortable. Before I’d spilled my guts to him, he would have looked at me like Alyn had been. Watching on in disgust as the strange human piled mounds of food into her mouth. I didn’t know which I would have preferred.

  Not one word was exchanged. The air seemed charged with too many emotions for me to feel comfortable speaking at all. Uthyf pulled a plate of cake toward him and poked it with his fork.

  Alyn cleared her throat. “That looks nothing like the loaf I asked for.”

  “I know, but like I said, I didn’t have enough time.” I scowled at her and picked at my nails.

  Uthyf made a thoughtful sound and took a bite. Alyn and I both held our breath.

  “Where did you learn to create this?” he asked.

  I shook myself as he ate another bite. Relaxing, I picked up a fork and stabbed it into his slice of cake. Uthyf stiffened and Alyn squawked. Gryl choked on a loud guffaw, but I ignored them all and talked about my life back home. The only part of it I missed.

  “A bahkery? It is called a kahyk?”

  “Yeah, I don’t know why you call it a loaf.” I moaned as I licked warm icing from my fork.

  I grabbed the other huge slice, cut it into three sections, and handed the pieces on three plates to Gryl. He didn’t hesitate to take one and hand the other plates to the other guards. I had hardly been nice to my guards, but I couldn’t in good conscience eat cake in front of someone without offering any. Especially not one of my cakes.

  Uthyf watched my mouth as I snagged another bite of his piece and slid it into my mouth. I was halfway leaning across the table as we shared the plate. Picking up a fork, I held it out to Alyn, but she huffed and sat back. Oh well, more for us.

  “You enjoy bahking?”

  I nodded with my mouth full. “Ah lotf.” I swallowed and licked my thumb.

  Uthyf watched carefully. I was probably grossing him out with my table manners. They were a far cry from his girlfriend’s.

  “So you guys are getting married? Or mated or whatever?” I asked, licking more icing from the corner of my mouth.

  “No.” Uthyf watched my mouth closely.

  “Yes.” Alyn shot him a scowl.

  I looked between them, confused. They were or they weren’t?

  Uthyf ignored her. “Did you have a mate on your home planet?”

  I laughed, snorting. “No way.”

  “This amuses you? Why?” he demanded.

  “I’m too stubborn to bow down to any man. No way, I’m never marrying.” I swiped my finger through the frosting on the plate and sucked it off my finger. Not to mention the fact that to be with another there would be touching … and other things. I didn’t think I would ever be ready for that.

  Uthyf shifted in his seat as he watched my finger and clenched his jaw.

  “It’s okay, your highn-ass, not all females feel the need to tie themselves down to a man. Some of us need to be free.” I waggled my brows and grabbed a bottle of Dahk spirits from the center of the table. It hadn’t been opened and I struggled with the waxy cap.

  Alyn squeaked and tried to grab the bottle, but Uthyf lifted the bottom, careful not to touch me, from my hand and clawed back the wax cap. He poured some into my glass, then into his and Alyn’s. I sniffed it then took a sip. It wasn’t like human wine. It had the thickness of lager but tasted like fizzy milk. Weird, but good.

  He watched me savor the drink. “Do you like it?”

  I nodded and smiled tentatively.

  “A mate does not mean the loss of your freedom,” Uthyf insisted, lifting his own cup.

  Alyn seemed to hold her breath.

  “Are you serious? You guys are worse than human men. I can’t do anything without this guy following me around.” I nodded toward Gryl, and he smiled unapologetically. “And he’s just doing his job. Imagine if I was fucking him? No thanks.”

  Uthyf dropped his cup before it made it to his mouth. “You are not to mate with your guards! They are there—”

  I cut Uthyf off with a loud, wet cough. My hand shook as I wiped my mouth, and I gaped at the blood there. I gasped, and anoth
er wet cough racked my body. “Something’s wrong.”

  Something wet dripped down my chin. I clutched at the table as my chest seized and I gasped for air. Uthyf shouted and stood from the table, toppling his chair.

  “Don’t touch her!” Alyn screamed.

  I slumped in the chair and Uthyf came closer, reaching for me.

  Alyn shot around and blocked him from me. “You cannot touch the humans! You could trigger a bond!”

  “Move,” Uthyf thundered. He shoved Alyn out of the way.

  Then a guard was there to block him. He grabbed Uthyf in a chokehold. “She could be poisoned, my king. You cannot risk it.”

  Uthyf shouted, tossing the guard over his shoulder and onto the table, shattering the dishes and splintering the table into pieces. A pair of hands lifted me from the chair as I hacked and hacked.

  Gryl shushed me as he ran with me from the room. “Slow breaths, Mohna.”

  I tried, but my chest was seizing and fear was clawing through me, freezing my brain’s ability to think rationally. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but I felt like shards of glass were shredding me from the inside out.

  “Over here,” Gryl shouted.

  I hadn’t even realized we had made it to the healer’s room. Gryl laid me on a cot and stepped back as Gryo and several healers surrounded me.

  The light above me blinded me, but it wasn’t right. It was white. And there were no white lights on Home World. It was always dark, with only the golden and lavender glow of the stones and the blue fire to light your way. Yet, I couldn’t see anything but a bright white light.

  “Don’t touch her, my king,” Gryo growled.

  There was a scuffle, then hands were rolling me onto my side as I hacked and hacked. A sharp stabbing in my arm had me crying out.

  Gryo cursed. “Poison. Juldo.”

  I sucked in a breath and hacked again, wet filling my mouth and pouring down my chin. Juldo? A Juldo poisoned me? I didn’t understand. My veins filled with ice cold terror.