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Millie Rogers had dismissed me! She’d acted like I was the lowly scorned human, and she was the chief advisor to the king. Fury burned in my gut, yet I had a strange urge to laugh at her audacious arrogance. The other humans were polite and gracious for what I’d done for them, but not her. She went out of her way to annoy me. From the moment I’d encountered her smirking, taunting personage, I’d found her disagreeable, contrary, infuriating, and frustrating.
And, stars help me, irresistible.
Her humanness should have disqualified her from any consideration beyond duty. Her people were like a foreign invasive species. Once they dug in a toehold, there was no controlling them. And Millie exemplified the worst traits of her kind—aggression, rudeness, self-centeredness.
And the inexplicable power to undermine my resolve and good sense.
How many times had I manufactured an excuse to seek her out? No pleasure or purpose could be gained by charging horns-first into a stone wall, so why did I keep doing it? How many times would I need to get knocked on my ishta before I stopped this foolishness?
I must be stronger.
Wisely, His Majesty had expedited the repatriation of the humans before they could cause trouble on Nomoru. Their selfish, short-sighted, suicidal warring had destroyed millions of species and rendered one of the most habitable planets in the universe uninhabitable. The radiation from the Great Nuclear War still rendered Earth unsafe.
If not for the colony established on New Terra prior to the war, they would have wiped out their own species. So the LOP issued an embargo on New Terra, barring contact with the planet and quarantining their species.
Unfortunately, rampant alien species trafficking had resulted in their release into the rest of the galaxy.
And, in the most unfortunate situation, the king’s eldest son, the former crown prince, had chosen to bond-mate with a human female, throwing the lineage of the monarchy into jeopardy and creating a rift between the king and queen. Her Majesty wished for Aeon to be reinstated. She usually got her way, but, with the royal bloodline at stake, the king was holding fast to his decision.
How had these humans beguiled rational people? Aeon. The queen. Me.
No, not me. I am curious, that’s all. Millie will be gone in four days. I would never do what Aeon has done and renounce my title for a human.
I’d worked too hard and too long to give up my position for anybody or anything. A commoner could achieve no higher status than to serve as the Advisor Most Loyal to His Majesty the King of Araset. For a half-breed, it was unheard of. I owed a huge debt of gratitude to the king and queen for the trust they had placed in me.
A giggle shook me from my reverie. Around the corner, Prince Lomax huddled with the New Terran known as Kat Whalen. Of all the females, she was the most unassuming, but also the youngest and most immature. She leaned against the wall, a flirtatious smile playing on her lips.
One hand resting on the wall on either side of her body, the prince smiled down at her.
What is the royal fool doing? Isn’t one scandal enough?
I cleared my throat, and they broke apart but continued to smile at each other.
“Did you need to speak to me?” Lomax asked.
“As a matter of fact I did.”
The prince stroked Kat’s cheek. “So, lunch?”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“I’ll pick you up at your cabin and escort you.”
“How do you know which one I’m in?”
“I’ll find it.” He winked, a gesture adopted from the humans.
They separated, but her gaze lingered on Lomax. “Bye, Your Highness.”
“Lomax,” he corrected.
“Lomax.” She peered up at him through her lashes.
He waited until she vanished down the passage before turning to me. “What’s up?”
“What’s up?” I asked, horrified at his choice of words.
“That means what do you need to tell me? Kat has been teaching me Terran Universal slang.”
“I’m aware of what it means. With all due respect Your Highness...have you lost your mind? After what happened with Aeon, you would risk a dalliance with a human? You are second in line to the throne. If Aeon is not reinstated, you will become king. You cannot march in your brother’s boots. Are you trying to kill His Majesty?” In choosing Holly, Aeon had rejected his title and responsibility. If the second son, and next in line to the throne did the same, the king would bust a horn.
Prince Lomax dismissed my concerns with a desultory wave. “As usual, you are overreacting. First of all, Father will not know of my flirtation with the ovwet unless you tell him.”
I flinched at the use of the derogatory word despite the seriousness of the situation.
“Second, Aeon will regain his title. It is the will of the queen, and what Mother wants, Mother gets.”
“That has been the case in the past, but it is different now. In twenty years of service, I have never seen His Majesty so adamant—”
“Mother will prevail. Aeon will become crown prince again and then king. Third, circumstances prevent anything more than a brief rendezvous anyway. After I disembark tomorrow, I’ll never see the ovwet again. One lunch with her will not alter the political landscape of Araset.”
“Kat is human,” I corrected.
“Human—ovwet same thing.”
I’d worried for naught. The fact he saw little difference indicated the flirtation meant nothing. Ovwet did mean human in Ara-Cope, but it came loaded with negative associations. It was an insult. One would never refer to someone one cared about in such a manner.
Like Lomax, I’d given little consideration to the connotation until overseeing the care of the five human guests at the palace and diplomacy had forced me to guard my tongue. The word now caused me to cringe.
Millie’s influence again. I could not think of the feisty, brazen, outspoken female as an ovwet. Above all else, I valued honesty. She was the most forthright, unfiltered person I’d ever encountered. I could always count on her for the truth.
My duties took me to the politically nuanced chambers of the League of Planets, the duplicitous palace of the Kingdom of Copa, and the precarious mediation court within the palace of Araset. Circling the nucleus of the king, queen, and five royal sons were scores of aunts, uncles, and cousins and hundreds of nobles vying for favor and influence. My duties included arbitrating their sensitive, often explosive, requests and disagreements.
In the royal milieu, appearance trumped virtue, perception counted more than action, etiquette outranked honesty, and title prevailed over all.
My duty to execute the wishes of His Majesty did not grant the latitude to alter decrees, and, in fact, part of my role involved serving as a scapegoat, deflecting unpopular opinion away from the king and queen and onto myself.
Sycophants curried my favor while holding me in great disdain. Others pretended agreement but then went behind my back and attempted to undermine my authority. Only Millie openly challenged me. To be honestly disliked was almost as good as being favored—or so I surmised because I’d never had the experience of being liked. Not in my current station nor in my earlier years.
To encounter someone who spoke her mind without dissembling and who demanded rather than coerced came as a refreshing relief. I would miss that when she left.
I will miss her.
“What attracts you to Kat?” I asked Lomax.
He blinked and then shrugged. “At first, she aroused my curiosity. But I like that she wants nothing from me. It is like my company is enough.” His brow furrowed. “Does that sound strange?”
“Not to me.” It mirrored how I felt about Millie, except she had rejected my company. “Perhaps you shouldn’t keep her waiting, then. Go have your lunch. Enjoy the time you have left with the human.” A little dalliance wouldn’t hurt.
He grinned then, his face lit up. I’d seen Aeon with the same besotted expression. Fortunately, Lomax would disembark tomorrow morning. And when the ship retrieved him, Kat would be gone, out of reach on New Terra.
With a skip in his step, Lomax bounded down the passage.
With envy, I watched him go.
