by Roxie Ray
“Are you so sure about that?” I trusted Ronan’s brute strength—with his arm around my back like this, I could literally feel how big and firm his muscles were. But I didn’t know how he was supposed to protect me from the ship breaking into pieces.
Not even the tallest, strongest, most blue-eyed Lunarian in all the galaxies could protect me from that.
“I am.” Ronan shifted his two of his hands to cup my cheek. His eyes were deeper blue than ever. Serene and sincere. “Through any danger, any trouble, any threat, I will keep you safe, my queen. You have the protection of my blaster and my dagger, my body—my life, if it comes to that.”
I blinked up at him, completely transfixed.
I’d had bodyguards before. That wasn’t the problem. My father’s black-class hired guns had followed me around for my entire life.
But…wow.
I’d never had anyone—bodyguard or otherwise—make a vow like that to me before.
I stared at Ronan’s eyes, then the sharp bridge of his nose—so unlike those of the few Lunarians I’d seen on Earth—then down to his lips.
His gorgeous, full, perfect lips.
A glance back up at his eyes told me he was staring at my mouth, too.
He moved in slowly, tilting his head and closing his eyes. For a second, I closed mine too. Now, my heart was pounding for a completely different reason.
He was going to kiss me. He was going to kiss me, and I wanted him to kiss me. My body, under the immense pressures of twenty-five full years of carefully guarded virginity, ached for that kiss. Yearned for it.
Yearned for more, too. Between my legs, heat unfurled like a flower blooming in an infinite midnight. It was a dark warmth, uncontrollable and undeniable. A throb shot through me, clenching at my sex and curling around a place just beneath my stomach that, before just now, I’d only paid attention to when I needed the heating pad for my period cramps.
He was going to kiss me, and—
Shit.
I couldn’t let him.
“Mr. Moonsong!” I drew in a shaky breath as I shot backwards, stumbling out of his embrace. “You forget yourself!”
I considered slapping him, but one look at those claws of his made me reconsider.
I’d seen what my father had done to my mother with just his bare hands.
I wasn’t about to chance infuriating a Lunarian warrior with an act of violence—but I couldn’t let him kiss me, either.
Reminding him of his impropriety would have to suffice.
“So I do. My apologies, my queen.” Ronan’s chest swelled with a long, slow inhale. When he let it out, his eyes faded from blue into the purple color I’d expected to find in them from the start.
Lunarian eyes change colors, betraying their emotions, my briefing had told me—but unfortunately, whoever had complied it hadn’t gone into any more depth than that.
So what did blue mean?
Nothing good, I was sure.
Nothing good at all.
“I think you should take me to my room while your pilot and engineers determine what’s wrong with this ship,” I said sharply. “Before we’re all blasted into smithereens.”
“And so I shall.” Ronan turned without beckoning me to follow. When he looked back at me, there was a tiny smirk on his lips. “But the ship is in no danger, as I have said. The turbulence you felt was merely the connection bridge retracting. Nothing more.”
As I followed him through a door to another long corridor, I found myself hating him for that smirk.
It told me that he knew what an act my indignation was.
It told me he knew that, despite how inappropriate a kiss between us would have been…
He knew that, if only for a moment, I’d wanted it too.
My cheeks burned red as we moved down the hall. That longing I’d felt in his arms was going to be difficult to forget. I’d never felt anything even close to its kind before.
It was so intense that I wasn’t sure I ever would again.
But nonetheless, he’d made the first move—and he’d been completely out of line.
And no matter how much I might have wanted it in the moment, I knew better than that.
Ronan wasn’t my husband-to-be. The king who he served was.
And to ensure my morality—my virginity—the sanctity of my upcoming marriage and the lives of all the citizens of the sectors that were in my hands…
I simply couldn’t afford to step out of line right now. Not so much as a toe.
Not even for someone like him.
2
Ronan
I had known since I accepted this assignment what I was getting myself into here. For weeks and weeks now, ever since I had entered the abandoned holy cave of my long-dead ancestors on a long-forgotten planet, I had seen her in my dreams.
In those dreams, she had been my bride. My queen. In every single one.
I had known the risks in this. I had known what to expect—or so I had thought.
But now that I had met her, now that she was truly real, real flesh, real blood, real hair and breasts and beautiful, perfect lips…
There was no way I could have expected any of this.
No way at all.
“You’re a member of House…Moonsong, then?” She was making small talk as we moved down the hall toward her room. It was sweet of her. Already trying to get to know me. Though I was annoyed that she had refused to kiss me, the effort she was putting forth to make conversation still made me smile. “I don’t recall seeing that one on my political briefing, but—”
“You would not have,” I told her. “I am no lord. Moonsong is not the name of my house.”
“But only lords have surnames on Lunaria,” she insisted. That was cute of her. She had read a few papers on my culture, and now thought she knew everything.
“Only as far as you know. I do not imagine your briefings included any discussion of Lunaria’s religion, though.”
“No. No…it didn’t, actually. Why is that?” She tilted her head to the side as she looked up at me. “I thought it was strange at the time, but when I asked, I was told Lunaria didn’t have a religion.”
“You were lied to, then. But it is understandable.” I tried to keep my voice light and conversational, but it was difficult. Unfortunately, Alora’s concept of small talk had touched one of my few sore nerves. “I was raised in a holy temple. Moonsong, we call it. My surname is from there. It is…the last place on Lunaria of its kind.”
“Oh. Your religion is dying out, then. I’m sorry. I understand now.”
“Not quite.” I sighed. “Dying out implies that it was a natural thing. It was not.”
“Oh.” This time when she spoke, her voice was a little smaller. “I see. Who…?”
“The monarchy, of course. They have been trying to stamp us out for some time now. It is the reason I was raised in the temple. My parents were killed during a peaceful protest for religious freedom by soldiers sent from the palace in the capital.”
“Oh.” Alora didn’t look up at me again. With every oh that left her lips, her voice was becoming grimmer. “I’m…I’m so sorry, Ronan. About your parents and your faith. That…it’s happened in the sectors as well.”
“I am aware. Your father is quite the autocrat, as I hear.”
“And my husband-to-be as well, apparently.” She twisted her hands together over her skirt, wringing them anxiously.
“He is,” I told her. There was no point in lying. She would realize that soon enough. “But he is not the one who ordered the military to open fire on protesters. It was a different king.”
“That’s a relief, then.” When I glanced down at her, she was biting her lip. “But…what is this king like?”
A growl of uncertainty rumbled in my throat. It was one thing to tell Alora the truth about this matter.
It was another thing entirely to place the full weight of that truth on her shoulders all at once.
“You will find out soon enough,�
�� was all I said—and nothing more.
I waved my hand across the doors to Alora’s suite. They opened to reveal the largest room on the ship. It consisted of a wide, open living area complete with a bathtub in its center, a seating area and a massive bed toward the back.
“This is where I’ll be staying, then? It’s…beautiful.” Alora did not press me any further on my assessment of King Brixta’s personality. I was not certain if it was clever, or quite the opposite.
It did not matter, I supposed. I would not have told her more either way.
At least, not yet.
“It is. You will find your dressing room and a water closet towards the back. There is no kitchen, obviously, but you will not be cooking for yourself. Meals will be brought to you here by your handmaiden thrice daily. If you need anything, you only need ask her for it.”
“Thank you, Ronan.” Alora looked around the room, then frowned. “Where is my handmaiden, though? I don’t mean to be pushy, but I’m excited to meet her, and—”
“That is an excellent point.” Now that she mentioned it, I was not sure where Kali was either. She was supposed to be waiting here for Alora with a bath drawn and a plate of fruits prepared. But the only ones here at the moment were Alora and me. Kali was nowhere to be seen. “I will have to fetch her. Apparently, she has decided to leave her post.”
“You won’t punish her for it, will you?” Alora was suddenly pale white. “Please don’t. I’m sure she has a good reason for—”
“I am not going to punish her, Your Highness.” I yearned to reach out and touch her again, to stroke her face reassuringly until the color returned, but given her reaction to our kiss—our almost kiss—I knew that would be unwise. For now. “I will merely go fetch her. No punishment necessary.”
“Thank you,” Alora breathed. “Thank you so much.”
Kind. She was as kind as I had hoped. In the capital, I knew, this would be seen as softheartedness. A weakness. Amongst the bed of vipers who called the royal palace their home, someday it might even be her downfall.
All the more reason that I needed to stay close to her. Protect her.
And protect that sense of kindness as well.
It would be useful to her once all of this was over. Once she was finally my queen.
“You can relax here, my queen.” Even just saying those words, my queen, and knowing the double meaning they held for me, made warmth flood my chest. “You do not need to be nervous. Neither you, nor anyone else, will be beaten here. Not while I am around.”
“Then I guess I’d best keep you close, in that case.” She gave me a flicker of a smile. “I mean, probably not as close as we were before, but—”
“It was a mistake on my part, Your Highness. I was simply…how do you humans say it?” I returned her smile. “Caught in the moment. It will not happen again.”
At least, not until you want it to. It was not simply a possibility for me, but a certainty. In my dreams, Alora was not just my charge. She was my bride.
In reality, someday—though I did not yet know how—she would be my mate as well.
Until then, though, that was best left unsaid.
“Thank you, Ronan. For everything.” She moved closer to me again, her hand held out like it had been before. I nearly chuckled. These ridiculous humans and their shaking of hands. It was an earthling habit that, among so many others, she would likely soon have to break. “I truly appreciate your presence here and all you’re doing for—oh!”
As she took the final step to close the gap between us, something beneath her snapped. Her ankle turned beneath her as she dropped sharply and fell forward, her mouth shaped into a soft O of surprise.
In the next moment, once again she was in my arms.
“We must stop coming together like this, Your Highness.” I chuckled as I lifted her up and out of her shoes, one of which had broken at its absurdly high heel. She was already so tall for a human without such ridiculous contraptions. A silly, unnecessary risk to her safety—one that I was certain King Brixta had insisted on. He was the sort, I had come to realize, with a strange fixation on female footwear. “Are you all right?”
“Of course. You caught me.” Alora let out a shaky laugh. “Again. Thank you for that.”
“I will always be here to catch you, Alora,” I assured her. “Now. You should make yourself comfortable here. Kali will arrive as soon as I am able to find her. I think the two of you will become fast friends—if she is capable of showing up for her duties, at any rate.”
As I left Alora’s room, the strangest mix of emotions coursed through me. Frustration. Elation. Attraction. Others, for which I did not have names. A lifetime of practiced meditation had shaped me into a warrior capable of managing his own emotions, but ever since Edon…
Something had changed me there. Visiting the home planet of those I believed to be my ancestors—the ancestors of all Lunarians—had awakened some part of me I had never known until now.
On Edon, the dreams of Alora had started. So too had other dreams—dreams where I was not simply Ronan Moonsong, noble and loyal Lunarian warrior.
Like my ancestors before me, in my dreams I was crowned king with Alora at my side.
King Brixta was a blowhard. A tyrant. His claim to the throne was illegitimate. His kingship was a blight on our society, our people, our planet…our future. It was my destiny to overthrow him, though I did not yet know how.
It was my destiny to make his bride my own.
Fate was proving to be a tricky thing right now, though. On one hand, Alora had fallen into my arms twice now, and we had only just met. It was as if destiny was reaching out, pushing us together. Giving us permission to fulfill its will.
On the other hand, she had denied my advances. Understandable, given that she had just met me…but had she not felt what I felt when our bodies were pressed together? Had she not experienced the electricity, the desire, the need?
I thumped my fist against the wall as I patrolled the halls in search of Kali. Once upon a time, I would have been able to handle a situation of this complexity with composure. Gravitas.
But now, my destined bride was being delivered to a baz-terd of a false king. By me. I had promised to bring Alora to a king who had abused his power and claimed sole breeding rights on Lunaria and used them to build a harem of every unwed female of marriageable age on the planet—Lunarian or human. It was a harem which he tormented, raped, abused. Any who resisted had been imprisoned or killed.
My own former comrades, members of the Lunarian High Council and honored military veterans, had been locked away, forced into hiding, or slaughtered. My former commander, Leonix, had been beaten, maimed, and impregnated against her will.
All this by the so-called king that Alora was supposed to marry.
And unfortunately, whatever briefings she had been given did not seem to have mentioned any of that.
With all that in consideration…I was not sure how I could be expected to maintain my composure.
I had every right to be angry.
This whole situation was beginning to feel like a cruel joke being played on me by fate.
I checked every part of the ship for Kali. On the command bridge, I only found the pilot and crew. In the kitchen, there were servants operating food articulators in preparation for the final meal of the day, but no sign of my friend and former general’s daughter. Kali’s father and mother were imprisoned in the palace dungeons for defying King Brixta. When Kali came of age, she would retire from her position as Alora’s handmaiden and join King Brixta’s harem as well.
It was something I would have to try to prevent at all costs. Not just because of my loyalty to Kali’s parents, either.
No one deserved the fate Leonix had suffered. Least of all a seventeen-year-old cub.
But before I could help Kali or Alora—or anyone, for that matter—I would have to find Kali first.
She wasn’t in her bedroom, or in any of the barracks where the ship’s warriors
slept. I sighed as I headed for the surveillance room. It was the only place I had left to look, and unless Kali had somehow escaped onto the ship that had brought Alora here or blasted herself into outer space, I knew she had to be inside.
My suspicions were confirmed when I pressed my ear to the door. I heard a soft giggle, a female one, then a male laugh.
My sigh turned into a groan.
I knew exactly where Kali was now—and I knew exactly who was with her, too.
“Kaliope Dyoval,” I gave her my most scathing glare as the surveillance room doors slid open. “I see now why you abandoned your post.”
“Ronan!” Kali’s eyes widened as she turned to me. Immediately, she pulled out of the romantic embrace she’d been wrapped in when I first walked in. “I didn’t—”
“And you, Orion.” I gave a similar glare to Kali’s kissing partner, the son of my former comrade Nion and his human wife, Alyse. “You know better than to go sneaking around like this here on my ship.”
“You won’t report us, Ronan. You know you won’t.” He ran his pale orange fingers through Kali’s deep brown hair, the same color as her mother’s, and placed a kiss on her pale orange cheek. They were two of the first half-human cubs to be born on Lunaria—cubs born out of love, thankfully. Those who had been born since the beginning of King Brixta’s rule were not so lucky.
“You know that Kali is promised to King Brixta when she comes of age.” I took Orion’s short green braid in my fist and pulled him away from Kali. “And you, Kali, know that this is no way for a lady to behave.”
“I’m not a lady anymore.” Kali crossed her arms over her chest and blushed a bright orange as she refused to meet her eyes. “Not since King Brixta imprisoned my parents.”
“And mine,” Orion said through gritted teeth as he strained against his hold on my braid. “Let go.”
I only tightened my grasp. “Then as you are thinking of your parents, might I remind you both that King Brixta will have them killed if he discovers the two of you are cavorting around behind his back.”
“Like he’ll kill you when he sees how you almost kissed his future wife?” Kali’s purple eyes flashed red as they finally met mine. She tilted her head in the direction of the surveillance screens behind her. “Orion and I saw all of it. You almost gave her a smooch, Uncle Ronie. And she almost let you, too!”
