by Sadie Carter
Liula set aside her tablet. “Let me speak plain. I do not believe you can make my son a proper mate. It is not your fault. It was your upbringing.”
At least it wasn’t her fault.
“He asked me to teach you and I agreed. So I shall. However, I do believe that no amount of lessons can transform you into a proper crown princess.”
“Don’t hold back. Tell me what you really think.”
Liula frowned slightly. “I believed you understood that is what I was doing.”
“I get it. You hate my guts.”
Liula glanced down at her stomach. “It is more round than is considered appropriate, but it is not your stomach I have a problem with.”
Zoey placed a hand on her stomach, offended. Particularly as she was still a few pounds under her normal weight.
“I meant that you dislike me. But no matter what you think of me I am Dex’s mate.”
“So he believes. I am not so sure.”
“We have a bond.”
“Not a true Zerconian bond. You are a human. You are not right for him.”
Enough was enough. Anger burned in her veins, and knowing that if she stayed she would probably say something she would regret, Zoey stood and turned, walking toward the door.
“Zoelle? Where are you going?”
“It’s Zoey and I’m going back to my rooms,” Zoey told her without looking back.
“We have not started our lesson.”
Zoey turned back at the doorway. “I’ve learned enough.” She walked out.
Soon after she entered her sitting room, the door opened and Dex strode in, looking worried.
“Zoey,” he said with relief, coming towards her and pulling her into his arms.
Zoey sank into his embrace, grateful for the acceptance and love she could feel rolling off him.
“What is wrong?” he asked as he leaned back to study her.
“Nothing, why would you ask that?”
He raised his eyebrows. “My own, I could feel your anger through the bond. I could also feel your hurt. Explain.”
Drat. She thought she had successfully kept her feelings from filtering through the bond.
“I do not like to feel your pain, my own. What happened?”
“Nothing important, I’m just being silly.”
He raised her chin with his finger. “Nothing can be silly if it causes you pain. Tell me.”
She sighed. She wanted to tell him everything, but Liula was his mother. Last thing she wanted was to cause a rift between them. Or worse yet, a rift between her and Dex.
“I was attempting to cook fried chicken, your mother didn’t approve.”
“Ahh.” His face lightened as understanding dawned. “Cooking is not a normal hobby for a crown princess.”
“Apparently not,” she said lightly. “See, I was just being silly. I don’t even like cooking.”
“But you miss the food from your homeland.”
“Yeah, but it’s just food. Nothing to get upset about. I’m sorry to draw you away from whatever you were doing.”
He shook his head. “I’m not. I was in the middle of a dispute between two market stallholders who are fighting over a few inches of space. One claims that the other has moved his stall onto his allotment while the other argues that he always had his stall there. I was glad for an excuse to get away.”
She snuggled in against him. “Glad I could help you out, then.”
“Do you need to speak to me of anything?” Dex asked awkwardly.
Bless him. Thor had managed to find some romance novels from Earth. Dex used them like a how-to manual when it came to how to deal with her. It was sweet and kind of funny.
“No, I’m all good,” she reassured him, biting back her smile at his sigh of relief. “It’s all just a learning curve, you know? I guess it would have been easier for you to mate someone like Fedora.”
He looked alarmed. “You do know that I look at Fedora as a sister, nothing more.”
“I know.” She patted his arm reassuringly; although it didn’t hurt her to hear the words she knew he didn’t see Fedora that way. Didn’t mean that the other woman didn’t have feelings for him.
“I can just see how maybe your mother thought she would make you an ideal mate.”
“She is not my mate. You are.” He cupped her cheeks between his hands. “Things will become easier.”
“I know, I just have to be patient.”
He smiled at her, his eyes dancing.
“I know how hard that is for you, my own. Do not try so hard you strain something.”
“I think I liked it better when you were all uptight and serious.” She didn’t really. She loved how he relaxed around her and showed a side of himself that no one else got to see.
Chapter Six
“Giz, we’re going shopping.” Giz glanced up at her from where he was sprawled on the rug. Relaxed and sleepy despite having done very little all day. “We just need to find Boris.”
Dex had made it very clear that she wasn’t to leave the palace without an escort. Zoey had just thought it was Dex being overprotective until she had learned that all Zerconian females were accompanied when they went outside of their homes.
Kind of smothering, but she’d had guards for so long, she was kind of getting used to it. She could tell that Boris was growing bored with being cooped up in the palace all day long. He’d taken to patrolling the palace floors.
There had been a few complaints from Dex’s witch of a mother, which Dex had thankfully ignored. Truthfully, Zoey found it hilarious when Thor or Koran told her about the latest Boris-Liula run-in. He seemed to have a knack for scaring the bejesus out of her.
Zoey was starting to think Boris was doing it on purpose.
“Come on, Giz. Want to go in your backpack or will you walk?”
With a sniff, Giz put his nose in the air and bounced over towards the door.
“Guess that means no backpack,” she said with a grin. “I think I’ll grab it just in case. Now, where did I put that?”
An older female servant came in and cleaned each morning. It had taken Zoey a while to get used to having a stranger clean her bedroom, but as Dex had pointed out, it provided someone with a job. There probably weren’t many jobs open to females on Zerconia. The males guarded them closely.
All of the servants at the palace lived in-house; many of them were widows or lived here with their families.
She rustled around in her belongings and pulled out the backpack. Her hand brushed something slimy and she jumped back in shock.
“Eek,” she cried out as a long, snakelike creature slithered out. It hissed at her. It had an oversized head, wide eyes, and a beaklike nose.
“How the hell did you get in here?” Why did it have to hide beneath her belongings?
The creature reared back then opened its mouth, revealing its fangs.
“Holy crap.”
Frozen, she stared down at the creature. She should do something. Scream. Run. Something. It lunged forward, spurring her out of her frozen state and she jumped to the right, falling to the floor as she felt something sharp graze her leg.
A furry creature raced past her from behind.
“Giz! No!” she cried out, terrified. But Giz pounced on the creature, biting down on its neck. Zoey winced as he shook it back and forth violently. When he dropped it on the ground, it lay there, lifeless.
“Guess that’s dead,” she stated, shaken.
Giz crept over to her and she held open her arms. He jumped into them.
“Thanks, Giz. I have a feeling you just saved my life.” She didn’t want to be over-dramatic. Maybe it was a harmless creature.
And maybe pigs really did fly here.
“From now on, I’m keeping all the doors and windows shut.”
She sat there for a while, just holding tight to Giz. Setting him aside, she raised her dress to look at her leg. There was a graze where the creature had tried to bite her. A few drops of blood forme
d. She looked over at the dead creature. What the hell was she going to do with the body? She supposed she could call for one of the servants, but they all had jobs to do while she was just sitting around, twiddling her thumbs.
Glancing around, she set Giz aside then grabbed one of her dresses and wrapped the slimy thing up. Then she stuffed it in a bag.
“We’ll get rid of it on our way out.” She really did not want to stay here. “Let’s go. I have credits burning a hole in my pocket.”
***
Laden with bags of goodies, Zoey felt lighter and happier than she had since she’d arrived on Zerconia. Once she’d gotten away from the palace, she’d found the people to be a lot friendlier and welcoming.
Perhaps it was just because she had credits to spend, but all of the stallholders had greeted her with a smile and shown off their wares with pride.
Surprisingly, the market was rather quiet. Good for her, but not so good for the stallholders. All of these beautiful goods, including handwoven rugs, amazing glassware, and stunning artwork and no one to buy them.
“I wonder how they survive with no customers?” she wondered.
“The palace provides us with a stipend,” a male voice answered. She glanced over at an older Zerconian male.
“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t trying to be nosy.”
“No offense taken, milady.” He bowed deeply. “It is an honor that you grace us with your presence.”
“Oh, ahh, thank you.”
“Once this was a bustling trade center. Many came from far away to purchase our products. Now, there are few to purchase what we offer and we must rely on charity to feed our families.”
Wow, that was sad. Dex had spoken about how Zerconia had isolated itself, but she hadn’t realized the extent to which they had cut themselves off.
“Does no one ever come here?” she asked.
“Once a month, a ship brings produce and in return, purchases some of ours. But it is not enough.”
She glanced down at what he was selling. Beautiful, handwoven silk scarves. She picked up two. A dark purple scarf with flecks of silver and a deep yellow-gold scarf that immediately made her feel happier.
The urge to itch her leg made her grit her teeth. Her leg had been growing increasingly itchy where that thing had grazed her.
“Please, milady, do not feel you need to purchase these out of sympathy.”
“I’m not. These are beautiful. Just looking at this one makes me smile.”
The older man puffed up like a rooster. “Not all of us can be warriors, but we still have our uses.”
“Zoey!”
Zoey winced. Great. Just great. She turned, plastering a fake smile on her face.
Be polite but distant. It was the mature, sensible stance to take.
Now she just had to pull it off.
“Fedora! How lovely to see you.” Zoey could see the other woman was thrown off by her greeting. There were two other women with her. Standing idly behind them were four guards. Not for the first time, she wondered why Zerconian females needed guards with them whenever they left their homes. It wasn’t like there was much crime. Seemed like a waste of resources.
Fedora gathered her composure. “You are shopping?” She glanced at the scarves Zoey still held in her hand. “Oh, don’t buy those here. There is a stall over there with far superior workmanship that is half the price.”
Bitch. Zoey glanced at the store holder out of the corner of her eye. The man turned away.
“Actually, I think I will purchase two more. They are beautiful and some of the finest workmanship I have seen.”
The store holder looked up at her and she turned her back on Fedora to wink at him. He bagged up the scarves and she handed over her credits.
“Tranke,” she told him.
“You are most welcome, milady.”
Fedora smiled at the store holder who just stared back at her coldly.
“If I had known you wished to go shopping, Zoey, I would have invited you along with us,” Fedora told her. “May I introduce Thesare and Lucita. We shop each week. We would so love you to join us.”
“Thank you. I will think about it.”
“You must be lonely, with Dex so busy,” she added. “When I saw him earlier today, I told him I would stop in and visit you. I do hope you still don’t hold that incident with the Zota ball against me.”
“Of course not. You couldn’t know I would react that way.”
“Why, I felt so awful.” Fedora placed a hand on her chest. “I really think I need to apologize.”
“No need. All is forgiven.”
Zoey resisted the urge to scratch her leg; it had been growing increasingly itchy. She really had better things to do than stand here, yapping with Fedora.
The other woman stepped forward, placing her elegant and smooth hand on Zoey’s arm.
“I have wanted to speak to you, Zoey. But I have been so ashamed.”
Ashamed? Huh?
“I do not think I made the best impression that first day we met. I do not want you to think that I view Dex as anything other than a beloved brother.” She looked back to her friends who were quietly chatting, then leaned in. “I believe Liula may have wished differently, but I want you to know that I never thought Dex and I would mate.”
Zoey stared into the other woman’s eyes. Crap, she had the lushest, thickest eyelashes Zoey had ever seen. Was anything about this woman not perfect? Was it too much to ask that she have bad breath? A hint of B.O.? A pimple? Just one, pus-filled pimple, it’s all she wished for.
Fedora sounded sincere, but should she believe her?
“That’s okay,” she said finally, knowing she couldn’t just keep staring at the other woman.
“Good.” Fedora placed a hand on her chest. “I could not sleep for worry of what you must think of me.”
If that was all she had to keep her awake, then Zoey envied her. Nightmares of Targos’ attack on her still caught her unawares.
“I could not believe what Liula said to you after you ate the Zota ball,” Fedora whispered. “I am certain that allowing Dex to address the matter with her was appropriate move to make.”
What was she talking about?
“I have to go,” Zoey told her.
Do not ask. Do not ask.
“Oh, so soon? We were going to visit our favorite boutique and I had hoped you would join us.”
“Another time.” Zoey attempted to move past the other woman.
“Good. I will ensure that we do that.”
“Sure, your people call my people.” Zoey strode off without looking back. What the hell had she been talking about? What had Liula said about her? And how had Dex dealt with her?
Chapter Seven
Dex didn’t know when he’d last been this tired. A day spent solving disputes, answering questions and reading document after document, and he was ready to collapse.
Still, at least he had managed to get away early tonight. He felt guilty about how little time he’d spent with Zoey lately. He intended to make that up to her tonight. He had arranged a dinner by the ocean, under the stars.
He had gotten the idea from the Earther novels he’d been reading.
As soon as he walked into their quarters, he knew something was wrong. There was a definite air of tension as Zoey turned away from the window to glare at him.
Giz looked up and hissed at him. Even Boris gave him a dark look.
What was going on?
“Zoey, are you well?”
“Did you confront your mother for saying something nasty to me the other day? What exactly did she say, Dex?”
“Why? Has she spoken to you?” If his mother had hurt Zoey’s feelings, then he would need to be sterner with her. She might be Empress and his mother, but Zoey was his mate and he wouldn’t stand for her to be hurt.
“No. But I bumped into Fedora today. Do you know what she told me? That she hopes I don’t think she feels the same way your mother does about me and how it was probab
ly a good idea that I left it to you to have a word with your mother.”
Dex ground his teeth together. He had hoped that Zoey would never find out what his mother had said.
“What the hell did she say about me, Dex?”
No way would he tell her that his mother had called her a rude commoner. “She does not approve of our bond. But that is because she does not know you well. My mother will come to like you, once she comes to know you.”
“What did you say to her, Dex?”
“I merely informed her that I did not appreciate her attitude toward my mate and that I would not tolerate any slights against you.”
“Great!” Zoey threw her arms into the air. “So now everyone thinks I need my mate to fight my battles.”
Dex frowned. “Females do not go into battle.”
“Oh, yes they do. Believe me, it’s much bloodier and more cutthroat than any battle you’ll ever fight in.”
“Zoey—”
“Oh Dex, you’re a man.”
“What does that mean?” he asked, bewildered.
“You don’t get it. I’m dealing with mean girls. You can’t help me. I just have to work out how to fight back without becoming one myself.”
“My mother is a mean girl?”
“Sort of. Dex, please don’t interfere again. I have to earn your mother’s respect on my own.”
Dex frowned. “I don’t want you upset.” He would always defend her.
“You can’t protect me from everything, Dex. I’m not going to shatter just because your mother says a few mean things to me.”
“I know.” He moved over to her, drawing her into his arms. “I feel very protective of you, though. I want to keep you safe from anything and anyone that might hurt you.”
She leaned against him, snuggling in close. This felt right. This was home.
“I know. But you have to trust me to handle this. I can’t earn her respect if you constantly interfere.”
It went against his protective instincts to stand back while others hurt her. But he could understand what she was saying. If he heard of any slight or insult, he could not stand by and allow it to happen.
