“If it works just as well with simpler parts, we toss the more advanced stuff. That’s my job here in California.”
“And in Texas…” Luca prompted.
“Yes,” Gleb confirmed. “Texas as well.”
But Texas would be a lot farther away than the Morales family expected.
They all turned at the sound of someone knocking on the door. “Everything is ready,” a voice said. “If you gentlemen can take your places…”
Gleb took a couple of deep breaths.
Eth put his hands on the groom’s shoulders. “The first of us to get married,” he said in tones of wonder.
Luna’s brothers likely assumed he’d meant the first of their circle of friends. Gleb knew he was referring to the first Human from their side of the galaxy.
“Alright,” Gleb made a shooing motion with his hands. “Let’s just get out there before I start hyperventilating.”
They filed out to stand on the small pieces of masking tape that marked where each of them belonged. Gleb looked up at the rows of seats. The Morales family was on the left side, many of them casting curious glances to the right.
On the right, Gleb’s friends from the empire… the republic now… were smiling and waving to him. The men all had ties wrapped around their necks like Eth. The women…
Gods! Gleb thought. Are some of them wearing their dresses backwards? It seemed that those who’d received dresses with full backs were able to work out, from the uncomfortable fit, that they had them on the wrong way.
Others, with looser, deep-cut backs, were more of a problem. He could see at least four that had those dresses backwards. Oliv was sitting in the front row with her front open down past her navel.
Nothing had fallen out… yet, but it looked like just leaning forward to stand would give the attentive male crowd a magnificent view.
Two young Morales men, sitting in the front row with Eric and Emila were gazing her way. She leaned forward to adjust a shoe that probably wasn’t quite her size, and they both leaned in her direction involuntarily.
Adelina could finally stop complaining about how Luna dressed. He chewed at the inside of his cheek. Maybe she can help? He’d need to talk to her about this anyway, just to explain why his friends were so weird.
The music suddenly changed, the tempo becoming more exuberant. He figured that meant the ceremony was about to start. Luna’s guests, all turning to look at the back door in unison, pretty much confirmed his hunch.
The attendants opened the door and he saw her. He forgot all about his friends with ties wrapped around their necks. He forgot all about the show Oliv was unwittingly putting on.
He barely even noticed the ceremony.
Adelina took a small sip of champagne to hide her smile. For such big strong men, these two seem awfully nervous to be in a moving limo. Every time the vehicle came to a turn, they’d grab at armrests.
And Eth seemed as if he were tasting alcohol for the first time. He actually sniffed the flute before tasting it. Weird or not, every single guy in the group was improbably hot. The girls too... ‘Adelina!’
“Huh?” She came back to reality.
“Hon, I need you to help with some of Gleb’s friends,” Luna said. “A couple of them don’t quite have their dresses on right.”
Adelina rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I think a few folks might have noticed. I think some of the guys from our side may not even have noticed that a wedding took place.”
“I know,” Luna sighed. “I’m trying to convince Mom and Dad that Gleb’s not some Russian gangster and Oliv shows up looking like she’s dressed for a shift at the strip club.”
“Why is she wearing a dress backwards and flashing her boobs every time she takes a breath?” Adelina asked. They have clothes in Russia; I can Google it if you don’t believe me.
“Most of them are scientists, not debutantes,” Luna explained. “They certainly don’t do it for the money and they don’t get invited to many formal events.”
“Must have cost a bundle to get them all here for the wedding on such short notice,” Adelina observed. Explain that, Sis. She’d inherited her father’s penchant for ferreting out the truth.
“My ancestors fled to the East during the Revolution,” Gleb told her. He smiled modestly. “We weren’t so foolish as to flee empty-handed…”
Adelina absorbed that and the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up. Gleb’s ancestors. Luna had decided to keep the Morales name but her husband’s name was…
“Romanovs fleeing to the East…” she nearly whispered.
Luna put a hand on her lap. “Addie, there are tons of Romanovs out there. Can you keep this between us so he can keep on being just another guy with an interesting name?”
“Even most of our friends have no idea,” Eth added. “They don’t know who he really is. There might be some who would still want him gone.”
Adelina was speechless, so she simply nodded her agreement. She didn’t remain speechless for long. “I have to admit, little sister, you really found a prince!”
“The implication being that I first had to kiss a lot of frogs?” Luna asked sweetly.
“…” Adelina replied, smiling even more sweetly.
Luna was actually looking at her with her mouth hanging open but it was an act. “Did you just see that?” She looked at Gleb. “My sister keeping her trap shut when I feed her a perfectly good straight line! That’s not just discretion. That’s superhuman discretion!”
Gleb nodded. “You’re thinking about the offer?”
What offer is he… Adelina’s eyes widened. Given how his friends liked to dress… This better not turn into some Euro-royalty swinger thing!
“We can set up a summer position for Gabriella,” Luna told her. “It involves some game-changing tech, so she’ll need to sign an NDA.”
Well, now I feel like a bit of a jerk, Adelina admitted to herself. I’m thinking the worst and they’re just thinking of Gabriella.
“Look, you don’t have to answer now.” Gleb looked out the window. “We’re almost at the hotel. Talk it over with Gabriella and, if you want to at least explore the idea, we can take a quick flight tomorrow after breakfast.”
“Um, OK, I guess…” Adelina said. Way to sound like you appreciate the gesture, dummy! “Sorry, I’m just a little surprised at this. I’ll have a chat with her tonight.”
The limo slid to a halt and someone opened the door for them. Adelina looked at the guy who’d opened the limo. He had a tie wrapped around his neck, for some reason, but he seemed hyper-alert, eyes looking everywhere, head on a swivel.
Funny how I didn’t even realize he had security until I knew who he really was. Now I can’t help but see it. She followed them inside.
They’d come in through a back entrance. Security, I suppose. So they had to walk through a long dingy hallway to reach the ballroom.
They found the rest of the wedding party at the sign announcing the ‘Romanov-Morales’ reception. Us plebs usually don’t have to sneak in through a smelly back hallway.
They lined up, Adelina standing next to Eth, and then they paraded inside. There were the usual cheers and shouts, the clapping…
Just like she remembered from her own wedding. He does seem pretty nice, she thought. I really hope he’s the good man he seems to be. She stopped herself there.
No sense dwelling on past mistakes.
Unsurprisingly, they’d opted to forgo a strictly formal agenda. There would be an hour at the start for the two groups to mingle.
Especially unsurprising, given the mission. She draped her silk jacket over the back of her chair and started looking for her first target. Some woman named Chelan.
She didn’t turn out to be the one from the front row. Instead, Chelan was a blond firebrand with at least a couple of drinks already in her belly… her rippling, six-pack of a belly.
“Change the dress?” she exclaimed. “Is good now; I don’t need to fix!” She was about to say something e
lse but then her eyes grew wide and she stood a bit straighter.
“Chelan,” Gleb greeted her as he came to stand by Adelina. “Thank-you for being here to celebrate with us!”
“Thank you for thinking of me,” Chelan said, resting her right hand over her left collarbone.
“This is my new sister, Adelina. She’s offered to help some of our friends with the local customs. I would appreciate it if you gave her your full cooperation.”
Chelan nodded deeply. It was nearly what you would call a bow in some circles. She turned to Adelina, tilting her head to the side. “What needs to be done, my lady?”
“Oh!” Adelina was flustered. “I’m not sure I count as… I just…” She shut her mouth and regrouped. “Let’s go to the ladies’ room, shall we?”
She led the way through the crowd, holding back the smirk as several of the men took note of her friend. The washroom had four stalls, a long row of sinks and a surprisingly posh-looking area at the far end with leather couches and a fireplace.
They really didn’t leave Russia empty-handed, she told herself. This place must cost a fortune if the bathrooms look nicer than my living room. She led her new friend inside.
“The dress is not right, my lady?” Chela asked.
“It’s just backwards,” she told her.
“Ah. So I’m distracting from the seriousness of the occasion.”
Chelan reached down to grab the lower half of her dress. Before Adelina could even realize what was happening, let alone suggest disrobing in one of the stalls, the young woman was standing in front of her with the dress in her hand.
Just pretend you’re in the locker room at the gym, she told herself. But I’ve never seen abs like that at the gym. “Here,” she held out a hand for the dress. “Let’s get this on the right way.”
And, of course, the door opened and three women came in – two cousins and Sarah, a friend of Luna’s from high school. They stopped talking and who could blame them?
Chelan wasn’t entirely naked. She had shoes on, after all, but Adelina was holding her dress. Great! Now mom doesn’t have Luna to nag about settling down, she can start in on me for being a lesbian.
“Finally gave up on the fellas or just switch-hitting for funsies?” her cousin Maria asked with a smirk.
The other two were just staring.
“Funny,” Adelina said. “She had it on backwards. I didn’t see you ‘classy ladies’ doing anything to help. Get over here, y’ amazon. I’ll never reach over her head on my own.”
She sighed. “You realize I mean ‘amazon’ as in tall or statuesque.”
“I know that.” Maria came over and took the dress. “It’s nice to hear, though. Arms through the dress,” she told Chelan. She reached up and draped the dress over the partially intoxicated foreigner.
“It’s not fair,” Sarah said, looking at Chelan. “She looks almost as sexy with it on the right way.”
“So you say,” Chelan said. “Some of my friends from… back East were wondering about you ladies.” She gestured to Adelina.
“You for certain. They see a wild beauty in you.”
“In me?” Adelina wrinkled her nose. “You’re drunker than I thought.”
Chelan dragged her over to stand where the mirror was. “Look at this face,” she said. “We don’t see faces like this where we come from.”
“You mean there aren’t many Latinas in Kazakhstan?” Sarah giggled. “You learn something new every day.”
“They like these soft, round curves too,” Chelan’s hands ran down Adelina’s sides, making her shiver, slightly scandalized.
“Most of our women are hard muscle. They like what a generous layer of fat does to your... western girls.”
“Maybe that sounds nicer when they say it in Russian?” Maria ventured.
Adelina stepped away before Chelan’s hands could wander anywhere else. “We should get back out there; there are still a couple of Gleb’s friends in danger of... falling out.”
When they emerged, there were no further wardrobe malfunctions in evidence. Maybe Luna got to them, she thought. Or one of the bachelors in attendance…
She turned to say goodbye to Chelan because she needed to return to the head table but the young woman was already making some pretty overt moves on Dexter. Adelina knew he and Aberdeen were a thing. Out of the frying pan, she thought, trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation.
Maybe not so much with the ‘into the fire’, she realized. Dexter almost seemed immune. He had the nearest thing to a goddess making it very plain she wanted to take him upstairs for a test-drive and he was acting as if they were talking about the weather.
Aberdeen was closing in from the other side of the room but her face didn’t show any anger. Adelina remembered how jealous she used to get with Jacques. If even half of what she was seeing right now had been directed at him, she’d have been boiling mad right now.
Aberdeen clearly had none of the same doubts about her man. She did go to the trouble of claiming him, though, perhaps just to save Chelan any further trouble.
Dex turned, surprised to see her there. His ‘hi’ had that raised tone that telegraphed his pleasure and she just kissed him like there was nobody else in the room.
After what had to be at least a minute, she finished the kiss and gave him an affectionate pat on the chest before turning to Chelan. She leaned forward and whispered something to the tall woman who had to lean down for her.
Chelan’s eyebrows rose in apparent interest. “Really?” she asked.
“Mm hm!” Aberdeen nodded, then grabbed Dexter by the shoulder so she could stand up on the toes of her shoes to get a better look around the room. It couldn’t have given her much height because she was already in heels.
She must have found what she was looking for because she dropped back down and waved toward the entry side of the room. Chelan gave her a nod of thanks and moved in that direction. “Tell him Aberdeen says ‘hi’!” she said to the departing woman.
“You’re terrible!” Dexter said, but in a tone of wonder.
“And you’re the best!” She nestled into his arm. “Though, I doubt Kace will want to share your sentiment!”
Eth appeared beside Adelina. “We are moving everyone to the dining place now,” he said, offering his arm. “We must set the example, yes?”
She took his arm and they followed Dexter and Aberdeen out into the main hallway where Gleb and Luna waited to lead the procession to the atrium.
Chelan intercepted them in the large indoor garden at the center of the atrium. “… keep it in the group, but does… count?” was all that Adelina could hear.
Gleb laughed and nodded.
Chelan positively beamed. She turned and waved toward a woman near the elevators who was talking with Kace.
Good Lord! Adelina thought. Aberdeen deliberately steered that woman toward her friend? She frowned. But who is the other woman she’s waving to… She sucked in an involuntary breath.
Chelan returned to Kace and whispered in his ear.
He turned beet red and stammered something back, nodding.
Chelan grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the elevator door. She stabbed the call button.
Kace did a double-take when the other woman linked arms with him. The door opened and the three of them moved inside. Two more of Gleb’s friends slipped inside just before the doors closed.
Adelina was no doctor, but she was pretty sure Kace shouldn’t have been able to fit eyes that big inside a head that small.
“You are a dirty, dirty girl!” Dexter whispered to Aberdeen. “I can not believe you did that!”
“Hey, he turned down being in the wedding party ’cause he was hoping to meet a girl,” she protested. “I helped him do that. You can’t blame me if it turned into a… what the hell would you even call it?”
“A fivesome?” Dexter ventured.
“I think,” Luna said quietly, looking back over her shoulder, “after four, the ‘some’ b
ecomes too unwieldy and you just have to call it an orgy.”
“After what he’s done to save everyone,” Dexter muttered, “I’d say he’s earned whatever it is that you just landed him in… Ow!” He flinched from the elbow she dug into his ribs. “Right… just... forgot in the face of extraordinary events.”
Save everyone? Adelina had the feeling Dexter had just slipped up and his girlfriend was reacting to that, rather than her role in Kace’s current adventure. I wonder…
“Addie?” Luna was clearly saying her name a second time. “That summer job for Gabriella, how about you guys come up to our room tomorrow at eleven?”
“Oh, yeah,” Adelina nodded. “Sure, we’ll be there.”
“Do you think I’d get to work with Maeve?” Gabriella asked, almost hopping up and down on the elevator floor. “She was here last night, so they must know her pretty well.”
“I don’t know any more than I’ve already told you, Hon.” Adelina shrugged. “It was nice of Maeve to arrive early for the ceremony, though. That way there’s not a big stir with her showing up at a packed church.
“I think, though, that you’d probably be working with your aunt and uncle. I’d bet that even they don’t see much of a busy person like her.”
She smiled at her daughter. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions. We’ll know soon enough.”
The elevator finally reached the top floor and they stepped out. Down at the end of the hall, two huge guards stood outside a set of double doors, reminding Adelina of the secret she hadn’t told anyone, not even her own daughter.
She was trying to work out what to say to the guards but she might as well have saved herself the trouble. As soon as they were a couple of paces from them, the guard on the left gave her an odd, tilted half-bow.
“Good morning, Lady Adelina, Lady Gabriella.” He straightened and gestured at the door his partner was opening. “Please go right in.”
“Lady?” Gabriella giggled. “Maybe we got off on the wrong floor?”
Ragnarok: Colonization, intrigue and betrayal. Page 4
