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

by Erin Raegan

  “How?” Uthyf growled. “Will she survive it?”

  I tried not to notice the sudden ominous silence from those around me. I tried so hard to not let fear eat away at me. I gasped, and my throat felt as if it was swelling to twice its size. I slammed my hand onto the cot and bowed, gasping and gasping. No air was getting in. I was going to suffocate. My dress was ripped down the middle to my navel, and claws prodded the bare skin between my breasts.

  “Mohna, you must calm yourself,” Gryo muttered and pressed something cold against my chest. “My king, I must ask you to leave.”

  “She is fading,” Uthyf roared.

  “Tahk!” Gryo shouted.

  There was another scuffle, the sound of flesh meeting flesh, then silence.

  Something sharp pricked my arm. “Sleep, Mohna.”

  I fought the fog but it pulled me under.

  6

  Alyn

  Uthyf fought as Tahk, Borv, and Syn dragged him from the healer’s room. I glanced away in embarrassment. My Dahk watched as their king shamed himself and me. How could he not see how his behavior shamed the throne? She was a human. She was nothing.

  I demurred and looked on with sadness and concern, but I was raging. That cretin had ruined everything. Had Uthyf drank the jerin as he was meant to, none would be the wiser. It would have slowly killed him. Sunrings would have passed before the poison was detected. But jerin could not be used again. His guards would be more alert now. The human had had too violent a reaction. Humans were so weak. To have such a violent reaction to the jerin? She would not survive to see the morn.

  And it seemed my king could not handle that news. This was a complication my first father had not planned for. The king was not as devoted to me as I believed. He would be watching me too closely now. I had failed.

  Claws bit into my hide and dragged me into the nearest alcove.

  “Are you all right?” Hull hissed.

  I shook him off. “I failed.”

  “The human?” He was frantic. “Will she live?”

  I shook off his claws as he tried to grab me again. “Who cares? She is nothing.”

  “No! He has made contact.” Hull shook me.

  I stared at him in shock. Hull had never handled me so carelessly. The male fancied me. He believed my father would arrange a mating between us. He was a fool. “Who?”

  “The master,” he choked. “He wants the red-furred one back. He may retaliate if she perishes.”

  I rolled back my shoulders. “That does not concern me.”

  “You have poisoned her!”

  I hushed him with a scowl. “It does not matter. You will never be able to remove her from the castle now. Not since the king has locked away most of our supporters.”

  “Alyn, the master will come for your father if he cannot deliver her.”

  I searched his face. Was that true? Was my father now communicating with the Juldo? It did not make sense. He never believed what Nirde had. He thought using the Juldo was counterproductive.

  And why was one human causing so many complications!

  “Calm yourself. Nothing can be done about it now. She will not live.”

  Hull paled and I sighed. I could do nothing about it now. The foolish human had drunk poison not meant for her. I needed to speak to my father. Uthyf was a problem that was becoming increasingly more difficult to eradicate.

  He had not lain with me or another in some time. He did not allow himself to sleep vulnerably beside another. I did not know how to take his life without the use of jerin.

  The human had ruined my plan. Now Uthyf carried on, humiliating me and our potential mating. He sullied my father’s House with this outbreak of emotion. It did not matter what the Juldo Master wanted with her. If she did live, I would kill her myself.

  7

  Mona

  For three days, I recovered.

  Gryo had to force my gag reflexes to expel the poison, then I was submerged into a healing vat. He said I almost hadn’t survived the emptying of my stomach. I couldn’t breathe while it was happening, then he couldn’t get my airway to open.

  Gryo said the whole thing was barbaric, but it had been Vivian’s idea. She had shown up right after they put me under and suggested forcibly pumping my stomach when she found out it wasn’t a blood poison. The Dahk had never done it because they had a different reaction to the poison. It sat in their steel guts for days, slowly eating away at the lining until it eventually destroyed their organs. I had had an immediate reaction, so they were able to expel the poison for the most part. Had my stomach not been so sensitive—seeing as I didn’t have plates of bone all over my body like the Dahk did—it would have killed me slowly and I would have never known. As it was, I had internal bleeding that nearly killed me.

  But worse, it would have killed Uthyf and Alyn as well. They wouldn’t have known the drink was poisoned until it was too late. I had essentially saved their lives by almost ending my own.

  But the real question was, who had poisoned the spirits? No one could pinpoint where the bottle had come from. Isin hadn’t taken it up with him and Uthyf had shockingly trusted his word, and I hadn’t brought it. Not that I had any idea how to acquire an alien poison. That left the guards and Alyn. Uthyf and Tahk had hand-picked my guards, and Uthyf’s had been protecting him from various attacks since he took the throne. Both of our guards were distressed by the whole situation. Not one of them had willingly left my side since I was brought here. And after Tahk had brutally interrogated each one of them, they were right back by my side. Some worse for wear thanks to Ignyt and his well-known interrogation tactics.

  So that left Alyn? But why? She didn’t have the motive. She was in line to become a freaking queen if Uthyf lived. Was Ignyt ripping into her as he had Gryl and the others right now? I found that highly doubtful.

  “Lie down,” Gryo grumbled.

  “I want to go to my own room,” I rasped. I had almost lost my voice after all the gagging and barfing, and my throat was scraped raw from the tubes he’d shoved down there. It was almost familiar. I’d had my stomach pumped as a child after I’d eaten an entire tube of toothpaste. But this was so much worse.

  “No, the king was clear, you are not to leave this room until he approves it.”

  I groaned and lay back down. “When will that be?”

  “Soon.” At Uthyf’s voice, I turned and scowled. It didn’t last though. He looked terrible. His ridges were tangled, his robe wrinkly, and his face was lined with exhaustion.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. I had never seen him so unkempt.

  He tilted his head. “Why do you ask?”

  “Dude, you look beat.”

  “Cease speaking.” He stopped beside my cot and inspected me from head to toe. “You will not be returning to your room.”

  I sat up and he growled, but he didn’t try to shove me back down. “What? Why?”

  Tahk strode in behind Uthyf and pushed me down not so gently. “We found poison in your room.”

  “What?” I shoved his hand off my shoulder and sat up again, looking at Uthyf. “I didn’t try to poison you, I swear. I swear! Please don’t lock me up.” Holy hell, I had no idea who could have put that there, but I never would have poisoned someone. I was close to tears. I couldn’t handle being locked away, I couldn’t.

  “Cease. Speaking.” Uthyf crouched in front of me. “You will damage your voice beyond repair. I never suspected you. It would be foolish to try to poison me and then poison yourself. You would not be a very successful assassin.” He grinned wryly, and I blinked in shock. That was a full smile, a real one.

  Then his words caught up to me. “Oh, right.” Duh, that would be pretty messed up. I would have been the stupidest assassin ever. I flushed. “So why was it there?”

  Uthyf looked at me strangely.

  “F-for me? Someone was going to poison me? Again?”

  “Yes, we believe so.” Tahk patted my head lightly, and I wrinkled my nose at him. “You’ll be s
taying on the fifth floor for now. Access is more limited there.”

  “With the spiders?” I said spiders with the amount of fear they deserved, as if they were the creepiest scariest things in the world, because they were. In this world.

  Tahk chuckled. “No, within the king’s room.”

  I hopped off the table. “Nope, I’ll stay with the spiders.”

  Gryo and Tahk both pushed me back down.

  “I will not harm you,” Uthyf said quietly.

  I shook my head. “I can’t stay with you. What about Alyn? She would hate that.”

  “Alyn has her own room.” Uthyf crossed his arms defensively. “You will stay with me.”

  “No.” I laughed at him, coughing through the pain. This was ridiculous.

  Gryo pressed down on my throat and glared at me.

  Uthyf crouched down again. “Do you fear me? I will not harm you.”

  I nodded. “You will.”

  His face flushed in offense.

  “Uthyf, we can’t stand each other. Two minutes in a room together and we’re arguing. You’ll be ready to kill me by the end of the first night and I’m already getting pissed just thinking about how annoying you’d be.” I looked at Tahk. “You really think this is a good idea?”

  “Annoying? Meaning Upset?” Uthyf asked, sounding shocked.

  “Annoy, not upset. It’s more like frustrate.”

  “I am annohying?”

  “Yeah, and I annoy you. It’s okay, tit for tat.”

  “You do not annohy me.”

  “No? What are you feeling right now?” I looked at him pointedly.

  He stood, towering over me and growing dark in the face. “Frustrated.” He seemed reluctant to admit it.

  “Exactly.” I slapped my thigh. “I’m going to frustrate you all night long, every night.” I flushed from how that sounded.

  Tahk’s lips twitched, but he didn’t let on if he thought what I said was a little too inuendoey.

  Uthyf growled. “This is my fault.”

  “No, no, it’s not.” I shook my head. Why would he think that?

  He nodded somberly. “You were given a substance that could have taken your life in my own House, right under my nose. You do not have a mate to protect you. You will stay with me until I find the threat.” His eyes darkened and he looked away from me.

  “But—”

  “It is not up for discussion. Your voice needs rest.”

  I looked around for help. But as was my life, I was alone.

  I sighed and relented. To be honest, having someone worry about me for a change was nice. Even if it was guilt driving him.

  I still had to wait around the rest of the day for Gryo to run some more tests and make sure I wasn’t going to suddenly drop dead, and it was late by the time I got to the fifth floor. Out of breath, I stepped up to Uthyf’s door, sans spider. Gryl and Uthyf’s two guards, Hrick and Lohr, had wanted to carry me. They were actually pretty adamant about it, but I had had enough random touches and hands on me over the last few days. I needed my bubble re-erected.

  The door swung open from the inside, and Alyn stood there glaring at me. Meek, sweet Alyn was completely unmasked. Gryl stepped closer to me and I was surprised. He had always gazed at Alyn longingly like he had nearly every other female he came into contact with, but not now. Now his gaze was hard and suspicious. Seeing someone else question her motives felt good.

  She didn’t say anything as she pushed through our group. She stomped past me to the stairs. She spread her wings and flew down them so quickly she looked like a missile.

  When Gryl looked at me, I shrugged. I hesitantly put my foot in the doorway. There weren’t any guards to escort us in. The two who were normally posted here were behind me, watching my back. I wondered if they would loosen up now that they were back to their usual posts. But Gryl, Lohr, and Hrick walked to opposite walls and stood against them, watching for threats in the room.

  I shuffled around, looking through dark doorways, then plopped down on the bench. I kept my eyes from straying to the table as I waited. For what, I didn’t know, but it felt weird to make myself at home without Uthyf there to tell me where I was sleeping.

  The door swung open, and I tensed. In walked my other two guards, Yeln and Zybyl. They nodded to the guards already present and stood on either side of the door. I breathed out a shaky breath before curling up on the bench. Despite the room’s lack of a balcony, Uthyf’s rooms were chilly. The golden toyl stones lit the room, but the fire bowls were cool.

  I shivered in my silk dress until Gryl took pity on me and lit the fire bowls closest to me. I smiled at him, and he bowed before returning to stare stoically at the wall. Watching others all day must have been boring. I wondered if they chose this job or if Tahk or someone else had one day decided they would be palace guards. Something to ask about one day.

  I must have lay there for thirty minutes or so and was dozing off when the doors opened again. Uthyf walked in with two new guards, both of which posted themselves on an empty wall that was apparently in need of two new support beams. I rolled my eyes. Seven guards seemed a little excessive. I rubbed my eyes and sat up.

  “Have you been waiting long?” Uthyf asked as he shed his robe and draped it over his chair.

  I sucked in a breath and averted my eyes, which was silly. Most of the guards didn’t wear anything on their chests, but Uthyf was always covered, and it seemed improper to stare at the king’s naked muscles. Because, yeah, there were so many of them. They were huge, and purple, and hoo-boy. I looked at the floor.

  “Not long,” I squeaked.

  “Come, I’ll show you to your room.” He turned toward the door he and Alyn had been arguing behind the last time I was there.

  I hesitantly followed him and gaped at the bed in the middle of the room. It. Was. Huge. It would fit, like, twenty bodies. So, a king’s bed. God, how many kings had frolicked with their harems in that bed? I couldn’t look away.

  Uthyf chuckled low. I looked at him with my wide, frozen eyes.

  “You were given a servant’s room before,” he said through his manly laughter. “They need not as much space. A Dahk warrior does not sleep with his wings bound. He allows them freedom, should he need them.”

  “Oh.” I drew that word out, smiling sheepishly. So he just spread those suckers out and slept on them?

  “That is not to say he does not allow his mates to lie with him.”

  I looked back at the bed in shock. God, that was so weird.

  “You will stay here.” He pointed at the bed then around the room, to the bathroom and dressing room. “I will be across the hall.”

  “Here?” In the harem bed? His bed?

  He nodded, still with a half grin.

  “Oh well, if you’re sure … I mean, I feel bad taking your bed.”

  Uthyf shook his head and grabbed something from the long chest against the wall. “Do not feel bahd. This room is far safer than any other on this floor.”

  “So shouldn’t you stay here? I mean, hasn’t your life been threatened the entire time you’ve been king?” I had heard the stories. Uthyf couldn’t step outside the castle without anticipating an attempt on his life.

  “I am more than a king, I am a warrior. I can defend myself.” He looked at me and tapped on the door. “I’ll be across from you. You only need to shout if you need assistance.”

  I nodded nervously and watched him leave the room. Then I shut the door quietly, ignoring the eyes that followed my movement. Not a single one of the guards came inside my room, and I wondered if Uthyf had something to do with that. This would be the first night in over a year that I would sleep without someone watching me. The first night I was truly alone. It was as terrifying as it was liberating.

  I stripped off my gown and found all my clothes folded neatly in another chest. Someone had already moved them up here. After slipping on a short sheath, I slid into the sheets on the bed and sighed. They smelled sweet and spicy, a little citrusy. They
smelled like Uthyf. I would have expected that to bother me. But it didn’t.

  It was strangely soothing.

  8

  Uthyf

  I closed the door of my office and collapsed into the seat at my desk. Rubbing the exhaustion from my aching temples, I thought of the human in my bed.

  An image came to mind that was far too difficult to shake. Her fiery red fur spread out on the soft bedcoverings. Her long lashes sweeping the pale, spotted skin below her compelling eyes. Her ample curves covered by my bedding, my scent. I groaned and pushed away the image.

  Mohna was stubborn and vexing. Despite the vile tortures inflicted on her by my enemy, she still held an admirable fire in her gut. I saw it every time we sparred with our words. I watched it push through as she battled me for dominance, and it drew me closer, inciting an instinct to see how far I could push her. How much she could withstand. She fascinated me.

  She was dangerous.

  I would not fall prey to the same desire as my Dahk. I would not become mated to a human as Tahk had. I could not. I was to mate a Dahk female. I would seed her and give life to the next heir of my kingdom. A human queen would not be accepted by my Dahk.

  I fought daily to have the humans accepted here. Slowly, my Dahk were becoming more receptive. But there were those who would see the humans under my care slaughtered simply because they did not belong.

  Pehytohn had opened the eyes of many when she grew round with Tahk’s babe so soon after mating. Our species was dying. We could not continue on as we were. Every sunspin, our mothers grew less fertile, our babes became more and more rare. The humans could ease the burden or perhaps solve the infertility that plagued my kingdom’s females.

  But accepting such a change would take time, and a human queen would not help that cause. She could very well do the opposite.

  But knowing the risks did not stop me from thinking of her. It did not stop me from remembering the pain and suffering she had showed me on that night I found her wandering the halls of the castle so long ago. The vulnerability and fire. I knew she did not remember. She had been too distraught. But I could not forget. That moment plagued me. That eve haunted me every time I gazed upon her.