Page 8 of Queen Isabella

Isa screeched when they abruptly moved, and she scrambled backward. Except they dropped to their knees and tucked their heads, their arms extended palms upward. They weren’t attacking her at all.

What are they doing now?Her brow furrowed in confusion.

The trio were deathly still as they knelt. With the way their purple skin blended in, they almost looked like the stone benches lining the far wall. It was yet another creepy detail about this alien race.

Maybe this is my cue to get out of here!

Her gaze went toward the entrance, where the other aliens had fled. The light quickly faded beyond the exit, leaving a pitch-black corridor. She’d instantly be lost in the dark. Even if it wasn’t dark, who knows where the passage led? The aliens would undoubtedly stop her and drag her back here.

Dammit!Isa frowned as she realized escape wasn’t an option.

Not to mention the fact that if she made it out of this cave there were new challenges. She had no clue where her pod was, what the wildlife was like on this planet, or where her fellow crashed colonists were. Her chest ached at the thought of herfriends. Were they alive? She hadn’t known Audre, Elizabeth or Reina long, but they were the only people she knew. If this was Tellus, she’d been in stasis for over a hundred years and everyone else she’d known back home, family, friends, everyone, were long dead. The reminder gutted her.

Stop!Isa shook off the notion. There was no sense thinking about Earth. And her colonist friends, though closer, were also out of reach right now. She needed to figure out what these aliens wanted with her.

Logic kicked in, her education pushing past her confusion and fear. She’d studied cultures and ancient civilizations. Yes, these aliens looked frightening, possessing the features of a predator, and the ability to change shape, which added to their lethality. But these people obviously brought her here, when they could’ve killed her in her pod.

They haven’t actually done anything that screams ill intent.

The aliens’ mass petting party was a far cry from a traditional Earth greeting. The notion almost made her laugh. Everyone she knew back home would be mortified. Even she was stunned by it, and she was the rebellious, unmarried daughter with questionable morals. It was probably a good thing she couldn’t return home, because participating in the cuddle orgy was enough to get her jailed for lewd acts.

Well, I’m not on Earth anymore and the morality police are not around!

The sad truth was that she didn’t miss her father or her brother. According to them, she could never do anything right, no matter how hard she tried. As devastating as that day in jail was, in retrospect it wasn’t surprising. She loved her mother and sister, though, and worried about them now that she was gone. More tears fell from her eyes.

Isa rubbed her eyes and shook off her spiraling thoughts, again focusing on the nude alien men kneeling in front ofher. The point was, although in her culture their reception was highly immoral, this wasn’t Earth or her culture. From a certain perspective, they’d been very, very welcoming.

Okay, okay.Isa took several deep breaths, working to calm herself and let logic win over.

As she was pulling herself together, the three alien men kept casting her surreptitious glances, though they didn’t move from their deferential position. Maybe they understood she was scared.

“I’m sorry. I was frightened,” she nervously stated the obvious.

She needed to find a way to communicate, because this was clearly the established sentient species on this world. That meant she and her people were here at their mercy.

As Diamond looked up at her, she recalled something she’d learned about communication.

When in Rome, do as the Romans.

She was already on her knees, so she quickly bowed, mimicking their posture.

It’s a leather mattress,she noted as she pressed her forehead to the bottom of the shallow pool.I think this is actually a type of bed with sides.It made sense if the aliens slept in their strange gooey plasm form.

A huff of indignation came from the men. It sounded in triplicate, so she’d apparently offended all of them.

Dang it.Isa cringed. Maybe the aliens had exacting customs for bowing that she’d somehow screwed up.I hope I didn’t make some unforgivable faux pas.

Isa glanced up to see how her posture compared to theirs.

“Oh!” Her eyes widened.

Diamond was now a few inches away, inside the unusual bed, reaching for her. Vee and Chevron had joined him. They’d been so quiet, she hadn’t heard them approach. Isa gaspedwhen Diamond’s hand plunged beneath her chest. Despite his claw-tipped fingers, he didn’t claw her as he eased her off the mattress. Diamond remained kneeling by her side, one purple hand on her shoulder, the other gently stroking her back. His eyes were wide with shock as he gazed at her. It was the same for the other two alien men, kneeling nearby. Their eyes were already oversized, so this only added to their dramatic expressions.

“Did I do something wrong?” Isa grimaced. It was more of a rhetorical question. She’d obviously done something wrong.

Shit! I’m already offending a new bunch of people.She seemed to be good at that. Always the black sheep. Her shoulders slumped and she hung her head.

Diamond released her shoulder and gently eased her chin up. He brushed the hair back from her face as he urged her to look at him. She was reticent, but didn’t resist. As close as the alien man was, she could see his eyes weren’t all-black, like she previously thought. The sclera and iris were deep purple and only his pupil was actually black. She followed his gaze. He was studying her forehead.

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