Page 53 of Zar

Chapter Fifteen

Callie watched Zar and Zadoc head into the other room. Her worry escalated as she realized the truth. She was in love with Zar. It’d happened sometime between the flight he’d taken her on through the forest and him presenting her with the neck band. Love. The big L word. She’d never experienced it before. Romantic love was totally foreign to her. She’d thought she’d fallen in love with Greg Owens in high school. He’d been the quarterback of the football team. Blond hair and tanned muscles. Uber popular. The stuff of any girl’s fantasies. But after a week of dating him and hearing about his amazing skills on the field, and literally nothing else, she’d realized all she’d felt for the guy was lust.

Now she was all grown up and who did she fall head-over-heels for? An alien king with wings. Yep, she’d gone from boy-next-door to man-from-another-planet. Awesome. And while everyone was discussing how best to protect her during the festival, the only thing she could think about was Zar. Naxon had it out for him. There’d been true hatred when Naxon had talked about Zar. It was ugly and bone deep. The thought of losing Zar tore a hole the size of a fist through her heart. A tap on her shoulder dragged her out of her horrifying thoughts and she looked up to find Flare standing over her. He smiled and sat on the couch next to her.

“You must not worry about the festival. We will see to your safety, I promise you,” he said, his voice low and deep. The man had the most fascinating silver eyes and when he smiled at her, Callie wondered how on earth he wasn’t in a relationship with some lucky Zenarian. Or was he? “Do you have an ofelia?” she blurted the question, but she wasn’t sorry. She genuinely wanted to know.

“I do not,” he replied, looking briefly at her neck band. “You wear the king’s band.”

Her hand went to her throat. The silver was warm against her skin and comfortable enough that she’d forgotten it was there. “Yes, Zar explained it would be safer for me because without it other men would seek to touch me thinking I’m unattached.”

“That’s correct. It was wise for you both to wear the bands.” He rubbed his jaw and stared at her a few seconds before asking, “Do you know about the seating arrangements at the festival?”

She quirked a brow at him. “Huh?”

“I didn’t think my king had explained that to you.” He sighed. “During the feast part of the festival, Zar will take his place on the throne. His brothers all sit to his right, Dyre and I will sit to his left.”

“Where do I sit?”

His cheeks reddened and he looked away for a split second before his gaze pinned her with an apologetic stare. “As his ofelia, a cushion is placed at his feet. You are expected to sit there.”

Hold the phone. “I’m supposed to sit on the floor?” Callie all but screeched the question. “What, like a pet? Really?”

He flinched. An actual flinch. Good, she wasn’t sorry. “It’s tradition,” he softly explained. “But Zar has arranged for you to sit directly to his right. It’s a break in tradition, but he didn’t feel you would appreciate sitting on the floor in front of him. He thinks you will find it demeaning.”

Good call there. “He’d be right. I’m not sitting on the floor like a dog, Flare.”

He held up his hands in mock surrender. “I understand your aversion, but there are some at the festival who will view this new arrangement with derision. They might even think our king has gone soft by catering to your independent earth-born nature.”

This was the craziest conversation she’d had yet. She crossed her legs at the ankles and glared at the silver-winged alien. “All because of a chair?”

“Seating can be a very big deal, can it not? Even in your world.”

She thought back over all the times she sat in the chair to her father’s right during meetings. As CEO she’d earned that privilege. If another had taken that spot, she would’ve viewed it as a slight. “Okay, seating can be a big deal, but really I’m supposed to sit at his feet? That’s a little much don’t you think?”

Flare’s wings flexed slightly, the only indication that he was agitated. “It’s an outdated tradition and I don’t agree with it. Zar doesn’t either. But during this dangerous time with Naxon possibly causing dissention it could give him one more point in his favor. The king getting soft. Traditions being ignored. You see what I mean?”

She did and it pissed her off. Now was not the time to be tossing out their traditional ways. Why hadn’t Zar explained any of this though? Instead, he’d left it to Flare. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because Zar will not. He seeks to make you happy and he knows sitting at his feet would be abhorrent to you. As his ofelia, Zar’s entire focus is on your needs, but he ignores his own when he does that. To some extent.”

He hadn’t told her because he didn’t intend to follow the tradition. He was willing to take the heat if it meant making her happy. Okay, that was romantic as all crap and it made her love him even more. "I honestly don’t know what to do,” she admitted, as she thought over Flare’s words.

Flare patted her on the thigh as if trying to comfort her. “Will you at least consider using the cushion? It’s all I ask.”

“I can do that,” she offered, feeling conflicted over what to do. Sitting at a man’s feet went against every independent bone in her body but knowing Zar was offering to seat her by his side took some of the sting out. That he respected her feelings on the matter meant everything to Callie.

Flare nodded and stood just as Zar stepped back into the room. He carried a plate of cookies and Zadoc carried a tray loaded down with a pot of coffee and several mugs. They placed them on the coffee table and Zar sat down next to her. His gaze traveled over her face and his eyes narrowed. “You are upset. What was Flaring talking to you about?”

She thought about telling him but caught the words before they could leave her mouth. “He was just easing my concerns about the festival,” she explained. Not entirely untrue.

He nodded and poured her a cup of coffee and offered her a cookie. She took it, forcing a smile, but her stomach wasn’t in the mood for food. Probably wouldn’t be until she knew what she was going to do about the seating arrangement. And there was no point in discussing it with Zar. He would only be upset with Flare for informing her of the tradition and insist that she sit beside him instead the way he originally planned.

Their ways were foreign to her but that didn’t make them wrong, just different. The question was, could she let go of some of her independence and sit at his feet the way a loving ofelia would?

Everyone poured themselves coffee and grabbed handfuls of the chocolate cookies. It was the distraction Callie needed to get her mind back on the topic at hand. The festival and Naxon. The discussion about their security measures went on for another half hour before Zar finally ushered them out.

Once they were alone, he turned towards her. “Are you fearful of Naxon’s plans for tonight?”

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