Page 285 of Hunters and Prey

“Just smile and remember they are here to help us,” Alexei told him, following his own advice as foreigners poured out of the starship.

Roman inspected each of them as they walked up the steps toward him, taking in the numbers and percentage of females. He felt his face drain of color when he realized three quarters of the physicians were female and they were currently making their way toward him.

That was only a fraction less than all the Drakesthai females in the Hai System.

“Holy gods,” Alexei breathed as they watched the physicians climb the stairs, silent and serious.

They all followed one female, slightly ahead of the rest. She reached him first and glared up at him from a few steps down. Roman wondered what she could possibly be angry about.

This one was certainly going to cause trouble.

“I’m Chiara,” she told him, and then bowed the appropriate depth for a royal prince. She didn’t give him Draga’s traditional kiss of greeting though and the pleasant tone of her voice didn’t match the expression on her face which was odd. “Where are we supposed to work?”

He glanced at Alexei whose eyebrows were nearly into his hairline now. Then Roman looked back down at the small female with an intense ‘take charge’ attitude. “Well,” he said. “We just received word you would be arriving. Nothing is set up yet. Why don’t you all follow me and we can get some food?”

Her frown deepened and she looked behind him at the golden doors that still had scorch marks on them. “I’d like to speak to your superior. We don’t have time to waste.”

“I’m sorry, but I am the one in charge of this operation,” Roman bristled. “I will be the one you answer to here.”

Chiara didn’t even look around at the sights. She just glared up at him and crossed her arms over her chest. “Find me somewhere to work. Then get rooms set up for us to sleep in. We can bunk two to four to a room if need be, depending on the size of the space. We were assigned a small guard by the queen. As long as we can work and get the tests done that we need to, you won’t be bothered by us.”

Roman actually took a step back.

He should have been more prepared after having met Queen Adelina, but he honestly hadn’t expected all the females to be so loud and bold and…aggressive. Her indirect challenge made him bare his teeth at her in frustration, wings rustling.

Alexei cleared his throat and took Chiara’s hand. He bowed over it and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. Roman nearly laughed out loud when she snatched it back as quickly as she could, eyes wide in surprise. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Chiara. I am Prince Alexei, and this is my older brother, Prince Roman of House Skye, ruling family of Anarr. Welcome to our home.”

Chiara slipped her hands in her pockets and glared at Roman, practically daring him to do the same as his genteel brother. “I am no lady, Prince Alexei. But I appreciate the sentiment. Please, just let us do our work.”

“You are the head physician?” Roman asked, looking over the rest of the doctors who’d arrived.

They all kept their eyes to the ground and waited for their orders. He didn’t know how capable they were, but Draga medicine was extremely advanced.

“I am,” Chiara said. “I will be running the operation here on Anarr and this is my team. Anything that needs to be addressed will go through me.”

They stared at each other and Roman knew society in Draga was all run by rank and dominance. It wasn’t quite the same as it was in Hai, but he could feel her challenge and everything in him rose to meet it.

“Follow me,” Roman said, ignoring the part of him that wanted to snarl at her. But he was also intrigued. He hadn’t been around too many females in his life. “The west wing is for guests. It’s a bit banged up, but adequate. You and your people can use it for whatever you need. I’ll leave the details to you then.”

The two guards opened the golden doors to the palace foyer and Roman was irked to see his mother was indeed off doing other things. He’d been hoping for a rescue, an opportunity to ask her for assistance if she was there, but she was too smart for that.

Roman rolled his shoulders and tried to ignore the prickling between his wings. Chiara was inspecting him and for some reason it set off his instincts despite the fact she was simply a physician and not a warrior.

She must be one of the dominants then.

“I would like to meet with Princess Zoya,” Chiara said from behind him. “She is the first I need to speak with and run tests on. Will she be available today?”

Alexei glanced over at him and shrugged. Neither of them knew their mother’s schedule, or if she’d even want to do the tests so soon after she’d lost one of her children.

“My mother is still in mourning,” Roman said, turning to face the female. “Our brother Viktor died during the skirmish we had with the Neprijat. I will pass on your request, but I cannot promise she will be the first you see.”

For the first time since she stepped off the starship her frown eased into a mournful expression – it looked deliberate and intentional like she had to focus to do it – how interesting.

Then Chiara dipped her head. “My condolences. I will set up the west wing so as not to bother the princess. Simply give me access to the servants. I will have one of the larger rooms converted into a mess hall. If you can pass on the information to the kitchens so my team may have three meals a day I would appreciate that. Send anyone to me with questions. I’ll make sure we are as unnoticeable as possible.”

Chiara snapped her fingers and three people broke off from the main group, heading back toward the starship.

Roman hid how impressed he was with her no-nonsense, ‘get it done’ attitude. If half his warriors had her initiative they would have found the Snatcher already.

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