“Have you told Korben yet?”

“No.” Sara shook her head and her curls wiped her cheeks.

“He’s going to be ecstatic!” Emma wrapped her friend in a hug. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you,” Sara sniffed.

“Don’t you dare cry,” Kia scolded. “If you cry, I cry.”

“It’s weird to think about it,” Sara confessed, dabbing at the corners of her eyes. “A few weeks ago, I was a normal girl with a normal life. And then I got kidnapped by jelly aliens and taken to this crazy planet. And then I fell in love with a Plutonian warrior and now we’re having a kid.”

Emma’s smile froze on her face.

Just a few weeks ago.

A few weeks.

A few.

Fear threw a bucket of ice down her back. She reached out to Sara. “But didn’t you say that Ga Eun took three years to get pregnant?”

“Yes, but every woman is different.” Sara knitted her eyebrows. “Are you okay, Emma? You look a little queasy.”

“Maybe she’s pregnant too,” Simone joked, elbowing Kia.

Their laughter sounded distant to her panicking ears. Emma stared at the bed in horror, recalling all the wicked ways the alien had invaded her. Lans had emptied his seed into her body more times than she could count.

It had taken Ga Eun three years.

It took Sara three weeks.

Emma slipped a hand over her stomach as dread pooled in her veins. At this moment, there was a chance she could be carrying Lans’s child.

Twenty-Three

Lans

Walkingdown the smooth hallway leading to his room, he spotted Sah-ah through an open door. She had her hands deep in a bowl and seemed to be cooking something. White dust covered her wrist to her elbows, a sharp yet beautiful contrast to her dark skin.

“Lans!” Sah-ah waved.

He changed course and strode closer to the room, wedging his body through the door. He did not want to stay long, but he would not ignore her greeting.

His eyes scanned the open flame where meat was roasting. It had been skinned, so he could not tell what it was, but the savory smell made his stomach gurgle.

“How are you feeling?” Sah-ah asked, pulling her hands away from the bowl and wiping them on a cloth.

“A little tired.”

“Is the meeting done?”

“Neh. I was kicked out.” He shrugged. “The Healer instructed me to rest.”

“Getting shot through the gut with an arrow must suck. You should take it slow.” She smiled and her entire face glowed.

He studied her keenly.Had Sah-ah always looked that shiny?Lans knew her skin was dark and her hair was thick and coarse, but she seemed to behave, act, and even smell like the other ladies with lighter skin tones.

Perhaps it was the flickering fire. But neh. As she waited for him to speak, her hand rose and covered her belly protectively. There was something more to her now.