Page 47 of Devin
“This is my mother,” he said. She actually slapped him on the pectoral muscle.
“Grena,” Meadow supplied. “Daughter of Portuso, Supreme Commander of Takalia, Lady of the Rings of Eternal Light, and Torchbearer of the High Council.”
“That’s right. At least she can introduce me properly.” She slapped her son again for good measure.
“She’s third in line for the throne, after her older brother and sister. That means Devin is seventh,” Meadow continued.
“As Mahdfel, I gave up my claim as soon as I was old enough to do so. It is not fitting for a-”
“So he’s like a prince. Or maybe a duke. An alien duke. The titles don’t quite translate, but it’s close enough. That makes you a duchess! Your Grace.”
Meadow tried to bow, but was thwarted by her belly.She just giggled instead.
Val just sat there slack jawed, eyes darting from Meadow to Devin to his mother. If he came from a rich family, that sort of explained some of his behavior, and why he had been less than impressed with her. She was a homeless out of work waitress with a prison record. He was alien royalty.
“And?” Grena smacked her son for a third time.
“This is my mate.”
“Val, just Val. No titles or anything.”
“Lovely,” the inky black alien said. He was even darker up close. Not a hint of his skin, teeth or nails showed a trace of otherpigmentation. “I’ve heard so much about you.” He held out his hand and Devin growled, actually growled at him.
“Really?” His mother said. Devin would have probably been slapped by his mother again, but he actually stood up, circled around and sat next to the alien, putting himself between them.
“I am Captain Cocak.”
Thankfully, both Meadow and Val sniggered at the same time. The way he said his name made it sound like cock up, or someone stumbling over a word.
“Have you heard of me?”
“No. We don’t hear about many aliens on Terra,” Meadow said. “It’s just that your name is a little funny in English. It’s one of the languages on our planet.”
“Terra has many languages? How… quaint.”
“This is the mate of Goru. He is the one to speak to about delicacies for your cargo hold,” Devin said with a pointed look at Meadow.
“Oh, right. Captain Cock up, if you will follow me,” Meadow said. Cocak stood up and made a little bow to the crowd. He followed Meadow toward the command center. Goru must be on shift, which is why they were the only ones up so far.
“I see you have no problems sending him away with someone else’s mate,” Grena said. “Please, sit,” Grena patted the bench next to her.
“Is there anything I can get you first? Something to drink, or eat?”
Val was comfortable standing at the table, offering food. She wasn’t comfortable chatting with a princess, or a duchess, or whatever.
“Quite fine. Sit.”
It had gone from a request to a command. Val sat and glared at Devin. He could at least facilitate some conversation.
“I see you are Terran. I heard that Terrans come in many shades of brown. What shade are you?”
Val looked at her skin, which had darkened in the sun the past few weeks.
“We generally call my skin color white, but now I’m rather tan.”
Her eyebrows raised. “So you change back to white?”
“A paler shade, when my skin is not exposed to the sun for an extended time.”
