Page 21 of Bound to the Alien King
I would go anywhere she wanted so long as she shared one or fifty.
It took her less than two minutes to pack them all up in boxes and stack them in a hovercart outside the back kitchen door.
“You don’t need to tell the guards you’re leaving?”I asked, gesturing behind us to the four in the kitchen entrance.
She leaned in to whisper conspiratorially.“Since they’re bribed in donuts, I don’t really have to.”
I threw back my head and laughed.“You are trouble of the absolute best kind.”
“I do try,” she said with a little wink.
While the hovercart followed, we meandered away from the castle toward a little town at the bottom of a hill.Children of mixed species played in their front yards, their human mothers and Xenoxx fathers doting on them or each other.
Some children had earphones on while they sat in the grass with their toys.Their parents were nowhere to be seen, but I could sure hear exactly what they were doing inside their houses.
I bit back a smile while my cheeks heated and an unbidden ache coiled between my legs.I knew what that was like, that immense pleasure, the feeling of being worshipped over and over again.
Roxxanne didn’t seem affected by it.For her, this was the norm.
She seemed to glow as she handed out donuts to the children, completely in her element.The kids adored her, and one little guy’s only complaint about life in general was that his mouth wanted more donuts but his tummy didn’t.The fairest complaint I’d ever heard.
Everyone looked, and sounded, blissfully happy.That could be me.I casually swept a hand over my stomach, though it was anything but casual.That could beus.Maxx would give that to me.The question was did I want him to?After the lies, did I wanthim?Could I trust him not to snap and viciously murder my child like Rain had, or could I eventually learn to separate the two Faid?
I didn’t know.I wasn’t sure I ever would know.
Roxxanne sighed loudly.“I suppose you want to know about the day of the attack, but you’re not sure how to ask for fear of upsetting me.Am I close?”
“Am I that obvious?”
She shrugged a single scaled shoulder.“You just went quiet there for a long time.Really, though, you can ask me anything.My dad asked, but he stormed out before I could finish explaining what happened.I don’t think he was ready to hear it yet.”She looked down at her feet while we walked back into the castle and took a seat at a large, ornate table in what I guessed was the dining room.“He was too upset.”
“Since it happened to you, he might never be ready to hear all of what happened,” I said gently as I sat next to her.
She nodded.“I know he also feels guilty for missing my nineteenth birthday last week, but I told him it’s not his fault he’s on a TV show he never signed up for.”
“No, it’s not,” I agreed, and then I decided to just dive right in.“Roxxanne, I can tell how smart you are, and I know you’ve thought about it, so…why do you think all these attacks keep happening to your family?”
“Oh, I can think of a couple reasons.One, to keep us ‘in line,’ so to speak.”She rolled her eyes, such a normal teen thing to do, apparently among any species.“It’s easier to control a group of people if they’re constantly fearing for their lives.And two, our scales are priceless, especially mine since I’m the only full-blooded Xenoxx female left.If you sold one scale, you’d be set for life and then some.So would your kids and your kids’ kids.”
Her wise words knocked the air from my lungs.
Earth Space Fleet had never hurt for money and was probably the only Earth agency that had never had to beg for more funds.Why?The truth might be staring at me with big, purple, innocent eyes.
“I think I need to sit down,” I said.
“Um, you are?”She reached across the table and rubbed my arm.“Are you all right, Nera?”
“The people who hired that man to kill you…” I swallowed thickly.“I work for those same people.”
“So?You haven’t tried to kill me yet.I like you better already.”She offered me a smile that lit the dining room even brighter.
“But what they did… What they’ve done…” I shook my head.“I can’t be a part of that anymore.”
She bobbed her slim shoulders.“So don’t.”
She made it sound so simple.If only.
“But I can’t just ignore them either.”
