Page 49 of Alien in the Attic

But now, here she was wearing her mother’s veil and a dress that shimmered and changed in the light like an opal. Her hair had been intricately braided with precious stones and her makeup accentuated her eyes. She felt more like a princess from those storybooks than she ever had before.

On her worst days, she often felt herself grow envious of her sisters and their effortless beauty. And today, they looked incredibly beautiful. Elena wore a sky-blue dress with red accents like the beginning of a sunset while Sofia wore a dress of purple so rich that it almost looked black. But between them, she felt for the first time like she was the crown jewel of their little trio.

Behind them, a guard cleared his throat. “My lady, the ceremony is about to begin.”

She smiled and hooked her arms around her sisters. “I’m ready.”

The ceremony was to be held outside in the ancient stone circle where coronations and funerals took place. When Carmen saw the crowd, she gasped. It was primarily made up of Thryals but interspersed with species of all shapes and sizes. She had seen species from other planets, but she had no idea how many different kinds were out there.

At the end of the back rows stood a palanquin surrounded by four soldiers. Arccoo stood in front of it looking stoic with his hand on the hilt of his plasma sword. Her sisters helped her into the palanquin and then joined her.

The door slid shut, and she opened the window in the front to watch the ceremonial walk to the circle. Ahead of them, a Thryal got out of his seat, drew his plasma sword, and attacked. Arccoo easily parried and disarmed him.

The Thryal bowed and took his seat once more. Then another attacked. Her love easily defended himself and the palanquin before repeating the process for the next attacker.

“The battle is supposed to be symbolic,” Arccoo had explained a few days before, during their rehearsal. “When the first king married the first queen, it was during a time of tumult. The second son wanted the throne, which he knew he would never get if the queen married his brother and bore heirs, so he sent assassins after the wedding party.”

He took her hand, entwining their fingers. “The first king stood in front of the palanquin and defended his bride all the way to the stone circle. When they reached it, they thought they had made it to safety, but one last assassin lurked behind them. The queen saw it before her groom did, grabbed his sword, and slayed the assassin before he could attack. All royals recreate this scene in our weddings to symbolize the lengths we must go to protect our families and our futures.”

Carmen’s fingers twitched as she prepared for her own battle. It may have been for show, but she would still be using a real weapon. Apparently, it was bad luck for the bride and groom to have their blood drawn, so she wanted to avoid that while also avoiding hurting the “assassin,” who was just playing a role.

The music picked up as they reached the stone circle, the drums matching the racing thud of her chest as she prepared for her part in the ceremony. Finally, the palanquin came to a stop. The soldiers set it down, and her sisters emerged before helping her out of it. Arccoo was already in position, his chest still heaving slightly from the exertion of battle, but he didn’t have a scratch on him.

When he saw her, he smiled, only for her face to fall. A Thryal with a sword was supposed to attack him, but the assassin behind him raised a blaster and took aim. “Death to the false heir!” he shouted.

Carmen didn’t think. She just moved. Leaping at Arccoo, she tackled him to the ground as the sound of a bullet whizzed past her head. She grabbed his sword, and with a primal battle cry, she charged, knocking the blaster out of his hand.

Arccoo was on his feet right after her. He punched the assassin, knocking him out. The crowd finally caught on to the fact that this wasn’t a part of the ceremony and erupted into screams while the guards grabbed the unconscious would-be assassin and dragged him off for questioning.

“Are you okay?” Sofia asked, studying Carmen while Elena fussed with the accessories in an attempt to wrangle everything back to where it was.

She nodded. “I’m fine.” Turning to Arccoo, she smiled. “Never a dull moment, huh?”

He grinned back. “With you, every second is an adventure. I can do without the assassination attempt next time, though.” He took her by the hands and led her to where the king waited to officiate the ceremony.

To Carmen’s utter shock, the king pulled her into a tight hug. They had come a long way from his utter disdain for her and her species. “Thank you for saving my son.”

“We save each other,” she replied.

He stepped back, gave her a short nod of approval, and began the ceremony. Elena and Sofia wrappedEl Lazoaround their shoulders while she and Arccoo recited their wedding oaths in Thryal. It had taken her some time to get used to the language, but now, she could speak it almost fluently. She didn’t always need to use the ear translator that Arccoo had placed in the sisters’ ears when they first arrived.

It was hard to focus, though, with the way Arccoo stared at her like she was more precious than any treasure in the galaxy. And judging by the way her face hurt from smiling, she knew she probably looked the same.

A small, melancholic part of her wished again that her parents and grandparents could be here to see this, but that ache was familiar. She knew it intimately and had long learned to honor the feeling and then put it away.

The king drew the ceremony to a close. Arccoo took her hand, entwined their fingers, and raised it so the crowd could see. The audience erupted into cheers.

“I love you,” he said just barely loud enough for her to hear it over the din.

“Love you, too.”

The next few hours were a blur of taking official royal portraits, greeting strangers and royalty from all over the galaxy, and ingratiating herself among Thryal’s elite. They didn’t get the chance to even sit down until the banquet.

She took her seat with a sigh, wiggling her throbbing toes and wishing she had chosen the more comfortable shoes. Sofia and Elena sat to her left side while Arccoo sat to her right. Turning to say something to Arccoo, her face dropped when she saw a guard whispering in his ear.

He got to his feet and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll be right back.”

“Is something else about to go horribly wrong?”

---