Page 24 of Alien on the Moon

Chapter 9

Elena

A week after she recovered from the flu, the base received a message from the palace that Carmen, Sofia, and their partners were going to come up for a visit. Arccoo wanted to see their progress, so, naturally, everyone was in a panic anticipating the arrival of the crown prince.

Being his sister-in-law, she didn’t have the same reverence for him, but she knew they needed to show progress on the project. Otherwise, the royal council would pull the plug, and all their hard work would be for nothing, so she had every reason to be nervous.

And that wasn’t even getting into the fact that her sisters were going to meet Rylan. They were going to love him. She knew this. But she also knew they had high standards—especially for the youngest in the family—and would be very vocal in the unlikely event they thought that Rylan was unworthy of her.

“Almost ready?” he asked from the doorway to the lab.

She grinned, trying to tame the swarm of butterflies in her stomach. “Yeah. And you?”

“As I’ll ever be,” he said. Hand in hand, they walked to the hangar where the crown prince and his extended family would be landing. “I’ll admit that I am a bit nervous.”

“About meeting the prince and keeping the project running or about meeting my sisters?”

He flashed her a wry smile. “Yes.”

“Arccoo is a good guy. You don’t have to worry about him. It’s my sisters you have to be scared of. We’re very protective of each other.” She gave his hand a squeeze and let it go as the doors opened, and the royal cruiser landed. “But you’re going to be great. I know they’ll love you.”

“I really hope you’re right.”

With a pneumatic hiss, the doors opened. Carmen and Sofia were the first ones out. Shrieking with joy, the sisters ran to hug one another. It had only been a couple of months, but it felt like longer.

Carmen was the first to take a step back, grabbing Elena by the shoulders and studying her. “How are you feeling? You said you were sick a few days ago.”

Elena shrugged. “Just a forty-eight-hour bug. Nothing serious.”

“Yeah, you can’t keep a good mad scientist down,” Sofia said, punching Elena in the arm.

Laughing, she rubbed the spot. “What about you guys? How have things been?”

“Same old, same old.” Sofia leaned against Carmen, using her older sister’s shoulder like an armrest. “It’s been pretty boring without you blowing up the lab every other day.”

Carmen rolled her eyes. “What Sofia means to say is that we’ve missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” Behind her sisters, Arccoo and Zaraq cleared their throats. Elena smiled sheepishly at the oversight and approached to hug Zaraq first. “Good to see you.”

“Glad you’re doing well,” he replied.

Turning to Arccoo, she pressed a fist to her heart and inclined her head. “Your Highness.”

Rolling his eyes, he wrapped his arms around her. “My little sister, you bow to no one.”

She reciprocated his hug. “I trust that you’re treating Carmen well.”

“You’ve threatened me with regicide enough times to know the answer to that,” he teased. It was an old inside joke between them. Any time Carmen seemed even vaguely displeased, Elena and Sofia would threaten regicide. The royal council didn’t appreciate it, but they and Arccoo found it hilarious.

He even put in his final will and testament.If I have been murdered, despite comments to the contrary in the past, it was most likely not Sofia and Elena Flores. Those words were intended as jokes.

Stepping back, he rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’m eager to see what you’ve done with the place.”

“Rylan and I can give you guys the grand tour,” Elena said.

Her boyfriend made a fist over his heart and inclined his head. “I would be honored to do so, Your Highness.”

With a gesture for them to follow, she and Rylan started walking. “We’ll take you to the compost field first. You can see what all those squigs you’ve ordered have been up to.”

---