Page 17 of Dark Space
‘This is better, apparently,’ Vesper said, wrinkling his nose. ‘She can eat this. Not forever, I imagine, but it’s a start.’
All three of us waited, watching her eat. She realised after a few moments and blushed a lovely, deep pink.
Alcide’s claimed. She will be Alcide’s claimed, I told myself.
‘She saidwhy are you staring?’
‘Can you tell her we have a question to ask her?’ Alcide said.
Vesper repeated it; her eyes widened. She looked at us expectantly.
Alcide swallowed. ‘Will you ask if I may claim her?’
I stared at Alcide.‘I think I misheard you,’ I said carefully.
‘I don’t think you did, starling. Ask her if she’ll let me claim her.’
‘Youdoknow what that means in other languages, don’t you?Marry, wed, bond?’
‘Yes, Vesper, I know what it means,’ Alcide said, with exaggerated patience.
‘Just so I have this clear: the Roth Prince is asking a stray alien he’s known for approximately half a milliclick to let him claim her. As in, binding, lifelong, formal claiming, where she will become the princess consort of a species she hadn’t evenheardof yesterday.’
‘Yes, you’ve pretty much got it.’
‘I see.’ I paused. ‘Why?’
Alcide sighed and rubbed his temples. ‘Starling, do you really care?’
I considered the question.Caringwas something outside my general experience, even when it came to those it theoretically should have applied to; I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to look like. I didn’t miss my parents, and didn’t really mind that my sibling was halfway across the universe. I deliberately went out of my way to avoid attachments, and had associates rather than friends, chased pleasure rather than affection.
But the stomach currently belonging to me was roiling with something I didn’t recognise, and, if I didn’t know what itwas, then I couldn’t confidently say what itwas not.
‘I don’t know,’ I said at last. ‘But I might.’
Alcide stared at me. ‘Are all starlings like you?’
I waved a hand. ‘Don’t flatter me, Prince. Why do you want the little human for your claimed?’
He exchanged a glance with his companion. ‘We want her to stay safe,’ he said at last. ‘And on this ship, at this time, we think this is the best way. Theonlyway. We won’t be able to hide her down here forever.’
‘So take her back to her home planet,’ I said, unimpressed.
‘No,’ the other Roth growled.
I snorted. ‘Ah. I see. There is only one option, because you’re onlyofferingone.’ I turned to Anna. ‘The Prince wants to bond you.’
Her reaction was better than I could have imagined; she blanched and dropped her food back on the plate. ‘He wants towhat?’
There are many times when the meaning of language may be difficult to grasp, but the tone of delivery is decidedly not. Alcide flinched, stepping back. The black-haired Roth’s lips twisted; he stepped closer to the Prince, as if ready to catch him if he fell.
‘The Prince wants to claim you, marry you,’ I repeated calmly. ‘You’re in danger on this ship, and they think this is the only way to ensure your safety.’
‘The only way,’ Anna repeated flatly.
‘That’s what he said.’
Anna turned her stare to the Prince. ‘Butwhy? He knows I’m not some Earth princess, right? I’m achef, for cake’s sake. I have a degree in English Literature that I have never used, no family as of my abduction day, approximately three friends, zero savings, and my worldly possessions can be packed into a humiliatingly small suitcase.’ She crossed her arms. ‘Or is this some kind of space harem situation, and he collects wives of different species?’
