Page 15 of Scars & Starlight
As the queen draws a breath to respond, Caden speaks over her – something only a few Veyraths and no one else can get away with. “Auntie Rae, I need to get your son drunk now so he can take that stick out of his ass and properly celebrate finding his match.”
Mom starts laughing, and I tamp down the urge to take that very same stick and bash my cousin’s head in with it. “I can’t get drunk, Caden, we’ll be discussing politics with Tara and the chiefs soon.”
Caden rolls his eyes and gives Mom a look of exasperation. “See what I’m dealing with?” He then turns to me. “She’s probably going to be sleeping for several marks.”
His reminder of what Tara went through makes me frown, likely the opposite of Caden’s goal here. “I’d still prefer to be prepared,” I murmur over their gloating snickers.
As my mother and cousin trade ideas for the names of future princes and princesses, I stare into my glass, watching the drink shift colors, much like the fish in my tank. They’re both acting like this is just another match on Avaris, where the female is overjoyed to find her male, especially one from the royal bloodline. But Tara is an unknown, and her species is as well. What if she rejects me? She might seem physically attracted to me, but being with me will neverbe as easy as indulging in some recreational intimacy. The future of a planet, of its entire species, weighs on my shoulders.
Lost in my thoughts, I don’t notice when the conversation quiets down. I look up from my liquor and meet Caden’s expectant gaze. “Your mother said to contact her when you have more news.” It’s not the first time my mind wandered to the point where the world around me faded away, and my family knows it. Of course, I never allow myself to drop my guard like this with anyone else.
“What if she says no, Caden?” I express my fears out loud.
His gentle smile is something none but those closest to him see. “She won’t, Kai. No one in their right mind would say no to you. I saidno one in their right mind,” he continues when I open my mouth to bring up Zeriah. It’s my turn to give him a wry smile.
“Hand me the bottle, will you?” I say with a smirk, which he quickly returns.
Several marks later, we’re nodding off on opposite sides of the lounge seating, while the empty bottle of Vasari spirits mocks us from the table. I’m pulled out of my liquor-induced, somewhat inappropriate musings about the human girl by an alert sent out by the assis… by Kiko.
She’s awake.
I drag myself into the cleaning chamber where the steam revitalizes me, then prod my cousin to head to his rooms and follow suit. When dressing this time, I choose the less formal uniform, one that’s similar to what Tara wears. I’m uncertain whether we will meet any human leadership today, but seeing as the Ghorvek have been on Earth for several of its cycles, fashion and formality are likely not very important to them.
Once I close the pale-brown, utilitarian jacket over the tight, black, long-sleeved undershirt, I attach some tools that might be useful to have on the planet. I look at the Avaren male in the reflection as I tug on my gloves.
I allowed myself a few marks to have doubts. Now it’s time to conquer my match.
9
TARA
Ijump out of bed with a squeak, confused for a long moment until the soft blue lighting gradually turns up to illuminate my surroundings.
“Kiko,” I exhale, sitting on the edge of the funky alien mattress. “You scared the bejesus out of me.”
The little robot’s eyes whir while it thinks with a tilted head, reminding me of a human frowning or raising their eyebrows.
“It’s an expression of fright,” he concludes, lowering and raising himself on his digitigrade legs, almost like a hop. “For a moment, I feared you had lost a vital body part.”
My lips stretch into a wide grin. He’s just the cutest.
“Not all humans have Jesus, and we’re all told to find him. Or touch grass.” I scrunch my nose up. “In fact, having an opinion and not voicing it is wrong, having an opinion and voicing it is wrong, and also not having an opinion is wrong. You pretty much can’t do anything as a human without someone telling you how you should be thinking or feeling.”
Kiko makes a long, mournful note. “Your stress levels are rising.”
I wave my hand. “Yeah, I tend to get fired up… hey, wait, how do you know my stress levels are rising?” I narrow my eyes at the space chicken.
“Your heart rate and breathing accelerated, and your nanites report an increase in the hormone you call cortisol.” Kiko’s explanation is alarmingly chipper. I gnash my teeth together.
Stupid, tattletale robot mites.
I can’t be mad at all of the aliens’ technology, though. Before I went to bed, Kiko showed me how to use their version of a shower and washing machine. I don’t think either I or my clothes have ever been this sanitized. It even repaired the tears.
“I’ll be fine,” I tell the robot now. “I just need to stop working myself up over everything that’s happened to me and random people I read about on the internet in the middle of the night. Before the invasion, when we still had internet, that is.”
Kiko’s gears whirl. “Re-establishing global communications for your planet shouldn’t be difficult once the Ghorvek have been chased away,” he says, making me perk up.
“We could have cat videos again?” I ask in a hopeful voice.
