I gasped. “Almighty!”
“You seem shocked.”
“I am.” I cleared my throat. “That is just unbelievable, and it’s just another thing for me to worry about with Kol.”
“Why is it a worry?”
I felt my cheeks burn with heat.
“I don’t know if you noticed,” I mumbled, “but I don’t exactly follow orders all that well.”
Surkah smirked. “I think everyone has noticed.”
I playfully shoved her shoulder, making her giggle.
“I’m serious,” I continued. “What if I mess up all the time? I don’t know the Maji way, and now I’m promised to marry a prince. I don’t think you all understand how low ranked I am in Earth’s society. I just … I don’t want to be a disappointment to Kol or your people.”
“The people,” Surkah corrected. “The moment you agreed to be my brother’s intended, you became one of the people. You’re a Maji, Nova. The funniest looking one I have ever seen.”
Surkah’s teasing caused me to laugh loudly, and it drew the attention of the males on the bridge around us, though they never looked directly at us, I knew we had their attention. I blushed deeper and tried to hide my face, but Surkah wouldn’t let me.
“Don’t be shy.” She chuckled. “Males won’t speak to you or look at you now that you have such a status. You’re going to be a princess of the people, you know?”
I felt like the ground fell away beneath me.
“A princess?” I questioned incredulously. “Me?”
I tried to imagine myself in the best of clothes, in the best of accommodations, spending time with the noblest of people, smiling, being bowed to and fawned over … and I felt sick at the very thought of it. Surkah nodded happily, oblivious to my internal meltdown.
“Kol is a prince,” she stated. “And as his intended, you will become a princess the moment your bond is sealed.”
“So the Maji just give out the title of prince and princess like it’s nothing?”
Surkah chuckled. “Only to mates of a prince or princess. Our kingship works different to the one you’re used to. You see, when you and Kol have young, they will not have the title of prince or princess. They will just be high born citizens of the people. They will live in your wing of the palace until they are mated then they will get their own piece of land as a gift from the Revered Father where they will build their home like the rest of Maji citizens.”
I blinked. “How come they won’t get titles?”
“Because there would be hundreds of princes and princesses otherwise,” Surkah shrugged. “Maji have many young and being a prince or princess is an important role, we cannot have dozens and dozens and dozens. It would be confusing. The palace is huge, but even it would be overcrowded if everyone lived there forever.”
Well, when she put it like that, it made sense.
“Your children will get the title though, right?” I questioned. “Since your first-born son will be the future Revered Father.”
“Correct,” Surkah nodded. “When I mate Mikoh, he will become a prince. Our young, except my first-born son, will be princes and princesses. It will continue that way. Only my first-born son’s young will have title of prince or princess, my other offspring’s young will not. They will be highborn citizens instead.”
I lifted my hands to my face and groaned into them.
“This is so much to absorb,” I grumbled. “It’s actually starting to hurt my head a bit.”
“The ache is just a side effect of the warp, and that will pass soon,” Surkah assured me and patted my arm in a gesture of comfort. “You aren’t used to space travel, and though I’m not saying you’re weak, humans just aren’t as resilient as us Maji are.”
“You can say that again,” I mumbled, rubbing my fingers in circular motions on my temples. “I feel like a puddle of goop.”
A few hours ago, after I had agreed to be his intended, Kol gathered all the human women aboard and directed them to the sector of the Ebony called the concourse. A section of that room opened into a massive viewing pane that overlooked the Earth. He and the other Maji paid their respects to our endangered planet and the people on the surface who were doomed with it. Kol allowed us humans to grieve our planet with the comfort of other women and gifted us one last look at our home because we all knew we would never see it again.
Not long after that, we set off on course to Ealra, the planet that would soon become our new home world. When the warp was activated, I got so lightheaded that I thought I would pass out for the hundredth time in a matter of days. Kol felt it was necessary for me to sit on his lap until I felt better enough to sit with Surkah. He overlooked the piloting from the shipmaster’s chair on the bridge of the Ebony, and when he wasn’t looking, I was overlooking him.
I felt like I was in a dream.
Days ago, I was wandering one of the many barren wastelands of Earth, half-starved and dirty to the bone. I was trying my best to survive, and now I was under the care of a royal alien who had claimed me as his future wife. I had a tummy full of great food, and there wasn’t a speck of dirt in sight nor a hint of body odour. It was a dramatic upgrade, and despite my behaviour, I was indebted to the Maji for their care of my people and the future they offered us, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard to become accustomed to the many changes I was going through.
I suddenly had a family again; people who didn’t even really know me cared for me and treated me like I was someone special. I went from being on my own twenty-four seven and never trusting anyone to giggling with my future sister-in-law and stealing glances at my future husband when I knew he was distracted. I didn’t know whether to feel incredibly lucky to be blessed with such a change in circumstances or like a complete idiot for considering fairy tales like this happened to a woman like me—a killer—and had a happy ending.
“You’re thinking hard, shiva.”
Goose bumps broke out over my skin the second his voice rolled over me.
“I tend do that a lot.”
I shivered when his hand curled around the nape of my neck. Surkah said goodbye to me as she stood, placed her hand on her chest, and bowed her head to her brother before she left with Mikoh as her escort. Everyone, barring Kol, gave her the same respectful bow she showed her brother as she left the bridge.
“Anything you want to ask me?”
To amuse Kol, and his crew, I said, “Can I fly the craft?”
Everyone went silent around us.
Kol snorted. “No, you cannot pilot the craft.”
“Why not?” I quizzed. “I’d probably be great at it.”
“Or really bad at it.”
I ignored his teasing and the chuckles from his crew.
“We’ll never know until you let me fly it.”
“Then we’ll never know.”
I folded my arms across my chest.
“I’ll wear you down eventually.”
Kol laughed, and I saw some of his crew members shake their heads with smiles on their faces as they got back to work. I liked that. I liked that they just accepted me as Kol’s intended, and I liked that my teasing could amuse them. They were the people, and I really wanted them to like me.