But he didn’t tell me that. He didn’t tell me that they would welcome him as not only a returning king but also a… king tapping into godly powers… and that feels, well, it doesn’t feel great.
What else hasn’t he told me?
“You took a human as queen?”
“I am his mate,” I tell him, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Nydo’s mouth twitch into a possessive smile.
“You are a human,” he says. “You cannot be our queen. You do not bear the marks of matehood.”
“Speak to my mate again and I will destroy your ship where you stand.”
He drops his gaze, and my heart beats faster. That’s not the first time someone has brought up mating marks, or whatever. Roghat at the settlement did, too. The warning light that signals their ships are targeting us stops blinking.
They’re not going to blow us out of the sky. Nydo told me he could blow up their plas missiles before they even left their silos, but I’m not sure I believe him.
If he was able to do that, then why did he let the destroyer at Ikkox get so close? He could have just blown it out of the sky, without my one-in-a-million crack shot at the auto-aim.
Nydo shoots a glance my way, and I nod once, swiping the comms tablet and alerting Roghat’s ships that they’re clear to uncloak. They wink into being all around, about fifty strong, all equipped with Roth weapons tech.
The other settlements Lyko and Ayro are trying to drum up support at will be key in taking down the Overlord’s massive warship, but it’s a sign of how few Roth are left that this is all we need to take Nydo’s home planet.
“This is my honor guard,” Nydo says, his voice dripping with disdain. “We will land on Roth now.”
“But the Overlord—”
“The Overlord’s days are numbered,” I say. “We are here to cement our place as king and queen, to honor the old ways and the gods of Roth, and then we will take care of the Overlord.”
“Do you doubt us?” Nydo finishes, our carefully planned speech going just as we rehearsed.
The ball on the end of the fire flail glows white-hot, and I squint at the comms screen.
“If you do,” Nydo continues, his lazy, self-satisfied drawl returning. I haven’t heard him like this in days, I realize. I try to hide my surprise, shifting in my seat. “If you do doubt us, we can make sure you never doubt anything ever again.”
“You are cleared for entry,” the Roth officer on the screen says. “We honor the old ways,” he adds, now staring openly at me. “We will welcome your future queen and mate.”
The comms drop, and I’m left alone with Nydo.
“Strap in,” he says gruffly, his flail and flames disappearing.
“What, exactly, are the old ways? You told me it was just a ceremony,” I say, suspicion growing, a knotty, thorny ball of it making my stomach roil. “You told me they would give me a crown and put me on a throne. You didn’t say anything about mating marks. Or that they thought your powers were holy. Those are both kind of big things to leave out.”
His jaw twitches, and I’m full of doubt.
I hadn’t realized how much I was starting to trust him until this moment, when it’s been ripped away from me.
Nydo’s fingers flick across the control board, and then we’re soaring to Roth, which looms larger and larger, much like the pit in my stomach.
I pull the safety webbing over myself, preparing for landing.
And preparing for the inevitable possibility that I’ve let my emotions, my barest trust in a Roth, lead to my own downfall.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
NYDO
She suspects. My little flame, my red-haired mate, is stiff and nervous next to me. We descend from the ship into the once-bustling heart of Roth.
The Overlord is off planet, as I already knew, thanks to the Suevan intel gathered at the same prison where I found my sweet, prickly mate.
“My king,” the Roth greet me in the traditional way, by pounding their fists at their shoulders and stamping their feet.
“We require the mating ceremony at once,” I say. “Take my chosen and prepare her.”
Leigh’s green eyes are as full of fire as mine, and when I look at her, she simply swallows and glances away.
I half-expect her to object, to fight me, and I wonder at her apparent surrender.
I told her things would be different on planet. I told her we would have to have a ceremony to honor the gods, to show the Roth that humans could be mates and not just bred upon.
I did not tell her what it involved.
I was too afraid she would say no. That she would turn from me.
But the mating marks are key, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that the female humans of Earth do not become chattel in the gristmill of the Roth’s hunt for power.
I soak in the planet, wishing things were different. Wishing I was coming home with a completely willing bride, with a female who gazed upon me with adoration.
And knowing all the same that I would not love a female who was not my Leigh, my little flame.
“Do not touch her save to prepare her for the ceremony,” I growl.
Leigh licks her lips, and I scent her nervousness.
“I will make it better,” I tell her.
She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t have to. I know her well enough now to see the hurt and distrust emanating from every stiff line of her body.
I should have told her. Something, anything, more than what I did.
The Roth guardsmen lead her away, through the temple opening, the temple my uncle, the Overlord, has all but abandoned in his wild grab for power and a way to stop our species from dying out.
This is the only way.
I am convinced of it.
If Leigh truly cares for me, as she made me believe she did, she will see it too.
I stare after her, waiting for her to turn back to me, to look back, anything, but she does not. She strides on, keeping pace with the guards, her head lifted high and back straight, her red hair reflecting the light of the traditional torches.
“My king,” someone says.
“What?” I snarl.
“You must prepare for the ceremony as well,” they say nervously.
Roghat, whose ship only just landed behind ours, saunters towards me. “Come on, old friend, let us prepare you for the ceremony. Take the crown, as you wish. Then we can move on and attack the Overlord, and your plan will be complete, yes?”
I nod.
But it’s another lie.
It won’t be complete.
It can’t be complete until Leigh admits she is mine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
LEIGH
I’m so fucking angry I’m seeing stars. I’m barely aware of the fact I’ve been left alone in some kind of massive bathing room, with oils and soaps of all kinds and torches lining the walls. The whole place has a weird primitive vibe, especially for a civilization that’s tried to take over most of the charted universe.
I shiver, wrapping my arms around myself. I did my best to ignore the Roth who brought me here, and even though they didn’t touch me, seemed afraid to touch me—which, considering what Nydo’s capable of, I don’t blame them—I feel sick.