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That did give me pause. I didn’t know where her assumption came from, but she was right.
“You have a point. I need to give that some thought.” I nodded.
“I didn’t mean—”
I waved her off. “Nocc, by all means, you were right pointing this out and I will consider it. You make a valid point, this place should be open to everyone to enjoy.”
Her lips curved slightly, giving me a glimpse of dimples forming in both of her cheeks, and I found myself mesmerized by her strange beauty. Her skin appeared pink and soft, tempting me to touch it.
“I trust Lady Natoi was pleased to have her scarf returned?” I asked, because for some reason I didn’t like the silence between us. It gave me too much time to think and consider how much I yearned to find out how soft those dark rosy lips would be, what she would taste like…
“She was,” the merrily answered, and her name came back to me in an instant—Heather. I had tried to push it out of my brain so many times in the last few hours that for a moment I feared I had succeeded.
Her features were as delicate as her body, stirring protective instincts in me.
This time she interrupted the growing silence between us. “This place is very beautiful.”
“I come here to clear my mind. Is this why you sought it out too?”
“In part, Yes. But also, it reminds me of Earth, home.” Her lips twitched, taking on a downward turn I wished I could wipe off.
“You miss your planet, your people,” I observed.
“It probably sounds ungrateful.” She hesitated. “But yes, I do, even though I’m at least safe here.”
I wasn’t immune to her words, or the plight of her and her people. Somebody might have called it hypocritical, because under my command several worlds had been conquered, but there it was. Granted, the indigenous population hadn’t suffered even half as much as Heather’s people did under the Cryons, but I imagined they were as unhappy at being lorded over by us as the humans under the Cryons’ rule.
“It doesn’t sound ungrateful at all,” I assured her. “Missing one’s home isn’t a bad thing.”
Just to keep our amicable conversation going I added, “So your planet looks a lot like this?”
“In some places.” Her head turned to take in the trees, the lake, the waterfall. “Earth has many different environments. We have deserts, forests, beaches, tundras, rocky terrains, grasslands, open steppes, oceans, ice lands…” She drifted off. I wasn’t sure if she was finished counting off all the different landscapes on her planet or ran out of descriptions, it sounded fascinating though.
“Most planets have the same kind of environment covering their entire surface,” I explained. “Some do have oceans and beaches, before forests take over, but curiously I have never heard of one planet offering such a variety.”
“I guess that is what makes Earth so unique. Lady Natoi explained to me that Pandrax consists of many planets, which are all inhabitable within easy distance,” Heather explained.
“Earth doesn’t have any inhabitable planets close by?”
“Define close.” There was the hint of her smile again, nearly knocking me out.
I chuckled at her words. “Good point.”
This time her smile was wide, her eyes found mine, lighting a fire in my chest that took my breath away. My fingers itched to bury into her hair, to pull her close. My lips tingled in anticipation of meeting hers, and it was only thanks to decades of having learned to restrain my desires that I didn’t.
Who was this creature awakening all these emotions in me? The memory of how my temper ebbed around her yesterday returned. What powers did she hold over me?
Lady Natoi showed me the palace and park on my first day in Pandrax and it quickly became my favorite place. Despite the alien appearance of the forest and lake, it held enough resemblance to my home planet to soothe my aching heart. Here I could at last find some peace and tranquility. Which I was in dire need of after the debacle last night and a firm talking-to from Lady Natoi this morning.
As if it was my fault that none of the men she introduced me to weren’t my magical mekarry bonds. Not that I was looking that hard, because the idea of some alien dude basically imprinting on me wasn’t something I could get really excited about.
I knew that my existence depended on the Pandraxians’ goodwill, and to an extent Lady Natoi, but I hadn’t asked to be brought here. I even thought I might have been happier had they taken me to the same place most human refugees went to—Asterion. There at least I would have been able to shape my own life without being stared at and objectified by a bunch of alien men. It would have been a lot harder—from everything I heard—but after several weeks here, I thought I would have been ready for it.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t been given a choice in the matter. For whatever reason, several other girls and I were taken from Asterion the moment we landed and brought to Pandrax. Of the twenty girls, two were already bonded to Pandraxians, married and happily running their own households. Much to Lady Natoi’s lamentations. She hadn’t really said it, but I understood that in her society this was some kind of challenge: take in the poor Earth girl and get her mated as soon as possible. It wasn’t my fault that I hadn’t thrown myself as enthusiastically into the pit of men in hopes of finding… what exactly? Mr. Right?
I still thought that was some kind of sick joke.
For years I had thrived on becoming an independent woman, after seeing my mom wither at her domineering husband’s side. When I left for college, she was more a zombie to me than a person. My stomach turned whenever I heard the tinkle of her falsetto laugh, or the clack, clack, clack of her high heels on our polished marble floor, aware that each step caused her new hip to hurt like hell.
