AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s your favorite color?”
The world outside the window is suddenly fascinating to her. The hesitation surprises me. It’s the easiest question, the first thing out of a child’s mouth. When she finally turns her face my way again, her cheeks are pink.
“Blue,” she says. “I like blue.”
The bubbling in my chest is dangerous. I tentatively move closer to her, all the while unable to suppress the smile splitting my lips.
“Is that so? But there are so many shades of blue. You’ll have to be more specific.” I grip the stone ledge to keep from touching her.
“Let’s see…” Her eyes bounce from one corner of my face to the next, like a little dance. She has me so entranced that when she reaches out to touch me, I’m alarmed. The tip of her finger brushes my eyelashes—the barest touch that sends me reeling. “This shade. It’s darker than your hair, you know.”
“Never thought about it,” I manage to whisper something, anything to keep me from diving for her mouth.
“Do you think anyone will care if I wear a full coverage gown?”
“You’re so worried about what they will think,” I say. “Wear what you want. Treat them like your family and devastate them for all I care.”
“You don’t mean that,” she argues. “This is important to you. Your people matter. So don’t pretend that it’s not something I should consider.”
“I’ve always appreciated that you realize how seriously I take my position. I was drawn to it from the moment we met, and you said that you considered the disappointment of leaving Kar’Kali queen-less when you decided to be my mate. But you can’t seem to grasp where you rank within my heart, no matter how much I try to make it clear.”
“You and your flattery,” she says with a chuckle. “I know that you care for me just as much, but—”
“No,” I cut her off sharply. It’s high time she understood. “You come before everything.”
She seems reluctant to speak.
“Do you know that if you were miserable here, I would leave to make you happy? Do you know that with a word from you, I would deny the title of chosen and let them choose someone else to rule? I think we are doing well, navigating this life, but don’t forget that we can un-choose it.”
“And what would your people think of that?” she asks, aghast. “Leaving because your mate said so?”
“They expect nothing less.” I cock my head. “The mating bond is the cornerstone of our culture. What’s the case on Earth?”
“Often, that country comes before self. Or that the king and the person are two different entities,” she explains.
I snort. “If you can’t exhibit duty to the ones you treasure the most, then what does your duty mean? A male who can’t honor their mate has no honor at all.”
“When you put it like that,” she says.
“I’m standing here alive today because my ancestor felt the same. Those Deadheads loved to paint him as a coward in their rewritten histories. Makiva—the one who abandoned a city. I don’t mind if anyone calls me coward, traitor, or otherwise. If I choose my mate’s safety over anything, it will have been the right choice. My father taught me that a warrior who cannot prioritize their family is not fit to lead. Because that is when the goal of war shifts from protection to devastation, and the true meaning of warriorhood is lost entirely.”
“And what about you?” she asks. “What do you think?”
“I understand the sentiment of his words,” I say, “but he had a rosier view of the warrior’s life than I do. The truth is, war is always devastation no matter what you mean to protect. I don’t regret what I did to claim this planet, but I won’t pretend it was a beautiful thing.”
“The city that Makiva left… Where is it now? Could we visit it?”
I shake my head sadly.
“I asked about that. But the territory my ancestors hailed from was razed to the ground a long, long time ago. It’s not too far from here, the northern shores of this same ocean. It’s forest and meadows now. That’s fine. I don’t need to live there.”
“Ah,” she says with a frown. “I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe later down the line, we can look into an archaeological dig up there. There might be some fascinating things hidden.”
“A wonderful idea,” I agree. “I’ve already had my advisors forward me a whole dossier of applications from all manner of historians, scientists, and other nosy academic types. The Deadhead regime kept outside influence tightly barred from the planet, so there’s a good opportunity there to grow the population through initiatives like that. We’ll have to be careful about it, but it’s an exciting prospect.”
“When the time comes to review all the applicants and projects… can I be a part of the process?” She asks the question so timidly, which is unlike her.
“Yes,” I reply. “You can involve yourself in anything. Most of what I do is tedious, so you’ll have to let me know if one of those tedious matters interests you.”
