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Safe enough.
If I’m going to be with him for a long time—years, maybe forever—it could be safe to learn to like him.
But not love him. Never, ever love him. Never love anything. That’s when you get hurt, and you know that far too well.
“Grandma, can I go if the crew says I can? I won’t touch a thing!”
“I suppose if Miss Jade takes you and you stick right next to her,” Griselda sighed with a twinkle in her eye. “I might come calling, too. See how married life suits you.”
Jade’s heart crunched in her chest.
They’ve become like family to me, and I never even realized it. Never appreciated it until I’m about to leave. Mother I always wished I had. Little brother, or maybe even a son...
Family.
Something to love.
“I have to go see what Cherie wants. She’s helping Dr. Weaver and Dr. Marcus every spare second. Don’t want to waste her time.” Jade fairly fled off the porch, a burning pain searing through her chest.
“SURPRISE!”
Jade froze in the schoolhouse door. The other eleven women who had arrived with her on Lynx-Nineteen and the handful who had arrived in the following months were sitting in a circle, smiling and waving at her, clapping when she entered.
Applause.
People watching.
For a horrible second, Jade was back in the shiny metallic room where shadows and reflections made her feel disoriented. Hands groped her. She had to keep taking shallow breaths through her nose so she didn’t scream.
And then—poof. Cherie’s arms were around her, holding her in a warm, excited hug, and the nightmare from the past vanished.
“What is this?” Jade asked, trying to smile.
“Congratulations and farewell!” Avis, the mayor’s wife, threw her arms around her former colleague and current “neighbor.” “It’s a send-off. We heard you were getting married tomorrow, too. Sly girl. You didn’t even tell us you’d met someone!”
Jade smiled and laughed. She had gossipped with most of these women a thousand times, sharing food, talking in the halls between clients, complaining and venting about a million little job-related woes. She could fake her way through this.
“Yes, Ardol is a Leopardine onboard the Comet Stalker. We didn’t meet until just recently, but it’s the perfect situation.” Jade knew that word traveled fast around a town of this size. It wouldn’t be a secret that their marriage was a business transaction, but she could act happy about it.
“I am happy about it,” she said aloud, firmly.
“Well, so are we, darling!” Burnie pranced over, long braids swinging. “Happy you found a good Felid, not too happy you’re sailing off with him. Time to stuff our faces and give you some goodies!”
“Thank you!” Jade said, a wide and almost real smile creasing her face. Her heart, still tender from her realizations about Claude and Griselda, softened even further as she looked at the sea of faces surrounding her. These women are like family, too. I might try to push them out of my mind to forget my past, but maybe I don’t need to. We’re all starting over. I think I will miss them when I go.
“Open my present first,” Rosemary pulled Jade’s arm through her own with a salacious grin. “It’s something you’ll love, believe me—and it comes with some advice about being married to one of these big, furry sex machines. I thought I’d be sick of sex forever after working for seven years as a human fucktoy in the Pleasure Parks, but just one night with Umbra turned my world upside down!”
Jade swallowed a sigh and nodded politely. Well. I’ll miss some of them.
Chapter Eight
Ardol laid out the ceremonial jewels he had intended for Cala, a platinum circlet heavy with opals and purple asterines, a belt with a single asterine, and a wedding band to match. On Jade, it would be a tight-fitting bangle, covered in opals and gold.
Packing the jewels carefully in their case, he tucked it under his arm and shook himself. Today’s marriage ceremony was for purely legal purposes. In a few weeks, they would be married for real, in a Leopardine ceremony that would be the talk of the planet. The first human Queen. Probably the first of many.
Or not.
A gnawing sensation filled his stomach as he stood among the other crew members waiting for the bay door to open.
