Assistant for the Alien Prince by Tammy Walsh

Jessica

“So,”Tina said, turning on her heel to face me. “How long have you two been fucking?”

Trust my sister to put her dirty little finger on it.

“We’re not… fucking,” I said evasively as I marched into the kitchen.

“All right then, making love, doing the downward dog, stuffing the sausage, whatever you want to call it,” Tina said, trailing after me. “How long?”

I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to clean the kitchen.

“Not long… I mean, we’re not… Urgh!” I growled, throwing open the cupboards to locate the scrubbing brushes and cleaning products. “Where is it?”

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Tina said, perching her chin on her hands. “Not with a red-hot stud muffin like him. Do you think he’s interested in Earth girls? I guess so. He’s into you, after all.”

I banged my head and hissed through my teeth.

“I want to hear every tiny littledetail!” Tina said, completely unaware of my pain. “Although I doubt there’s very much that’s tiny about him…”

I leaned back on my hands and stared at the cupboards.

“What are you even doing here, Tina?”

“Hm?” Tina said, peering over her shoulder in the direction Zai had gone.

Knowing her, she was probably considering whether or not to go chasing after him.

If he was anyone else, I would have let her.

But Zai was my client.

I’d been paid to do a job and I fully intended on doing it.

He didn’t need to be harassed by my sister.

“Oh, I was passing by and decided to look in on the place,” Tina said.

“You were passing by?” I said. “Where were you ‘passing by’ to?”

“Hm?” Tina said again, distractedly tugging on her fake pearl necklace as she continued staring at the open doorway. “Oh, just a party.”

A party?

Out in the sticks?

The last time she’d gone to one of those, I’d had to drive out of the city and pick her up.

I’d found her ten miles from where I was supposed to, a disheveled mess.

I narrowed my eyes.

“What party?”

“Just a small gathering among friends,” Tina said. “Do you think Zai would like something to drink? I imagine he must be pretty thirsty…”

I got to my feet and dusted myself off.

“If he’s thirsty, he can get himself a drink.”

“Sure. But he doesn’t know where the glasses are. I’ll take him one, just in case—”

“Leave him alone, Tina!” I snapped.

Tina, caught by surprise at my tone, almost dropped the glass she’d scooped up from the shelf.

I didn’t mean to sound so sharp.

I just didn’t want her to get involved with him.

Not when we had… worked together.

“You really like him, don’t you?” Tina said.

“No,” I said, flustered. “It’s just… he’s my client. I don’t want you to mix work with pleasure.”

Pleasure.

I’d gotten so much pleasure while I was with him that I honestly didn’t think another man would ever come close.

“So tell me about him,” Tina said. “How did you guys first come to… you know.”

I glared at her.

She threw up her hands.

“I’m just curious about the Ev’vat that finally snagged my sister’s heart, that’s all, I swear!”

She looked so sweet and innocent that she reminded me of the way she used to be when we were growing up.

We were inseparable and constantly whispered in corners among ourselves about the secret crushes we had on the local boys.

Those days seem so distant and far away now…

Almost like another lifetime.

‘He’s very charming,” I said.

“I knew he would be.”

“But do you think… Well, Dad was always very charming. He could charm the birds from the trees. Do you think we could ever trust someone charming like that?”

“What are you asking me? If Zai is like Dad?”

“No,” I said. “I’m asking… Oh, I don’t know what I’m asking!”

Tina smiled as she slid onto a stool at the kitchen counter.

“He’s got you frazzled, hasn’t he?”

“What? No. Of course not.”

“He has. And you’re not easily frazzled. You’re calm as a cucumber or cold as a block of ice, depending on how you want to look at it.”

“I prefer the cucumber analogy,” I pouted.

“You want to know what I think?”

“That’s why I asked you, isn’t it?”

“I think he’s nothing like Dad. Dad never tried to change, for one.”

“How did you know he’s changed?”

“A bad boy prince wouldn’t have blushed the way he did when he came in here. And then there’s the whole news about that kid not really being his.”

My attention snapped up at that.

“You heard about that?”

“Sure. It’s been all over the news. People are treating it like it’s the next big TV show. Every few hours there’s a big revelation.”

I grabbed my communicator and flipped through the messages.

News of the DNA test result was out and the public appeared to be angry at the news organizations for peddling lies about the prince.

“There are other, more important messages you missed,” Tina said, tapping at the hologram images floating above my communicator. “My missed messages. I couldn’t believe you ignored me and didn’t tell me about what was going on! I should have had the inside scoop!”

“Sorry,” I said. “I had my hands full.”

“Both your hands full unless I missed my guess.”

Tina raised an accusing eyebrow at me and I couldn’t keep myself from laughing.

Then I turned as red as a ripe berry.

“You’re going to have to tell me everything about it one of these days.”

“Not today.”

“No. You have to get back to the palace and finish arranging the Pairing Ceremony.”

“There’s not going to be a Pairing Ceremony,” I said. “Not when the tribe leaders haven’t accepted our invitations.”

Tina reached over and scrolled through my messages.

“For a workaholic, you sure don’t read your messages too closely, do you?”

She pointed out one of the most recent ones I hadn’t seen.

I physically gasped when I saw the headline:

ROYAL PAIRING CEREMONY TO BE LARGEST EVER

I scanned the opening paragraph and learned the tribe leaders had accepted the invitations.

All of them.

The public outcry had been so intense they’d felt compelled to.

“I have to tell Zai!” I said.

Tina said nothing and just smiled at me.

“What?” I said.

“Nothing. It’s just… It’s nice to see you smiling for a change. You haven’t smiled a lot since Dad died. It’s nice to see. Well, I’ll leave you to it, I guess.’

She wagged a finger at me.

“Have plenty of sex but try not to tire him out. He’s got the ceremony to attend. He doesn’t need to be distracted from his fated mates by the likes of you.”

I chuckled despite myself as I hugged my little sister and led her toward the door.

Tina stopped and turned.

“Listen to me. Be careful, sis. Rich and powerful men tend to leave a trail of broken hearts in their wake.”

I snorted.

“You were never broken by any of the men you chased.”

Tina’s eyes dropped and a look of sadness came across her features, a sense of intense loss the likes of which I’d never seen before.

“Tina?” I said. “Who?”

“It doesn’t matter who. The point is, I’m used to it now. I know what to expect. You’re new to this. And if you’re not careful, you’re going to get your heart broken into a million pieces.”

With that, she turned and left, leaving me confused about what I thought I knew about my one and only sister.