Assistant for the Alien Prince by Tammy Walsh

Zai

I marchedinto the great hall, feeling every excited eye weighing on me.

I’d given her my heart, my life, my everything, and she’d thrown it back in my face!

She was my fated mate but chose not to be with me!

How could she do such a foolish thing?

Discovering your fated mate was the closest you came to a sure thing in the universe.

A lifetime of happiness, knowing you were with your one and only.

Eseb—she of the sultry eyes and sensual body—caught my eye and gave me a wink.

I ignored her and ascended the steps to the dais that’d been erected for this announcement.

The cameras pushed in and the guests gathered around, the daughters of the tribal leaders took up their positions at the front of the crowd and at the foot of the dais.

Eseb’s foot rested on the first step, certain she would receive the honor.

I welcomed the guests and the viewers at home, smiled, and took my time as I recited the speech that I’d memorized on the journey to the temple.

“Finding one’s fated mate is a rare and glorious thing,” I said. “Not everyone gets to find their fated mate and that is truly a great tragedy. What’s even worse is knowing who your fated mate is but being unable to have them due to social, historical, or cultural reasons. I will make this a key part of my reign to ensure everyone gets a chance to be as happy as I will be.”

The words had seemed full of hope when I’d gone over them with my chief speechwriter that morning, now they stung.

The kind of person I was talking about was myself.

Someone unable to be with the one he knew to be his fated mate.

Because she refused me.

I clenched my teeth to keep from exploding with the disappointment in my heart, and yet, it still wasn’t too late.

I could declare my love for Jessica.

It would come as a shock to everyone present but it was the only way to be true to my feelings.

But Jessica would hold it against me and might decide not to be with me even after that.

Then I would have no mate at all and would have soured the relationship with the tribe leaders that had only just begun to bloom.

I found my mother standing to one side, next to where the daughters now stood.

Her life had been one of duty and honor.

She lived at my father’s side but had been his unquestioned equal.

They had been fated mates and were always destined to be together.

I spotted movement at the back of the room as Jessica entered from the garden we’d been standing alone together in just a few short minutes earlier.

I felt her eyes on me more than anyone else’s.

They were heavy and I could barely breathe.

“I have… come to a decision,” I said.

Love.

Duty.

Which would I choose?

The silence that nipped at the heels of my words might have been done for dramatic effect by a better speaker, but the truth was, I still wasn’t sure which way I would fall.

The seconds ticked by.

Everyone held their breath.

Each of the daughters was nervous, anxious, for this agony to be over.

I met Jessica’s eyes at the back of the room.

Her name was on my lips and I was desperate to say it.

But she’d chosen her path.

She didn’t want to be with me.

She wished to be alone, as far from me as it was possible to get.

And if I truly loved her, I had to respect her decision.

“Tus,” I said.

The audience erupted, cheering with glee—just as they would have done with whichever daughter I’d chosen.

Tus cupped her hands over her mouth and she cried prettily and fanned her face.

She hugged her father who still couldn’t bring himself to smile, then wrapped her arms around the other daughters and slowly ascended the steps toward me.

I smiled and welcomed her onto the stage, feeling like a total fraud.

I searched for Jessica at the back of the room but didn’t find her there.

For the second time that night, she had disappeared.

Only this time, I knew in the pit of my writhing gut that I would never see her again.