Assistant for the Alien Prince by Tammy Walsh

Zai

The holo-TV camerashad been switched off and rolled into the next room where the wedding ceremony would take place.

Already Jessica’s assistants were busy and at work putting everything in place.

Jessica had ensured there was a clear hierarchy between her assistants in the event she couldn’t be found, so everyone still knew what they were supposed to be doing.

No one could find Jessica anywhere, but they knew what they needed to do, the decisions of Jessica having already been made.

“I swear, that girl has slipped off the face of the planet!” Mom said as she approached me. “No one can find her anywhere!”

I recalled the emotion on Jessica’s face the last time I saw her.

Disappointed, angry, distraught…

Her eyes brimming with tears that things could have ended this way.

But what else did she expect me to do?

She’d already turned me down.

What else did she think was going to happen?

“If she thinks we’re paying her the full amount for sloping off like this, she’s got another think coming!” Mom said.

“She’s getting every last credit we agreed to,” I said shortly.

“Like hell we will! I never pay a bill unless I get the service I expect! And to think I complimented her on a job well done earlier!”

“She will get every credit, Mother, and not a single one less.”

Mom took heed of my sniping tone and pursed her lips.

“All right. Fine.”

She wanted to say more, to bite out another blistering comment but decided against it.

She turned her frown into a grin and clapped her hands.

“The announcement was exciting, huh?” Mom said as she hugged me close and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“As good as you hoped?” I said.

“Better!”

She sidled up beside me and whispered behind her hand and into my ear:

“And just between the two of us, I’m glad you didn’t choose Eseb! It’s one thing to have every male in a room attracted to your daughter-in-law, it’s quite another to have said daughter-in-law mirror that attention back to the males! You made a wise choice, Zai. And in future, whenever your wife-to-be annoys me, make sure to remind me of that fact.”

I smiled but couldn’t muster the chuckle she was hoping for.

“What’s wrong?” Mom said. “You should be over the moon right now!”

“I am.”

“You have a funny way of showing it! Don’t tell me the tribe leader of the Tus is rubbing off on you already! He must be the most morose Ev’vat I’ve ever met!”

“No,” I said, mirroring the same smile I directed at her earlier.

Now she frowned, seeming to see below the shallow and flimsy shield I was holding up before her.

“What is it?” she asked somberly. “Did something not go to plan? Was there something wrong with the ceremony?”

“No. Nothing like that.”

“Then what is it?”

I looked into her searching eyes and saw the concern of a worried mother, the kind that collected the ice cream lollipop sticks from my first treats at the fairground and the curl of my hair when I had my first haircut.

I couldn’t tell her what was on my mind.

I didn’t want to worry her—and for no good reason.

I smiled more broadly this time.

“It’s nothing. Brixx is waving you over. I think he wants to welcome his in-law into his family.”

Mom threw up a wave of welcome in Brixx’s direction before turning back to me, the look of concern furrowing her brow once more.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes,” I said, “I’m fine. You go do your thing.”

She straightened up my collar and looked me in the eye.

“You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”

“I know.”

She pecked me on the cheek, affixed a smile to her face, and then headed over to the tribe leader.

I felt relieved to see her go and watched as she used her warmth to welcome Brixx’s family into the royal fold.

There were too many appraising eyes in the main hall, so I crossed into where the wedding would take place.

It was a broad room with long benches arranged in arcs before the dais—nothing like the unkempt and unorganized arrangement typical of a standard Ev’vat wedding.

The guests seemed confused as assistants guided them to each row where their tribes would sit.

Jessica might not be at the ceremony any longer but I could still feel her presence.

She was everywhere, on every selected piece of furniture and even the music arrangement at the front of the room.

She’d combined Ev’vat culture along with her own, creating something truly unique.

The photographers couldn’t get enough of the arrangements and snapped images of every inch of the place.

There was too much of her there, I thought, too much I couldn’t get out of my head.

I turned to leave and immediately bumped into a delicate figure.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“No, I’m sorry—”

It was Tus.

She was shy and couldn’t bring herself to look me in the eye.

“I thought… maybe we should meet a little, talk, before the ceremony takes place,” she said.

That was the very last thing I wanted to do.

We had the rest of our lives to get to know each other and I just wanted to get through this day and deal with the fallout afterward.

“Sure,” I said. “Good idea.”

Tus cast an eye over the area, scanning one object at a time.

“It’s quite beautiful.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Some of the others think it’s gaudy and uncivilized to bring two cultures together this way, but I think it improves them both, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do.”

A silence passed between us and I struggled to think of something to talk about.

Surely there had to be dozens of topics we could discuss, so why couldn’t I think of a single one?

“Can I ask, why did you choose me?” Tus blurted.

“You’re the first daughter of the Leknin tribe—”

“Yes,” she said, “but the other daughters come from tribes almost as powerful as mine. Why not choose them?”

“Because… I didn’t feel the spark with them,” I said truthfully.

I didn’t add that I hadn’t felt it with her either.

“No other reason?” she said.

“What other reason is there?” I said. “We’re fated mates. We’re destined to spend the rest of our lives together.”

The words felt stale on my lips and were delivered without any real heat or passion—not the way I would have said them to Jessica.

“Yes. That’s how fated mates are destined to live.”

Her eyes kept drifting to one corner of the ceremonial hall and she had to physically turn her head away to focus on me.

“Do you think we could ever be destined to have another fated mate?” she said, peering up at me through her long eyelashes.

“Another fated mate? As in two?”

She rocked side to side and shuffled her feet.

“Or maybe a fated mate that we never thought we might have.”

Was she talking about me?

Or someone else?

“What are you asking me?” I said.

She looked at me carefully before looking at the floor.

“Nothing. Ignore me. It’s just last-minute nerves. I’ll… see you soon.”

She turned and marched back toward the doorway and into the main hall.

Right before she exited, her eyes shot across to the other side of the room once more.

Initially, it was hard to tell who she was looking at.

Many workers were setting up the ceremonial hall and they all appeared busy…

All but one figure.

He had the dark skin of the Keyell tribe with chestnut brown eyes that appeared black under the light.

His hair was long and curled into the traditional braids of their culture.

He stared after Tus’ departing figure, his eyes absorbing the tightness of her ass and the hungry, knowing look in her eyes when she looked at him.

He continued to stare after her long after she was no longer visible as if he could imagine every bone and sinew of her without her having to be present.

When he snapped to attention and became aware of where he was, his eyes flicked over to me.

There was such hatred in them, such dark promise, that it took him a moment to realize who he was looking at—the future king—and hastily tore his eyes from me and bent back down over his work.

But it was too late.

He’d already shown me his cards.

He looked after Tus the same way I looked after Jessica.

He was as in love with Tus, and unless I missed my guess, she felt the same way toward him.