He knew, of course, that all communications have been disrupted. I wasn’t likely to face the repercussions for having gone off-grid with a Bride Games candidate.
Unless, of course, they discovered I had mated her without either their permission or hers.
I shuddered at the thought of having Amelia ripped away from me so soon after I’d found her.
I definitely needed to tell Cav the whole story.
There was no privacy on the shuttle, however, not with all of us strapped in and headed to Station 21.
My anxiety wasn’t lessened by our arrival. As we walked through the brightly colored corridors to the main concourse, Amelia stared at everything with wonder—a common enough response from humans, but somehow, I’d expected Amelia to be different.
When she stopped to frown at a comscreen replaying Cav and Natalie’s wedding, I felt better—as if seeing her critical faculties in action, even in so small a way, might make her more likely to accept me as her mate.
Cav and Natalie accompanied us to Medical, where Amelia was taken to have a translator reinstalled and a receptionist led me back to have my wound treated.
The technician took one look at the still-open wound and started clicking his tongue in dismay. “Earth injury?” he asked. When I nodded, his mouth twisted into an expression of mild disgust. “I hate these. You’ll end up with a scar, you know.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond, instead taking the scanning instrument and aiming it at the cut in my side.
“You realize this was recently infected?” His tone was accusatory as he glanced at the readings on the comscreen he pulled up in front of him. “And you are full of an obscene amount of antibiotics.” He shook his head as he picked up a repair wand and began running it over my injury. “Earther medics,” he muttered. “Fucking barbarians.”
“Hey.” I grabbed his wrist, squeezing a little harder than absolutely necessary to force him to stop and look at me. “That’s my mate you’re talking about.”
His startled gaze turned up toward my face. “What?”
“My mate. She’s the Earther medic who saved my life with those barbaric techniques you’re denigrating right now.”
He raised the hand that I didn’t hold in a gesture of surrender. “I’m sorry—no offense meant. I didn’t understand the circumstances, obviously.”
I was not entirely pacified by his response, but at least he knew he needed to apologize.
Releasing his wrist, I held my arm up higher. “Go ahead.”
As usual, the healing wand stung at first, then itched, and finally healed all the tissue, leaving me feeling as good as new.
Well, almost. This time, as the technician had warned, there was a scar. “It’s an effect,” he explained, “of the damage done, the infection, and the….” His voice trailed off, and I knew he meant the methods Amelia had used to save me.
I nodded my understanding and left the exam room without another word.
Back in the outer office, I rejoined Cav and Natalie in waiting for Amelia.
“Interesting scar,” Cav said.
I lifted my arm and twisted to examine it, then sighed.
Well, at least I’ll have something to remember Amelia by after she finds out I mated her, and she runs screaming into the arms of the first suitor who isn’t me.
And here I thought I’d lost my sense of humor.
I rolled my eyes at myself and settled back in a chair to wait.
“Getting a new implant hurt less than taking the old one out,” Amelia said to Natalie, who made a sympathetic noise.
“I’m glad to hear you’re not in any pain.”
Amelia whipped around at the sound of my voice. “Oh. I…” she paused. “I guess I got so used to you not speaking in complete sentences, I kind of forgot that was because of my missing translator.”
I gaped at that, not sure how to respond.
From beside my mate, Natalie snickered. “Oh, wait, Amelia. Looks like you might have spoken too soon.”
That elicited a faint smile from Amelia, but I was glad she didn’t laugh outright. Cav’s mate seemed far too prone to levity for my current tastes.
Amelia, on the other hand, was suitably serious. Not that she didn’t have a sense of humor. I’d seen it. But she took the right things seriously.
You used to have a sense of humor, you know, my inner critic told me. Not all that long ago.
Then again, not all that long ago I hadn’t almost died from a single cut of a sword. Or mated an Earther without her explicit consent.
I’m far too fucked to think anything is all that funny.
A tall, red Khanavai warrior stepped into the room, leading a tiny human female—smaller even than either Nathalie or Amelia. This female’s skin tone was toward the dark brown end of the beige-to-brown range of human skin tones. Her long, dark hair fell in curls down her back. She wore a bright red dress that matched the skin tone of the soldier she walked with.
“Zont, Amelia, I’d like you to meet Commander Eldron Gendovi and his bride, Mia.”
“Only a prospective bride thus far,” Commander Gendovi replied.
“Nice to meet you, Sir,” I said as I gave the traditional Khanavai salute—a fist to the chest in two quick thumps, one with the side of the fist by the thumb, then a second with the closed fingers toward the chest, ending with a flourishing bow.
Commander Gendovi gave the abbreviated version, skipping the bow at the end. The gesture drew my attention to the number of awards he wore on his vandenoi strap. Given his medals—including the Royal Khanavai Order of Service, the highest honor possible—I suspected he was more important than he pretended to be.
“The commander specifically asked to meet with you and Amelia,” Cav said. “Especially since he and Mia are about to have to go through a round of Bride Games themselves.”
I turned a startled glanced toward Cav. “You think they’ll make us
