not be coddled, or talked down from my concerns.”
But the leaders seemed not to hear her. “I wonder,” Fair Cirrus said to Rissallen, “is the prince unmarried?”
Rissallen waved at the blank screen. “He did not wear anything to indicate he was married—jewelry, body art.”
“Earth tradition may differ,” Vemekk said.
“He mentioned a harem,” Fair Cirrus noted.
Keira bounced her gaze from man to man. She expected them to be counting Earth’s warships, not counting the prince’s wives.
“That’s not unusual for a man of power, no matter what his marriage status,” Fair Cirrus said. “If single, he’d maintain a harem for sport and for variety. If married, he’d certainly be entitled to additional females to ease the boredom.”
Keira snorted. “The only one bored in your bed are those you take to it.”
He met her gaze. A hint of malice glinted in his eyes. “I do not like the idea of bringing in an outsider to be the queen’s consort, but the more I ponder it, the better it sounds.”
“Consort?” she croaked.
Fair Cirrus dipped in a small bow. “A treaty of marriage would put all our fears to rest. It would link Earth to the Coalition. Permanently.”
“At least until death do they part,” Vemekk said.
“Goddess be,” Zaafran said. “Tell me you’re not considering mating the queen to him.”
Mating? Her and the Terran prince? Keira gave a little squeak. By now, her pulse was making a strange whooshing noise in her ears. “I thought plans were being made for my betrothal to a high-ranking military officer.” Not Zaafran, but someone as easily dismissed. “Where is he? Why have I not met him yet?”
The group shuffled their feet and cleared their throats. “Prime-Major Caydinn is dead,” several admitted at once.
“What happened? Did he run away? Was he too terrified to marry me? Did he hear rumors of my skill with a sword?” Of course, they weren’t rumors, but they served her well as a man deterrent.
Rissallen shook his head. “We don’t know, Your Majesty. But he is old news now. Now we have a new and better man for you to consider.”
The Terran prince, she thought, struggling to breathe in the constricting dress. Although she wouldn’t truly be allowed to consider him, would she? They’d pretend to include her in the process but ultimately, they’d make the decisions as they always did, as they had ever since she’d taken the throne as a child-queen, a frightened little girl lost in a sea of what she didn’t understand.
You’re still that frightened little girl, only you hide it well.
Wasn’t she supposed to hold absolute and holy power? Some goddess she was. She had no free will, no control over her destiny, no choices. Not since childhood had she ventured off this world or mingled with the people who worshipped her daily in their temples. She was a prisoner in this castle, born and bred to breed, and nothing more. She’d never really matter, not the way she longed to matter.
Keira strode to the huge window that looked out onto a glacial landscape, which held about as much warmth as her blood did in that moment. Her breath formed mist on the glass, obscuring the dramatic views. “I wish it were summer,” she whispered, dragging a finger through the circle of vapor. For those few too-brief weeks out of the year she felt alive. She’d spend the glorious weeks outside and especially the nights that never grew dark. Sometimes, she even evaded the guards and ran free, if only for a few moments.
Her mood darkened. She’d evade her future husband too. And as often as possible. Once he’d planted a baby in her belly, there was no further need to be with him.
What if he didn’t agree to the treaty of marriage?
Of course, he would. For him, it would be a huge step up. She was a goddess. The blood of Sakkara flowed in her veins. She could trace her ancestors back to the beginning of recorded time, ancestors revered as divine beings by trillions of Coalition citizens and billions more believers who lived across the border in Drakken space and worshipped in secret. She was the goddess they revered.
A goddess who felt very human most of the time.
She heard a throat being cleared, and the shuffling of feet as the leaders waited for her to turn around. They would make the decision for her if she didn’t, citing reasons of galactic security. She might as well hold on to as much control as she could. She took a