Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,23

then having to take over the reins of a kingdom.

What if you didn’t want to be a queen? Jared imagined what it would have been like if his father and grandfather had forced him into politics. Not pretty.

Unlike the queen, who was gorgeous. “Why isn’t she already married?”

Cavin made the kind of face that would worry a guy. “Since she was a teenager there have been a parade of potential consorts. She’s refused all of them or they disappeared in lieu of refusal and the consequences of that. It’s widely known that she sliced off the male parts of a man who tried to assault her.”

Jared resisted the urge to grab his package and shift position. He wondered if they made plasma-retardant jock straps. The lucky guy who did end up marrying her was going to need a pair or two.

“Good luck, Jared.” Cavin gripped his hand in a heartfelt squeeze.

“Thanks, bro. I won’t let you down. I won’t let Earth down.”

“I know.” Cavin’s eyes filled with respect. Then he walked out of sight of the screen. He’d keep in touch with Jared throughout the ceremony through a tiny earpiece transmitter. With Cavin’s name still on the books as a termination target, it was best no one in the Coalition saw him.

Jana would play the part of Jared’s adviser. Dressed in a uniform juiced up with gemstones, her blond hair gelled and scraped back into a cascade of stiff curls, his baby sister resembled a decadent, third-world despot. What kind of message were they sending the Coalition?

The screen cleared and a tall, thin man appeared. Jared tried not to draw comparisons with this serious situation and popular culture, but damn if the guy wasn’t dressed in the robes of a Jedi master. He half expected Yoda to appear next. “Prime Minister Kellen Rissallen,” announced the computerized translator. The name echoed in the empty room.

Everyone remained silent, here on Earth and across the light years, poised at the brink of forming an alliance between their two civilizations.

An alliance based on a lie, Jared thought. The whole thing made him uncomfortable. Keira believed he’d eventually marry her and he had no intention of ever doing so. The further they went with this ruse, the worse he felt. It was like a lie that started off small but dug you deeper and deeper. Every leader on the planet was in on it, even the rogues and crazies. Was Jared the only one bothered by the deception part of it?

Apparently so. With stakes like a world invasion hanging over their heads, everyone was happy to lie their asses off.

A tingling in the back of his neck and a squeeze in his gut unsettled him, but he sat tall in his leather throne, reminding himself that this was war, and in war you did what you had to do. The queen didn’t need to know this was a sham engagement. And that it was going to be a very, very long engagement. An infinitely long engagement.

The prime minister pressed his fist to the center of his chest and bowed. “We bring good tidings and greetings of peace to Earth.”

Next, Jana took a deep breath and called out, “Jared Jasper, Prince of all Earth.”

So far, the exchange had followed the script exactly. Jared readied himself for what was to come. This had to go well or Earth lost its future.

The pressure was on.

Keira caught sight of herself in a mirror, and her breath hitched. She looked…like a bride.

She gulped. This was all rushing at her so swiftly, she hadn’t had a moment to feel scared. But now the fear simmered beneath the surface. She tried to keep it in check. This had to go well. The future of the Coalition depended on it.

But she was a skilled actress, and she’d use the ability today. She’d acted all her life, rarely showing anyone who she really was. She’d have no problem hiding behind a veil—literally and figuratively—today, the day of her marriage.

Attendants fluttered around her. She shooed them off to finish primping in front of the mirror. Her hair was a pile of ornate braids woven by a team of hairdressers. Her gown was traditional: midnight-black shot through with opalescent threads of every color in the rainbow. Nano-fibers created a three-dimensional prism effect, shimmering as she moved. The bodice was snug with a high neck. Sleeves hugged her arms to the wrist. Where they ended in a point, rare black pearl-orbs dangled, reaching almost to the hem