the queen. I bestow upon you blessings from the planet Earth, was what he was supposed to say. Was expected to say. As he hesitated, he sensed tension building, both among the dignitaries sharing the room and the solemn party on-screen. It reminded him why they were here. The Coalition was offering Earth their most exquisite prize: Keira.
Jana and Cavin were wrong. The Coalition was the weak one, not Earth. They were bargaining from a position of weakness, not strength. They were afraid of the Drakken Empire wooing Earth, and needed to prevent it any way they could.
That’s why they made a bid for you.
They needed this deal to go through. Jared had too many years of real-estate negotiations behind him to let that advantage pass unexploited.
Oh, he’d let them have their betrothal ceremony mostly their way. After all, it was tied up in their religion—the queen was worshipped as a goddess, and he was fully prepared to respect the religion of his temporary fiancée—but the ball was in Earth’s court.
Or—he thought with the slightest of smiles—the balls.
His rocks were on the auction block here; no one else’s. If there was to be protocol, then the Coalition could sure as hell adhere to Earth’s. Even if he had to make it up as they went along.
“Jared?” Cavin murmured in his earpiece.
“Jared, you okay?” he heard his sister whisper three seconds later.
He waved a hand without looking at them. Relax. Everything’s under control. He took a breath and began: “Queen Keira, I bid you good day from planet Earth. Your loveliness takes my breath away…as it did the first time we met.”
Keira’s head jerked up, but he couldn’t see her face through the dark veil. Her gloved hands formed fists in reaction to his breach in protocol. No, a change in protocol. She replied, “Your memory is to be admired, Sir Prince, as my own recollection of the day seems to have faded.”
She didn’t remember him? Bullshit. “Perhaps I can help refresh your memory,” he offered.
“Jared,” Cavin snapped in his ear.
“Although our conversation was brief, my queen, it was quite powerful.”
“How different views can be of the very same experience.”
“You little brat,” he muttered under his breath.
“I am pleased, however, that Earth has offered their prince in exchange for peace,” she continued.
“Actually, you’re being offered to Earth in exchange for our loyalty.”
Jana’s hand landed on his shoulder. Good thing for the padding on the king of Denmark’s jacket, or he’d have felt his sister’s claws in his skin, he was sure.
Meanwhile, the queen’s prime minister leaned over and whispered something in her ear. Whatever she said back to him made the man flinch. There was the fire he remembered from their original meeting. The meeting she didn’t remember. Ha. She remembered him all right. He’d bet the memory kept her up at night too.
Like hers does to you?
Silenced by their handlers, Jared and Keira glowered at each other.
“Present the betrothal gift now,” Cavin urged.
Jared remembered the box. At this point in the script, he was supposed to offer it to the queen. He was so tense that the pressure from his thumbs had dented the lid. He pulled off the lid as everyone in the room held their collective breath. The pink diamond glittered, soft and warm—the opposite of the woman to whom it was being given. “An offering to my goddess-bride,” he recited, trying not to sound sarcastic. “A gift from Earth.”
The prime minister pushed the sullen woman toward him. She was supposed to accept the offering and acknowledge Earth’s offer for her hand in marriage, and then this whole thing would be done and he could go home.
But instead she raised her veil. Her eyes were steely cold as the gray-robed female Jedi chanted what he figured was a prayer: “From the light we come, and to the light we return.”
“She’s deviated from the script,” Cavin said. He sounded startled.
“Give her a break,” Jared whispered back. “I started it.”
The robed women were chanting: “From the light we come, and to the light we return.” After they sang the line for the seventh time, they went silent.
Softly, and, to his shock, almost shyly, Queen Keira sang: “Together the light burns brightest. Together we are one.” She brought her outstretched hands together and dipped her head in a bow. “I accept your blessed offer. And now I give you mine. Do you accept, Prince Jared?” Did her voice crack, or was it his imagination?
None of this was part of the script