so Jared just winged it. “Sure. Yes. I accept.”
Cavin pressed a finger to his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut.
Jared didn’t know what had the man so worked up. Yo, Cavin. We’re fine. Don’t worry about the script. I’m better off-road than on, anyway. Then he remembered getting his pickup stuck in the mud and tried to put it out of his mind.
Keira turned to the women in the robes. One handed her a small cup. She drank from it.
“None of this was briefed,” Jana hissed under her breath. “I’m just along for the ride.”
Jared almost laughed out loud. “You and me both.”
Finally, the queen stepped off the dais. Throwing the veil over her face, she walked away.
Jared crumpled up the script. “What did you think, Jana? I think she likes me.”
“I think she holds you in utter contempt.”
“So what? At least she’s thinking of me.”
Again the prime minister addressed them. “Prince Jared, representatives of Earth, I will contact you shortly regarding the details of the transfer.” He crossed his arms over his chest as the screen faded to black.
“Transfer…” Jared glanced down at the box with the big-ass diamond. “I guess they mean they want this. How are we going to get it to her—FedEx?”
Cavin threw off his earpiece. “Freep me,” he muttered. It was a Coalition cussword.
“I’m sorry I went off script—the woman does that to me, infuriates me—but, hey, it went fine, right? We’ve got our phantom engagement. We’re good to go.” He tossed Cavin the box. “And her handlers want the diamond. Here you go. Since FedEx doesn’t do interstellar yet, give it to the guys on the space station. Tell them to hand deliver it to Her Royal Diva with my regards.”
He pushed stiffly off the chair. His knee was killing him, and he was light-headed from food and sleep deprivation. Throw in beer deprivation too.
He joined his father and Jana for a victory private huddle that the world’s leaders somehow let them have. “Hey, Dad.”
His father drew him into a hearty hug. Then he gripped Jared by the shoulders, moving him back to gaze at him with pride. “Your mother always said your mouth would get you in trouble someday, but it ended up getting us out of trouble.”
“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time for once.”
“Son, you’re a hero in my book.”
“He’s also a married man,” Cavin said, walking up to them.
Jared laughed. “Just because I gave the woman a diamond doesn’t mean I’m making a commitment.”
“You are committed,” Cavin said in a strange voice. His fists were clenched and he looked sick at heart. “They performed the ceremony. I couldn’t stop it once it was underway because to do so would have put this planet’s freedom in jeopardy.”
Jana’s eyes rounded. She looked panicked. “It was a betrothal ceremony.”
“It began that way, yes. But then the priestesses chanted the wedding vows, and the queen took them. She asked if you’d accept, Jared, and you did.”
He’d said I do? He raced over his memory of the last few minutes of the ceremony. Keira had brought her hands together and bowed. Then she’d said, I accept your blessed offer. Do you accept mine? “I thought she meant the diamond. She meant the diamond, right?”
“No. She meant you.”
Keira wailed as snow swirled outside the palace windows. “We lost control of the ceremony! He did not adhere to the script. He ignored the holy words!”
“The desired result was achieved, yes?” Rissallen pointed out. “You are married now. The treaty is completed.”
“But Earth took control.”
“At this point, they have control, Your Majesty, whether we like it or not.”
Keira hated that he was right. Hated that the Earth prince—her husband—had done things his way. Hated that his small, less powerful provincial world could make the mighty Coalition grovel.
Well, it didn’t matter. Once the prince landed on Sakka, control would be a thing of the past. His control.
With a satisfied little smile, Keira flounced off to her private bathing chambers. An oil massage, a glass of sparkling snowbell wine and some fun little fantasies as to how she’d put her arrogant little prince under her thumb, and she’d be feeling much better.
“We’re married?” Jared’s heart bounced off his ribs. “Cavin, you’re going to have to come up with something else because I am not married to that…that woman.”
“It cannot be undone.”
“Then we just made a phantom marriage instead of a phantom engagement. Better yet, make it a phantom divorce.” He started walking away, yanking