around her neck?” Leah asked.
“Alone,” Jessica, Lindsey, Rachel and Caroline all said at the same time.
“No chance.” Leah hadn’t even taken a second to think about her answer. Not. One. Second. And there was no hint of laughter in her gaze. No joking. No hope that she was having a bit of fun at my expense.
“What?” I asked, stunned. Then I realized who I was talking to. “Sorry. I’m not sure if I should call you Your Majesty or what.”
The queen cocked her head to the side. “If you call me that, I’ll be really pissed. I’m Leah to my friends, and that includes you.” She shrugged her slim shoulders. “Besides, we redheads have to stick together. I think you might be the only other ginger in twenty sectors. Even up in a bun like that, the curls are perfect. What do you use?”
“Lucy’s a stylist,” Rachel said. “Did everyone’s hair and makeup last night for the party.”
I rolled my eyes, plucked a wayward curl. “You wouldn’t know it by looking at me now.”
Leah pursed her lips. “If you’re styling everyone for the ball tomorrow night, I want in. I wonder if the kings would like me with a nose ring.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Leah was cool, and she did have crazy red hair like mine, although hers was sleek and styled and my curls were messy and tangled as if a guy had gripped it while he took me from behind. Which had happened. The fact that she wanted hair advice proved she was just being nice.
“Those Prillons are going to want to keep you.” Leah said, going back to her original statement.
The others nodded. Jessica, God help me, gave me a death glare. The queen of Prillon Prime was glaring at me like I’d done something wrong. “Prillon warriors, especially those two, don’t fuck around, Lucy. They don’t. If they took you to bed, I’d say there is a ninety-nine percent chance one or both of them had already decided to keep you before you left the party last night.”
“What?” No. No way. “I tripped and fell during the line dance.”
“Let me guess, one of them caught you before you even hit the floor.” Rachel’s smile seemed to be contagious, because everyone at the table was smiling but me.
“Yes.”
“Which one caught you?” Jessica asked, as she oh-so-innocently popped a piece of fruit into her mouth.
“Nik.”
“Oh, so it’s Nik already, is it? Not Lord Niklas? Or Ambassador Niklas? Or even his full name? It’s Nik?”
“I…” I had no answer. It did seem a bit informal.
Jessica kept at me. “Let me guess—you call Captain Sambor, one of the most decorated warriors on Prillon Prime and one of the most skilled assassins Nial has, just plain old Sam?”
“Sam’s an assassin? I thought he was Nik’s bodyguard?”
Queen Jessica raised a brow like I was a five-year-old who hadn’t done her homework. “Lord Niklas Lorvar has been serving as an ambassador for more than a decade. His cousin is a battlegroup commander. His family is ancient and highly respected. He does not mess around with every female that crosses his path. And Captain Sambor Treval? He’s adored by every Prillon warrior in the fleet. He’s practically a legend. He’s feared by our enemies. He’s taken down Rogue 5 leaders, smugglers, illegal weapons dealers and more Hive than I can count. The list of awards and military skills certifications after his name in the files is so long I stopped reading. He’s not just Ambassador Niklas’s bodyguard. He’s Niklas’s weapon. They’ve got the good cop–bad cop thing down to an art form. They’re not playthings, Lucy.”
Great. Now I’d pissed off the queen of the planet. And this was not Las Vegas. Seemed what happened here might not stay here after all. And somehow I was the player? The jerk? The heartless asshole? Me? Back home I wouldn’t even squish a spider. I’d catch them and set them loose outside.
Shit. I was in deep trouble. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I don't even know why they’d be interested in me then. A fling, sure. But forever? I do hair for a living.”
“You do more than that,” Jessica said. “Rachel told me you wanted to open a spa.”
“On Earth,” I clarified. “The Colony is not really the place. I can’t see any of those guys going in for a facial. There’s not enough women there.”
“There are on Prillon Prime,” Jessica said, those eyebrows going up and down again.
“Viken, too,” Leah added, then looked at