laugh. There was no tricking the male into wearing larger-sized garments. He knew how he wanted them to fit.
Her gaze shifted to Truth.
His eyes danced with amusement. He dipped his head toward Claude’s waist, lifted his eyebrows.
Nancy shook her head, denying her cyborg’s unspoken request to test the fasteners on her father’s jacket.
That garment had to hold until the meeting had ended. The two males looked so proud of themselves. She didn’t want anything to ruin the moment for them.
She loved them, wanted them to feel that love.
“Well, the final result is glorious.” She returned her attention to her fathers. “I’m honored you’re escorting us.” She shifted her smile to Marthe. “Mother, you have outdone yourself. Our prince’s cyborg brethren will be awed by the spectacle they’ll soon witness. Valentin, I hope you are recording this. All Royaume will want to see it.”
“I record everything, my princess.” Valentin’s haughty sniff was belied by the pleased look in his eyes. “This is no exception.”
“It’s perfect, my princess.” Marthe touched the necklace she never removed. It was the only accessory not matching the all-pink theme. “We all look so perfect.”
“We do look perfect.” Nancy gazed at her fathers, her mother, her warrior. A lump of emotion formed in her throat. “We look like the family we are.”
Truth moved to her side. Her skirts swallowed his legs. He placed a comforting palm on the small of her back, said nothing.
Valentin sniffed again and gazed up at the ceiling.
Claude pulled on his pigment-covered beard and glared down at his boots.
Marthe delicately dabbed at her eyes with a pink handkerchief.
Emotion swirled around them, poignant with meaning, heavy with love.
Nancy would have liked to prolong the moment forever, but that wasn’t possible. Beings were waiting to meet them. She forced a smile to her lips. “Valentin?”
Her father blinked at her. “Oh. Oh yes.” The private secretary gave himself a little shake. “It’s time, my princess, my prince.”
He stuck his chest out. His responsibility was to ensure the first meeting ran smoothly.
Nancy looked up at Truth. “My prince?”
“My princess.” He made a big production out of offering her his arm.
Valentin had insisted he practice that move over and over, which amused her cyborg. Truth joked he hadn’t realized there was an incorrect way to bend one’s elbow.
Nancy smothered her laugh and grasped his arm, grateful for that contact with her male, appreciative that she would have him by her side. “We’re ready.”
Claude, being her royal guard, led the procession, marching out of the chamber, through the ship. Valentin followed him, his gait smoother, quieter.
“It’s showtime, Princess.” Truth’s eyes flashed with energy.
“It’s showtime.” She squeezed his arm as he guided her though the vessel.
Marthe trailed them. She straightened Nancy’s skirts, tugged on the bottom of Truth’s coat.
Some of her nervousness flowed to Nancy. She was meeting her cyborg’s Captain, his brethren, those brethren’s females, offspring. He admired, respected, liked, loved those beings. Her fingers trembled. She wanted to make a good impression.
Truth leaned closer to her. “When I saw you in that gown, all sparkly and regal, you caused my respiratory system to malfunction, beautiful.” He murmured those words into her ear. “You’re strong and intelligent and kind, and you’re the most stunning creature I’ve ever encountered. I’ll be the envy of every warrior in attendance.”
Nancy’s trepidation vanished. The happiness and love exuding from her cyborg wrapped around her, forming a buffer nothing else could permeate.
“Your garments will make you the envy of every warrior,” she teased him.
“I’m very pink.” Her cyborg chuckled softly. “My kind seldom wears any color other than black.”
The ramp lowered and Nancy’s eyes widened. He was correct. Cyborg warriors lined the route. All of them were dressed in the same stark black body armor he’d worn when they first met.
And every warrior gazed at her, at her entourage, at Truth. Their mouths dropped open and then snapped shut. Their expressions became blank.
Was that a good reaction? Was that a bad reaction?
She didn’t know.
Nancy drew her shoulders back, fixed a serene smile on her face and drifted down the ramp. Her cyborg remained by her side, matching her step by step.
Truth’s Captain stepped forward. She’d seen him on the viewscreen, but that hadn’t relayed how very large he was. He towered over her, was taller than her extremely tall warrior.
A slender human female with dark skin and dark hair moved with him. Truth called her Captain’s female. That was awkward. Nancy hoped to eventually call her by her first name.
Another large warrior resembling the