Chapter 1

The Roth throne doesn’t offer much in the way of comfort. Hard rock scratches the backs of my thighs through the finely made pants, and I’m careful not to move too much. Roth skin is delicate, especially compared to that of many of the other species we’ve come across.

At the thought of skin, my gaze shifts from the beleaguered Roth general in front of me to the three-story-high door to the throne room, as though glancing at it alone will summon her to me.

Piper. The human woman from Earth, the ethereal beauty I’ve tried to push out of my thoughts, to keep at arm’s length, in order to protect her.

And yet I cannot stop thinking of her.

“We did what we thought was best for all of Roth,” the general continues, a hard set to his face despite his supplicant posture. He kneels on the gold-shot red runner that spans the length of the distance from the dais where I sit to the doors.

Vaguely, I wonder if he’s more comfortable there than I am on this gods-damned stone throne.

“You murdered the leader you pledged your life to,” I say without thinking. That is not exactly the political noncommittal response I had planned, but it’s too late to reel the words back in now.

He blanches a paler gray than the usual Roth skin color, and I’m not sure if I should press my advantage with him or back down.

Nydo would know what to do. Nydo, whose ruthless planning all these years has been fully derailed by his human mate. Nydo, who abdicated and left me—a male who has no business in politics, much less as the king of the incredibly cunning and equally cutthroat Roth—in charge of this fucking mess.

He glances up at me, a challenge in his eyes, and my body reacts out of annoyance before I can think better of it.

“Why should I take the word of a male who betrayed his former leader?”

“I pledged my life to the Roth, not to the Overlord,” the general growls, the warning implicit in each syllable.

My blood heats at his impudence, the strange tingling of power, the hallmark of the Roth royal blood line, changing my very genetics—and decidedly changing my personality as well.

No wonder the Roth are known throughout the universe for our cruelty. This is the sort of power, the sort of discomfort, that begs to be unleashed.

I shake my head, refocusing, digging the pads of my fingers into the rough stone arms of the throne until the delicate gray skin there turns white from pressure.

“You chose correctly,” I finally tell him. “The future of the Roth depends on our alliances with other worlds, other species. The Overlord was on a path to doom us all.”

His shoulders briefly sag in relief, and I wonder if I’ve fucked up already.

I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.

My gaze leaps to the door again as it creaks, and my heart falls when I land on the dark hair of another Roth, not the sunny yellow of pretty human Piper.

“Permission to speak freely,” the general says, and my attention snaps back to him.

Do I grant it? What would Nydo do?

Nydo wouldn’t allow it.

But I am not Nydo, and I am trying to do the best by my species. Perhaps that means showing this male mercy, despite my blood boiling at his impertinent request. Perhaps that means ushering in a new, gentler era for the Roth.

“Granted,” I finally answer.

The general’s gaze slides across the floor and up the dais until his dark eyes rest on my face. “Your brother performed the marriage rite. His wife was marked by the gods. You have no such claim to the Roth, nothing besides your heritage.”

The soldiers and other Roth in attendance go still, the threat of violence sucking all the air from the huge room.

My molars grind together so loudly it’s a wonder the sound doesn’t echo around the throne room.

“My claim is better than the Overlord you served and then betrayed,” I snarl, and fire ripples along the length of my arms, unbidden, out of control. “My mercy toward murderers and traitors only extends so far.”

“Apologies,” the general mutters. “I simply thought that it might help further cement your claim if you took one of the humans here as a mate. Quell the rumblings of more dissent. Our species cannot take more injustice, more revolution.”

I lean forward, the fire still licking along my chest, burning through the shirt one of the idiot handlers dressed me in this morning. As if I need help to dress myself. As if I need to be told by this blood traitor that my position on this hard, rough throne is tenuous.

Fools.

They must think me one, too.

“What rumblings of dissent?” I focus intently on the male kneeling on the crimson fabric. It looks like a river of blood and fire against the gray stone floors.

“Not from my troops. But on some of the settlements, there is talk of an upstart who’s taken the throne?—”

The fire roars hotter around me. “An upstart?”

“Their words,” he says, backtracking.

“You seem very familiar with their words,” I growl, shifting on the throne and managing to scrape my calves against the stone.

He dips his head. “I thought it prudent to keep lines of communication open between the settlement leaders in these trying times.”

Fuck. He’s not wrong, and if he has heard rumors of rebellion, then I need to act quickly and without any hesitation that might mark me as an indecisive ruler.

My mouth goes dry as I consider his suggestion to cement my claim on the Roth throne, as the king—a position I never wanted, never aimed for, and now need to keep for the best of our species. Infighting will only weaken us and lower our numbers even more.

I swallow hard, but it does nothing to relieve the tightness in my throat.

“Taking a human mate would help assuage their fears, especially if the old gods mark her as they did our former queen Leigh.”

I scrub a hand down my face. I know exactly what the mate ceremony entails, what it means to give her my mate marks—and my entire body turns to flames as I consider it.

Piper. Her golden hair spread around her, her lush pink lips parted in wonder as she stares up at me with guileless eyes, making small sounds of passion I’ve dreamt about for weeks nowbut have never heard.

She is too sweet, too na?ve, too human for a male like me, for a warrior species like the Roth.

I know that, but it hasn’t stopped me from dreaming about her. From incessantly thinking about her. From walking past her rooms just to scent her on the air.

I am afraid that I will ruin her. Hurt her, the way Nydo hurt Leigh.

I don’t want to use her.

The general licks his lips, stopping my train of thought, though my lust for Piper only grows with every second that ticks by.

“You might want to tour the Roth settlements with whichever human female you take as your mate, to quell any that would dare use the uncertainty of a new king to upset the delicate treaties we’ve negotiated with the Suevans and the humans alike.”

I close my eyes, the warmth of the flames petering out, cool air kissing my skin in their place. Piper. I cannot subject her to this, to the dangers inherent on a diplomatic tour of the Roth settlements, or even to other species’ planets.

She is too soft for this sort of work.

And yet she’s the only one I’d want, because I am selfish underneath it all.

The door creaks open again, and I don’t look up, consumed with my thoughts of her, with the weight of the decisions that rest on a head that was never supposed to wear the crown. Rough hewn, with gold and precious red gems, it sits heavy on my brow.

I could not inflict that on?—

A scent perfumes the air, and I inhale the clean rainwater fragrance deeply before my eyes snap open, my gaze swinging to the entrance to the huge throne room.

Piper stands before us, with the attention of every Roth in the room hungry on her. Her waves of golden hair shine bright in the torchlight of the traditional fires burning nonstop in their iron grates. Instead of the usual Federation gear she’s worn since I met her, a gauzy violet dress accentuates every slim curve of her body.

“I will do it.” Her chin’s held high, her sky-blue eyes piercing as she locks her gaze on me.

I don’t process it. “Do what?”

“I submit myself to the Roth king as a potential mate.” She lowers herself to the floor, the purple of her dress pooling over the bloodred carpet as she kneels.

Shock ripples through me, all the flame building in my blood petering out completely.

She doesn’t move, just waits.

Piper on her knees before me is a sight I will never be free from.

“You have a willing mate,” the general says. I don’t bother looking at him. “Perform the ceremony and leave the Roth strife in the past. It will let us move forward together, settlement leaders and those on the planet alike. She seems willing and fertile enough.”

I bare my teeth. Fury causes the energy distortion to activate again, sending fire leaping off me, sizzling where it hits the carpet.

I would burn him for even mentioning her fertility. For the mere thought of it.

Her body is not for him to think on.

Still, she kneels, so perfect, so fragile and beautiful, waiting for me to agree, on her knees.

I am not stupid enough to think that she dressed herself in such a way and brought herself down here by chance. No, someone else sent her here on this errand, and the knowledge sickens me. Some Roth put her up to this.

“If you don’t want the human, my lord, I will take her,” a voice calls out, one of the disgraced soldiers from the Overlord’s traitorous crew.

A snarl rips out of me, and Piper’s blue gaze sears into me as she lifts her face.

“I accept,” I growl, immediately looking away. “We will be married in one week’s time.” I turn to one of the many useless advisers flanking the stairs to the throne. “Send word that we will begin a diplomatic tour of the Roth Settlements immediately.”

“I will make my own arrangements to meet your schedule, my lord,” she says in that soft, sweet voice of hers.

“Rise,” I tell her. The arms of the throne bite into my skin, yet I can’t bring myself to loosen my grip on them. Gods, she smells incredible. I want to lick the scent from her skin.

If she wants to be my wife, if she offers herself into this marriage willingly, then I will take everything she sees fit to give me.

Maybe that makes me as selfish as the Overlord himself. Regret ripples through me. This is a mistake. She deserves better than one such as me.

Piper stands, all elegance and grace, her pale human skin flushed pink from her cheeks to her neck and all the way down to the soft curves of her breasts that jut out from the low-cut bodice of the purple dress.

I don’t want to put her in harm’s way.

I want to rut her like the beast I am, the feral part of me I try to hide away, the part that’s all too close to the surface now. It rises as the pressure on me increases every day, as evidenced by the fire manifesting all around me.

Still, I say nothing, letting her dip her chin and leave the throne room just as quickly as she entered.

She deserves more than a Roth king who would put her in danger for a chance to fuck her, for a chance to unite his people with her at his side.