11. ALICE

ALICE

The next few days moved with incredible slowness, and grinding my teeth.

Every morning, Mach-Nak-Tho woke me to prepare me for the day. She fussed with my hair, my makeup—yes, aliens used makeup—my wardrobe and my overall appearance, where she tsked about my growing pallor and dark circles under my eyes.

Funny how I had been sleeping so much in captivity onboard the trader's ship, and now that I was here, relatively safe, I couldn't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time.

Every night I tossed and turned, wondering if Zayden was with Phoebe, Carol, Andrea, or any of the other women. Three times a day, at least, I watched him interact with them during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A few times, I even caught sight of him walking with one or another through the palace or the gardens outside, which Mach-Nak-Tho had shown me a few days ago, hoping a stroll would lighten my mood and make the dark circles disappear.

How could he have possibly been that hot and heavy about me only to completely ignore me now?

"Come, come, lady, we need to get you ready." Mach-Nak-Tho caught me in the library, which compared to nothing I had ever seen on Earth. The room was four stories high and larger than two basketball courts. A small disc-shaped contraption hovered, waiting to take a passenger to one of the higher shelves. It would have been unnerving, stepping on one and being taken up several floors, since the entire disc wasn't more than three feet in diameter, but a glass-like, hip-height wall appeared as soon as one stepped on it. I didn't know how it worked exactly, but wherever I looked, that's where it took me.

The shelves were stocked with books, which were round—and read last page first—and tablets. Millions of tablets. Each tablet offered a wealth of information, more than one person could ever absorb. But it was here that I found some serenity, studying about Zyphar, its history and culture. It was here that I learned how Zayden had defeated other men over many years-long battles for the throne.

Here, I learned more about the arrogant Zayden I had met that first day. The man used to getting what he wanted. A warrior. It was also here that I learned that, according to fashion, he wasn't the type of man any of the Zypharian women liked, who seemed to prefer the company of the doughier men I had seen around. Men obviously overweight without much muscle mass. A fact I found fascinating.

Had Zayden thought I refused him because he wasn't the ideal man in the looks department, at least not according to Zypharian standards?

My head was beginning to hurt as it always did when I thought of the impossible man, right before Mach-Nak-Tho hunted me down.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" I asked breathlessly as she pulled me along the many palatial hallways.

"His Majesty wishes to take a stroll with you on the beach." Abruptly, she stopped, so abruptly I plowed right into her much smaller, slighter frame, but astonishingly, she kept her balance. She was stronger than she looked.

"Oh no, you don't." She raised a finger in my face. "You will behave. You will flirt with him. You will make him desire you."

I didn't know how she had guessed that my first instinct had been to refuse Zayden. Did he really think he could just snap his finger at me after ignoring me for days, and… Mach-Nak-Tho's warning came just in time to make me consider my next move. Carefully.

This was Zayden's kingdom.

I had been moping for days that he had been ignoring me.

He was a warrior and a king.

He finally asked me out.

I would be much better off taking advantage of the opportunity he was offering instead of refusing him or causing another scene. I dug my carefully manicured nails into my palm to keep cool, because giving in like this wasn't in my temperament.

I was relieved when I heard myself say, accompanied by a loud, resigned sigh, "I will do whatever you tell me to do."

Her large and lidless eyes narrowed at me in suspicion. So I added with another exasperated sigh, "I swear."

"You better," she mumbled and pulled me along again.

Not much later, I wore a very revealing blue dress that brought out the color of my eyes, as Mach-Nak-Tho insisted. It reminded me of an Indian sari and was webbed with golden yarn, creating symbols I didn't know if they meant anything.

My hair was piled high on top of my head, with a few strands strategically left out to emphasize my fine collarbones—another thing Mach-Nak-Tho insisted on.

As if they had waited on the other side of the door for me to be ready, the moment I stepped from the bedroom into the living quarters, guards knocked on the door.

"His Excellence is awaiting you, my lady."

"Be-fucking-have," Mach-Nak-Tho hissed, eliciting a giggle from me since I had no idea my maid could curse like that.

"Yes, ma'am." I saluted her. Her small, round, lipless mouth seemed to fully disappear under her frown as she shooed me out with her three-fingered hands. I'm starting to really like her, I mused.

Then you better try anything to become queen, my mind hissed.