12. ZAYDEN

ZAYDEN

I had been waiting for days for the right opportunity to take Alice to the beach, which she had so obviously admired from the balcony. During those days, she had been all that had been on my mind. What was she doing? Was she regretting her refusal yet? Would she embrace me, beg my forgiveness? Somehow I doubted that.

My little game was unfair to the other females, but I promised I would make it up to them, and it was not utterly wasted because I would have to choose one of them if Alice remained stubborn in her refusal.

Still, I didn't like this game and liked even less spending time with them, time that I would have much rather spent with my Alice. Time I should have wanted to spend with my advisors and the hundreds of duties I was leaving undone because of this beautiful, stubborn female.

Many things were piling up on my desk that needed to be done, yet instead of using this time to tackle at least one of them, my eyes stayed glued to the entrance through which she would be brought, impatiently counting the minutes.

My breath got stuck in my lungs when she finally arrived. She was a vision of beauty. I hadn't forgotten the stubborn way she stuck out her jaw, preparing me for her first words.

"Your slave has arrived as summoned," she declared haughtily.

With a wave, I dismissed the servants while suppressing a slight chuckle. Her defiance was refreshing after the last few days spent with females fawning over me.

"Slave, hmm?" I couldn't help but tease.

I folded my hands behind my back and moved in a circle around her, taking her in from all sides, while I physically felt her ire rise, amusing me.

I stopped in front of her and tilted her chin up to stare into her dark blue eyes, shooting arrows at me.

"If you are my good little slave, you won't mind if I take your cumbersome clothing off and carry you to the bed?" I dared her.

A tremor moved through her where my finger brushed against her proud chin.

"A slave must do as ordered." She remained stubborn.

"Prove your obedience then, and take your clothing off," I rasped, hoping she would.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." She slung her arms up in the air, turning on me. "What do you want from me, Zayden?"

My lips twitched, our gaze held. "You."

She hesitated for just a moment. "Well, you could have fooled me, traipsing around with all these other women, flirting and promising to make them queen."

I stiffened. "Is this what this is about? Are you worried you won't be my queen?"

Suddenly, this game wasn't amusing any longer. Had I misjudged her?

"You said you wanted to take me to the beach," she reminded me.

I grabbed her waist and pulled her to my chest. I had to find out.

The moment she craned her neck and looked up at me, I crushed my lips to hers. Nef, the shudder that moved through her was real and wasn't born from despisal. Neither was the soft moan escaping her when my tongue entered her mouth.

"You are infuriating," I declared when I broke our kiss, drinking in her hazy eyes and swollen lips. Her cheeks were flushed, and the beat of her heart was fast.

"I know." She lowered her eyelashes, surprising me with her admission. "Sometimes I just can't help myself. But you"—she looked up again, this time her eyes were accusing—"you aren't making this any easier."

I chuckled. Of course she would turn her obstinacy on me.

"Come, let me show you the beach," I offered as a token of peace, holding my hand out.

Surprisingly, she didn't hesitate but took it.

Outside the balcony, a glider waited for us, as well as an entourage of guards, each on their own glider.

"Oh," she said, looking at the oval disc I helped her step on, "they have those in the library."

A jolt of happiness ran through me. "You have been in the library?"

She nodded excitedly, "Oh yes, it's such a wonderful place."

"What have you been reading?" I asked, honestly curious but unprepared for her answer.

"A lot about Zypherian history," she said, stirring a fire in my loins. Had I held any doubt that she was the right person to be my queen, it would have vanished right then. All the other women had been able to talk about were the presents I gave them, their new dresses, the jewelry, or they had talked incessantly about Earth and how different their lives had been there. Some had complained about their capturers and how they had treated them, but not one had asked about me or my planet. The world they wanted to co-rule with me.

All the while, Alice had been studying about our history, had shown an interest in the world she had been thrown into. Embracing it instead of bemoaning what she had lost or grabbing for the next glittering object.

"And what have you learned?" My voice sounded hoarse even to me.

Her head tilted to one side, and she regarded me with troubled eyes and… understanding. "You fought for a long time to become king of this…" Her graceful hand fluttered through the air to encompass all of Zypheria. "Why?"

"Our king and his heir were killed in an accident, leaving a gap on the throne," I explained what she surely must have already known. "It was my birthright to be next in line." I stared hard out over the houses below us. "Unfortunately, many nobles contested the idea."

"Being a king might bring a lot of power but also a lot of responsibility. You could have just sworn an oath to the new king, leaned back, and enjoyed a much easier life," she observed astutely.

"The other males who wanted to be king were idiots. They would have ruined Zypheria," I pushed out with all the dislike I had harbored for the males who had wanted to be kings without having any idea on how to be one.

"So you care about your subjects, your planet?" she concluded. I nodded, realizing she was leading me somewhere.

"And yet, you buy slaves," she finished.

I sighed loudly. "I do not buy or sell slaves."

"You bought me and the others." She crossed her arms over her chest.

I closed my eyes, praying for patience and wondering if I truly wanted to spend the rest of my life with this obstinate female by my side who constantly seemed to want to challenge me.

The answer came fast and easy. A resounding ra.

"That was a mistake," I admitted grudgingly. "The priests told me if I wanted to stay king, I had to marry a pale golden-haired female. When I had no idea where to find one, I was told about the traders." I wasn't about to throw Typhar out. If Alice wanted to be mad at someone, it should be me, not my friend who had only tried to help me. A small tick by her left eye, though, was telling that she had caught my choice of words but chose to let it slide for now. "I bought you and the others, ra. What else should I have done, attack Earth and find myself a more agreeable pale golden-haired female? Would that have pleased you better?"

Her mouth opened and, to my surprise, closed as she gave it more thought.

"Alright," she said at last. "Show me the beach."

Gracefully, she stepped on the glider, and I beside her, putting my arm around her waist while the sidewalls came up to prevent us from falling off.

"How do you steer these things?" she asked, leaning into me.

Her nearness, the way she trusted me to keep her safe, touched me in ways I would have never thought possible. Gods, what a female.

"They are programmed to follow our lead, wherever our attention turns," I explained automatically because my mind wasn't even remotely on the glider's mechanics.

"But what if I look left and you right?"

I chuckled. "It will always follow the higher-ranking person's lead."

"Of course," she grumbled, but a smile arched the corners of her lips.