Bound to the Stars

Chapter 6

I wake up the next morning to Nadine shaking my shoulder. "Anna, wake up." I groan and pull the blanket higher over my head, hoping that if I ignore her long enough, she will eventually go away. Unfortunately, Nadine has never been particularly good at taking a hint.

"Come on. You need to get up." She gives my shoulder another shake, harder this time. "Everyone is already getting ready."

"Getting ready for what?" I mumble into my pillow before remembering the announcement from last night. The royal inspection. Great. I rolled onto my back and opened my eyes to find Nadine standing over me, already dressed. Her hair is pulled back into a neat ponytail, which feels unnecessarily ambitious considering it isn't even seven in the morning.

"Why do you look so awake?"

"I've been up for twenty minutes."

"That's disgusting." Nadine rolled her eyes before walking back toward her bed. Around us, the other women are already moving through their morning routines. The energy in the room feels different today. Conversations are quieter, movements quicker. Even the attendants seem more tense than usual.

I push myself upright and glance toward the window. The sky is overcast this morning, and for some reason, I'm disappointed.

"They're making us eat in here," Nadine tells me as I climb out of bed. She gestures toward a tray sitting on the small table between our beds. "Apparently, we're too dangerous to be allowed near the royal family while holding forks."

I look at the tray. Eggs, fruit, and something that resembles oatmeal. "There isn't even bacon."

"That was my first complaint."

"Of course it was." I grabbed my clothes and began changing, trying to ignore the nervous energy moving through the room. I don't understand why everyone seems so concerned. The king and queen can walk through this place, pat themselves on the back for keeping their human prisoners adequately fed, and then go back to wherever they live.

It has absolutely nothing to do with me. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. By eight-thirty, our breakfast trays had been collected, and our living quarters have been inspected twice. The attendants even made someone remake her bed because the blanket wasn't tucked properly beneath the mattress.

Apparently, the king of an alien civilization cares deeply about hospital corners.

Nadine is sitting beside me when the doors finally open. Commander Vaerik enters first, followed by several members of royal security. The black uniforms immediately make the room fall silent. "All residents will proceed to the central assembly hall," Vaerik announces. "You will remain with your assigned living group and follow all instructions provided by attendants."

I lean toward Nadine. "Nothing says we're not prisoners like being given instructions on how to stand when the king visits."

Her elbow presses into my side. "Can you please try not to get arrested today?"

I glance around us. "Pretty sure that ship has sailed." She tries to hide her smile as we stand with everyone else.

The walk to the assembly hall takes longer than usual because humans are being brought in from every section of the center. I have never seen this many of us together before. Hundreds fill the corridors, all wearing the same gray clothing and being directed by attendants toward the same place.

The sight makes something uncomfortable settle in my stomach. I knew there were thousands of humans here. Knowing something and seeing it are apparently very different things.

The assembly hall is enormous. Rows of chairs have been arranged across the floor, and attendants direct each living group toward an assigned section. Nadine and I end up somewhere near the middle. "How long do you think they're going to make us sit here?" she asks as we take our seats.

"Long enough for me to regret not eating the oatmeal." Nadine turns toward me in surprise. "You didn't eat it?"

"It looked suspicious."

"It's oatmeal."

"It was gray."

"Everything here is gray."

"Exactly. Even the food is starting to assimilate." Nadine laughs quietly and shakes her head. "You're ridiculous."

I smile, but my attention drifts toward the front of the room. A raised platform has been set up beneath a massive Valerathyin emblem. More royal guards stand around it, their black uniforms making them easy to distinguish from the center attendants.

I don't like how many weapons they have. Actually, I don't like anything about this. "Do you think that's for the king?" Nadine asks, following my gaze. "Unless Beyoncé survived the invasion and is about to perform, I'm guessing yes." Her eyes widen slightly. "Oh my God, I hope Beyoncé survived." I turn toward her. "That's what you took from that?"

"It's an important question." Before I could respond, a tone sounded throughout the assembly hall, and the surrounding conversations slowly disappeared. Commander Vaerik walks onto the platform. I immediately stop smiling.

"Residents of Center Twelve, today we welcome Their Majesties, King Theron and Queen Maelia of Valerath." The doors near the front of the hall open.

Every Valerathyin in the room immediately lowers their head. None of the humans do. That gives me a small amount of satisfaction. The king enters first. I've seen his face enough times to recognize him immediately. He is taller in person than he appears on the screens, with broad shoulders and dark markings that disappear beneath the high collar of his clothing. There is something about the way he carries himself that makes it obvious he expects everyone around him to move when he enters a room. My dislike is immediate.

The queen walks beside him. She's beautiful, which annoys me for reasons I can't explain. Her hair is almost white, falling in a long braid down her back, and silver markings curve from beneath her clothing along the sides of her neck. Several other Valerathyins follow behind them. Nadine leans slightly closer to me. "Which one is the prince?"

"I don't know." Movement near the front catches my attention. Something is happening. The king had stopped walking.

At first, I assumed someone had said something to him, but then I noticed several of the royal guards turning toward a Valerathyin standing a few steps behind the queen.

The prince.

I knew it before Nadine whispered it beside me, "Anna. That's him." I stared at him despite my better judgment. Unfortunately, the women were right yesterday. He is attractive. Very attractive. I immediately resent him for it.

He's taller than his father, which I didn't think was possible, with dark hair and features that are sharper than a human man's but not enough to make him unpleasant to look at. The markings along his neck are darker than his mother's and seem to disappear beneath the collar of his black clothing.

But none of that is what holds my attention. Something is wrong with him. He has stopped completely. One hand grips the back of a chair beside him, and his head is slightly lowered as though he's trying to steady himself. "What is he doing?" Nadine whispers.

"I’m not sure"

The Valerathyins around him clearly do. The reaction moves through them almost instantly. A guard steps backward. The queen turns toward her son. Commander Vaerik goes completely still. And then the room begins to change. Humans start whispering as they realize something is happening. I hear the word mate somewhere behind me, and every muscle in my body tightens.

No. Surely not. Nadine's hand finds my arm. "Do you think—"

"Don't."

"But Anna—"

"I said don't." I don't know why my heart has started beating faster. There are thousands of people in this room. If the prince has sensed his mate, it could be anyone. Statistically, it is almost certainly anyone other than me. That thought should calm me. It doesn't.

At the front of the room, the prince slowly lifts his head. I watch as his eyes move across the crowd. He isn't looking at faces. He's searching. The lesson from yesterday suddenly comes rushing back to me. The sensation strengthens as distance decreases.

My mouth goes dry. He takes a step. Then another. The royal guards move with him, but he says something sharply in Valerathic, and they stop. The king speaks to him next. I can't understand the words from this distance, but whatever he says makes the prince's expression harden. Then he continues walking. Toward us.

"Anna," Nadine whispers.

"Stop." My voice doesn't sound like mine.

The prince moves between the rows, and humans shift nervously as he passes. Every few steps, he pauses before changing direction slightly.

Following the bond. The room feels smaller with every step he takes. I tell myself to breathe. There are hundreds of people between us. Then dozens. Then far fewer than I would like. Nadine's fingers tightened around my arm. "Anna."

This time, I didn't tell her to stop. Because I feel it too. Not the bond. At least, I don't think that's what it is. It's warmth. A strange prickling sensation moves across my skin, beginning at the back of my neck and slowly spreading down my arms. My heartbeat speeds up, and for one terrifying second, I wonder if my body somehow already knows what my brain is refusing to accept.

No.

Sera said humans don't recognize the bond immediately. This is fear. It has to be fear. The prince stops again. His eyes close. When they reopen, his head turns. Directly toward me. Everything inside me goes still. Nadine stops breathing beside me. The prince stares at me from across the remaining space between us. He doesn't smile. He doesn't look pleased. If anything, he looks horrified. Which is slightly insulting considering I'm the one potentially being mated to an alien. Neither of us moves.

Then his markings begin to glow. Not metaphorically. Actually glow. Dark lines along his throat slowly illuminate beneath his skin, spreading upward toward his jaw. Well. I guess that answers the rumor from yesterday. A sound moves through the Valerathyins surrounding us. I don't know the word they say, but I don't need a translator to understand what it means.

Mate.

My stomach drops. “Oh fuck.” The word slips out before I can stop it. The prince's expression changes.

For one second, something that looks like pain crosses his face. Then he takes a step toward me. I immediately stepped backward. He stops. That surprised me enough that I forgot to move again. His eyes drop briefly toward the space I've created between us before returning to my face. Whatever instinct is telling him to come closer, he seems to be fighting it.

Behind him, the king began walking toward us. The prince turns sharply and says something in Valerathic. His voice is low, but the command in it is unmistakable. The king stops. Several guards don't. They begin moving toward me. Every horrible story I've heard about matched women crashes through my mind at once. Leah was screaming. Three guards carrying her from our room. Sera explaining that the bond cannot be broken.

I step backward again. Nadine stands with me. The prince notices. His entire expression changes as he looks toward the approaching guards. He says something again, louder this time. They stop immediately. Silence fills the enormous room. The prince looks at the guards first, then his father, before finally looking back at me. His markings are still glowing. His hands are clenched tightly at his sides. And even though I don't understand a single word he has said, I somehow understand exactly what he is doing.

He's keeping them away from me. For the first time since the Valerathyins invaded Earth, one of them looks at me without making me feel like something they own. Unfortunately, he is also apparently my mate. And I have absolutely no idea which fact terrifies me more.