Chapter Twenty-eight

Zoe

“What?” I couldn’t have been more surprised if…well, to be honest, I can’t think of a situation that would have surprised me more.

Zoe, whispered the Star’s voice in my head. Will you accept the mantle of Ria of Eloim?

“But…but I don’t know anything about your people,” I protested in a small voice.

Are you willing to learn?

“Well, sure. But I’m really not queen material—I’m just a paralegal,” I objected. “I mean, I’m not royal or fancy at all.”

It is because you do not seek power that it is bestowed upon you, the Star told me.

Sarden must have felt my uncertainty through the link we now shared because he came forward and took my hands in his.

“Zoe,” he said in a low voice. “Please say yes. Please rule by my side.”

“I…I want to be by your side,” I said, trying to pick my words carefully. “But I wasn’t sure how you felt about it. I mean, I don’t know if—”

“I love you.” He leaned down to kiss me and then looked searchingly into my eyes. “I know we started this in a bad way, with me buying you from the Commercians and abducting you away from your home world. And I know you miss it. I’ve been pretending to myself that I could let you go if you chose Earth over me but I can’t pretend anymore! Zoe, I love you so damn much.”

For some reason my eyes filled with hot tears and a sob broke from my lips.

“What? What is it?” Sarden looked distressed. He stroked my hair and looked at me anxiously. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Shouldn’t I have said that?”

“N-no. I mean, yes,” I managed to get out in a strangled voice. “Yes, you should absolutely have said it. I’m sorry I’m crying. It’s just…I love you too. I don’t know how or when it happened but I’m in love with you—not just a little either,” I admitted recklessly. “I’m…I’m crazy in love with you. Stupid in love with you.”

“Oh, is that all?” He smiled at me and hugged me to him. “That’s all right then because I feel the same way about you.”

“You do?” I asked, looking at him hopefully.

“Absolutely. I kept telling myself I couldn’t and shouldn’t feel for you that way but, well…” He shrugged, his big shoulders rolling and gave me a little grin. “I’m crazy and stupid for you too, sweetheart.”

“Oh, Sarden…” I hugged him back, the tears still running down my face.

Sellah had been standing by, watching us with wide, happy eyes as we hugged it out in public. Now she stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder.

“The love of a Rae for his Ria is an important factor in the ruling of Eloim,” she murmured. “Will you now accept the responsibility that has been given you?”

“Yes,” I whispered, swiping at my eyes and taking a step back from Sarden. “Yes, if…if the people want me to. But I don’t want to feel like a userpent.”

“A userpent?” Sarden grinned at me. “What’s that?”

“Oh, you know what I mean!” I swatted at his arm. “A usurper. That’s what I mean.” I looked at Sellah. “I don’t want to feel like I stole the throne from you.”

“Everyone here has seen that the Star picked you when I asked it to take another candidate for Ria,” she reminded me. “The people will accept you on that basis alone. However…” She stepped forward and addressed the crowd.

“People of Eloim. For a short time I served as your Ria and though I love all of you dearly, it was sometimes, I admit, with a heavy and regretful heart that I served. I do not wish to rule and the Star of Compassion has seen into my heart and set me free of the burden. It has chosen instead, my brother’s bonded mate—Lady Zoe, the Pure One who is also a La-ti-zal.”

I heard the murmurs rising through the crowd and everyone, the common people and the nobles and couriers alike, started looking at me differently.

“A La-ti-zal! Did you hear that? She’s a La-ti-zal!”

“No wonder the Star picked her!”

“A Pure One and a La-ti-zal as our new Ria. Truly we are blessed by the Goddess of Mercy!”

“People of Eloim,” Sellah continued. “It was the Lady Zoe who saved you from the false rule of the imposter, Hurxx. Only by her pure power was his deception exposed. I promise you, she will learn our ways and be a wise and just Ria.”

A cheer went up and several of the crowd started chanting my name. I watched, hardly able to comprehend what was happening. Were they chanting for me? The girl who’d been having staplers chucked at her head less than a month before? What was happening to me? And how had my life turned so upside down in such a short time?

“My people,” roared Tellum, coming to stand beside us. “May I present to you your new Rae and Ria—the Lord Sarden and the Lady Zoe!”

“Long live the Rae! Long live the Ria! Long live Lord Sarden! Long live Lady Zoe!”

Sarden and I waved and then he pulled me to him and gave me a searing kiss.

“I love you, Zoe,” he murmured when we finally came up for air. “How about if we get out of here so I can show you how much?”

“Sounds good to me,” I whispered breathlessly.

The cheering and chanting followed us out of the throne room and I felt lighter than air as Sarden held my hand and the Star whispered in my head that I would be the queen that Eloim needed.

In the space of a few short weeks, I had found a whole new life. I had gone from a plain, overworked paralegal to a captive to a queen, and it all started because I was…

Abducted.

Maybe the Alien Mate Index wasn’t so bad after all.

The End…or is it?