Theyn, Beno and Sera took one of the four guest rooms, and Joely and Asa took another. When she saw Sera’s questioning look, she defended, “I don’t really want to be alone right now, okay?”

“Not criticizing,” she reassured her friend. “I just like the combination.”

Asa’s response was to tip an invisible hat to her before they retreated behind their shared closed door.

When she entered the room she would share with her bond mates, Sera took Theyn’s hand and pulled him into an embrace. He came quietly. She held him for a moment, then reached out for Beno, who came to their sides. She folded him into her arms, as well, holding them both tight.

“It’s been a lot to take today,” she said sympathetically.

“Yes,” Theyn agreed. “And it will probably only get worse.”

Sera kissed him. “Don’t think about that right now. You’re tired, and you used up most of your energy helping Asa.”

“It was -”

“Don’t argue,” she scolded. Beno chuckled and reached out to gently squeeze the back of Theyn’s neck. 

Sera stepped back, her hands trailing down their chests until she reached their belts. She pulled them after her as she retreated back toward the bed. Beno raised an eyebrow at her, and she grinned in response.

“We’re all tired, I know,” she said. “And this probably isn’t the place to do anything that’s too much fun. But I want you two to lie down with me and show me how much you love this baby in my belly.”

Beno’s gaze was heated as he looked at her. “I’m not thinking about the baby.”

Theyn laughed softly. “You two go ahead. I’ll just… be over here.”

“At least watch,” his partner chided playfully.

“How could I not?” he responded. “You two are so hot together.”

Sera smiled and bit her lip, tugging Beno’s belt a little harder. “Why are you still wearing this?”

“I thought you said this wasn’t the right place…”

She tilted her chin down slightly and looked up at him through her long, blonde-tipped eyelashes. “Screw propriety.”

Both Ylians laughed, and Theyn said, I knew there was a reason we love you.

Their moment was interrupted by a man’s voice in the common area outside the bedroom. “Your Highness?”

Theyn left the bedroom, and Beno and Sera were right behind him. A man stood in the sitting room, dressed in a plain blue jumpsuit. His eyes were golden and without irises, like Ylian eyes, but his scales were multi-colored, giving his skin an almost tortoiseshell effect. He was short and slight, with an almost wispy build, and his hair was a dull brown. When he saw Theyn, he bowed deeply.

“Her Majesty has requested the honor of your attendance at a feast this evening. Your Companion and your Selected are also welcome.”

“And my human friends?”

The man hesitated. “They will be welcome also.”

“We accept the invitation,” Theyn said.

The man bowed again. “Thank you. I will return with appropriate garb.”

Sera glanced down at her jeans and tennis shoes. Yeah, she thought. Not the right outfit for dining with a queen.

“What time is this feast?”

“It will be in two hours, Highness.”

Theyn tilted his head slightly, studying the man. “What is your name?”

“Korin, sir.”

“Thank you, Korin.”  He hesitated, then said, “You know, you’re the first male I’ve seen here on Itzela. Where are the others?”

Korin looked startled and uncomfortable, and his golden eyes flicked from Theyn to Sera to Beno and back to Theyn again. “We are...here and there. Mostly here in the palace, performing our duties as Her Majesty’s servants. There are very few of us.”

Beno said, “Are all males Her Majesty’s servants?”

“Of course.” Korin bowed to Beno. “Companion.”

Beno and Theyn exchanged a loaded glance, then the blond Ylian said, “Thank you for your assistance, Korin. You may go.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

As soon as the little man had left, Beno said, “Something’s not right. Since when do females outnumber males? And what is he crossed with? He doesn’t look fully Ylian.”

Sera conjectured, “They’ve been here for hundreds of years, and it’s possible that there’s an inbreeding situation. Or there might be some sort of sex-linked reaction to a toxin or parasite or something that’s endemic to Earth but not found on Ylia.”

Theyn nodded. “Roon and the men on the Cyclops aren’t small, but they’re hybrids. They may have been strengthened by crossing with humans. And Commander Elina said she didn’t think she would ever see a full -blooded Ylian man, which implies that there are none here.”

“There’s one other possibility,” Beno said. He explained to Sera, “Even in our time, males were beginning to falter. That’s why we had to develop the merging - it was only when we merge that we’re fertile. We need to be matched to be able to reproduce. If there’s no partner, there’s no merging.”

“That’s bizarre,” she said. “So when you merge to become fertile… which one of you is the father?”

“We both contribute genetic material,” Theyn said. “In order to become viable, his sperm needs to meld with mine. Matching involves identifying those males whose genetic material will combine properly. On our own, or when we merge but our sperm doesn’t meld, we are essentially sterile. As for which of us is the father of your child, well… we both are, in a very real sense.”

“The baby’s eye and skin color will show whose genetics were dominant,” Beno added.

“Maybe the males here on Itzela can’t match up.” She crossed her arms. “That would certainly explain why Apfira kept looking at the two of you like she’s a lion and you’re fresh meat.”

Beno smirked. “Jealous?”

She tried to shrug it off. “Maybe.”

“No need. We have no intention of being with the queen.” Theyn took her hand and kissed it. “You are the only queen I recognize.”

Sera laughed, touched and strangely embarrassed. “Wow, the things you say!”

There was a soft knock on the door, and then Korin returned with his arms full of garments. Beno relieved him of his burden and put the clothes on the couch, draping them over the back. Korin bowed to him.

“My thanks, Companion.”

“You’re welcome.” Sera heard him thinking to the smaller man, Do you serve here by choice?

There was no response, and not even a flicker of recognition that Beno had spoken. Korin looked at Theyn. “Is there anything else I can do for you, my lord?”

“No, thank you. That will be all.” To Beno and Sera, he thought, He didn’t hear you.

He’s useless, Beno growled.

That’s harsh, Theyn scolded mildly.

Sera fussed, Now that they have the two of you, they’re never going to let you go.

Beno set his jaw. Let me worry about that.

***

It took Joely, Asa and Sera some time to figure out how to don the Ylian-style clothing, but with some assistance from Theyn and Beno, they managed to dress for dinner. There were translator ear pieces for Joely and Asa, and while Sera had expected the cowboy to balk at wearing the unit, the linguist in him was eager to hear the Ylian tongue as it was spoken.

They stepped back and looked at each other, draped in silken cloth like Greek statues come to life. Asa grinned. “I didn’t know this was going to be a costume party.”

Beno snorted and arranged the pin at his shoulder that held his chiton closed. “If it’s any consolation, you totally have the legs for it.”

“Thanks,” Asa said. “I think.”

At the appointed time, Korin arrived at their door to escort them to the banquet hall. He had to unlock the door to come in, and when they were all out, he locked the door once again.

Sera couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Why is the door being kept locked?”

Korin looked startled. “For your own protection,” he said, sounding as if he was surprised she didn’t already know.

“Protection from what?” Beno asked.

“From the overly curious,” the little man replied, “and from the unscrupulous.” He hesitated. “There are some who fear a return to Bruthes and the colony there.”

“Why would they fear that?” Theyn asked.

Korin shook his head and shrugged one shoulder in silent deference. “I don’t know, Highness.”

He escorted them to a colonnaded room hung with filmy silver curtains that blew in the tropical breeze. A long, low table flanked by numerous chaise lounges filled the center of the room, set with silver place settings and crystal goblets. An elaborate centerpiece made of flowers and fruits waited for them, as did Apfira, who reclined in her own chair at the head of the table.

She did not rise, but she beckoned for Theyn to recline on the lounge to her right. “Please, uncle, sit here so that I may speak to you more easily.”

“My thanks,” he said formally. “And where shall my Companion and my Selected sit?”

She smiled warmly. “Your Companion may sit across from you, and your Selected will have the place of honor, opposite me at the other end of the table.”

Sera didn’t like being separated from Theyn and Beno by that much real estate, but she felt she was in no position to refuse. She nodded. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Theyn took his seat, draping himself over the cushions with the ease of someone long accustomed to these fine things. Beno took his seat, as well, but with a bit less comfort. For her part, Sera wasn’t used to the idea of lying on a sofa while she ate, but she managed to get situated fairly quickly. Without asking for permission or guidance, Joely and Asa took up position on her left and right sides.

The other places filled up rapidly with beautiful Ylian women, their golden eyes shining like beacons as they took in the sight of the prince and his companion. Like Sera and Joely themselves, they were all dressed like Apfira, wearing variations on the Greek goddess look that the Ylian aristocracy seemed to favor.  The combination of clothing style and the reclining postures that everyone was taking made Sera feel like she’d walked into a recreation of some ancient Athenian feast. She wondered who would be playing the part of Aristotle.

Joely leaned toward her. “This isn’t awkward at all,” she whispered.

Sera smirked.

A set of cushions were brought in and placed on either side of Apfira’s couch. Once they were positioned and the servants who had brought them departed, Korin and a hybrid man came into the room. They sat on the cushions, their legs crossed, and said nothing.

Apfira clapped her hands, and serving women came into view with heaping dishes of fruits and vegetables. They served the queen first, then Theyn, piling food onto his plate. Beno was served next.

A servant came and put a massive helping of food in front of Sera, and the delicate aroma of spices she couldn’t name made her mouth water. She suddenly felt as if she hadn’t eaten in days, and she looked to Theyn for some sign on how to navigate Ylian manners. The servants stood behind the rest of the guests and waited.

Apfira delicately took a bite of her food, something that looked like chutney, and smiled. “Perfection. Uncle, what say you?”

Theyn took a taste from his own plate, the silver fork barely laden before it disappeared between his lips. He smiled. “A taste I remember. My compliments to the chef.”

Apfira nodded, and the servants stepped forward to see to the rest of the guests. When the place settings were all loaded, they hit buttons on the bottoms of the serving dishes, then released them to hover over the table. The servants bowed to the queen and left the banquet hall.

Theyn took another bite. “I’m impressed with the use of Ylian spices. Did you find a way to cultivate them here?”

“We did.  As you know, Bruthes has long traded with Ylia for our foodstuffs and agricultural products. Before the first colonists left Bruthes to come here, they were able to obtain seeds and seedlings for various plants from home. Not all of them survived Earth’s climate and atmosphere, but most did.”

“Remarkable,” Sera said.  “Our two worlds must be very similar.”

“In most respects, yes,” Theyn nodded. “The gravity on Earth is slightly lighter than that on Ylia, but about the same as on Bruthes.”

One of the other diners, a red-haired woman with glowing golden eyes and a turquoise stud piercing her nose, leaned forward. “Have you ever been to Bruthes, Your Highness?”

“Once, when I was a child.” He sipped his wine. “My Companion was there more recently than I.”

“Not much recent about it, I’d wager,” the hybrid man sitting at the queen’s elbow said with a smile.

Apfira looked at him in displeasure. “Allow me to introduce my husbands,” she said. “This is Korin, whom you’ve already met. He is half Ylian, half Bruthesan.”

Korin nodded to them. “Hello.”

Sera was surprised. She wouldn’t have thought such a mousy man would be married to a woman like Apfira, who clearly loved her power. She took a sip of her water, staying away from the wine. She knew a sip or two of alcohol wouldn’t hurt a human fetus, but she didn’t want to take a chance with the little hybrid she carried. Better safe than sorry.

The introductions at the other end of the table continued. “And this is Heron. He is half human.”

The man nodded his dark head. His eyes were green, like Beno’s, but with white sclera like a human’s. His skin was coffee brown, but with few scales; the few that he had were scattered over his chest and shoulders like freckles. He was more handsome than Korin and broader through the shoulders. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Apfira put a grape into the hybrid man’s mouth. “Heron is outspoken.”

Beno shoved the food around on his plate with his fork. “Korin told us that he and all of the other males are servants here.” The little man on the cushion looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole. “He and Heron are the first males we’ve seen since leaving the Cyclops.”

“The rest are protected,” she said. “They prefer to stay in the Men’s Quarters of the palace.”

“Men’s Quarters,” Beno mused. “Interesting.”

The queen looked at him with innocent eyes. “Why is that interesting?”

“There were never Men’s Quarters or Women’s Quarters on the Ylia I knew,” he explained. “The genders always mixed easily. In fact, gender was never a concern outside of breeding season.”

Apfira’s cheeks colored, and a few of the ladies at the table laughed nervously, as if he had said something outrageous and offensive.  The queen said, “We have developed more modest means of living.”

Theyn tried to smooth ruffled feathers. “We were hibernating for a very long time. It seems that our society has morphed over the years.”

Another of the guests, this time a handsome older woman with grey curls, spoke up. “Here on Itzela we have our own ways of doing things with regard to husbands and wives. The colony on Bruthes is more similar to what you no doubt remember, Your Highness.”

Asa spoke up. “Do you have space ships that can go between Earth and Bruthes?”

Commander Elina, who was sitting at Theyn’s right, said, “Yes. Of course.”

“Do you make a lot of trips?”

“Once or twice a year, perhaps. It’s a very long journey, so we don’t often go.”

Asa smiled, and Sera had seen that look before. He was the king of fake innocence, and it often led people to underestimate him, usually to their sorrow. He asked, “When’s the next ferry?”

Elina smiled. “Interested in space travel?”

He grinned. “Well, ma’am, we humans cut our teeth on what we call science fiction – stories about flying saucers and aliens and such. I reckon that you’d be hard pressed to find any human being who wouldn’t want a trip to another planet, given the chance.”

The pilot turned to Joely and Sera. “Is that true?”

“I’ll do anything once,” Joely answered.

Sera said, “I would be fascinated by the experience.”

Theyn smiled fondly. “My Selected is an archaeologist, a scientist of the past. She has a prodigious curiosity and a strong mind.”

“Indeed,” Apfira said. Her smile was tight again, as if it was taking everything she had to be civil. “Perhaps that will stand you in good stead, Dr. Cooper.”

Sera frowned. She had been introduced to the queen with her first name only. How did she know her last name, or her title? She glanced at Beno, and the look of distrust on his face made it clear that he was thinking the same thing.

“How so?” She took a small bite, but something in the food was spicy and bitter.  Her stomach lurched and she forced herself to swallow.

“How so?” the queen echoed. “Why, we’re going to send my uncle and his Companion back to Bruthes, where they can rejoin the rest of our people.” She turned to Theyn, her eyes wide. “I assume that you meant to take her with you.”

“Of course,” Theyn answered. “Where we go, she goes, and where she goes, we will follow.”

A soft murmur passed between the guests, and Beno glanced at Sera with an encouraging smile.

Why are they so surprised? Sera asked him.

I’m thinking most of these ladies were hoping that we might Select them for the trip and leave you here.

Over my dead body, she fumed.

That’s my girl.

Apfira turned to Asa and Joely. “And would the two of you also like to go to the colony on Bruthes?”

Joely chose her words carefully, which wasn’t really like her. “I would like to see the colony,” she said, “but I’d want to come home to Earth. I don’t have anything against you or your people, but this is my home, and I’d like to be here.”

“I see.” She looked at the Texan. “And you, Mr. Brunner?”

“I’m game to go,” he said, “but I agree with my friend, here. I’d like to come home, too.”

The queen nodded. “Home is a very special thing, isn’t it? And we all know, Your Highness, that Earth is not your home.”

“Neither is Bruthes,” he pointed out.

Beno asked the queen, “Is Earth your home, Your Majesty?”

“I was born here on Itzela, so, yes. It is.”

“So would you ever go to Bruthes?”

She looked at Beno with barely concealed displeasure. “I have my people here, and I am queen here. I have no reason to go to Bruthes.”

Sera asked, “When we go to Bruthes, what can we expect?”

“Prince Theyn will be welcomed as a true member of the Imperial Family, and Commander Beno will be welcomed as his Companion. I am not certain what welcome a human will find there, but as you are their Selected, I’m certain you will be warmly greeted, as well.”

There was something in the queen’s tone that Sera didn’t like. The longer she spent around the Ylian woman, the less she trusted her. “And after the greeting?”

Apfira smiled again, but there was no pleasure and less friendliness in the look. “I am not of Bruthes, so I cannot say.”

Elina cleared her throat. “If I may, Your Highness, I have been to Bruthes, and I can tell you what awaits you there.”

“Yes, please,” Theyn said.

The pilot said, “The Bruthesans have been excellent hosts to us for these past several hundred years. They have a few cities, but they have largely safeguarded their wilderness areas. They allowed us to build our home in their northern hemisphere, where the greenery is the thickest. Bruthes is a very lush planet, with wide seas and verdant stretches of virgin forest. The Ylian colony there is in a city of its own, really more of a city-state, and it is ruled according to the old ways by Empress Elera. Our people continue to trade with the Bruthesans, and we are left largely to our own devices.”

Beno sat back, but his fork still played with the morsels on his plate. “Sounds idyllic.”

“In many ways, it is,” the pilot nodded. “They were very generous to give us a part of their forest to call our own.”

Beno asked, “And who is Empress Elera to Empress Kina?”

“She is her great-great-granddaughter, Commander,” the older lady answered.

Theyn smiled toward her. “And your name, if I may ask it?”

“I am Lady Tayne. I am responsible for the protection of this island and the functioning of the fog shield.”

Asa said, “I assume that radar and sonar have a hard time penetrating your fog layer.”

Lady Tayne looked at him with a strange expression, somewhere between amusement and irritation. “You assume correctly. And human satellites cannot detect us from orbit.”

“Clever stuff,” he said, smiling at her. “My compliments.”

The hovering dishes began to make a slow circuit around the table, offering their contents to the dinner guests. Some accepted and some declined, and when the circuit was complete, the dishes floated out of the room through the servants’ entrance, presumably to be cleaned.

The queen rose from her couch, and the other diners followed suit. She smoothed her peplos and looked at them all with a gentle smile that seemed to Sera to be patently false. “Please, join me in the garden for after dinner drinks and entertainment.”

Beno immediately came to Sera and offered her his hand, while the queen’s hands were taken by her husbands. Theyn came to Sera’s other side and echoed Beno’s position, her hand in his, his palm gentle on the small of her back. She felt almost herded, but then again she felt like they were asking her to dance. The gentility of this outcast Ylian court was graceful and cloying at the same time.

She considered shaking them off, but instead she smiled at them. “Thank you.”

Beno knew her well. He smirked. What you really want to say is, ‘I can walk on my own, damn it.’

She chuckled. True.

Thank you for bearing with all of this etiquette, Theyn said. It’s odd to me, too, but familiar enough that I can almost navigate it.

Asa offered Joely his arm. “Care to walk with me in the garden, Miss Thompson?”

Sera’s assistant smiled broadly and put on a Scarlett O’Hara simper. “Why, Mr. Brunner, I never did think you’d ask. It would be my honor to walk with you.”

He tipped his non-existent hat to her and smiled. “Well, then. Much obliged. Right this way, I suppose.”

With Theyn and Beno taking the lead, Sera borne along between them, they followed the Ylian party through an archway and into a fragrant courtyard brimming with night-blooming jasmine. There were white marble walkways flanked by stone benches and plush cushions, and a fountain made of crystal bubbled happily in the center of the garden.

A trio of young hybrid men with golden eyes sat near the fountain holding musical instruments that Sera had never seen before. One instrument was a curving flute, another a circular frame strung with wire strings, and the third was a long reed instrument that branched out into three bells like a triple clarinet.

As soon as the queen sat on an elaborate carved stone seat, servants arrived with cushions for her husbands. The pillows were placed on either side of her chair, and Korin knelt on the cushion to her right while Heron took up position on her left.

Theyn led Sera to a bench facing Apfira’s throne, and he urged her to sit. He sat beside her, and Beno stood behind them. She looked up at him and thought, There’s plenty of room on the bench if you’d like to sit down, too.

He’s on guard, Theyn responded.

Beno nodded. I don’t trust these people.

Asa and Joely and the other dinner guests arrayed themselves around the royal party, sitting on benches or reclining in the grass. Only Elina remained standing, holding back from the rest of the group. 

At a signal from the queen, the musicians began to play. The music was gentle and sweet, lilting with a sentimental and almost wistful quality. There was something sad about the song, and Sera’s eyes pricked with the first warning of impending tears. She blinked the sensation away and steeled herself against those feelings.

Servants arrived with crystal glasses filled with amber-colored liquid, arranged pleasingly on silver trays. Each of the guests was presented with a glass, and then the queen raised her glass in a toast.

“To long lost family,” she said.

“To family,” Theyn responded.

Asa tapped his glass against Joely’s, and they all took a sip.

Whatever this drink was, it burned. Sera felt her face flush and her eyes watered, this time not from emotion but from the ravages of the wine. Asa and Joely seemed equally affected, but the Ylians among them did not respond at all. Sera coughed.

Are you all right? Theyn asked. He put a hand on her knee.

She shook her head and coughed again. Her chest was tight, and it felt as if something was wrapping around her throat and squeezing. She gripped his hand in hers. It warmed and glowed as he tried to give her healing, but her body rejected his attempts.

“Dr. Cooper?” the queen said, sounding neither alarmed nor surprised. “Does the drink not please you?”

Sera’s head whirled. Her heart was beating so loudly in her ears that she could barely hear anyone speaking. Beno’s hands were strong on her shoulders, helping to hold her up, and Theyn continued to pump healing energy into her. She saw Joely and Asa crumple to the ground, their faces red and puffy. It was the last thing she saw.