What on Earth have I gotten myself into?

I stride across the wooden walkways in disbelief. This entire village is made out of wood, built right above a swamp, the massive trees around us shielding the entire town from the sky. In any other circumstance I would have been impressed by the natural beauty of it all, but not right now.

Not now that I know Tau expects me to stay in this world forever.

This is not what I signed up for. Yes, this is certainly a romance out of this world, as the Celestial Mates e-mail promised, but it’s a little more than that.

This is not some summer fling. This is a life of bearing alien babies.

I don’t know if I’m quite ready for that. Even though, in the heat of the moment, I did ask him to put a Thalanil baby inside of me.

And he did explode inside of me.

And it did feel better than I ever dared to imagine.

Yet, there’s so much back for me on Earth…

…Or is there?

I mean, there’s Emma… though she lives in Australia now. So how often am I really going to see her? And I’d be perfectly happy with never seeing Jake and Melissa ever again, but still… talk about making a commitment!

I’m lost in my thoughts as I wonder across the village. Everywhere I go the Thalanil people stare at me. They bow their head as I pass, greeting me with Your Highness.

I never asked for this.

I never wanted to be alien royalty.

A young Thalanil girl walks up to me. She is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, with her pointy ears, and slender body, her dress still a few sizes too big for her.

“Hi there, I’m Celaena!”

“Hi,” I say. “I’m Amelia.”

“Are you our new princess?”

Man, kids can be direct!

“Maybe,” I say.

She crunches her nose. Her long blonde hair is done up in two braids, and it’s too adorable for words. When I have a Thalanil kid, will he or she look like Celaena? If so, perhaps I ought to reconsider…

“Mama said you are our new princess. That you’ll marry Tau!”

“Err, it’s complicated?” I try, but she’s having none of it.

“Do you not like Tau?”

“I do!” I say quickly. “I like him very much.”

“So why don’t you marry him? That’s what I’d do! But mama says I’m too young.”

She pouts, putting her small balled-up fists in her sides.

“It’s just that I’m very new to this place,” I try to explain, “I have to settle in.”

The young girl nods. “I understand. I don’t like moving either. I couldn’t sleep when we moved here, until Mama made me this,” she says, holding up a knitted teddy in the shape of a dragon. “This is Fenrir, and he keeps me safe.”

“What a brave dragon!”

She nods, hugging the toy to her chest. “Mama says we have to move because of the Qroqs.”

“How many times have you moved?”

Celaena looks down at her fingers. She frowns as she struggles with counting.

“One… two… three times!” she says. “Mama says that Tau is going to stop the Qroq, and we can go back home!”

“I’m sure your mom is right,” I say.

This entire conversation is tugging at my heartstrings. How can I turn my back on Tau, or the Thalanil people? They are hunted, enslaved, murdered, and all the people have put their faith in my mate… and I just stormed out of his bedroom in a huff.

Here, I can make a difference.

I can help save an entire people.

What’s back for me on Earth? A minimum wage job and a beat-up car. No, wait, I got fired, and a dragon melted my car, so there’s not even that. Mom passed away, and dad hasn’t been around since Emma and I were young. I’ll miss my big sister, but she has a life of her own now, all the way in Australia.

She’ll survive. She’s always been the tough, independent one.

As the young girl runs back to her mom, I can’t help but smile. Celaena doesn’t know it yet, but she just changed the course of my life, and perhaps even the entire Thalanil people.

I just hope all of my babies are as cute and wise as her.