CHAPTER SEVEN

 

Everything was ruined, all because of her.

Mindrin leaned against the wall in the temple’s lowest level, down with the big pumping machinery and GRX-D, her favorite maintenance robot. This was one of the places she went when she needed to be alone, a place where no one would come to bother her. She was here, hiding from the consequences of all that had happened. Trying not to cry. Feeling lower than she ever had before. She couldn’t face anyone right now. Not Valdur or Tyal. Not Commander Dolzen, or any of her coworkers. Not even the monks who resided here. She felt as if she were slowly being crushed from all sides.

From the beginning, she’d only meant to do the right thing. What hurt her deepest was how she’d fallen for both the princes. She loved the way they made her feel, how she felt safe with them, felt beautiful, felt important. How she wanted to make them happy, make them smile and help them stand tall. How much of a fool was she for dreaming that a real and lasting love had suddenly crashed into her life?

A complete fool.

Now everything had gone up in flames. Had she really conned herself into thinking a tech like her could ever pass as royalty? Had she really deluded herself that she could make either of them happy? Especially when the woman they were supposed to wed, a woman specifically chosen for them from billions of possible females, had been left in the cold.

GRX-D floated around her, making static burst noises, doing mid-air somersaults, and flashing its running lights in an attempt to make her feel better. But she was long past the place where she could feel better. Her eyes felt like they were full of sand. She ached to cry, but she was trying not to. Some foolish part of her believed that if she began to cry, it would make everything real, and there would be no hope of waking up from this nightmare and finding herself back in their arms… That made no sense, but nothing seemed to make sense anymore. She leaned her head against the wall and stared across the large pumping room, not really seeing anything she looked at, painfully aware that she didn’t belong here either. She didn’t seem to belong anywhere now. She’d come down here wanting to be alone, thinking the familiar setting might help her clear her mind. But her emotions were still a tangled knot, and her thoughts were caught in their own feedback loops over her failure and her loss. If she could only think of a way to make this right…but nothing would come to her.

The access door on the far side of the pump room chimed. For a second her heart leaped because she thought it might be Tyal and Valdur coming to find her, but it wasn’t. Instead, she was surprised to see Ishtali Shanel. The woman was wearing a beautiful gown-style dress that looked completely out of place down here with all the machines. Ishtali smoothed her long skirt as she spotted Mindrin and stepped inside. The door closed behind her.

“Your friend Teka told me I’d find you here,” Ishtali announced, a tight smile on her face. “Are you alone?”

That was an odd question. One she didn’t intend to answer. It was impossible to hide the fact that the pump room was empty except for her and GRX-D. “Now really isn’t a good time—”

“I know you got my message. You told them, didn’t you? I saw Prince Valdur leave your precious honeymoon suite. When Commander Dolzen said the mar’don star cruiser was moving overhead in high orbit, it wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened.”

Mindrin felt like she’d been slapped. Her thoughts were spinning wildly in her mind. She tried to think of something to say and couldn’t.

“It was easy. I paid one of your coworkers to use a temple robot. She had no idea why and honestly, she didn’t care. I found that funny.”

“But why? Dolzen said the alliance would take care of you.”

“Are you that stupid? It was to break the three of you apart of course. I should have been the one to marry them, and you know that’s true. The treaty can be saved. I’ll get Dolzen to tell the media what an emotionally disturbed woman you are. How you hijacked that lift in your desperation to be someone important. Once he learns that you told them the truth, he’ll have no choice but to go along.”

Anger flared inside her. “What do you want from me? Why are you here?”

“You made a big deal of apologizing to me for stealing everything even though it was all a lie. You didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for me. Well that isn’t good enough anymore. I want you to watch as I take it all back.” She made a disgusted noise. “As if throwing credits at me would make up for the fact that I lost out on a chance to be royalty. To be with two princes who were perfect matches for me. It was my happiness you stole. Did you think any woman would lie down and take that without fighting back?”

Mindrin clenched her fists, feeling the urge to punch the other woman right in the nose. But she stayed where she was. Punching people wouldn’t change anything. This entire thing had been a mistake from the beginning. Perhaps it was best simply to walk away, to see if Ishtali could get Valdur back and keep the treaty intact. Because as much as it might hurt her, she had to think of Valdur and Tyal’s happiness. Ishtali was chosen as the perfect woman for them, while Mindrin seemed to have failed in every way possible.

She took a deep breath. It was time to make this right, no matter how much it might hurt her. She had to take the higher road.

“Look Ishtali, you win. Go tell Commander Dolzen that Valdur and Tyal know the truth. See if you can set things right again before Valdur leaves the planet.” Although she didn’t have much hope of that either because of all those complications with the rules. Not to mention how the entire universe had already seen Mindrin’s face and watched the ceremony…

“I will do exactly that. I’m sure I can convince them. But you’ll be lucky if anyone even remembers you after this. Well, as anything other than a crazy woman anyway. And don’t expect a handout from Dolzen either. I hope you’re happy here,” she said, waving a hand around at the big pumping machines, “with your little robots. And next time you try and ruin someone’s life, make sure it isn’t a girl who’s not afraid to fight back.”

Ishtali turned on her heel and stalked out of the room. Mindrin was left with the noise of the pumps and all the regrets in the world.

This time, she couldn’t hold back the tears.

 

* * *

 

Prince Tyal Garios stood facing three mar’don guards with his fists clenched. He carefully repeated his demand. “Go tell Valdur I want to talk with him.”

A fourth bodyguard was already down. Tyal had put the unfortunate guard out of commission when the guard tried to throw him out of the part of the temple being used by the mar’don delegation. The mar’don had mistakenly believed celestri to be pushovers simply because they were smaller, but Tyal’s hand-to-hand combat skills had just shown him the error of his assumptions.

“The prince gave orders that he doesn’t want to talk to any celestri or humans,” one of the other guards snarled at him.

Tyal cursed under his breath. His mate was as stubborn as only a mar’don could be. He’d also overreacted, as only a mar’don obsessed with his honor could overreact. It had shattered his heart to see Ishtali—no, he needed to think of her as Mindrin now, her true name—flee their suites after Valdur had stormed out. He sensed how hurt and confused she’d been, how full of regrets and fear that what she’d done might start a war.

Even though she had deceived them, he did not blame her at all. He’d never once sensed anything evil or dangerous about her. He’d sensed her self-doubt and her worry, yes, but that was understandable given the pressure she was under. If she’d accidentally stumbled into the middle of this absurd farce, then she could not be blamed for trying her best to keep the peace treaty intact. Valdur was wrong. He wasn’t considering her point of view: her life had been upended, changed forever, all for something she never signed up for. Tyal thought she’d been incredibly brave. He was deeply proud of her. She’d made the choice of a true celestri royal, putting the good of the many and the good of the people above her own needs.

Now all Tyal had to do was make his third, his mar’don mate, see the truth. Even if he had to personally beat it into Valdur’s thick skull.

“You need to leave,” another of the guards warned, his hand on his blade. “You will not get past us.”

“I’m Prince Tyal Garios. I am bound to Prince Valdur by my vows and the pashrondal stone, and he is bound to me. Tell him I wish to see him, or I’ll walk right over the top of you and do it myself.”

The door at the end of the corridor opened, and Valdur walked out. He glowered at Tyal, but there was grudging respect in his words. “You sound like a mar’don warrior. I’ve been a positive influence on you.” Valdur glanced down at the guard who’d tried to hit Tyal and had ended up on the floor. “You’ve proven you’re determined, so now maybe you’ll tell me why you’re here.”

“Do you want me to announce our business in this hallway with all your guards around, or would you prefer to talk somewhere more private?” He shrugged, putting a glower on his own face. He’d had just about enough of Valdur’s crap for one day.

Valdur turned to his guards. “Go. I will handle this.”

The guards cleared out fast, dragging off the one Tyal had put down hard. When they were gone, Valdur folded his arms across his chest and glared. Even Tyal had to admit the mar’don made an impressive sight when he was scowling.

“Say what you came to say, Tyal,” Valdur growled. “I’ll be off-world by tonight.”

That was worse than Tyal had expected. If Valdur left, it would mean the end of the treaty, with no hope of salvaging any of this. He had to get through to his thick-skulled mate and make him see reason.

“You talk of duty,” Tyal said evenly, looking him straight in the eye. “But you are running from duty now.”

Valdur’s expression darkened. “I would be careful if I were you.”

“I respect you, but I don’t fear you, Valdur. Especially when you are wrong.”

“Wrong? Our mate lied to us. She’s not the Ishtali we were supposed to mate; she’s just another human who plays with robots.”

“Now I warn you to be careful. I won’t stand here and listen to you disrespect her. Not when she’s done so much the keep these peace accords from falling apart.”

“You lie better than you threaten, celestri. But I’m glad you can sense how angry I am right now.”

“I did not lie to you. Did you expect me to tell you each and every secret the instant we touched the stone and swore the vow? I’m sure you have your own secrets you have yet to share with us. And you know what, I understand that.”

Valdur’s lip curled, but he didn’t say anything.

Tyal pushed onward. “If you held duty in the high regard you claim, you wouldn’t be so quick to forsake your vows and turn your back on the mates you swore to love, honor, and stand beside. I had more respect for you than that, but it seems I was wrong.”

“The human is not the female for us—”

Tyal waved a hand, cutting him off. “Stop whining.”

Valdur’s eyes widened in outrage. “What did you say to me?”

“I told you to stop whining and be the leader and warrior I know you are. You gave your vows. The same as I did. The same as she did. She came to us and told us the truth. That truth doesn’t change our vows.”

“I would have learned the truth eventually. It means the Terras Alliance cannot be trusted.”

“No government can be completely trusted. You and I know that better than anyone. That’s why we have these peace accords, which you’re ready to toss away the first instant things get hard. And what does it matter if Mindrin isn’t this Ishtali? Why are you fixated on the result a human supercomputer gave us? The treaty never allowed us to choose who we wed. And Mindrin didn’t even get any choice at all over what happened to her life. How do you think she feels? And yet she still did her duty for the peace in the galaxy, the same as we did.”

“You talk too much, Tyal.”

He shook his head in frustration. “Because I’m hoping at least a few of my words reach your brain and I realize that skull of yours is as thick as an airlock door. Swallow your overdeveloped mar’don pride for an instant and look at what we have before you throw it all on the scrap heap. We have a galaxy at peace because of the choices we’ve made, and I don’t care what the humans’ computers say. Mindrin is the one I said my vows to. She is the one who shared herself with me. She is the one I can give my heart to. But I want you there with us. This doesn’t work without you, Valdur.”

Valdur stared at him. “You celestri smile too much and you’re too caught up with your feelings. You’re as bad as the humans.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. And I say it’s better than being a stubborn, thick-headed, prickly mar’don who ejects the moment his starfighter gets a bit singed.”

Valdur growled and shook his head. “You’re one of the bravest—and stupidest—people I’ve ever met, daring to insult me like that. You are worthy to be my mate…and Mindrin’s mate.”

He couldn’t help the big grin that broke across his face. “So you’re saying I’m right?”

“I’m saying that in my anger, I let myself forget my duty…and how I feel. I was wrong.”

“Now we need to find her and tell her how we feel. Oh, and also what a fool you were.”

Valdur grunted. “Then let’s go get our wife.”