Nabvan watched as the ceremony was set up outside the inner city. Destiney and Siefer had wanted an outdoor wedding, and he couldn’t blame them. Milisaria was beautiful, and there was no reason to waste that by being indoors all the time like they often were.

There was a makeshift stage lifted in the middle of the courtyard where he could see King Shene and Alexis talking. He could actually only see Alexis’s back, but it filled him with so much sadness at how he had reacted to her. Things had been different ever since they had fought, and he hardly recognized her since King Shene had started spending all his time with her. He had a bad feeling about it too, the way the king was suddenly taking so much interest. He was desperate, watching some of the other women already carrying children. He wanted in on it too, and he must have realized he wasn’t going to get it the way he was acting. But somehow, Alexis seemed to be falling for it, and Nabvan couldn’t help but think he might have something to do with that.

He had been ignoring her, and he thought it had been what was best. He had been wrong. It had driven her right into the arms of a king that was good at charming others. It was how he had become king in the first place.

Nabvan watched with an indescribable pain as Alexis openly laughed with King Shene so close to her. It was the loveliest sound, but it had nothing to do with him. He had been so foolish to think that not mating with her would mean he could just get over her. It wasn’t that simple at all, and yet, here was a king who had a handful of more women in waiting for him, and it didn’t faze him at all. He could easily go back and forth and miss nothing about any of them other than their beauty or their willingness to submit. For Nabvan, it was more than that.

Nabvan saw that Milisarians were beginning to file into the seats provided, ready to see the wedding between a human woman and a Milisarian knight. It was a very special time for those on the planet. The Milisarians saw this union as a sign of hope for the race and another kind of victory beyond what they were used to. He should have been happy as well: happy the experiment was working and happy that his friend was in love and having a child. He just couldn’t be, though, now that he had seen exactly what was going on with these women. Destiney was the exception to the rule. Until the day he and Alexis had seen them in chains, they had not been allowed to shower or eat three meals a day like they were used to, and he suspected that Alexis was the one who put her foot down. But what was King Shene expecting in return for giving in to her requests? Nabvan could not stand to even think about it.

King Shene would be taking care of the ceremony, and eventually, Alexis would have to go into the crowd on her own to watch. He knew that she would want to witness her friend getting married in the first human-like ceremony they would perform on Milisaria, but he kept thinking that he needed to get her away and talk to her at a time when the king wouldn’t notice. And this would be the only time. He was almost always with her now or somewhere waiting for her. Nabvan’s services had been needed less and less, and he feared they would be separated before he even got a chance to tell her how sorry he was for his reaction to her suggestion. And he needed to find a way to get his assignment back. He needed to be her keeper because without her around, he felt like something was missing inside of him. It was a frightening sort of illness that he had only heard described by Milisarians most in love. They were few and far between.

Nabvan saw King Shene running his hand up and down Alexis’s right arm, and for a moment, he wanted to trade places with the man. Being King of Milisaria was not an easy job that he would wish on anyone, but Nabvan thought he could handle all of it if it meant he got to have Alexis as well. But instead, a man full of trickery and manipulation that did not deserve much of any woman got to have the woman that had sent Nabvan’s world crashing down around him just for her to build it back up. How was that fair?

What killed him the most was that Alexis was smiling through it all. It didn’t matter whether it was real or not. It mattered that King Shene believed the smiles were real and directed at him. He got the best of her even if she was faking it.

Alexis gave King Shene a kiss on the cheek, and Nabvan watched as she walked away from him, trying to find a seat in the large crowd. Nabvan waited until King Shene looked away and walked up to her, grabbing her by the arm and sitting her down in the back row. “You can be the first one to see Destiney from here,” he whispered in her ear. She looked up at him suspiciously before he fell back into the line of small trees that grew out from the mossy grounds around the inner city. If King Shene looked back, it would just seem that he was doing his job to guard her and keep her safe, but he could also pull her out at the most distracted moment to talk with her.

Nabvan did nothing but set his gaze on the back of her head while the ceremony began. King Shene presented Siefer to everyone and talked about his accomplishments, including being the first of the Milisarian knights to impregnate a human female. It was a little sad that that had to be the focus of the day instead of the love between the two. He had seen the way those two looked at each other and was so amazed that even one of the pairings had worked out. It was that day in their room, when Alexis was talking to her friend, that made things shift for him with Alexis. He had been attracted to her from a distance since he started getting to know her, but then he started to see that there could be more than that. That it wasn’t so impractical to have a Milisarian and a human together.

Destiney was finally announced, and she appeared, walking in a beautiful green dress that had probably been bought off another planet or off someone in the village who knew how to sew. The inner city was helpless when it came to those things, but some people in the villages were learning to do a few things of their own before he had left. They were limited, but it was great for them. Relying on the inner city to send them the things they scored from other planets was not always an option.

As Destiney came through with her obviously round belly and beautiful dress, she had a happy smile on her face that could be nothing but genuine. Alexis reached out to her, and the two women held hands for a moment in a show of emotion he had only seen from these humans. Friendship meant something very different to them than it did to Milisarian knights. They did favors for one another, but they did not cry and celebrate over each other’s triumphs and losses.

All eyes were on the bride as she made her way down the aisle to Siefer, who was ready to receive her hand. They blocked his view the moment everyone settled in to listen to King Shene preside over the wedding. Nabvan knew this was his chance, or he would have to give up on it. He bent over and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, and she looked back at him with knowing eyes. He nodded towards the side of the final tier, which spun out into the marshes surrounding the building behind them. They would be unseen there but could still hear the ceremony.

Nabvan disappeared first, only having faith to tell him that Alexis would follow him there. He turned around to find her heading towards him as quietly as she could manage through the sloshing marsh. She looked regal and unreachable, and he wondered if he would ever convince her he was worthy of forgiveness.

“What are you doing, Nabvan? You have not talked to me at all in a long time, and now you have pulled me away from my best friend’s wedding, which the man that is meant to be my mate is presiding over. I don’t think this is a good idea. We could get caught. I need to get back,” she told him, sounding angrier than he expected, but there was also a touch of pain in there. It was a pain that both hurt him and made his heart soar at the same time. Pain meant she still felt something. He grabbed her hand and spun her into him, not daring to let go until she heard him out.

She was so close to him, and all his words fell out in silence as his lips were drawn to hers. The kiss was just as passionate as the first time but more desperate. There was a sadness to it that hadn’t been there before. He pulled away to see a confused expression on Alexis’s face. “What is this about?” she breathed, not trying to move away. Her chest was rising and falling like she had been running.

“I am sorry for what I said before. This is my home. This is my life. Leaving it did not seem like something I could ever do for any reason. I still don’t know what the future holds for me, but I have seen what you mean. I have also seen what I feel for you in every contact you have with the king.” It came out like a plea. He had never heard himself sound that way.

“I don’t know what you want from me. I have settled for my fate with the king. With the power he gives me, I might be able to save some of these women. I get a freedom I never thought I would be allowed to have, and he is talking with me about science. He could give me a life a little like what I wanted. What can you give me?” Alexis’s words stung him severely, but he could see there was little conviction behind them. Sure, she was probably enjoying her new freedom, but she felt nothing for the king. He could tell they still had not mated by the way she spoke of him and by the way she was still looking at him.

“I want you to give me one more chance to take your offer. Use your freedom for whatever you wish, but please include me in it. We can be a secret, but I must have you. I know that now.” Nothing truer had ever left his lips before, and his hands slid over her body, daring her to say she felt nothing.

Alexis let a tear escape her eye. He could see it, and so much was held in that tear, he wanted to lock it up forever and keep it somewhere safe. “I don’t know how this is going to work,” she admitted, though she seemed to be giving in. He needed her to give in, or he felt like he might die. “But I guess we can see how it goes.” She looked up into his eyes then, and he felt his heart thumping loudly in his chest. If he had nothing covering it, she would be sure to see the pink orb alight in his chest, stretching the thin, pale skin of his out towards her.

Nabvan kissed her once again before sending her back to the ceremony. He didn’t know if he could go back. He was too excited. He would make up a reason he wasn’t there afterward if the king had noticed, but he doubted it. King Shene only noticed himself.