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“We’re looking at a bid for power gone wrong.” Chuckie leaned against the glass. Like Martini, he made this look comfortable. “White’s cousins presumably expected to advance to the throne. Martini, however, has a more direct claim to it. He also chose a bride.”
“Setting off the Alpha Four Alert System,” I added.
“Right. Meaning that the most direct male descendant was going to get married and presumably start having some babies. Which would strengthen that line even more.”
“I don’t want to go back there, so why does it matter?” Martini asked.
“Old men get fu
“And they’ve watched you the entire time,” Chuckie added. “Which is why the king, when he was attacked, decided it was time to revive the long-distance relationship. And why your cousins in there decided it was a great idea to hire some assassins to kill you.”
“Jeff? That tracking thing’s in your pocket. Can you take it out?” He did. “Queen Renata, is this from your world?”
She came to the glass, and Martini opened the washcloth and showed the feather-leaf thing to her. She nodded. “It is. How did you come by it?”
“Moira stuck it in my purse after she’d almost killed one of our operatives, that best friend of mine we mentioned earlier. By the way, what’s her mate’s name?”
“Kyrellis. She is extremely deadly.”
“We guessed. So, when did the rest of you come on board? Before Moira and Kyrellis killed your leaders or after?” Okay, so I couldn’t shut up and let Chuckie do all the talking.
“After they killed the head of Alpha Five,” Uma, of all people, answered. “We realized we’d created a monster we couldn’t stop.”
“Yeah, I figured Greg wasn’t doing this on his own. So you’re all pretty much traitors to your home worlds, is that right? Other than Renata, who is somehow along for the ride.”
“I am along because the assassins are my responsibility. They killed my mother, first, before they went to Alpha Four. I had to become queen far earlier than I had ever pla
“We can relate.”
“This council was formed to expand the other planets’ self-determination.”
I looked back up at Martini. “You come from the bossy stock, I see.”
He snorted. “You should talk.”
“So, Alpha Four’s got a battle cruiser after you guys, with good reason. And, of course, they don’t know if we’re with you or against you.”
“Against,” Martini said dryly. “But, you know, they never listen to what we say.”
“Figure Alpha Four assumes we started it,” Chuckie added. “Only those of us who know Martini would believe he wasn’t interested in a kingship.”
“Too freaking true. Meanwhile, Greg there gave Moira and Kyrellis the heads-up that the most potent males in the line were here on Earth. They’re gu
“I doubt Greg talked to them directly,” Chuckie corrected me. “I’d guess Uma had a hand in it. She seems Moira’s type.”
Uma gave him a dirty look. “Alpha Six has a female-led government, yes.”
“Which probably saw the benefits of aligning with the fanatics. You know, I’m all for following the Feminist Manifesto, but nowhere in there was the suggestion made that we kill all the men and make do without them.”
Uma shrugged. “Your world, your rules.”
“Right. And our rules say you’re a bunch of traitors, to two solar systems.”
“Your Majesty, we beg for clemency.” Gregory bent onto one knee. Alexander followed him, somewhat unwillingly.
“I’m not the king. I’m not going to a world that only wants me when it’s convenient. And you can rot in hell for all I care. You’re endangering the world I care about and the people I love on it. You’re lucky I don’t just kill you right now and offer your dead bodies to whoever else shows up.” Martini was furious, but he was calmer than me, which was sort of surprising.
“Please forgive us,” Alexander said quietly.
“How much did you have to do with this plan?” I saw his expression and got a fu
Alexander shook his head. “I support my brother.”
“Does your brother know you’re the one who triggered the Royal Proposal light show back on the home world and here on Earth?”
Alexander’s eyes went wide. “I . . . don’t know what you mean.”
“Open the door!” Chuckie and Martini shouted in unison. There was a lot of that going on. Too many alpha males in one small space.
Security flung it open, and the Poofs pretty much flew into the room, turning bigger as they did so. One tackled Uma before she was able to get Alexander with the knife she was holding, another knocked Gregory aside, and the others surrounded Alexander, with much growling and the showing of sharp teeth.
“Good Poofies. Anyone else want to try to kill someone? No? Smartest move I’ve seen you people do yet. Poofies? Bring Alexander out, please. Oh, and take that nasty weapon away from the mean lady.” The Poof on top of Uma growled in her face. She dropped the knife; the Poof picked it up in its jaws and trotted out of the room behind the rest of them, looking very pleased with itself.
I gave lots of Poof lovies, then turned to Alexander. “Sucks to be you, dude, but you could have given us the heads-up a lot sooner, you know.”
He shook his head. “He’s my brother. He wanted the kingship so much . . . I didn’t realize he was out of control until it was too late. I did what I could.” He looked at Martini. “I’m sorry. For all of it.”
“So, who can we trust besides you?”
Alexander shrugged. “I’m not even sure you can trust me. So much has gone wrong . . . but Queen Renata is trying to fix things.”
“So are we,” one of the Major Doggies said. “I am Willem. We have the support of our leader.”
“Support to try to kill the Alpha Four royal family?” Chuckie asked pleasantly.
“No,” Willem said. “Support to fix the damage we have caused.”
One of the Cat People spoke up. “I am Felicia. We as well are along to help.”
I looked at the Giant Lizards. “You speaking up there, Iguanodon?”
“My name is Neeraj. This is Jareen. We do not appreciate your way of speaking to us, human.”
“We don’t appreciate Giant Lizards coming by trying to screw our world over. So we’re even.” I thought about it. “How do they spell their names?”
Alexander sighed. “Yes, each name is the other name spelled backward. It’s a mating thing on their world.”
“So, they’re married? Which one’s the girl?”
“Jareen is my female,” Neeraj said, clearly pissed off. “She is the most beautiful Reptilian on our world.”
“Yeah, well, Jeff thinks I’m hot, too, but he didn’t rename me Ffej.”
Martini laughed. “Oh, but it’s so cute, so you.”
“We are not amused,” Neeraj said.
“We don’t care,” Martini said pleasantly. “We don’t like you.”
“You know, they’re all going to say they’re here to help.” Chuckie looked back at Alexander. “Who, besides Queen Renata, do you recommend we trust?”
Alexander sighed. “They all need to help you, because they can’t go home unless this situation resolves in a positive way.”
“Interstellar war bad for the image?”