Chapter 12
It was hard to hold back a laugh when the hoomon hissed at the Prince's mother. I couldn't keep the amusement out of my ears, and his mother glared at me.
She knew who I was and was more in tune with my plans than her son.
When I was very young and new to my position, I didn't fully support her attempt to take power after the death of her mate. I knew the power that the conglomerate had, and as a recent widow with a new cub, I didn’t see she had the power to keep the throne without me staying in orbit and maintaining her position myself.
Still, I’d given her the option, and with discussion she had seen reason.
I kept them both alive, but she had wanted more.
I promised her that I would be there for more once she was able to gather the power for herself without my help or when her son came of age and found his mate.
She trusted me less than her son did, but she also knew that I wanted him in power, and I had kept them both safe, and that was all that mattered to her.
"Teach them so they can speak for themselves," the Prince said as he entered the room. "They deserve their own voice."
"There are two of them!" a teenager cried out.
The Prince had brought five of them into the room.
The teenagers let out delighted sounds which sounded like a rolling chirping purr placed forward in the mouth so the sound fell from their lips like a waterfall of glass. They rushed over to the two hoomons.
The Prince stalked over to his mother, radiating anger with his body speech.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"I thought I'd see for myself why you called for clothing for petite females right after the acquisition was finalized.
What is this exactly? Those creatures are advertised as one of the exhibits, but they are not animals.
These are sentient aliens. Why are they in a zoo? Is this why you sped up the timeline?"
I shifted in place.
Being a guard was annoying.
What I really wanted to do was take my little hoomon away from here and see if I could get her to hiss. Instead, because of the role I took, I was a silent observer.
I would not last long in this.
Being an onlooker was not my thing.
The only restriction I ever had in my life I placed on myself. I had duties and traditions to uphold, but at this point in my career I could decide how and when I took care of things. Everyone around me bent to my whim, to my power.
Making the decisions was a mandatory part of the job.
Play acting a guard? That was for me..
It was necessary to ensure the safety of my hoomon personally until the moment came when I could just take her.
I ignored them, instead watching the hoomons interact with the teenagers.
They were involved with their newfound teachers.
I wanted to join them, but it was risky.
Youth were often more savvy than expected, and if one of them posted a picture of me online, there was a risk that I would be recognized. I had to find a way to be unobtrusive.
I was about to just walk over there when the Prince lowered his voice, catching my attention.
"My osae has awoken," he said.
"Who is she?" His mother clasped her hands together. "Where is she? I assume you have her guarded? We need to make this public immediately before the Fironus board has a chance to-"
"She is a hoomon," he said quietly.
Shock radiated through me.
All members of our species had the osae.
It was a symbiote, a being that lived inside our bodies, lengthening our lifespans so that death was only in the domain of violence or accidents.
The osae was so ingrained in our species that we had evolved together, that even those who had sufficient years were not considered adults until their osae awakened.
Dormant osae prevented pregnancy, which was a blessing for a long-lived species, only awakening for the most compatible of matches.
They only awakened through finding a mate.
This was not possible.
The hoomons were aliens.
The puzzle pieces of my own emotions clicked into place. The way I had been feeling about Lorelei, how possessive I was, how I had personally slaughtered the slavers that sold her - my body and my heart didn't see her as a piece of property.
My heart was calling to her as if she was an equal.
But no one was my equal.
I could never allow that again.
"What?" His mother's joy shifted into shock. "What did you say?"
"My osae awoke for the hoomon Arnina," the Prince said.
"Don't joke about such things," his mother said, flicking her ears back with displeasure.
He pulled the neck of his shirt down, exposing the most petite mating bite I'd ever seen.
Jealousy and longing ripped through me.
I pushed those feelings down deep.
There was no place in my life for that. I was never going to allow another female to bite me. I couldn’t do that to myself.
Never again.
"NO!" His mother snarled, her ears flattening, her tail lashing behind her. "No! That can't be! You can't! You must reject it!"
"I will not." The Prince kept his voice firm. "I accept the choice and embrace it, along with all the challenges it brings."
"You... I..." His mother lowered her voice. "Have you completed the mating?"
"No," I said.
He hadn't bred the hoomon yet.
From the way she smelled, he had come close to it.
Our species only reproduced when osae chose; even then, it wasn't certain.
Without the slowdown in reproduction caused by the widespread osae symbiote, our species would have had issues adapting to the dramatic lengthening of our life spans that came with the osae changing the way our bodies age by repairing the damage done tour bodies over time at an accelerated, but controlled rate.
They changed us for the better, and so, we ensured they spread until every one of our species had a symbiote.
Reduced reproductive chances meant less when you knew you wouldn't die of old age.
"There is a way around this," his mother said as she smoothed out her body language. "I will help."
"You didn't seem willing to help a moment ago," he pointed out.
"I will help," she repeated. "In a week, I will have a solution. Just don't complete the bond. Please. Don't."
She rushed out the door.
The Prince moved to the desk, focusing on the work he had to accomplish.
The news he delivered was stunning. On the one hand, it meant that he didn't have to tie the conglomerate down in a lengthy legal battle while he found himself a mate and awakened his osae.
He would be able to move forward rapidly.
If he was willing to stand up to his mother on this, it meant there was a chance he would formally challenge them for the throne.
On the other hand, one of our species finding a mate with an alien was unprecedented.
There would be challenges.
I eyed my hoomon across the room.
I could walk away from this. The Prince had all the tools he needed. All he had to do was use them. I'd put him in the best position possible for what he had to overcome.
If I stayed, I risked this feeling I had turning into something else.
I could possibly mate with my little hoomon.
That was something that my advisors would tell me to walk away from. It wouldn't be good for me. It wouldn't be good for my position.
She couldn't even talk.
But instead of turning to walk out the door, I found myself walking across the room.
I couldn't explain it, but there was something about her. She was completely illiterate, yet I was still dying to kiss her.
My osae had already been awakened. They didn't need the bite to arise from their slumber at the taste of a woman who was right for me. They didn’t need it, but I needed to avoid it. The osae chose those who could be my mate. The bite claimed the one that I chose. Fated and chosen, mixed together.
I could play with my little hoomon, but I couldn't mate with her.
I couldn’t choose her.
I could do that.
Couldn't I?