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Logan smirked at me. “Hon, I have a whole platoon of people working on wedding things. At this point, Alam and I just have to show up and look pretty.”
“Oh. Sure, that makes sense.” He was royalty, after all. “Are you nervous?”
“Nah,” he said with a cute grin. “By Norlon standards, we’re already in a committed relationship that’s the equivalent of being married. There’s a mating ceremony we’ll do for his people and family when we go to Nor, but it’s nothing as fancy as what you and I know a wedding can be.”
“Then I guess the prince isn’t nervous at all.”
Logan laughed. “He’s terrified he’s going to forget his vows! He keeps practicing in the bathroom because he thinks I can’t hear him in there. Even I’ve memorized his vows at this point.”
“Aw, that’s adorable! Both that he’s trying so hard and that he wrote vows.” I could feel the hearts in my eyes even as I laughed with Logan.
“And Captain Langarus is going to officiate,” he said, “which meant explaining what that’s all about. But how can I pass up the opportunity to be married by a spaceship’s captain?”
I chuckled with him since that was so true. Married at sea sounded romantic enough, but married in space? With aliens? I pressed a hand over my heart just as I realized Logan had led me to my quarters.
We said goodbye, and I wished him luck for tomorrow. When the door opened, I smiled upon seeing that Py was inside. He sat watching a wedding video with his tablet in his hand like he might be taking notes.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow, too?” I went over to try to get a peek at his tablet.
“I have lines I must memorize.” He angled the tablet so I could see that he’d written out the usual lines an officiant would say. “I discovered a great deal of controversy surrounding whether or not to include obeying one’s new spouse, though.”
“Oh, yeah, leave that off. It’s really outdated and from when women were treated as property.”
His eyes widened. “They were property?”
“Um, well, humans have a messed up history of doing that. The strong owning the weak. I’d love to say we’re over it now, but some attitudes persist.” I blinked and stared at nothing as something suddenly occurred to me. “You know, it’s possible a lot of what’s fueling stuff like Humans First comes from people being afraid that they’re the weak ones now. They used to believe they were the strong ones and know how they treated everyone else. They’re afraid that’s how they’ll be treated.”
“They would deserve it for such atrocities, but overtaking humans and owning them is not our goal.”
“Oh, I know.” I squeezed his shoulder and went to sit down. “They’re not being rational.”
Py spent a few moments changing things on his tablet, possibly erasing notes on obeying. Since he was here—playing hooky from captaining?—I took advantage of his knowledge while I had him. “What’s a mating ceremony like?”
He looked me in the eyes and then glanced at his notes before shrugging. “Similar to this, though no one leads like I must. Promises are made and tokens exchanged. In the case of royals, someone might announce where territories will merge or what resources will be shared going forward.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Seems a little business-like.”
“It is the business of being mated.”
“Oh.” That was disappointing.
“The party afterward is the celebration.”
“Oh?”
Py smirked at me. “Games, wagers, and orgies are common.”
“I-I’m sorry. Did you say…orgies?”
“I did.”
“But, um, I thought having a mate was a monogamous thing.”
“It is. Often the mated couple will be unable to resist staking their claims on each other and that will inspire their audience to experience the same joys.”
A bark of a laugh jumped out of me and I blushed. Could that happen tomorrow? The Norlons might be inspired, but the humans from Earth were still here and the news crew might end up filming everything. Hopefully it wouldn’t be a live broadcast.
Py chuckled. “It’s voluntary, Owen.”
