“I think you do,” she argued. “What if someone is hurt tonight?”
“Thenyou, my trainee, will go first and assess the situation before reporting back to me if needed.”
“Wrong. It is also a matter of appearance. Your chain shows you are someone important, do you not want your bride to be impressed?” Did I?Shit. “And youneedyour scarf. What if your bride is chilly?”
This was ridiculous. “She will not be. It is summer, and I know for a fact that all the planets humans live on are colder than ours.”
Her damn smile widened. “It still gets a bit cold at night…You would not let her freeze to death in her own tent now, would you?”
“My bride will sleep inmytent with me,” I said. Her eyes widened. Juni’s parentsneededto have the talk with her, this situation was getting out of control.
“What? But why—”
“If you have questions that are not related to your training, go ask your parents,” I said, turning to walk away back to the camp. “The only thing you need to know is that my bride will not be cold.”
And yet I still stopped by my tent to put on my chain and a damn scarf.
5
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
Tamara
Guidy’s orange sort of dress looked incredible against her striking purple skin. She held my hand, careful about not closing it and keeping her pincer-looking thumb away. I decided to keep to myself the fact that, back on my planet, rich people enjoyed eating something similar…
I would never look at a crab in the same way again.
“Are you okay?” Tegha asked me. “You have gone from a glowing brown skin to a green-ish one.”
I did feel kind of nauseous. Not sure if it was because of the shuttle or just the anxiety.
“Skin decoloration can be a sign of illness,” Guidy pointed out. “Good thing your partner is a healer, I am sure he will fix you up in no time.”
Right…Had the cure to anxiety been kept secret on Cancer for thousands of years? I knew there were pills for it back on Earth.I hadn’t been allowed to take them. Instead, each of my anxiety attacks got me locked up in a closet until I was good enough to be let out. Jake would not have a pill addicted fiancée and was more than happy to hide my issues to the rest of the world.
My family had been the same, even though the anxiety had gotten worse only after being forced to move in with him and his parents…
It’d been a terrible six months.
“You do not look well,” Guidy said, now leaning closer to me.
Maxwell lifted his head to look at me, his eyes narrowing in question.
Shit.
“I’m fine!” I rushed out. “Just a little stress. I…It’s normal, right?”
The scientist studied me for a beat, the girls silent by my sides. “You have nothing to worry about,” he said, his face softening. “Cancos, Filbur in particular, have been the friendliest and most cooperative to humans out of all the Zodiac species.”
I forced a smile. It had to be a good sign, right? That he was someone good and kind? Yet, the memory of Jake kept nagging at me. He looked nice too. Had been described as kind and perfect by everyone else. And most importantly, he knew where to hit so people wouldn’t see it. He knew what to say to break me from the inside. All this while keeping his squeaky clean reputation untouched.
Even myparentshad called me a liar when I tried to get out of his clutches the right way.
“Our uncle can appear a bit rough around the edges, but he is just a big softy,” Guidy said, squeezing my hand with her larger one, still careful to not press on my skin with her sharp thumb.
This actually helped my heart settle in my chest. “Please, tell me more about him?” I asked, and I hated the way my voice broke at the end.
“He is the main healer of our people,” she explained. “He looks after everyone. Provides the care and treatment they need. He would have come to meet you if our sister had been trained enough to take over his duties for a few hours.”
