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I gave him a ‘are you serious?’ look that he would return to that topic.
He ignored it.
“For a moment, the others and I feared Father would kill you, or at least cause you severe damage. After all, no non-Braxian female has ever managed to take one of us, least of all one of my father’s girth, without thorough preparation.”
I gaped at him, disbelieving. “Are we seriously having a conversation about the size of your father’s cock?”
“Yes, because it’s thrown a question mark in my theory about you,” Keran said.
The intensity in his gaze made me uncomfortable. This wasn’t some random chitchat to see how much he could embarrass me, but a carefully planned conversation.
“Theory?” I asked, my pace slowing down as we reached the halfway point of the training grounds.
“Well, seeing how Guldans keep their females even more strictly under lock and key than we do, we know very little about you. After all, you’re the first one any of us has ever met in the flesh. Thing is, Guldan females do not go into heat. Very few species do.”
My back stiffened, and my pulse picked up while I tried to maintain a neutral expression.
“So I can’t decide if your ability to take my father without Denax is a Guldan trait or a Veredian one,” Keran said, matter-of-factly.
I hadn’t meant to give myself away but stopping dead in my tracks did exactly that. All humor left Keran’s face as he stopped as well and turned to face me. Hands clasped behind his back, he lifted his chin, his eyes daring me to deny it. I considered it, but that had been too precise an answer for him to have taken a wild guess and correctly landed on Veredian. Had Ravik told him?
“Who?” I asked, my voice filled with tension.
“No one,” Keran said. “I just did the math.” He snorted at my disbelieving stare. “Of the three species that go into heat, only one goes almost feral like you did. Public records state you are the daughter of Gruuk Vrok and Maheva Vrok, formerly Maheva Fein, who happens to be a Veredian now living on Xelix Prime.”
I swallowed hard, but kept quiet.
“She also happens to be the mother of Aleina Fein, now Aleina Delphin, the Veredian Ambassador on Xelix Prime. The same Ambassador who happened to have signed the resource trade agreements with the Tuureans. That would make her your baby sister. I’d wondered how you had managed to get her to sign this agreement so quickly and why, according to the word on the street, the Tuurean leader was so protective of you, a Guldan and the daughter of the greatest Veredian slaver in history.”
“Well,” I said, noncommittally, “someone has done a thorough investigation.”
“As Father said, a good ruler knows everything that goes on in his realm, who walks within it, and what their intentions are.”
“And what are my intentions?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest with defiance.
“Nowthatis the real question.”
“No theories about that one?” I asked with a bit of sarcasm.
“Of course, I do.” Keran took in a deep breath, his gaze roaming over our surroundings. “Braxia is a harsh world, but not without beauty. It’s blossoming a bit more everyday into what it is meant to be,” he said wistfully before his eyes settled back on me. “In your short time among us, you have considerably contributed to that beauty. Father loves you. You love him. And you’re planning a child together, which you may already have conceived since you’re not drinking moon juice.”
“Any child we could have would not be a threat to your reign,” I said, defensively.
Keran waved a dismissive hand. “By the time any child you may have comes of age, Father will have long stepped down in my favor. So my other theory about you is that you’re debating whether or not to break his heart.”
My lips parted in shock, and a chill ran down my spine. I rubbed my upper arm, frazzled.
“I see the longing way in which you look at the sky sometimes, and the troubled look in your eyes at last meal, asking yourself what you’re doing here, on this alien planet with customs so foreign to you.”
I bit my lip, bewildered by his ability to see through me so clearly.
“What you are doing, Ravena, is showing us that a strong, independent female isn’t a threat to us, but a blessing for our people. You are opening our eyes to the riches we possess but are too blind to see. You are helping my father get his reforms adopted years ahead of time. So, the question is: are you going to finish what you started, or is freedom and the call of the stars too great?”
I turned away from him and resumed walking, my head jumbled.
“It’s not that simple, Keran.”
“Nothing worthwhile is ever simple,” he conceded. “But Braxia needs a Dagna that will lead by example. Braxia needs you.Ineed you.”
