Free The Princess and her Alien Rogue: Alien Romance by Harmony Raines Page A

was revealed how many times she had gone to visit Misha’Ha.
    “You are not your mother.” The words resonated inside her head, but they had come without.
    “Johar?” she called quietly.
    “He is behind the screen,” Rian said as she approached. “He is a little too tall, though.”
    Tallia couldn’t help but smile at the thought of her big silver alien hiding behind the wooden screen. She expected him to burst out, for it to fall down and reveal him. “Is he kneeling down?”
    “No, I am not kneeling down; I am not quite ready to bend my knee in your presence, My Princess,” he said, the anger barely concealed in his voice. “Although my fists would very much like to pummel a certain Emissar’s head.”
    “Another day, perhaps. Let us be married, and then we can deal with the Emissars from a place of power.”
    “You think they will accept our marriage and let you rule?”
    “No.” She shook her head. “But if we do not marry, or something happens to disrupt the day, then the people will see it as an omen.”
    “Your people do like their omens, My Princess,” Rian interjected.
    “The Emissars are very good at using them at the most opportune moment.” Tallia stood next to the screen, and reached out to touch it, sure she could feel the faint buzz of electricity his tattoos gave off. “Please don’t fail me, Johar.”
    They were the most honest words she had ever said. She could not offer him anything other than uncertainty. Not even love. There was no way to know if they would make a good match or if they would prove to make a terrible husband and wife. All she could believe in were the words of a psychic witch, who might have been making the whole thing up, or using Tallia to further her own goals.
    “I will be there, Tallia,” he said simply. “But there is one thing…”
    “What? More money?” She was only half joking.
    “No. I need a shirt.”
    “Oh,” Rian said. “I have a shirt for you. And clean pants.”
    “There is nothing wrong with my pants,” he said, offended.
    Tallia laughed. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
    He sighed, and she was sure his hand touched the screen at the same place she did, and then he said, “Don’t let them hurt you, Tallia. Don’t let them beat you down. You are the princess.”
    “But I will never be the queen,” she said sadly. “I will have to fight them every day for the rest of my life until our son comes of age. If I conceive a son.”
    Before he could answer, she turned and walked away, wishing she had never gone to see Misha’Ha. She had dragged Johar into her mixed-up world, and she wasn’t sure that was fair.
    ***
    “This should be a happy day,” Rian said to her as she checked every last detail on Tallia’s dress was perfect and then began to work on her hair. She had chosen to wear it up, which she never usually did, preferring to let it hang down around her shoulders in its natural dark auburn waves, but today she wanted to look sophisticated, she wanted to look like a grown-up.
    “I am happy,” Tallia said. “But it’s not exactly how I dreamed my wedding day would be. Apart from no parents, well, no family at all at the ceremony, I will be surrounded by a group of people who wish me ill.”
    “Those people do not matter.” Rian twisted a strand of her hair and pinned it to the top of her head, before separating another strand and starting again.
    “Yes they do. They hold the fate of the planet and all its citizens in their hands.”
    “Are you sure?” Rian asked, glancing at Tallia’s face in the mirror. “As far as I am concerned, you are the princess, the rightful ruler.”
    “But you are just one person, Rian.”
    “But there are a lot of me out there in the town and the marketplace. And they tell the people in the other towns and other markets.”
    “Tell them what? That I am a spoilt girl who wants to play fairy-tale princess?”
    “No, that you are strong and you have us in your heart. I might not