Night of the Zandians (Zandian Brides 1)

“I’m going to run a scan,” he says. “Bayla, will you bring me the hand sono?”

His mate provides a small, handheld scanner, and he presses it to my belly. “You may have a benign cyst,” he explains. “If you do, it is easily treated.”

He presses a button and the device beeps. It’s something I’ve used as a medic; sometimes we needed to assess the deep tissue damage to know if there were nicks to internal organs before providing attention. I never expected one to be used on me.

The machine beeps again. “Interesting,” he repeats, and frowns.

My brain is so numb I don’t even care to ask what is so interesting. I assume he will tell me, in due time.

“Why don’t you get dressed,” he says slowly, and tilts his head at Bayla. “I’m going to go process this and then I’ll come back to discuss your exam.”

“Thank you.” The words are ridiculous, and after they leave the room, I pull on my clothes and stand up, and cross my arms, trying not to feel too much like a prisoner awaiting sentence. What could be worse than a lying criminal? A lying criminal who can’t have babies, and on top of that is ill, needing special attention from the doctor and nurse, who have much better things to do.

Mother Earth. Yes, cysts are not that complicated to handle. But I’ve already caused enough trouble.

While I’m waiting, King Zander, himself, enters.

I jump down from the examination table where I’ve perched and curtsy. I didn’t expect to see him here. My heart pounds, wondering if he’s decided what to do with me.

“Are you well?” he asks, his gaze probing.

“Well enough to talk to you, my lord,” I reply. “And apologize. I am sorry that I was not honest about my reproductive status. I knew I could not have young, and yet I allowed—I mated Tarren, Jax, and Ronan. And I didn’t tell them, either.” I swallow hard. “It was wrong. I hope I have done enough good for the planet that I may stay and help where I can.”

He gazes at me. “What did you think I would do?”

I shake my head. “Send me away to Jesel? Or another place? I don’t know. I thought maybe you wouldn't want me here. I don’t think I deserve to be sent back to the Ocretions. They will kill me.” My voice falters.

King Zander sighs. “I have failed.”

“No! Nothing I did was your fault.” Terror rises; I’m sure he’s going to say he failed by not recognizing my flaws, by allowing me to enter the program as a mate.

“I have failed in that I was not clear. The program started so quickly, and we did not think through all of the possible repercussions and possibilities.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Riya, I would not have sent you away for being barren.” His voice is patient. “As a freed slave, we owe you a life here. And that is true regardless of whether you can bear young.”

My mouth drops open. “But you gave the speech about us being pioneers, making sacrifices. That we were the ones who would repopulate.”

“All of that is true. But not every single individual will be able to participate in the exact same way. There will be some females who can’t bear young. There may be some Zandians who do not choose to or cannot mate. They can help in other ways, as you suggested. We started the program so fast, with so much exuberance, but not every detail was worked out. In the future, I will undertake to fix the gaps. No, I would not have sent you away for that.”

There’s a “but” in his voice that chills me. “But you’ll send me away for… lying? Deception?”

“Deception has no place here,” he says, his voice firm. “It is a cancer to a new population

that needs to trust each other to grow.”

“So… where am I going, then?” I thought I didn’t care, but I do. My eyes water and panic grips me. “If you give me another chance, I swear I will never be dishonest again. I will dedicate my life to helping this planet survive.”

“I will probably remand you to your mates for punishment,” he says mildly. “If they wish to keep you.”

I nearly burst into tears then, because I know my mates won’t want me back. They hate liars. They made that perfectly clear numerous times.

The door glides open, and there are my mates: Tarren, Jax, and Ronan. I don’t know who’s more surprised, me or King Zander, but Tarren advances, his eyes glittering and roars, “She’s not going anywhere. By the one true star, I swear, if you try to hurt her or send her away from Zandia, I will…”

“You will stop right now.” King Zander puts up his hand, and Tarren growls, but stops in his tracks, breathing hard, Jax and Ronan flanking him. All three of my mates have expressions of determination on their faces, and I’m so happy to see them that I almost want to fly. Except that they’ll never forgive me for my deception. “I am not sending her away. I was never going to do that. We are merely having a discussion about honesty and trust.”

“There are things you don’t know about her,” says Jax, his voice patient but firm and I see an iron will in him that matches the strength of Tarren. “She has been through unspeakable things, and we forgive her for lying to us.”