An Aldraian woman with a high, dark-brown ponytail smiled at us. “Welcome to our planet. I hope you like it here.”
“Thank you.” Mara gave her a polite half-smile.
“It’s so beautiful,” I said, sweeping the green hills around us with another appreciative glance.
“It is,” Alcus Hecear agreed. “Aldrai is a gorgeous planet. Its people have been working hard on making it so.”
Councilor Vrux added, “If you need anything at all, you can contact me either directly or through Captain Rax.” She gestured at a man who’d been watching us from a distance.
He stepped forward. This one was possibly the biggest one of them all. I had to tilt my head back to see his face as he approached.
“Allow me to introduce your husband in person, Madam Rax,” Alcus Hecear announced in a formal tone. “Captain Xavran Rax.”
“Oh...” Mara stared at the Aldraian through her sunglasses.
I did too.
With skin the color of pearl-gray granite, he looked like a golem carved from a piece of a mountain. Several horns graced his head, forming a sort of crown. His eyes were dark, almost black, hiding his expression as effectively as our sunglasses did.
“Well, hi.” Mara finally found her words. “How do you do?”
“I’m well, thank you.” He tipped his head swaying his crown of horns.
“Um, hi...” was all I could manage to say.
There was strength in his appearance, a power I wished I could lean into. Like he would rip off the heads of anyone who’d dare to wrong his loved ones. It made me want to inch closer to him, for safety...
I blinked, shaking off the out-of-place fantasy.
The captain was a large man. That was all I really knew about him so far.
He was dressed casually, in a tan-colored shirt with leather buckles on the shoulders and on the sides, a pair of dark-brown pants, and light shoes. A pair of beige bracers with rows of bumps on the back enclosed his forearms.
“This couldn’t possibly be the entire welcoming crowd.” Mara gestured at about a dozen Aldraians meeting us. “Where is the main ceremony taking place?”
The captain rolled back his massive shoulders decorated with clusters of short horns and bumps. “I requested no ceremony.”
Mara’s face fell, her expectant expression leaving it. “No ceremony? But...”
Dressed in her finest, Mara was quite a sight. She could easily grace covers of any high fashion magazine on Earth. I understood her disappointment at not being able to show it all off to a larger crowd.
“There’s no time for that nonsense,” the captain said gruffly. “We need to get back before the kids come home from school.”
“Oh, right... The kids.” She sighed, then added softly for only me to hear, “How banal and prosaic.”
He turned to face me next. “Greetings, Madam Riley.”
I tried not to fidget under the gaze of his dark eyes. “Just Susanna, please. You can call me by my first name if you wish.”
“Thanks,” he replied rather flatly.
Mara pursed her lips, obviously displeased about missing out on the party she believed she was owed.
“My aircraft is that way.” The captain gestured to the left with a hand the size of a shovel.
“You have a plane?” Mara’s voice lifted with obvious interest. Maybe not all was lost for her with this “farmer.” “Do you own a jet?”
“A jet?” With a brief nod to the Voranian and the Aldraians, the captain headed down a cobblestone path toward a tall hedge to the left.
Mara trotted after him. “Well, what do you call a private airplane here?”
I followed them.
“An aircraft,” he repeated. “I have two. One is for me. One for my nanny.”
“Me?” My mouth fell open. Why did a nanny need a private jet?
Mara stopped in her tracks suddenly. “Hey! What about our things? Our luggage?”
The captain didn’t slow down, leaving me unsure whether to remain with her or keep walking with him.
He glanced back at us over his shoulder.
“The luggage from your cabin has already been loaded into my aircraft. Three suitcases.” He lifted a hand with three long thick fingers outstretched.
“Just three?” She stomped her foot.
He stopped, turning around. “Are there more?”
“Of course there are more!” She threw her hands up in the air. “I came here for a year, not a weekend.”
He lifted one heavy eyebrow ridge. “It’ll have to be delivered later, then. I’ve no space for more.”
“Not enough space?” she retorted. “What kind of jet is it?”
His broad chest rose with a deep breath. I wondered if he was counting in his head to calm down before speaking. That was what I often did when dealing with Mara or with cranky customers.
“I never said I have a jet, whatever that word means to you,” he said slowly. “I have a personal aircraft with limited cargo space and no time to unload any more luggage. It’ll have to be delivered later.”
His argument was valid. Sadly, Mara had never been one to respond to the voice of reason.
“When?” She wouldn’t give up.
This time, however, her tantrums appeared to be no match for the captain’s stubbornness. He calmly turned around and proceeded down the path.
“Later,” he tossed over his shoulder. “You’ll have to make do with what you have.”
Mara’s chest rose and fell rapidly, her hands fisted at her sides. Clearly, she was not used to this attitude from men. I expected her to yell at him, but maneuvering the cobblestone path in her stiletto heels stole her concentration for a moment. Cobblestones never went well with high heels.
The captain moved fast, pumping those thick, muscular legs of his. Mara and I had a hard time keeping up.
“Is there a problem?” He glanced over his shoulder to see what was holding us back.
Shifting his gaze down to our shoes, he frowned, but slowed down enough for us to catch up.
We turned around the hedge, entering a field of colorful objects parked in neat rows. They looked like large birds with their wings folded. As we approached one, I realized it was a vehicle with a glass cabin in the front.
The captain pressed a button on one of his arm bracers, and a glass panel slid open on the side of the green-yellow-and-purple vehicle right in front of us.
“These are so pretty—” Gaping at the colorful aircraft, I lost focus on the cobblestones. My heel slid, getting trapped in a gap. Knocked off balance, I lurched forward, flailing my arms.
With a curse under his breath, the captain grabbed me around my waist, saving me from falling on my face.
“What are those stupid things you’re wearing on your feet?” he grumped, his huge arm clamped around me from behind. “We’ll never get out of here at this rate.”
He lifted me off my feet.
“Oh!” I made a choked sound, too shocked to protest.
He heaved me under his arm, my shoe dangling from my toes.
“Here.” He offered his other hand to Mara. “Hold on to me.”
Wide-eyed, she took one look at me hanging over his arm as if I were no heavier than a cat and didn’t argue. She silently grabbed onto his other hand for support and trotted alongside the captain toward his vehicle.
“You’ll get in here.” He lightly shoved her toward the open side panel, pointing at the back seat next to our suitcases piled inside on top of each other.
Then he carried me to the other side and opened the panel there. “And you go in here.” He deposited me into the cushy seat inside, then climbed into the driver’s seat next to me. “We’ll be home in less than two hours. Buckle your seatbelts, ladies.”