“WHY IS MY STUFF HERE?” Mara stomped her foot.
“On the captain’s orders, I suppose.” I folded my arms across my chest, standing in front of her in our two-bedroom suite.
The rooms on the crozan were real, with proper walls and ceilings, though every surface inside was painted with luscious green landscapes and white puffy clouds.
To Mara’s displeasure, Xavran hadn’t taken her on a private tour of the crozan. He and his Second-in-Command had just shown us how to find the swimming pool, then taken us to our rooms before both were called away to deal with some technical issue I didn’t even pretend to understand.
The kids’ suite was located between Xavran’s and ours. All three were on one of the upper levels of this huge machine.
“But I’m his wife!” Mara raged. “I’m supposed to be staying with my husband.”
I gasped dramatically, clutching the imaginary pearls on my neck. “What? I can’t believe it. Is Mara Takolsky considering sharing a room with the ugly alien truck driver?”
“Oh, stop mocking me.” She waved me off with a snarl. “Fine, I’ll admit it. I might’ve misjudged him. A little. So what if he’s ugly?” She strolled across the room. “It can still be romantic between us. It’s like Beauty and the Beast. The Beast will finally get his Beauty.”
I snorted, rolling my eyes.
“And what makes you think ‘the Beast’ would want to have anything to do with ‘the Beauty,’ especially after the way she’s been treating him?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to him.” She sounded completely unconcerned. “One night with me, and he’ll forget everything, including his own name.” She surveyed the pile of her bags and suitcases in the middle of the living area of the suite. “I just need to get someone to move my things. The captain’s suite is so much nicer than this one.”
She looked determined, but I wasn’t worried about her seducing Xavran. He wouldn’t go for it, anyway.
Or would he?
I had no real claim on him. After all, she was his lawfully wedded wife, whether I liked it or not.
“Mara...” I took a step her way, clasping my hands together tightly.
“What?” She glanced up from the pile of her stuff. “If it’s about you sleeping with my husband, then don’t worry about it. I forgive you.”
“Thanks,” I replied, sarcastically. “It’s very generous of you, though we haven’t really slept together yet.”
“Then what’s the matter?” She shrugged impatiently.
“I think... I... Well, I really care about Xavran. And I believe he likes me too. It’s not just about sex between us.”
“So?” Obviously, our feelings didn’t mean much to her.
“He is not one of those men you were seeing in New York. I don’t want you using him.”
“Oh, is that what this is about?” She squinted at me. “You don’t want me to get all the attention as the captain’s wife. You heard what First Officer Qhax told me. There are only a few hundred of these...um, vehicles in the entire Universe. It’s a tremendous honor to operate one of these. It takes years to become the captain of one, and it pays a lot of money. This alien is rich.”
Money and power had always been Mara’s aphrodisiacs. Whatever repulsion she’d held for Xavran disappeared instantly the moment she realized her “farmer” husband who didn’t even have a “farm” was indeed a highly esteemed captain of an extremely sophisticated piece of equipment with hundreds of people under his command.
The “alien” she was talking about, however, had been playing a major role in my dreams lately. I’d already grown to think of him as my Xavran.
“He is not just some rich dude, Mara. You can’t take advantage of him.” I heaved a sigh. “He deserves better.”
“Better? And who do you think is better than me? You?” She slid a mocking glance down my figure. “Sweetie, you couldn’t hold on to a man even if your life depended on it. It’s not your fault, of course. I’m just a better version of you, in every way. When men have a choice, they prefer me.”
Having self-confidence was admirable. However, what Mara had was arrogance that clearly bordered on egotism.
I shook my head. “You’re delirious. Really.”
“Am I?” She jerked her chin up. “You’ve never been anything but my substitute. Tom started dating you only after I’d turned him down. And he came back to me, the moment I let him—” She bit her lip, stopping herself, but she’d already said enough.
Understanding sliced through me, cutting painfully sharp.
“What do you mean ‘he came back?’ When?” Old suspicions I’d never wished to believe rose to the surface, marring my past like black ink spreading through water. “What did you and Tom do behind my back, Mara?”
Shifting her eyes to the side, she rested her hands on her hips.
“Tom asked me to marry him first. I said no.”
“You declined his marriage proposal, but then allowed him to ‘come back?’” I put air quotes around these two words with my fingers. “Why?” I demanded. I needed to hear it from her. “Did you sleep with Tom even after our wedding?”
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, making me wish I could slap her. And maybe I should have. She certainly deserved it.
“What could I do? Tom never stopped wanting me,” she said. “It’s like I said, Susanna, you’ve always been just a substitute—someone who looked like me. The next best thing.”
Why did her words hurt so much?
I’d long learned what kind of man Tom was. Nothing should be a surprise now.
Then I realized the reason.
It wasn’t about Tom or any other man. It was about Mara and my relationship with her. It had always been shaky, but now it was simply no longer possible.
Tom had turned out to be an asshole. But when I’d married him, I loved him. Mara knew that. Yet she still betrayed me, behind my back. It felt like I had just lost my sister, the last of my family.
“Why are you upset?” she asked casually. “I slept with your husband, you slept with mine. We’re even, now.”
Did she really think it was the same?
“Mara...” My voice broke, and I swallowed a painful lump in my throat. “I didn’t break your heart by falling for Xavran. Not even close. But you’ve just broken mine.”
She huffed. “Oh, you’re just being overly dramatic.”
I fisted my hands to stop them from trembling. It didn’t help much as my entire body was shaking now.
“I want you out of my life,” I said quietly, even as inside I felt like screaming. “And stay away from Xavran.”
She raised her head in challenge. “Why would I? For all intents and purposes, we’re married.”
I shook my head. “You can’t do it now. It’s not fair.”
“Why not? I can and I will.” She propped her hands on her hips. “He is my husband, and I wish to keep him.” She shrugged. “For now, anyway.”
“You listen to me.” I pointed a finger at her. “You can’t use him for whatever plans you may have brewing in your head. I won’t let him become one of those men you’ve tossed aside once they’d served their purpose—”
“You have absolutely no right to tell me what to do.”
That was true. Her marriage to Xavran might be fake, but I had no part of it, whatsoever. I had no legal right to do anything.
I felt helpless.
“You don’t care about Xavran,” I said, “not even a tiny bit. You never wanted him, not until you came here.”
“It doesn’t matter what I wanted before,” she retorted. “I want him now. He’s my husband. So, you’re the one who has to stay away.”
“No, Mara, please don’t use him,” I begged. “You’ll hurt him...”
“Susanna!” Someone pounded on the door of our suite, Illal, by the sound of it. “We’re ready!”
Xilvo shoved the door open, running in. “Let’s go swimming!”
My heart still thundered wildly in my chest. Anger and frustration coursed through me.
I held my sister’s stare. “Mara, please don’t do anything you may regret.”
A self-assured smile spread across her face. “I don’t regret anything I do. Ever.”