Out of the Ashes (Maji 1)

“You’re going to have to explain that,” I said with a shake of my head. “Why do you want to get married straight away?”

“Because I fear the pain of my uva.”

“You’re what?”

Surkah gleefully laughed. “This has turned into a schooling lesson on the Maji way.”

The males chuckled while I waited for an answer.

“When a female Maji reaches adulthood, her uva activates. It means her body is now able to carry offspring.”

“Oh!” I said excitedly at finally understanding something. “You mean you’ll hit puberty? That means your body creates new hormones that help the growing body and enables a woman to bear children.”

“Then yes, my uva is to us what your puberty is to you. Does your puberty cause your body to hurt when you don’t share sex?”

I frowned. “Uh, no.”

“You’re lucky!” Surkah stated, her brows furrowed. “We females feel pain if we do not have sex after our uva activates. It is why our females are so sexually active and why our males have a high sex drive to be able to tend to our needs. Only pregnancy sates the uva.”

“So you’re telling me that when you and Mikoh get together, you will have sex … uh, share your furs, like horny animals every single day until he gets you pregnant? Pregnancy will be the only way to sate the uva?”

Bright purple bloomed on Surkah’s cheeks, and she dropped her head which earned a deep chuckle from Mikoh, but he said nothing as to not embarrass her further.

“That is not the wording I would use, but yes.”

“How many children would you bear if this is the case?”

I couldn’t imagine being in pain and the only way to make it go away was to have sex and get pregnant.

“I’m am the sixteenth child in my family,” Surkah said with a shrug. “But I know of a family with twenty offspring; originally twenty-three, but three of them died due to illness when they were infants.”

Wow.

“I am my mother’s last child. That is why Mikoh chose me. I am the only princess amongst our princes.”

Wait a minute.

I stared at Surkah. “You’re a princess? Like a real royal princess?”

She nodded.

I’m talking to a real-life freaking princess.

Surkah asked, “Are you a princess?”

I laughed. Hard.

“No, I am a commoner of my people … a peasant to some. Our royals lived behind big walls in a life of luxury. They have lived off the planet since the Great World War. No one knows which galaxy or planet they went to when they abandoned us.”

Surkah wouldn’t look me in the eye, but Mikoh and Kol would, but they almost glared at me, like I had said something I shouldn’t have about my royal family.

“Sera has informed us of the activities on Earth.”

“Who is Sera?”

They had mentioned the name several times.

“A human who has been with us many years. She has taught us about your people, but I must be honest, I don’t listen to her often. Therefore, I am fascinated with your explanation of your people and your ways. It sounds different because you have really experienced it.”

Oh.

I looked at the shipmaster. “So you’re a prince?”

He nodded.

I looked at Mikoh. “Are you important like them?”

His lips twitched. “No, I am the shipmaster’s jra when he travels.”

“His what?” I quizzed.

“There is no translation,” Mikoh replied, “but it’s a titled word for something you might call a protector or guard.”

“He is also his best friend,” Surkah informed me. “They are always together … like a mated pair.”

Both males hissed at Surkah, and it made her laugh.

“I will remember all your words when we’re mated,” Mikoh warned her.

She rolled her eyes. “Punishment for me means punishment for you, too.”

“I will endure it to teach you a lesson, young one.”

Surkah chuckled again, not bothered by Mikoh’s growl of annoyance.

“What does he mean?” I asked.

The longer this conversation went on, the more I found similarities between the Maji and humans, yet I didn’t know how to feel about it.

“He does not like my attitude because I talk back to him a lot.” Surkah grinned.

“You talk back to everyone a lot.” The shipmaster snorted. “Mother and father have spoiled you.”

“They like me best,” Surkah teased with a big cheesy smile.

Her brother laughed but didn’t disagree with her.

“Are you close to all your brothers?” I asked her, noticing the look of admiration her brother gave her.

“Of course.” Mikoh snorted and answered me instead of Surkah. “She is the princess, so they adore her. All the people adore her. She is precious to us.”

My lips twitched. “That’s really cute.”

Surkah blushed again. “I wish they would not fuss over me or treat me differently. It is why I like being out in space so much. My brother allows me free rein on his ship whereas back home, I’m inside a lot for safety.”

“For safety?”

“She is the lone princess to our royals,” Mikoh said, and his tone indicated he thought I was stupid. “Our disloyal Maji would take her without hesitation. Males outnumber our females ten to one. Our females are always protected, especially Surkah.”

“Because you’re a royal?” I asked her.

“Because my firstborn son will lead our people when my father steps aside or passes on to be with Thanas.”

I gaped at her. “What?”

“What?” she repeated and laughed at my expression.

“Well,” I began, “the firstborn son sired by the king and queen in the human royal family is the next leader.”

Surkah nodded. “I’m aware, but that is not the case for Maji. If no daughter is born, then the title of Revered Father goes to the firstborn son, but if a daughter is born, the title of Revered Father goes to her firstborn son then to his daughter’s firstborn son and so on. We have a long lifespan, so waiting for me to reach age and conceive is no issue. My son will likely reach my brother’s age or older before he takes the throne.”

I flicked my eyes to the shipmaster’s, noting he looked the same physical age as Mikoh—twenty-five, if even.

“How old are you?” I asked, shyly.

“Two hundred,” he answered.

Wow.

I looked at Surkah. “That is why you can only have sex with your intended? In case a random male got you pregnant?”

Surkah nodded.

I looked at Mikoh. “Is that why you asked for her to be your intended? So your son would eventually lead your people?”

He narrowed his eyes at me and growled, but he relaxed when the shipmaster cut him a look and muttered something to him that I couldn’t hear.

“It is my honour to be Surkah’s intended. To be considered, let alone be granted permission by her father and have the approval of all her brothers, is the greatest compliment any male could give me. They’re confident in my abilities as a warrior to protect her and as a male to care and provide for her and our offspring. There is no greater honour that could have been bestowed upon me.”

Aww.

“Why’d you bicker with her then?” I questioned.

Mikoh grunted. “Because she has a big mouth and annoys me just to amuse herself. She has done so since her tenth year.”

Surkah smiled, not denying the charges against her.

“Do you annoy all males?” I asked her, grinning too.

I hoped they thought all my questions and now my grinning meant I was relaxing around them. I needed them not to be wary of me; I’d never escape otherwise.

Surkah snorted. “No, Mikoh would kill them.”

“Why?” I asked, shocked.

“Because she is mine,” he growled. “If any male that wasn?

?t her father or brothers spoke to her, I’d reach the edge in seconds.”

“The edge of what?” I asked.

“Of sanity,” Mikoh replied, curtly.

I looked at Surkah, my brows raised in question.

“The edge is a term we use when a Maji has gone passed the point of rational thinking and is acting on instinct alone.”

Riigghhhttttt.