Mikoh is impressed by me?
He laughed gruffly. “I’m always asking for you to attack me.”
“You’re being improper.”
“I’d say my thoughts for you are surely proper, my intended.”
“Step aside, you insufferable male.”
Mikoh laughed merrily but did as requested. Surkah entered the room, wearing the same navy uniform she wore the last time I saw her. She smiled when she saw I was awake, and she crossed the room to the side of my bed.
“Your colour has returned to your face.”
Memories flashed through my mind.
I felt my cheeks stain with heat. “Yeah, um, sorry about the whole fainting thing.”
Normally, I prided myself on how tough I was, but even I could relent to my body shutting down in the situation I was in. Stress could do crazy things to a person, but to me, it rendered me unconscious.
“Do not apologise; it is my brother, and Mikoh, who should apologise to you for fighting in front of you when they know you are not accustomed to the Maji way… and weak from blood loss.”
I waved my hand. “It’s okay.”
It wasn’t okay at all. It still totally freaked me out, but I wasn’t about to tell the Maji that.
“It’s not,” Surkah said with a huff. “We want humans to feel safe with us, and their behaviour did the opposite of that.”
I looked at Mikoh when he sighed from the doorway.
“Surkah’s right. I apologise.”
Surkah spun to face him. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me,” Mikoh said with a roll of his eyes.
“I did.” Surkah nodded. “But I want to hear you say it again.”
“Aggravating female,” he grumbled before he turned and left the room.
Surkah turned back to me as the door closed, and she had a big smile on her face.
“That felt good. He has never once admitted that I am right about something.”
I snorted.
“How are you feeling physically?” she asked as her eyes scanned over me.
“Great,” I replied. “I feel well rested for the first time in a long time.”
“Are you hungry?”
As if on cue, my stomach rumbled in response, and Surkah chuckled.
“I wanted to have food brought to this room, but the shipmaster would like for you to be immersed into the population aboard the Ebony, so you aren’t confined. And as you’re not wounded any longer, you will no longer need to stay in the medical bay.”
My heart jumped, but I made sure to keep my expression worried instead of eager. I didn’t need Surkah suspecting that I was planning to escape the second I got a weapon and the chance presented itself. Getting out of the medical room would surely open me up to many chances.
“Um,” I said unsurely. “I don’t know.”
Being in a room full of humans was not something I ever wanted to be a part of, but being in a room full of humans and Maji even more so. There was no way I could escape if there were eyes all around me. Especially Maji eyes. They didn’t seem to miss a thing, and I hated that.
Surkah placed her hand on my shoulder. “I will not let anyone harm you, Nova.”
I didn’t trust Surkah. I knew she and the other Maji were up to something, but I felt conflicted because she didn’t seem to be malicious. My gut told me she was the genuine female she appeared to be, but I couldn’t overlook that she and the other Maji were keeping something from me.
“Okay,” I said softly.
“Oh, and I want you to know that I disagree with what Mikoh said yesterday. Your name is beautiful.”
My lips twitched. “You’re very sweet, thank you.”
“He can be very… difficult to deal with.”
“I’m sure you’re putting that mildly,” I deadpanned.
“Maji is a male dominant race, so it’s ingrained in them to be stubborn I guess.”
“I kind of feel bad for you since you have to marry him.”
“Do not feel bad. Mikoh is a dominant male, but a male’s mate is really the Maji who is in charge. When Mikoh and I mate, he will do everything in his power to see that I am happy and he will grovel when I am not. If he makes a decision I am not happy with, he would only do it once it’s for our family’s best interest.”
That drew a surprised laugh out of me. “That sounds like human men, the grovelling part anyway.”
Surkah smirked. “Males will use mating as a way to make us forgive them. We love touching one another and need sex often, so when a female is upset with her mate, he will go to great lengths to be close to her and be sweet and gentle. Females have so much power over her mate; she is his heart, so he will do just about anything for her.”
My heart fluttered.
“That’s romantic,” I said. “In a weird, sexy kind of way.”
Surkah giggled. “I was once told a story by my eldest brother, Ryla, that I think you would enjoy. Around forty-two years ago, my father greatly upset my mother because he missed a planned meal with her. It was the four-hundredth year since their mating, and he missed it. Ryla told me she cried a lot, and it distraught him and my other brothers who wanted to beat my father for bringing her pain. When he got home, and he realised the day, he went almost as white as your skin. He tried to make it right, but Mother refused to talk to him for three whole weeks. She withheld sex from him—even though she needed sex for release so she wouldn’t feel discomfort, she somehow stayed strong. My father took it as a respected male and waited for her permission to touch her, but still, she refused. The final straw for my father was when my mother smiled at other males during the monthly banquet meal between the royals and the Guard. He dropped to his knees before her in the great hall, in front of everyone, and begged her forgiveness because her smiles were only meant for him, and he hated that another could receive them. He poured out his heart to her and told her there was no other female he would rather spend all his days with. They conceived me that very night.”
I smiled widely. “I like that story.”
“Me too; it reminds me that when I want to throttle Mikoh, he will treat me like that too. Soon enough, I will become his whole life, and he will become mine.”
I eyed Surkah. “I know he is your intended and has been forever, but do you want him to be?”
She didn’t reply to me with words, but instead, she blushed, and that was a clear answer to me.
“You do!” I gasped. “You like him.”
Her blush darkened.
“Do not tell him,” she pleaded in a hushed whisper. “He would never let me forget it.”
“I won’t say a word.” I beamed.
“Do you think he is attractive?” she asked then quickly added, “I will not be angry with your answer.”
The thought of the Maji being attractive never crossed my mind, but I didn’t think of Mikoh when I thought of what I found attractive in a Maji. I was thinking of Kol with his tall, muscular body, his strong jaw, high cheekbones, plump lips, and his large hypnotising violet eyes. Yeah, the Maji was an attractive species, and Kol was hotter in ways I never knew were possible.
“I think he is very attractive,” I said to Surkah, switching my thoughts to Mikoh, “but his attitude needs a lot of work.”
Surkah laughed merrily. “I tell him that often. He is too serious.”
“And sarcastic.”
Surkah nodded, smiling wide.
“I really like this,” she told me. “I have been waiting for my brothers to mate so I could have a sister-in-mate to talk to. It can get very tiresome in a family full of males.”
“I haven’t had anyone to really talk to since my father died, but before my family passed away, I was surrounded by men, so I understand how you feel.”