Mastered by the Zandians (Zandian Brides 3)

She lifts one shoulder. “I’m told it’s necessary when meeting you, until further notice.” Unlike Bayla, who was utterly confident around me, this human seems skittish. I can see it in the tension in her shoulders, the way she keeps darting her eyes back to the guard. But she’s also curious about me.

“I won’t hurt you. Or him.” I sit down, my head starting to ache, just behind my eyeballs. “So please, tell me what it is you came to say.”

“All right.” She smooths her flowing skirt and sits down carefully, keeping her eyes on me. “So, welcome to Zandia.”

I laugh. Because crying wouldn’t help anything.

She swallows. “I understand how you feel.”

“I really doubt that you do.” I cross my arms and swing one foot.

“I wasn’t happy to be here at first, either. Now I love it.” She leans forward. “It’s a good life here. And you better not mess things up for us.” She’s scowling hard.

“Mess things up?” I raise my eyebrows.

“We heard about your skills.” She stares at me. “How you fight. How you fly. I know you want to leave; we all did, at first. The difference is that you might be able to do it. And that scares me, a little. Because what we’ve built here together is something that deserves to last.”

“If one being can mess up a whole planet, said planet must not be as powerful as it thought. Maybe it needs to be torn down, so it can rebuild stronger.”

“Or maybe we all need to work together to ensure a strong future.” She’s not scared anymore.

“As you can see, I’m under guard, and I understand I’ll be locked in here. So chances are I won’t be wreaking any havoc in the immediate future.”

“But I can see it inside you, waiting to burst out.” She taps her chest.

“You must have amazing eyesight.”

“You must have an amazing story.”

I wasn’t expecting that from her, and I frown in surprise. “What?”

“To do what you did. Do. You must be a really incredible being.”

I blink. Nobody has said that to me before, and even though she’s angry at me, her sincerity shows through. “I…do not think in such terms. I merely think about my goals, and make plans to get there.” I choose my words carefully. “And I assume you have a non-ordinary life as well.”

“Any human being has a non-ordinary life.”

She pulls a comms device from her satchel. Pushes a button and holographic images flicker to life. “Look.”

She hands me the device.

“What am I supposed to see?” But my eyes catch on the first graphic. I catch my breath. “Oh, stars.” It’s a group of at least twenty human women together. And unlike other groups I’ve seen, these being are smiling. Strong. Healthy. Happy. And some of them are holding babies in their arms.

I spin the holo. “Are these Zandian babies?”

“No. They’re human-Zandian babies.” Her voice swells with pride. “Keep looking.”

I scroll through.

She gets out of her chair and comes to stand by my shoulder, leaning over to narrate. I smell her scent, light and floral. Clean. “That female is Janette. she works with Dr. Daneth and develops medicines for our planet. Some of her creations are better than the most advanced salves you can get on the open market from Zellion.”

I whistle. “Zellion is known for its medical technology.”

“Yes.” She swipes. “This is Angela. She does mechanics and helped create the newest cloaking system. She’s an equal partner with the Zandian designers. Super smart.” She flashes up a picture of a craft.

“Oh, stars.” My fingers itch to get behind the controls and fly it. “That’s a dream.”

I want to enlarge it to examine details, but she leans in and swipes for me. “This is a picture of the farming homestead run by Betha. Look at the produce she grows! Better than the stuff you can get from Allurex.”