“No, not really.” Alex deadpanned, shaking his head slowly. “I don’t particularly care what people are saying behind my back.”
Eleya gave him a narrow look, her ears and antennae pressing down against her head with an exasperated growl. “You may not have before, but you are no longer who you were, young prince. What others think is far more useful than you yet understand and it is important that you learn that.”
He thought he understood what Eleya was getting at, if not a little insulted by the way she said it. She wasn’t wrong, though. He wasn’t just some guy anymore. Not here, anyway. Didn’t make him feel any different. “Fine, I’ll listen. Happy?”
“No. I do not yet know how well you will do.” She touched his arm, urging him towards the open hallway. “But your promise is sufficient for now.”
“All right.” Alex shrugged and waited until he had turned away to roll his eyes. He got that it probably was important, knowing what people thought about him. Getting into that mindset was a different problem altogether. All these years he’d gone without really giving a damn about other people’s opinions of him. Strangers, at least. He cared about what his friends and family thought, but there was one person in that dining room who fit the bill there.
Eleya counted, as well, but only because she was... Well. She was a threat, wasn’t she? They weren’t enemies, but he hadn’t forgotten the harm she had all but promised Carbon before he explained just how bad an idea sending her back to her previous job would be. That was before even dipping into the disregard she had for him, willing to pick through his mind with force for her answers.
“Sir.” Tashen looked more apprehensive than the first time Alex had met him, sucking in a breath when he noticed that eye-roll and not exhaling it as he watched the Human’s face pull into a scowl. “Please, wait at the end of the hall, you will be announced-”
“Carbon explained it to me already, thank you. It’s good to see you again, Tashen.” Alex cleared his mind and smiled, clapping him on the shoulder. He would have tried to shake Tashen’s hand too, if not for the massive height difference right now. Was it the princely thing to do? No. Would it have been appreciated anyway? Absolutely not. “Looks like you’re healing up well. They use the mediboard on you?”
As predicted, Tashen was taken aback by that overt familiarity. He recovered quickly, giving him a reserved nod. “I am... glad to be back. Yes, sir. They did use it, thank you for enquiring.”
“Good.” Alex nodded and continued on his way. He wasn’t sure why he liked Tashen. The short Tsla’o had been standoffish when they’d previously met, but had still helped him - albeit by Eleya’s orders. Could just be that it was nice to have someone more uneasy around.
A soldier at the end of the hall nodded at him as he drew to a stop before a heavy purple curtain. She leaned into the curtain and whispered through it, someone on the other side loudly announcing him a moment later: Lord Alex Sorenson, Crown Prince. The soldier then reached across the curtain and pulled it open for him.
Alex was only dimly aware that Lord was actually part of his title now. He hadn’t had any title a couple of days ago, save for what was printed on his Navy ID, so he felt like that was within the window for getting used to such things. Still, he stepped through the portal and bowed as he had been instructed, his face serious despite his surprise. The room beyond was not that different from the conference room. The walls were a more vibrant shade of red and largely hidden by floor to ceiling tapestries, those framed with curtains that matched the green of his clothing. The table was a wide, low oval, the surface dark and glossy with place settings that seemed familiar at first glance. There were about thirty people already seated around it, of which he was sure he recognized four, at most.
About half of them had been watching the entry when he came in, and there were a few distant murmurs of surprise that rapidly turned everyone’s attention to him. He was supposed to wait three or five seconds, and it was just long enough for everyone to register that he was towering over the soldier beside him before he turned towards the only empty space on the table.
There were only two spaces open at the far end. The walk was five seconds, if it was even that, but being the focus of attention to the entire room made it seem like hours. Carbon was already seated, the tails of her finery laid out behind her on the floor. Alex and the weird gait his boots required took a path that stayed closer to the wall so he wouldn’t have to step over that, or go around her, both of which were disrespectful. There was one pillow to sit on left before the end of the table, which was nicely padded but left him too far off the ground to slide his massive alien legs under the table. He scooted it out from under himself and slid the cushion under the wide table where it would hopefully stay out of the way before situating himself at the appropriate distance from the edge of the dark lacquered wood and straightened the back flap of his outfit, ensuring that it was unfurled on the floor behind him like Carbon had done, the front flap folded neatly in his lap.
Carbon looked him over as he did all that, giving him a little nod as he finally settled in. “Where is your translator?” She spoke very quietly, just loud enough for him to hear her over all the conversations that had resumed once he had taken his place.
“Give you one guess.” Alex matched her volume as his eyes darted back to the curtain with the soldier beside it. His calves were on fire and he wanted to complain about it so bad, but bit his tongue. Sure, he was being shown off and pressed into service as an idiot spy. Right now he was more concerned with at least not being an embarrassment for Carbon.
She sighed and shook her head very slightly. Carbon barely moved her lips as she spoke, teeth held tight together. “Of course. We cannot just have a nice dinner, there must always be subterfuge.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Why so surprised?” Had she left the sword back at the cabin? Alex was sure he’d seen it sitting on the table with the books before they left. He almost started to reach for the narrow glass of water out in front of his place setting but stopped himself when he noticed that no one else had touched theirs. Have to wait for everything. “I barely know her and finding out she’s got a scheme feels like par for the course.”
Carbon glanced at him with a very subdued version of the look she has when he uses a phrase she doesn’t know, but at least she was distracted by that. Before he could explain, their conversation was cut short by the guard announcing the Empress.
Eleya looked entirely comfortable with the room watching her. She moved with well practiced poise before settling down on Alex’s right, at the head of the table. When she spoke, it was with an easy grace that seemed rare in any personal interaction with her. “Thank you all for attending. I am pleased to have the young prince here with us, now that he has had time to fully recover from his grave wound.”
She gave Alex a nod and without looking he felt the room watching him again. Much to his relief and before he could do anything stupid, she gestured to Carbon. “The young princess, his bride, my dearest niece also graces us this evening. A pair forged in desperate times to bring enduring strength to the Empire.”
Eleya turned her attention to Colonel Lhenan and the Sergeant. “I am sure many of you have not yet met these two soldiers. One a lifelong member of our military, the other just recently answering the call in the most difficult of times. Given their experience working with Humans, they will be heavily involved with the leadership team overseeing operations for the ongoing exploration of the alien artifact discovered by these newly entwined.”
Alex was mindful of where his attention should be during the toast, which was to say on the one giving it. Still, he caught a little movement out the corner of his eye and spotted a few glances being exchanged. He had no idea what part of Eleya’s statement caused that or if they were just wondering when she’d stop talking. He was hoping she’d stop talking, anyway, they had more of a snack instead of lunch and he was hungry. This reaffirmed his assumption that he was going to be incredibly bad at espionage.
Mercifully, she did stop.
Then she looked at him.
Oh fuck, she actually wants him to do a toast too? How had Carbon said it works? The host says theirs and then others can add to it. Right. This had been in their review. Maybe he could just-
Eleya’s eyes narrowed just a touch. Someone sitting further down the table wouldn’t have even been able to see it. But Alex sure could.
Shit. Was the most important thing first or last? They hadn’t talked about that.
Fuck it. Only one thing, then.
“I would just like to thank my wife, my beloved.” He turned, glancing her way with a warm smile that came easily to him. “For saving me when I was little more than a stranger, and the compassion you show when I am difficult. For welcoming me into your life, and allowing me to see a future I could never have imagined otherwise.”
He thought it was a bit flowery, but it got to the heart of the matter. Carbon smiled back at him with a hint of a blush, so mission accomplished as far as he was concerned. Hopefully it translated well for everyone else.
Carbon picked up a moment later, speaking in Tsla. “To you, dearest husband. For meeting me in trying times and still seeking out my truth. For standing to every challenge as though it were already a victory. For taking a step where others would fear to tread. For the honor that comes easily to you, and for binding our fates.”
She paused for half a second, looking to Eleya. “And to you, dearest aunt, for words I have long wished to hear.”
Hers was better, and he had the distinct feeling that she hadn’t just come up with it in a panic on the fly. He smiled at her and the Colonel added his own, much more brief addition to the toast before Alex could embarrass himself by talking out of turn.
“To the enduring strength of the Empire.”
They went down one side of the table and then back up the other after that. Most of them kept it short and very pro-Empire, which made sense sitting at the table of the Empress. A few even added in some form of sucking up to Eleya directly.
He distinctly noted three that wished Carbon and himself well in their marriage. They would be allowed to live. Alex fought back a smirk as he entertained that absurdly megalomaniacal thought before discarding it. That was three people who at least recognized them. They considered their marriage positive enough to comment on. Maybe he could schmooze his way to a fourth and fifth by the end of the night.
Once the last words had been spoken, a gesture from Eleya brought a dozen servers out of the woodwork. They appeared from passages hidden behind several tapestries that decorated the walls. The first wave was just wine, the server filling a pair of short glasses and setting the crystal decanter between Alex and Carbon before disappearing.
A second wave brought a shallow corrugated plate with an odd, palm-sized bowl perched on top, and an array of small crab legs arranged around it. Steam wafted from the fresh green soup within. It smelled like coriander, warm and savory. Still, he waited, trying to look casual while watching Eleya out of the corner of his eye. “So, what is this?”
“Soup.” Just a hint of humor in her voice.
He glanced over at Carbon, a sly smile on her face again. At least she was having a bit of fun. “I figured. What kind of soup? I mean, obviously it's crab based.” He didn't even know they had crab. Crab adjacent. It made sense, though. It was just a sea bug, and he had recently found out they did seafood.
“It is a rustic style forest spider soup, served in the carapace.”
Alex looked down at the unevenly shaped bowl in front of him and then over at Carbon’s. A faint brown-red pattern covering the side of the bowl resolved into stripes and then he noticed the tiny hairs that speckled it. “This is the entire spider...”
“Not the head. The head is poisonous.” Carbon was having too much fun with this. She needed to dial it back. “The rest of it is quite delicious.”
Eleya crunched into something, presumably one of the still steaming legs surrounding the camouflaged carapace, and everyone else started in on theirs.
He could do this.