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Chapter 1Olivia

“I hate space travel,” Olivia muttered into the toilet, her hands gripping the edge until her knuckles turned white. Her stomach swirled again as the cabin rumbled. Cars and planes made her queasy, but apparently spaceships were the real killer. The USS Pegasus had left Earth nearly two days ago. Olivia hadn’t lasted longer than an hour before the motion sickness—space sickness?—hit her. The docking procedure didn’t make it any better. The overhead speakers declared the USS Pegasus was docking with The Queen Avra. It’d been repeating the same message for ten minutes.

Ten minutes too long.

That was what Olivia deserved for trying to be supportive. When her best friend, Lexi, had told Olivia she was marrying alien royalty, Olivia did what any good friend would do—offer to help plan the wedding. But when Olivia had imagined planning her friends’ weddings, she had always assumed they’d be looking at venues and stuffing themselves at cake tastings on Earth. Where else would they do that?

Everything had changed a year ago when the Herkleians made first contact with Lexi’s asshole uncle, tech billionaire Grayson Seymour. The towering aliens with sharp horns and blue scales had offered Earth a position within the Intergalactic Alliance, a collection of twelve planets that shared technology and resources. But unlike the other alliance planets, Earth didn’t have a single royal family to seal the deal through marriage. The Herkleians had negotiated with Mr. Seymour instead—which was why Olivia’s best friend was a day away from becoming a freaking alien queen.

When Olivia had first learned of the arrangement, she had tried to talk her friend out of it. Now, six months later, Lexi was happy and in love, her fiancé, Anax, not only an alien king but also her soulmate. Well, not exactly soulmate. Lexi had said they were matebonded, but Olivia was sure the terms were close enough. Her friend really had hit the jackpot. How many others could claim a super-hot royal alien as a soulmate?

The rumbling stopped before a ding sounded through Olivia’s cabin. “Docking successful. Welcome to The Queen Avra. An attendant will arrive shortly at your door to lead you to your new chambers.”

Olivia peeled herself from the toilet and crawled into the cabin. After pulling on her classiest pair of ripped jeans, she tied her black hair in a quick topknot. She didn’t need a mirror to know it looked flawless. The benefits of being a trained hairstylist. She grabbed the handle of her suitcase and nearly ran from the cabin. The sooner she left the USS Pegasus, the better. Everyone onboard was human, either friends of Lexi or delegates from various Earth countries. The medic had given Olivia some pills, but unfortunately her pain wouldn’t go away until arrival on The Queen Avra, a Herkleian ship-turned-station. Her daydreams of its stabilizers and advanced medical equipment had kept her alive over the last forty-eight hours.

The door to her room swished as she approached. “Olivia!”

The ship rumbled out a final groan. Olivia slapped her hands across her mouth, her stomach rolling. Lexi stood in the doorway, eyes wide, her blond hair wrapped around a halo-spiked tiara and her gown decorated with sparkling burgundy scales. She was absolutely beautiful.

Olivia shoved past her and hurled into a potted plant.

“Oh, God, what’s wrong with her?” A light hand touched her back.

“The doctor on board reported her space sick, my lady.” From the corner of her eye, Olivia saw the outline of a second person, nearly a foot taller than Lexi’s five-three frame. “Nothing too serious.”

“Can you get some water, Kynna?”

Kynna. Lexi’s Herkleian attendant. Olivia had heard about her during their phone calls. What a great first impression for Lexi’s new friend.

Olivia tried to push to her feet, but almost lost her balance. “You didn’t tell me this would happen.”

“It never happened to me,” Lexi said.

Of course Olivia was cursed with space sickness and not Lexi. Her friend always had the best luck.

Hence the hot alien fiancé thing.

Kynna returned from the cabin. Olivia tried not to gape. She had seen pictures and videos, but Kynna was her first in-the-flesh alien. Her dragon-like scales glimmered like azure stones and radiated a gentle heat that Olivia could feel across the hall. Herkleians had hair like humans—Kynna’s the color of the midnight sky—but their bright-colored irises were slitted and black antler-like horns sprouted from their heads. She offered Olivia a cup of water, her black-clawed fingers wrapped around the glass.

Olivia quickly grabbed for the cup and gulped the water down in a single second. She huffed out a refreshed sigh and tried on a tired smile. “Let’s try this again.”

Lexi beamed and opened her arms wide. “I’m so excited you’re here! I haven’t had a hug in months.”

Without further explanation, Lexi crushed Olivia in a giant hug.

“In months?” Olivia choked out.

Lex squeezed tighter. “Herkleians don’t hug.”

Not the worst cultural practice. Olivia bit her lip to stop herself from saying so. Lexi was a hugger. Always had been. Once at a bar during college, Olivia had said she didn’t like hugs. Lexi had insisted on hugging her a thousand times that night. Like exposure therapy, a part of Olivia almost liked Lexi’s hugs now. Almost. Maybe it was because she had missed her. The friends hadn’t gone six months apart since Lexi’s internship after sophomore year. Olivia didn’t know what she was going to do without her bestie. It wasn’t like the future Queen of Herkleios could visit Earth on the regular.

Lexi pulled away after a minute. “There’s so much I have to tell you. But first, I want to show you something.”

***

The Queen Avra was a marvel compared to Earth’s first ship, the USS Pegasus. Instead of interiors that reminded Olivia of the military bases she’d grown up in, uncut glowing rocks threaded through the gold walls and ceilings. The floor wasn’t boring black, but made of cobalt blue marble mixed with sparks of gold. Twisting staircases emerged from the stone to lead to different floors. Strange plants swayed within the pot holders and displays, bright pink and purple and blue petals near the size of Olivia’s head.

Lexi hadn’t stopped talking since they had left the Earth ship, talking a million miles a minute about every little thing that had happened in the last six months. Olivia had heard most of it, but, damn, her friend had been busy. Olivia tried to take it all in, but she was still feeling shaky. When Kynna had taken Olivia’s bags to her new room, Olivia had almost begged the alien woman to bring her, too. She needed to crawl into bed if she were going to survive the wedding tomorrow.

“How much further to the venue?” Lexi had insisted on showing Olivia the options for their venue, whatever that meant. “Isn’t it a little late to be making changes?”

Lexi waved away her concern. “It will make more sense if I just show you.”

They continued down the hall. Olivia was glad to see Lexi so happy. While Olivia didn’t usually support marrying someone after only months of dating, she made an exception for Lexi. Though, Olivia wasn’t only opposed to getting married quickly. More like marriage altogether. Olivia had watched her parents go through a bitter divorce when she was eleven and had decided then she’d never marry. Lexi’s parents’ love story had ended with the death of her father from cancer, making her as wary of relationships as Olivia… until her alien king had changed all that.

“Here.” Lexi waved her hands in front of double doors, which slid open to reveal a bright white room. Olivia waited for her eyes to adjust, but they didn’t. Everything from the floors to the walls was white with no end in sight.

She squinted. “What is this place?”

 “It’s super cool! When Anax told me about it, I knew it’d be the perfect place for our wedding.”

Maybe six months on another planet had caused her friend brain damage. “This white void of a room?”

“No, silly. Let me show you.” Lexi grabbed her hand and dragged her forward. Once they stood in the center, Lexi tapped at a gemstone on her golden bracelet. A screen projected out of the gem, displaying block-shaped letters. After a second, Olivia’s newly implanted translator switched the Herkleian words to English. “Scene 508.”

The room plunged into darkness. Olivia shrieked. What the hell was going on? Before she could ask, a light burst through the room. It didn’t come alone this time. Sound and scent followed. Olivia now stood in a lush alien jungle. Green-blue moss climbed the base of towering trees, their purple-leaved branches creating a twisting canopy overhead. Birds and animals and insects chattered around her, but she didn’t spot any on the twisting vines around her. Glowing flowers emitted thick but sweet smells, mixed with the familiar scent of dirt. No matter what planet Olivia was on, dirt smelled the same. But Olivia wasn’t on another planet. The Queen Avra was a space station, parked halfway between Earth and Herkleios to allow people from both worlds to attend the royal wedding of the century.

Lexi twirled past her. “Isn’t it amazing?”

Olivia could only gape. She could accept the room changing to look like a jungle, but not to feel like a jungle. Even the humidity seemed real. She drifted toward the nearest tree. Her hand didn’t fall through the hologram but settled on its solid trunk. A real freaking alien tree. “What the hell is going on?”

“That’s what I said when I first saw it, too. Honestly, I have no clue how this works. All I know is this room can mimic the sights, smells, and sounds of any location you want.”

“Any location?” Olivia tried to snap her jaw shut, but it was too much to take in. The Herkleians had amazing technology, but this was almost beyond her dreams. “So you can get married anywhere you want on Earth?”

“Not just Earth.” Lexi threw her hands to the sky. “Anywhere in the galaxy. This scene is from a jungle on Yazd, one of the alliance planets. Anax took me there once.” She sighed, almost dreamily.

A brief pang of jealousy twinged through Olivia’s heart. She’d dated, but no one had ever made her sigh like that. “I’ll admit, this is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, but you struggle to choose what takeout to order. How are you going to decide with literally endless options?”

“I know, right?” Lexi flicked at her bracelet again and two chairs appeared. She plopped into one. “Not really knowing what all the options are helps narrow it down a bit. But do I want a summer wedding? A fall wedding? A beach wedding? Maybe even a Guroverian desert wedding?”

Olivia dropped into the seat beside her. She tilted back her head and scanned the purple canopy. “Well, I have no idea what that last one was, but show me your favorites.”

“Okay.” Lexi sat straighter. “I have a top five. I know it’s a royal wedding, so I’m not supposed to go minimal, but I think an outdoor wedding might mute the formality of it all.”

“Outdoors it is. Like a beach wedding?”

“Maybe.” She bit her lip and paused. “I’m not sure yet. Let me show you. Scene 245.”

Olivia nearly tumbled off her chair as in sank into thick yellow sand. She jumped off it and spun. The jungle trees behind her had disappeared, replaced by an endless blue ocean, waves crashing against the nearby shore. Salty wind grazed across her face and tugged at the edges of her burgundy leather jacket. She raised her hand to block the bright sun from her eyes.

Lexi strolled past her, closer to the water. “Is it too hot? And what about the sand? It isn’t real, but it feels real as long as you stay in the room.”

Olivia shrugged. “At least your guests won’t actually find any in the weirdest places days later?”

Lexi tapped at her bracelet again. This time, instead of a single chair, nearly a hundred popped onto the sand, separated into two sections. Tied to the back of each seat was an artful bow of pink peonies mixed with glowing Herkleian flowers. Exactly like the sketches Lexi had shared during their chats last month. In the aisle, larger flower displays exploded into life. Olivia hadn’t ever thought to ask how her friend planned to get Earth flowers in outer space. Apparently, Olivia had her answer.

“It looks amazing, Lexi.” Olivia walked down the aisle to stand next to her friend and the space for the altar. “Do you like it?”

She pursed her lips. “Hmm.”

With another flick, the sky dimmed to night and torches flickered into place. “Herkleian wedding ceremonies are always at night.”

“It’s still beautiful.”

Lexi settled into place at the end of the aisle. The air in front of her wobbled for a moment before a seven-foot-tall Herkleian with towering horns, silky black hair, and slitted blue eyes appeared. Unlike the chairs, flowers, and torches, he was definitely a hologram. Unless Lexi had somehow transported her husband-to-be into the room.

Olivia stumbled back. “Wow.”

“Stand in the spot behind me.” Lexi ran halfway down the aisle as a dozen other hologram-people appeared. Some had familiar faces—Lexi’s mother, her friend from high school, and her two blond cousins. But the groom’s party was entirely alien, starting with King Anax’s best man. Under sharp, black horns and dark green hair, intense purple eyes pierced through Olivia’s core. Her heart fluttered. The alien male had broad, muscular shoulders and azure scales marred by tiny scars, but she barely noticed at the sight of his ripped abs. Herkleian males didn’t wear any shirts, preferring shoulder sashes or leather-like pauldrons. Something she had thought would make a wedding uncomfortable until this exact moment. Olivia’s eyes traced lower to powerful legs in tight, dark pants. Her mouth went dry.

“Olivia?”

Olivia ripped herself from her thoughts. Lexi had said something—possibly more than one something—but Olivia hadn’t heard a thing. She pointed at the alien. Looking into his intense purple eyes again made her flush, so she quickly turned her gaze back to Lexi. “Who is that?”

Lexi’s brow creased, but she answered, “Oh, him? Eryx. Anax’s older brother.”

His brother? Olivia internally smacked herself. She couldn’t lust after Anax’s brother. But she couldn’t force her eyes away from the male, either. It was a cliché to hook up within a bridal party, but Olivia had never wanted it more. Hot damn, he was handsome. And strong. And scarred. Warmth flooded her chest and sunk lower.

“Are you okay?” Lexi came forward and reached for Olivia’s forehead. “You look flushed.”

Of course she looked flushed, Olivia wanted to scale Lexi’s future brother-in-law like a tree. “I’m fine. Perfectly fine. What were you saying?”

“I have no idea how we’re going to get good pictures. My half of the bridal party is at least a foot shorter than Anax’s.”

“Oh.” Olivia’s eyes trailed back to Eryx. Olivia had a few inches on Lexi, but even she was short next to the seven-foot muscled alien. “I don’t think anyone will notice. Not when we’ll be standing next to half-a-dozen shirtless males.”

Lexi snorted. “I will warn you, Liv. The males come off a little… strong.”

“A little strong?” Olivia’s inner feminist went on high alert. “Are you telling me any minute a man is going to come in here and tell me how to live my life? You know I hate it when they do that.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. I’m just telling you they come from a culture where females rule and males take on the role of protector.”

Olivia crossed her arms. “Okay, so exactly like home?”

“It’s all talk back home, but here actions speak louder than words,” Lexi replied. “Just don’t freak out, is all. I’ll warn my mom, cousins, and Rachel, too, but I know it will bother you especially.”

Lexi tapped at her bracelet, flickering to another scene, this one of a meadow filled with glowing flowers, but Olivia barely noticed. Her mind drifted back to Eryx. Too bad he’d be an overprotective alpha. Or maybe that was exactly what she needed him to be. Less chance Olivia would drunkenly flirt with him during the reception.

For the first time in years, Olivia’s heart panged in disappointment at the thought.

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