Alien Knight Blind Date Disaster

was attacked. She’d given the Lumerians a priceless gift: a future. Tiny and beautiful, with long, silvery blonde hair and white crystalline markings across her forehead, she could turn the eye of most men. Falden, while he treasured her, preferred his Isabella.
Queen Sasha smiled gently. “News travels fast. We’re so happy for you, Falden.”
Falden growled. “Cam.”
King Dagan laughed again. “Can’t blame the man. He’s waited centuries to see you lit up like that. I believe you said, ‘A cold day on the second sun’?’”
“I remember,” Falden interrupted, “the beating you both took in training that day. Care for a repeat?”
Isabella frowned. “Centuries? How old are you? And why does everyone keep talking about your skin like that? What does the glowing mean?”
Queen Sasha nearly choked, her mouth falling open like she was trying to catch flies.
“Falden, you of all people did not tell her?” the queen asked.
“There is nothing to tell,” Falden replied.
The queen walked toward Isabella. “How disappointing.” She held out her own hand. “I’m Sasha Tiranon, Dagan’s wife.”
Dagan looked over at Sasha with a grin, his eyebrow lifting. “Baby, you’re my queen. Do you need me to prove it to you again?”
Blushing profusely, the queen didn’t respond to Dagan’s outrageous behavior, instead focusing on Isabella. “They have really advanced tech, but I swear, they’re like cavemen when it comes to the opposite sex. Cavemen.”
She accepted the queen’s outstretched hand, noticing that both Dagan and Falden tensed as the two women drew closer to one another. Whatever. She wasn’t bowing or kneeling or anything else. These people weren’t her rulers. And she was irritated now. Her head hurt, her nerves were on edge, her dizziness had progressed to nausea. Had she eaten breakfast this morning? Food might help. And might not. She was tired of all the games and half-truths. “I’m Isabella.”
Between Ambassador Shronti in the tunnels, whom she’d recognized as soon as she saw him since he was always in the news as the only official liaison between Caldor and Earth, and the queen’s disappointment, which oddly stung, she was done with the bullshit. “Falden was injured. I used the maju paste to heal him. Why is everyone so freaked out about it?”
She directed the question at Queen Sasha, whom Sevron had only mentioned a couple of days before he disappeared, but she was a good judge of character and the queen came across as shy and gentle. Definitely not a schemer. Plus, since she was married to the king, that was good enough for her.
Queen Sasha cleared her throat. “They light up their markings with maju paste when they’re getting engaged. They call it a ‘claiming’ period. It’s literally like a neon hands-off sign, and both the men and women do it. We thought since Falden’s markings were lit up that you two were together. We didn’t mean to embarrass you, and we should’ve known Falden wouldn’t put you in danger by using the paste on you. He was very angry with Dagan after we used some on me without knowing how a human would react. If it hadn’t been for Falden, I would have died. So I apologize for the mistake. Falden insists you have information for us?”
Isabella shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, then focused on the queen’s very obvious nonhuman markings with a self-directed chuckle. “I’m sorry. I must have misheard. Sounds like you said you almost died because you used the paste, but Falden saved you?”
“Falden and Dagan, yes.”
Isabella covered her eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s the migraine. Can’t think properly. I’m missing something here. I just don’t understand.”
Queen Sasha’s voice softened even more with sympathy. “I was completely human, just like you. I came here to be in my best friend’s joining ceremony and met Dagan. We used the maju paste, not knowing it would change me. If not for Dagan and Falden, I could not have survived. I think the energy inside me would have destroyed not only me, but everyone around me.”
Isabella dropped her hand and opened her eyes, dread winning out over pain. She couldn’t help staring at the queen now, looking for signs of her ordeal. She was an ethereal beauty with long silvery blonde hair, delicate features, and the most beautiful markings Isabella had ever seen. Instead of her markings being slightly raised below the skin like every other Caldorian she’d met or seen on social media, the queen’s skin appeared to be made of crystal in a two-inch band at her hairline, almost as if she were wearing a band of diamonds. Was the queen implying she hadn’t been born that way? The maju paste had done that to her?
Isabella’s hands balled into tight fists, hidden at her side. She swallowed a painful lump in her throat. She’d used the maju paste after smearing it all over Falden. Did that mean she was going to change? Was she going to die? Shit. “Uh, I’m so sorry to hear that. Was there no antidote?”
This time King Dagan answered, his tone almost reverent as he gazed down at the queen. “There was no antidote since nothing like that had ever happened to my people. But Sasha is human. I almost lost her. However, in the end, her new healing powers saved many lives, human and nonhuman alike. So while I would never put her through that again, I am forever grateful she was blessed with such powerful gifts.” Turning his gaze to Isabella, he murmured in a soft, deadly tone, “Gifts that, if they became public knowledge, would put her at great risk.”
Falden stiffened. “The queen and Isabella are both under my protection. As long as I am alive, no harm will come to either of them,” he vowed, apparently angry with Dagan for threatening her.
Falden moved closer to her, as if he wanted her to know he was there. Protecting her. That’s what it felt like to Isabella, but she wasn’t so sure. They were with the king and queen of Caldor. If bad guys blasted