“What are squirrels?” Riani asked curiously, and Mia’s father explained all about the little mammal with the bushy tail.
Marisa and Connor, who had been watching the whole thing with bemusement, came to sit next to Korum and Mia on the other side of the room. “Wow, they’re really getting along, aren’t they?” Marisa told her sister, and Mia laughed, her eyes sparkling with happiness.
It seemed like the perfect moment to make the announcement.
Getting up, Korum pulled Mia to her feet. All eyes immediately turned toward them. “We have something we’d like to share with you,” Korum said, looking around the room. His parents seemed puzzled, while the humans stared at him with barely concealed delight. “I have asked Mia to marry me, and she has agreed.”
Mia grinned and lifted her left hand, displaying the shimmerstone ring on her finger.
The room exploded. Laughter, shrieks, and congratulations filled the air. Everybody seemed to be hugging everyone else, and his parents gamely went along with the excitement, even though Chiaren kept throwing questioning looks in his direction. As Mia had said, no Krinar had ever married a human, and the very concept of marriage was foreign to his people. A mating union that was marked by the Celebration of Forty-Seven was the closest Krinar equivalent. Korum intended to explain his rationale to his parents later; for now, it was enough that they knew just how much he loved his charl.
After the initial hoopla died down, Korum said to Mia’s parents, “I wasn’t sure if I should request your permission first or not. From what I understand of this custom, it’s rarely done in modern times. I hope you don’t mind –”
“Mind?” Ella exclaimed. “Of course we don’t mind!” Her eyes were gleaming with tears, and Korum wondered what it was about marriage that made human women so emotional.
The rest of their time together was spent discussing potential dates for the wedding (Korum insisted on it being no later than next week), the location (Mia liked the lake near his house), and the logistics of a human wedding ceremony on a planet so far away from Earth.
“Don’t we need someone to marry you?” Connor asked. “A priest, a rabbi, a judge, someone? And if it’s to be legally recognized back home, don’t you need to register somewhere on Earth?”
Korum had already thought of these obstacles. “One of the charl living on Krina was actually a judge in Missouri,” he told everyone. “I have already reached out to request her assistance. As far as registration goes, we’ll transmit our signatures electronically to the Daytona Beach Clerk of the Circuit Court. I’m sure they will make an exception for us, given the circumstances.”
* * *
For Mia, the next five days seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. As soon as news about their engagement spread, there was an endless parade of visitors to Korum’s house, all wanting to meet her and her family.
Korum’s friends, acquaintances, employees, business contacts, even Council members . . . Mia met so many Ks during her short engagement that she couldn’t keep track of all the names and faces. To her surprise, she could sense echoes of the same respect they showed Korum in their attitude toward her. It was subtle, but it was there. Her opinion was asked more often, and they spoke to her directly, frequently bypassing Korum altogether. After wondering about it for a couple of days, Mia realized that they were now treating her more as Korum’s mate and less as his charl. In their eyes, she was no longer merely a human who belonged to one of them; she was going to be a true part of their society.
Mia particularly liked Jalet and Huar, Korum’s long-time friends. Like Korum’s parents, Jalet was a dabbler, a jack-of-all-trades. Smart and funny, he seemed to know about everything under the sun, and Mia loved listening to his stories about life on Krina. Huar, on the other hand, was quiet and serious. He was considered to be an expert on ocean studies. Both Huar and Jalet had also been friends with Saret, and they were horrified to learn about his true nature.
“The four of us were like your Musketeers,” Jalet told her, referring to the classic Dumas novel. “We got into so many adventures in our youth. I thought about accompanying Saret and Korum to Earth, but I was stuck on a project and the timing didn’t work out.”
“That was probably for the best.” Korum grinned at his friend. “For all we know, he might’ve tried to kill you too.”
“You know,” Huar said thoughtfully, “now that I think about it, it’s not all that surprising that Saret went after you, Korum. He was quite ambitious, but very secretive about it. You’ve always known what you wanted and pursued it openly, but Saret liked to scheme and maneuver behind the scenes, so nobody knew it was him. I suspected he might be jealous of you, but I never realized how deep that jealousy ran.”
“None of us knew what he was really like,” Korum said. “Saret managed to fool everyone, especially me.” Mia could hear the bitter note in his voice, and it made her heart ache. He never talked about it much, but she knew he still blamed himself for putting her in harm’s way.
“My love, you know he was probably a psychopath, right?” Laying a reassuring hand on Korum’s knee, she gave him a serious look. “He was smart enough to hide it, but that’s what he ultimately was. All charm on the surface, and a complete lack of remorse underneath. He was clever too, clever enough to wear a mask for centuries.” Mia remembered reading about psychopaths in one of her college classes, and they were a truly fascinating breed. She didn’t know if Saret fit the textbook definition – or if Ks could even be true psychopaths in the medical sense – but he certainly displayed some of the traits, including a grandiose sense of self-worth.
Korum smiled in response, hugging her to him, but she could see that it would be a long time before the wounds inflicted by Saret’s betrayal would heal.
In addition to all the visitors, there was plenty to be done in preparation for the wedding itself. With the virtual help of Korum’s cousin Leeta, Mia created herself a beautiful white dress that incorporated some elements from both cultures. She also made flattering outfits for her family that were largely Krinar in style, but took into account their personal preferences.
In the meantime, Korum fabricated an enormous ceremonial hall that floated above the lake near his house. The size of an Olympic stadium, it was designed to accommodate over a hundred thousand guests – a number that made Mia’s head spin every time she thought about it.
“How big is this wedding going to be?” she gasped when she saw the giant structure.
“As big as it needs to be,” Korum replied, looking at her steadily, and Mia realized that he was making a public statement. By marrying her in front of all of Krina, he was proclaiming that humans had officially arrived, that they were no longer an inferior species that could only exist on the fringes of the Krinar society.
Korum was addressing her concerns about her place in his world.
Chapter 31
The day before the wedding was supposed to take place, the Elders finally reached a decision about Saret. As soon as Korum heard the news, he went to visit his former friend, feeling a strange need to see him one last time.
Saret was confined in Viarad, in a heavily guarded building where dangerous criminals awaited their trial. The past couple of months had not been kind to him. If Korum didn’t know better, he would’ve thought Saret had aged somehow. His gaze looked dull and empty, and his skin appeared oddly ashen. It was like he had lost all hope, and, for a brief moment, Korum felt pity for his enemy, his thoughts turning to their childhood together.
But then he remembered what Saret had done to Mia – and what he intended to do to them all – and the feeling of pity faded. Korum had never known the real Saret; whatever good times they’d had together were as fake as Saret’s friendship.