Jaryk folded his arms across his chest. “Marrying a woman I don’t love to avoid marrying another woman I don’t love is not a solution!” He barked a sarcastic laugh.
“But—”
“No but. If Father and Mother were unwilling to accept Charday, aKaldoran, they’re not going to accept an alien woman from a Podunk planet on the outskirts of nowhere.”
“That’s the whole point!”
He wasn’t making sense. “Regardless, they’d never give permission for me to marry.”
“They don’t have to. Cosmic Mates performs the marriage ceremony. The marriages are recognized as legal by every planet in the star alliance, of which Kaldor is a member. You will be married, and there will be nothing Father and Mother can do about it.”
“Which would still leave me tied to a wife I don’t want. I may as well marry Alia!”
Falkor’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “Except Cosmic Mates marriages have an escape clause. You get to try out your spouse for a year. At the end of the trial period, either spouse can walk away. The union only becomes permanent if you stay together.”
“And how would that help me? It would only delay the inevitable. If I annulled the marriage at the end of a year, I’d still be facing marriage to Alia—not to mention Father’s wrath. He would be apoplectic if I eloped.”
“Or…it would buy you a reprieve! It would signal to Alia, you’re not interested.”
“It would also signal to Charday I’m not interested!”
He was already on shaky ground with her. Two months had passed since he’d seen her. Marriage, even a fake one, would permanently end the relationship. He didn’t want to lose her!
“Not if you explained you were doing it for her.”
“Yeah, because nothing says devotion like jilting the one you love for someone you don’t.”
“You’re not jilting Charday. She dumped you.”
“She didn’t dump me; we agreed to take a break to reconsider our relationship.” Charday had given him an ultimatum: marry her, or she was moving on. Unfortunately, marriage required permission from the king.
“Don’t you understand this is your only chance to marry her?”
He shook his head. “Obviously, I’m not connecting the dots.”
“Father will be so horrified by you marrying a human, Charday will become much more appealing by comparison. He’ll welcome her into the family with open arms.”
“He’d be more apt to kill me.” Their father would never kill him, but he would saddle him with the most tedious royal duties he could devise.
“Gods of Kaldor, I hope not!” Falkor laughed. “If he executed you, I’d be on the hook to marry Alia.”
“Much as you being forced to take responsibility for once in your dissolute life would please me, I must reiterate that your solution will not work. And it wouldn’t be fair to use the human woman like that. Humans have feelings.” He assumed they did. He knew very little about Earthers.
“Everyone who signs up for Cosmic Mates is aware of the provisional terms of the marriages. Look, just give it a try. I’ll coordinate everything. I’ll let the human know what to expect. I have your best interests at heart. You’ll be in good hands. Trust me.”
“Trust you?” He roared with laughter.
“Your mockery wounds me.”
“It’s still a hard no. I’m not joining Cosmic Mates.”
Chapter Two
“You got a hit, and I didn’t?” Her sister’s jaw dropped.
Didn’t see that one coming, huh?“I’m sorry?” Kismet hunched her shoulders. Joining Cosmic Mates had been Karma’s idea, not hers.
They both longed for true love, a happy marriage, and a couple of kids, but their prospects dimmed with every passing day. Single men close to their age—thirty-two—were either gay or unmarried for very good reasons. However, while the pool of marriageable men on Earth had dried up, marrying a stranger,an alien,still seemed too extreme a solution.
