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I was in the shower, when suddenly I wasn’t.

I was somewhere else, somewhere between worlds, and the only thing that existed was the brutal beast in front of me.

He was shirtless, training with his sword against his battle-brothers, but they all stopped at once.

I could smell the stink of them, the beastly musk of the primal creatures as they stared at me, eyes open in wonder, and Doman’s imperious, bright blue eyes pierced my soul.

He was in workout clothes, black sweatpants, his muscled perfection dripping with sweat, and his nostrils flared.

My cheeks flushed. I was naked and exposed in front of the royal triad, and the sizzle of urgent need that shot through me made me feel the most intense shame of my life, that his triad’s strength could force out the reaction in me, and I stepped back, but my legs wouldn’t move.

Aurelians can taste your emotions. He tasted my hatred, and his cock stirred, huge and heavy in his pants, growing as he stepped towards me, his gaze fixed on me before he dissipated into nothing, and I was left, confused and shook in my shower, rubbing my eyes and trying to tell myself it was only a dream.

The way he looked at me with those burning blue eyes told me everything I needed to know.

He believes I am his.

I’ve been waiting for him to come every day since, this inevitable, torturous knowledge that one day, I will be face to face with the prince and his battle-brothers.

I never told anyone of the vision. Not even when I had confirmed that it was no dream, no mere imagination.

The only thing the five planets fully agree on is that the Aurelians should stay far away from us. That the only thing that can threaten our Independence is those marble-skinned titans crushing us underfoot and binding us to them for eternity.

It gnawed at me, filling me with guilt. I should have resigned my position as Administrator, because if anyone found out, I’d be ruined.

When Stern stepped down, and I was elected, it was my last chance to come clean.

I could have shirked the burden of responsibility, just like the other eleven Administrators, none of them wanting the position as the wars raged at our borders.

Even the greatest ambitions are tempered by Obsidian’s armies at the gates.

When I looked at my fellows, I saw no one willing to lead.

I was voted to be the new Prime Minister, even as my secret ate me up inside.

To the people spread out in front of me, I am a leader who has navigated well for over a year, managing resources, minimizing losses and keeping the warring forces at bay.

To Prince Doman, I would be nothing but a broodmare.

He sees me as his Bonded, submissive Mate, the one woman in the universe who can bear his and his triad’s sons.

And if he gets his hands on me, he will link me to him for eternity, extending my lifespan to centuries, and he will keep me pregnant and under his thumb, breeding me endlessly as his insatiable mating rage drives him into me over and over again.

I shiver as I try to push it down, the raging torrent of emotions that threatens my decisions, because I know the only logical course forward, and I know that I will be damned.

“Our spies in the Aurelian Empire have warned us of troop movements. A fleet, moving towards our territories. This is no training run. They are led by Prince Doman himself.”

“Some of their scouts have been buzzing the border,” says Gunnar. “One word and I’ll mobilize against them.”

“You’re brave,” says Lysandra of Terosa.

It is more like a curse word in her people, viewing irrational emotion as foolish rather than courageous.

She’s shaken by the news but keeps her composure.

“It is the same as the last time. The Aurelian Empire wishes to travel through our territories. There is a deal to be made here.” She had pushed me to let the Aurelian Empire go through our borders six months ago in return for Reavers, the high-tech alien attack ships, but I had overruled her, and I got the votes to take a stand.

Give an inch with those aliens and they’ll take it all.

Gunnar slams a fist against the table. Not even Liora can calm him. “There hasn’t been one of those marble-skinned cunts in our territories in over a thousand years. Not on my watch!”

I swallow and take in a huge breath. “That is not all. We have reason to believe it is not just warships.”

Every eye turns to me, confused.

“We believe the Aurelian Empire has mobilized the Planet-Killers.”

A collective inward drawing of breaths. Not even my Administrators knew this last piece of information. Even Aeris’s eyes widen, her body stiffening, and she toys with her amethyst earring. Her visions did not prepare her for this—or she’s the best actress I’ve ever seen.

“That cannot be! They were outlawed!” Thrain yells, his deep voice booming.

“What do we do?” asks Tabitha. She’s hugging her own body, fear painted on her face.

“I will lead the delegation into Aurelian Territory,” I say, knowing I am damning myself, knowing that I cannot let the planets of Pentaris be sucked into oblivion, billions of lives winked out of existence in a display of force to those who resist the alien species rule.

“I will speak to the Prince himself and find our way forward.”

It’s the only thing I can do.

It will cost me everything. If I let myself into his grasp, he would never let me go.

No honor or rule of law can stop an Aurelian with his Mate in his grasp.

One flare of his nostrils as he tastes my scent, one touch of my skin, and he would forget everything.

The haughty prince will turn into a brute.

But I don’t trust anyone else to be able to navigate this, and I know Doman would not spill a word of his plans on coms- link, not when he’s committing the gravest sin of the agreed-upon international law between the Toad Kingdom, the Human Alliance, and the Aurelian Empire.

When the Galactic war raged, entire planets were wiped out of existence.

No, the only way to negotiate is in person.

The silence that answers me is thick. Every one of us is thinking the same thing.

Of entire planets, teeming with people, turned into a gaping black hole, erased from existence.

Their histories, winking out of the universe.

Over a thousand years since the Planet-Killers wreaked their destruction, and my own life is so small compared to their devastation.

“Seconded,” says Timar, one of my Administrators. The votes roll in, and the five planetary representatives give their ascent.

I’ve sealed my fate.

I will face Crown Prince Doman and his Royal Triad myself. The man who is the emblem of all that I loathe.

The man who thinks I belong to him, that my body is nothing more than a vessel to produce dozens of his heirs, the man who plans to Bond me to him for eternity and turn me into his pleasure slave.

And I’m walking right into his trap.

Because if I don’t go, the planets will try to negotiate. They’ll let the fleet into our borders—a small incursion at first, then a larger one. I have one way to stop it. I have one way to turn every planet so deeply against the Aurelians that we fight back instead of appeasing the alien race.

When the triad goes mad and takes me as their captive, it will force all of Pentaris into a newfound unity against the Aurelian Empire.