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“May her name be uttered with reverence and devotion for all eternity.” He wraps his big hand around mine where he clasps it on his arm and lifts it into the air. “Laliss!”

“Laliss!” the crowd shouts as one.

I blame my brain’s inability to form words on the stupefying experience of being dumped into a hall full of people who are staring at me as if I’m the most frightful creature they’ve seen. Yet even as their fearful faces are turned toward me, they chant that unfamiliar name like a horde of groupies at a rock concert.

I’m the one who should be petrified.

Hell, I am petrified.

It’s a little unnerving to be the source of so much terror. Also, I’d be lying if I say it doesn’t stroke my ego a little. It’s like turning up at a Halloween party in the best costume. All my life, I’ve mostly been pitied. Being feared isn’t my number one choice of an elicited reaction, but I’ll take scary Elsie over pitied Elsie any day, even though they’re not calling me Elsie.

When we finally sit down, I lean toward Aruan and whisper, “Why do they look so frightened? Have they never seen someone from Earth?”

He looks at me as if he’d like to eat me. Alive. “They fear you because you’re my mate, but for the same reason, they’ll love you.”

Here we go again. “Aruan, what must I do to convince?—”

Abruptly, he pulls me to my feet again.

A line of servers enters with steaming platters that they place on the tables. Some carry big terracotta jugs and goblets. Others present trays of strangely shaped, brightly colored fruit.

Dragging me with him, Aruan makes his way to the head of the table.

“Father,” he says with a bow of his head. “It’s my honor to present Laliss, my mate.”

“Elsie,” I say. “And I’m not his mate.”

Both ignore my protest. I size up the man, who, in turn, is studying me from his thronelike chair. If he’s a king, that makes Aruan a prince.

Holy macaroni.

I’ve always wanted to meet a royal family, but I was thinking more along the lines of scones and tea at Windsor Castle or champagne and oysters on a yacht in Monaco. Something straight from a medieval fairy tale in a different world has never entered my mind.

The king studies me with the same keen interest as before. He hardly makes a secret of his quiet disdain.

“Welcome to Lona, Elsie ,” he says with a slight narrowing of his gaze. “I hope that everything is to your liking.”

Before I can answer, Aruan pulls me to the other end of the table. When he stops in front of the queen, a palpable tension falls over the royal family.

The queen rises from her chair in a graceful movement. Her face is unlined, her skin as smooth as porcelain. She doesn’t look a day older than Gaia. Like Aruan, there’s a certain quality about her that demands attention. Everyone’s focus is fixed on her. It’s almost as if the guests are holding their breath while waiting for her next move.

Her smile is serene. “Welcome to your new home.” She reaches for my hand, but Aruan yanks me away, startling both his mother and me as he places himself like a wall between us.

She lowers her arm to her side with a sad little smile. “If you need anything?—”

“Her needs are my concern,” Aruan says in a harsh voice.

From the center of the table, Gaia lowers her eyes. Vitai looks sympathetic, and Kian is difficult to read. Their father observes us, perched like a falcon on the edge of his seat.

The queen sits down with a wounded air, but her back remains stiff and proud.

Aruan takes my elbow and guides me back to my chair. Once he’s seated me, servers approach with platters that they set down in the center of the table. One of the dishes resembles a roasted bird, but the rest is anyone’s guess.

Gaia must see the apprehension on my face because she leans forward and whispers, “You only have to pick at your food and pretend to eat. Aruan knew you’d probably be too nervous to enjoy the meal. That’s why he made sure you ate well earlier.”

I offer her a weak smile. How the fuck am I going to get myself out of here? The guards have formed a circle around our table. Worse, more guards entered during the introductions and are now standing at attention along the walls.

Can I leave the hall with the excuse of needing a bathroom break? Will they let me go alone? Probably not, but I have to try.

Aruan seats himself on my left. There’s enough space at the main table. We’re not crowded like the people below, but when he spreads out his powerful legs, his thigh brushes against mine.

A jolt of electricity runs up my leg. My stomach clenches, and a feverish heat warms my skin. I slam my knees together, breaking the unsettling contact.

A flash of knowledge passes through his eyes as he turns his face toward me, but then the blond man on my right says, “Hello, Elsie. I’m Suno, Aruan’s cousin.”

I look at him. He has green, friendly eyes and a lively smile.

“Pleased to meet you,” I say automatically.

“I hear you’re from Earth,” he says through the side of his mouth.

The words are obviously meant for my ears only.

“How extraordinary.” His eyes sparkle. “Someday, I’d like to hear about your life in that world.” He’s quick to add, “If you’ll indulge me, of course.”

“Um, sure,” I say even though I have no intention of staying on this weird planet that long.

A pretty girl with a blond ponytail comes forward, carrying a crystal carafe with translucent purple liquid. She’s walking as if on a tightrope, careful not to spill a drop.

When she reaches Aruan’s side, he says something I can’t hear over the loud chatter that has taken over the room. Now that the food has been served, everyone is helping themselves to the dishes while staring at our table with perverse curiosity.

“Hello,” the man sitting next to Suno says.

I turn my face his way. It’s the man with the mousy hair. He has homely features with bushy eyebrows and brown eyes. Of everyone at the main table, he’s the least striking in appearance.

He leans over Suno and holds out his wrist. “I’m Tarix, Aruan’s cousin on the queen’s side.”

I look at his wrist, expecting a tribal tattoo or something that depicts his heritage, but only pale skin shows from under his sleeve.

Tarix frowns. “It’s polite to return a greeting, unless you consider the person an enemy.”

Huh?

I glance at Aruan, but he’s preoccupied with pouring the purple liquid from the carafe into my goblet.

Gaia comes to my rescue. “Here in Lona, the formal greeting is done like this.” She stretches her arm over the table and presses her wrist against Tarix’s. “It’s a sign of amiability and hospitality.”

“Oh.” Following her example, I do the same. Now I understand why she reacted so strangely when I wanted to shake her hand. “On Earth, we do it like this.” I hold out my hand to show them.

Gaia’s eyes grow round. She gives a quick shake of her head while glancing around the table. “We don’t talk about Earth here. It’s a forbidden subject.”

“But Suno just said?—”

Suno shoves a plate toward me full of greenish balls covered in a yellow sauce with blue speckles. “You should try the egox . The roots were dug out only this morning. They’re still fresh.”

Right. He doesn’t want Gaia to know he proposed discussing a forbidden subject with me.

My stomach roils as I take in the rubbery balls drifting in the gel-like liquid. “I’m not hungry, but thanks anyway.”

He opens his mouth as if to argue, but just at that moment, a dark shadow flies through the hall.

Startled, I turn my attention that way, expecting a bird or a bat, and then my jaw drops.

An anurognathus dives low over a table before grabbing a bite of food from a man’s plate. The man swats at the tiny pterosaur, which is only three and a half inches long, but it’s already landing on a beam in the high ceiling to rip its prize apart.

I can’t believe my eyes.

First a quetzalcoatlus and now an anurognathus.

How many types of dinosaurs exist on Zerra?

I watch, mesmerized, as the anurognathus swallows its loot. Looking like a cross between a bat and a mouse with cat-like whiskers, it’s the cutest creature I’ve seen. Pip is the perfect name for it.

The anurognathus looks this way and that, no doubt identifying its next steal. For a moment, as it turns its beady black eyes my way, I’m convinced it’s staring right at me.

An ecstatic gasp escapes my lips. I don’t know how I know it, but I’m certain it’s a male. All I want to do is cuddle him, which is probably a very bad idea. I bet he’d find my fingers tasty.

“Don’t mind the pixie dragons,” Tarix says, waving at the anurognathus. “They’re a nuisance, but they don’t do harm. They fly through the open archways into the kitchen and dining hall to nick tidbits of meat. We allow them in the palace because they hunt the pesky sand snakes that like to crawl into beds or beneath piles of linen in search of heat.”

I shudder. If I spend the night here, I’ll need to check the sheets before getting into bed. And it won’t be Aruan’s bed, no matter what he says or how irresistible he is.

The thought of Aruan’s bed alone sends another quiver down my spine, and the sensation isn’t completely unpleasant.

The subject of my thoughts pushes to his feet, towering over the table and the hall with his goblet in his hand.

The people grow quiet. Only the screech of the anurognathus cuts through the space as he spreads his wings, pushes off the beam, and makes another circle through the air.

Next, the king and queen stand, each with a goblet in their hands. While the content of Aruan’s and my goblets is purple, the liquid in theirs is the golden color of the honey wine Gaia made me drink earlier.

“A toast to Aruan and Elsie,” the king says, his voice carrying across the room. “May their mating be rich with offspring and stretch across many prosperous decades. Let it be known that the royals and citizens of Lona bore witness to their vows.”

The people stomp their feet once.

The king and queen take a sip of their drinks while Aruan downs everything in his goblet in one go. When Aruan and his parents have taken their seats again, he puts his empty goblet aside and picks up mine.

I look around in distress. “Is this the part where we say the vows?”

“It’s been done,” Aruan says.

“When?” I exclaim. “Did I miss something?”

“The king has spoken. I drank.” He gives me a dark smile. “Now it’s your turn.”

“That’s it?” I ask, my mouth suddenly dry. “I drink, and then I’ve taken my vows?”

“When you drink the toast, you vow to be a worthy and loyal mate.”

I purse my lips. “I will do nothing of the kind.”

Gaia drags in a sharp breath. “Elsie.” She reaches over and touches my hand. “The infusion is made from the petals of moon flowers. It’s very precious and rare. Only future kings and queens get to taste it on the occasion of declaring their intention to mate. To drink this nectar is an honor and an unparalleled privilege. It’s a powerful aphrodisiac, so it will make your first night all the more memorable. You should drink the infusion. It will make you see everything differently.”

An aphrodisiac. And Aruan just downed a whole goblet full of the juice.

Oh, shit.

My heartbeat quickens for all kinds of reasons. First and foremost, there’s fear, and then there’s indignation.

I did not agree to this.

But I can’t deny the insistent ache that pulses between my thighs as a mental image of a naked and aroused Aruan jumps into my mind.

“Rejecting the toast will be a terrible humiliation for Aruan,” Gaia whispers with worry.

I don’t want to humiliate a prince in front of his people… per se, but he forced me into this situation when I repeatedly told him I don’t belong here. Being bullied into something I don’t want to do really makes me mad.

Facing Aruan squarely, I offer him nothing but stubborn silence.

His gaze narrows a fraction. I give a start when he cups the back of my head in his big paw and drags me closer, so close, in fact, that I can smell the spicy, maddeningly swoony scent of his skin.

My throat closes up at his nearness. Compared to his strong, tall frame, I’m an elf. He could squash me like a bug, and it wouldn’t take him much effort.

“You will drink, my sweet,” he says in a measured tone. “We will make this toast even if I have to drink on your behalf and feed you from my mouth.”

My pulse jumps at the threat. The idea of drinking from his mouth has me simultaneously fuming and excited. The excitement is unwanted but nevertheless undeniably present.

I definitely don’t want that.

I don’t want him to kiss me.

Especially not in front of a hall full of people.

Especially not when my hormones are going haywire at the thought of his lips on mine.

What I need to do is work on an escape plan—say, that bathroom break—and not submit to the crazy impulse to climb onto his lap and lick the juice from his lips.

“It’s going to happen,” he says, reminding me of his earlier promise. “It’ll be easier if you don’t fight it.”

Holding me firmly in place, he lifts the goblet to my lips.

Crap.

If I’m this horny now, how am I going to behave after downing an alien aphrodisiac?

“Wait.” I strain in his hold. “What’s going to happen, you know…” I clear my throat. “If I drink this?”

Heat dances in his silver eyes. “Nothing that won’t happen anyway. The drink will just help to relax you.”

“I don’t want to relax,” I say, but my words fall on deaf ears.

Balancing the goblet in his hand, he pulls my bottom lip down with his thumb while watching the action with a ravenous, calculated expression. “Are you going to open for me, my sweet, or do you prefer that I open your lips for you? Rest assured, it’s a task I’ll enjoy very much.” He lowers his voice, making sure no one else hears what he says. “Just know this, once I have my tongue in your mouth, you’ll beg me to bring the consummation to completion.”

Shit.

My heartbeat is all over the place now. I’m furious, frustrated, and turned on. It looks as if I don’t have a choice. I’d rather swallow those green balls—which is what I imagine Phaelix testicles look like—than kiss Aruan. Because kissing him is going to fuck with my hormones. I know it.

“Aruan,” I start with a plea in my voice, hoping to tap into his compassion.

He presses the goblet against my lips. “Drink, Laliss, so that we can get this over and done with.”

“How many times must I tell you I’m not Laliss?” I whisper-exclaim in unsuppressed anger.

“Fine. Drink, Elsie . The sooner you drink, the sooner we can move on to the more pleasurable part of the evening.”

I look around the room in search of an ally, but everyone is staring at us with fascinated expectation. From the way Gaia’s chest isn’t moving, I can tell she’s holding her breath. The queen clasps her goblet in a bloodless grip. The king is watching me with morbid interest.

“Drink, little one,” Tarix urges in a low voice. “It won’t be so bad.”

I don’t know if by “it,” he means sex with Aruan or being mated for life to a man from a different world whom I only met a few hours ago. I don’t even have answers about this place or these people yet.

Aruan’s command holds a challenge. “Do not defy me in front of my people. I’m warning you, mate. I will have my way. The only difference is that you still have a chance to accept my offering with grace. Do you really want all the royals and our most esteemed citizens to watch me force-feed you?”

Resentment beats with a wild rhythm in my chest. Underneath the table, I clench my hands into fists.

Okay. Aruan wins this round. Not the sex part. Just the drinking bit. But the fight is far from over.

Ever so slowly, I part my lips. Apprehension is a stone in my stomach. Approval washes over Aruan’s stunning features. His smile is encouraging but also a little victorious as he tilts the goblet to feed me the first sip.

Just as the liquid is about to touch my lips, Pip the anurognathus plunges through the air and knocks the goblet from Aruan’s hand.

Tepid, fizzling liquid spills down the front of my dress. The goblet falls to the floor with the unmistakable sound of glass breaking.

I look down in shocked surprise as a bright purple stain blooms over the fabric that covers my breasts.

Aruan is on his feet in a second, his furious gaze trained on Pip, who escapes through an open archway that acts as a window.

“Oh, dear,” the queen says, jumping up.

Aruan grabs a napkin from the table. “Here.”

Taking my hand, he helps me to stand before dabbing at the spillage on my dress.

“It’s nothing,” I say, both elated and scared.

As relieved as I am not to have to drink this, I don’t want Pip to be in trouble.

“I’ll kill that pixie,” Aruan says through clenched teeth.

My heartbeat spikes. “Please don’t! It was just an accident.”

A scurrying noise on the floor draws my gaze.

A lizard with spikes on its back—a tuatara, if I’m not mistaken—is greedily lapping up the puddle of nectar that lies at my feet.

I can’t help but smile at the prehistoric cuteness. “Aww.”

Aruan pushes it away with the toe of his boot. “These pets don’t belong under the table.”

“Sorry,” Gaia says, appearing guilty. “But in my defense, everyone lets them lick up crumbs.”

The king gives her a stern look. “You mean you like to feed it treats from your plate when you think we’re not looking.”

“Aruan,” the queen says, her voice calm despite the concern painted over her face. “Allow me to take your mate to my quarters and help her get changed.”

“You?” he says with scorn.

The table starts shaking, jostling the cutlery and crockery.

Everyone leaps from their seats.

Kian rounds the table and places himself in front of the queen. “It’s better if Gaia assists Laliss—if Gaia assists Elsie , Mother. You’re needed here. You’re the only one who can order another carafe for the toast.”

“But it will take hours to infuse,” the queen says. “The batch the pixie spilled had brewed since this morning.”

“I told you to have those insolent pixies chased out of the palace,” the king grumbles. “I’d rather chase off a snake than one of those sly little vultures.”

“Oh, Elsie,” Gaia says, coming toward me. “I’m so sorry this happened.”

“I’m fine.” I rub at the stain on my dress. “It’s just a little wetness.”

“No, it’s not,” Vitai says, pointing at the floor.

We all look in that direction. The tuatara lies on its back, keeled over, its long tongue hanging from its mouth to the floor.

I bend down. “Oh, no.” What’s the matter with it?

I reach out to touch it, not sure what I can do to help, but Aruan locks his fingers around my bicep and jerks me away so viciously I almost get whiplash.

“Poison,” Kian announces gravely.

The look of rage that comes over Aruan’s face is scary, but it’s nothing compared to the crack that appears in the thick stone wall at the front, running from the top right down to the bottom.

Screams and exclamations of terror rise from the audience.

Before I have time to process what’s happening, Aruan scoops me up into his arms and carries me swiftly to the exit.

Shocked whispers reach my ears as he makes his way with long strides along the aisle, and there’s one sentence I make out:

“Someone tried to poison Aruan’s mate.”