I snorted and took an exit when I saw a sign for a taco place. “My partner opened fire on us, Steve. I had to do something.”
There was a slight pause.“Oh, shit. He didn’t mention that. From what he said, you fired first.”
“Well, Jim’s a fucking liar. He blew the hotel door apart, and if N’kal hadn’t taken the brunt of the fall for me when we jumped out of the hotel window, we’d probably both be dead. I seriously doubt you’d want a dead Xalanite on your hands.”
“A dead cop wouldn’t be so great, either. Glad you two are okay.”
“Okay is relative. I wasn’t hurt, but I had to take N’kal to a hospital in Gary for a deep puncture wound. He’s stitched up now, but you’ll probably want to have some Xalanite blood products on hand for when we get there. I’m about to grab himsome food, but what he needs is medical attention. Not Taco Pollo.”
“Shit. That’s not going to go over well with the Xalanite rulers, especially not considering what I found out this morning about your charge.”
N’kal shifted in his seat.
“What did you find out?” I asked, eyeing the purple man.
Steve cleared his throat.“Well, turns out the newly minted Xalanite royalty has an heir. An heir who stole a spaceship and crashed-landed in Wrigley Field.”
Chapter 6
N’kal
Detective Timber glared at me as she drove the vehicle through the food lane at the restaurant. She ordered us several food items known as “tacos,” plus some “nachos” and something called a “kaysahdeeyah.” For the beverages, she ordered herself a “cola,” though for me she ordered water. When I asked if I could try the cola, she huffed and snatched her cup out of my reach.
“You’re not getting anything sugary on my watch, mister. I don’t know if the sugar in this drink is enough to get you high again, but I’m not risking it.”
I supposed I deserved that. She did not want me having another …episodewhile under her watch.
From her attitude since ending the phone call, she also did not want to be guarding a prince.
After a prolonged silence as we ate our meal in the parking lot, she finally spoke.
“When were you going to tell me?”
She did not specify what I should have told her, but she didn’t need to. “I didn’t think it was important. I am just an ordinary Xalanite man. It was not until recently that I became heir to our planet. Before that, we were ruled by elders who made the decisions for our people. Royalty is a new concept on Xalan. It is not something I chose.”
“So, what, you just ran away?”
I paused to give my nanites time to translate the meaning behind the phrase, since I knew I didn’t run; I flew. “Not specifically. I am not expected to take my place ruling the planet for quite some time, but, like all Xalanite males since my father took over, I am expected to join the military and serve for a certain number of cycles. I did not want that. I wanted something more. A life of my own. A love of my own.” Detective Timber’s lips pressed into a slim line, and I recognized the look of distaste. “Not that I will not serve … someday. But I feel that it should be on my terms. I am relatively young. In my opinion, too young to shoulder such responsibility without being given a choice in the matter.”
She snorted and took a bite of her taco. “Sounds like you’ve been a little spoiled. If you’re old enough to mate with all the women you say you’ve mated with, then you’re old enough to go fight to protect those womenandany children you may have fathered.”
I frowned and dipped a triangular vegetable product into some melted dairy, as I had seen her do. “I do not see why it matters that I have fathered children. The females I mated with all agreed to raise them without my involvement.”
“What if you get a human woman pregnant now? We have things like court-ordered child support here. Even if you don’t want to raise the kid, the woman can make you pay the costs to raise it.”
“I do not know about humans, but on Xalan we have means to prevent unwanted or unexpected pregnancies. Following a medical procedure, I am currently sterile. No matter how many females I mate with, I will not father a child until I have another procedure to reverse it.”
“Really?” She raised a brow. “I’m actually a little impressed. Here on Earth, most men don’t like doing anything that will mess with their virility, especially nothing permanent or even semi-permanent. And don’t mention surgery on them for it! Most guys will freak the fuck out at the thought of any needles or scalpels going anywhere near their junk.”
“They don’t like sharp objects in the trash?” I cocked my head to the side as I put the triangle in my mouth. “I suppose I agree. Landing on that sharp object earlier was most unpleasant. I fail to see what that has to do with children, though.”
The detective cast a strange glance in my direction. “Are all Xalanites so literal?”
“Our language is more literal than your English, so I suppose that would be somewhat accurate. However, it’s more accurate to say that our nanites translate the literal first and work their way towards more intangible translations. We are capable of discerning most meanings eventually, but the literal meanings are … easier.”
“Hmm.” She took another bite of taco. “And you guys got most of our language from the first human who met a Xalanite, right? I know her name is Amber, but aside from that, the public doesn’t know very much. They’ve kept her life before she left Earth pretty hush-hush.”
“Amber of Earth had problems with a former mate. It was easier to keep that part of her past out of the news.”
