“Why would he give me his eye?” Dot-R sounded concerned. “I have two already; that is all I need. Is this some strange kind of custom on your world? Will he be able to make himself a new eye?”
“Does not compute,” the chaperone said.
“Say something else.” Dot-R looked at the chaperone with annoyance.
“Does not compute.”
Dot-R headed off to investigate the serv-bot, and Lina guided Rosamund towards Kodran.
“Do you know anything about the medical equipment that Kodran brought back to this planet?” Rosamund asked Lina.
Lina avoided her gaze. “Not a lot,” she said. “But I know my brother is an honorable man who has not betrayed the Federation’s principles in any way.”
That sounded like splitting hairs. He hadn’t betrayed their principles…had he broken the law? But Lina obviously wasn’t ready to talk about whatever was going on here.
The dance with Kodran was achingly uncomfortable. Rosamund kept avoiding his gaze, and after the dance, she hurried off the stage and melted into the crowd, ignoring the worried look that Nelka shot at her.
“May I have this dance?” an oddly familiar voice asked as she pushed her way through the crowd towards the buffet table.
She turned to look at the man who’d asked. He was tall, clearly Draell, with red scales at his temples. His face was handsome in a lean, hawk-like way. He wore a black silk shirt tucked into black silk trousers, with a red Draell insignia on his chest and a black silk cape flowing behind him. A group of tall, muscular Draell men, bristling with weapons and attitude, stood to attention behind him.
With a haughty look, he reached out to take her arm without waiting for her to answer.
Rosamund took a step back. She was angry with Kodran, but she would not show him disrespect by dancing with another man at the mating ball thrown in her honor.
“Sorry, I’m not dancing with anyone other than Kodran,” she said.
“I am Sekari, Lord High Commander of the Draell,” he said smoothly, then looked at her expectantly. Apparently that should make a difference. Like, she should swoon at his feet and agree to dance with him immediately.
That did explain why his voice sounded familiar – he’d called her on her wrist-comm a few solar circles ago. But it didn’t make her any more likely to dance with him.
“Darfan was worried about you,” he added. “I came to check on you personally.”
“There was no need,” Rosamund said with annoyance. “And why, specifically, is Darfan so worried?”
“I think you know.” There was a hint of accusation in his tone.
“I know that Darfan is wrong. I am in no danger, except from him attempting to kidnap me,” she snapped. “I don’t know what you two are up to, or why the Lord High Commander is even speaking to the manager of a dating agency, but—”
“I am concerned with everything that affects the Draell. If Kodran is a client of the dating agency, I have a right to be informed of what is happening there.”
Before she could reply, Ferenc and Nelka shouldered their way through the crowd.
“Excuse me, you are speaking to our son’s betrothed,” Nelka snapped, moving between him and Rosamund. “And we did not issue you an invitation.”
“You are not greeting me using the proper protocol.” Sekari’s eyes blazed with fury and his clan-mates quickly crowded around him, glowering. Kodran’s clanmates stopped dancing, and headed over to them. The air heated by several degrees.
“You have a problem, Lord High Commander?” Kodran’s voice cracked like a whip as he shouldered his way up to Rosamund.
Sekari’s eyes glowed red. “Yes, I have several. Your parents are not greeting me with the proper protocol, and you did not issue me an invitation to this ball. It is traditional for the Lord High Commander to be invited to the third-night Lamori of every clan leader.”
“That only applies to Draell who still live on Duscoria. We are no longer under your command,” Kodran replied.
“Is that so? But you still answer to the Galactic Federation,” Sekari replied coldly. “You are aware of that, I imagine?”
“Of course,” Kodran said, meeting his gaze steadily.
“Anyway, I also wanted to come here to ensure that this human was willingly engaged in the mating process. Her employers were concerned about her, and they asked me to check on her. And when I spoke to her on your ship, she sounded very frightened.”