The Princess and her Bounty Hunter: Alien Romance (Fated to the Alien: The Psychic Matchmaker Book 2) Read Free Page B

tea shop was, this room was dimly lit, a strong smell of incense lingered on the air. Mak felt his senses becoming numb, his eyes growing heavy. If he didn’t know better, he would have believed he had drunk the tea Driole had given him.
    “There.” The old woman spoke, and he snapped awake.
    “Where?” Mak asked.
    “What you seek. It is at the point where day meets night, on the Jewel of the Trallic.”
    “The what?” he asked, shaking his head to clear the fog there. He could almost feel it, could almost see it floating around in his brain.
    “The thing you seek is at the point where day meets night, on the Jewel of the Trallic. Look for the aquamarine. Once you find it, you will know.”
    “Know what? That is a whole load of gibberish.”
    “It is all you will get from me. The clues are there, the truth if there, what you do with them is up to you.” She loosed his hands, got up quickly and then said sharply, “Now get out. I have fulfilled my side of the bargain; I expect you to fulfill yours.”
    He stood, bowed slightly and then left, her words joining the fog in his brain. The bright light of the shop made his head hurt, and he struggled to walk in a straight line. Had the witch drugged him? Dazed, he left the tea shop, not comprehending the words Driole said to him, but he was sure they were a Quarian insult.
    Once in the fresh air, he let Misha’Ha’s words sit with him, while he made his way back to his space ship. He didn’t understand them at all. Even after the cool air had cleared his mind, they sounded as if she were simply trying to trick him. He had been to all the galaxies in this sector, and some beyond, but never had he heard of the Jewel of the Trallic. The man he was seeking hadn’t had time to get any further. Not unless he found someone with a warp drive, and Mak knew for sure there were only three in the sector. Two belonged to world rulers and one belonged to a certain Virdian bounty hunter, and went by the name of Stellia .
    Once inside his ship, he punched the ignition button, strapped himself in and launched into space.
    “Stellia. The Jewel of the Trallic. Ever heard of it?” Mak asked the onboard computer.
    “What is this? A test of my memory banks?” Stellia answered in a voice that often verged on sarcastic. Whoever had programmed the voice must have had a sick sense of humor. It was like having a nagging wife on board, who always knew what you were doing, and what you were supposed to be doing.
    He took a deep breath. “No. It is not a test. I have information about our quarry. And that information tells me we have to go to the Jewel of the Trallic. So if you have anything that will help us, please share it with me.”
    He swore the computer sighed, in that resigned way reserved for talking to an idiot. “Jewel of the Trallic. An archaic name for the Cronolon Belt. Once part of the Alaton Empire, the Trallic was a group of five planets orbiting a sun, ruled by the Alaton Race. The Alaton…”
    “I don’t need the history lesson; I know of their downfall. Do you know which planet is the Jewel?”
    “The Jewel was so called because from space it looks like a habitable planet. There have been many attempts by difference races to settle there. But the water is polluted by underwater volcanoes, which makes the water viscous.”
    “Viscous?”
    “You get stuck in it,” Stellia answered sharply. She obviously thought he needed everything explained to him in simple terms.
    “I know what it means.” He thought for a moment. “Anything else?”
    “The creatures there have evolved to take the moisture out of the gloop, but it is too labor-intensive for other species to settle there. The only water you can drink is from the streams after rainfall. As soon as it reaches a large body of water it returns to its gelatinous composition.”
    “Great.”
    “And then there are the creatures themselves. Huge, big teeth. The kind you like.”
    “You mean