I shiver against him, my eyes wide, my body sitting up and taking notice at his possessive contact. I like it… too much.

“We want to stop that history now,” Nydo says. “That is why you three are here. That is why we do what we must, to secure my throne and bring an end to the Overlord’s reign. No matter the cost, we will ensure he no longer hurts our species… or yours.”

Lyko nods in affirmation, his hands on his hips.

“You have agreed to help us. You knew it would be dangerous. Now you must appear every inch secure in the role of Roth royalty.”

“What if I do something wrong?” Piper asks, her voice high and reedy.

Lyko brushes his fingers across her wrist and she tilts her face up to him, worry creasing her forehead.

“You won’t,” Nydo assures her. “All you have to do is look the part and let the three of us handle everything.”

I snort. “Yeah, here’s the thing, sitting around and looking pretty have never been high on my list of attributes.”

Nydo tilts his head down, eyes devouring me, a small smile playing about his face.

“Oh, is it just lying around and looking pretty, then? That could be arranged.” Nydo smirks at me, his hand heating the small of my back.

I sidestep him, annoyed with him and even more annoyed with my body’s reaction to him.

“Yeah, here’s the thing,” Billie drawls. “Leigh and I have always been the mouthy ones. You’re likely to have really bad luck with this, considering the Federation barely reined us in.”

“How about this, then?” Nydo asks, scrutinizing her. “What if I give you permission to misbehave if anyone so much as appears to challenge your authority?”

“That’s the point, hoss,” I interrupt him. “We’ve never needed permission to misbehave.”

To my surprise though, Nydo’s smile turns even fiercer. “Good. Then you’ll be a nice surprise for our friends at the Roth settlement. They may not give us the warm welcome we deserve.”

Piper rubs the bridge of her nose, looking worried, and Lyko reaches out for her, only to drop his hand at the last second.

“I want a rifle,” I tell him. “I know last time I chickened out and only took the knife, but I want a gun this time.”

He nods once.

“Yeah, me too,” Billie says.

Piper’s face blanches, and she sits down heavily on the edge of the bed.

I mentally high-five myself for changing the sheets.

“Fine,” Nydo says. “You’ll be the perfect Roth royals then, prepared for bloodshed and armed to the teeth.” He pulls out a comms tablet, and I peer over at it as he triggers the hologram function. A woman, grey-skinned and gorgeous, appears above the screen, hovering in three dimensions.

“How the hell am I supposed to hide a rifle in that?” I finally ask.

“She’s nearly naked,” Piper objects.

“So Roth royalty dress their women up like… that?” Billie says, waving her hand at the skimpily clad woman. Her makeup is heavy too, her hair done in intricate braids and plaits that highlight how glossy and thick it is.

“How much time do we have?” I ask. “I don’t think we can do this fast enough.”

Piper’s already opening up the crate, pulling out a device I’ve never seen before in my life.

“What is that?” I ask.

“It will apply the face paint for you,” Ayro says. “It was hard to find, but I was able to secure delivery to the ship.” He grins boyishly at Billie, the expression at odds with his oversized frame and musculature.

“Huh,” Billie says. “Face paint?”

“Makeup,” Piper translates, and her expression has changed from troubled to pleased. “I’ll go first.” She even claps her hands, clearly excited about dressing up.

When was the last time I saw Piper excited about anything?

It’s nice. It’s nice to see my friend acting normal again. I can’t help smiling back at her, her sudden enthusiasm infectious. Even Billie’s grinning.

Lyko silently takes the machine from the box, hefting it as though it weighs nothing and placing it on the desk.

Piper studies the equipment for a second. “There it is,” she says, “Roth.” She points at one of the settings, and Lyko grunts his affirmation as she flicks a switch. Piper presses her face into the opening, and the machine whirs.

“That’s it?” she asks as it stops, then pulls back.

“Whoa,” Billie says. “That’s impressive.”

Piper gingerly touches her cheek. “How does it look?”

“Like the hologram,” Nydo says easily.

“Beautiful,” Lyko grunts.

In a matter of minutes, the three of us look like we’ve been paid a visit by the smokey-eye goth fairy. Dark, dark lips fight for attention with our black smudged smokey eyes.

“I don’t know how to braid,” I admit.

“I do,” Nydo says softly.

Piper’s blue eyes widen, and then Nydo’s behind me, expertly winding my hair into the elaborate braids the hologram woman wears. Lyko and Ayro watch in clear fascination for a moment.

“I think I see how to do it,” Lyko announces in his deep voice, and then turns to Piper. “I will arrange your hair for you.”

Ayro grins at Billie, who lets out a resigned sigh before plopping on the floor and motioning to him to go ahead. I pull the soft robe I threw on after the shower tighter around me, trying not to be affected by the feel of Nydo’s competent fingers in my hair, the warmth of his touch heating me from the inside out.

“This is some slumber party,” I finally say, attempting to break the weird silence.

Billie snorts. “Yeah, and we get to cap it off by trying to survive another Roth attack. We’re starting to make a habit of it.”

“As long as we don’t get captured and have hormones forced into us,” I try to joke, but it falls flat.

Piper clears her throat. “That’s not going to happen, right?” she asks, worry clear in her voice.

“No,” Nydo says shortly, and the heat blazing across my neck tells me he’s furious at the mere thought… which is strangely soothing.

“We will get the ships and aid we require, then move on to the other Roth settlements.” Lyro looks to Nydo, as his brother’s often do.

“We will split up,” Nydo announces. “It will be faster if we tackle each target separately.”

His words are met with utter silence, his brothers staring at him like he’s lost his damn mind.

“What?” Billie asks. “Why?”

“We need to present multiple targets. We will commandeer ships from this settlement, and it will be faster if we work to bring the other settlement sects into our fold separately. Lyko and Ayro, you will each take your princess and convince the sect leaders at the other, more populated settlements to follow us into battle against the Overlord. Leigh and I will head on to Roth to convince our home world to rise up.”

Lyko and Ayro nod.

Piper’s blue eyes fill with tears. “I don’t want to be separated,” she whispers.

“You’re going to look like a raccoon if you cry,” Billie tells her. “It’s already raccoon-y enough, okay? No trash panda!”

At that, Piper sniffles and lets out a reluctant laugh. “You’re right.” She raises her chin, and Lyko looks at her with starry eyes like… like she really is a princess.

When his eyes light orange, though, Nydo’s fingers tighten in my hair. “Ouch,” I yelp. “That’s attached to my head, my king,” I spit.

He gives a deep laugh, and Billie and Piper stare at me.

“You feeling alright?” Billie narrows her eyes at me. “Why are you calling him that?”

Ah, fuck.

“I thought I’d get into the role. You know, Roth queen, blah, blah, blah,” I sputter.

Nydo laughs again, then places his hands on my shoulders. “Done.”

So are the other males, in a matter of minutes, and I stare at the other women as Nydo picks through the crate of clothes from the tailor.

“These,” he says, and several layers of diaphanous black fabric puddle on the bed.

I sigh heavily. I want to tell him he’s a presumptuous asshole, but frankly, I didn’t want to deal with picking out what to wear anyway.