Gifted Queen by Samantha Montgomery

Carolina Diaz

I knew the situation between the miners and station management was bad. Really, really bad, actually, but even so, I was unprepared for anyone to be stupid enough to begin an uprising with freaking projectile weapons on a space station! That was when I went from worried to downright panicked. Luckily, I managed to reach a life pod before everything went BOOM. Unfortunately, my troubles didn’t end there as, of course, the universe decided it wasn’t done messing with me.

The shockwave from the explosion on the station sent my pod careening off course, right to where a freaking WORMHOLE opened up just long enough to swallow me and my life pod whole. I admit it, I fainted. I’m totally blaming that on bumping my head during my escape. Luckily, it spat my life pod out whole, and as luck would have it, it was retrieved by some friendly aliens on the other side. Cool, right? I mean, if you have to be transported across the known galaxy to unknown space, it’s fab if you aren’t marooned without any chance of getting more air, food, water, and all that jazz, and even better if you get rescued by friendlies.

There’s just one thing, though. It seems the wormhole is stable on this end, and the whole society here is based on trade and exploration.The Taleen are usually the ones going through, but occasionally, the wormhole spits out stuff instead. Asteroids they can mine, derelict ships, deep space probes, that sort of thing. Until me, and since I popped through while there was some kind of ceremony going on, they see it as Fate. The trio of Taleen that had expected to be sent through the wormhole to find their fortune is now seen as Blessed.
What does that mean? Only that they’re now royalty of some kind, and as for me? Apparently, the universe has gifted me as their queen! It’s all kinds of awkward, made even more so thanks to the three alien guys. If this was a fantasy, I’d take them all in a heartbeat because they really are all that. Can I really claim them and the throne, though, and us all be happy? I can’t believe I’m actually considering going along with it all, but I know one thing. This sure beats the hell out of scratching out a living selling second and third-hand clothes at a market stall on a decrepit mining station!