Alien's Bride 1-3 (15 page)

“I…I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”

“Fair enough.
 
In the meantime I expect you to keep this contact a secret.
 
The Domestics’ vulnerable networks are an indispensable tool for us.
 
If we lose it, thousands of women will suffer.”

Ugh.
 
‘Secrets are the seeds that sow dissension.’
I started to cry.
 
“Fine.
 
I won’t tell them.
 
But don’t contact me again.
 
I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“We will hold you at your word, Maritza.
 
Don’t betray us.
 
You may think it’s a petty thing to let this information slip to your masters.
 
It will.
 
Cause.
 
Genocide.”

I shuddered.
 
My spit went cold in my mouth.
 
I leaned over my knees and covered my face with my hands.

“What may I do for you, mistress?” the Domestic said in his normal voice.

I eyed him.
 
I couldn’t see these things as friends anymore.
 

“Nothing.”

The Domestic rolled away.

I didn’t eat for the rest of the day.
 
My appetite had shriveled up and any time I thought about asking Kang for anything I got a pain in my chest.
 

For most of the day I stayed in Elentinus’ room, sitting at his dining room table and hugging myself.
 
That bitch had brought me back to square one.
 
How dare she mess with my head like that?
 
I was happy before she’d called.
 
I thought I’d already made it through the wringer.
 
There I’d been, out on the other side, whole and full of hope.
 

Now I’d been reloaded with doubt and fear.
 
The fears made me angry, because I was just as much a victim to the injustices of my new reality as anyone else.
 
Earth was enslaved, evil conquerors were rebuilding their empire out of my own womb, people were being tortured, and, to top it all off, I was married to one of the head villains.
 

And I liked him, damn it.
 
Maybe even loved him.

That was the biggest burden that woman had put on me: having to feel guilty for loving Elentinus.
 
The only way I could reconcile it with my conscience was by looking for gray areas.
 
Yes, they enslaved Earth, but Earth would have been wiped out by the Instajants otherwise.
 
Yes, they withheld the Instajant vaccine from Earth to force them to surrender, but that was just because they were going extinct and needed to breed with us.
 
Yes, they appeared to be evil conquerors who’d enslaved multiple worlds, but…but what?
 
Elentinus said they were nice to their slaves?
      

Ugh.
 
It was pointless to delude myself.
 
The Dak-Hiliah were the bad guys of the universe.
 
If I stopped looking for gray areas the black and white answer would have been to try to get rescued by that woman and her group.
 
That way I wouldn’t be helping the Dak-Hiliah repopulate.

I wasn’t even considering that option.
 
I never wanted to hear from that woman again so I could just stick my head back in the sand.
 
I knew this place.
 
I’d gotten to feel safe here.
 
The last thing I wanted was to start over somewhere else in this crazy future world.
 
Yes, I was selfish.
 
Didn’t I have some right to be?
 
Kidnapped.
 
Dragged to this alien reality.
 
Didn’t I have the right to try to be happy here?
 

Who’s to say they could even rescue me anyway?
 
I had that collar on.
 
Whore was way too much of a jerk to ever take it off me.
 
Nope.
 
I was stuck here.
 
I should be allowed to make the best of it.
 
I wasn’t going to let that woman ruin things for me.
         

Fuck her.

At some point that night I forced myself to my feet, put on my night gown, and climbed into bed.
 
The huge bed felt barren without Elentinus.
 
I longed for him to get back so he could hold me and stroke my hair.
 
Those pleasant thoughts lulled me to sleep.

I was awakened in the middle of the night when Elentinus gently gathered me in his arms.
 
He lifted me off the bed and carried me several paces.
 
I didn’t know what he was doing so I just pretended to be asleep.
 
I felt him set me down and opened my eyes.
 
I was in a different bed in an alcove thirty feet away from where I’d been.
 
Elentinus covered me with a blanket, soothed some hair off my forehead, and tried to sneak away.

I scrambled to sit up on the side of the bed.
 
“What?
 
What is this?
 
Why did you put me here?”

Elentinus looked startled for a moment.
 
He walked back over to me.

“That’s your bed, my darling.
 
I’m sorry you weren’t shown where it was sooner.”

“What do you mean this is my bed?”
 
I was raving.
 
A powder keg of emotion had built up inside me all day and this was just the spark I needed to detonate.
 
“We’re married.
 
We share a bed!”

Elentinus ran his fingers through my hair with a soft smile.
 
“Was that the custom in your time?”

“Of course it was.”
 
I became plaintive.
 
“Husbands and wives eat together, they sleep together, they cuddle and kiss.”
 
I started to cry.
 
“What’s wrong with you people?”

Elentinus hugged me against his middle.
 
“Shh.”
 
He stroked my hair with a tender hand.
 
“If that’s what you wish, then of course you can come back to my bed.
 
The Dak-Hiliah normally only share a bed with our wives for mating.
 
You stayed with me that first night so our record could be photographed in the morning.”

“Why?”
 
I snuffled.
 
“Why don’t you want to sleep in the same bed with your wife?”

He tilted me back so I could look up at him.

“It’s not a matter of wanting things one way or the other.
 
The druid Shindray told me, my father, and my grandfather before him to sleep separately from our wives.
 
He gave us many stern rules to follow with our spouses.
 
Those rules were a curse from the dark god who resided in him.
 
It’s what led us to the dire circumstances we find ourselves in today.”

I had an unblinking stare fixed on him.
 
I really needed to finish up my Dak-Hiliah studies.
 

“We have a new druid in the holiest seat now.
 
He decreed that Shindray’s rules don’t apply to any female of human descent.
 
It’s a new beginning for us.
 
A chance to return our empire to the glory days we knew before Shindray took his seat.”
 
He paused to caress the side of my face.
 
“Unfortunately, my dear, our new high druid is a little boy.
 
The god within him must contend with the faculties of a child for the next decade.
 
So, although he’s eradicated Shindray’s harsh rules, he’s given us precious few new ones to replace them.”

I rose and walked back with him to our bed.
 

“I’ll give you some rules,” I said, while dabbing my eyes.
 
“Your wife should be your best friend.
 
You should be equal partners, sharing everything with each other.
 
And you should be free to love each other without any rules or restrictions.”

Elentinus sat on the side of his bed with me and took my both my hands.
 
“My dear, you are in a very unique position.
 
You’re the first bride brought to our time since Shindray’s death.”

This revelation struck me.
 

“I want you to write a letter to Pakpo, the druid in the holiest seat, describing how husbands and wives coexisted in your time.
 
I’ll have Hor provide you with means and procedures to compose such a letter.
 
Make suggestions to Pakpo.”

I hugged Elentinus’ hands to my chest.
 
“Oh my God, I would love that.”

“We’ve existed by Shindray’s rules so long there’s no one left alive who remembers when things were different.
 
Educate us, my dear.
 
Pakpo is my—well, technically, he’s my half-brother.
 
As his only blood relative on the council I’ve become a bit of a darling to him.
 
I know he’d welcome suggestions from my wife.”
 
He ran is fingers through my hair.
 
“You could be the catalyst to bring about the changes we need, my dear.”

I cheered and threw my arms around him.
 
“Oh…
um
, husband!”
 
(Having to call him that would be the first thing that had to go).
 
“You don’t know how happy this makes me.”

He squeezed me in return.
 
“Then I’m happy also.
 
You seemed so upset when I woke you.”

I was starting to bubble up with tears again.
 
The emotional rollercoaster ride of the day had made my insides raw.
 
“I was, but you’ve made everything right.”
 
I leaned back to stare up at him with my teary eyes.
 
“I love you.”

Elentinus closed his eyes and made a kind of rapturous shudder.
 
He pulled me back against him for one of his intense kisses.

Uh oh.
 
I wasn’t ready for sex.
 
My lady bits were still sore.
   

I broke free from his kiss with some difficulty.
 
“Um…sweetie?
 
Can we just snuggle for tonight?
 
I still haven’t…recovered.”

He smiled at me.
 
“Will you show me how to snuggle, Maritza?”

Aw!
 
His sweetness got my tears going again.
 
I ran my fingers through his silky hair.

“I would love to.”

***

Elentinus had to leave early for his work the next day.
 
I felt sorry for him.
 
He’d had, what?
 
Four hours of sleep?
 
I would make sure he got to bed tonight without any drama.