Alien General's Bride: SciFi Alien Romance (Brion Brides)

by Vi Voxley

  “She is safe now,” Urenya continued. “I am sure you have a lot to discuss with the Elders and the remaining senators. My patient needs rest.”

  “You saved her life,” Diego said seriously, standing up. “And you have been correct about many other things. But do not push it.”

  He turned to her. “Rest, Isolde,” he said, much gentler. “I will return soon.”

  Her name still sounded so song-like from his lips. Isolde couldn’t help but smile and nod. When he was gone, Urenya sighed.

  “Warriors must always end everything in a threat,” she said, shrugging. “But given the circumstances, I think I can understand why he worries.”

  “You saved my life,” Isolde said.

  “I did,” Urenya agreed. “You were lucky I was close by, something which Aneya probably did not consider. I carry the antidotes to most known poisons with me at all times if possible. You got off very, very easily, but Diego still feels it is his fault.”

  “It’s not,” Isolde said at once. “He wasn’t anywhere near.”

  “That is what he feels guilty about, but no, it was not his fault,” Urenya agreed. “I do not honestly think it is anyone’s fault. That is what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “About Diego?”

  “About Aneya. Do you hate her, now that you know what she did?”

  “I understand from your tone you want me to say I don’t, but she tried to kill me,” Isolde said, sitting up better. Other than her head hurting a bit, it didn’t seem as though she was sick any longer.

  “She did. I wanted to explain to you why,” Urenya said. “I can just tell you what I think, not what I know to be true. Do you know what broken geshas are?”

  That got through even Isolde’s drugged mind. “Yes,” she admitted. “A theory, as much as I know. The idea that sometimes the bond forms only one-sided. Mostly from the gesha. You think that was her?”

  “It fits the profile, yes.”

  “But it’s just a theory. I thought the whole bond functioned with both parties feeling the pull, only that women didn’t realize the moment.”

  Urenya nodded, adjusting the level of a clear liquid flowing into Isolde’s veins.

  “Antidote,” the healer said when she caught Isolde looking. “And theoretically yes, both parties of the bond are supposed to feel it. Some very strongly, some less so. But this is once again one of those things that are not made public since it is tragic for us. I gathered Eleya told you about the possibility of refusing the binding?”

  “She told me about Eren,” Isolde nodded.

  “There are actually a few other anomalies about the bond that only healers know about, but they are all very rare and are regarded as mutations. But I personally think that broken geshas are real. There are enough cases to support it.”

  Isolde thought it over while Urenya asked her questions to determine any side effects of the poison and to rule out any possible permanent damage. “Why is it important to you that she was?”

  “I do not know,” Urenya admitted. “We think broken geshas are born of desperation somehow, that it is a psychological trick of their brain, an intrusive delusion of sorts, which makes them feel as though they are bound already. I feel bad for them. They cannot help it. If that ever happened to me, I would not even understand it, because it would make sense in my head.”

  “I do feel bad for her,” Isolde admitted. “But that’s not the same as forgiving. I mean if that happened to you, if Narath had a broken gesha, what would you do?”

  Urenya just smiled. “Oh, I agree. I do not merely carry antidotes with me. There are one or two very real poisons as well.”

  Then her tone changed as she began telling Isolde what had occurred while she was out. “There is something else you need to know. We failed.”

  ---

  When Urenya left, Isolde had a bit of time for herself. The healer had seemed adamant about needing her to understand that Aneya was worthy of compassion, if not her forgiveness. She could live with that, but something else entirely bothered Isolde. Whether Aneya had been broken or not, she had at least fought for what she wanted.

  Narath had saved her life, and now Urenya had done the same. Everyone kept saving her, making her feel completely useless. Isolde wanted to do something as well.

  I swear to gods if my only job in this coming war is to warm Diego’s bed, I’ll lose my mind.

  Not that that in itself was a horrible thing, on the contrary, Isolde found herself longing for him already. There had to be some humor in the fact she could go through being poisoned and still think of sex the first moment she woke up. No, she’d definitely spend a lot of time in Diego’s arms, in those strong, miraculously powerful arms… That was beside the point.

  She longed to be on Rhea where she could have been useful. Now it seemed Rhea no longer mattered, for her anyway. Whatever else happened there was completely out of her hands. The planet she’d been on her way to for so long had become irrelevant to her. It bothered Isolde to think she hadn’t gotten to do her part, even if it would have been lying to the entire galaxy. It would have been worth it to prevent the war that was now coming.

  Isolde shook her head clear of self-pity. She wouldn’t go around poisoning people to prove she was still relevant, but she was Diego Grothan’s gesha now. She wasn’t insignificant, and there had to be something for her to do.

  Possibly starting with Diego, because while she didn’t want it to be her only task, it was still her alien honeymoon.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Diego

  News of Eren’s escape from Briolina was barely news to Diego at all. There were generals loyal to the senator, and in the confusion of the Elders emerging and him preoccupied with Isolde, it hadn’t been too difficult for Eren to break through the blockade and flee. It wasn’t unexpected nor particularly troublesome. Diego was a hunter and he would find the traitor soon enough.

  Now that Isolde was confirmed to be safe and unharmed, Diego felt strangely tranquil. The worst had already happened, and he was left in the thick of the action where he preferred to be. At least what he had to do was obvious to him – they would chase Eren and bring him to justice. It irked him not to just cut the traitor’s head off when he next saw him, but Diego knew the execution had to be public. The Brions had to know they still had justice and law, even if the galaxy had just turned upside down for them.

  The Galactic Union was in turmoil, as much as he’d heard. The overall politics concerned Diego just as much as they affected the Brions. The details he left to Eleya and the Elders, waiting for their permission to begin his chase. With every passing hour Eren got further and further from them, but that hardly mattered. The Triumphant and the Unbroken would find him wherever the senator thought to flee from the Elders’ wrath.

  Which was nowhere, really. Exposing their great lie to the GU had not made him popular with them, not even close. And there was no returning to Briolina, not for him nor any of the fools who had decided to side with him even after hearing the Elders. That showed Rhea’s true worth, he supposed.

  Diego had an idea where he could have gone. It made things… both easier and more complicated.

  While he longed to be in pursuit already, the surety of the Elders approving his actions was enough to calm his battle rage. He knew he had been in the right, and while he had failed them, Diego would try to redeem himself by bringing Eren the end he deserved. The only regret he had was that now that there was a war coming, he would constantly have to put Isolde in danger.

  He had already decided there was no way his gesha could be left behind while he went to war as there would be no safe place and she might as well be near him. Being close to Isolde helped with everything. If Diego had to fight a war for the Brions and against them, he was glad to be complete with his gesha at his side.

  The Elders had been informed of Eren’s treachery, of course, and their rage had been terrible. Diego doubted that Eren had managed to play the fool with them, appearing
to only have been misled, not outright treacherous. But they had still expected him to stay true to the Brions.

  There had been occasions when some people had dared to question the Elders – the whole Rhea thing was a great example of that – but defying them so blatantly? That was unheard of. The Elders demanded bloody retribution, but first they had to figure out what to do with the Galactic Union.

  They had called a meeting with the remaining senators, those who had taken Diego’s side and even a few who had switched sides when the decision had been announced. He wondered how it was for them and if the Elders had decided to be merciful. Eleya was in that meeting and the generals were left to wait.

  He had had a moment to talk to Eleya. While it should have been his kill, a part of Diego was glad he didn’t have to put his spear through Aneya’s heart himself. Not out of any pity or remorse, but because of the simple fact that besides avenging Isolde, it would have been beneath him. She was no warrior, no true match.

  The woman he had once known, the kind and beautiful companion had been gone for a while. He’d hoped for years they could remain friends, but every time they met it had become more obvious to him it wouldn’t happen. Only hope and memories had kept him from terminating their meetings altogether. It had nearly cost Isolde’s life.

  “You got her?” he had asked Eleya, who looked much as he did – furious at Eren, but calm from finally having a clear plan about what to do next.

  “I did,” the senator had said, frowning. “Forgive me, Diego. I did not sense the poison.”

  “Urenya says it would have been practically impossible even if you had drunk the cup yourself.”

  Eleya had nodded at that, accepting it without further comment.

  “Did she say anything?” Diego had asked, the last courtesy he ever planned to extend to Aneya. To assume she’d at least died like a Brion.

  “Nothing you would want to hear,” Eleya had said and Diego believed her. Presumably she had begged or tried to justify her actions. “I cut her off quickly.”

  From her, that was literal. Diego was once again thankful. He could rest easily knowing at least someone would present the situation correctly to the Elders. He had little faith in the other senators right about then.

  Sphere, their intergalactic station, was boiling over. Some ambassadors had fled, others tried to consolidate things, a few were outraged, and another group simply stood by waiting. Only one, the Terran, had descended to the surface and quickly met with Eleya before she went to the Elders. Diego thought it odd, but it made little difference to him. The Elders would give their commands and he would obey.

  Beside the Triumphant, the Unbroken and Faren were waiting patiently. Diego knew that his brother general hungered for the hunt as he did, anxious to put the traitor out of his miserable life at last. Not to mention the generals who had fled with Eren. Faren would take it even more personally than he, Diego knew. The cold general could be trusted to burn furious fast when one of the generals disgraced themselves.

  Diego was proud to be a Brion general, but that was all that Faren was. He would cut down the traitors without mercy. Diego was glad to have him by his side.

  As for himself, Diego spent the time waiting with Isolde. She was his gesha now and deserved to be included in his affairs. He had prepared himself for the eventuality his little human gesha would be tired and worn down by the poison, but she seemed to have recovered both in body and in spirit. Maybe even more so in spirit. Being a Brion, Diego understood that. Staring death in the eye for the first time, like Isolde had with Ensha, was a scary experience and took time to come back from.

  But the times after that, death – not exactly lost its edge, but it did make one ready to fight it. Isolde hadn’t had the opportunity to fight, which is why the Brions considered poisons a coward’s weapon or fit only to those who didn’t have the martial capability to carry their battles out with a spear. So Diego understood why the second attempt to kill her had made Isolde more alive. When faced with the possibility of one’s existence ending, it’s natural to want to live a whole life.

  To his delight, in Isolde’s case it seemed to mean enjoying her life with him among other things. After all the trouble they’d gone through, Diego was infinitely grateful for her finally allowing herself to live as she wanted. As they had nothing very urgent to do before the Elders gave him his marching orders, he didn’t even think of objecting when Isolde came to him, eyes burning and a smirk Diego was growing to love more with each passing day on her lips.

  For once, they were uninterrupted. Their fucking was fast and intense and wild. Every time, Diego discovered something new about what Isolde liked, and he used it the next time to drive her out of her mind with pleasure. When they’d finished, she lay exhausted against his arm, her whole body still gently shivering from her orgasm. There were bite marks on Diego’s neck, and Isolde’s lips were red and swollen from all his kisses.

  “Do you think we have to go soon?” she asked him.

  “Yes,” Diego said, although a part of him wouldn’t have minded staying right there with Isolde in his arms. “We could not stop the war, but we can punish the one who started it.”

  “Where do you think he went? How do you even find someone in the whole known universe?” Isolde went on. “I mean, huge Brion warships aren’t the most inconspicuous of things, but still.”

  Diego nodded. “They are not, but I think I know where he went. It would be pointless for him to hide. He knows me and Faren and all the others are close behind him as soon as there is a sighting. He cannot run. No, I imagine he is where he believes he can put up a fight. The only place besides Briolina where there are Brions. He is a fool if he thinks they will side with him, but I suppose in his place I would go there too.”

  “You mean Rhea,” Isolde said, clearly surprised. “He can’t seriously assume he can win.”

  “I do not believe he plays to win any more,” Diego said. “He just wants to cause the most damage now. And by being on Rhea, he can at least hope that the Brions see what they are giving away.”

  “It won’t work,” Isolde said, although it sounded like a question.

  “No,” Diego agreed. “But the damage is done.”

  They spoke of Eren no further. The galaxy was no longer the place where Diego had met Isolde and started to dream of a life with her, then again that was simply the way it was. It wasn’t in Brion nature to keep pondering on how things might have been. Eren had betrayed them, and that was the world they lived in now. Only one thing bothered him.

  “We may have to live a dangerous life for a while,” he said. “I want you with me, but the Triumphant does not make us immortal, as much as its reputation would have you believe.”

  “I know,” Isolde said dreamily, her hand around him. “But you’re here. That’s all that matters.”

  Diego smiled. She was right. They were together and that was all that mattered.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Isolde

  Isolde was honestly surprised.

  Others were usually not allowed on Briolina. The closest they usually came was Sphere, the station orbiting the planet. So very few other species had actually seen the Brion Elders. Isolde had assumed from the name they were… well, old. Maybe some were. Probably all were. There was no question the Brions seemed to age pretty much as the Terrans did.

  The man standing before them in the Triumphant’s main arena definitely wasn’t old. The stasis sleep in which the Elders spent their meditation had kept his body in the moment he entered it, but there was something ancient about him. After a moment Isolde realized what it was. His eyes seemed very old.

  Like Faren’s, they gave the impression of seeing straight through her, but unlike Faren’s, the Elder warrior’s eyes weren’t cold. Instead, they burned in a way that reminded Isolde of a sleeping volcano, the fire bubbling so close to the surface you could almost see it.

  She wasn’t on the balcony this time, but standing in the midst of the Brion
s with her guards. Most of the personnel on Diego’s ship had come to meet the Elder warlord, the one who spoke for all the Brion warrior Elders. Even before Deliya told her that, Isolde could see why. Without speaking a single word, the Elder had silenced them all with his presence. That was their way, however he also looked ferocious. Almost as big as Crane, he lacked all the madness, but had all the fire.

  His name was unknown. His age too. No one who lived outside the Elder stasis sleep remembered him, so there was no telling how old he really was. There was a limit, of course, the stasis sleep didn’t make a person immortal, but Isolde had no idea how long it could keep someone alive. Long enough to fade from living memory it seemed.

  “So you are the one who killed another grothan,” the Elder said, looking at her gerion, dressed in his general’s battle armor, standing beside Eleya.

  “I am,” Diego said.

  Isolde had expected some honorary title, or at least something to refer to the revered position the Elders had on Briolina, but no such followed. They were simply two warriors conversing, until the Elder gave an order. Only then would the difference be seen.

  “The last I saw you, I gave you that title,” the Elder said.

  Isolde could have sworn she saw Diego tense up, but she knew that was what he’d expected. He had failed the Elders, and so their first task would be to take his title from him. Then they’d send him on a penance hunt to make up for his failure.

  “You will remain grothan,” the huge Elder said. Even Isolde could see Diego’s surprise, which was a wonder, because her general rarely ever displayed any emotion in public. Honestly the only one who didn’t seem to be taken aback was Faren, present with many of his men as well.

  “I failed you,” Diego said. It wasn’t even a protest, merely a statement. Isolde saw Eleya frown at him. Clearly even that was considered disobedience.