“The pod would take her to Aquar?”
“N-no. To Earth where she could travel to the southern hemisphere and be able to leave the planet on a ship outside of the range of your sensors.”
Elentinus put his face into his hand. “That’s how they got her. Damn. It was like she vanished. At first I wondered if I’d find her corpse decomposing in a wall panel.” He took a deep breath. “Ingenious. Those bastards.”
I continued crying. “I was ready to help her escape right now. I almost did it.”
“But you betrayed your people instead,” Whore said.
I looked at him aghast. He said it plainly, as if he were trying to wrap his head around it. I didn’t see any malice in his face.
“The only reason I didn’t help her was because you said it would cause a war.”
Elentinus reached out and gently soothed the side of my face. His lower lip trembled.
“You did the right thing…my love.”
I swallowed a painful gulp.
“I’m going to kill myself.” Inga spoke with tearful anger.
Elentinus rose. “Take her to our room. Get her cleaned up. Don’t leave her alone. Whore, go with them.” He headed towards the lobby.
“Where are you going, Master?”
“To speak with Nayjoor.” He paused and turned back to us. “Inga.”
She set her angry eyes on him.
“Don’t lose hope yet.” He left.
I tried to take her arm. She clung to the back of the chair in front of her.
“Come on,” I said gently. “At least change your dress.”
“Don’t touch me, traitor.”
I cringed back. It felt like she’d shot an arrow into my chest.
A hand soothed my back. I jolted. Whore was looking at me with a placid face.
“I’ll take her, mistress.”
I gawked at him. My heart had been on such a rollercoaster it was hard to keep up with every new shock. Whore was smiling at me. Smiling!
He put Inga’s arm around him and helped her walk. I followed behind them with my head down.
Whore was happy with me.
Oh, God…what have I done?
Inga let water cascade over her while leaning against my shower wall with her arms crossed. I sat on the toilet watching her with my peripheral vision. She was skinny to the point of being emaciated.
“What the fuck do you think your husband can do?” she said. I didn’t have to look directly at her to sense the hatred in her eyes.
“Elentinus will make everything right. He always does.”
Inga hurled insults at me nonstop after I said it. I was an idiot. I sounded mentally retarded. I was a typical overfed, self-centered, shallow, obnoxious American. These all bounced off me with little effect.
“You sold out your people just because your murderer husband has a pretty face.”
Now her words stung. I did my best not to show it.
“You better hope I never get to the Earth village or to the Aquars’ planet. If I do I’m going make sure everyone knows what a fucking traitor Elentinus’ wife is.”
I swallowed. “Are you almost finished?”
“Eat. Shit.”
When we finally emerged from the bathroom only Whore was present in the bedroom. He sauntered over to us.
“I suppose I should escort her back to Lord Nayjoor.”
Inga made several sharp gasps, as though she were trying to resist crying but couldn’t hold back.
“Why don’t we just have her wait here?” I said. “Lord Elentinus must still be with him. I’m sure he’ll come get her when they’re done.”
Whore gave a slight bow. “As you wish, mistress.”
His eerie kindness was sending electricity down my spine. Inga went to the dining table to wait. I sat on one of the cushioned benches embedded in the wall.
Hours passed. I was fine with just sitting and staring at the doorway the whole time. The muscles in my shoulders were wound into tight knots, my throat was raw, and my gut felt like it had been punched. I couldn’t even think everything over. My brain was overloaded. I sat there both nervous and blank. Whenever I caught sight of Inga I got a stab of anguish.
Kang rolled over to me when I yawned.
“Please go to bed, mistress. It’s very late.”
“I’m waiting for my husband.”
“It will be some time, yet, mistress. He’s coordinating the retrieval of an enemy pod off the side of the ship.”
I blinked a few times. “Oh.”
I tried to figure out what this meant for Inga, but my brain was fried. When I looked over at her I saw she was sleeping with her head against her folded arms on the table.
“I…I guess I’ll lie down for a while.”
The act of reclining on the mattress made me realize how exhausted I was. Every piece of me ached with tension. I let my head sink into the pillow and faded into sleep.
I slept three or four hours at the most. The sound of Elentinus’ voice had me clambering out of bed. He was descending the stairs with Whore. Inga lifted her head from the table. They walked to her. I went around the other side of the table so I could be near enough to hear without instigating a new round of insults from her.
Elentinus took out a control unit and pressed some buttons on the side. Inga’s pink collar appeared and then fizzled out.
“I’ve removed your collar. Nayjoor said he doesn’t want you anymore. He’s destroying your marriage record when he gets home. I’m going to make arrangements for you to join the Earth colony.”
Joyful tears bubbled up inside me.
Inga remained derisive. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“I understand your reluctance, but it’s true this time.” He leaned nearer to her. “They left without you.”
Inga’s lips parted. She looked at Elentinus. “They’re gone?”
“Yes.”
“He…won’t come back for me?”
“I’ve forbidden him from ever returning.”
Inga searched the table in front of her. Her breathing grew rapid. “You can’t forbid him from getting his wife. He could change his mind.”
“That won’t happen. We have an agreement.”
Inga scowled. “What agreement?”
“I’m allowing him to claim that he unraveled the Aquars’ scheme to rescue you. He’s saying he discovered the pod when we landed on Earth, and that he subsequently traced their signals to my Domestics. He’ll also claim he’s the one who discovered that the collars thwart the Aquars’ rescue attempts. He took the pod back with him as a trophy. He’ll be lauded as the hero who finally put a stop to the theft of our brides. Most importantly, he’ll be able to humiliate me as the fool who was baffled for months by a scheme that took him mere days to uncover.”
Inga covered her mouth. Her eyes darted around again as though she were looking for another excuse not to accept it. Then her tears poured out once again. She shuddered with quiet sobs.
Elentinus soothed her shoulder. “You’re free, Inga.”
The proclamation made her sob louder.
“Return to the guest room and get some sleep.”
She backed up her chair and rose to obey. She took one step away, then turned around and threw her arms around Elentinus.
“Thank you.”
He placed one hand on her back. She broke away snuffling and headed for the door. Whore flanked her.
“Do you know the way?”
Inga nodded. “I’m just thirsty and tired.”
“Go with her, Kang,” I said.
My Domestic sped to his little robot elevator so he could meet her outside Elentinus’ door. I rubbed my weary face with my hand once they were gone.
“I’m sorry you had to do that, husband.”
He took a deep breath through his nostrils. “It bothers me only slightly. The other council members will mock me, but that was their custom anyway. The evidence we have now is a boon to the empire. It doesn’t matter if
it comes from me or Nayjoor. We’ll benefit all the same.”
I felt so wrung out I was dizzy on my feet. “Is there going to be war?”
“No. But we are going to expose their activities to their allies and demand the stolen brides be returned. If they don’t comply we’ll have every right to assault their home world. I doubt they’ll take that risk.”
“What’s going to happen to the retrieved brides?” Whore said.
He frowned. “I don’t know. That’s something we’ll have to vote on.” He rubbed my back. “I’ll suggest they be placed in the Earth colony, Maritza.”
I forced a smile for half a second. Tears were still built up behind my eyes. “Inga’s going to tell the people there that I betrayed them. That…that I’m a traitor to my own race.”
“Who cares,” Whore said.
I looked at him.
“You’re not one of them anymore. You’re a Dak-Hiliah noblewoman.”
The urge to cry grew even stronger. Maybe after the dust settled I could be happy I’d proven my worth to Whore. Right now all I felt was pain.
Elentinus drew me against him. “It’s true, Maritza. You’re not of those people. You’re my wife. You belong to the Dak-Hiliah Empire.” He soothed my hair. “And I’m sure it’s little consolation, but they hate me also. We’ll be despised as a couple.”
One syllable of a laugh broke free from my chest. When I met my husband’s eyes I saw he looked as weary and tormented as I did.
I buried myself in his arms.
I woke up late the next morning with what felt like an emotion hang-over. Elentinus remained fast asleep. I put my head back in the crook of his shoulder and let myself pass out for another couple of hours.
The second time I awakened I saw Elentinus’ eyes were open. We heard footsteps nearby. Elentinus opened our curtain to reveal Whore pacing in front of our bed.
“Oh, good.” He had a tablet in one hand. “You’re awake.”
“You were stomping,” Elentinus said.
Whore tossed him the tablet. “You need to be aware of a few things, master.”
I huddled near to see the tablet screen. My messy-haired wedding picture with Elentinus (which looked to be nicely retouched) was above an article. Elentinus scrolled the text up. A flattering picture of Nayjoor appeared on the right. The two of us read together in silence.
A great event has unfolded upon the Celestial Yacht of our Lord Elentinus, which is currently in orbit above Slave-Planet Earth. Our Lord Nayjoor paid a visit to Lord Elentinus with his Earth bride, Inga. During his stay, Lord Nayjoor uncovered a plot by our devious enemies, the Aquars. They sought to steal Inga through a small vessel attached to the belly of the yacht, unbeknownst to Lord Elentinus. Lord Nayjoor, through the assistance of Lord Elentinus’ heroic Earth bride Maritza, discovered the vessel before Inga could disable her protective collar to board it. The most shocking of all is that our own precious robots were drawn into the Aquars’ nefarious scheme. Maritza showed Lord Nayjoor how Lord Elentinus’ domestics were hacked to allow the Aquars to contact both her and Inga. It has also been proven that the Aquars could not have obtained Inga so long as her force-field collar was active. Hail to Lord Nayjoor and Maritza for exposing the methods of this most repulsive Dak-Hiliah enemy. It’s a testament to our new era of Pakpo that such good luck befalls our honorable High Councilmen. A full report, along with technological evidence is being sent to the allies of the Aquars in order to…
“They’re really highlighting my treachery,” I said.
“The article is informing the empire that you’re no longer an ‘Earth Bride,’” Whore said. (He’d perched himself on the side of the bed). “But are one of the Dak-Hiliah, now.”
“It’s true,” Elentinus said. “I’m pleased Nayjoor kept his promise to honor you. It makes my humiliation worth it.”
My pursed lips skewed to one side. ‘Honor’ was a relative thing here. It wasn’t going to be easy to embrace my role as a traitor. I had to keep reminding myself of why I did it. The internal conflict I felt now would have been nothing compared to the horror of causing the Dak-Hiliah to launch a full-scale war on the Aquars. Besides that, Inga was going to get to live in the nice Earth colony, free from torture. I’d done the right thing. I believed that with every fiber of my heart.
We focused on the article a few minutes more. It said that Elentinus must be relieved to finally know how his first wife had been taken. I didn’t read anything that should cause Elentinus humiliation, but I could tell this came from a propaganda machine. They weren’t going to say anything that would shame their leaders. Elentinus’ colleagues would be experts at reading between the lines. I’m sure Nayjoor boasted to ensure Elentinus’ misery.
“I queued up something more you should read,” Whore said.
Elentinus moved it to the next screen. This looked more like an email. Pakpo was outraged over news that some men were using the force-field collars to discipline their wives. It was a long rambling letter that I had to struggle through to eventually get to the point: shocking brides was now forbidden.
“Oh thank God,” I said.
Elentinus smiled. He moved on to the next screen.
My face had been cut out of our wedding photo to illustrate another article. This one took a moment for me to decipher. The square characters weren’t Dak-Hiliah writing. I still found myself able to read it.
The title was: ‘The Galaxy’s Greatest Traitor.’
I groaned. Either the Aquars or one of their allies had decided to write a hate piece on me. They were quoting facts from the first article we read, but painting me, Elentinus, and the entire Dak-Hiliah Empire as villians. I was the worst of them all because I’d sold-out my home world. Elentinus clicked off the tablet before I could read the whole thing.
“They’re petty, vindictive little worms,” Elentinus said. “All the Alliance worlds agreed to respect our surrender agreement. They happily fail to mention they violated this.”
“I saved their asses.”
Elentinus laughed. “That you did.” He glanced at Whore. “Anything else?”
“Just Inga, master. How soon before we can get rid of her?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I want it to go back to just the three of us.”
Elentinus mussed my hair and then leaned back to yawn. “I’ll call the colony later today.”
“You’re not going to give Nayjoor a replacement bride from there, are you?” I said.
“No. He lost the privilege of a wife. Let him stew as a bachelor for while.”
I snuggled against him. “Good.”
Whore rose with a cunning look on his face. “I’ll leave you two alone.”
Elentinus winked at him. I laughed.
Physically, I still felt beaten up by everything that happened. Mentally, I was deeply embedded in my happy place: safe with Elentinus. Yes, I’m a traitor to Earth. That would be my cross to bear now, no matter what my reasons were. Yes, my husband was the king of an evil alien race. People from the outside could see it as black and white as that. I was in the thick of it, deep in the grey area. Every time I questioned whether I was allowed to love someone like Elentinus he proved he was good and he was worthy. This was never going to be an ideal situation. At least I was able to nudge things in the right direction at my husband’s side.
This was where I belonged.
E * P * I * L * O * G * U * E
I put my hand against the gestation tube and squinted. “It doesn’t look any bigger.”
Elentinus gave me a dubious look. “Of course not. It’s only been fourteen days.”
I pouted. “Oh.”
He put his arm around me and led me out of the infirmary. “Speaking of which, you should be ovulating again any time now.”
I glanced at him just in time to catch a lascivious little brow lift.
“Ah, geez.”
He put a hand on my butt to push me down the corridor to the elevator. I’d been trying to get him to hold out longer betwe
en sex sessions. For a while I managed to cut down to every other day. Yesterday was my first try to get him to wait two days. I guess I was pushing it.
He threw me on the bed, ripped open my dress, and then ripped open my bra.
“Let’s get wild.” Elentinus licked his lips.
I looked up at him past my exposed boobs. “How do I even have any clothes left?”
He ripped my dress the rest of the way off and yanked off the girdle panties. “The Tailors make you more.” He tossed my shredded clothes off the bed.
“Tailors?” I said as he stripped rapidly. “More robots?”
He grabbed my breasts and gave a wet kiss to one nipple. “We have robots for everything.” He lavished my other breast with the same hot kiss.
Apparently two days was long for me, also. I was already getting a stagger to my breath.
“There was something…something I meant to ask you a long time ago.”
Elentinus spread buttery kisses over my torso. I knew his hand was going to dive for the prize soon. The anticipation made my legs squirm.
“Whore said if you named a Domestic they’ll want to have sex with you.”
He lifted his head up suddenly. There was a scary gleam in his eyes followed by a slow-forming grin.
“It sounds like you’re ready for something new.”
I sat up with my jaw dropped. “We’re not having a 3-way with Kang!”
I heard the whir of tires rolling outside our curtain. Uh-oh. I shouldn’t have shouted his name.
“Mistress?” Kang said
“Nothing, Kang!”
“Just a moment, Kang,” Elentinus said.
I went to punch him, but he grabbed my wrist.
He leaned close to whisper against my lips. “When you name a Domestic and constantly interact with them you expand their intellectual capabilities. They want to serve you in every possible way.”
I was aghast. “Not. Kang.”
I heard another whir. Kang rolled up right next to me just outside the curtain.
“Why not, mistress?”
I scrambled away from him. “Oh my God!”
Elentinus caught me around my middle. I tried to wriggle free. We wrestled a little while and then he pinned me underneath him.
The Complete Alien's Bride Page 19