“You call this a slave world because they raise your children for you?”
“Slave world is probably no longer accurate for Dornovonia. The population is autonomous. Only families who volunteer are granted Dak-Hiliah children, and they’re compensated.”
“You could have just done a trade agreement instead of conquering them.”
“Dornovonia wasn’t conquered. We liberated them from the Jan-delts hundreds of years ago.”
“Liberated, huh?”
“They don’t seem liberated to you?” He pointed to a picture of a lively festival. “This is our ideal. To have a world thrive under our governance. It’s what we want for the entire universe.”
“Because you know best.”
Lysanter kept his lips sealed.
“No, it’s fine. It looks like you’ve done right by these people. I want to think that if you’d been in charge of the Earth war it would have gone differently, but apparently you and Elentinus are two peas in a pod. The only reason you don’t have as much blood on your hands as him is because you were busy here.”
“Elentinus voted against denying you the Instajant vaccine.”
Lenora became still.
“He was outvoted by the old guard on the council. Nayjoor and his cohorts.”
“That figures.”
He touched her shoulder to guide her to the other side of the corridor. Again, she didn’t jerk from him.
“There are only 200 adult Dak-Hiliah on this world, but around 10,000 children.”
“What do the adults do?”
“Many oversee the foster families. Some run our base here or our robot factories. A few merely live in Dornovonian society.”
“So most of the children leave and don’t come back?”
“They visit once a year on our most prominent holiday. But, no, they don’t stay here. We have many other worlds where our influence is needed. Our population is still direly low.”
“Do you visit your foster family?”
Lysanter grinned. “Often. They live right here in Canopania.”
“That must be nice.”
Though she didn’t look at him, Lysanter could sense her longing. Of course, her entire family was probably dead. That was why she needed strong connections with friends like Vivian.
“My mother would adore you, Lenora.”
She smiled slightly. “Hm.”
He touched her hair. When she didn’t recoil he allowed his fingers to slip between the silky strands and glide through.
“The Dak-Hiliah aren’t pure evil. You see that, don’t you?”
Lenora took two steps forward to move out of his reach. The ache this caused in his chest struck him. Ruling Dornovonia was simple compared to the challenge she was presenting.
And yet, he felt undaunted.
Lenora was left to her own devices until dinner. She assumed Lysanter had some work he couldn’t put off, and later saw him in an office of sorts working at a terminal when she wandered the corridors. After a while she went back to the room he’d assigned to her. She sat on the bed and let the thoughts come.
Elentinus was still a creep. The Dak-Hiliah were still self-important religious fanatics who felt entitled to rule the universe. But Lysanter?
He might actually be okay.
Not that it mattered due to their body problem. How could you have a happy marriage with someone who had a sex organ the size of 300 pound animal? Was she supposed to have some surgical alteration? Was that what the traitor Maritza had done? Lenora hugged herself in her arms and shuddered.
A few times Lysanter made her forget about that glaring issue. She started to think about just giving up. To stop thinking and become his wife. She could see if she regretted it afterward. Every time that inkling slipped into her consciousness, like sleeping gas on an operating table, she forced herself to come back to reality. Vivian. She was responsible for her. She couldn’t live with herself if the girl won the games and headed back to Earth alone.
Vivian needed her much more than Lysanter did.
It was a stupid notion anyway. He was one of them. He put up a good front, but it was in his genes, in his heart to be an evil conqueror. He didn’t even try to convince her otherwise. The way he defended Elentinus annoyed her, but it also showed he was probably behaving honestly. If he wanted to trick her into thinking he was her perfect mate he should have sided with her against that bastard, and feigned a great deal of self-loathing also. Right now his tactic was to show her that he wasn’t so bad. In that, she admitted, he was having success. Especially since he was going to help Vivian stay out of Nayjoor’s mealy hands.
If he truly was a good guy he especially didn’t need to marry someone like her. The poison inside her made her chest ache whenever her thoughts veered toward her past. Pretending to be normal wasn’t something she could manage for a lifetime. She had to get out of here—the sooner the better. Lysanter was already putting dangerous ideas in her head about a life that was impossible for someone like her.
Lenora let herself flop back in bed and sigh. Don’t get too close to him. That had to be her plan. She didn’t see any reason he deserved to get hurt.
“Oh. My. God.”
Lenora jolted up. Vivian stood in the doorway dressed in a shimmering loose brown suit with a garish green jewel necklace and matching tiara. Her arms were weighed by the handles of a half dozen shopping bags.
“Vivian.”
The lanky girl bounded over to her and dumped her bags on the bed. “This planet is freaking awesome! It’s like pre-war Earth except full of cute-ass llamas. They’re so nice, Len! I mean, I couldn’t actually talk to them, but they were acting like I was some celebrity.”
Her brow rose. “Wow.”
She dumped out a bag of clothes and barrettes. “Here, check it out. They had this machine that would make clothes for you in like two minutes. I got to pick out the fabric and the styles and stuff. Here, I got this one for you.” She gave her a slinky black dress.
“Oh. Thank you.” She accepted it with some trepidation. When would she ever wear anything so impractical?
“Oh my God, the food is so good. I ate like such a fricking pig.” She dumped out another bag with jewelry and a decorated box. “Look at this! It’s a music box. Their music sucks, but oh my God, this is so pretty.” She opened it to show a llama dancing to a jangly tune inside. “Oh, and they have loads of crazy-ass wigs!”
“Vivian—what are you going to do with all this stuff? Most of it isn’t useful. We’re going to have to travel light in the woods.”
The air deflated from Vivian’s chest. “Well…I don’t know. I was just having…having fun.” She dropped down to sit beside her. “Well, fuck.”
“No, it’s fine. Have fun. You’re right—you should be able to enjoy yourself. It’s not like we’ll ever be here again.”
Now Vivian made a sound of anguish. “Why can’t we stay here? This planet is awesome. It’s more than awesome. It’s a fricking paradise compared to Earth.”
“It’s a slave planet, Vivian. The deal is, we win, we get our freedom.”
“Slave planet? What fricking slaves? They aren’t slaves. What the Hell slave owns their own restaurant and has fifty people working for them? And like, what kind of slaves are looking all rich with high tech gadgets and buying expensive stuff at the mall and stuff? Damn! If these are slaves then sign me the fuck up.”
Lenora felt like a bully who’d just stomped on Vivian’s sand castle. She wrung her hands together. “The priority is winning the games to make sure you don’t end up with Nayjoor.”
“Yeah. No doubt.”
“After that—I don’t know. I mean…” Would Elentinus let them stay here? It would be wonderful for Vivian, but she knew better than to seek this herself. The only way she could stay here was to marry Lysanter. Forget it, Lenora.
“Well, I don’t know the rules or whatever,” Vivian said, “but if I can stay here then let me stay here. It would suck ass to have to go ba
ck to Earth after what I saw today.”
It occurred to Lenora that there was another answer. The knowledge gave her a strange calm. “We’ll work something out.”
“Work it, Len! Please!”
Lysanter tapped at their open door. Vivian gleamed a smile at him that he softly returned.
“Your friend seems happy.”
“She had a great time. Thank your servant for me.”
“It was his pleasure. He said she was delightful. More joyful than any Dak-Hiliah he’s known. She seemed more like a Dornovonian to him.”
Lenora pursed her lips. She didn’t want to shower too much gratitude on him, so she translated to Vivian instead. The younger woman smiled even broader and gave Lysanter a thumbs up. His brow furrowed a moment at the unknown gesture, but he returned her smile.
“There’s an early dinner being prepared for us. After which I need to take Vivian to the arena for a practice run. You won’t see her again until after the games tomorrow.”
“Why not?” Lenora said.
“She’s getting a preview of tomorrow’s challenge. I don’t want her giving you any information.”
Lenora’s brow quavered. “If there’s no real stakes to whether I win or lose, what’s the point of preventing me from cheating?”
“The only way Danfet would allow me to help Vivian was by promising not to help you. You’re the best competitor, Lenora. He wants you to continue to pleasing the audience with an authentic effort.”
She rolled her eyes. “Pssh.”
Lysanter went to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I know you’re being exploited. Tolerate it for Vivian’s sake, Lenora.”
Her voice softened. “Of course I will.”
“I can tell you a few things.”
She looked at him.
“In the final game you must work with a partner in order to win.”
Lenora’s lips parted.
“You need to succeed tomorrow or you won’t be able to help Vivian. She could be partnered with one of the other women, but two of them failed yesterday.”
“He said two of the other girls lost the challenge yesterday,” Lenora said in English.
“What?” Vivian said. “Seriously?”
“A third tried to forfeit, but Danfet convinced her to continue playing. Her heart is no longer into it. She wants to give up and marry the groom she was placed with.”
Lenora made a slow blink. “Wow.”
“That just leaves one other player, you, and Vivian. As I’ve said, you’re the best competitor. These other women don’t have anything near your level of training.”
“I have to win. It’s as simple as that.” She turned and explained the situation to Vivian.
The younger woman registered a look of horror, but then quickly recovered with a smile. “Dude, you let him touch you now?”
Lenora stood causing Lysanter’s hand to come off her.
“Would you grow up?”
Dinner was dominated by Vivian recounting her adventure in the city. Lysanter had Lenora translate. He met her eyes a few times. She didn’t shy from a lingering stare, but hid all emotion. His soft voice and kind smile was starting to grow on her. When she looked at his hands she relived the few gentle touches he’d given her. There was an idiotic pang of longing in her that she refused to yield to. Defective women didn’t have the privilege of infatuation.
Just as he’d said, he ushered Vivian away after dinner. His dedication to their plot struck her. All things considered she was pretty lucky to have Lysanter.
Hester brought her back to her room and provided her with a sleeping garment. He spoke in his unintelligible language at length despite her not understanding a word. After that he became silent and smiled at her, as if expecting a response. Lenora looked into his glittering black eyes.
“I wish I could be the girl for Lysanter,” she said.
Hester tipped up his face. “Lysanter?”
“I wish I didn’t have to carry around all this hate, like a barbell twisted around my neck. I wish I’d never been in the army, where life gets devalued so fast, and you get to know the worst monsters living in people’s souls.” She swallowed. “Your master doesn’t know what I really am, and he’s still trying to win me over. You know what the truth is though? What the honest to God truth is?”
Hester’s eyes glittered a violet hue.
“He deserves better than me.”
The servant said a few more words, gestured to the nightgown he’d placed on her bed, and left.
The next morning Hester flew her to the arena. Neither Lysanter nor Vivian were with them. Lenora didn’t question this.
She was brought to the locker room where a fresh uniform was folded on the seat for her. Only one of the remaining women sat waiting for her. She scoffed.
“I was starting to think I was the only one left.” She spoke in English with a Russian accent.
Lenora looked at her as she dressed. “Two girls lost yesterday. The rest are still playing. I think Vivian’s already out there.”
“Well, let me tell you, I fail today. I wanted to forfeit but that asshole wouldn’t let me.”
Lenora hesitated to pull her arm through the long sleeve. “Why…why do you want to forfeit?”
She shrugged. “Wentivan, my groom, he’s not so bad. I can put up with one like him. He’s not from the home world so I don’t have to go back to that Hellhole. He doesn’t have some asshole servant. I understand they can no longer shock us like my last husband did. Good enough.”
Lenora finished putting on her pants and sat next to her. “You were married to a Dak-Hiliah before?”
“Mm. Matoranis. Seventh seat on the High Council. He was not terrible, but his fucking servant—always shocking me. Matoranis would do nothing. So I escaped. Then this traitor bitch told the empire all about how we were getting away. The Aquars gave us all back to them. They were going to put me in some fucking slave colony. I said, fuck that. Just give me a husband who doesn’t have the asshole servant. Someone who won’t shock me. They said shocking wasn’t allowed anymore, but I had to play this stupid game. They needed contestants.”
Lenora’s mind boggled. A whirlwind of questions flooded her. “How did you get over the anatomical differences?”
“What you are talking about?”
“Their big…um, organs.”
The woman let out a boisterous laugh. Then she snuffled. “Dah. Their dicks are humongous and it hurts them to get horny.” She stretched out her arm and marked a line under her deltoid. “Matoranis was this long and a little thicker than my wrist. He didn’t get it all the way in, of course. It was uncomfortable in the beginning. Your body adjusts. Don’t be a coward. There are worse things in this new world for you to worry about. Getting shocked was the most terrible thing. Now they can’t shock us? Good. Who gives a fuck about a sore vlagalishche?”
Lenora let out a deep breath. The women at the colony had exaggerated with such enthusiasm. It was as if they were trying to scare her. She should have been suspicious. “What a relief.”
A robot rolled into the room. “Lenora Winquist, you are the next contestant.”
She rose. “Wish me luck.”
“Pah. Just lose and get married. Stupid fucking games.”
Lenora ignored her and went with her two robot guides.
“Can you tell me how Vivian did?”
“Vivian Thurski lost.”
Lenora gasped. She felt as if her heart had dropped from her chest.
“Games Organizer Danfet is considering an accusation of cheating which may change the outcome.”
“What?” Lenora could barely get words past the lump in her throat. “What difference does it make if she cheated? She lost.” Tears were forming behind her eyes.
As the silver curtain came into view Lenora realized nothing the robot said made sense. Danfet knew Vivian cheated. He colluded with Lysanter. Her brow knit and the anguish inside her abated. It seemed like a trick. What if the robot
was trying to distract her so she would lose?
Her eyes narrowed. This was no time to get clouded by emotion.
The robots halted by the curtain. When she opened it there was nothing but darkness. As her eyes adjusted the faint light spilling in from behind her showed the outline of the pyramid.
“Come in! Come in!” Danfet said over the speaker.
Lenora tried to rip down the curtain. The robot nudged her. She held her ground to squeeze her eyes closed tight. Once she adjusted fully to the darkness she stared inside with the curtain held as wide as she could manage. The pyramid had a chain ladder hanging down each tier in staggered places. Left, left, right, left, right. The robot pushed her in and closed the curtain.
“Welcome, Lenora! As you can see, or rather can’t see, your objective is the same.”
The area fell into abject darkness once the curtain was closed. Lenora took off in the direction of the first tier. She banged into the wall and then went left to find the ladder.
“Well of course she’s not going to listen to my introduction. Lenora dear, you should know we all have glasses that let us see in the dark. We’re watching you! Do your best!”
The alarm chirped for the robot. When it came out its cylinder head illuminated the ladder. Lenora scampered up it. The next tier was just as easily taken. For the third she had to bolt past the door the robot would come out of before his alarm sounded. The same technique was required for the fourth. The alarms chirped one after the other in rapid succession. Lenora felt the extended arm of a robot gush past her foot, but then she was on the fifth floor. She felt her way to the statue in the middle. The lights came on once her hand touched the smooth surface.
She heard cheers and the thumping of scepters.
“Magnificent!” Danfet said over the speakers. “Our Lenora has won again! What style this human has! She makes it look easy!”
Lysanter came out of the door behind the fifth tier. The cheering continued around them, but her assigned groom looked dour. She clutched his arm.
The Complete Alien's Bride Page 33