He turned her to face him. “Punishing Shol will improve my relationship with him, Selena. It shows him that I care enough to want to correct him personally. And then, once he’s been beaten, he’ll have his chance to express remorse and admit why he was seeking my attention. I can show him some affection after that. It will help us bond as master and servant.”
Selena frowned. He revealed a relationship more intimate than she would have preferred.
Hern draped one arm around her. “I’m sorry he upset you.”
Selena let herself draw closer to him. She felt warmth where their bodies connected.
“He’s really not what worries me.”
“I know, and I wish I could be a greater comfort to you.”
She rested her head against his chest. “You are a comfort. When you hold me.”
He brought his other arm around her. The small spaces separating their bodies were sealed. Selena closed her eyes.
“You ignite so many tender feelings inside me.” He soothed her hair. “More than just fondness—strange instincts I never knew I had.”
“Normal instincts,” she said softly. “You weird aliens—you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be around women.”
He traced his hand over her back. “We have. It’s true.”
His touch was lighting up euphoric tingles below her skin. She got a dreamy fluttering in his hold that threatened to take her off balance. She forced herself to stand firm. “You’re lucky you have someone like me to show you what it’s like.”
“Was it truly like this? I can’t imagine relations between male and female Dak-Hiliah ever being this pleasant.” As he said it he cupped the side of her face and swept his fingers over her throat.
Selena forced her face to remain neutral while a warm shiver coursed through her. “I didn’t think that being with an alien would be this pleasant, either.” She thought of their impending consummation with a touch of dread. She wasn’t ready for it, and yet couldn’t fathom pushing him away. “I’m lucky I ended up with someone like you. At least…at least for half of it.”
“I wish I didn’t have to share you.” She felt his corded muscles grow tense. “No. Forget I said that. It doesn’t matter. It’s senseless. Dangerous.”
“I don’t want to be shared.” Her brow grew tight. “I just wanted to belong to someone like you. And not just because you’re handsome. You’ve been kind to me.”
He gave a soft laugh. “You think I’m handsome, Selena?”
She buried her flushed face against him. His fingers twirled through the delicate hair at her temples.
“I think you’re…stunningly beautiful. I don’t even mind your strange coloration, your lack of horns, and bizarre eyes of green. You look like you could be one of our goddesses. You compose yourself like one as well.”
“Stop it, you.”
She felt him laugh. Then he held her with more strength.
“I’d planned on distancing myself from you at first. That I’d focus only on my goals with Xaroth, but that would have been impossible. How could I resist enjoying someone like you? I’ve sacrificed enough for him already.”
“I wouldn’t have come if I thought you planned to push me away.”
“Selena, before I had any idea of what a human female was like, I assumed you’d wish to be kept at a distance. I never expected a woman to be so…sweet.”
She lifted her head to look at him. His eyes looked plaintive.
“You don’t shrink from me. You don’t parry me with words. You’ve allowed yourself to be completely exposed, and I know it’s sincere. There’s no subterfuge about you.”
“Isn’t it better that way?”
His strong arms squeezed her against him. “Gods yes.”
Selena clung to him while dizzying warmth swept through her. She found no subterfuge with him either. It was an easy, natural romance, with little fear and with feelings growing strongly every time she was with him.
This was all she’d wanted—moments just like this.
He was the first to move to separate them. Selena reluctantly let him go.
“I still don’t know anything about you,” he said softly.
“Do we have more time?”
“Yes. I’m devoting the rest of my day to you. Xaroth sent some messages, but he can be damned. I want to savor every moment I have with you.”
She started walking again. “Then let’s get to know each other.”
He smiled and wove his fingers into hers. They walked hand in hand over the bridge as before. Selena had a bit of childish euphoria. Infatuation had already made her giddy. It seemed fine. Why not enjoy her dream now? It might be the only chance she got.
“Husband…”
Hern eyed her. “Are you addressing me? You know we’re not married yet.”
“What’s the ceremony like? The Dak-Hiliah marriage ceremony?”
He made a concerned sound through his nostrils while still retaining a slight smile. “I’ll tell you after dinner.”
“Fine. But you have to tell me all about you. No secrets and no fibs.”
“I’ll expect the same from you.”
She returned his smile. “Deal.” Then her gaze fixed forward. “That will give me almost all the information I’m dying to know. The rest has to come from…from that servant of yours.”
The reached the end of the bridge. Hern tapped a code into a keypad to open the locked door in front of him.
“What do you mean?”
Selena had a flicker of anxiety. “He knows why General Xaroth’s first wife killed herself. He told me he was there.”
The door opened, but Hern remained standing in place. His eyes were lowered in concentration.
“I have to know, Hern. I’m about to put myself in the same position as her.”
“Hm.”
He led her through the doorway. For several paces they walked in silence. They were in an expansive corridor with a high domed ceiling. Several different kinds of robots zipped in and out of various doors lining one side of them. Selena saw another Dak-Hiliah, also. The bald alien looked old enough to be Hern’s father and walked while focused on a tablet.
“Xaroth gouged Shol’s eye out right after his wife’s suicide. He made sure it was too damaged to ever be regenerated.”
Selena became stricken with a pang of sympathy.
“I never pried about what happened. We’re not bonded enough for such intimate conversations.”
Selena wrapped herself around his arm as they walked. “I have to know what happened, Hern.”
“Of course you’re right.” He pressed his lips together to create something close to a frown. “I’ll order him to tell you everything after his punishment.”
Hern had robots set up a dining table in his quarters. It was twice as large as the chamber Selena had been given, but equally as sparse. She explored while their meal was prepared.
“You don’t have any decorations. Not even the kind a military man would have, like medals or a ceremonial sword or something.”
Hern stood back watching her inspect things. “If I put out things like that they would get damaged when we enter a planet’s atmosphere.”
“Oh. That’s true.” She continued to his bed. “But even your bed sheets are plain. Just dull gray.”
“It’s a quality fabric.”
She half twirled while looking around. “Where are all your things?”
“Stowed away. I don’t understand, Selena. What were you expecting?”
She took on a look of consternation. “Something that would tell me more about you. Your interests—your passions.”
Hern stepped toward her. “My interest is leading our soldiers to victory over our targets.” He caressed her shoulder. “My passion, right now, is you.”
She made a demure smile while managing not to blush.
“What are your interests, Selena?”
“Lots of things you’d find boring.”
“I insist you tell me.”
/>
Now she blushed. “In my drawer you’ll find a blue lined notebook full of pressed wildflowers. Nothing special or rare—just pretty yellows, violets, and pinks. Before the war we used to see plenty of color made from artificial plastics and paints. In the colony all the color seemed like it was washed out. The wildflowers were the prettiest things around.”
“I want to see it.”
She scoffed while trying to bat away the idea with one hand. He caught her hand in his. She sheepishly met his gaze.
“I want to see it, Selena. The flora of your world was stunning to me. I thought I was silly for being amazed by it. You’re telling me that such beauty can be appreciated without shame.”
She tried to resist a giddy smile. Hern led her to the table, which was now set for dinner.
“Tell me more.”
She sat at the sleek comma-shaped chair he indicated. “No. It’s your turn.”
“I suppose it is.” He lowered into the chair beside her.
“What do you do when you’re not busy with military stuff?”
He considered. “I try to practice one of our fighting disciplines every other day. It keeps my body at its peak and assists in combat.”
“Oh…like a martial art. Tell me about it.”
“There’s Retok, the art of killing with one blow, then there’s Ret-shelonk, the art of subduing an enemy without killing or injuring them. That’s my favorite, and the most challenging. You must exhaust an enemy while avoiding injury to yourself.”
The urge to change the subject grew strong in her. She wanted to hear about tradition and honor, not barbarity. There would be so much she’d have to turn a blind eye to as a Dak-Hiliah’s wife. She tried not to let that trouble her.
“Tell me about your childhood, Hern.”
His eyes searched the ceiling a moment. “My father was of part of the warrior caste, so my fate was sealed at birth. All warriors are sent to one of two military worlds, Hok or Den to be reared. I was raised on Den, the best one.”
He told her of his infancy in a nursery where doting slaves cared for him, then of his youth in a military academy where he was schooled in all pertinent subjects with an emphasis on war.
“Thirty-five of us were housed together. My clan. The men I consider my brothers. We took care of each other, protected one another. There’s no stronger bond growing up than that with your clan-mates.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Selena said.
Hern stared ahead of him and his voice took on a trance-like quality. “During our first mission my brother Hixin had his leg burned off in a trap.” (Selena gasped.) “He couldn’t move, and crakows—bugs as big as children with razor sharp mandibles—were falling down on us from a pocket in the cave ceiling. I was closest to Hixin. I screamed for the others to cross to the next pillar. I would stay to protect Hixin until they brought back reinforcements. I fought those things for a full day and night. My blaster ran out of energy. I had to use it as a club. Hixin begged me to leave him before we both died. I refused. He was my brother and I couldn’t abandon him. My hands and feet had lost feeling by the time hover ships broke in to rescue us. It took me days to recover.”
Selena had stopped eating the delicious brown slimy stuff on her plate. She stared at him, riveted.
“My brothers made me clan leader after that. Then two other clans at the academy said they would pledge their loyalty to me. I felt an incredible responsibility had been foisted on me when I was still just a youth. I prayed to the goddess Tian-za for the strength to be a good leader. I swear that she spoke to me—and I will swear to that until I succumb to death on the battlefield. She said I was meant to lead, and she would guide me. So, when we returned after our objective in the cave my instinct was to destroy the brace wall. I felt deep within the fibers of my being that such an unthinkable thing should be done. Hixin was the only one who obeyed my order to blast it. That’s when it became clear that it was a false brace, and the fugitives we were hunting had settled in the tunnel behind it.”
Hern paused to stir his food. “There are a few other times when I feel the goddess has guided me. I’ve learned to trust my instinct. She compelled me to trap the Instajants, rather than try to destroy them. They’re indestructible, but so is our force field. It was the only way to defeat them.”
Selena remained fixed on him, but he’d grown silent. She had no idea what to say. The idea of a goddess guiding him was ludicrous to her—but so was time-travel, and the Dak-Hiliah had proven they could occasionally manage it.
“This is how you became a General? Because all those clans pledge their loyalty to you at your academy?”
Hern laughed softly. “No. I’ve only shared the General rank with Xaroth for a short while. He’d been General since before I’d come out of the nursery, and his rank was solid. I had no hope of replacing him for several decades.” He leaned back to gather his thoughts. “Some of the soldiers didn’t like him. I’d always known that. But then he gave his notorious speech saying we were separate from the rest of Dak-Hiliah society. We were the soldier caste, the most ancient of all the castes. He implied we would always follow the older, crueler traditions. He referenced some ancient druids and the harsher rules they’d gave us over millennium. Having to surrender children of the soldier caste to the war academies, for instance. Then he spoke of Shindray and how his laws were the grandest of them all. How they made us a stronger army because there were no longer any female soldiers to corrupt us.”
Hern gave an exasperated sigh. “He caused riots on my home world. You see, the curriculum of planet Den emphasized compassion, especially after the catastrophe on Earth. I’d learned that protecting a fallen brother on the battlefield was greater than achieving the goals of a mission. This was different on planet Hok, where Xaroth was personally involved with the administration. My clan and the rest from our academy’s world refused to obey him. We called for a new general, a rational one. There was a standoff for weeks, but then the high council asked us to pick a General. That soldier would share the General rank with Xaroth. They felt that if a compassionate General from Den joined with the crueler General from Hok that a balance would be achieved.” He gave a frustrated scoff that indicated he didn’t agree. “That’s how the riots ended and soldiers from my home world Den were appeased. They elected me to be their General, as you’ve already realized. I’m extremely young for such a post.” He took a sip of their beverage (which tasted like peanut butter milk to Selena). “The soldiers from planet Hok never revolted. They stand in solidarity with Xaroth.”
“So, the soldiers from planet Den are loyal to you, and the soldiers from planet Hok are loyal to Xaroth.”
“More or less. But we’re all loyal to the empire and its ideals. I had no difficulty when I ordered our Hok troops to execute maneuvers against the Instajants. The soldiers from Den obeyed Xaroth flawlessly prior to this when we chastened a rebellious slave world. I feel there’s harmony among the ranks now, though it’s fragile. Xaroth only accepted me as his equal because the high council forced him. All of the soldiers know there are too few of us for them to be divided. We barely number three thousand men. Most are from planet Hok. Only 1,300 or so are from Den.”
Selena shook her addled head. “Wow.” Only 3,000 alien soldiers? So few, when they conquered so many worlds? They should have been easy to defeat now, but from what she’d heard the galaxy was still intimidated by them. She recalled the massive arsenal she’d seen from the bridge. Robots must have flown most of those vehicles.
He reached over to touch her arm. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to overwhelm you.”
“I’m not overwhelmed. I want to learn everything I can. It’s just—a little hard to take in. Soldiers, academies, battles—it’s so far out of my comfort zone. It’s hard to believe I’m part of this world now.”
Hern focused on his food once again. “It’s my responsibility to shield you from it. You won’t be involved in our campaigns.”
She gave a grain of a laug
h. “That’s smart. I’m from one of the worlds you conquered. You guys are villains in my book.”
Hern’s face became distressed. “Do you really believe that?”
Her brow rose. “Of course I do. But you don’t have to worry. My people surrendered. I surrendered. Trying to resist you was the dumbest thing we ever did.”
He still looked dismayed. “Selena, we have a great responsibility to the humans, and all our slave worlds. We’ve a duty to be good custodians to them. That’s the mission the gods placed upon us. To be the righteous governors of the universe. Our aim is to lead the universe to the greatest harmony possible.”
Selena kept her lips sealed. This kind of talk could have easily sparked an argument that would cause strife between them. What was the point in arguing? The Dak-Hiliah ruled her people now. Having them as ‘good custodians’ was the most she could hope for.
“If you’d surrendered at once so much suffering could have been avoided,” Hern said.
She smiled grimly. “I know. My mom, sister and I were part of a group calling for Earth to surrender back in the day. We held rallies.”
His head tipped back with interest. “Is that so?”
“There were a lot of us protesting the war. Of course no one listened to us. Too many corporate interests.”
He gave her a broad smile. “You followed your convictions to the very end. When the chance came for you to wed one of us, you took it. You accepted being with us from the start.”
Her voice grew soft. “With someone like you, maybe.”
An admiring gaze swept over her. “I can’t wait for that to change from someone like me, to simply me.”
Selena cradled her drink in her hand. “You promised to tell me about the marriage ceremony.”
Hern stared at her contentedly a while longer. “I would rather show you.”
Something in his voice caused her a tremor of fear. She sifted the last few bits of food on her plate.
“You know…I think I’ll wait. It’s been a busy enough day for me.”
Hern’s eyes seared into her. “You can’t put it off for long, my dear.”
“What are we talking about?”
The Complete Alien's Bride Page 41