Forced To Marry The Alien Prince: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (In The Stars Romance)

by Zara Zenia

  For all the years he’d hurt me as I tried to raise him after our parents died, I was finally getting the vindication of the stress and grief I had to endure with him and his rebellion. It was a long time coming, and the result was bittersweet . . . but mostly sweet.

  “Mr. Chad Wallace.” Prince Jerren attempted to calm my brother by speaking to him, but he was too slight, tiny, and squeaky-voiced to do the trick. I wasn’t even sure if his soft voice would be audible over Chad’s wails of misery.

  “Mr. Chad Wallace,” Kylin roared, and the effect worked. His voice bellowed and boomed through the arena, shaking these water moon creatures to their furry little cores.

  Chad stopped kicking and biting momentarily to stare at Kylin, then his gaze shifted until his eyes locked on mine with obscene horror. Betrayal had finally looked betrayal in the eye.

  I didn’t waver. I held onto my self-control and took a deep breath, then flicked my eyes away, breaking contact with Chad’s before I caved. I was a tough shell, but I didn’t want to give myself any opportunities for cracking under pressure.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Chad panted in the aftermath of his fighting with the royal guards.

  Kylin spoke in a somber, firm tone of voice, giving way to full actor mode, playing the evil role without mercy. “Chad Wallace, of Earth, you are hereby sentenced to death by execution for your crimes against the Mixian Crown Prince Kylin.”

  Nobody in the arena said a word. Chad appeared dumbfounded. His mouth hung open like a trout in the water.

  “Georgia? What the hell is going on here?” Chad’s voice bordered on panic.

  “I’m really sorry, Chad,” I said in a muted voice. I refused to look at him.

  “You can’t let them get away with this!” Chad shouted and began thrashing against the police once again. “Georgia, do something! I’m your brother, your flesh and blood!” His attempts to make me feel a resonating guilt were not going to work this time.

  He was ballistic, in a terror of mania, going crazy with panic. I didn’t feel an ounce of remorse for what we were doing. Chad deserved what he got. He’d brought all of this on himself.

  “I’m sorry, Chad,” I repeated. “There’s just nothing I can do. This is bigger than any of us. You fucked with the wrong species, apparently.” I had to give myself an internal pat on the back. I was playing my role perfectly.

  I tried not to grin. I was enjoying this prank way too zealously for my own good. I knew that Chad would only come out of this with emotional wounds and nothing physical, which made it easier to handle.

  “Come on, you.” One of the Mixian members of the royal police growled and then yanked my brother, forcing his feet to scamper on the pavement in front of him.

  “No, I’m sorry. Georgia, wait! I didn’t mean any of it. This was only supposed to be a little prank! Where’s Katie? She’ll tell you! Katie!” Chad shouted into the wind, but nobody could save him now.

  My muscles tensed, hoping that Katie wouldn’t cave under Chad’s manipulative pressure.

  I struggled with all of my might to send her the vibes of strong empowerment, and apparently, it was effective.

  Katie remained tucked away in her little corner of darkness, the camera rolling along as planned. Everything was going to work out in the end as long as Katie remained strong and stoic.

  “Goodbye, Chad.” I waved at him as the men shoved him closer to the edge, where he would soon be tossed like a rag doll into the pool of surrounding Honkfish. I gave him a sobering and grave expression for extra effect in the moment.

  “Please don’t do this,” Chad cried, begged, and pleaded. He was crying real tears now as his cheeks glistened with wetness.

  Tears streaked his face under the light of the Dolarian moon, cleaning the dirty perimeter of sweat and caked-on grime from the days he had spent locked away in Prince Jerren’s dungeons.

  I reminded myself that Chad would come out of this unscathed and that he deserved the prank he was getting. It would all be over soon, for everyone involved.

  “Throw him over!” Prince Jerren wasted no time in hastily fast-forwarding to the most delicious part of the prank. His voice sounded excited and thrilled beyond measure.

  Chad put up a fight. He clawed at the guards, trying to pull them overboard with him, but in the end, he wasn’t strong enough to ward off the sturdy men who gripped him like the mighty beasts that they were.

  He flew into the water with a splash, making a plunking sound as his body hit the surface of the water. There was so much finality to it. I knew Chad could swim, and he’d be able to stay above water for now.

  There was a moment of silence as we all watched with baited breath, waiting to see how Chad would react. My breath held in my lungs, unable to be expelled from the anticipation.

  A few seconds later, Chad shrieked, wailed, and swam in the water, splashing and soaking parts of the tank he was in. His arms and legs flailed about. He was thrashing for his life.

  “Get me out of here!” he cried defiantly, and I could tell by his tone of voice that he was thankful to still be alive so far.

  A few seconds later, as if on cue, the Honkfish began their part of the prank too, diligently doing their jobs once again to play the role they were destined to perform. Chad didn’t know that the Honkfish were harmless.

  Their air bladders erupted in unison, an annoying yet chipper sound of honking, squeaking, and wailing. To Chad, he would probably think of them as threatening noises.

  “What the hell is going on?” Chad screamed and swam away from the sound as it erupted all around him, vibrating through the pool of water. He was now swimming frantically.

  “Something is trying to attack me!” Chad yelled as he continued to thrash.

  Kylin and I were silently holding back fits of laughter as we watched Chad panic and swim around in the darkness because we secretly knew that he was in a pool surrounded by harmless fish.

  “You can’t do this to me!” Chad yelled as he swam violently, being chased by the Honkfish. “Why am I being chased by deadly clownfish? What kind of alien fish are in this water? What happens if they touch me?”

  Chad spoke a million miles a minute as he panted and breathed through the torture. Meanwhile, Katie came closer in order to record him from inside the water. She remained discreet behind the protection of the camera.

  Everyone was laughing, but Chad was none the wiser, trying to escape the unseen creatures. He couldn’t hear how we were making fun of him. In his mind, he was trying to narrowly escape perilous circumstances.

  After what was probably seeming like an eternity to Chad, but in reality was only three minutes, I gave Kylin and Prince Jerren the cue to cut the lights back on. I’d seen my fill of his wails and hasty swimming.

  We could stop inflicting this disaster on Chad and reveal the mock-execution for what it was in reality, just a great and a well-devised joke. He would have never suspected us. We were too good at playing his game.

  “Hit the lights!” Prince Jerren squeaked, demanded of his tribe.

  In an instant, the lights flipped on from the overhead lamps and lanterns and Chad stopped struggling against the water. He blinked his eyes in confusion and craned his neck with weary caution as he glanced around at the crowd.

  “What the hell?” He spun around, surrounded by brightly-colored Honkfish who continued to make their squeaking sounds but were by no means trying to inflict harm on him.

  “These are Honkfish,” Kylin admitted to Chad, pointing at the creatures who surrounded him. “They are completely harmless. You are not in the sea, but in a warm tank filled with water.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Chad roared with anger and hostility. “This was all a prank?” He slammed his fists against the water, creating huge swells around the pool.

  “A prank that’s all caught on camera,” Katie said as she emerged from the shadows, boastfully tapping the side of her beloved recording device.

  “Katie? You were here th
e whole time? What the fuck! Let me out of here!” Chad demanded. His eyes flashed with hatred and fury and he snarled.

  “Not before we upload the video.” I laughed and pointed at Chad, who could have breathed fire at me with his menacing look of boiling hatred.

  He would calm down eventually. I knew that much. He was humiliated in the moment, as he rightly should have been.

  “Already finished!” Katie quipped with cheer and delight. “Now, every one of your beloved followers and fans will see what a fool you are, Chad Wallace!”

  She was grinning from ear to ear. I stared at her in befuddled amazement. She had come through for us after all. I’d never felt so much respect for a fellow Earthling girl in my entire life.

  Katie spun around to give me a high-five, which I returned with passion and vigor. “Well, Chad, it looks like the tables have turned. The joke is finally on you.”

  I gave him a smirking glare. I was filled with satisfaction and vindication. My brother’s jokes were finally twisted around to land right where they deserved—in his lap.

  Epilogue

  Kylin

  It had been a month since the prank of the century became a real-life, vivid success. In the afterglow, Georgia and I became even more profoundly closer than before and had announced to the world that we were exclusively in a relationship together.

  We were well on our way to a happy future. I respected Georgia and honored her with unconditional love. We truly felt like it had been fate, and not Chad’s prank, that had brought us together against all odds.

  I couldn’t be happier that Georgia chose to spend her life here with me on Mixis. She told me time and time again that she had nothing to return to back at home on Earth, and that on the very first day here on Mixis, she had intended to stay a long time, if not forever.

  I watched her blossom and grow every day and admired how she was able to adapt to her new surroundings. She was brave and adventurous in the way she remained open-minded about living on a new planet with different cultures than she was accustomed to having back on Earth.

  The relationship I held with the Dolarians became more satisfying as well, and I had to say that this little prank we’d shared together against Chad Wallace had seemingly brought us closer.

  Our trade relations had improved by huge margins as well, and we were already in contract negotiations to spread water and technology trades across the nations without regrets or issues from either involved party.

  Yes, the little furry creatures were growing on me, and I had Georgia to thank for that. She had a way of communicating with them that was unmatchable by anyone else on Mixis. Not to mention, they loved being included in the prank of the century against Chad.

  “Hey, you.” I heard the feminine voice, sweet like candy.

  I had been enjoying breakfast out on the terrace when Georgia knocked my focus, but it was a warm welcome. I spun around to greet her as the replenishing and nourishing sun hit my back, giving me a comfortable feeling.

  “Hi,” I beamed at her. “Good morning.” She made my heart flutter. I wanted to soak up every minute with her.

  “How are you today?” She cooed and wrapped her arms around me from behind. She made a contented sound that made me tremble with desire.

  “Better now that you are here with me,” I admitted with a chuckle and a smile. I squeezed my arms gently around her body.

  “I know that’s the truth,” Georgia agreed. I knew she enjoyed my company every bit as I enjoyed hers.

  “Do you want to upload the follow-up video today?” She asked me as she pulled away. She stood up straight and glanced at me expectantly.

  “More than anything in the world,” I responded enthusiastically. “Will Katie be a part of it?”

  “If you want her to.” Georgia shrugged indifferently. “I think she goes back to Earth next week.”

  In the month that had followed, Katie and Georgia had become better friends, and Katie had thanked Georgia for bringing her back from the dark side. Katie had really come to her senses and was smarter than I had originally thought. She really was pulled from the trenches and rescued by Georgia’s and her friendship.

  Chad was grumbling, although he was no longer a captive of Dolaria. We had brought him back with us to Mixis the next night after the prank had taken place. We had forcefully made him swear with everything he had that he would never bother any of us again.

  “Sure, whatever.” At the time, Chad had mumbled dryly, rolling his eyes in the process. He had learned his lesson, but he was sullen about it.

  “Don’t be such a sore loser, Chad,” Georgia had told him on our flight back to Mixis after I had sent a new fleet to send us a new ship to return home in. She was glowing with delight and enveloped in the vindication of getting back at her brother.

  “I never want to go back in those Dolarian waters again,” Georgia had admitted as we took off. “Good fucking riddance.” She had shivered with a disgusted look on her face at the memory of what we had endured in those treacherous waters.

  “I’ll concur with that statement.” Katie was still fragile looking and pixie-like as she had raised her hand while we all laughed.

  Chad just had sat there sullenly as if he was a child who was being reprimanded, and he didn’t like it. He bitterly folded his arms together as he huffed and puffed about his ratings and how they were going to plummet after this.

  Now, Katie was running the show. She was putting a new spin on it though, and instead of pranking people, she had sponsors to help her surprise people in need with life necessities that could help improve their quality of life.

  Everyone, including me, was super excited about the possibility of this blowing up into a wildly huge success. The idea of trying to make a better impact on the future of the worlds was a wonderful thing, in my opinion.

  It had been Georgia’s idea for the new concept for the show, to which Katie and everyone else we told met with profoundly rave reviews. Everyone seemed on board so far, and we were growing our fan base daily.

  The fact that Georgia became the mastermind behind shifting the show’s purpose, it just made me prouder than ever to call her my own. She was remarkably beautiful, inside and out.

  Chad had decided to stay on Mixis, stating that his reputation was ruined on Earth and that he had nothing to go back to. As long as he stayed away from us and didn’t bother us, it was fine with me. Honestly, I didn’t want to waste the money on sending him back to Earth anyway.

  Georgia had asked me if it was okay to offer him a room at the palace on the other side of our living quarters. Even through everything he’d done to her, she still had the philanthropic state of mind to help him along.

  “I promise we will never have to see him,” she told me gently. She had looked me in the eyes and pleaded with me.

  At first, I had been completely against the idea, but at the same time, some of Georgia’s natural and instinctual kindness had rubbed off onto me as well. I knew her heart was too big to just throw Chad to the streets and hope he made it.

  “Okay.” I had finally agreed after some begrudging conversation. “He can stay, but only if he sticks to his side of the palace grounds.”

  I never wanted to see the slimy rat. It was true that we had gotten him back for what he had done, but it still didn’t mean I was hoping to connect with him and make a friendship blossom.

  Georgia had proposed the idea to Chad, who to my relief was just as reluctant to stay at my palace. After he exhausted his options and begged back into a stony Katie’s good graces, he had no choice in the end but to accept our gracious offer for housing. He would be forever in our debt, and he knew it as much as we did.

  “We can make him pay for it,” Georgia had told me at the time.

  “Pay for it? Do you mean with another prank?” I had asked her in confusion.

  “No, silly!” Georgia had shaken her head. “We will just tell him he needs to get a job, you know, to pull his weight. We can send the money he gives us
to the schools around Mixis who need the charity.”

  She was always thinking of someone other than herself, which was a quality I wanted to approach with open arms in my own life.

  “That sounds like a wonderful idea, darling.”

  Georgia was now working as a second-grade teacher at one of the most prestigious and top-rated schools in all of Mixis, thanks to the efforts I made to sell her to the staff members there.

  I was proud to show her off, and I knew she would work fabulously with children. Her dream was to be a teacher, and I wanted to see her shine. I’d do anything for her, including helping her reach her dreams and goals.

  She was happily teaching English to the Mixian children, putting her fluency of the language to good use. It was a win-win situation because the next generation would grow up learning English. It was now an option for everyone, not just for the rich and privileged.

  We even enjoyed having conversations in Mixian together, after she returned home from a hard day’s work. Her words flowed with fluidity and she was amazing at being bilingual.

  “I love being a teacher,” she told me one night as we enjoyed dinner together. “It’s such an incredibly rewarding job.” Her face was glowing with pride. I knew she had finally found her place in the world.

  I had smiled at her with delight. “You are perfect for such a selfless job,” I told her. She was a giver, not a taker.

  We stood together while the wind silently tickled our skin, intwined together to enjoy the peace and harmony of an amazing relationship. It was a refreshingly cool day, which was rare to happen around this dry, normally hot planet.

  “I can’t wait to see what our future holds,” she whispered into my ear, tickling the skin on my neck.

  “It will be an incredible journey to watch it unfold,” I admitted in agreement. The world was ours to take.

  “Do you think Chad has found a job yet?” She leaned up to ask me. She looked curious. I knew she’d still wonder about him from time to time.