Nabvan

by Celeste Raye

  King Shene would be taking care of the ceremony, and eventually, Alexis would have to go into the crowd on her own to watch. He knew that she would want to witness her friend getting married in the first human-like ceremony they would perform on Milisaria, but he kept thinking that he needed to get her away and talk to her at a time when the king wouldn’t notice. And this would be the only time. He was almost always with her now or somewhere waiting for her. Nabvan’s services had been needed less and less, and he feared they would be separated before he even got a chance to tell her how sorry he was for his reaction to her suggestion. And he needed to find a way to get his assignment back. He needed to be her keeper because without her around, he felt like something was missing inside of him. It was a frightening sort of illness that he had only heard described by Milisarians most in love. They were few and far between.

  Nabvan saw King Shene running his hand up and down Alexis’s right arm, and for a moment, he wanted to trade places with the man. Being King of Milisaria was not an easy job that he would wish on anyone, but Nabvan thought he could handle all of it if it meant he got to have Alexis as well. But instead, a man full of trickery and manipulation that did not deserve much of any woman got to have the woman that had sent Nabvan’s world crashing down around him just for her to build it back up. How was that fair?

  What killed him the most was that Alexis was smiling through it all. It didn’t matter whether it was real or not. It mattered that King Shene believed the smiles were real and directed at him. He got the best of her even if she was faking it.

  Alexis gave King Shene a kiss on the cheek, and Nabvan watched as she walked away from him, trying to find a seat in the large crowd. Nabvan waited until King Shene looked away and walked up to her, grabbing her by the arm and sitting her down in the back row. “You can be the first one to see Destiney from here,” he whispered in her ear. She looked up at him suspiciously before he fell back into the line of small trees that grew out from the mossy grounds around the inner city. If King Shene looked back, it would just seem that he was doing his job to guard her and keep her safe, but he could also pull her out at the most distracted moment to talk with her.

  Nabvan did nothing but set his gaze on the back of her head while the ceremony began. King Shene presented Siefer to everyone and talked about his accomplishments, including being the first of the Milisarian knights to impregnate a human female. It was a little sad that that had to be the focus of the day instead of the love between the two. He had seen the way those two looked at each other and was so amazed that even one of the pairings had worked out. It was that day in their room, when Alexis was talking to her friend, that made things shift for him with Alexis. He had been attracted to her from a distance since he started getting to know her, but then he started to see that there could be more than that. That it wasn’t so impractical to have a Milisarian and a human together.

  Destiney was finally announced, and she appeared, walking in a beautiful green dress that had probably been bought off another planet or off someone in the village who knew how to sew. The inner city was helpless when it came to those things, but some people in the villages were learning to do a few things of their own before he had left. They were limited, but it was great for them. Relying on the inner city to send them the things they scored from other planets was not always an option.

  As Destiney came through with her obviously round belly and beautiful dress, she had a happy smile on her face that could be nothing but genuine. Alexis reached out to her, and the two women held hands for a moment in a show of emotion he had only seen from these humans. Friendship meant something very different to them than it did to Milisarian knights. They did favors for one another, but they did not cry and celebrate over each other’s triumphs and losses.

  All eyes were on the bride as she made her way down the aisle to Siefer, who was ready to receive her hand. They blocked his view the moment everyone settled in to listen to King Shene preside over the wedding. Nabvan knew this was his chance, or he would have to give up on it. He bent over and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, and she looked back at him with knowing eyes. He nodded towards the side of the final tier, which spun out into the marshes surrounding the building behind them. They would be unseen there but could still hear the ceremony.

  Nabvan disappeared first, only having faith to tell him that Alexis would follow him there. He turned around to find her heading towards him as quietly as she could manage through the sloshing marsh. She looked regal and unreachable, and he wondered if he would ever convince her he was worthy of forgiveness.

  “What are you doing, Nabvan? You have not talked to me at all in a long time, and now you have pulled me away from my best friend’s wedding, which the man that is meant to be my mate is presiding over. I don’t think this is a good idea. We could get caught. I need to get back,” she told him, sounding angrier than he expected, but there was also a touch of pain in there. It was a pain that both hurt him and made his heart soar at the same time. Pain meant she still felt something. He grabbed her hand and spun her into him, not daring to let go until she heard him out.

  She was so close to him, and all his words fell out in silence as his lips were drawn to hers. The kiss was just as passionate as the first time but more desperate. There was a sadness to it that hadn’t been there before. He pulled away to see a confused expression on Alexis’s face. “What is this about?” she breathed, not trying to move away. Her chest was rising and falling like she had been running.

  “I am sorry for what I said before. This is my home. This is my life. Leaving it did not seem like something I could ever do for any reason. I still don’t know what the future holds for me, but I have seen what you mean. I have also seen what I feel for you in every contact you have with the king.” It came out like a plea. He had never heard himself sound that way.

  “I don’t know what you want from me. I have settled for my fate with the king. With the power he gives me, I might be able to save some of these women. I get a freedom I never thought I would be allowed to have, and he is talking with me about science. He could give me a life a little like what I wanted. What can you give me?” Alexis’s words stung him severely, but he could see there was little conviction behind them. Sure, she was probably enjoying her new freedom, but she felt nothing for the king. He could tell they still had not mated by the way she spoke of him and by the way she was still looking at him.

  “I want you to give me one more chance to take your offer. Use your freedom for whatever you wish, but please include me in it. We can be a secret, but I must have you. I know that now.” Nothing truer had ever left his lips before, and his hands slid over her body, daring her to say she felt nothing.

  Alexis let a tear escape her eye. He could see it, and so much was held in that tear, he wanted to lock it up forever and keep it somewhere safe. “I don’t know how this is going to work,” she admitted, though she seemed to be giving in. He needed her to give in, or he felt like he might die. “But I guess we can see how it goes.” She looked up into his eyes then, and he felt his heart thumping loudly in his chest. If he had nothing covering it, she would be sure to see the pink orb alight in his chest, stretching the thin, pale skin of his out towards her.

  Nabvan kissed her once again before sending her back to the ceremony. He didn’t know if he could go back. He was too excited. He would make up a reason he wasn’t there afterward if the king had noticed, but he doubted it. King Shene only noticed himself.

  Chapter 14:

  ***Alexis***

  Alexis tossed and turned as the vision of Nabvan came to her in her restless sleep. His pale body was on display, just as it had been when he joined her in the shower that day when they had first kissed. It was the first day and the last day she had allowed herself to dream of a future that didn’t belong to King Shene and the rest of the Milisarians. She had been naïve, thinking that when you loved someone, you did crazy things to be with them. You did everything in your
power to defy fate and make sure you ended up together. Real life was not like that, and had she been out there living it instead of playing secretary to a bunch of NASA hot shots, she might have known that before being kidnapped and pulled onto a Milisarian ship. She never would have expected any more than to become a gloried slave to King Shene, made to look pretty in public and with expectations for her body in private, which she still had not lived up to.

  In the dream, he kissed her just the same, but she let her hands find his body, admiring his six-pack and the veins that she could see through. These were the very pieces that kept his body going. It was his very essence.

  Then, her hands moved down his body to wrap around his pale, thick member, which was hard for her. She remembered it now, how it had grown up against her body and ground against her skin so deliciously. She had wanted him so much at that moment and had felt empty when he let go and backed away.

  Alexis woke up with a start, a cold sweat coming over her body. She felt a need inside of her that only Nabvan would satisfy, but it wouldn’t be so easy. Yes, he still looked after her sometimes, but the king was always around; everyone was always around always watching her. She had become famous to the Milisarians in such a short time as the king’s mate. She knew what they all assumed too: that she had slept with him and that any moment her belly would be as round as Destiney’s. But that wasn’t the truth at all. She just let them think it so she could keep her freedom.

  It was all about looks for King Shene. What was civil behind closed doors had to be true and on fire in public. She couldn’t help but think that was what led Nabvan to finally pay her some attention the day before at the wedding. He had seen them together: the way she had acted like she was smitten with the king. Nabvan couldn’t handle it, and she couldn’t blame him. Alexis didn’t know what she would do if she ever saw Nabvan with another woman, especially knowing that he believed in mating for life like most of the rest of the Milisarian knights. It would be devastating.

  The thought made her go somewhere she was afraid to go in all of this: her feelings. Her feelings had taken a backseat in order for her to survive her new life. If she thought about her heart for too long, she never would be able to keep King Shene happy enough to keep her dignity. She would be crying in her room with more lash marks on her back that she wouldn’t want to heal this time. But she knew more than anything that she was in love with Nabvan. She knew it because as she played in her mind every moment they had together, it played just like a love story. From annoyance to lust and then beyond. It was the makings of an excellent romance novel, but in real life, it just hurt.

  She knew that Nabvan would be standing outside her door right now as her guard until King Shene came to get her for whatever they were to do that day. She could easily pull him into the room with some excuse about needing food or something, but she didn’t feel ready just yet. She didn’t want to fall apart in front of him with all her frantic thoughts. Instead, she thought she would wait and get some perspective on how this was going to work. How was she going to get time with him and then hide how she felt? How would she still let King Shene touch her the way he did after spending time with Nabvan?

  A knock came at the door, and she shot up, running her fingers quickly through her hair and tying a lace robe around herself; she made it a point to never let King Shene see her at her worst. It was funny since seeing her at her worst was exactly when Nabvan began to have compassion for her. Maybe she was afraid to let King Shene in because he might actually begin to feel more for her than covetous lust.

  “Come in,” she called to him, and the door slid open to reveal King Shene. Nabvan turned his head to look inside for a moment just as the door slid shut again. His look was lingering and longing, and it just made her feel shakier where she stood.

  “You look lovely today, Alexis,” King Shene told her as he came up to her to give her a kiss on the cheek. His lips actually landed on the side of her lips. She tried to act like it didn’t faze her and hoped she was convincing. She wrapped her arms around him in a sweet embrace just in case.

  “Thank you,” she told him. “So, what is on the agenda today?” she asked him, hooking her arm in his, expecting him to lead her out of the room and on to breakfast and a day full of royal duties. But he hung back and hesitated, leading her to the bed instead.

  “I actually wanted to take the time to talk to you today and see how you were feeling, how everything was going. I was hoping you could tell me you liked it here,” King Shene added. It was a question she had not expected. Did he really care about her answer? They had never had such conversations before.

  Alexis thought for a moment about what she might say to him, and she decided to take the time to finally speak up more about the other women. She knew very well they were still being mistreated. They deserved at least as much freedom as she had. “I am happy now that I am a bit freer to experience Milisaria. It is a beautiful planet. I hope to see more of it someday,” she commented, easing into it. Maybe that would be a hint that she wanted to see beyond the inner city as well.

  “I think that can be arranged, but I sense there is something else. Why don’t you tell me? I want you to be my partner. Do not fear me,” he told her, picking her chin up gently.

  “The women. I know they are still being locked in their rooms. I know that they aren’t cooperating very well, but you have to understand what they came from and where they were going. They didn’t expect to be forced to breed with Milisarian knights. Things might go better if they were given a little more freedom. They would feel happier.” There, it was out. She let a breath out and slouched into it. It felt like she had been holding that in for a while.

  “I think I can do that, but there is something I must ask of you in return,” he told her, his face looking sterner than before. Alexis prepared herself for whatever would come from his mouth next. She was afraid of what to expect, but she knew she would have to face it for the sake of those women. “I need you to consider mating with me. That was the whole reason for bringing these women here, and I feel I have been very generous to you now. I’ve been trying to give you a good life here with me.”

  Alexis had thought he would say something like that. It didn’t surprise her, but it was hard when the first thought that came into her mind was about Nabvan and how he would handle something like that. Though, the truth was, if she was to survive, that was where this whole thing had been headed all along. She would have to give in at some point. “I will think about it, yes,” Alexis told him, nodding her head. She didn’t look at his face because she didn’t think she could just yet.

  “I am glad to hear that, but I think it is appropriate to tell you that I will be busy for the next week, and that is how long you have to decide,” he warned her, standing up. There was no malice in his voice, but Alexis sensed there was something else to it: a reason for that specific deadline.

  “What happens in a week, Shene?” she asked, using his name to catch his attention. He looked like the ruse of it affected him and gave him hope that is how she had meant it, even if she decided not to mate with him. She needed to know those consequences, though. She would talk them over with Nabvan in that week. One week to fulfill all of her dreams about a man she loved before giving into whatever she had to.

  “This experiment with the women has not worked. It had clearly caused pain to some of my men as well as the women. So, we have decided that on our next voyage to Earth, these women unwilling to cooperate will go with us. We will take them back there and drop them off. That way they can choose to live a life on Earth again and be free of Milisaria. There is no need to keep them here if they will not mate, and I am afraid the same should go for you.”

  Alexis nodded her head, not liking what she was hearing. For her, going back to Earth would not be so bad. She would just go see her family like she should have in the first place, but the other women would not have such options. Some of them would even end up back in jail for the crimes they were granted leav
e of on the agreement that they would leave the planet. She wondered if they even knew that it was the plan to take them back. If so, many of them must be even more afraid than they already were. But she let it go.

  As King Shene opened the door, he turned back to her with an afterthought. “I will leave Nabvan to keep you company for anything you need while I deal with business this week. I will be away in the villages. I hope that your answer when I come back means I can take you with me next time.” Nabvan looked to Alexis, hopefully at that. He had not heard the rest through the door, of course. What would he do when he found out the terms of their agreement?

  She watched as the king left, feeling more distressed than she had in several days. This was no longer just about Nabvan. This was about the future of more than one woman.

  Chapter 15:

  ***Alexis***

  If Alexis had to guess how long it was before Nabvan came into her room, it would have been about an hour. The moment the coast felt clear, he had come into the room with a sweet smile on his face that was hard to resist. Her mind went immediately to the deal she had made with King Shene, but she didn’t know if she could say anything just yet. She had to process it first for herself, and she knew she had a whole week to enjoy whatever time she could have with Nabvan. It was a selfish notion, but it was all she had to cling to these days.