Close Remembrance

by Anna Zaires

  “Don’t be afraid, my darling,” he said, sliding one arm under her knees and another around her back. Lifting her up, he placed her carefully in the middle of the bed. “I’ll make it good for you, I promise . . .” And moving back for a second, Korum removed his shirt and shorts, letting his erection spring free.

  Before she had a chance to do more than give him one apprehensive glance, Korum climbed on top of her, nuzzling her neck and shoulder again until she let out a quiet moan. Then he slowly began to make his way down her body, ignoring his cock’s insistent throbbing. There would be times when he would take her hard and fast, but this wasn’t going to be one of them. Tonight was all about her.

  Cupping the round globe of her breast, he delighted in its firmness, in the way her nipple hardened against his palm. Her breasts weren’t large, but they were perfectly shaped, just right for her slight frame. Bending his head, he tasted her nipple, laving it with his tongue, then sucking on it with a firm pull.

  She moaned again, arching toward him, and he repeated the treatment on the other breast, enjoying the way her nipples looked afterwards: all pink and shiny.

  Her stomach was next, and he kissed the soft skin there, tonguing her belly button and feeling her abdominal muscles tensing as his mouth continued moving lower. Her legs were closed, so Korum pulled her thighs apart, ignoring the hitch in her breathing as he gazed upon her moist folds and the dark triangle of curls above. Like the rest of Mia, her pussy was small and delicate, sweeter than anything he’d ever tasted.

  Lowering his head, Korum breathed in her intoxicating scent and then gently licked the area around her clitoris, teasing her, letting her arousal slowly build. As he continued, he could hear her gasping every time his tongue approached her sensitive nub, feel the way her hips kept rising off the bed toward his mouth. He knew she was very close to the edge, but he wasn’t ready to let her go over. Not yet at least.

  Moving his hand, he used his index finger to slowly penetrate her, sliding it inside her slick channel, carefully stretching her, readying her for him. She was so tiny inside she even felt tight around his finger, and Korum suppressed a tortured groan as his cock twitched against the sheets in painful arousal.

  She cried out as his finger slid deeper, rubbing against that spot that always drove her insane, and then Korum could feel her convulsing, her inner walls pulsing around his finger as she found her release.

  Unable to wait any longer, he crawled back up her body, keeping her thighs open with his knee. Holding himself up with one elbow, he used his other hand to direct himself to her small opening, letting the head of his penis slide inside, and then pausing to let her adjust to his size.

  At his entry, she inhaled sharply and grasped his shoulders, gazing up at him. His entire body straining from the rigid control he was exerting over himself, Korum began to push in further, keeping the penetration gradual and slow to avoid hurting her. As his cock went deeper, sweat beaded up all over his body and his breathing became harsher, more erratic. She was warm, wet, and tight – and Korum thought he might literally explode on the spot.

  Using all his willpower, he paused when he was all the way in, letting her get used to the feel of him deep inside her body. “Are you okay?” he managed to ask in a rough whisper, looking down at her.

  She licked her lips. “Yes.”

  “Good,” Korum breathed. He wasn’t sure he could’ve stopped if she’d said otherwise. He was seconds away from orgasm, his balls drawn tightly against his body and his spine prickling with the familiar pre-release tension.

  But he didn’t want to come yet, not until he’d had a chance to pleasure her one more time. Using his right hand, Korum reached between their bodies, finding the place where they joined and lightly stimulating her clitoris with his fingers. At the same time, he began to move inside her, partially withdrawing and then pushing back in.

  She moaned again, her fingers tightening around his shoulders and her sharp nails digging into his skin. He could feel the heat rising off her body, hear her breathing changing, and he knew she was almost there. Finally letting go of his restraint, he began to thrust with increasing speed, climbing the peak higher and higher, every muscle in his body shaking from the intensity of the sensations. Suddenly, she cried out, her inner muscles clamping down on his cock, and he exploded with a roar, his seed shooting out in several powerful spurts.

  When it was over, Korum rolled off Mia onto his back and pulled her on top of him, so that she lay partially draped over his chest. They were both breathing hard, their bodies limp and covered with sweat.

  Korum knew he should say something, but he couldn’t seem to gather his thoughts. There was sex – and then there was what he experienced with Mia. He’d never imagined that he could want a woman so much, that he could get so much pleasure out of the simple act of fucking.

  It wasn’t as if he was inexperienced. Far from it. In his centuries of existence, he’d engaged in sexual acts of every type and every flavor. There was no stigma associated with promiscuous behavior in Krinar society, and unattached individuals were encouraged to experiment to their hearts’ content.

  Yet Korum could not remember ever feeling the kind of bone-deep satisfaction he experienced with Mia. He’d always wondered how mated individuals – or those who had a charl – remained faithful throughout their lives. The idea of not having variety had seemed strange and unnatural to him. Since meeting Mia, however, he couldn’t imagine wanting to be with another woman. She was all he wanted, all the time, every time.

  His breathing finally calming, Korum looked down at the curly head lying on his chest. Feeling content, he stroked her hair, grinning when he heard a quiet yawn.

  “Want to take a quick rinse and then go to sleep?” he murmured, still smiling as she looked up.

  She gave him a deliciously sleepy look, then yawned again. “Sure, that would be nice . . .”

  Laughing softly, Korum wrapped his arms around her and got up, carrying her toward the shower. Still holding her, he stepped inside and sent a quick mental command to the water controls. Two minutes later they were clean and dry, and Korum carried her back to bed, enjoying the trusting way she clung to him the entire time.

  Placing her back on the bed, he lay down beside her and pulled her into his embrace, curving his body around her from the back. Utterly relaxed, he closed his eyes and let her even breathing lull him into sleep as well.

  Chapter 12

  Slowly waking up the next morning, Mia stretched and smiled, remembering last night. The entire experience had been amazing, like something she could’ve only dreamed of. Was sex always like this? Or was it just sex with Korum?

  After that first time, he’d taken her again at some point in the night, waking her up by sliding into her. Somehow she had already been wet, and she’d orgasmed within minutes – something she would’ve expected to be difficult, given how satisfied she’d felt after the previous time.

  But she was apparently as insatiable as her alien lover.

  Grinning like a Cheshire Cat, Mia got up, put on a peach-colored sundress, and did her morning bathroom routine. Korum was already gone, so she asked the house for some yummy breakfast and then curled up on one of the floating planks that functioned as a couch. “Some reading material, please,” she requested, and laughed as a razor-thin tablet-like device floated toward her from one of the walls.

  Yesterday, when Korum told her about her role at the mind lab, he’d mentioned that she used to keep work-related documents and recordings on this tablet. Mia was intensely curious about it, trying to imagine how she’d functioned in a Krinar work environment given her unfamiliarity about their technology and science. From what Korum had explained, a lot of the knowledge had been transferred to her via the same process that was used to teach Krinar children, and she was secretly hoping that she’d retained some of it despite the memory wipe. She certainly felt more comfortable in Lenkarda than could be expected, and she was pretty sure she knew things about the b
rain that were far beyond what she’d learned in college.

  Using a verbal command to open one of the files, Mia made herself comfortable and began the process of re-learning everything she had partially or completely forgotten.

  * * *

  “The Council has reached a decision.”

  Arus’s words carried throughout the large arena-like room where the public portion of the trial took place. Almost every Krinar on Earth – and many residents of Krina – were there virtually or in person.

  Korum leaned forward, waiting to hear the words that would seal the fate of the traitors. In front of him, he could see Loris standing straight, garbed all in black. The Protector’s fists were tightly clenched, knuckles almost white, as he braced himself to hear his son’s sentence.

  “Rafor, Kian, Leris, Poren, Saod, Kula, and Reana,” Arus said clearly, “the Council finds you guilty of conspiring with the human Resistance movement to attack the Centers and endanger the lives of fifty thousand of your fellow citizens. You are also found guilty of breaking the non-interference mandate by sharing Krinar technology with the said Resistance movement. Additionally, Rafor, the Council judges you guilty of aiding and abetting the dangerous individual known as Saret in his plan to commit mass murder and illegally manipulate human minds.”

  The Protector visibly paled, and the Keiths looked like they were punched in the stomach. A murmur ran through the crowd, then died down as the spectators fell silent to hear the rest.

  “The sentence for the above crimes is complete rehabilitation.”

  Korum leaned back, listening to the uproar in the audience. In that moment, he felt uncharacteristic pity for Loris, who had just lost his only son. Whatever their differences had been in the past, it wasn’t Loris’s fault Rafor had turned out to be a failure and a criminal. Korum couldn’t blame Loris for wanting to defend his child, no matter how undeserving that child was.

  However, Korum had no regrets about the role he’d played in their conviction. Rafor and his friends got exactly what they deserved: an almost complete erasure of their personalities. They were too dangerous to be subjected to partial rehabilitation, their actions too heinous to be forgiven. If there was one thing Korum despised, it was someone who tried to hurt his own people for the sake of greed and power – the way these traitors had.

  The brief flicker of sympathy he felt for Loris died down as the Protector turned and gave Korum a hate-filled glare. Loris’s face was colorless underneath the bronzed tone of his skin, and his eyes glittered with something resembling madness. It was the look of someone who had nothing left to lose, and Korum recognized that his opponent would do everything in his power to leave him lying in pieces tomorrow. Of course, Korum had no intention of letting that happen. He didn’t want to kill Loris, but he would do what was necessary to defend himself.

  After the uproar in the crowd died down, the Keiths were taken away, and Korum got up, heading toward the exit. What he wanted now was Mia, but he couldn’t go home yet.

  He needed to reach out to the Elders again to move the project forward – and to check on his petition about Mia’s parents.

  * * *

  “You have a visitor, Mia.”

  Startled by the unfamiliar female voice, Mia looked up from her reading material. Through the transparent wall, she could see a young human woman standing outside. Blowing out a relieved breath, Mia realized that the voice she’d just heard had to be Korum’s intelligent house letting her know about the guest.

  “Of course,” Mia said, as though she talked to alien technology all the time. “Can you please let her inside?”

  “Yes, Mia.” And the wall in front of the visitor dissolved, creating an entrance.

  Getting up from the floating plank, Mia smiled at the dark-haired girl who gracefully stepped through the opening.

  “Hi,” Mia said, knowing she was probably greeting someone she’d already met before.

  “Hello, Mia,” the girl said, giving her a gentle smile. “I know you don’t remember me, but I’m Delia. We’ve met a couple of times before. I’m also a charl here in Lenkarda.”

  “It’s nice to meet you again, Delia.” Mia was glad that her guest seemed to know about her condition. “I apologize in advance about my lack of recognition –”

  “It’s not your fault,” Delia interrupted, her large brown eyes soft with concern. “How can you even apologize for something like that? I came by to see if you were all right after what happened. It must be so devastating, to wake up not knowing where you are or how you got there . . .”

  Mia studied the girl, noting her quiet, yet luminous beauty and the maturity that belied her apparent youth. “Thanks, Delia,” she said. “I’m actually surprisingly okay. I don’t know why, but I seem to be dealing with everything quite well.”

  “And Korum?”

  Mia gave her a questioning look. “What about Korum?”

  “Is he –” Delia hesitated a little. “Is he being kind to you?”

  “Of course.” Mia frowned. “Why wouldn’t he be? He’s my . . . cheren, right?”

  Delia gave her a radiant smile. “Of course. I was just heading to the waterfalls, where you and I first met. Would you be interested in coming with me? It’s a really beautiful spot. I don’t know if Korum showed it to you yet –”

  “He hasn’t,” Mia admitted. “And I would love to join you.” She was curious about this girl – this other charl – and she was hoping to find out more about Lenkarda and her former life there.

  “Great,” Delia said, still smiling. “Then let’s go.”

  The walk to the waterfalls took a little over twenty minutes. As they made their way through the forest, Mia asked Delia about her story, wanting to find out how she’d become a charl. Then she listened in shock and fascination as the Greek girl told her about meeting Arus on the shores of the Mediterranean almost twenty-three centuries ago and how her life had unfolded since.

  “When I first arrived on Krina, humans were treated very differently than they are today,” Delia explained. “Two thousand years ago, many Krinar thought we were little better than primates, with our lack of technology and primitive social mores. A few, like Arus, recognized that we were not all that different from them, but most refused to think of us as an equally intelligent species. That attitude still persists today to a certain extent, although the rapid pace of progress here in the past couple of centuries has impressed many on Krina.”

  “They thought we were like monkeys?” Mia frowned, not liking that at all.

  Delia nodded. “Something like that. I can’t really blame them; after all, they were the ones to create us and make us into what we are today.”

  “How did they do that?” Mia asked, having wondered about that for a while. “I mean, a Krinar can almost pass for a human, and vice versa. Appearance-wise, it’s like they’re a different human race, rather than a separate species. I know they guided our evolution, but it’s still kind of crazy . . .”

  “It’s actually not all that crazy,” Delia said. “They tinkered with our genes for millions of years, suppressing those traits that would’ve made us look different from them. They allowed certain subtle variations – like eye, skin, and hair color – but they ensured we would be very similar to them otherwise. It was something their Elders wanted, I believe.”

  Mia looked away, pondering that for a while as they continued walking through the forest. “So what do you think they want with us now?” she asked once they reached their destination.

  “The Krinar?” Delia sat down on a grassy patch near the water and turned toward Mia.

  “Their Elders,” Mia clarified, sitting down next to her.

  “Who knows?” Delia shrugged. “Even the Council doesn’t fully know the motivations of the Elders. They’re something like gods to them, although the Krinar don’t have religion in the traditional sense.”

  “I see.” Mia considered everything she’d learned so far. “So how do the Krinar think of us now? Korum sa
id I worked in one of their labs. Surely they wouldn’t let me do that if they thought that I was just an unusually smart monkey. Not to mention, they marry us . . .”

  “Marry us?” Delia looked surprised. “What do you mean?”

  “Isn’t that what being a charl is? Like being married to one of them, only without the official ceremony?” That was the impression Mia had gotten yesterday from her conversation with Korum.

  Delia regarded her with a thoughtful brown gaze. “I guess you could think of it that way,” she said slowly. “Particularly if you apply the definition of marriage as it used to be in the past.”

  “In the past?”

  “Yes,” Delia said. “Before your time. When a wife lawfully belonged to her husband.”

  “What do you mean, belonged?”

  “By Krinar law, a charl belongs to her cheren, Mia. We don’t really have any rights here. Korum didn’t tell you that?”

  Mia shook her head, feeling an unpleasant tightness in her chest. “Are you saying we’re their . . . slaves?”

  Delia smiled. “No. The Krinar don’t believe in slavery, especially not as it was practiced during my time. Most charl are very well treated and loved by their cheren. They truly do regard them as their human mates. But it’s not exactly the type of equal relationship a modern girl like you would be accustomed to.”

  Mia stared at her. “How so?”

  “Well, for instance, a Krinar doesn’t need your permission to make you his charl. Arus asked me, but many cheren don’t.”

  “Did Korum ask me?” Mia waited for the answer with bated breath.

  “I don’t know,” Delia said regretfully. “I’ve never been privy to the particulars of your relationship. However, from what I know about Korum – and from the fact that you helped the Resistance before – I would guess that he wasn’t quite as considerate of your feelings as he should’ve been.”