Close Remembrance

by Anna Zaires

  “What are squirrels?” Riani asked curiously, and Mia’s father explained all about the little mammal with the bushy tail.

  Marisa and Connor, who had been watching the whole thing with bemusement, came to sit next to Korum and Mia on the other side of the room. “Wow, they’re really getting along, aren’t they?” Marisa told her sister, and Mia laughed, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

  It seemed like the perfect moment to make the announcement.

  Getting up, Korum pulled Mia to her feet. All eyes immediately turned toward them. “We have something we’d like to share with you,” Korum said, looking around the room. His parents seemed puzzled, while the humans stared at him with barely concealed delight. “I have asked Mia to marry me, and she has agreed.”

  Mia grinned and lifted her left hand, displaying the shimmerstone ring on her finger.

  The room exploded. Laughter, shrieks, and congratulations filled the air. Everybody seemed to be hugging everyone else, and his parents gamely went along with the excitement, even though Chiaren kept throwing questioning looks in his direction. As Mia had said, no Krinar had ever married a human, and the very concept of marriage was foreign to his people. A mating union that was marked by the Celebration of Forty-Seven was the closest Krinar equivalent. Korum intended to explain his rationale to his parents later; for now, it was enough that they knew just how much he loved his charl.

  After the initial hoopla died down, Korum said to Mia’s parents, “I wasn’t sure if I should request your permission first or not. From what I understand of this custom, it’s rarely done in modern times. I hope you don’t mind –”

  “Mind?” Ella exclaimed. “Of course we don’t mind!” Her eyes were gleaming with tears, and Korum wondered what it was about marriage that made human women so emotional.

  The rest of their time together was spent discussing potential dates for the wedding (Korum insisted on it being no later than next week), the location (Mia liked the lake near his house), and the logistics of a human wedding ceremony on a planet so far away from Earth.

  “Don’t we need someone to marry you?” Connor asked. “A priest, a rabbi, a judge, someone? And if it’s to be legally recognized back home, don’t you need to register somewhere on Earth?”

  Korum had already thought of these obstacles. “One of the charl living on Krina was actually a judge in Missouri,” he told everyone. “I have already reached out to request her assistance. As far as registration goes, we’ll transmit our signatures electronically to the Daytona Beach Clerk of the Circuit Court. I’m sure they will make an exception for us, given the circumstances.”

  * * *

  For Mia, the next five days seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. As soon as news about their engagement spread, there was an endless parade of visitors to Korum’s house, all wanting to meet her and her family.

  Korum’s friends, acquaintances, employees, business contacts, even Council members . . . Mia met so many Ks during her short engagement that she couldn’t keep track of all the names and faces. To her surprise, she could sense echoes of the same respect they showed Korum in their attitude toward her. It was subtle, but it was there. Her opinion was asked more often, and they spoke to her directly, frequently bypassing Korum altogether. After wondering about it for a couple of days, Mia realized that they were now treating her more as Korum’s mate and less as his charl. In their eyes, she was no longer merely a human who belonged to one of them; she was going to be a true part of their society.

  Mia particularly liked Jalet and Huar, Korum’s long-time friends. Like Korum’s parents, Jalet was a dabbler, a jack-of-all-trades. Smart and funny, he seemed to know about everything under the sun, and Mia loved listening to his stories about life on Krina. Huar, on the other hand, was quiet and serious. He was considered to be an expert on ocean studies. Both Huar and Jalet had also been friends with Saret, and they were horrified to learn about his true nature.

  “The four of us were like your Musketeers,” Jalet told her, referring to the classic Dumas novel. “We got into so many adventures in our youth. I thought about accompanying Saret and Korum to Earth, but I was stuck on a project and the timing didn’t work out.”

  “That was probably for the best.” Korum grinned at his friend. “For all we know, he might’ve tried to kill you too.”

  “You know,” Huar said thoughtfully, “now that I think about it, it’s not all that surprising that Saret went after you, Korum. He was quite ambitious, but very secretive about it. You’ve always known what you wanted and pursued it openly, but Saret liked to scheme and maneuver behind the scenes, so nobody knew it was him. I suspected he might be jealous of you, but I never realized how deep that jealousy ran.”

  “None of us knew what he was really like,” Korum said. “Saret managed to fool everyone, especially me.” Mia could hear the bitter note in his voice, and it made her heart ache. He never talked about it much, but she knew he still blamed himself for putting her in harm’s way.

  “My love, you know he was probably a psychopath, right?” Laying a reassuring hand on Korum’s knee, she gave him a serious look. “He was smart enough to hide it, but that’s what he ultimately was. All charm on the surface, and a complete lack of remorse underneath. He was clever too, clever enough to wear a mask for centuries.” Mia remembered reading about psychopaths in one of her college classes, and they were a truly fascinating breed. She didn’t know if Saret fit the textbook definition – or if Ks could even be true psychopaths in the medical sense – but he certainly displayed some of the traits, including a grandiose sense of self-worth.

  Korum smiled in response, hugging her to him, but she could see that it would be a long time before the wounds inflicted by Saret’s betrayal would heal.

  In addition to all the visitors, there was plenty to be done in preparation for the wedding itself. With the virtual help of Korum’s cousin Leeta, Mia created herself a beautiful white dress that incorporated some elements from both cultures. She also made flattering outfits for her family that were largely Krinar in style, but took into account their personal preferences.

  In the meantime, Korum fabricated an enormous ceremonial hall that floated above the lake near his house. The size of an Olympic stadium, it was designed to accommodate over a hundred thousand guests – a number that made Mia’s head spin every time she thought about it.

  “How big is this wedding going to be?” she gasped when she saw the giant structure.

  “As big as it needs to be,” Korum replied, looking at her steadily, and Mia realized that he was making a public statement. By marrying her in front of all of Krina, he was proclaiming that humans had officially arrived, that they were no longer an inferior species that could only exist on the fringes of the Krinar society.

  Korum was addressing her concerns about her place in his world.

  Chapter 31

  The day before the wedding was supposed to take place, the Elders finally reached a decision about Saret. As soon as Korum heard the news, he went to visit his former friend, feeling a strange need to see him one last time.

  Saret was confined in Viarad, in a heavily guarded building where dangerous criminals awaited their trial. The past couple of months had not been kind to him. If Korum didn’t know better, he would’ve thought Saret had aged somehow. His gaze looked dull and empty, and his skin appeared oddly ashen. It was like he had lost all hope, and, for a brief moment, Korum felt pity for his enemy, his thoughts turning to their childhood together.

  But then he remembered what Saret had done to Mia – and what he intended to do to them all – and the feeling of pity faded. Korum had never known the real Saret; whatever good times they’d had together were as fake as Saret’s friendship.

  “Come to gloat, have you?” Saret’s voice broke the silence. “I suppose you heard about my sentence.” His lips twisted bitterly, his fingers tugging reflexively at the crime-collar around his throat.

  “No,” Korum said truthfully, “I didn’t
come to gloat.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “I don’t know,” Korum admitted. “I guess I needed some closure.”

  “Closure?” Saret laughed, a harsh sound that grated on Korum’s ears. “What kind of closure?”

  Korum shrugged, unsure of the answer to that.

  “Jalet and Huar came to see me yesterday,” Saret said, his eyes glued to Korum’s face. “They told me all about your little human bride and how your wedding is going to be the biggest event of the millennium. Congratulations. I guess you brainwashed her better than I ever could. Even after that bitch Laira undid my procedure, Mia still wants you. Did you tell her what you’re planning to do to her people?”

  “Yes,” Korum said. “I explained everything. She understood. I never intended to harm her kind, only to make room for us on their planet.”

  “Yeah, right.” Saret gave him a sarcastic look. “Do you think I don’t remember how you regarded humans once? How you said Earth should’ve been ours by right?”

  Korum stared at his former friend in disbelief. “You truly thought I still held those views? Saret, that was over a thousand years ago! Everything has changed since then. I have changed since then –”

  “Oh really? And what made you change? A tight little cunt and a pair of big blue eyes?”

  Korum felt a strong urge to do something violent to Saret, but restrained himself at the last moment. “No,” he said, keeping his voice even. “I saw how quickly they were progressing and becoming more like us. I realized centuries ago that I had been wrong about them – that so many of us had been wrong. Surely you knew that.”

  “No, I didn’t know,” Saret said. “Or maybe I knew and didn’t believe it. It doesn’t matter now, does it? After today, I will be no more. That’s why you came to see me now, isn’t it? To watch me die?”

  “You won’t die,” Korum said calmly. “They sentenced you to a new version of complete rehabilitation, one that Laira herself came up with recently. Unlike the old one, it can’t be reversed.”

  Saret laughed bitterly. “Right. Like I said, after this procedure I will be no more.”

  “Goodbye, Saret.” Korum took one final look at his former friend and walked out, putting an end to that chapter of his life.

  When he got home, Mia was waiting for him, an anxious look on her face. “How did it go?” she asked, getting up from the float where she had been reading her tablet. “Did you get a chance to talk to him?”

  “Yes.” Korum drew her toward him for a hug. The familiar feel of her in his arms was soothing, taking away his stress and tension. As much as Korum hated to admit it to himself, seeing Saret today had been painful. Despite his betrayal, despite everything, Korum had thought of him as a friend his whole life, and he couldn’t help mourning the loss of that illusion.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him, her small hands rubbing up and down his back. Somehow she knew he needed comfort now; she always knew what he needed these days.

  After a couple of minutes, she pulled back slightly and looked up at him, her blue eyes filled with sympathy. “When are they going to do it?” she asked quietly. “When is the procedure going to take place?”

  “This afternoon,” Korum said, lifting his hand to brush a curl off her cheek. “In just a couple of hours.”

  “And then what? What happens to those who are rehabilitated like that?”

  “He’ll be taken to a special re-education facility, where the rehabilitated are taught how to become productive members of society again. He’ll know about his old identity, of course, but he’ll be given a chance to start over, to build a new life for himself.”

  “And he’ll be completely changed? He won’t want to do those things again?”

  “Most likely not,” Korum said. “And besides, he’ll be under close surveillance for centuries to come. At the least sign of renewed criminal tendencies, he will undergo the procedure again.”

  She moistened her lips, and Korum found himself staring at her mouth, his thoughts suddenly taking a sexual turn. “Do you think we’ll run into him at some point?” she asked. “If he’s going to re-enter society after his rehabilitation, do you think we’ll see him again?”

  Korum tried to tear his mind away from the image of her lips wrapped around his cock. “Probably,” he managed to say. “But don’t worry – he’ll be a very different man.” Despite the seriousness of the conversation, he could feel his body hardening, reacting to her nearness as it usually did.

  Undoubtedly feeling the bulge against her stomach, Mia gave him a knowing smile and pressed closer, rubbing her breasts against his chest. Korum inhaled sharply, feeling her peaked nipples through the two layers of clothing that separated them. Her eyes darkened, her pupils expanding, and there was a hint of color stealing across the paleness of her cheeks. She was getting aroused; he could see it . . . and feel it and smell it. The warm, sensual scent of her was like an aphrodisiac to him, sending blood rushing through his veins and making his cock throb with need.

  Still looking up at him with that seductive smile, she licked her lips again, slowly this time. The sound that escaped his throat was closer to a growl. She knew exactly what to do nowadays, how to drive him wild in the shortest possible span of time.

  Desperate for her taste, Korum bent his head and kissed her, reveling in the way her tongue curled around his, stroking and caressing the interior of his mouth. She was a skilled kisser now, a far cry from the shy virgin he’d forced into his bed back in New York. Her fingers found their way into his hair, her nails delicately scratching his scalp, and he almost groaned, rocking his hips back and forth, pushing his erection into her belly.

  His skin felt hot, and suddenly their clothes were too confining, too much in the way. Korum pulled down the top of her dress, imprisoning her arms in the fabric and baring her pretty breasts to his gaze. They were white, firm, and perfectly round, and her nipples were a beautiful pink-rose color. Unable to resist the temptation, he dropped to his knees and brought those small hard nipples toward his mouth, sucking first one and then another. She moaned, arching toward him, her hands holding the back of his head, and Korum slid one hand under the skirt of her dress, feeling the softness of the curls between her thighs.

  “Korum, please,” she whispered, and he knew she was aching for more, just as he was. Still tonguing her nipples, he pushed one finger inside her, his balls tightening at the warm, slick feel of her interior channel. He wanted her to come, but at the same time, he wanted to keep torturing her, to make her scream with pleasure in his arms. His thumb entered between her folds, found her small clitoris, and he pressed on it lightly, keeping his touch too gentle for her to reach her peak. She bucked against him, and Korum did it again, loving the helpless little sounds that tore from her throat. His cock felt like it would explode, but he kept pushing his finger inside her, feeling a gush of moisture with every stroke.

  Sweet, she was so fucking sweet to him. Ripping apart her dress, he bared her stomach and the dark triangle between her thighs, his mouth leaving her breasts to kiss every inch of the skin he exposed. There was so much he wanted to do to her, so many ways he wanted to take her, and he would do it all in time, but for now he needed to take it slow, to gradually introduce her to all the pleasures of the flesh. She was trembling in his arms, her delicate inner walls quivering around his finger, and he pushed a second finger inside her, stretching her, his thumb still playing lightly with her clit.

  “Korum . . .” Her tortured moan was like music to his ears, and he smiled triumphantly, gently scraping his teeth across the delicate skin of her stomach. He didn’t break the skin, but she still gasped at the sting, and he felt her pussy tighten around his fingers, coating them with more delicious moisture.

  “Yes,” he murmured, “yes, you can come for me now . . .” And she did, her head thrown back with a scream, the pulsations of her inner muscles adding to the blazing heat inside him.

  Withdrawing his fingers, Ko
rum licked them, savoring her taste, then tugged her down on the floor beside him. The intelligent material was soft around them, massaging their knees and calves with tiny finger-like appendages, but Korum barely noticed the pleasant feeling, focusing only on the woman in his arms.

  Mia was still shaking, her breathing fast and uneven in the aftermath of her orgasm, and Korum arranged her pliant body so that she was on her hands and knees, facing away from him. The curve of her perfectly shaped ass was an unbearable temptation. He could see the wet, swollen folds of her sex and the tiny rose of her other opening, and he wanted to be in both places at once, to fuck her in every way possible.

  Pushing his thumb inside her slick channel, he gathered the moisture from there and then used it as a lubricant, pressing that same finger to her ass. She cried out, her muscles resisting the intrusion, and he paused, letting her get used to the sensation before he continued slowly working it into her tight passage. When it was all the way in, he grasped her hips with his other hand and sank his cock deep into her pussy.

  She arched, moaning, and Korum sucked in his breath, his thumb feeling the movement of his shaft inside her through the thin wall that separated her two orifices. So fucking sweet. The pleasure was unbelievable, almost intolerable. Unable to wait any longer, Korum began fucking her without restraint, feeling her inner muscles clinging to his cock, gripping him so tightly he felt like he was about to explode.

  And then he did, his head thrown back with a deep roar. She screamed too, bucking against him, and Korum felt her inner muscles milking him, squeezing every drop of semen from his body.

  Panting, he sank down on the floor, still buried deep inside her. After a few moments, he withdrew his thumb and pulled her naked, trembling body against him. She was breathing as hard as he was, and he kissed the delicate shell of her ear, knowing she needed tenderness after the way he just took her like a savage. “I love you,” he whispered, and she turned toward him with a smile – the smile of a woman who had just been thoroughly satisfied.