by Elin Wyn
Jokes were funnier.
Our family would never be the same as before the war, but it was much closer to how we’d been.
Normal.
Happy.
My mother now worked as a bookkeeper in a new shop that had opened a few blocks from my office. My father still spent most of his time going town to town offering his help for free, but between me, Karzin, Helix, and my mother, their finances were finally stable again.
Color had returned to all of their cheeks. Helix looked less haunted. Cassie looked less surly. The worry line between my mother’s brows had nearly disappeared completely.
It wasn’t just my life that was greatly improved since I met Karzin.
I still ate like we were going to run out of food at any minute, as did the rest of my family. It was going to take a while to break that habit.
When our server came back to check on us, he was shocked to see that we’d cleaned our plates.
“I take it the food was good?” he laughed as he cleared out plates. “I’ll have dessert out in just a moment.”
“I don’t remember ordering dessert,” I frowned.
“I ordered in advanced,” Karzin said. “We’re celebrating tonight.”
“We are?” I asked. “What?”
“That depends,” Karzin chuckled and stood.
“What are you doing?” I felt silly asking so many questions but Karzin was acting strangely.
I looked at my family, they all were grinning from ear to ear, even Cassie. “What’s wrong with all of you? You’re creeping me out.” I looked back to Karzin.
He knelt on one knee in front of me and reached into his pocket.
“What are you doing?” I asked again.
“Andromeda Parker, you’ve made me feel whole again. I want to spend the rest of my days by your side.” Karzin pulled a little black box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal a pale green gem on a black band. “Will you marry me?”
Tears were already streaming down my face.
“Yes!” I sobbed. Karzin pulled me in for a gentle kiss before slipping the ring on my finger. My family cheered and clapped for us. Right on cue, our server brought out a beautifully decorated cake.
“How long have you been planning this?” I asked once I regained a fraction of my composure. I clung to Karzin as if sitting beside each other would put too much space between us. Karzin laughed and rubbed my back through the fabric of my dress.
“A few weeks,” he admitted.
I looked at my family. My mother was crying and everyone was smiling.
“All of you knew, didn’t you?” I gasped.
“Who do you think told him how to propose like a human?” Helix laughed.
“We tried to tell him to buy a diamond, but he thought they were too boring,” Cassie laughed.
“I still think they’re too boring,” Karzin replied. “That’s why I made this one instead.”
“You made this?” I gasped, and looked back down at the ring on my finger.
“Is that not the standard human practice?” he asked.
“Usually people buy rings that are already made,” I explained. “But this is so much better.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Karzin grinned.
“Like it?” I laughed. “I love it!”
“Did I do the proposing part correctly?”
“You did it perfectly.” I took his hand in mind and gave it a squeeze.
“Good, because it’s not over yet.”
“What?” I blurted.
“I’ve proposed to you like a human. I still need to propose to you as a Valorni,” he explained.
A shiver of excitement ran down my spine.
“What does that entail?” I asked, half-hoping this wouldn’t be anything too shocking for my family.
“First, I have to present a trophy to you. Usually, it’s the body of a massive beast I hunted down, but I figured you wouldn’t like that very much,” he laughed. “So, we’re going to call this cake the trophy.”
“Good call.” I was starting to cry again. My beautiful ring sparkling in the light as I wiped away my tears. “What happens after that?”
“Then I make my declaration. If you like it, you accept it, and then we feast on the trophy.”
“By all mean, declare away!” I laughed. This was all too good to be true. Karzin nodded his head in a playful bow.
“Beautiful creature,” he began, “I offer this bounty to you, to show you that there is no beast strong enough to keep us apart. You are the brightest star in the galaxy. Allow me the honor of guarding you. I only ask that you allow me to bathe in your light. Will you accept my offer and be my lifemate?”
“Absolutely,” I sighed.
Karzin leaned in for another kiss. When he tried to pull away, I brought his lips right back to mine. I’d never, ever get enough of this man.
“Now we shall enjoy the fruits of my hunt,” he gestured grandly to the cake.
“I think I liked that better than the human proposal,” I sniffled, dabbing at my eyes once again.
“Me, too,” Karzin laughed.
“Do I still call you my son-in-law?” my father asked Karzin.
“I don’t know what that means,” Karzin tilted his head to one side, “but if you want to call me that, I’d be honored.”
“Excellent,” my father cheered. “It’s about time one of my children settled down.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Cassie rolled her eyes.
“Your mother won’t get off my back about wanting grandbabies,” my father replied. “So, if I have to harass you kids over it to make her stop, I’ll do it.”
“Care for an offering?” Karzin asked, holding a fork full of cake up to my mouth.
I took a bite. It was delicious. I never thought I’d get to experience food like that again.
“That’s way better than some dead space beast,” I joked.
“I’m starting to think all Valorni should do their offerings this way,” Karzin agreed.
“Annie, love! Let’s talk about the dress you’re going to wear,” my mother gushed.
“And so it begins,” I laugh.
“What dress is she talking about?” Karzin asked.
I gave my family a puzzled look. “Did you only tell him about the proposal, but not the wedding?”
“That’s all he asked about,” Helix replied.
“I don’t know about the wedding part,” Karzin replied. My entire family started laughing.
“Buckle up, Karzin.” My brother clapped Karzin on the shoulder. “You’re in for a hell of a ride.”
Karzin looked to me. “Should I be concerned?”
“Absolutely,” I nodded. “But for now, let’s just enjoy dessert.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any less concerned,” Karzin chuckled. “Whatever this wedding is, I’m up for it. I love you too much to turn back now.”
“I love you, too,” I grinned as I fed him a piece of cake.
We stayed at the restaurant for a long time after we ate the last bite of cake. My mother had planned half my wedding by the time we left.
We shared a round of hugs as we said goodbye to each other in front of the dark restaurant.
Even Karzin got a hug from my mother and sister.
We watched my family walk away before lacing our fingers together and strolling to our home, enjoying a sky full of stars and the promise of a happy future.
Letter from Elin
Hey! *waves*
I’m so tickled to be back to Conquered World. We’ll have a whole new enemy to fight, cities to rebuild, and lots of fun with our new couples.
Next up? Rokul. And honestly, nothing really sums the book up better than this little bit of conversation:
“It’s lucky for you I was out here,” he said. “If I hadn’t been looking for a botanist, I wouldn’t have heard you scream.”
“A botanist?” I blinked.
“Yeah, they’re like gardeners, but with more science. Did you
see anyone else out here before you were grabbed by that thing?”
Handsome, yet dense.
Terrible combination.
“I’m the botanist. Why are you looking for me?” I demanded.
“You’re Dr. Briar?” Now he was the one who looked surprised. “You’re not a man?”
“Last time I checked, I wasn’t,” I replied, glancing down at my chest. Yup. Still there.
To his credit, he got past the woman thing pretty quickly.
“You remember your friend Leena? The one you blew off today in favor of tangling with a death plant?” he asked.
“I didn’t mean to blow her off,” I said quickly. “Did she send you to fetch me?”
“My general did,” the Skotan said. “I’m not allowed back on duty until I bring you to the capital.”
“Wow. Did you piss him off or something?” I folded my arms across my chest.
His face fell a bit. “Yes, I did.”
Handsome and dense, but also honest. Less of a terrible combination.
Slightly.
Keep reading for a sneak peek, or get it on Amazon now!
XOXO,
Elin
Rokul: Sneak Peek
Tella
I’ve never believed in expectations.
The way I see it, expectations only guarantee the promise of disappointment.
I approached Rigkon with absolutely zero expectations, yet somehow still managed to be disappointed.
Rigkon was a new town. A bunch of them were springing up all over Ankou as more displaced refugees needed homes. The Xathi had done more damage than I initially realized. Rigkon was near where Fraga used to be.
There were plans in the works to rebuild Fraga, but it wasn’t a priority at the moment. The capital city, Nyheim, was still in the process of rebuilding. Progress was moving quickly, but it was a big city.
Small, currently useless cities, like Fraga, would have to wait.
Rigkon had an identity crisis. It wanted to be an outpost for construction crews when the time came to start rebuilding Fraga. It also wanted to be part of Fraga when the time came.
There was a handful of squat bungalows where the twenty or so permanent residents lived, a sad market with three half-empty stalls, and a long squat building that looked suspiciously like a bar.
I didn’t get my hopes up. I couldn’t live with the disappointment if it turned out to be something else.
If I hadn’t decided to cram this gig in before starting my lab job, I’d never have known this place was here.
Before the Xathi invasion, this area was nothing but thick forest occasionally punctuated by a picturesque clearing that could’ve been lovely for picnics if it weren’t for the aggressive flora. The Xathi had ravaged the landscape as they tore from human settlement to human settlement.
Rigkon’s developers barely had to clear out any trees to make the faint dirt trail that served as the only road, not that anyone here had need of a road. I guessed it was an attempt to make the little outpost look more official.
For all of its faults, Rigkon had one thing going for it.
It was a botanist’s heaven.
That’s what had brought me here in the first place. I saw an ad for a small job and took it on a whim. I needed the extra cash.
I still didn’t have quite enough for my own place, even though I was due to start a stable job soon. It would be my first one since before the Xathi invasion. Since I’d be in the area, I’d promised an old contact a consult on a different project once I got to town.
But that wasn’t until...
Wait, shit.
I checked the date reader strapped around my wrist. It was frozen, like it had been for two days. Rigkon didn’t have any transmission signal.
It wasn’t part of the shuttle system, either. I wish I’d known that before taking the job. I’d been walking along old roads and hitching rides for a day and a half now.
I was supposed to start my new job at the lab today.
Before I came out here, I sent a message to the lab where I’d recently been hired. I mentioned that I’d be coming out to Rigkon on a one-time gig, but should be back in time to start on the agreed date. Now I had no chance of getting a message through out here. And I hadn’t thought to message my contact about the other project.
I couldn’t resist this gig. It was one of the few opportunities offering fieldwork. I lived for fieldwork.
I wasn’t meant to be cooped up in a lab squinting into vials, monitors, and datasheets. It was a pity fieldwork didn’t pay as well as lab jobs.
I would at least be gathering hazard pay.
I pulled out my datapad and checked the info I’d been sent when I accepted the job in Rigkon. It didn’t say much other than I was supposed to meet a man called Gille in a place called Crooked Swiggen.
I squinted against the sunlight, looking for anything that bore such an odd name. Sure enough, that squat little building had a faded C above the doorway. Since I didn’t see anything else that could be the Crooked Swiggen, I made my way over.
The door didn’t fill the doorway. There was about a foot of space between the top of the doorway and the top of the door. There was a similar gap at the base of the door, as well. There wasn’t a doorknob or a handle. I bumped the door with my knee, letting it swing into the darkened interior of the Crooked Swiggen.
I’d never seen a sorrier-looking bar.
A slab of wood lined with mismatched barstools took up the wall to my left. Whoever owned this place had built shelves big enough to hold an impressive amount of spirits, however, there were less than ten bottles on display. Over half of them were empty.
A few mismatched chairs and tables dotted the dirty floor. Only one table was occupied. Two men with skin as dark and wrinkled as tree bark hunched over matching mugs of something or other. They didn’t look up when I entered, leaving me to assume that the lone man sitting at the bar was Gille.
His pants were so dusty, I couldn’t tell what color they had once been. His work boots were splattered with thick mud. He’d obviously been out in the forest recently. Gille’s skin was dark from many hours spent under the sun. His chin was covered with dark stubble speckled with flecks of silver.
Gille had a disappointing face. Nothing remarkable whatsoever. If I saw him in a crowd, I wouldn’t be able to pick him out.
“Are you lost?” he asked blandly when I approached.
“Unfortunately, I’m not.” I placed my bag on the bar and hopped up onto one of the stools. It felt like it was going to fall apart under my weight. “You Gille?”
“Yeah.” He looked confused, yet still managed to give me a once over.
I rolled my eyes. I wanted to order a drink, but Gille likely wanted me to start working right away. I didn’t want to have anything in my system when I went out in the forest.
“I’m Tella Briar, your botanist,” I clarified.
Gille had the audacity to scoff.
I glared at him. “What?”
“I wasn’t expecting a woman, that’s all. Not a lot of female botanists work outside of labs these days.” At least he was honest.
“Yeah, I’m a real treasure,” I quipped. “Tell me more about the job. Your ad was pretty sparse.”
“I didn’t want to scare off prospective takers,” Gilles replied. He took a long swig of whatever foul-smelling drink he had.
“That’s not a good sign.” I couldn’t help but feel excited. This was exactly what I was looking for. “Tell me the details.”
“We’ve had some unusual encounters with kodanos,” Gilles explained. “They’ve been making life hard for us. One destroyed a food shipment last week. We had to live off potatoes and beet stew until the next one came. There’s a particular kodanos out there that’s terrorizing unarmed shipments.”
“That doesn’t seem very unusual,” I frowned.
“It’s hard to explain. They seem angry or something, but this one kodanos has just gone crazy. This guy is terrorizin
g anything and everything that moves.” Gille muttered into the bar. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m not giving you the job. It’s too dangerous for a little thing like you to go up against it.”
Without thinking about it, I reached for the hilt of my hunting knife and gripped it hard. I wasn’t going to stab him or anything, but I wouldn’t mind him knowing I could.
“Have you had many replies for your ad?” I asked. Gille didn’t answer, which was answer enough for me.
“Okay,” I shrugged. “Hope you like potato and beet stew.”
“Wait,” Gille said quickly. “If you really think you can handle that kodanos, I’ll hire you. If you get hurt, it’s not my problem.”
“Pay me half now and half when I get back.” I took my datapad out of my bag and dropped it in front of him. He looked at me to see if I was joking. I lifted one brow.
“Fine.” He transferred half of the payment into my account and slid the datapad back to me.
“Thanks.” I smiled brightly and tucked the datapad away. “Any place where I can get some supplies?”
“Market’s in the lot next to this place. There’s a store on the other side of the market.” Gille spoke without looking at me. I knew I’d been dismissed. I left the bar feeling excited. I didn’t know Rigkon had a shop.
This would be easy money. Kodanos were a walk in the park for me. I’d handled dozens, maybe even hundreds.
The supply store was just as grimy and dark as the Crooked Swiggen. Bunches of dried plants hung from the ceiling. Chipped and broken knickknacks lined the crooked shelves. I didn’t see a shopkeeper.
I moved farther into the store, looking for anything that might be useful.
A dented canteen caught my eye. I’d lost mine moving around after the invasion, so I snagged it. I could probably fill it at the Crooked Swiggen. After another loop around the shop, I didn’t find anything besides the canteen. Still, there was no shopkeeper to be seen. I stepped up to the register, thinking there might be a bell or something. There wasn’t.
“Hello?” I called out, though I knew I wouldn’t get an answer. There wasn’t a backroom in this shop. After waiting a few more minutes, I left the shop with the canteen in hand.