Married to Krampus (My Holiday Tails)

by Marina Simcoe

  The Colonel looked up from his conversation, casting us a concerned glance, as Lievoa dragged me away.

  “I’ll be right back,” I assured him, before following the clinking of the silver bells that adorned the horns of his cousin.

  “Have you met the twins yet?” Lievoa asked me on the way.

  “You mean the Colonel’s children?”

  She nodded, creating a series of melodious thrills from her bells.

  “No, I haven’t met them. They aren’t home. He keeps them at school, twenty-four-seven.”

  It was hard to keep resentment out of my voice. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Colonel viewed his children as nothing more than a status symbol, the way he viewed a wife.

  “Single men are not allowed to raise their children at home,” Lievoa threw casually over her shoulder.

  “Are you saying he couldn’t, even if he wanted to?” That was news to me.

  “Nope. By law, all children have to remain in the institution selected for them with the help of genetic aptitude tests, until the age of nine. You didn’t know that?”

  “No. This wasn’t in the information booklet provided.”

  “Weird.” She shrugged. “What was in that booklet, then?”

  “Well, the geographical maps of Neron and the country of Voran. The size of the population and forms of government. Your main industries. Natural resources...”

  “All useful stuff, it seems,” she scoffed, with sarcasm. “Doesn’t Grevar have something better in his home entertainment library?”

  Maybe he did, but we hadn’t talked about it yet because we hadn’t talked much, at all.

  While on my own, I’d found a channel with daily news briefings in Omni’s data system, a channel that streamed weather updates, and the one with various financial market information. Mostly, I’d just searched for pictures of Voranians going about their everyday life. I liked looking at them, it entertained and educated me, and also made me feel less alone.

  Lievoa gave me a long look.

  “Grevar really should update and expand his entertainment library. He may not have much leisure time to enjoy it, but it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t. Watching shows is a great way to learn about our life here, in Voran, too.”

  She turned to keep going, taking me through the crowd across the room.

  “You were talking about the twins...” I reminded, eager to hear more about them. “And the way the children are brought up in Voran.”

  “Well, with a rare exception, most Voranians grow up in a child-rearing facility,” she continued, slowing down in her progress through the room a bit. “Fathers work to support their families. So, it was decided generations ago that for the benefit of our society, a universal system was needed to rear all children. After the age of nine, the children can transition to a day school and live at home. Few fathers can make it happen, though, since most work outside of the house. Personally, I lived in school until I was sixteen. All of my brothers stayed past the age of nine, too.”

  “There are no private daycares or babysitters, then?”

  “No. The universal system is the only way the government can ensure a consistent quality of education and equal healthcare for all children. Maintaining the adequate re-population of our country is a matter of global importance, which makes every child extremely precious, you know.”

  “I see.”

  “Voran is a great place to be a woman, too. Lots of opportunities and a ton of admirers.” She giggled, then grabbed my arm, shoving me forward. “And here we are.”

  I found myself in front of a colorful group of four women, who lingered next to a mobile buffet stand. Three of the four appeared to be at various stages of pregnancy.

  All four turned to us, eyeing me with interest.

  “The new Madam Colonel Kyradus, ladies,” Lievoa introduced me in a sing-song voice.

  “Just Daisy, please,” I added with a smile, curious to meet some Voranian women at last.

  Lievoa quickly said all their names and their husbands’ titles to me, which I knew I might not remember from the first try. No one kissed me on the mouth, this time. That form of greeting must be reserved only for family members then, I realized with relief.

  “And Madam Governor Drustan, herself.” Lievoa gestured dramatically at the tall woman who seemed to be dominating the group.

  Her green-and-purple dress streamed over her heavily pregnant belly, the fabric had an iridescent sheen to it, like peacock feathers. Clusters of colorful baubles dripped from her neck, ears, and horns, making me finally feel like I was not that overdressed with all the jewelry that the Colonel had decorated me with.

  “Women can call me Shula,” she said in a deep, velvety voice, dismissing Lievoa’s formalities with a graceful gesture of a heavily bejeweled hand. Like her husband’s, Shula’s eyes were also yellow. Only unlike the Governor’s lemon-light color, hers were dark gold.

  “I trust your journey to Neron was good?” one of the women who flanked Shula asked. I believed Lievoa had introduced her as Iriha.

  “Pretty uneventful.” I shrugged, with a smile. “I spent most of it in cryo sleep.”

  “What was that like?” the other woman chimed in, her purple eyes open wide in wonder.

  “I can’t tell. I felt nothing at all. Waking up was a bit fuzzy at first, though.”

  “Do you like being married to the Colonel Kyradus?” Iriha asked. “He is a highly esteemed war hero, but I don’t know much about him. He’s rather unsociable.”

  “I find him a bit rough around the edges,” the third woman added.

  “You got that right,” I muttered under my breath.

  Shula winced, rubbing her belly.

  “Kicking, again?” Iriha asked, sympathetically.

  “A lot lately.” Shula nodded.

  “When is the baby due?” I asked cheerfully, joy for her shined in me. Waiting for a new baby’s arrival must be even more exciting than waiting for Christmas morning.

  “Any time next week.” Shula leaned back a little then side to side, stretching her spine. “And it’s three babies, not just one.”

  “Three?” I fisted my hands at my side, holding back from reaching out to pet her belly. I knew not all women liked that, no matter how much I wished to feel one of her babies kick. “You and the Governor must be so excited.”

  “These aren’t his.” She shook her head, making the strings of baubles on her ears and horns sway.

  “No?”

  “These are the triplets of the Senator Phirnic,” she explained. “Three boys. Ours may be next, but we haven’t decided yet.”

  Right, I should’ve known there would be a possibility of her carrying children of someone else. That was a part of the Voranian culture—married women helped single men start families through artificial insemination.

  “How many children have you given birth to? If you don’t mind my asking, of course,” I added quickly.

  “This is my third pregnancy,” Shula replied with obvious pride.

  “It’s fascinating, and so kind of you to help the senator and the others with creating their families.”

  She slid me a measuring stare, her golden-yellow eyes assessing and calculating.

  “Isn’t that every woman’s main duty and privilege? To bear children and populate their world?”

  Well, personally I wouldn’t say “every woman.” On Earth, plenty of people of either gender found their life purpose beyond reproduction. The word “duty” sounded a bit off to me, too. However, I didn’t come here to push my ways but to learn theirs. Besides, despite asking the questions, Shula’s tone did not invite a debate.

  So, I just muttered a non-definitive, “I suppose, so... In a way.”

  “Even with the Liaison Marriage Program being put in place,” Shula continued, “the population growth in our country falls entirely on the Voranian women. Human females cannot be bred.”

  Being of different species, Voranians and humans couldn’t reproduce
. This had been proven in a lab already. I couldn’t immediately tell whether she simply stated a fact or meant to offend me in some way.

  “Well, there is more to a person than their ability to produce children, right?”

  “Possibly.” She shrugged.

  “Oh, come on, Shula.” Lievoa rolled her eyes. “All of us have plenty of interests other than pregnancies and labor. That’s not what defines a person, and that’s not why we’re friends.”

  “I’m not talking about friends.” Shula didn’t spare Lievoa a glance, keeping her eyes on me. “This is about the value of a woman to her husband. What use is a wife who can never produce offspring?”

  That was harsh. Her words and attitude no longer left any doubt—she meant to offend. She basically implied I would be useless to a Voranian husband, even if we managed to build a loving and carrying relationship. I forgot all about my diplomatic intentions. My blood heated with anger from the insult.

  “You’ve got a celebrated war hero for a husband.” She wouldn’t quit. “He worked hard to get where he is, he literally risked his life for his status and position. What are you bringing to this marriage?”

  I felt ill equipped to fight this battle—I had no loving relationship of my own to defend. Instead, I focused on an inter-species marriage in general.

  “I could think of many benefits in having someone to share your life with,” I said.

  She pursed her lips. “Are you talking about sex?”

  “Shula! That’s mean.” Lievoa grabbed my arm. “Let’s go, Daisy.”

  Maybe I should’ve listened to her, but I couldn’t leave it like that. Part of me couldn’t accept someone being this condescending to me, someone I’d just met and hadn’t given any reason to dislike me. At least I believed, I hadn’t.

  “I’m definitely not talking just about sex!” I felt my cheeks flame up with indignation, my face must be displaying all my feelings as usual.

  “Then, you have completely lost me.” Shula remained infuriatingly calm, her voice taunting.

  Suddenly, she stepped closer to me. Wedging her shoulder between Lievoa and me, she leaned in to my ear.

  “How can you truly share his life if you don’t share his background or his culture?” She hissed low, just for me to hear. “You have to rely on a machine to even understand what he is saying. How can you possibly build the connection necessary for a successful life-long union? The only use for a wife like you could be sex, at most. Not unlike the pleasure machines in the mall.”

  That was an outright insult. My vision blurred from the offence. My breathing grew shallow and my hands trembled.

  “Are you saying I could be nothing more but a sex toy to my husband?”

  “Exactly.” She kept her voice down. It occurred to me that she must know her behavior was unbecoming of her status, and therefore didn’t want witnesses to our conversation. “Have no illusion, you’re nothing but a glorified sex toy to him,” she continued. “That is, if he finds you physically attractive. Though, he probably would fuck you either way. It wouldn’t be like Grevar to play a gentleman when there is a willing woman in his bed. He is too wild to rein in his urges. Devastatingly handsome, rough, and so delightfully untamed...” Her voice turned into a dreamy murmur before trailing off as her gaze drifted aside somewhere.

  Following her gaze, I saw it land on the Colonel across the room. He was still talking to the same group of men. They’d been joined by Governor Drustan, Shula’s husband, but her attention was definitely on mine.

  As if sensing Shula’s stare, the Colonel turned over his shoulder. Meeting her eyes briefly, he gave her a deep, respectful nod.

  “The one I’ve been with liked me just the way I am, ‘rough and boorish.’ Especially in the bedroom.” The words he had tossed at me during our last argument sounded in my ears.

  Could Shula be the one he’d been talking about? She sounded like she was very familiar with the Colonel’s ways in the bedroom—more than I was, despite being his wife.

  “What’s that?” Shula tilted her head, obviously catching the shift in my expression. More than anything at that moment, I wished I’d mastered a poker face at some point in my life. “He hasn’t fucked you, has he? After all this time having you in his house, he hasn’t touched you.” A crooked smile of satisfaction spread on her face. “He didn’t find you to his taste, after all.”

  She’d guessed correctly. There hadn’t been any true intimacy between the Colonel and I, and now there was never going to be since I was leaving him soon. This was a bitter reminder of what a sham my marriage had turned out to be.

  Shula’s obvious delight hurt, and it proved to be the last straw for me.

  My anger boiled over.

  “Oh, we’ve fucked,” I said, loud and clear, for all the women around us to hear. “We’ve fucked so much and so hard, I had no energy left to even leave the house all this time—the glorified sex doll that I am as you said. He is a wild beast, indeed, definitely worth pining over for years. And trust me,” I leaned forward as if about to reveal a secret. “As great as he might’ve been before, he’s only gotten better—rough, wild, insatiable, and still very much untamed.”

  Shula narrowed her eyes at me, pressing her mouth together so tight, her lips all but disappeared. Then her gaze darted up over my shoulders, and her expression softened.

  “Is everything okay, Daisy?” I felt the Colonel’s hand on the small of my back.

  “Hi.” I glanced up at him. For once, his sudden appearance brought relief instead of tension. I was genuinely glad to see him, though he looked as grumpy as ever.

  His brows knitted into a frown, he moved his stare from me to Shula, and I wondered if he’d heard any of my lies. Mortification spread hot through me at the thought.

  “Grevar,” Shula murmured breathlessly, betraying how much she still wanted him. “How so very nice to see you again. Madam Colonel was just telling us how deeply you’ve fallen in love in just a few days. I’m so happy for you.”

  His hand on my back jerked slightly, and I stiffened waiting for him to speak and expose me.

  “Thank you.” His arm slid around my waist as he drew me into his side. “Daisy proved irresistible, I stood no chance.”

  He leaned over, unexpectedly placing a kiss on my temple.

  “Ladies.” The Colonel tipped his head in a bow to the women. “Madam Governor.” He turned to Shula who stood there, speechless. “I’m afraid I’ll have to steal my wife from you. The Governor insists on seeing her again before we leave tonight.”

  A flock of warm tingles danced wildly inside me as he led me away.

  Chapter 10

  “GRAB A SHAWL!” THE Colonel shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “It’s snowing outside.”

  “Colonel Kyradus would like you to wear a shawl,” Omni forwarded to me in the bedroom.

  “I heard him.” I dashed to the closet and grabbed a white fuzzy wrap from one of the shelves. “The whole Voran must’ve heard him yelling, with that booming voice of his,” I muttered, trotting down the stairs.

  “Ready?” The Colonel took the shawl from my hands and wrapped it around my shoulders.

  It’d been a week since my arrival in Voran. My first follow-up meeting with the Liaison Committee was scheduled for this morning.

  The Colonel volunteered to come with me, possibly just to make sure I wasn’t going to blabber something about our arrangement to anyone. Even so, I was glad to have him with me for support. Being questioned about my personal life wouldn’t be fun, even if not much personal had happened to speak of.

  “Let’s go.” His hand on the small of my back, he led me out to the landing platform.

  “Oh, it’s so beautiful!” I tilted my head back, watching the big, fluffy snowflakes flutter to the glass of the dome above us. Rushing around while getting ready upstairs earlier this morning, I had no chance to admire it.

  “You’ve never seen snow before?” the Colonel asked, watching me while I was watching the l
eisurely snowfall.

  “I have. But isn’t it always so mesmerizing? Almost magical, like in a fairy tale?”

  “Beautiful,” he agreed, still gazing at me, not the snow.

  The warm expression in his eyes wasn’t entirely new. I’d caught him glancing at me with similar interest and awareness on one or two occasions lately. This time, however, it wasn’t a mere glance. He stared at me openly, and I had no idea what to do about the warm, fuzzy feeling unfurling in my chest in response.

  “Well, we’d better go,” I mumbled, heading for the aircraft. “We don’t want to keep Nancy and Alcus waiting.”

  It was weird and wonderful to watch the snowfall through the glass of the aircraft while I was dressed in a sleeveless summer dress under my shawl. Voranians, as I’d learned early on, loved green grass and flowers. They brought the summer indoors to enjoy it year around, ignoring the winter completely. All living and public spaces were enclosed under humongous glass domes. One didn’t even have to own any winter clothes, as there was no need to go outside at all. Everywhere, the temperature was maintained at pretty much the same level.

  I was wearing my booties, however, not wanting to shock Voranians with the sight of my feet.

  “That’s the Military Academy.” The Colonel pointed at the rounded glass contraptions gracing the top of a sprawling building we were flying over. “The school where my boys are.”

  I remembered what Lievoa told me about the Voranian’s laws in regards to children.

  “You don’t get to see them often.”

  “At least one weekend a month. Sometimes more often, depending on their educational plan and my work obligations.”

  “It must be hard.”

  A family I used to babysit for had moved to another town shortly before I had to leave for Neron. I missed the children I’d worked with, and those weren’t even my children.

  The Colonel didn’t speak about his sons often, though. This was the first time he’d mentioned them since that unfortunate dinner.

  “Do you...miss them?”

  He rolled his wide shoulders back then turned away from me, as if to watch the snow outside the glass of the aircraft.