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  I took a deep breath. “Look. I’m just trying to survive, okay? I didn’t ask for any of this. From what you say I’m pretty lucky I’m not being abused. I’m not going to push that luck. I don’t want to be rescued.”

  “I will respect your wishes because our purpose is to help women like you, not cause you suffering.”

  I expelled a sigh of relief.

  “However, if you have a close relationship with Lord Elentinus you have a responsibility to use that relationship for the benefit of your kinswomen. I assure you, none of the other captive women are in as cozy a situation as you describe. They are being tortured, Maritza, and our efforts to rescue them are being thwarted. If you have an opportunity to help free even one of these women we expect you to do so.”

  “Don’t you put that on me, lady.” Tears started to bubble up in my chest. “I told you—I’m just trying to survive.”

  “I will ‘put it on’ you, because your sisters need you, Maritza. I can’t imagine you coldly turning a blind eye once you’ve witnessed the suffering of one of these desperate women.”

  “I…I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”

  “Fair enough. In the meantime I expect you to keep this contact a secret. The Domestics’ vulnerable networks are an indispensable tool for us. If we lose it, thousands of women will suffer.”

  Ugh. ‘Secrets are the seeds that sow dissension.’ I started to cry. “Fine. I won’t tell them. But don’t contact me again. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

  “We will hold you at your word, Maritza. Don’t betray us. You may think it’s a petty thing to let this information slip to your masters. It will. Cause. Genocide.”

  I shuddered. My spit went cold in my mouth. I leaned over my knees and covered my face with my hands.

  “What may I do for you, mistress?” the Domestic said in his normal voice.

  I eyed him. I couldn’t see these things as friends anymore.

  “Nothing.”

  The Domestic rolled away.

  Alien’s Bride

  Book Two

  Alien’s Bride Book Two

  I didn’t eat for the rest of the day. My appetite had shriveled up and any time I thought about asking Kang for anything I got a pain in my chest.

  For most of the day I stayed in Elentinus’ room, sitting at his dining room table and hugging myself. That bitch had brought me back to square one. How dare she mess with my head like that? I was happy before she’d called. I thought I’d already made it through the wringer. There I’d been, out on the other side, whole and full of hope.

  Now I’d been reloaded with doubt and fear. The fears made me angry, because I was just as much a victim to the injustices of my new reality as anyone else. Earth was enslaved, evil conquerors were rebuilding their empire out of my own womb, people were being tortured, and, to top it all off, I was married to one of the head villains.

  And I liked him, damn it. Maybe even loved him.

  That was the biggest burden that woman had put on me: having to feel guilty for loving Elentinus. The only way I could reconcile it with my conscience was by looking for gray areas. Yes, they enslaved Earth, but Earth would have been wiped out by the Instajants otherwise. Yes, they withheld the Instajant vaccine from Earth to force them to surrender, but that was just because they were going extinct and needed to breed with us. Yes, they appeared to be evil conquerors who’d enslaved multiple worlds, but…but what? Elentinus said they were nice to their slaves?

  Ugh. It was pointless to delude myself. The Dak-Hiliah were the bad guys of the universe. If I stopped looking for gray areas the black and white answer would have been to try to get rescued by that woman and her group. That way I wouldn’t be helping the Dak-Hiliah repopulate.

  I wasn’t even considering that option. I never wanted to hear from that woman again so I could just stick my head back in the sand. I knew this place. I’d gotten to feel safe here. The last thing I wanted was to start over somewhere else in this crazy future world. Yes, I was selfish. Didn’t I have some right to be? Kidnapped. Dragged to this alien reality. Didn’t I have the right to try to be happy here?

  Who’s to say they could even rescue me anyway? I had that collar on. Whore was way too much of a jerk to ever take it off me. Nope. I was stuck here. I should be allowed to make the best of it. I wasn’t going to let that woman ruin things for me.

  Fuck her.

  At some point that night I forced myself to my feet, put on my night gown, and climbed into bed. The huge bed felt barren without Elentinus. I longed for him to get back so he could hold me and stroke my hair. Those pleasant thoughts lulled me to sleep.

  I was awakened in the middle of the night when Elentinus gently gathered me in his arms. He lifted me off the bed and carried me several paces. I didn’t know what he was doing so I just pretended to be asleep. I felt him set me down and opened my eyes. I was in a different bed in an alcove thirty feet away from where I’d been. Elentinus covered me with a blanket, soothed some hair off my forehead, and tried to sneak away.

  I scrambled to sit up on the side of the bed. “What? What is this? Why did you put me here?”

  Elentinus looked startled for a moment. He walked back over to me.

  “That’s your bed, my darling. I’m sorry you weren’t shown where it was sooner.”

  “What do you mean this is my bed?” I was raving. A powder keg of emotion had built up inside me all day and this was just the spark I needed to detonate. “We’re married. We share a bed!”

  Elentinus ran his fingers through my hair with a soft smile. “Was that the custom in your time?”

  “Of course it was.” I became plaintive. “Husbands and wives eat together, they sleep together, they cuddle and kiss.” I started to cry. “What’s wrong with you people?”

  Elentinus hugged me against his middle. “Shh.” He stroked my hair with a tender hand. “If that’s what you wish, then of course you can come back to my bed. The Dak-Hiliah normally only share a bed with our wives for mating. You stayed with me that first night so our record could be photographed in the morning.”

  “Why?” I snuffled. “Why don’t you want to sleep in the same bed with your wife?”

  He tilted me back so I could look up at him.

  “It’s not a matter of wanting things one way or the other. The druid Shindray told me, my father, and my grandfather before him to sleep separately from our wives. He gave us many stern rules to follow with our spouses. Those rules were a curse from the dark god who resided in him. It’s what led us to the dire circumstances we find ourselves in today.”

  I had an unblinking stare fixed on him. I really needed to finish up my Dak-Hiliah studies.

  “We have a new druid in the holiest seat now. He decreed that Shindray’s rules don’t apply to any female of human descent. It’s a new beginning for us. A chance to return our empire to the glory days we knew before Shindray took his seat.” He paused to caress the side of my face. “Unfortunately, my dear, our new high druid is a little boy. The god within him must contend with the faculties of a child for the next decade. So, although he’s eradicated Shindray’s harsh rules, he’s given us precious few new ones to replace them.”

  I rose and walked back with him to our bed.

  “I’ll give you some rules,” I said, while dabbing my eyes. “Your wife should be your best friend. You should be equal partners, sharing everything with each other. And you should be free to love each other without any rules or restrictions.”

  Elentinus sat on the side of his bed with me and took my both my hands. “My dear, you are in a very unique position. You’re the first bride brought to our time since Shindray’s death.”

  This revelation struck me.

  “I want you to write a letter to Pakpo, the druid in the holiest seat, describing how husbands and wives coexisted in your time. I’ll have Hor provide you with means and procedures to compose such a letter. Make suggestions to Pakpo.”

  I hugged Elentinus’ han
ds to my chest. “Oh my God, I would love that.”

  “We’ve existed by Shindray’s rules so long there’s no one left alive who remembers when things were different. Educate us, my dear. Pakpo is my—well, technically, he’s my half-brother. As his only blood relative on the council I’ve become a bit of a darling to him. I know he’d welcome suggestions from my wife.” He ran is fingers through my hair. “You could be the catalyst to bring about the changes we need, my dear.”

  I cheered and threw my arms around him. “Oh…um, husband!” (Having to call him that would be the first thing that had to go). “You don’t know how happy this makes me.”

  He squeezed me in return. “Then I’m happy also. You seemed so upset when I woke you.”

  I was starting to bubble up with tears again. The emotional rollercoaster ride of the day had made my insides raw. “I was, but you’ve made everything right.” I leaned back to stare up at him with my teary eyes. “I love you.”

  Elentinus closed his eyes and made a kind of rapturous shudder. He pulled me back against him for one of his intense kisses.

  Uh oh. I wasn’t ready for sex. My lady bits were still sore.

  I broke free from his kiss with some difficulty. “Um…sweetie? Can we just snuggle for tonight? I still haven’t…recovered.”

  He smiled at me. “Will you show me how to snuggle, Maritza?”

  Aw! His sweetness got my tears going again. I ran my fingers through his silky hair.

  “I would love to.”

  Elentinus had to leave early for his work the next day. I felt sorry for him. He’d had, what? Four hours of sleep? I would make sure he got to bed tonight without any drama.

  As for me, I had a mission now. Yes, I slept in late because I was a lazy Earthling, but when I did get up…well, I showered and had breakfast. But after that, I was ready to change my world!

  I’d be thumbing my nose at that bitch who’d harassed me yesterday. Elentinus had shown me that I could do much more good for my ‘desperate sisters’ here than anywhere else.

  The implications of my new power exploded in my head exponentially. If human brides became equals with their Dak-Haliah husbands we’d be influencing their entire empire. Maybe we could nudge them away from their planetary conquest agenda. If we were able to raise some of those kids we’d be having (a topic I would definitely broach with Elentinus later on) we could infect them with our compassion. Heck, if all the Dak-Hiliahs going forward had human blood who was to say their very natures wouldn’t change? Maybe I was conceited about how great human nature was, but it probably couldn’t make things worse, right?

  Before I could write my treatise on marriage I had to know the full scope of everything taken away from women so I could make sure they got it all back. I bucked up and summoned Kang.

  “I need a history lesson. And a lemonade.”

  I asked for paper and pencil, but of course such primitive implements no longer existed. The people of the future were completely sustained by those tablets that I still couldn’t access. I insisted on getting something, even if it meant going outside and writing in the dirt with a stick. Kang took me to a room with what looked like a conference table. The far wall was a giant white board that I could write on with my finger.

  “The druid Shindray attained the holiest seat 135 years ago. At that time—”

  “Wow, 135 years? And he just died recently? How long do Dak-Hiliah normally live?”

  “Dak-Hiliah men live an average of 88 years. Dak-Hiliah women live an average of 93 years. Druids, however, live an average of 142 years. One high druid even lived to be 180 years old. Please bear in mind that there is a six day time differential between Dak-Hiliah years and Earth years. There is also a 38 minute time differential between Dak-Hiliah days and Earth days. The equivalent Dak-Hiliah time unit to an Earth minute is only 57 Earth seconds.”

  This boggled my mind, but I shook it off. The time differentials didn’t seem significant enough to matter. “Interesting. Please continue.”

  “At the time when Shindray took the holiest seat, the empire had not expanded its boundaries in forty years. Shindray said the stagnation was due to Dak-Hiliah women gaining unprecedented influence in the empire. He ordered that Dak-Hiliah men reclaim their manhood, and that Dak-Hiliah women learn their place.”

  “Oh boy.” I sat at the conference table while I listened. There wasn’t anything I thought I needed to jot down yet.

  “Shindray decreed that by subjugating their wives men would eradicate the compassion, indecision, and hesitance that had made the empire weak. Men were to see women as enemies who sought to destroy their character. If they didn’t fully subjugate their mates they risked failure in their public lives.”

  “What exactly did Shindray tell the men to do?”

  “He wrote three treatises over the course of fifty years. In the first he defined the new roles of women in Dak-Hiliah society. They were to be mothers, housekeepers, and caregivers who would remain confined to the home.”

  My brow rose. “Was this as drastic a change as I think it was?”

  “Records show that most women of the period worked outside their home. Women of the time period comprised 30% of the Dak-Hiliah military.”

  I shook my head in disgust.

  “There was catastrophic economic turmoil due to the loss of nearly half the workforce. The demand for robots grew at a rate that could not be sustained in the earliest decades. Both men and women expressed their extreme displeasure with the new rules, but followed them, nonetheless.”

  “Why?”

  “By disobeying the druid in the holiest seat you forfeit your reward in the afterlife and displease the gods. Displeasing the gods has historically led to widespread destruction and chaos. The Dak-Hiliah understand that the druid in the holiest seat will periodically be possessed by a malevolent god. It is during these rare periods of history when the Dak-Hiliah’s faith is tested. It is a test they must not fail, no matter how difficult. That is the only way to ensure the continued favor of the gods.”

  I sighed. “Okay. Go on with the history.”

  “Men were prohibited from having idle conversations with their wives. All discussions had to be limited to matters pertaining to the children or household. Husbands and wives were to sleep separately, eat separately, and limit intimacy to sexual intercourse. Husbands were to beat their wives severely for many possible infractions such as leaving the house or initiating prohibited communications.”

  “Damn.”

  “There was an outcry for the rules to be reversed. Shindray ignored it. After three years of enduring the new rules Dak-Hiliah women banded together in protest by only giving birth to male offspring.”

  “How did they do that?”

  “Dak-Hiliah women have an ovary of eggs that can only be fertilized by male coded sperm, and an ovary of eggs that can only be fertilized by female coded sperm. Their ovaries normally release both eggs simultaneously. However, the women can suppress the release of eggs from one ovary or the other at will.”

  “Wow.” I wondered how humans could possibly be made compatible for breeding.

  “A previous druid in the holiest seat had stated that it was the will of the gods for women to choose the gender of their offspring. Shindray could not contradict this. He responded instead with an even harsher treatise that denied school-aged girls an education and forced unwed adult women into arranged marriages. The women remained steadfast in their protest in return. After 15 years with almost no female births the council made it illegal for women to produce male offspring. At first the penalty was a public beating. Later, women who had more than three male children were publically executed. This did not stop the protests.”

  “Good for them.”

  “The decline in Dak-Hiliah women, and the population in general, caused the imposition of breeding cycles with artificial gestation on the remaining Dak-Hiliah women capable of bearing children. The women were still able to continue their protest. Alien races on slave
worlds were tested for breeding compatibility without success. The military expanded their search for new females to breed with further out in the universe. By the time compatibility was discovered with Earth females the Dak-Hiliah race had declined to less than 500,000 individuals.”

  I took a deep breath. “Okay. Tell me about Pakpo, now. What’s his agenda?”

  “Pakpo attained the holiest seat two months and three days ago. He is the nine year old son of the druid Maun, and is possessed by the benevolent goddess Tian-za.”

  “A goddess, huh? That sounds good.”

  “Pakpo has only given one speech, which was at the time of his ascension to the holiest seat. He stated that his goal is to undo the damage Shindray caused the empire, and that the rules in Shindray’s treatises were only for Dak-Hiliah women. Any woman born with even a single drop of alien blood would be exempt. He ended his speech by saying his era should be known as the era of compassion. A few days ago he issued an additional proclamation through the wider universal network. He suggested that new brides be coaxed into Dak-Hiliah society through a concept he called the Degrees of Intimacy. ”

  I started jotting down ideas for my letter on the white board. Kang wasn’t dismissed. I asked him numerous follow up questions to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. I was determined to write a letter that achieved my goals, but also was relevant to the Dak-Hiliah given their history. I had arguments for every change I suggested along with examples of why these changes would help society to prosper based on my own biased experiences and the small amount I had gleaned from their pre-Shindray history. I emphasized that the brides were Earth women from the same time as me. I felt I was the expert on what it took to make most of them reasonably happy.

  Close to dinnertime Whore walked into the room. Instead of acknowledging me, he stood there for fifteen minutes reading what I wrote on the board. I waited for his critique with a stupid grin on my face.