Текст книги "The bride contract"
Автор книги: Melissa Emerald
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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 19 страниц)
But… There is no one here.
The counter houses a small plaque stating ‘customer service desk’, a small bowl of fifth galaxy candies, and a metal bell. I slap my hand down to make the thing ring and wait for assistance.
Ding!
When that does not come as quickly as I would like, I ring it again.
Ding!
And again.
Ding-ding!
And again, in quick succession this time.
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!
It is Zann who stays my hand – an act that makes me glare at him.
“It is still early,” he reminds me, casually taking a handful of candies and shoving them in his mouth. “Someone will be along soon, I’m sure.”
“If they are not ready to serve me, they should not be open at this hour,” I growl, just as a bony-looking Sectarix male appears from behind a draped-off area.
“Good morning, gentlemales,” he greets, his antennae twitching. “My name is Yix, how may I serve you today.”
“I need the female who was working at Star Pleasures last night,” I demand, my finger tapping on the counter.
I ignore the scoff I hear coming from my brother behind me.
This ‘Yix’ blinks his huge eyes at me and his mandibles open a little before closing again. “The-… uh… did you happen to know her name, sir?” he asks, picking up a tablet screen before he starts tapping away at it.
Her name?
No, much to my chagrin, I did not learn her name.
The Sectarix looks up at me from over the top of his screen. “Sir, we have lots of human females in stock currently, if you do not know her name-”
“You know who I am speaking of,” I tell him, feeling a prickly heat rise up my body. “There was only one human working in that place last night, and she was branded by this trading company. Get. Me. My. Female.”
Yix pales and starts frantically tapping at his screen while I wait, my jaw clenching so tightly, I think I may shatter some teeth if I don’t get her to safety soon.
“Ah, yes,” he chirps, still tapping away. “Here we are.”
The relief I feel is palpable. She is here, and she will soon be walking away from this level and all its dangers.
And walking straight into the jaws of new ones, a little voice murmurs at the back of my head. I shush the voice, vowing that I will not touch this human – she will simply be under my protection. I activate my wrist comm, readying it to transfer whatever amount of money they deem to charge for that little Goddess of a female.
Yix looks up at me, and I go cold as he says, “I fear she has already been purchased, sir.”
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6
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Chapter 6 – Niska
I’m still curled up on my bunk, trying to forget the majority of my horrible shift at the club last night, when Yix comes bustling in.
“I have good news, and bad news, and then some more good news, and some final, possible bad news that I just thought of,” he babbles, his bony, buggy arms gesturing nervously.
Lois sits up from her bunk and stretches. “That’s not really how that saying normally goes, but go on,” she drawls, reaching for the armful of red alien fruit that Yix is silently offering out to all of us. I decline the offer.
“Well,” he starts, handing two fruits to Jaya. “Star Pleasures Club are so pleased with Niska earning over twenty million credits for them last night, that they do not need anyone else to work another shift by means of apology to Master Joolyx.”
“Holy shit!” Lois says, almost spraying her bite of the juicy fruit all over her bunk. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand as she continues to stare, wide-eyed at me. “What fucked-up kind of shit did they force you to do to earn that?!”
Jaya looks at me with a similarly shocked expression, her hand holding the fruit pausing mid-way to her mouth before it falls back into her lap. “Are you ok, Niska?” she asks in a small voice.
“I’m fine,” I huff, hitching up the horrible, dirty-dishwater-colored, itchy blanket higher over my shoulders as I continue to lay here on my lumpy bed. “I got lucky with some rich patrons is all.”
Rich as in ‘royalty-rich’, I think to myself, remembering the large, horned Prince I’d practically rubbed myself against like a cat in heat. I still don’t know if he’d managed to make good on his promise of disposing of those Yoxxarii, and my nerves spike dangerously high when Yix says his next words.
“The bad news is that someone came into the store today looking to purchase you. They said they saw you at the club last night.”
Oh no.
Oh, no, no, no.
I sit up, feeling the blood drain from my face as I stare at the bug-man. He holds up his tiny, claw-tipped hands before rushing out with, “but all is well! Luckily, they came early, and you know how Mama likes her sleep and will not tolerate being woken. She will probably sleep for a good few hours yet, which is fortuitous, because she would eat me if she overheard what I have done.”
“What does that mean?” Lois asks before I get the chance. “What have you done?”
“It is the good news!” Yix says unhelpfully. Lois, Jaya, and I all stare back at him, hoping he will elaborate. “I lied and told the customer that you have already been purchased!” he blurts before covering his little buggy mouth with his little buggy hands like he can’t believe he said the words out loud.
“You did?” Relief washes over me and I stand, my legs a little wobbly from hardly any sleep as I stumble over to Yix and throw my arms around his bony body. He is taller than I am, like most aliens I’ve encountered, but his frame is slender underneath the swathes of multicolored robes he wears. Yix holds himself stiffly for more than a moment or two before I feel an awkward pat-pat on the top of my head. “Thank you.”
“He was not happy about it, but I managed to convince him,” he says as I pull away and go back to sit on my bunk. All I can picture is those ghostly white Yoxxarii with their pointed teeth and big, pitch-black eyes. I bet they were sorely disappointed to not get their hands on their chosen meal. I’m so grateful to Yix for covering for me, but he’s right. If Mama was around and overheard him lying like that, she’d for sure eat the only one of her husbands that has ever given a damn about any of the humans she sells.
“So,” Jaya starts, pulling her knees up to her chest as she sits beside Lois, “what’s that final bit of bad news you just thought of?”
“Well…” Yix’s antennae start twitching wildly and he makes this little clicking noise, too, “it had occurred to me that since Niska did such a good job collecting large tips for the club, that Master Joolyx may decide to purchase her himself to put her to work permanently.”
Fuck.
I close my eyes and grit my teeth. He’s right. That outcome is likely. Tringa had been super impressed by the amount the Prince had given me when I’d handed my credit collecting orb back to her at the end of the night. But she’d also looked a little concerned too. Maybe she’d come to the conclusion quicker than Yix or I had. When Master Joolyx sees that big deposit in his accounts, he’s going to follow the breadcrumbs as to who got that for him. And, like I’d said to the Prince, he could buy thirty of me for that amount. It would make business sense for him to invest in a worker who might be able to replicate that success.
But I can’t. Not really. It was all that Xaviann and his deep pockets.
Why did he have to pay such a noticeable amount?!
“What should I do?” I hear the words said in my voice without really realizing I’d spoken them out loud. The others blink at me, concern etched so deeply in their expression it guts me a little just to look at them. They don’t know how to get out of this inevitability either.
I can’t go back there. I can’t work at that club every night. That can’t be my life.
“I’ve heard rumor that there’s a bunch of Svevaari vacationing on level twelve,” Yix offers. “Their females are renowned for their love of companion pets. They like dressing them up, and entering them into pet competitions,” he says, his arms moving as he explains. “If I tell them that you are a particularly affectionate human, a highly sought after, top specimen of your species, I might be able to convince one of them to buy you.”
“So… she’d be like a show-poodle?” Lois asks.
Yix’s mandibles wiggle before he speaks. “I do not know what that means, but I do not think Svevaari are known to molest their pets in any way. They take great pride in their ownership and treat them lovingly.” He stands there a moment, shaking his head. “I-it is the best scenario I can think of in this predicament. Perhaps I can convince one of them that humans are better off in packs, and she will take all three of you to keep you together?”
I force myself to smile at the tall, lanky bug man. He really is trying to do all he can to help me. “Thank you, Yix,” I tell him, “that sounds a hell of a lot better than most of our other prospects.”
Yix bows his head and takes a few backward steps out of our cell. Glancing at his novelty Halloween watch, he says, “I will try to return before-” he pauses, arranging his arms like the hands of a clock to indicate three o’clock. I nod my head and watch as Yix steps over the electrified threshold with a buzzing noise that indicates that he is permitted to pass through the doorway where us humans would be treated to a shocking bolt of electricity should we try to do the same.
God, I hope he can sell me to be someone’s show pony or teacup pup, because I do not want the alternative.
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7
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Chapter 7 – Niska
When Mama Z’rykby finally wakes up and comes to the store, she is quick to put us to work, cleaning the premises and laundering our clothes and awful, uncomfortable bed linens. There are roughly a dozen humans that she has ‘in stock’ here at the store, but the number fluctuates daily depending on who has been sold, whether a new shipment has come in from the auctions, and who is working off Mama and her husband’s debts in various establishments. I’ve even heard rumors that she sometimes loans girls out to the nearby prison craft to act as ‘conjugal relief’ as punishment if they displease her.
Which is all the more reason I’m the first to offer to prepare Mama her snacks and pour her drinks. Sometimes, she has favorites, and she doesn’t like to see them go until she’s utterly bored of them. The last favorite she had was a girl named Jessica and she was very reluctant to let her go. If I can become her next favorite, maybe she won’t sell me to Joolyx.
It’s a flimsy plan, but I’m grasping at straws here. Yix still hasn’t returned, so I have no idea how well his plan to sell Lois, Jaya and I as prize pets is going. I’d just finished the disgusting job of hand-feeding Mama these stinky little eel-like creatures she likes to eat alive when I hear the tinkle of the storefront door opening and closing again.
“Oh! Customers!” Mama cheerfully claps as she heaves her slug-like body out of her seated position and moves as fast as she’s able to so she can go and greet whoever is out there. I’m left here standing with an almost empty platter, a couple of left over baby eels flapping around in their bed of slime. My Grandma used to take me to church every Sunday, but as the years went by, my faith has faded to a point where I’m really not sure what I believe. But I’m praying now – to any God that will hear me. I pray that it’s not Master Joolyx out there, coming to take me away to a life of trying to please his patrons in any way they see fit.
Unfortunately, it’s not long until I’m called for, the customer apparently asking specifically for me.
Fuck! That’s not good.
My feet are frozen in place, utterly unable to move. It doesn’t take long before Mama sends one of her other husbands to fetch me. My feet walk again now, but it feels like a dream – or more of a nightmare, really, not unlike an outer-body experience as I walk toward the storefront where us humans are paraded to be sold.
When I step out from behind the heavy red drapes that separate the ‘back’ and the customer area, a wave of relief washes over me when I see that it’s not Master Joolyx coming to buy a new worker. It’s not even a male. There are two, very tall and elegant looking females standing with Mama as they watch me enter.
They look-
They look like the Prince from last night. Or his kind, anyway. They look Xaviann.
One of them is slightly taller, and I would hedge a guess that she’s older, too. They both have gray skin, black horns, and pointed elf-ears like the two Xavianns I’d met last night. They’re also wearing what looks like Victorian-inspired floor-length dresses, which only further seems to match them with my Prince.
My Prince?
Get a grip, Niska.
“Here she is,” Mama coos, practically salivating over the possibility of making a sale. “Come, come, stand on the platform so our guests can get a better look at you,child.”
I hate when she calls us that. Like she’s some little, kind, grandmotherly figure.
Nevertheless, I start walking over to the properly lit, elevated stage area. Preparing myself to get poked and prodded.
One of the female Xavianns – the younger one, I think – gasps softly as I step into the light. “A human,” she whispers to herself. “A real-life human!”
“Vel,” the older woman warns, giving her companion a pointed look.
“Sorry,” ‘Vel’ says, blushing as she shakes her head, multiple little pieces of gold jewelry tinkling as they hang along her pointed ears. “It’s just I’ve never seen one up close before. Isn’t she amazing?!”
I can’t help but fidget at that. Is her reaction a good thing? What do they want me for? Is this like that species Yix was talking about? Do they want me as a pet?
The older woman tuts at her friend and starts walking toward me, and it’s now that I realize she is using a gold-tipped cane to aid her movements. “I’ll never understand your fascination with them,” she mutters, casting a critical eye over me as she nears. “And you’re sure this is the one from the ‘Pleasure Establishment’ last night?” she asks Mama Z’rykby without taking her eyes off me. “Because my nephew was told this morning that that particular human had been sold.”
“What?!” Mama splutters, her slimy cheeks taking on a ruddy appearance. “No, this cannot be true. If you find out who your nephew spoke to this morning, I-”
The older Xaviann in front of me cuts off Mama’s flustered babble by raising a single hand, gloved in black, embroidered silk. “I will not be doing that. He does not know I am here,” she sniffs, before tilting her head as she examines me more closely. “And he doesn’t know that I am aware of his failed attempt at purchasing her.”
My stomach does a silly little flip and then a stupidly loud growl. The Xaviann lifts a perfect brow and turns to face Mama. “Do you not properly feed your poor, human charges, Ms. Z’rykby?” she asks, butting the base of her cane on the metal floor like a disappointed school mistress.
“I-”
“Lady Zalora would like some time alone with the human if possible,” Vel cuts in, holding a tablet screen close to her chest. “Just to ascertain a few things from her before we consider purchase. I hope you understand.”
Mama Z’rykby’s chin wobbles as she looks from Vel to ‘Lady Zalora’ and back again. “I-…” she straightens and clears her throat. “Time alone with a human is considered a temporary loan, and will incur a-”
“A charge, yes,” Lady Zalora waves Mama off before turning back to me. “Pay her, Vel.”
While Vel is dealing with Mama’s never-failing attempts at making a quick buck over in the corner, Lady Zalora takes her time looking me up and down, her eyes the same shade of green as her nephew’s had been last night. I can’t tell if she’s pleased with what she sees, or pissed.
“My nephew was rather taken with you,” she tells me, walking around the small circular stage I’m standing on so she can get the full 360° of my body. I don’t know what she’s looking for, but I stay absolutely still as she surveys me. I’m honestly not sure if I should be trying to impress this woman so she buys me, or if I should maybe be trying to put her off. I was almost bought once – about a month or so back – this huge, scaled guy wearing high-tech battle armor came in looking to buy a ‘distraction’ to take with him on a long journey to a distant galaxy. I didn’t want to be his distraction, so I peed all over myself and this little stage, too. The lizard-looking guy wrinkled his nose up and left the store empty-handed. Luckily, Mama was still in bed, catching up on her beauty-sleep, and Yix helped me clean up the evidence of my ‘little accident’.
I don’t think I could get away with anything like that right now, though.
Lady Zalora turns her head to see Mama’s slimy tail slowly disappear behind the drapes, apparently content now that she’s been paid some. When the Xaviann looks back to me, she… smiles.
I think it’s a genuine smile, not one of those calculating ones, or one of those smiles that you know hides bad intentions. I hesitate to call it warm, but something about it puts me a little more at ease.
Only a little, mind. I’m not stupid.
“Please, my dear, come sit with me, and tell me your name,” she says, sweeping her way back toward the plush seating area – an area I’m not normally permitted to use.
“My-my name is Niska,” I tell her as I approach. My mind is going a mile-a-minute trying to figure out what kind of trap is currently being laid out for me, but Vel, the younger woman, grins at me excitedly and nods her head while hugging her tablet to her chest.
I sit myself right on the very edge of the plum-colored couch, just in case I need to make a swift exit for any reason.
“Niskaaah,” Lady Zalora says, trying out my name. “It is a beautiful name to be sure,” she bows her head gracefully, despite the fact that her neck is buttoned up in silk and lace, right from collarbone to chin. I haven’t seen any other species wear that kind of fashion, and I’m not sure it’s a modesty thing, since upon closer inspection, her Victorian-style dress has a sizable slit up the side, exposing her slender gray leg when the fabric moves just so, revealing her thigh-high leather boots. Honestly, as an older woman, she looks fabulous. Is she now looking for a fashion-accessory pet human? “Are they treating you well here at this trading establishment, Niska?” she asks, taking my focus away from her high-collared dress.
“Uh…” I glance back to where Mama had disappeared behind the drapes and catch a glimpse of Vel encouraging me to answer with an enthusiastic nod and smile. “Well…”
“I thought as much,” Lady Zalora says, leaning forward to place her gloved hand over mine. Her hands are big compared to my human ones, but much more slender than her nephews had been last night when they’d been… well, all over me. I flush at the memory and give Zalora a grateful nod for her understanding and current gentleness. “I’ll be direct,” she starts, pulling away and straightening at her already immaculately laid skirts. “Kiahn has not showed interest in entering a bridal breeding contract with any of the females I’ve presented him with.”
Oh, when she said ‘direct’, she meant it, I guess.
“And as one of the Princes of Xaavia, his father is keen that he start.”
My throat feels very suddenly dry. “Oh?” I manage to croak out.
“But, I hear he was so taken by you last night, that he came here this morning to try and purchase you himself.”
“Oh,” I say again, dumbly.
That was him?
“Yes. And after learning this, Vel, my aide-” she pauses to nod her head in the direction of the other woman who gives a shy little wave, as if this was the first time I was noticing her, “-who is avidly obsessed with your kind for some, unfathomable reason, promptly convinced me that perhaps I should come to buy a human for him myself.”
“Oh.”
Zalora blinks at me, and then at Vel. “I thought you said they weren’t dim-witted?”
That forces me to shake myself out of my confused stupor. “Sorry, yes. I-I can say other things besides ‘oh’, it’s just that this is all a little surprising, and confusing.”
“Granted,” Zalora says, looking me up and down again. “Let me start by saying this. Xavianns do not buy slaves. I have no desire to force you into any kind of labor you are horrified by – in or out of the bedchamber.”
“Got it,” I nod my head, trying not to get my hopes up too high… but, so far, so good.
“My intentions are that I buy you, though. As a gift for my bull-headed nephew, that the two of you negotiate a bridal contract so that he can get his head out of his backside and see that not all contracts end in disaster like his mother’s. But I will not make the purchase if you are not in agreement.”
I stare at her, not really following what she means. Zalora huffs and gives a pointed look to Vel who hurries over and sits right beside me.
“What Lady Zalora is trying to say,” Vel starts, smiling at me warmly, “is that we are able to look after you. You will have all the comfort and safety you will ever need. You will be celebrated, and revered as the contract bride of a Prince. But in return, we really need you to let Prince Kiahn breed you-”
My mouth pops open.
“Not properly!” she rushes to say, “we don’t need you to actually produce offspring. We’ll covertly administer anti-fertility substances so his seed will not take root. You don’t need to bear his child. We just need him to think he’s breeding you, and, after the agreed upon timescale, Prince Kiahn will hopefully feel more open to moving on. We have dozens and dozens of Xaviann females willing to enter into a bridal contract with him, you see,” she taps on her tablet and starts scrolling too fast for me to really see any of the words on her lists. “And some of these females have amazing bloodlines that will strengthen the Northern Principality if Prince Kiahn would just entertain them.”
They want me to… fuck the Prince, pretending that I’m trying to get pregnant. That’s…that’s outlandish. It’s insane. But, is it the only option I’ve really got at this point? What’s the alternative? There’s no guarantee Yix will be able to sell me off as some kind of prize human pet. And the threat of being sold to Master Joolyx or a species like the Yoxxarii is still very real.
And Prince Kiahn seemed like he wouldn’t hurt me.
I don’t think.
“So I let him… sleep with me… for a time?” I ask, swallowing thickly. “And then what?”
Vel beams at me. “Yes, and then, when the bridal contract is over, you live as a perpetual guest at the palace. You won’t have to worry about anything, I promise. Contract brides are treated with almost as much respect as the royals themselves.”
Do I trust these women? I guess they could have just purchased me without giving me a choice. Most human women get dragged out of here without a single clue what’s in store for them. I guess they’re giving me an explanation at least, and allowing me to choose. That’s got to be a good sign, right?
I square my shoulders and straighten my spine, mildly amused that Vel does the same, mirroring me. Lady Zalora has been straight-backed and regal this whole time, but I notice her brow raise ever so slightly as she awaits my answer.
“I’ll do it,” I tell them. “I’ll enter whatever contract you want me to… as long as you take my two friends off the slavery market as well.”
If I have to fuck a hot alien prince to ensure me and my friends stay safe, I guess I’m ok with that.
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