Текст книги "The bride contract"
Автор книги: Melissa Emerald
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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 19 страниц)
11
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Chapter 11 – Niska
Vel had decided that whatever she needed to tell us, it needed to be told somewhere else. So she leads us through the corridors of this massive royal spacecraft until we come to what feels very much like a conference room. The area is completely oval in shape, with one long, curved wall comprised of floor-to-ceiling of windows, looking out to the views of the deep space beyond. On the opposite wall is a painted mural sectioned into four, with each flowing into one another, but clearly different in theme. Each section depicts a female Xaviaan, posed and depicted like they were legendary mythical characters, separated and surrounded by vines and beautiful alien flowers. One of them is cloaked in dark, flowing colors and instead of being framed by delicate flowers and vines, she’s almost swallowed by a mass of thorned plants dotted with purple blooms that seem to drip with a glowing substance. The horned Xaviaan woman depicted in that section is staring directly at me as she holds a male’s back to her chest. She’s smiling wryly as she slits the man’s throat with an ornate silver dagger, blood dripping like rubies from his exposed neck. You would think the male should look horrified, like in the artwork, Judith slaying Holofernes or something. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t even look shocked. He looks serene, and almost happy at being murdered.
“Whoa,” Jaya says, coming to stand beside me as I stare up at the mural. “She looks scary.”
“That’s Nex,” Vel supplies as she takes a seat at the huge oval table made of dark, polished wood that takes up the center of the room. “The painting depicts our four Goddesses, and Nex is the guardian of death. Come, sit,” she smiles, gesturing to the high-backed chairs opposite her. We each take a seat, noting how huge the furniture is when it’s made specifically to fit aliens who are typically seven or eight feet. It kind of makes me feel like a child at the adult table.
There’s a screen set into the tabletop in front of Vel, and she mutters to herself as she taps away, logging in or whatever. “Ah-ha, here we go,” she finally says before she gives one final touch of her finger to the screen, and from the center of the table, out pops a projected hologram, floating just above the surface. The image is of two small three-dimensional Xaviaans. One is male, and the other female. They’re both stripped down to their underwear, like we’re about to have a biology class crash-course.
Which… I guess we are?
Using the screen, Vel makes the image zoom in on the male Xaviaan’s mouth, and we watch as the model parts his lips to show his teeth. “All Xaviaans possess two venoms,” Vel starts as the hologram shows the male’s canine teeth quickly grow into sharp fangs, “a Bloodline Venom, and a Bonding Venom.”
The image of the male’s teeth zooms out so we can see both of the figures again now. There’s a bit of static that messes with the hologram before the thing changes again as we’re looking at-
Jaya squeaks as the three of us each comprehend what we’re being shown now. There, hovering over the center of the table, are the two miniature versions of a male and female Xaviann going at it. As in, they’re both totally buck-naked now, with her legs wrapped around his hips while his thrust game looks like it won’t quit any time soon.
“Please tell me this isn’t how you guys teach biology to your kids,” Lois asks, pointing at the holographic softcore porn playing out in front of us.
“Sorry,” Vel winces, gaze averting down to the screen as her fingers fly across the panel. Her gray cheeks are tinged a little pinker when she looks back up again. “I should have warned you about the mating. But this is important, especially for Niska.”
I can’t help but fidget in my chair at that as the image in front of us zooms in to frame the couple’s faces, the male hovering over the female, both of them panting while their bodies are still in the throes of passion.
And then the male bites the female, right on the neck.
She cries out silently, and… bites him in return.
The three of us humans sit here staring long after Vel makes the hologram disappear.
“You guys… are vampires?” Jaya asks as she sits there, stiff-backed in her chair.
“No,” Vel says, smiling and shaking her head. “Although there is a school of thought among my fellow Earthophiles that one of our kind must have illegally visited your planet, confused the humans, and that’s where your tales of the mythical fanged creatures come from,” she pauses to giggle to herself as Lois, Jaya and I remain quiet. “I like that one. I don’t think it’s likely, but I do enjoy the theory,” she tells us, clearing her throat. “But, no. There’s no sucking of blood. During copulation, both parties experience an overwhelming urge to perform the bonding bite. Remember how I told you about the venoms we possess? We inject our bonding venom into our mating partner, and this used to form our most sacred of unions. Nothing could penetrate a bonded pair-”
“I saw that little holographic display,” Lois comments. “Someone was definitely getting penetrated.”
Vel presses her lips together and briefly closes her eyes, trying to stop herself from laughing. “That was a bad choice of words. What I mean is, nothing would come between the two. A bonded pair experienced an attachment like no other. The connection was strong. And once mated, the thought of sharing pleasures of the flesh with someone outside of your bond would be abhorrent. Xaviann’s back then simply did not think of doing such a thing. Once bonded, that was your person. For life.”
Jaya sighs. “That sounds romantic.”
“What do you mean Xavianns back then’?” I ask, trying to lean forward in this huge chair.
Vel nods her head and looks down to her touchscreen. Suddenly, a new holographic image appears, this one of a singular male Xaviann, wearing layers of beautifully rich robes embroidered with intricate patterns of golden thread, his horns looking like the sharp tips have been dipped in molten gold too. His miniature image stands proud above the tabletop in front of us, slowly rotating so that we get to view him from all angles. “This is King Gahaari, he ruled one nation of Xaavia around twenty generations ago. His rule is made infamous by how his actions drastically changed our very culture.” My eyes narrow at the little figure in front of me. His face looks smug, as if he can hear Vel’s words, and is relishing the idea that his impact has been ‘infamous’ all these generations on. “As you may have already guessed, the partner a Xaviann decides to mate with will be with them for life, so this is an important decision because once the bonding bite is performed, your connection to that person cannot be broken. Unfortunately, King Gahaari here did not like the prospect of being forced to choose just one female. He had traveled, and he had learned of other species where their males could bed many females, even when paired. He began to become more and more obsessed with the prospect of having his own harem of brides that he could enjoy without being tied to just one.”
“I’m starting to not like this guy,” Lois comments, folding her arms across her chest as she blows strands of her auburn hair from her face, scowling at the tiny image of a king in front of us.
“Oh, it gets worse,” Vel replies, shaking her head to herself. She lets out a long breath and wets her lips before plowing on with our Xaviann history lesson. “King Gahaari started with peasant females. He held these banquets for the poor where he would wander among his people and pick out the most desirable females, telling their families that when he chooses a bride, she will need female companions and that their daughters are lucky indeed to be chosen for such a role. These poor females were then taken to the palace and-” Vel pauses, her eyes closed as she inhales through her nose like she’s feeling nauseous or something. When she opens her eyes again, she makes one single tap on the screen in front of her and the image of the king is replaced by one of a Xaviann skull, this one featuring a set of double spiraling horns.
It takes me a few seconds to realize there are teeth missing.
“King Gahaari would have their fangs removed so that when he bedded them, they could not perform the bonding bite on him, leaving him unbonded, and free to bed the next female.”
I hear Jaya gasp softly beside me. “That’s awful.”
Vel nods her head in agreement. “No-one of the time besides those loyal to him knew this to be happening. Remains of the poor females were found many, many years after his reign had ended. The theories were rife, but what I’m telling you today has been corroborated by discovered records – records from the very males who were performing the fang extractions to ready the females for their king. They also told us that he would lie to the females, telling them that what was done to them was not under his orders and that he would punish the males responsible. He would then seduce them, telling them he did not care that she was fangless, and that he would make her his Queen, tricking her into copulation. Unfortunately, he would not even try to hold back his urge to bite them while mating, meaning that she was bonded to him-”
“But he wasn’t bonded to her,” I say, seeing where this whole messed up scenario was going. “What a piece of shit!”
“Yes, the female would feel an intense connection with the king, but it wasn’t reciprocated,” Vel confirms. “And from the accounts found from the king’s loyal household surgeon, this one-sided bond drove the females to severe illness, not just mentally, but physically too. Ultimately, all of King Gahaari’s brides became shells of themselves and gave up on life.”
I’ve felt anger for injustices before. I feel it all the time on a large scale when the rich and powerful get away with committing heinous crimes. When serial killers become celebrities, immortalized in the latest Netflix documentary while their victims get forgotten. Or, on a more personal scale, when I’ve been cheated on by a boyfriend, or when my best friend, Polly told me about how her dad had a whole other family that she and her mom had no idea about.
This is that same feeling. I stare at the image of the Xaviann skull in front of me, her two canine teeth missing. That shithead king mutilated her and then made her fall in love with him until it drove her insane knowing that he never felt the same. That she was nothing to him except a good time between the sheets.
“As sad as the peasant female’s fate is,” Vel says, continuing on with her history lesson, “it is not what changed Xavianns forever.” She tapped on her screen and changed the hologram once more. This time, we see the king sitting on a large, ornate throne, surrounded by Xavianns in a big hall. In front of him, small groups of his people would approach him, their mouths moving as if addressing him but we’re unable to hear the words. “King Gahaari’s court began to press him to choose a bride to bond with. Knowing that once he does this, he will be forced to finally be bonded on his end, and he’ll no longer be able to bed other females, he was not in any rush to do so. This weakened his relationship with his nobles and the other nations who had offered up their daughters for his consideration, as well as his advisors who were keen for him to sire heirs. But King Gahaari had a plan, and he would not concede to the demands of others until his team of scientists had concocted something to help him with said plan.” The hologram shifted to a closer view of the king sitting around a table with other male Xavianns. One of them approaches and offers an open palm with a single pill resting on it.
“What does that do?” Lois asks.
“Gahaari knew he couldn’t pull the fangs from his official bride. She would be the daughter of a noble or even a Princess from a foreign nation. Something like that would not go overlooked. He needed something that would allow him to be bitten, but not affected by the bonding bite. This drug promised to do such a thing,” Vel explains as the image zooms in on the single pill like it holds the power for evil. “So he took it. He took the drug, and then he took a bride, and he did not feel the effect of her bonding bite. He became bold, too. He started bragging to other, unbonded males on how he can bed females without consequence, and soon they too, wanted this experience. The demand was evident, so, seeing a new way to strengthen relationships between himself and his younger, unmated noblemales, the king started to secretly supply the drug to males, unbeknownst to the females in their lives. Soon, a black market for the stuff emerged and it became more widespread. The problems started to arise when infidelities were uncovered, trust, hearts, and health were all broken or breaking, but most worryingly, it affected the offspring.”
Jaya leans forward in her seat as the hologram depicts a mother Xaviann cradling a little, gray, horned baby swaddled in colorful blankets. “The drug affected the children?” she asks. “How?”
“Well, first of all, you remember how I told you of the two venoms that we-”
The doors to the conference room rush open and in storms a tall Xaviann male; Prince Kiahn. His eyes scan the four of us around the table until he comes to me, and seems to straighten his spine before he bows his head in greeting like he hadn’t just come charging in here like an enraged bull.
My gaze briefly flicks up to his horns and I have to stifle the smile forming at the thought of him butting heads and locking horns with another Xaviann.
“Kiahn,” Vel says, standing and returning his bow. “I was just educating the humans on… well, many things, really.”
The Prince doesn’t look amused as he grunts in acknowledgment, and gives Vel a curt nod. “I have been speaking to the staff in the kitchens and-”
“You were in the kitchens?” Vel asks, unable to hide the scoffing noise she makes.
Prince Kiahn blinks at her, his jaw clenching before he says. “We need to see to it that we serve foods that are not harmful to the humans.”
“Ohhh,” Vel grins, picking up her tablet, “so my fascination with humans was ‘weird’ and ‘obsessive’ when we were growing up, but now you need my weird, obsessive interests to make sure we don’t poison your new toy?”
“Vel,” Kiahn warns, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
“You two grew up together?” I ask, the question flying out of my mouth before I’d really registered it. Prince Kiahn opens his beautiful green eyes to look at me again.
“I’m his second cousin, once removed,” Vel supplies as she saunters out of the room, seemingly highly amused that she’s irritating the Prince.
“Can we get you removed a second time?!” he calls out after her.
We can all hear her chuckling as she walks down the hall.
When the doors whoosh shut, Prince Kiahn stands there, and Lois, Jaya and I remain seated, the three of us waiting for him to… do something now that he’s interrupted our lesson.
His eyes scan the table top, seeing the hologram of the baby Xaviann levitating in mid-air. He blinks rapidly and then his gaze finds me, holding me captive for far too long to be casual before it drops to my throat. I don’t miss the way his body sways forward a little before he seems to catch himself. “Well,” he nods, giving the shiny tabletop a swift double tap with his index and middle finger. “See you at dinner.”
With that, he bows again, before turning and leaving.
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12
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Chapter 12 – Kiahn
Aunt Zalora sits at the opposite end of the lengthy dining table, playing a game of duos with her long-distance friend, Lox. She wears a face of intense concentration as she ponders her next move, the game projecting groups of various playing tiles mid-air in front of her from her personal comm orb, floating by her shoulder.
My fingers tap the surface of the polished wood in front of me.
“Kindly find somewhere else to brood, young nephew,” she drawls, her gaze not deviating from her game – not even once. “Lox and I are currently tied, and I need to concentrate if I’m to win this round.”
“What were you thinking, buying a human slave?!” I accuse, unable to heed her request.
She reaches up to the projected game and slides one tile to a different grouping, collecting points before it’s her friend’s turn. “What were you thinking when you tried to buy her?”
“I wanted to save her.”
My aunt chuckles lightly, and moves two more tiles around her game. “How altruistic of you, Kiahn. Remind me to mention your benevolent ways to your father, the next time his majesty deigns to visit our little principality.”
“I do not care what father thinks of me.”
It’s now that Zalora breaks her concentration on her game, and tilts her head to peer at me. “You should,” is all she says before she’s back to muttering curses at the fact that her friend just matched two high-scoring tiles.
I know she is right in her own way. The more in favor I am with my father, the more of my people he will allow to join his Great Council – the more voices being heard from the Northern Principality when decisions are being made. Though, Aunt Zalora has loftier aspirations for her games, since she has always sought for my father to name me as his successor over his other princes, from his other principalities. I have no designs on ruling at the capital. All my energy is spent by trying to do right by my people, in my little slice of Xaavia.
“Alright,” I say, pretending to concede, “and what would the king think of me entering a breeding contract with a female who not only isn’t of a noble bloodline, but isn’t even Xaviann? Would that put me in his favor?”
“Don’t be facetious, Kiahn, it’s unbecoming of a prince,” Zalora comments, shifting another tile to pocket double points in her game. “Did you know that the Raxians have been known to mate with humans?”
I furrow my brow as this sudden deviation from the topic at hand. “The Raxians? The species whose skin changes color?”
“Yes,” Zalora nods, gaze intent on her game as she keeps vigil over her opponent’s moves. “And Vel informs me that the resulting offspring have not only been known to display a wider range of skin-colors, but their health is more robust, too.” She tuts as her friend, Lox performs a move that restricts my aunt’s best-scoring tiles from being played. She decides to actually look at me now as she says, “so, I think your father may well be intrigued by the idea that you are willing to try something new. Who knows, maybe yours and Niska’s child will be born with long-extinct Bloodline Venoms. There are several of those in our family history, you know.” Turning back to her game, she apparently means business now as she takes one of her long, black gloves off. Using the uncovered hand, Aunt Zalora pushes two tiles to her opponent’s piles and grins smugly at the resulting block the manoeuvre forces Lox into. “Besides, it’s just one contract. Either it will bear fruit, or it will not. But there will be more contracts after this one.”
Something about how dismissive my aunt is being about this whole thing is rubbing my horns the wrong way. “But Niska didn’t really have much of a choice, did she? Does she even know the dangers of-”
“No one’s dragging the poor girl to the breeding bench, Kiahn,” Zalora snaps, her hot gaze on me now, apparently irritated with the conversation. Good. I want her irritated. At least then she will entertain what I’m saying instead of being indifferent. “She wants this. She wants to secure her and her friends somewhere safe for humans. She will know all the terms before she signs that contract. She will be looked after, but she’s a smart female. She knows that doesn’t come for free. No one is mistreating her, I can assure you of that.”
She wants this?
I… I do not know if I believe such a thing. She is so small and soft, and I am-
I could really hurt her.
“And you-” Zalora lifts her cane, pointing the golden top at me down the line of the table, “– you need this, Kiahn. You need to start entering bridal contracts, you need to start producing heirs so we can strengthen our family. Maybe the contract with the human will be barren, maybe the two of you will produce an heir whose Bloodline Venom is so strong, we are elevated above your father’s current favorites. I do not know what will come of this, all I know is that you need to get over your hesitancy to breed. You are not your father. You will not repeat his mistakes.”
I blink at her for a moment or two, feeling like my whole body is locked in place. My aunt has always had this special way of knowing. Even when Az, Zann, and I were young, it was like she could see into our minds and identify the bad decisions running rife before we even made them.
And, I’m sure you don’t need to be the Goddess of Wisdom herself to figure out that when your father is the cause for your mother’s death, it affects you deeply. But Aunt Zalora is not normally one to waste words for the sake of talking. When she speaks, she means it.
And, apparently, I needed to hear it, too.
Slowly, I release a breath and let my head hang a little. I can hear Zalora rise from her seat and start walking toward me, the tap of her cane on the floor a rhythm I’ve listened to my whole life. When she reaches my side, she cups my chin and lifts my face so that she can look me in the eye.
“You will be so much better than him, Kiahn, I know it,” she says, her voice turning gentle. “My sister knew it the moment she birthed you into this world. You just need some faith in yourself.”
I stare up at her, wondering if this really is the right thing for me to do. “What if I bite her?” I ask, the words sounding quiet and hoarse.
What if I bond that sweet, vulnerable little human to me, and she ends up heartsick from it, just like my mother was?
She drops my chin, and brushes non-existent dirt from her immaculate skirts. “We do not know how humans would react to Bonding Venom. Perhaps it will merely make you more tolerable in her eyes,” she says, the ghost of a playful smirk toying with her lips.
I roll my eyes at her attempt to inject some levity to the subject. My family are sometimes overly fond of making light of the serious. Letting myself fall back, I slump in my chair with a huff. “She tolerated me just fine when I met her.”
She tolerated me so well, she was right there, seated in my lap.
“So I’ve heard,” Zalora says, raising a brow at me, making me feel like a young male being chastised all over again. “Just tell me you will enter contract negotiations with her. You know Vel, with all her fascination and love for the human species, she will make sure your Niska is safe and taken care of every step of the way.”
I can’t help but snort at that. “You should have bought her a human of her own instead of one for me.” Vel probably prefers the human females over me already.
Aunt Zalora chuckles and heads back down the length of the table toward her paused game of duos. “Maybe, if she’s good.”
Vel is always good. She is good to all she meets. I don’t think I would trust anyone else to be handling Niska’s side of the negotiations as much as I trust my cousin.
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