Page 43 of The Alien I Fell in Love with on Walpurgis Night

“Madame Georgiana Smith from Earth,” the High Priestess says and nods to one of her nuns and a drum begins to beat to a steady rhythm. “My disciple will now recite the Lost People myth to you. Please pay close attention.” The High Priestess is holding her whip as she tells me this with a certain look in her eyes I don’t like.

“You have my full attention,” I reply and I ready myself to listen to the young woman in the transparent dress recite something.

Long ago, when the Alliance was still an infant and ships got lost, a fleet of explorers and scientists were pulled to the other side of the galaxy by an unknown force. Unable to come back, they found an almost inhospitable planet, too bright, too hot, but uninhabited except for some small animals. They sent a message back to the Empire explaining their situation, begging to be rescued. The message took over one-hundred years to arrive. When it was received, the Alliance had already counted those in that fleet for dead. The Empress and Emperor then were very greedy and did not want to waste time and resources to go look for some citizens who may or may not be still alive and waiting to be rescued. The Imperial Family decided to conceal the information about the Lost People. They had the message destroyed. From that point forward, everything only got better for the Empire, technology, military, colonies and Alliance civilization in the known galaxy soared and no one thought about the rumored Lost People again, until we discovered a species almost like our own. They called themselves ‘humans.’ We sent ships to investigate them before they had the technology to understand what we were doing. We believed that these humans were most likely the Lost People. However, since the Empress and Emperor of past had all the original documents destroyed, no one remembered the exact location of the Lost People. So, it was decided, conveniently, that humans were not the Lost People and the Alliance continued to expand and to almost completely ignore humanity. But now, the gods are punishing the Alliance for not retrieving the Lost People when we were twice given the opportunity to do so. They are making us suffer with low-female birth rates and catastrophic disruptions to our perfectly ordered society. We have been given a third chance now, to accept humans back into the fold or die from our pride.

“See?” the High Priestess says. “You’re a part of the Lost People, Madame Georgiana. That’s why in a galaxy filled with thousands of distinct species, Alliance people and humans are the only two that are genetically identical. It isn’t luck. It isn’t by chance. You’re us. That’s why it’s only natural that you return to us now. Be thankful the gods never forgot humanity even if the Empire did.”

“Perhaps it’s too soon for humans to know,” I say honestly. But I realize quickly by the gasps around me that this was not the right thing to say at all.

“Blasphemy,” the High Priestess says. “It’s good that you came to see me today. It’s the gods’ will that you are purified before you sin again. Now that I have a gauge of your misbehavior we will begin. On your knees sinners,” the High Priestess demands, her strong voice echoing off the stones walls.

I get to my knees, the stone rough and cold against my skin. The High Priestess stands in front of me.

“I usually don’t do this myself, but for you, Georgiana, you need a sacred hand to guide this whip.”

I want to say, ‘Don’t put yourself out,’ but I bite my tongue. And part of my brain wants to revert to how I was before, believing all of this is a game. But I feel a mental buoy in my mind, it’s the doctor from House Zu’s voice, she’s grounding me here in reality. It’s such an odd sensation that I concentrate on that for a second rather than what’s happening to me here in the Punishment Rooms. Which is why I forgot I was going to be whipped until I felt the pain.

“Owww,” I scream when the whip hits my back. I turn to look at the High Priestess. The look in her eyes is something I’ve never seen before in my life. But instinct tells me to run. So I do. I run naked. I have no idea where I am or where I’m going. I run past people in green and through buildings smelling of incense, burning candles, everything. I run outside into a garden. Everyone looks at me as I run. Finally, I stop when I get to a large stone wall and there’s no way I can climb over it. I’m trapped. It’s not long before I see the High Priestess and Axl coming after me in hot pursuit. He’s naked, but unlike me, he looks glorious as if he could always be naked and still be highly respected. My eyes go to his face, he has a concerned look and the High Priestess looks thoroughly annoyed.

“Madame Georgiana,” Axl says comfortingly. “It’s okay.”

“This,” I point to the High Priestess’s whip, “Is not okay.”

“Let me take the punishments for us both. This is beyond Madame Georgiana’s endurance.”

“No Commander Axl, it’s perfectly clear she only wants her punishment out here where the gods and everyone else can see her.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Axl says gruffly. And by the tone of his voice, everyone goes quiet and I feel the dynamic changing. The High Priestess and Axl have their eyes locked as if in a private telepathic battle. Everyone’s eyes are on them.

After a few long minutes, the High Priestess says, “By the will of the gods, Commander Axl will take the punishment for Madame Georgiana and himself.”

Then as if I didn’t just run away naked, everyone begins walking back to the Punishment Rooms as if nothing happened. Axl motions for me to join him.

I don’t move from my safe space next to the wall in the garden.

He walks over to me. “Georgiana, this is nothing for me.”

“But…”

He runs a finger over my bottom lip to quiet me. “I’m here all the time. This is a part of my culture. But I’m more than happy to give you your own spanking later if you feel you owe me.”

I’m speechless.

“I’d like to see your pink rear red for punishment for not saying ‘no’ to me when I put my head between your legs.”

“I didn’t know I would be punished for it.”

“And I liked giving it to you. What’s pleasure without punishment? It makes the pleasure all the sweeter. Now come on, before the High Priestess decides the gods have spoken to her again.”

I halfheartedly walk with Axl back to the Punishment Rooms. Everyone is staring at us as we go. I don’t even care that I’m naked anymore because Axl is so confident in his nudity and I’m living off the compliment he gave me in the foyer. Without being told, we resume our places on the stone floor.

The High Priestess stands behind Axl with the whip in her hand. My back is still tingling with pain from the sensation of being hit only once. I feel guilty that Axl is going to do this for me. “Madame Georgiana, you will count. Imperial Fleet Reserve Commander Axl are you ready for purification for bringing Madame Georgiana to orgasm without being married? And are you ready for purification for Madame Georgiana’s sin for enjoying that orgasm from a man she’s not married to?”

“I accept the gods’ punishment through your sacred hand, High Priestess.”

The High Priestess raises her hand swings the whip hard it hits Axl’s back, and then she looks expectantly at me.

I forgot I was supposed to count. “One.”

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