Page 7 of Alien Prince Fake Fiancé

Dabbing away a tear before it could fall, Ashlyn took a deep calming breath. Forget permanent. Forget about the future. She needed to focus on the now. She wasn’t sure she could pretend to be madly in love with any stranger while lying to some of themost powerful aliens in the known universe. Knowing whoever she chose would get a huge power boost made the selection even more difficult. What if he started a war or something? That would be on her.

“You’ve gone quiet. That makes me nervous. What are you thinking?”

“Well, fake fiancé makes a lot more sense now, but still, I would be so far out of my depth, I wouldn’t know if I’d offended someone or…or..,” she paused, her shoulders bunched up around her ears, “I don’t know, offered to do the dirty with them. And why the sudden rush?”

Rachel snickered. “Last time I checked, you liked the dirty.”

“Not. Funny.”

“You’re right,” she said, sobering, “but that wasn’t a ‘no’, which is practically a ‘yes’. Don’t worry. It only seems rushed to you because the woman who was training to do it was in a training accident yesterday. Doctors are keeping her in a medically induced coma for two weeks.”

“What? An accident? Another girl was going to do this? That doesn’t make me feel better,” Ashlyn gasped. “In fact, I feel worse. What happened to her? A coma?!”

Rachel clasped her hands tightly together, then held out her arms for her son, her bright smile not fooling Ashlyn for a second.

Reluctantly, she handed her nephew back to her sister, who fussed over him for a moment, then handed him to an elderly woman with a kind face.Must be the new nanny. When did she get here? Must have been while I was busy checking out Mr. Bad Boy in there.

Ashlyn crossed her arms, waiting for Rachel to explain.

“Okay. Okay. I was getting to that part. Stop looking at me like that.”

Ashlyn started tapping her foot. “Coma-girl. Now.”

“You won’t understand if I don’t explain first. You’ll just blow a gasket.”

“Try Me.”

“Fine. No one on Cappra knows anything about who C’bor married, right? All they know is that a human woman married him, accepted his chains of obedience, and...”

“Whoa! Stop right there. You did not just say she accepted chains of obedience.”

“See? I told you. A gasket.”

Nostrils flared angrily, Ashlyn counted to ten.Calm. Stay calm.“Continue.”

“It’s not what you think. C’Bor tricked Juliette into accepting them. He didn’t tell her what they were. They look like delicate little ankle bracelets, and he said they were just a token of his affection, a wedding gift. She figured it was their equivalent of an engagement ring. She had no idea they connect to the central nervous system and force the wearer to literally obey every single command, whether they want to or not.”

Rachel shuddered. The outrage Ashlyn saw in her sister’s eyes matched her own feelings on the matter perfectly. “That’s barbaric. They should be outlawed.”

“They are, on most planets, and hard to come by because of it. C’Bor’s family knew he had them, though, which is one reason they’re a key part of the deception. They won’t recognize you, but they’ll recognize C’Bor’s chains. Our spies have told us all the Ubrion wives wear them, even though most Capprans don’t. They were originally designed to be programmable sex toys. They were outlawed when people started weaponizing them.”

“You mean when they found a way to turn people into slaves.” Ashlyn clenched her fists. She wanted to punch the Ubrions so badly, she was shaking. “So, these chain things are alien technology that somehow links to the brain? Is that whathappened? This other girl put those obedience things on, and now she’s in a coma?”

Rachel put both palms up, trying to reassure her. “It was a glitch. It’s been fixed. They’ve been disabled, damaged beyond repair. I promise. I’ve been wearing them all day just to make sure.”

Ashlyn shook her head vehemently and took a step back. “I’ll pick one of those princes, I’ll pretend we’re engaged, but no way am I going to put anything called ‘chains of obedience’ on my body. Nope. Not happening. And they glitched? Hell, no.”

“Don’t freak out. Names and labels have only the power you give them. Naming a man a murderer does not make him one. A rose by any other..”

“Ugh. Stop. You sound like Mom when she quotesShakespeare. Have you been practicing that speech?”

“Absolutely. You’re stubborn as hell.” Rachel reached into her pocket and drew out two small, delicate ankle bracelets, twirled them around, and waggled her eyebrows up and down likeGroucho Marx, the silent film comedian from the 1920’s. “So how about it? Ready to kick some alien ass? Take their Council seat and squash them like the evil bugs they are? Deny them their power grab? Make sure the good guys win for once? All with the help of one of those gorgeous princes in the other room?”

Ashlyn gave the smallest of smiles as her heart rate slowly returned to normal. Rachel had a way of making everything seem like it would be all right, even when it wasn’t. For once, she wasn’t sure if she should be grateful. “You play dirty, sister. You know how much I hate bullies.”

“Exactly. The Ubrion family is the worst kind of bullies in existence,” she said, holding out the delicate ankle bracelets for Ashlyn to take. “See? Harmless. If you’re wearing them when you greet the Councilors, they might assume you are C’bor’swidow, too. It certainly can’t hurt. Possession of C’Bor’s chains is weak, but it’s all we’ve got. On the bright side, the Ubrions have zero evidence proving you’renother. Plus, every single one of those Caldorian princes in there brought a significant military presence on top of their Lumerian Knights. One of those badass motherfuckers could take down a small army all on their own. They’re not messing around. They know how dangerous the Ubrions are. Whoever you choose will keep you safe.”

“You’re serious about this? About me?” Ashlyn cursed the wobble in her voice, betraying her vulnerability.

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