Page 24 of I Married Amreth

“I’m afraid I am alone. The situation is a little tricky,” Amreth replied, carefully choosing his words.

“Let me guess,” I said with an unimpressed tone. “Three Interstellar Doctors aren’t important enough to send in the big guns.”

He nodded again. “The Enforcers couldn’t justify taking on this mission for three civilians as it should be a matter handledby the Peacekeepers. It also doesn’t help that this planet is located inside the Dead Zone. There is no simple way of tracking you here.”

“But you did,” I challenged, my frown deepening.

“I had to… hmmm… skirt around certain rules to come here,” he said reluctantly.

Under different circumstances, the mortified look on his gorgeous face would have been adorable. This male truly was stunning.

He had to be at least 6’5, with broad shoulders and bulging biceps left exposed by the sleeveless, ornate leather breastplate he wore. His skin was on the darker spectrum for an Obosian. Like dark elves, they tended to have very somber skin, usually in the midnight blue tinge or very dark grey. His had a lot more grayish-brown in it in what I would call charcoal. His black sclera made his silver white eyes starkly stand out, drawing me in an almost irresistible fashion. He had a noble nose, and the most sensuous, plump lips made to kiss.

Like all his people, a series of dark scales adorned his forehead, shifting into the main set of black horns on top of his head, with a smaller recurved set behind his ears. They, too, contrasted sharply with his long, silver-white hair, the same color as mine. Where that hue was standard for Obosians, for me, it was due to the fact that I had the rare human piebald trait. Even folded, his black, leather bat wings looked massive, not to mention lethal with the sharp talons at the tips and lining the bottom edges.

Naturally, I couldn’t help my eyes lingering on his many visible facial piercings. It was a cultural thing for Obosians and a great source of pride. Their people couldn’t simply slap a piercing on themselves. They needed to earn that privilege through a multitude of potential accomplishments for which they were given a varying amount of a rare metal calledalgarium. From it, they could forge the piercing in a shape they liked for the spot on their body that tempted them the most.

Amreth had a small ring on the side of each of his nostrils, a little spike in his labret—the spot right below the bottom lip, but above the chin, two rings in his left eyebrow, and a few more along the sides of his ears. I couldn’t see any piercings on his arms, but I didn’t doubt for a minute that a few more hid beneath his breastplate.

I immediately shut down the thought rearing its head as to whether he also had some in his naughty bits. By all accounts, both male and female Obosians made sure to have some in their private areas for extra sensations. Considering they possessed erotic powers that often had them labelled as Incubi and Succubi, it wasn’t all that surprising.

“Wow,” I said at last, genuinely touched. “I know how important abiding by the rules is for your people. So it really means a lot to me that you would bend them a bit to come save me.”

“Always, Ciara,” he said with a gentle smile that softened his face in the most wondrous way.

“So what did you do? You just walked up to the village?” I asked with sincere curiosity.

The sudden embarrassed look on his face and the way he shifted uneasily on his feet took me aback on top of sending my curiosity into overdrive.

He rubbed a spot behind his lower right horn, just above his nape while searching for an appropriate response.

“Not exactly. I was attempting to scope out the area for the best way to get the three of you out when I got captured,” he said sheepishly.

I blinked.

“They used psionic powers against me that I had no way of counteracting. It all but paralyzed me,” he added quickly, sounding a little defensive.

“Right,” I replied pensively. “I remember the Obosian guards on the Gladius almost crash landing on the promenade when they were affected by similar attacks. In fact, Kayog did something that helped them resist it. I’m surprised he didn’t mention it to you.”

Amreth rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck, visibly trying to loosen some of the tension building there while his embarrassment appeared to crank up another notch.

“Kayog did mention their psionic abilities,” he conceded.

“And you came unprepared for it?” I blurted out, my voice laced with disbelief, then immediately inwardly flinched again.

Fuck me! Could I sound more judgmental and ungrateful? My wretched mouth had a tendency of just speaking its mind, which could sometimes involuntarily come across as mean or hurtful.

“I didn’t just go in recklessly,” he said, sounding even more defensive. “I had my stealth shield activated. Considering my scans didn’t reveal any form of technology, other than the deployable lab you were working in, I had no reason to think they possessed powers that could see through it. After all, my people enjoy some of the most advanced technologies out there. I only planned on going in and out quickly and maybe planting a couple of diversions to help your escape.”

“I can see that,” I said in a conciliatory tone, feeling like a total bitch towards the poor male. “In your stead, I would have assumed the same. No one would suspect them of having the type of psionic powers they displayed. In truth, they didn’t use to. This is not a normal trait for the Kreelars. Whatever happened to them a decade ago caused this mutation.”

“What?!” Amreth exclaimed, stunned.

I nodded, my brow creased in a frown. “But please, have a seat. I’m being quite the poor hostess,” I added with a nervous laugh.

He smiled. “It’s okay. This entire situation is kind of surreal. None of us can be expected to act in our usual way.”

After an awkward moment of hesitation, I guided him to the dining area rather than the living room. One side of the table had a wide bench while the others had chairs. I figured the absence of a backrest would be more comfortable to accommodate his wings. He seemed to share that thought as he made a beeline for the bench. Still, he remained standing until I settled down first across the table from him. It was odd that he should observe some of those old school human courtesies.

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