Page 18 of Dark Space
‘Space harem?’ I said, amused. ‘Is that a thing humans really think happens?’ I remembered my sibling’s two partners and almost took it back, but Anna had flushed a glorious pink colour and so I snapped my mouth closed, unwilling to do anything that might make it go away. I stared at her blush, fascinated; I’d never known a species to blushpink.
‘How would I know what you do in space?’ she retorted, throwing her hands up. ‘I don’t know where I am! I don’t know why they took me! I don’t know what this ship looks like! And I don’t even know their names!’
‘Ask them,’ I said.
She put a hand to her chest. ‘Anna,’ she said clearly. ‘Anna.’ She pointed at the black-haired Roth. ‘Name?’
‘What?’ the Roth growled. He looked at me. ‘What does she need?’
I decided I wasn’t feeling helpful. ‘Ask her,’ I said flippantly.
‘What do you need?’ he repeated; to Anna, it would have sounded like a long, deep snarl.
I laughed when she flinched. ‘This is too good.’
‘Enjoy it while it lasts, starling,’ Alcide said calmly. ‘When we figure out our next step, you’ll be alone again. You think she’ll want to come back and visit?’
‘Given I’m the only one who can talk to her, Prince, I can almost guarantee it,’ I shot back.
Alcide sighed. ‘Fine, Vesper. Play your games. I know that’s all you’re good for. Did you know the Intergalactic Council has several files on you? And do you know what’s in them?’ He leaned forward; the position made him loom over me. His unruly auburn hair framed his face in gentle waves; he looked suddenly like a creature of fire and darkness, and all the more handsome for it. ‘A selfish asshole who leaves crews scattered behind him, ruined at best. Someone who uses other beings and discards them when they’re no longer needed. Someone with a pretty smile who’s dead inside, who sets up his allies to take the fall once he’s gone. Someone who does all that –but doesn’t evenneedwhat he takes.’ He stepped back. ‘You’re utter trash, starling. The bored child of wealthy parents who thinks the universe exists to fulfil your every whim. My species might be monsters, but it’s taken us generations to get here. You managed it all on your own.’
‘Again, Prince, flattery,’ I said airily, but something unfamiliar twisted in my chest.
Between what had happened in my stomach and what was happening in my chest, I had experienced quite enough of an organic body for one day.
‘We’ll leave you,’ Alcide said, inclining his head to Anna. He looked oddly majestic doing it, his horns dipping gracefully as he moved. ‘The offer stands. I ask you to be my claimed. I will wait for your answer.’
With that, they left, the black-haired Roth favouring me with one last scowl, and giving Anna a lingering look that made my nostrils flare.
‘Please, Vesper,’ she said softly, once they were gone and the glass wall had gone dark again. ‘I don’t understand.’
I didn’t meet her eyes. ‘I don’t have much more information than you, but I suspect that you’re in danger here,’ I said bluntly. ‘Ifanyof the Prince’s crew work out there’s a female on board, you’ll be fair game. They don’t want to keep you in this cell indefinitely, but at the moment, they can’t let you out. If you let the Prince claim you, you’ll be untouchable.’
‘He wants to marry me toprotectme? Why?’
‘I suspect because you’re eminently protectable,’ I snapped, tired of the conversation. ‘You’re delicate and beautiful and small. I don’t know what humans are like, but for many of the known species in the universe, that’s something irresistibly desirable. And you’re on a ship filled with one of those species.’
‘So they think I’m weak,’ she said angrily. ‘They want to protect me because I couldn’tpossiblyprotect myself.’
I laughed harshly. ‘Little lodestar, when it comes to the Roth, I imagine that eventhe Princeneeds to watch his back. From what I’ve heard, his crew wouldn’t just hurt you. They’deat you alive.’ I crossed my arms.Thearms. I felt sick, snappish. I tried to quash the feeling, to push it down, but it wouldn’t obey.Stupid animated carcass, I snarled internally.Stupid bag of meat and instinct.
Anna was quiet for a long time. ‘What would you do?’ she said at last.
‘I’d save my own skin.’ I closed my eyes, throwing us into darkness. ‘That’s what I always do.’
The Prince wants toclaim you.
I tossed and turned for hours, thinking about what the Prince had said. About what he’dasked.
It can’t be real, I thought. He had nothing to gain, and I had everything to lose.
Claimingsounded rather more possessive thanmarriage, but Vesper had used the terms interchangeably, and I gathered it was all the same for the Roth.
I’d never imagined getting marriedat all, let alone getting married to an alien prince because my life was in danger. If I read it in a book, I’d scoff. But being locked in a cell indefinitely – or, alternately, facing a crew full of aliens twice my size who might do things I didn’t want to think about – weren’t options, either.
Marriage looked like a fairly reasonable choice in the context, actually.
And despite having horns, the Prince had kind eyes, and a face that would make anyone’s heart race.
