Page 41 of Alien Prince's Fake Bride
After about forty minutes, Sigise ushers the other girls out of the tent like a proper maid of honor. “Umbra needs her energy for the wedding.” She turns to me. “What more do you need, Umbra? Just tell me. You’d be surprised at the things I could get you, even here on this desolate planet. Oh, you wanted a gun, right?” She hands me a black item. “This is the smallest one I could find. It’s loaded.”
“Oh my…” It’s a heavy gun, and I have to use both hands to take it out of Sigise’s hands. It’s all metal, about the size of a baseball bat, but angular and dangerous-looking. “This may be too heavy for me. It would ruin my look.”
We decide that I won’t carry a weapon to the altar after all. But I will keep the gun and take it with me to Khav.
“Anything else?” Sigise asks.
“Actually,” I ponder, “my AI is running out of electricity. I wonder if it would be possible to charge her.”
“Electricity?” she asks, puzzled. “For an AI?”
I turn Vera on. “Vera, Sigise may be able to find a way to charge you. Can you tell her AI what you’d need?”
“Sure. Just an induction coil after my specs.”She starts to talk faster than I can understand, and Sigise’s AI answers in the same way, just with a quick beep that I suspect contains a gigabyte of information.
Sigise calls a soldier and instructs him to get their engineers to make the charger.
We’re in the middle of a discussion about wedding bouquets when someone clears their voice outside.
“May I enter?” someone asks.
It’s a male voice, I notice, old and creaky.
Sigise stiffens. “You can deny anyone entry to your tent, Ambassador.” She keeps her voice low.
“Should I?” I whisper.
She thinks for a moment, brow knotted. “Let him in, but try to make it short. With your permission, I will stay.”
“Please do.” I check that I’m dressed decently. “You may enter!”
Sigise holds the flap open, and a male Khavgren pokes his head in. “May I really? Oh, how gracious.” He steps in, and Sigise drops the flap closed right behind him.
He’s an older male, his tentacles short and pale. He’s wearing gray robes, and he looks thin and bony with a hunched-over stance. His hands and feet are covered by the robes.
“Ambassador Umbra, if I may introduce Quaestor Preniat,” Sigise says stiffly. “A newly arrived Imperial advisor from Khav.”
The man looks me up and down, pale eyes never meeting mine. “Greetings, Ambassador. Oh, she doesn’t speak Khavgrese herself? Relying on an AI to talk for her? How quaint and puzzling. ‘Offensive’, some would say. I wouldn’t dream of using that word, myself.”
“Greetings, Quaestor,” I reply, unsure about how to deal with this one. “How can I help you?”
His gaze sticks to my chest. “Help me,Ambassador? Oh no, I am in no need of help. But I thought I’d see if you were really ready for the wedding which I understand is to take place very soon. We were allsosurprised to hear of it.”
“I think I’m ready,” I tell him. “It will be a simple ceremony.”
He tilts his head. “Again, how puzzling. I mean, that the prince would want a simple ceremony so far from Khav itself. Getting married among his most loyal troops. One might think he had something to hide. Not me, of course. I’m firmly convinced that everything is the way it should be. Am I right in that, Ambassador Umbra from…? I’m sorry, I don’t think I know which of our Imperial planets you represent.”
“I don’t represent any Imperial planet,” I tell him coldly, his words and manner not endearing him to me. “I’m surprised you didn’t know that, Quaestor. The term ‘Ambassador’ implies someone who represents a foreign power. In my case, planet Earth.”
“It does imply an outsider,” the man says smoothly. “An alien, even. Imagine the prince picking an alien for a wife. Perhaps our own females simply aren’t good enough. Eh, Colonel?” He turns his head to Sigise. “Oh, did you take your armor off? Out of uniform, in the alien’s tent? Is that appropriate for an officer?”
“The prince ordered me to keep his betrothed safe and comfortable, sir,” Sigise says stiffly. “I found the battle armor too ungainly to wear when helping the Ambassador with everything.”
“Ah. Colonel Grast finds the uniform tooungainlyto wear when doinglight dutiesin atent. I will keep that in mind when I return to the Emperor on Khav. I must also remember to report that the ambassador, the prince’s alien betrothed, was immediatelycloselyattended to by Colonel Grast, the most famous shock trooper on Grefve, more known for her great battle victories than her diplomatic skills. Most unusual. One might be tempted to askwhy.” The quaestor turns back to me, his gaze now focused on my hips. “I won’t ask why, of course. But I will ask, if I may, Ambassador, are you normal size for your species? You seem quite short, if you’ll excuse my blunt observation. You’re very…round. In the most delightful way, of course. Some would call youspherical. Not me, though. Not at all.”
I decide that I don’t like this guy one bit. He’s nasty and dangerous.I should get rid of him as soon as I can.
I sit down on the lowest bench, so that I won’t dangle my legs. “Compliment accepted,” I state. “If there’s nothing more, Quaestor? I have a busy day ahead. I am getting married, you see.”
