Page 81 of Alien Prince's Fake Bride
“Oh, there are big differences between you and that methane queen,” Darient says. “But now I think about it, maybe that whole episode somehow worked to make the thought of Mareliux marrying an alien seem less shocking to people. At least you breathe air. Anyway, those rumors reached Mareliux,and he immediately asked Terieli to marry him. You can guess what she said.”
“Oh my. And they were from such different classes. She said yes, of course. Anyone would.”
“Anyone would,” Darient echoes. “And she did. You can imagine what Juriniel thought about that. Someone had completely taken Mareliux from her. She was no longer in control of the Imperial family.”
“Don’t tell me: Terieli died mysteriously.”
Darient snorts. “Oh, if the Empress had killed Terieli, Mareliux would have murdered her with his own hands that same day. Juriniel must have known that, and she was too sly to do it that simply. Of course Mareliux now had a weakness: his love for Terieli. And Empress Juriniel would use that. She offered Terieli’s father a big promotion and a transfer to the outer parts of the Empire. She persuaded him that it would be for the best of the Empire if Terieli didn’t marry Mareliux, that the people of the Empire wouldn’t stand for that marriage, that Terieli would be in terrible danger if it happened.”
I’m starting to hear distant voices chattering excitedly. Shading my eyes, I look around. “And he went for it?”
“He didn’t have much choice. He was a good officer and loyal to the Empire. And he must have known that if he didn’t stop that wedding from happening, Juriniel would be his enemy. And it’s hard to imagine a more deadly enemy than her. Terieli would have been in danger. From the Empress, not from the people.”
A group of people has gathered a respectful distance away, looking in our direction. “So they broke up?”
Darient looks over at the crowd, shading her eyes. “Terieli couldn’t defy her father, although I’m sure that they must have had quite a fight about it. In the end, her loyalty to her father won. Terieli wrote a letter to Mareliux, probably strongly suggested by Juriniel, where she said that it had all been a sham. She told him that she had never loved him, that she had just been using him to get a better position for her father, that she was sorry, but she was going to marry someone else. Nobody else knows this, by the way. Only Mareliux, you, and I. It is the kind of thing that a wife should know, but which Mareliux would probably not tell you. Anyway, Mareliux showed me the letter. He had nobody else to turn to back then. I could sense Juriniel’s words in it, as if she’d written it herself.”
My Syntrix ring glows faintly and it’s as if I can feel the grief through the Syntrix, stale and still sore. “Mareliux must have been crushed.”
Darient sighs. “He was heartbroken, of course. He had never trusted anyone like that since he was poisoned. And then his trust was betrayed again. I kept thinking that it was unnecessary to be that cruel to him, to make him think nothing about it had been real. I was only a teen back then, too. But of course now I understand why it was done that way. If Mareliux thought Terieli had been pressured, he would have come to see her, and she wouldn’t have been able to keep up the charade. By framing the whole relationship as a sham, Juriniel prevented that. I assume she saw it as a bonus that it was a final confirmation for Mareliux that women can’t be trusted. Until now, that is. He clearly trusts you, and it warms my heart to see that. You’ve been immensely good for him, Umbra. He’s almost the way he was back then. Just more mature, more burdened by responsibilities.”
“Poor kid. Is all this common knowledge? I mean, except for the letter.”
A cloud passes in front of the sun, and Darient scowls at it. “Not common knowledge, no. I think I’m the only one who has the full picture, apart from him. And now you.”
I reach out to touch her hand. “Thanks. I appreciate it. I did wonder why he didn’t have a girlfriend from before. He’s an incredible man.”
“He is indeed.”
“What happened to Terieli? Do you know?”
She reties one of the ribbons around her tendrils. “Her father was promoted to general, and the whole family went to a remote army base. Except they never got there. Their ship was attacked by Vyrpy and destroyed. It was the first Vyrpy attack for twenty years. And after that, nobody saw the Vyrpy again until several years later. Everyone was very puzzled.”
“So Juriniel did kill Terieli after all,” I ponder. “In a mysterious way.”
Darient looks at me with interest. “You think Empress Juriniel asked the Vyrpy to attack?”
“I don’t know. It seems like the kind of thing she’d do if she could.”
“Ifshe could,” Darient says. “That’s a really big ‘if’. It’s hard to imagine a Khavgren Empress asking an enemy like the Vyrpy to do her a favor. But Juriniel is frankly terrifying.”
“What happened to the methane queen? The alien enemy who wanted to marry him?”
The Duchess sighs. “There was some diplomacy, and then it all just petered out. Maybe she just wanted our attention and she was happy with what she got. I don’t think we heard from her again. Anyway, I’m really just trying to explain Mareliux as well as I can. The only place he feels safe is the army, Umbra. Don’t judge him too harshly if he seems gruff and war-like. He was forced into that, so that he could survive. The real Mareliux is different. Maybe you’ve seen it?”
I think back to the jungle planet. “I’ve seen him playful and relaxed. That’s what made me— never mind.” I almost said ‘that’s what made me fall for him’, but that’s supposed to have happened the moment I saw him. I have to stick to my story, even if this duchess seems perfectly decent and not out to get me. “It must have been so hard for him:”
“It must,” Darient agrees and straightens up. “Did you eat anything today, Umbra?”
“Not yet. I haven’t been hungry,” I lie.
She nods. “I thought so. Mareliux will never eat food from the palace kitchens. He has everything sent to him from army camps. But I thought he might forget that you need breakfast. Or brunch, I suppose. Perhaps you would like to buy something in one of those booths? Or anywhere else. Pick a place at random.”
I understand what she’s doing. She wants me to be able to eat something and not worry about being poisoned.
“I like the smell from that booth,” I say and point. “But I don’t have any money.”
“Luckily, I do,” Darient says and stands up, opening the pouch at her side. “I’ll give you some.”
