Page 31 of Alien Prince's Fake Bride
“We’ve increased the speed of the ship,” I inform them. “We will be on Grefve tomorrow. And then we cannotget married, Umbra.”
“That is part of the agreement,” she says. “Have you arranged for Earth to be protected?”
I pull up a diagram on the main screen. “This is a two-dee depiction of our Ninth Fleet. Notice that little group of green dots that’s peeled off from the main force? That’s the Ninety-Second GunshipSquadron on the way to Earth. They will stay there for ten days, then be relieved by another. Good enough?”
She studies the display for a while. “That looks good,” she finally says. “Can you keep me updated about them?”
I nod. “As far as I can, without giving away secrets.”
She looks over at me. “They will keep their distance, right? They won’t actually land on Earth or invade or anything?”
“Everything will be as we agreed,” I tell her. “They will guard Earth from any attack, staying well away from the planet itself. And its mysterious veil. Now I wonder, why are you so eager that Earth should be protected? It’s not a very attractive planet for anyone to conquer.”
Umbra looks away. “Some aliens came by a few years ago. They abducted many of our people. They never came back. They were just… gone.”
“I’m sorry to hear it. Who were the aliens?”
“I don’t know. They had round ships that we call ‘flying saucers’. Round and flattened.” She shows me with her hands.
“Sounds like the Plood, sir.” Caret’ax growls from behind me. “Small, dirty little aliens that serve dark forces.”
I have to think about it. “ThePlood?From the old fairy tales? The servants of the Dracos? Surely they never really existed. They’re as fictional as the Dracos themselves. They are the bogeymen that you threaten kids with if they don’t go to bed.”
“The Plood exist, sir,” Caret’ax says tightly. “Although they nearly died out. The Dracos are also around. They were also weak for a while, most of them stuck on a planet they had trouble leaving.”
“Mmm,” I nod, not believing it for a second. Of course Caret’ax is a barbarian from some backwards planet where they still use iron swords, so it’s no mystery that he’s superstitious. “Be that as it may, we want the wedding ceremony to be simple and quick. That’s the way it must be when we’re getting married on an army base. I’ve told the general to expect us. And the legion’s pontifex.”
“So what is thefakepart about this wedding?” Umbra asks. “If there will be a priest and witnesses and so on.”
“Firstly that we have no intention of getting married for real,” I tell her. “There must be genuine intent for a marriage to be real. But we don’t have that. Secondly, this must all be registered with the Imperial Noble House, which we won’t. There will be only the ceremony, but nothing else. No documents signed by us or by witnesses. And of course we have agreed that I will take you back to Earth as soon as I can, meaning that there is no actual marriage.”
“Uh-huh. You don’t think that people will check with that Noble thing to see that the prince is really married?”
I nod. “I’m sure they will. However, Imperial bureaucracy is notorious for working slowly. It’s one of the things I will fix when I ascend to the throne. If there are no documents to be found, it’s simply because the Noble House hasn’t gotten around to it yet.”
“People may check, Umbra,”Bellatriz says, “but if they find that the documents don’t exist, they will hesitate to state it out loud from a fear of offending the next emperor. It would be very risky to become Mareliux’s enemy.”
“What if the old emperor checks?” the alien woman persists. “He’s the one demanding that you get married. What if someone whispers in his ear that you’re not?”
“That’s a really good point,”Bellatriz chirps.
“We will be married at an army base in the middle of a war zone,” I state. “Nobody can be blamed if it takes time for the documents to make their way from there to Khav. Or if the documents vanish entirely on the way. Who knows what can happen these days? But the key here is that the Emperor willwanteverything to be in order. He willreallywant to find everything as it should be, just the way he ordered. Then his world is just as it should be. We simply have to give him reason to believe that everything is the way he wants, even if he has weak evidence to the contrary. That’s why you must play your part so well. We must be believed to be married. We must act as if we love each other. We must be the perfect married couple.”
“And then we’ll wait for the Emperor to die,” Umbra says flatly. “Hoping that he dies soon.” It’s obvious from her tone that she disapproves.
“It’s not my favorite part of the scheme,” I admit. “I have no great love for the Emperor, perhaps, despite him being mystepfather. But the idea of waiting for him to die is distasteful. Perhaps he can be persuaded to let me take over some of his duties while he’s alive. Perhaps he can turn over the Throne to me, so that I can use my Syntrix to give strength to our desperately fighting forces.”
“Umbra,”Bellatriz says, “the Tentacle Throne is an ancient entity that amplifies Syntrix. The emperors use it to send their Syntrix power to their armies, improving their morale and determination and strength. It’s a common belief that the Throne is the main reason that the Khavgren Empire could conquer so many worlds so fast, and then keep them in the Empire for thousands of years, always prospering. Because the emperor’s intention and power was immensely strengthened by the Throne and felt by all his forces, making them brave and powerful and determined in battle. The Tentacle Throne is the most valuable object in the galaxy.”
“And now it goes unused,” I fret, getting to my feet and pacing back and forth. “The Emperor doesn’t have the strength to use it! Even if he did, I doubt it would make much difference. His own control of the Syntrix is weak now. How can such a feeble man strengthen our forces?”
“Sounds like you need a new emperor.” Umbra looks at me with her enigmatic, dark eyes. She sometimes looks extremely alien, but it only makes her all the more alluring.
I’d love to take her back into my stateroom, get her naked, and take my pleasure from her lavish body. I’ve been torturously close to it, having seen all she has to offer, seen her in total ecstasy, but not feeling it right to take my pleasure, too. I’m sure she would enjoy it. She’s blessed with a remarkable ability to climax.
But I promised her she would be under no obligation to do those things, and I can’t apply any pressure. Oh, I long for it. I can only hope that she will want it again.
I adjust our course unnecessarily, just to do something. The ship’s systems will take care of everything until we’re ready to land on Grefve.
