Page 95 of Alien Prince's Fake Bride
Mareliux sighs loudly. “There exist visuals of the wedding. From several angles. They even show me fainting with the immense strength of the Syntrix bond between me and Umbra. Was that theater, too? The Crown Prince fainting? Was that aplay?”
“I have in my life seen many entertainments on the visual,” Preniat says flatly. “Weddings are a common feature of some of those productions. Those are all fake weddings, featuring actors. Nobody would think that they are real. For a marriage to be real, the wedding must be. And the most important part is the legal document, signed in front of witnesses. I would have expected to be asked to witness such a signing, being the only quaestoron Grefve at the time and the sole representative of the Imperial Court, apart from yourself, in that solar system. Was such a document signed, Your Highness?”
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- Umbra-
Mareliux draws breath to say something, but at the same time Caret’ax comes up behind him and whispers something into his ear.
“Ah,” the Prince says. “Dear guests!”
Everyone looks at him, and the room goes quiet.
“It appears a large force of Vyrpy has attacked the Vark system, and our forces are being driven back. The enemy is moving fast and will be here, threatening Khav, in a few days. If they’re not stopped.”
The old widows gasp.
Mareliux smirks. “As luck would have it, I am here, ready to go and fight them and kick them out of the Empire!”
There’s applause and cheers from old throats. Crusty, moist eyes look at him dreamily. “Our warrior prince!”
“We shall kick them even further,” the prince goes on. “Until they forget all about conquering our Empire and retreat back under the rocks they crawled out from. It shall be a pleasure. But regrettably, it means that Princess Umbra and I must now leave this wonderful gathering.”
There’s more sighing and admiring looks from watery old eyes.
Mareliux squeezes my hand. “My love, we must leave. Quaestor, doubtless everything you seek is on the way from Grefve. It has only been a few days, and with the Vyrpy attacking the base right after, I’m sure it would take some time before the House of Nobles will receive it from the Imperial Messengers. It is the law that battle-relevant messages must be given high priority, and so mere bureaucratic minutiae may be delayed. Farewell.”
The crowd parts, the old duchesses bowing as we pass them on the way out.
Flanked by guards we make our way to the transport, which takes us a few hundred feet to a small, unobtrusive door that looks like a servant’s entrance. We’re ushered inside a warehouse. It’s full of various alien equipment that I can’t identify, before we walk past long rows of robots that are just standing there, turned off.
“In most parts of the palace, only living servants are allowed,” Mareliux explains. “But robots are used for many other things.”
“From tradition?” I make a guess.
“That is the official explanation,” he says. “Really it’s for security. A robot once got its programming messed up and killed a whole room of nobles before anyone could stop it. And there’s always the danger of those machines recording and spying.”
“AIs can do that, too,” I point out.
“Not saying the explanation is a good one,” he agrees as we climb wide stairs with long steps that tax my thigh muscles. “Robots were the first AIs we had. So the rules for them were strict in the beginning, and they haven’t really let up. Other AIs have fewer restrictions on them. Ah, here we are.” He opens a door and holds it open for me. “Another hiding place, I’m afraid. But this one is special.”
I step inside. It’s a comfortable apartment that smells new. There are huge windows on three walls, and the place reminds me more of a classy penthouse from a reality show on Earth than any room I’d ever find on Khav. There’s normal, human-size furniture with accents in dark, walnut-like wood, as well as exposed metal here and there. There are lamps and chairs and tables and a part that looks a lot like a fancy kitchen, with islands and sinks and all kinds of appliances. It’s a mix of hyper modern and classic, timeless design. There are artworks on the walls, in colors that match the rest, as well as a couple of sculptures that are too abstract for my simple mind to understand. The mix of styles makes the place feel both homey and exclusive.
“There should be no eavesdropping in this place,” Mareliux says. “This was all built by loyal army people. I will request a full Calanian Guards company to stand guard. Outside the building and on the first floor. It’s uncommon for them to protect anyone but the Emperor, but your safety is of the greatest importance.”
I sit down on a designer couch, finding it refreshing not to have to jump up on it. “Was this all made for me?”
“For us,” Mareliux says. “I ordered it a few days ago when I realized that we might need a place that’s really safe. Bellatriz saved a lot of data from the transmissions around Earth, andshe thought that this might remind you of home. It’s all custom made. Two hundred craftsmen made this in record time.”
“I made blueprints for them,”Bellatriz says. “For every piece of furniture. I took some details from various homes that I saw were popular in the visual entertainments on your planet.”
“It’s incredible,” I state, genuinely impressed. “It could be an apartment on Earth. And that…” I stand up to be able to get a better view, “...is Chicago. So the windows are all screens?”
“You can pick a different view,” Mareliux says, demonstrating it. “From Khav or Earth or space. Or any planet in the Empire. It’s just much safer without actual windows.”
“Ican pick,” I echo, hearing the emphasis in his voice. “Because you’ll be leaving now.”
He walks over to a big window that shows the Tribune East Tower. “The borders of the Empire must be defended. The Vyrpy are alarmingly close with a large fleet. Our own forces are spread out through the Empire.”
