Page 15 of Seeded By Two

I had no intention of breaking my word. “Then for the next seven days, you will mate with the Prince.”

Beth nodded. “For the next seven days.”

I only wished I had explained to her properly who the Prince was, that he was, in fact, not me.

At least that way there was a chance we could have avoided this whole sorry business right from the very beginning…

5

ASLAS

I loathe these creatures.

These Ukmat had been the bane of the Krev Empire since time memorial.

Every time there was a random attack, every time there was an issue, it could always be traced back to these Ukmat.

We had fought them intermittently over the years.

They were not truly warriors, and therefore not great fighters, and so avoided hand-to-hand conflict as much as possible, preferring instead to attack from the shadows while our backs were turned.

But recently, after I spoke with my father, the Emperor — may he live forever — I’d succeeded in encouraging him to attack the Ukmat and show no mercy, to make them feel the pain they had inflicted upon our people for so long.

Finally, he had listened to me and we had — predictably — wiped the floor with them.

Their military was geared towards espionage attacks with stealthy assassins and not full frontal war of which we had long since perfected.

We destroyed them, and now here they sat, opposite me at the negotiating table.

They had surrendered virtually instantly — what would have been great shame in the Krev culture.

I had pushed our military into the heart of their territory as quickly as I could, knowing that at any moment, my kind and merciful father would give in to their pathetic pleas far sooner than I ever would have.

Our goal was not to take territory, to seize the colonies or other assets, but simply deliver them a message:

If you attack us, be prepared for a swift and unyielding response.

That message was undermined by my father, who did not like to see any more bloodshed than necessary.

And so, I had been called in to handle the negotiations.

I hate looking at these disgusting creatures.

They had opted to remain in their regular appearance and not shift into one that might be more appealing to me.

They were shifters, capable of morphing into any shape, assuming it was of a similar size to their original bodies.

Presenting themselves in this way was supposed to represent their contriteness and how much they respected me at the head of the negotiating table.

They were insect-like creatures, with hard brown casings and tall black spokes on the top of the heads, which was what they used to see with.

They had long powerful arms and thick abdomens where they stored their eggs and seed for when they mated.

Mated.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

As hard as I tried, I simply could not divert my thoughts from my Steyatt.

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