Page 12 of Seeded By Two

I fell into the chair as I would have back home before remembering where I was and hastily rearranged myself with my back straight and hands resting in my lap.

Just like at the Principal’s office!

“My name is Feon,” he said. “According to your documents, yours is Beth, is that correct?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Is that a common name back on your planet?”

“Yes. Pretty common. I guess there must be thousands of Beths around.”

He smiled and the light once again shimmered in his eyes. “I doubt that very much.”

His eyes drilled into mine as I realized he was paying me a compliment.

The blood rushed to my cheeks and up either side of my neck.

Sweat beaded on my forehead and I hastily wiped it away with the back of my hand.

His eyes dropped to the documents on the desk.

While he was reading, the silence deafening in my ears, I glanced over at the bed, that giant soft monster rearing up into my vision once more.

Big and huge and made for all sorts of sinful things…

“I see you’re a nurse,” he said.

I snapped back to attention and nodded. “Uh, yes. A nurse. That’s right.”

“Are you capable of supporting a child when you have one?”

“The government gives a lot of support for mothers who raise kids these days. We have a bit of a… problem with having kids naturally.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Many species are these days. But for what it’s worth, I think being a mother is one of the most honorable things any living creature can do.”

I don’t know why his opinion should mean so much to me… but it did and I beamed back like a happy child at him. “All I can do is my best,” I said.

Feon put down the document he was reading and looked at me for a long moment before seeming to come to a decision. “How would you like to be set up for the rest of your life?” he asked.

I just stared at him. “Excuse me?”

“How would you like to have all the money you will ever need in raising your child? Not with government handouts. Not with the kindness of others. But with your own money, your own funds. Would you like that?”

I didn’t know where this was coming from. “The… Seeding Facility just offers the venue for us to meet and… mate, doesn’t it?”

He nodded. “That’s correct. But what if there was a little sweetener on top? A little… cherry as you say in your language?”

I was flummoxed. “I don’t understand.”

“I can see I’m doing a poor job of explaining,” he said, looking at his hands in his lap, “so let me try again. What if you were to mate with a prince and have his child?”

Of all the questions he could have asked me, of everything he might have said, that was the very last thing I ever thought anyone would say to me.

The only thing I could think of as a way to answer was a grunt at the back of my throat:

“Huh?”

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