Page 58 of Mated to the Alien Warlord

"You have to promise to tell me the moment you feel a chill," he demanded.

I nodded. I would have much rather been uncomfortable than allow Murtagh to get sick, but the weather had warmed a bit. Not enough to shed our furs, but at least we didn't need the face coverings, at least for a few hours around midday, and for the first time in a long time, we traveled all day, reaching Grymburg in the late afternoon.

Grymburg, like Wyrkymburg, was an impressive stronghold. The large drawbridge creaked and groaned as it was lowered over what appeared to be quicksand. And I felt just as uneasy riding over it as I had over Wyrkymburg's. I was glad when we rode through a short tunnel into the courtyard, where a tall man, who was undoubtedly Warlord Brogan, and a petite human woman by his side, greeted us.

Warlord Brogan greeted the khazar, Kendryx, and Vandor, while the human woman approached me.

"Hello there, I'm Alahna, Warlord Brogan's mate."

By all rights, she should have introduced herself as Lady Alahna. That she didn't showed me that she put as little value in titles as me, and I liked her instantly.

"I'm Damaris. Warlord Vandor's mate," I introduced myself, leaving my title off too, and not mentioning that I was also a princess. Something I tended to forget most of the time anyway.

"And you have a baby," she exclaimed.

The men were done with their greetings and Vandor lifted Murtagh and me out of the saddle, so I stood eye level with Alahna. Up close, I noticed her beautiful golden-green eyes, which regarded me warmly.

"This is Murtagh," I introduced.

"Well, you two must be frozen solid. Let me show you to your chamber where you can take a bath while the men talk their menfolk talk."

I smiled. "That sounds amazing."

Alahna led me up the stairs to the upper floors where we ran into another human woman who Alahna enthusiastically introduced.

"This is Christina, Chrissy. Chrissy, would you like to join Damaris and me?"

"Is that a baby?" Chrissy exclaimed, while I eyed the taller woman with fire red hair. She wore curious

white clothing that looked almost obscene because it was so skintight, not leaving much to the imagination, showing off a lean, well-muscled body. The most surprising fact though was that Chrissy spoke in a language I hadn't heard in a long time, English. And for the first time, I was grateful to my father for having forced me to learn the tongue of our ancestors, even though at the time, I had moaned and groaned about it, since I thought nobody spoke it any longer.

I introduced my son. "This is Murtagh, my son."

"Damaris is mated to a warlord, like me," Alahna explained, and if she was surprised that I spoke English too, she didn't show it.

"Vandor," I gave my mate's name.

"Here." We walked through a hallway and reached an open door. Inside servants rushed about, putting up warm refreshments, clothing, and stoked a fire in the gas fireplace.

"You and a Thyre had a baby?" Chrissy asked, aghast.

Something in her tone took me off guard, and I said a bit defensively. "I'm not the first."

"Did he… did he force you?" Chrissy asked with pity in her voice, and I stared at her in shock, turning to Alahna I gave Alahna a questioning look.What's wrong with her?

"Chrissy is not from Thyre. She and others came from Earth." Alahna's words stunned me even more.

"Earth?" I asked, giving my tongue full reign, since my brain was either frozen or still tried to digest the news. "Did more humans come from Earth to join us?"

Alahna hedged, "They didn't exactly come to join us," and looked quickly into an adjoining room.

"We came to free you from the Thyre oppression," Chrissy's answer took me even more aback. What was going on here?

"Thyre oppression?" I repeated, staring from Chrissy to Alahna. "We're not oppressed."

"Why don't you take a hot bath first to warm up? We can discuss all this after," Alahna suggested, but even though a bath sounded heavenly, especially a warm one, I was too confused to just hop into a tub right now.

So instead, I assured her, "I'm fine. This seems more pressing. What's going on?"

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