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Stepping forward, Kiahn carefully picks up the collar, and with his other hand, he makes a twirling motion with his finger, indicating that I should turn around. “You will need to get used to receiving such things from me, Niska,” he says, lowering the collar to my neck and fastening it at the back as I hold my hair out of the way. To my surprise, the collar gives a little electronic beep at the nape of my neck once it’s secure. “As my contract bride, you should expect me to provide expensive things for your pleasure and enjoyment.”
Turning, I stare up at him. “Is that your kink or something?” Kiahn’s brow furrows. “You love talking about all the things you’re going to buy me whenever we get a bit… carried away… so I thought… maybe… you get off on spoiling women?”
Kiahn goes incredibly still, his gorgeous green gaze boring into me. “Not women,” he grunts. “You.”
* * *
After fitting the beautiful collar around my neck, Kiahn had made me grip the large, dangling teardrop shaped stone, and explained that it’s not a jewel at all. In fact, it’s a piece of technology that is used to read my finger prints among other things. Once I’d curled my hand around the not-stone for five seconds, I felt the thing gently vibrate twice in my hand, apparently indicating that it had been activated and the collar will now only open to my touch.
Kiahn had explained that throughout the history of these strange breeding contracts, there have been instances of males being so driven by their instincts to bite, that they would rip the collar from the female. So, even though the thought of my whole neck being encased in this golden cage felt a little stifling at first, it soon started to feel like a piece of armor.
Wearing the collar around the palace is another new experience. Before, when Lois, Jaya and I had been exploring, we noticed the various Xavia
But, walking around with this big neon sign that I’m their prince’s ‘bride’? They damn near snapped their necks to come and introduce themselves to me, offering everything from their eternal friendship, to use of their vacation planet.
“You’ll find everyone will want to curry favor with you, now,” Vel gri
“And everyone wants to please K, though not many do. Isn’t that right, brother?” Az teases as he leans back on his dining chair. He is -for once- wearing a shirt, but it’s more of a vest, and with the way he raises his arms behind his horned head as he gleefully grins over at Kiahn, he may as well be shirtless. I glance to Lois beside me, catching the way her spork hovers mid-way to her mouth, her gaze fixed very decidedly on the bulging biceps of the alien she definitely doesn’t have a thing for. She only allows herself a few seconds of gawking before her cheeks bloom pink and she busies herself with the rest of her meal.
Kiahn clears his throat. “Actually, I think you’ll find I’m quite easy to please,” he says, dabbing at the corner of his mouth with an intricately embroidered napkin. “Just because you two deeply unpleasant gelikliks have never achieved it, doesn’t mean it ca
Lady Zalora mutters something about name-calling at the di
“What?” Kiahn asks.
Za
“Boys,” Lady Zalora grinds out, the warning falling on deaf ears.
Kiahn glares at his brother down the table. “Who says I’ve lightened up at all?”
“Because if this whole thing with Xoe had come out before you got your gorgeous little gift here -said with all due respect-” he adds, casually pointing his spork in my direction, chewing as he gives me a wink “-then I’m pretty sure you’d have forced me into a contract by now… or exiled me.”
“Don’t fucking tempt me, Za
Za
Kiahn shifts in his seat, sighing. “I do not think pretty baubles will cut it this time.”
Za
Lady Zalora lifts a hand, indicating something to the servants that hover along the edges of the room. One hurries forth, carrying a silver tray. Sat on the tray is a tumbler glass containing a small amount of a black liquid that I know to be a very strong liquor. Kiahn had offered some of it to me back on the ship, but I’d taken one sniff of the stuff and concluded it was likely strong enough to make me forget my own name. Lady Zalora, on the other hand - she downs the shot swiftly in one, murmuring low to the servant to bring another. “If you’re looking for ways to enrage that girl’s father and in turn, the king, by all means, engage in a contract where you two do not mate,” she says to Za
“Well, then we’ll just have to make use of some contraceptives, won’t we?” he throws back, and just as the words leave his mouth, Vel drops her glass, spilling the fruit drink all over the crisp white tablecloth.
There’s a commotion of gasps as well as a rush of servants leaping forward to clean up the spill. Amongst the fluster, I can’t help but feel flushed as I make eye contact with not only Lois and Jaya, but Vel and Lady Zalora too.
It’s Kiahn’s aunt who recovers quickest, ushering forward the servant offering more of that black liquor, and picking up where Za
Somehow, I feel like she’s talking to me. Vel had given me the contraceptives that I’m to use with Kiahn. They are tiny pills that melt on my tongue that I need to ingest just before doing the deed. Vel had said that they wouldn’t be detected on anything - whatever that means. And, if Kiahn questions them, to lie and say that they are fertility enhancers that humans commonly use.
I glance at Kiahn beside me. He’s staring daggers at his youngest brother while he repeatedly stabs at his salad-like side dish with his spork.
I don’t like the thought of lying to him.
But I don’t want to have a baby right now either.
It’s all for the mission. It’s all for the mission. It’s all for the mission, I remind myself, glancing at Lois and Jaya. We all need to stay safe. It might be a lie, but it’s a lie with a purpose - a pretty good one, too. And, it’s not like he’ll care. He’ll be on to the next contract before either of us know it.
Something twists in my chest, but I don’t need any further complications right now, so I stuff all my thoughts to the back of my mind. It feels somewhat reminiscent of how I used to shove all my crap into my closet back when I was a kid, and my mom had said she’s coming to check to see if I’d tidied my room. I used to vow to myself that I’d deal with all that shit later.
I never did.
“Oh, my horns!” Vel exclaims, covering her mouth with her hands.
When I look up to her, I half expect her to have knocked something else over. But she hasn’t. She’s looking directly at me.
“Oh,” Az says glancing between me and Kiahn.
“What?” I have no idea why everyone’s looking at me now. I’m not the one who spilled the drink, nor the one who’s been talking about contraceptives at the di
Za
I am utterly lost. “Regular in what way? What is it?” Turning to Kiahn, I see his napkin balled up in a fist on the tabletop as he stares at my chest. His lips part softly and I swear he’s showing a hint of fang. He’s not looking at my cleavage, though. It’s higher than that. His eyes are firmly fixed on the base of my neck where the large piece of tech that looks like a teardrop diamond rests. I look down at myself, surprised to see that it’s changed color. It’s now the deepest, richest, blood red, making the thing glitter like a giant ruby. And… I swear it’s glowing.
“Whoa, why’s it doing that?” Lois asks, staring at the stone now too.
It’s with a hoarse voice that Kiahn answers from beside me; “because my bride is now perfectly fertile.”