Alien Romance: The Alien's Vanished Princess: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Romance, Alien Invasion Romance, BBW) (Space Beasts Book 4) Read online

  Still, although he seemed somewhat reserved and formal, and had to limit the length of his calls due to the constant demands on his time, Brenn had managed to catch her attention in ways that worried her a little. She wished that she could say but she wasn't at all attracted to him. Instead, she had to admit it. She was drawn to him, sexually, maybe even emotionally--and she was fighting it with everything that she had.

  Temporis existed inside of a pocket of temporal flux that had been discovered just outside of the edge of the Crab Nebula. It was a small world, with slightly less gravity than Earth, a lush, unpolluted environment dominated by vast temperate rainforests, and three inhabited moons. The moons were essentially factory bases, where raw materials were shipped and processed. There, they could not spread their pollution on the planet's surface.

  Temporis was an entirely self-sustaining system, which had only started to take an interest in the outside galaxy after visitors from Earth had arrived. It was virtually isolated by the temporal anomaly that surrounded its solar system. This anomaly had a dual effect on the world and its population. Although it rendered those who lived there unusually long-lived, It also forced them to exist at an accelerated pace compared to the rest of the galaxy. For every year that passed in the outside galaxy, twenty-five Earth years passed on Temporis.

  This at least partially explained their glacial and disorganized response to outside requests, such as the ones from her family. But it also meant that during the year that Moira and her mother had been waiting for word from Tara, she had been gone for a quarter century locally.

  It was passing through the flux itself that had Moira worried currently. The flux interacted unusually with subspace, causing a sudden and tremendous acceleration which made it very easy to overshoot the planet entirely. Before improvements had been made in shipboard navigation computers, Initial forays into the system by Earth craft had almost always resulted in disaster.

  The first such ship had slammed into the uninhabited side of Temporis's third moon, killing everyone on board. If a salvage crew from Temporis had not investigated the crash and reached out toward Earth as a result of what they found, communication between the two worlds would never have been properly established. Now, even with the fancy new computers, there was a significant risk.

  Moira has allowed Brenn to know that she was afraid of the trip. Showing vulnerability in such a way seemed like a good guarantee of keeping his interest--whether he was interested in her, or interested in preying on her. He had taken the bait, being quick and firm in his reassurance. You will survive, little one. You will likely only end up with a little bit of disorientation as a result of passing through the flux. The days of tragic crashes is long over.

  Do you really think so? She hadn't been simpering. She had been genuinely worried, but simply revealing it in order to intrigue him, and make herself seem more fragile, needy and impressionable. Moira was not a good liar. That had always been Tara’s trick. So she had used an honest, if exaggerated, vulnerability, and reminded herself over and over again to ignore the faint, warm feeling of comfort that she got when he reassured her.

  I am going there on a job, she had told herself repeatedly. I am there on a mission, and the fact that I am marrying him as my excuse is completely irrelevant. It's just an act.

  Trust me, he had purred in his deep, silky voice, in response to her expressed worries. You will be all right.

  She had forced a smile, playing at simply being nervous, but under it all, thinking: Trust you? That's a tall order.

  She had never met anyone as self-assured as Brenn in her life. The more she talked to him, the more she was struck by it. She already knew from dealing with adolescent boys all school year long, that was a lot of males of any age or species, the self-confidence was more or less a pretense. They kept up the facade of being completely sure of themselves, because if they did not, it was showing vulnerability. Especially with the young, that left them open to attack--or at least humiliating mockery--by their own kind. Men did not respect men who showed any vulnerability. But the play at invulnerability made it harder for women to trust them, since after all, it made them seem very full of themselves at times.

  That was certainly the case with the King. No matter what the subject they brought up, he acted as if he was an expert in it. Sometimes he was--such as when they discussed the history of Earth space travel--but other times, such as when he had claimed to fully understand the minds of women, it had been all she could do to keep from contradicting him.

  She knew she had to keep on his good side until she found her sister. Otherwise, her own story might end with her in a shallow grave. But it was frustrating, sometimes, playing audience to his lengthy discourses on this or that subject. Fortunately for her, with a voice like that, he could have read her school's attendance lists to her for an hour and still have sounded interesting.

  The ship commlink crackled, and she heard the pilot's voice speak in a bored tone. “We'll be reaching the border of the Temporis system's temporal anomaly in five minutes. Please engage restraint systems, and secure any loose belongings.”

  Moira sighed and checked around, but her water cup and lunch tray had already been retrieved by the droid attendant. Five minutes to the anomaly, and then perhaps another twenty until they made landfall. It felt at once like It was too long to wait, and not long enough. She was impatient to get started investigating her sister's disappearance, but at the same time she was very nervous about meeting Brenn face to face. After all, he intended to marry her almost as soon as she stepped off the spaceship.

  She really wondered what his hurry was. This was going to be their first meeting in the flesh, after all. What would happen if it turned out that they didn't get along? What was the point of being so hasty? She was stuck planetside until another Earth shuttle arrived. It wasn't as if she was going anywhere. Why didn't he want to take his time?

  At least it’s not like he can use our married status to retrieve me once I escape the planet, with or without Tara.

  She might never know why Brenn was in such a rush. This was a situation in which Tara would have flourished. She had been just as impatient to get the knot tied--and get herself that sweet, sweet crown, title and cash. It made Moira uncomfortable by contrast--but she supposed that she would have to just go along with it, since after all if she seemed reluctant to follow his lead, he would probably be suspicious as well as offended. That was the last thing that she needed right now.

  The ship shuddered suddenly, and she saw the glowing stars outside get even more indistinct. Slowly, the streaks seemed to widen out, until an even plane of faint silvery light gleamed through the viewport. The ship shuddered again, and she closed her eyes, gripping the armrests of her passenger seat as hard as she could. Mom had said this would take less than thirty seconds. Just stay calm. Stay focused.

  But she was trembling, and her heartbeat sounded hard in her ears by the time that the ship finally stabilized, and the stars turned back into streaks of light again.

  Moira heaved a huge sigh of relief. Well, she wasn't dead.

  “Negotiating landing clearance,” the pilot said in that same smooth, bored voice. Moira looked around at the other empty seats in the cabin, wishing that at least she had some company for the wait. But almost nobody went to Temporis. The time difference alone tended to put people off. Some took advantage of it, essentially stretching their meager vacation time into months or even years . But most of them simply found the culture-clash too much for them. Some even got uncomfortable in such clean air. Some had violent allergy attacks when the only thing polluting the air was pollen and ozone. Others panicked when they had to deal with actual wild animals. Some ended up saying or bitten by this or that bug, and had a huge reaction due to their unaccustomed bodies’ complete lack of a proportionate histamine response. Earth humans simply weren't used to nature anymore, and Temporis had plenty of it. It was actually one of the few things that she was looking forward to when it came to going th
ere. It seemed that she was in the extreme minority with that opinion, and her choice to go. It left her feeling…very lonely.

  Is Mom going to be all right without me for a while? I’m as much doing this for her as for Tara. But even with the full-time attendant I hired, she’s back there in that filthy city alone. And me...I’m going to a place full of aliens who don’t give a damn about us. Entering into a sham wedding with a guy who might be hot, but also might be a murderer. How am I going to fake trusting him and wanting him enough to sleep with him, or even let him touch me?

  She was afraid suddenly--not of the landing, but of what was to come afterwards. Facing Brenn would be an acid test that made going through the flux border feel like child’s play. Have I made a terrible mistake? What's going to happen to me here?

  “Initiating landing sequence.” The pilot’s bland voice did nothing to calm her. She checked the chronometer medallion around her neck and closed her eyes. Less than five minutes left and then, after a short trip from the spaceport, she would be facing Brenn for the first time.

  She forced herself to do some deep breathing, trying to calm her pounding heart. He would understand that she was frightened from her trip. He would not understand if she was suddenly acting like she was frightened of him.

  Moira wished for the first time in her life that she actually was a good liar. Most of all, she wished that she had some way of deceiving herself. She had to find a way to make sure that she didn't flinch when he touched her. But at the same time, she had to make sure that she didn't actually fall for him. The waves of fear that she struggled with now simply reminded her that she was not in control of her own heart. He might not be either, but that didn't help her right now.

  A few moments later, she felt the transport vibrate as it started making landfall. She gripped the armrests of her seat tightly, and kept focusing on her breathing. She was smart. Brenn liked her. And although he was very intelligent, he constantly overestimated himself as well.

  It might not take much to maintain his conviction that she was falling in love with him. As for what would happen when the wedding was done and he finally took her to his chambers for consummation, she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

  Chapter 3: The Liar Bride

  The first thing that struck her when she stepped off the transport onto the crystalline landing pad was how strange it was to be out of doors without a respirator on. Her face felt naked; she shivered a little in the fresh, cool air, and the unfiltered sunlight stung her eyes.

  The overload of unfamiliar sensations disoriented her, and she stumbled on her way down the ramp, barely catching herself on the handrail. She was so distracted that for a moment she didn't notice the small army of blue-uniformed soldiers waiting for her at the bottom of the ramp. Then she did, and hesitated before stepping down to join them.

  A tall, aging Temporan stepped forward from the crowd of soldiers, his heavily decorated blue robes distinguishing him as some kind of government official. He bowed, and looked up with her with his pale eyes. “I am Janis, Chief Advisor to King Brenn. It is my duty to receive you, and deliver you to my liege for your wedding.”

  Moira felt her breath catch in her throat, and had to force a smile. “Thank you for receiving me,” she managed after a moment. “Lead on.”

  The soldiers closed ranks around her, and she suddenly realized that they were not just an honor guard, but were physically protecting her. She didn't really understand why this was necessary, but as she looked around, she realized that the spaceport was completely surrounded by wilderness.

  Tall trees pressed in on every side. A number of roads branched out into the forest from the central, round complex, which was dotted with landing pads, and the whole area was a bustle of activity.

  Hover vehicles unloaded goods from cargo transports, a crowd of workers in dark, plain jumpsuits lined up to get aboard a shuttle that was likely taking them to the factory moons, and maintenance droids buzzed around, tending and fueling the transports and carrying bits of equipment back and forth. With all the distractions, and the concealing forest all around, it was the perfect place for an ambush.

  “My liege will be waiting for you,” Janis said quietly as they walked. “We have assigned you a personal attendant from amongst his staff, who will help you to dress and prepare yourself. The ceremony is very straightforward. The priest will lock the bracelets on both of you, and then you will retire to King Brenn’s chambers to consummate the marriage. The King must return to duty within two days, but I will be around after that to help you settle in. Do you have any questions?”

  Moira’s head was spinning. She was going to be expected to sleep with Brenn right off the bat. He certainly was attractive, and maybe she could force herself to focus on that, but she wondered what would happen if she just froze. She had no idea what kind of a lover this guy would be. Maybe she would be lucky, and he would get it over with quickly.

  “What are my duties as Queen?” She finally asked in a low voice as they walked down one of the side paths toward a large, hovering personnel carrier with the King’s crescent-shaped, dark blue seal on the side.

  He pursed his lips briefly. “Your duties are actually fairly limited. You will be expected to appear with the King at public functions. You will be expected to accommodate him where mating is concerned, and you will be expected to bear and raise his children. Other than that, your time will be your own. You will be provided with a small allowance for any financial needs that you should have outside of what is supplied by the palace. They should be minimal, unless you have unusual expenses, such as some medical need that you did not disclose to us.”

  She hesitated, wondering if she should ask for sedatives since they were on the subject. She certainly had a use for them at the moment. But since she didn't yet know how her body would react to any of the indigenous medicines, she finally shook her head. “I might need standard-spectrum antihistamines. I'm not used to the pollen of the plants of this world.”

  “That is understandable. When Earth people visit here, that is their most common request.” He turned and murmured into the ear of a short female aide with close-cropped hair, who noted something down on a transparent tablet.

  They made their way to the transport, the soldiers filing inside first, followed by herself, Janis and the aide. Inside was lined with padded seats that reminded her a little uncomfortably of the Earth ship that she had just left. The difference was that the walls were transparent from the inside, allowing her to see all the way around.

  She felt herself going numb as she strapped herself into the seat inside. Everything seemed to recede a little bit, and if she was watching the proceedings on a holoprojector instead of living through them. Janis set next to her, and every once in awhile he asked her a question which she would answer through cold, unfeeling lips. Most of them had to do with her body measurements, and she realized after a moment that they were figuring out how to tailor her wedding dress.

  The transport rumbled to life, and started to float down one of the forest roads, that presumably led off to the capitol. She stared out at the walls of greenery to either side, watching trees bigger and healthier than she had ever seen flash past, and occasionally catching a glimpse of some of the local wildlife as well. Most of the creatures she still seemed to be birds, flightless or not.

  A flock of something that looked like black ostriches lifted their heads as the transport flew past, a few of them with strips of moss hanging from their beaks. A bright green, falcon-like bird flew past with a snake hanging dead from its talons. A flock of iridescent creatures burst from one of the bushes as they passed, and it took her a moment to realize that they weren't birds at all, but bird-sized beetles.

  She said back in her seat and closed her eyes, focusing again on breathing deep. Janis noticed this, and sat quietly for a while before tilting his head and asking, “are you quite all right?”

  She forced a smile. “I'm fine. The environment is somewhat disorientin
g. There's a lot more... life out here than back on Earth.”

  “Yes, that is true. As I understand it, Earth’s pollution levels have killed off most of your world’s indigenous life. Fortunately almost none of our own native flora or fauna is hazardous. I would not suggest walking alone in the forest, but that is more because we worry about your betrothed’s political rivals causing trouble than anything else.”

  “I understand.” It would be difficult for her to conduct an investigation into her sister’s disappearance if she couldn’t go anywhere unaccompanied, but maybe she could find a way around it.

  The numbness inside of her continued to grow, as the trees thinned out and the gleaming white spires of the Capitol rose in the distance. As it loomed closer and closer she saw that the city was walled, the entire thing built like a fortress, with garrisons stationed just outside the walls. “Are there often attacks on the Capitol?” she heard herself ask.

  “The King and his predecessor both completed the conquests necessary to unify the planet, but unfortunately there are still those who opposed the unification. Rebel factions occasionally attack. However, it has been almost a year since the last real problem, so I doubt that we will be seeing any further attacks of any magnitude.” Janis offered her a reassuring smile.

  “That’s good to know,” she said, mostly because she imagined that it was expected of her. She didn’t actually care. It was steadily growing so hard to care about anything that she wondered if she had been drugged, or was simply going into shock.

  Eventually they paused at a massive drawbridge which lowered for them, revealing the tower and column filled city within. The transport continued inside, and she looked back at the forest until the drawbridge closed and hid it from her sight entirely.