Alien Prince: (Bride of Qetesh) An Alien SciFi Romance (48 page)

He led us to a small room where Novalyn sat on a table. The space was stark and white, and the table was silver. The entire room was bare, save for a small control panel by the door.
“
Odrik, please step out.
”

“
No!
”
Novalyn protested.
“
He can stay.
”

Tymer bristled, his lips pursed.
“
Fine,
”
he said between clenched teeth.
“
But you will need to disrobe.
”

“
It is nothing he has not already seen,
”
Novalyn said, a small smile playing on her lips as she tugged her gown off over her head.

“
Nor I,
”
Tymer mused, and I shot a glare at him. Novalyn laid her naked form down on the table, and Tymer hit a few buttons on the control panel that made the room go dark. Then, a projection of Novalyn
’
s anatomy appeared in the air over her body. It was her skin, then her muscles, then her bones, then her organs, with bright patches lighting up where it detected injury or anomaly: her ankle, her inner thigh, her belly.

Tymer manipulated the machine at the console and it focused in on her ankle. He examined the readout on the screen.
“
Just a sprain,
”
he remarked.
“
I can fix that right up for you, if you like.
”

“
Yes, please,
”
Novalyn said.
“
I
’
m sick of limping around on it.
”

Tymer hit a few keys and the ceiling opened up. A long white tube descended, peering around the room like a snake
’
s head until it coiled itself around Novalyn
’
s injured ankle. She gasped through her teeth as the white tube began to glow red, but she heaved a sigh of relief when it uncoiled itself and lifted up to linger above the anatomical projection.

“
Better?
”
Tymer asked, and she gave a few tentative flexes of her foot.

“
Completely,
”
she marveled,
“
thank you.
”

“
How does it
— ”
But Tymer cut me off, as though I were not in the room at all.

“
And the lacerations on your thigh. Shall I close them up as well?
”

“
Yes.
”

I recalled how I had tended to her, how my ministrations had been what had originally brought us together, and felt the tiniest pang of regret as she spread her legs and the device descended to lay lines of white foam on her cuts. When the tube sucked the foam up again, it was as though her thigh had never been bitten at all.

“
Spectacular,
”
she mused quietly.
“
And now all I need is a hot shower to feel totally normal.
”

She sat up, but Tymer advanced, his hand raised.
“
Just a moment,
”
he said quietly and glanced between the two of us.
“
The machine is reading a tertiary issue in your lower abdomen.
”

“
What?
”
She blinked and lay back down, her hands resting on her stomach.

“
The diagnostic procedure is somewhat more
…
invasive for this one, I
’
m afraid,
”
Tymer said gently.

“
How do you mean, invasive?
”
I asked.

“
We
’
ll have to go in intravaginally, but it won
’
t hurt, and it should only take a moment.
”

“
Are you a doctor?
”
Novalyn demanded; Tymer blushed.

“
No. But I can interpret the readouts on this machine. Anyone can, really. That
’
s the beauty of it.
”

“
Fine,
”
Novalyn sighed.

“
Very good,
”
Tymer said.
“
Put your feet flat on the table so that your knees are bent, and spread your thighs apart
—
yes, just like that. Let your knees wing out to the side. And just relax.
”

I watched her as the flower of her sex bloomed, watched as she averted her gaze and the tubular device descended once more from the ceiling. I watched as it lubricated itself from a series of tiny holes around its perimeter and inserted itself into her.

Another projection appeared above her, then, black and aqueous, with a small, brown center that pulsed and fluttered. I narrowed my eyes at it, even as the room was filled with sounds like being submerged under water. She turned her head to peer at it then as well.
“
Is that
…
?
”
She squinted, and I saw all the color drain from her face.
“
Is that a sonogram?
”

“
It is,
”
Tymer confirmed.

Novalyn looked at me, her eyes wide with shock. But I did not understand what it signified until Tymer Mafaren gave us the news:
“
You are pregnant.
”

What!? Pregnant!

You know, I had come to expect certain strange things, like a magic doctor machine with tubes that come out of the ceiling to probe you. These odd occurrences had become part of my everyday life ever since I
’
d been plucked out of my crappy little apartment and rocketed to the stars. Funny how the strangest things seem suddenly routine. Flesh-eating plants? Yeah, okay. Spaceships? Old hat. In-ear translation devices that allowed me to understand every language that has ever existed? Over it. But as soon as I was informed I was something as common as pregnant, my brain began to overload. I rejected it outright:
“
No, that
’
s impossible,
”
I said.
“
There must be something wrong with the machine.
”

“
I assure you,
”
Tymer gently intoned,
“
there is no mistake.
”

I had been naked during the examination, but I didn
’
t actually feel exposed until I was sitting upright on the table, when I began to cry. Tymer, to his credit, fetched me a soft terrycloth robe which he wrapped about my shoulders, even as Odrik looked on, dumbfounded.

“
Listen to me, Novalyn,
”
Tymer murmured, rubbing my shoulders.
“
You shall not be forced to bring this pregnancy to term. You can take care of it, and the two of us can
— ”

“
All right,
”
I interjected, shrugging him off,
“
I think before we schedule my appointment at Planned Parenthood, you should probably just take me somewhere to shower, sleep, and think for a hot second.
”
I turned my head just enough to eye him in my periphery, and he looked rather deflated. Good, I thought. I liked the idea that I
’
d taken a little air out of him.

“
As you wish,
”
he said.
“
I
’
ll fetch you some clothes and something to eat as well.
”

“
And Odrik will stay with me,
”
I said, and I could sense that Odrik had perked up, though I wasn
’
t looking at him.
“
Find us somewhere with room for two.
”

Tymer gave a little half-bow and turned on his heel.
“
Follow me, please,
”
he said, and we did.

Tymer gave us something rather more luxurious than the cell I
’
d awakened in when I had first arrived on the Atria: a suite with a sitting room that had an actual window with a stunning view of the stars and the planet below. The bedroom boasted a king-sized bed replete with a down comforter and plush feather pillows in pristine white with silver thread detailing. The room was carpeted, also in white, and the bedside tables and desk were a sort of white marble with chrome fixtures. There was a marble bath with a Jacuzzi tub and a steam shower with glass doors, and in the sitting room, there was a crystal chandelier over a sunken living space. I don
’
t think I
’
d ever stayed anywhere as beautiful as this room. Everything was controlled by a panel next to the door: lighting, temperature, music. Even the images in the picture frames above a faux fireplace would be changed with the press of a button. So I took the liberty of setting it to cool with dim lighting, no music, and images of a rainy afternoon on Earth on the walls.

Tymer had the decency to leave us, indicating that we would gather for supper with his mother and the ambassadors in the early evening, but that we were otherwise left to our own devices.

Once alone, I dropped languorously down onto a plush white divan and reveled in the feel of the velveteen. I had to admit, it was pleasant to be out of that harsh wilderness.

“
That man,
”
Odrik said, sitting tentatively on the edge of the sofa.
“
You know him.
”

“
Yes,
”
I confirmed.
“
He
’
s why I
’
m here at all.
”

“
And how is that, exactly?
”

And I told him the story. I told him where I was from, and how I had been dating
—
and then I had to explain what
“
dating
”
was
—
and how I
’
d met Tymer and hadn
’
t known who or what he was.

“
And he would have you stay aboard this ship with him,
”
Odrik noted, and I could do nothing but bob my head in affirmation.
“
Is that what you want?
”

“
No, certainly not.
”

“
And does the fact that you are with child have any bearing on how you feel about staying with me?
”

“
Of course it does,
”
I said, perhaps too quickly.
“
But I don
’
t know that it should.
”

He gave a simple nod of his head and rose to his feet, wandering over to the picture window where he could look out at his home planet below. I joined him, hugging the robe tight about my shoulders, and peered out with him. The planet was beautiful, lush and green and blue, like Earth, though with no continents that I could discern. It filled the lower half of our large picture window.

“
They spared your life today, Odrik,
”
I whispered,
“
but what happens tomorrow?
”

He scoffed and did not turn his head to look at me.
“
I can beat him in a fair fight.
”

“
But what if you don
’
t?
”

“
Thank you for the vote of confidence.
”
He turned his back to me and walked to the center of the room. He was oddly out of place, this gruff, hypermasculine tribesman with his raw leather breeches and bare chest. No part of him fit in this space. And maybe that
’
s why Tymer gave me this room, to show me where I belonged, and where Odrik did not.

“
You don
’
t get to be pissy with me right now,
”
I asserted.

“
What does
‘
pissy
’
mean?
”

“
It means you
’
re
…
behaving badly. And you don
’
t get to, not right after I found out I was pregnant. Me, not you! Don
’
t you understand that I am freaking out?
”
And I hadn
’
t realized, really, that I was until I said so. I immediately deflated into tears, my cries coming out in wracking sobs as I wilted to the floor. Odrik was at my side in an instant, one arm wrapped around my shoulders and crushing me to him.