Page 17 of The Marriage Bargain

Delle was coming. The human woman, Zyn’s sister. I shouldn’t have been nervous, but I was. The plan that had been forming in my mind was possibly about to come to fruition.

It had begun with the revelation from Drydin about the list, confirming the rumors that using human women as breeders was true and going official. Even as I’d contemplated using whatever political pull my father’s heritage might afford me to keep Delle safe, a message had arrived over the cryptcon from Asterion. From my father to me. A troubling message, due to the implications it had over my life.

My elder brother, Zeresh, had been in a terrible transport accident, along with his mother, my father’s wife. My father’s wife had perished at the scene. Zeresh still lived, but, despite doing everything in their considerable power, the physics on Asterion didn’t hold out hope for his recovery. Even if he did recover, my half-brother—my legitimate half-brother—was likely to be a wasted shell of a male, thus rendered unfit to be an Asterion Elder.

My father, now a widower and about to lose his son, wanted me to prepare for being summoned home. Zeresh’s accident and possible death meant I might be officially named my father’s heir—something I hadn’t considered since becoming an adult and laying aside childhood dreams of a father’s acceptance and approval. Now, all of those things I had once longed for might be coming true, but at the cost of my brother’s life. A pity. Zeresh and I had never been close, but I wouldn’t have wished this upon him, or his mother.

Nor did I desire either of those outcomes, now that I was staring the reality of becoming my father’s heir and an eventual Asterion Elder in the face. Those dreams had turned to ash, leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

I felt sympathy for my father, but life as his heir meant returning to my home planet, where I’d always felt stifled and controlled. Life as an Asterion Elder meant marriage to an Asterion female of pure blood. That was the law. Asterion Elders had a duty to uphold Asterion standards, Asterion bloodlines. Which meant…what? No Delle?

She shouldn’t have entered the equation, but she had. My thoughts had flown instantly to her. I was ashamed of it, puzzled by it, and also intrigued, because thinking of her helped me puzzle out a potential solution to both of our quandaries.

I didn’t want a life on Asterion. I didn’t want to become an Elder. I’d made my peace with the pain and bitterness of being an unwanted, bastard son. I’d created a new life for myself here on Earth, out of my father’s shadow. I no longer had the slightest desire to return. Life here on Earth wasn’t filled with the grandeur I could have had on my home planet, but it was mine, and I had carved it out with my own two hands.

To remain on Earth, I would have to do something to defile myself in the esteem of my father and the Asterion nobles. I would have to marry, quickly. Marry a human female.

Once, when I was a very young man, craving nothing more than an austere father’s notice, the idea would have disgusted me.

Now, I embraced it.

But it was not any human female I wanted. There was only one.

Delle.

Ever since that snowy night at her brother-in-law’s house, I hadn’t been able to rid her from my mind. Her curves, her smile—what little I’d seen of it—her grit, and even her determination to become an architect.

There was a glitch in my plan, however. I knew that. Delle was not one of those human females who purposefully acquired jobs at the Citadel in order to flirt with an Asterion Overlord and win their way into his bed. Somehow, I knew Delle would be the exact opposite. My nervousness increased as I considered offering her not merely a marriage proposal, but a marriage bargain. A marriage bargain between a human female and an alien Overlord. How would she react?

Probably not well, but what choice did I have? What choice did she have? It was either me, or her name would soon be placed on an official list of desirable human females. It was coming, as sure as the sun would rise the next morning over this desolate Earth landscape. When that happened, I wasn’t certain even my father’s influence and connections could protect her from being gifted to the Asterion of highest rank who wanted her. Which would probably not be me.

A warning bell tinned behind me, and I spun around. A camera showed her old vehicle rolling to a stop and braking outside the Castle walls, in the parking lot closest to my office. My heart thumped in my chest, but I took a deep breath and shook myself to squelch my anxiety.

“This is nothing. Nothing. Don’t let yourself be rattled. This is nothing.”

But it wasn’t nothing. It was everything—my future here on a foreign planet. Hers, to keep from becoming a breeder of Asterion babies. An Overlord’s sex toy.

It was all I could do to shove these ideas away as I slipped on my coat and opened the door, jogging down the steps to greet her. She was half out of her truck and froze when she saw me. Her eyes widened, then narrowed. I froze as well. What? What was the matter? Did she despise me this much? I didn’t think our last meeting had ended that badly.

Perhaps I was mistaken. After a brief pause, she set both feet on the ground, and walked toward me, slamming the door of her truck.

“Hi, um, Overlord Caide.” She halted a few steps away, her hands thrust into her pockets. Discomfort rolled off her in almost visible waves. “Zyn sent me to—”

“I know,” I said, interrupting her. “The papers he needs are inside my office. Would you care to…”

I extended a hand behind me, which she regarded suspiciously.

“I don’t want to take up any of your time,” she said. “If you’ll tell me where they are, I can grab them. Or if you want to get them, I’ll wait out here.”

She didn’t wish to be alone with me. That boded ill for my scheme. How was I to be married to this woman if she wouldn’t even be alone with me?

I felt a frown slip over my features, but quickly pulled them straight. She didn’t know, I reminded myself. She didn’t know what I needed to discuss with her. Clearing my throat, I tried again.

“No need to wait outside in the cold,” I said. “If you’d care to step inside, you can be warm while you wait.”

She cocked an eyebrow, a very human expression that clearly showed her distrust.

“Don’t you know where they are? Shouldn’t take you long to grab them, should it?”

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