Page 22 of The Marriage Bargain

Again, my throat seized up on me. I was having difficulty breathing.

He wasn’t lying. It wasn’t some crazy story or a rumor he made up to convince me. It’s true.

“I guess some women are coming in to get checkups and make sure they’re in good physical health for getting pregnant,” my sister rattled on, drawing my attention back to her. “Again, either voluntarily or their new mates are having them do it. They want women with the highest chance of fertility.”

Highest chance of fertility. My sister was very fertile. That’s how my name had popped up, Overlord Caide had said. That’s how the strange alien at the gate two weeks ago knew who I was.

Cold fear gripped my spine, freezing me in place, staring helplessly at my pregnant sister. Two weeks. Two weeks had already gone by. Was I claimed and didn’t know it yet? Was there time to flee? Get the hell out of Dodge? Or should I—

The unthinkable calmly reinserted itself into my reasoning.

Go back to Overlord Caide. See if his offer still stands. He made you a bargain. A pretty fair one, at that. Zyn respects him. Says he’s a good guy. Yes, it’s horrible, but it’s better than being stuck with a total stranger.

As if Tarra had read my mind, she leaned over, placing a hand on my knee and said, “You okay, Delle? You look pale. Nobody’s said anything to you about being on this, uh, list, right?”

“Why—why would you ask that?”

I heard the stammer in my voice, and she caught it too.

“Well,” my sister answered slowly, “my doctor did remark the Overlords had requested medical records a few weeks back. She said she believed it was with the intention of seeing who the most fertile patients were, and then tracing if they had any female relatives. In this day and age, me being knocked up again with number four, I’m considered very fertile. So, I was afraid, if what my doctor thought was true, they might have found you and put your name on the list…”

Her voice trailed off into pensive silence. Somehow, her speaking the words aloud confirmed every fear, every terror. I sat there, clenching and unclenching my hands, feeling like I’d tumbled into a bottomless dark well and couldn’t find any purchase on the narrow, slick sides to stop or even slow my descent.

This can’t be happening. How is this happening? After everything else, they take this from us too? Our freedom? Our women? Our children?

“Delle?”

My sister’s voice halted the downward spiral of my thoughts. I blinked and jerked myself out of my stupor, tweaking my shoulders to straighten them.

“It’s okay, Tarra,” I said, forcing up a smile to try and reassure her. “It’ll be okay. I’ll run out and get an underground hysterectomy before I let myself be put on some breeder’s list for aliens.”

I was only half kidding.

“Ew.” My sister’s nose wrinkled up in disgust. “You know the risks you’d be running with a back-alley surgery? That’s a horrible idea! Infection, being mangled, bleeding out, death…”

“Right, right. I’m kidding.” I tried to wave away her concerns. “No back-alley hysterectomy. It’ll be okay. I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

Problem was, I had thought of something. A solution almost as distasteful as the problem.

Would Overlord Caide even still be open to his bargain? He could have made the same offer to any number of impoverished human women who would likely have jumped at the chance to be married to alien royalty—even outcast, bastard royalty hiding out on Earth. Just his luck he’d had the misfortune to propose to me.

Or was it actually a huge stroke of luck for both of us?

CHAPTER 14

CAIDE

The last thing I expected as I finished the paperwork to close out my work day was a call on my phone. I glanced down as it buzzed angrily at me from my desk. The caller’s number was one I didn’t recognize, but that meant little. Being the head of a busy work crew, I often received calls from contractors and subcontractors, Asterion and human. Still, with the work day technically finished, it seemed late for someone to contact me. Nevertheless, I pressed the glowing blue button to answer.

A female voice spoke, sending a jolt through my blood.

“Hello? Is this…Overlord Caide?”

Delle. Zyn’s sister-in-law. I’d not heard from her since she angrily turned down my marriage bargain two weeks past. Why would she be contacting me now? I could hear the hesitancy in her tones.

“It is,” I answered, careful to keep my tone flat, as if the mere sound of her voice had not lit fires that raced through my veins.

“Okay, great. This is—this is Delle. Zyn’s sister-in-law? I hope you remember me. I’m sure you probably do…remember me. Sorry, that was stupid,” she mumbled. She seemed nervous. Embarrassed. “Zyn gave me your number,” she explained. “I—uh—I was wondering if…if…if…I could meet with you. Sometime. Sometime pretty soon. To, uh, discuss something. Something important.”

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