Page 36 of The Marriage Bargain

Personally, I added silently.

“Then we can proceed. Overlord, you stand here, please.” He indicated where Caide should stand, in front of the crammed bookshelf. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The Official’s motions were sharp and jerky, like he was in a hurry. Next, he directed me to stand beside Caide, then asked, “Would you care to clasp hands?”

Would we? This was all a farce, right? But I wasn’t necessarily opposed to holding hands, either. Was I?

Caide answered for me, picking up my hand in his larger one and gripping it firmly. I glanced down, briefly studying the contrast between his hand with its silvery skin against my own peach-colored human skin.

This is so bizarre. I’m marrying an alien. Somebody who isn’t even human. I’m literally about to marry an alien.

It registered that the Official was speaking. He didn’t have a black book or anything like the stereotypical religious minister or justice of the peace. Instead, he held his screenpad. He didn’t glance up as he quickly read off a few unfamiliar lines and phrases. They weren’t standard human wedding vows, but they sounded binding and related to what we were doing. Something about a knot being stronger than two individual strands. And how the stars together glowed brighter than a lonely star. I don’t know—romantic sounding stuff that I suppose would make sense to an actual Asterion couple.

Which we weren’t.

At the end of his reading, he said, “Caide, do you choose to wed this human female, Delle, and bind her to yourself as your wife for the remainder of your natural lives?”

He nodded. “I so choose,” he answered solemnly.

The Official addressed me next. “Delle, do you choose to wed this Asterion male, Overlord Caide, and bind him to yourself as your husband for the reminder of your natural lives?”

My turn to nod soberly. I allowed myself to speak the words before I could stop to consider what I was actually saying, doing.

“I do.”

“Then you are pledged, one to another, as husband and wife. May your marriage bonds deepen into the bonds of true mates, and may you find peace and love with one another all your days.”

His forefinger thumped a button on the screen. He glanced up. “Finished, except for the marking. Then I’ll record it and enter it into the records. You’ll be legally married. Are you ready for the marking?”

Marking? I had no idea what that was. I’d just turned to Caide to ask when I heard a firm knock at the door.

“Official Drayke?”

Both the Official and Caide went still. I didn’t miss the flickering of their stares, the quick exchange of glances. The Official’s eyebrows raised slightly. Caide nodded, slowly, but he seemed on guard. Wary.

“Yes?” The Official answered.

“It is Flight Commander Abidah. May I enter?”

I felt myself go cold.

CHAPTER 21

CAIDE

How had he found us this quickly? Was he here to start trouble?

The fingers on my free hand drifted towards my belt. I carried a shock piece, called a stagger, there, as most Overlords did. Really more for protection against a disgruntled human than from another member of the Interstellar Coalition. Also, secreted in my boot was a blade. Again, to potentially protect myself against an angry human. I’d never considered other Overlords a threat.

Until now.

But until now, I hadn’t had a wife to protect. And protect her I would, no matter what. It didn’t matter that I’d merely had routine training in hand-to-hand combat, or with blades, and only practiced with the shock piece enough to know how to handle the weapon if necessary. I was not a solider, a warrior. Not like the Flight Commander, whose entire life revolved around the military. No human, or Asterion, or Gorgathelian, or any other male would take my wife from me, I resolved, feeling my muscles stiffen as anger heated me from within.

Perhaps my muscles tightening caused my hand to involuntarily flinch. Delle, my wife except for the marking ceremony, tugged on her fingers and glanced up at me worriedly.

“You’re hurting my hand,” she whispered.

Instantly, I loosened my hold with a quiet apology, but I didn’t release her as Official Drayke called, “Certainly.”

The door was pushed open and a figure stepped into the room. I had seen the Flight Commander in the past, but probably would not have recognized him apart from any other Gorgathelian male, except for the bright display of medals on his uniform.

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