Page 41 of The Marriage Bargain

When I asked her what she intended to do tonight, I had really expected her to say she wanted to return to her sister’s home to fetch her belongings. Possibly even to stay. Although we had discussed her moving in with me, there was no law saying she must be moved by tonight.

Instead, she said she would come home with me, shocking me to my core.

No going to her sister’s house tonight. She was coming with me. To my small home inside the walls of the Citadel.

I could not tear my gaze from her as she climbed into her old truck and slammed the rusted door. Even as I powered my transporter to life, my attention was not on the buttons I pressed, or the switches I flicked to get the thing moving, leading the way to my quarters. They were only on Delle, and the excitement pulsing though my blood. I warned myself not to get carried away. The fact that she’d kissed me in such a manner and then wanted to go home with me did not necessarily mean that she intended to fall straight into my arms and then into my bed. But hope is a blinding thing, and hope blinded me to my surroundings the remainder of the drive home.

Hope nearly made me forget my promise to Official Drayke that I would contact my father and speak to him about Drayke’s wife. Thank the fates, I did remember, and I put in the very brief call as I made the short journey home. My father reported that my brother was no better. He sounded weary. Sad. A slight—very slight—part of me felt guilt over my deception, the fact that I’d taken a human wife to circumvent my father’s needs. But when had he ever cared about my needs? I had to hope he would keep his word and look into the matter of the Official’s wife, as he told me would when I gave him the reason that Drayke had won the favor from me in a gambling game.

Father could understand that. He loved gaming. He’d quite the reputation for enjoying the pleasure planet, Ryxon, with its focus on racing, gambling, betting, gaming, drinking, narcotics, beautiful partners for hire, and any other vice one might dream up. Father might not understand me choosing this life on Earth, but he would understand me gambling.

My duty fulfilled, by the time we arrived, my mind had returned to Delle and I felt a strange sort of nervousness. What if she did come to my bed but I couldn’t please her? What if human ways were different than those of Asterion? What if I repulsed her? What if, after tonight, she never wanted to lay with me again?

She opened the door of her truck and climbed out a moment before I did. I watched the glow from the yard light spill across her hair and felt my throat go dry with desire. I swallowed hard and climbed out of my transport. The door automatically slid shut behind me. Delle turned at the soft whooshing noise.

Hands in her jacket pockets, she said, “Home sweet home?” Her smile seemed a little nervous, but she wasn’t running or fleeing or changing her mind.

I wasn’t exactly sure what her question meant, but realized it must be a human phrase that was still unfamiliar to me.

“It is my home, and you are very welcome,” I replied. It sounded too formal. Like something my noble father would have said to another Asterion Elder on my home planet. I felt like a fool, but Delle nodded.

“Thank you,” she said.

I gestured for her to take the flight of stairs leading to the second floor, telling her my apartment number. My stare, of its own accord, drifted to her backside, inviting a whole new host of thoughts. Suppressing a groan, I reached around her to unlock my door when she stopped outside.

“Where’s the light switch?” Delle asked, entering and stopping in the darkness.

“No switch,” I replied. I waved an arm, said, “Lights.” The two lamps on corresponding tables lit up immediately, filling the living room with a soft yellow glow. “See?”

“Nice,” she approved, nodding, glancing around. “I’ve heard humans used to have technology like that, way back before the Final War. But the War pretty much destroyed all that. We’re lucky to have electricity as it is.”

I didn’t say that they had reliable electricity because of Asterion engineers and Asterion endeavors. Before our arrival, human electricity had been limited and patchy and difficult to obtain. The arrival of the Interstellar Coalition had certainly changed things for the better in some ways, providing humans with basic comforts and needs. However, I also realized it had taken away much of their freedom and cost women like Delle, my new wife, the ability to choose their own fate. Well, she had chosen her fate by choosing me, but would she have ever chosen me if not for the damned breeder’s list?

She is not the only one who wasn’t free to choose her own fate, my conscience reminded me as it pricked with guilt. You are Asterion, but your choices were robbed from you just as hers were.

True, which was how we’d gotten into this strange situation.

Strange, but I did not hate it.

Delle turned to me with a quick smile. “I feel sort of stupid now. I was in such a hurry to get to the Citadel for our wedding that I didn’t take the time to pack an overnight bag after breaking the news to Tarra and Zyn. I should have.”

“It is not too late,” I reminded her. “I could take you over in my transport, if you wish.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. It’s late and I’m hungry, though. I was too nervous to eat before.”

I knew what she meant. I had not eaten before either. Unlike her, however, I felt no hunger, but pangs of a very different nature. I shoved those aside and walked her into the kitchen.

“What would you like?” I asked, opening the cooling box.

“I don’t know. Nothing heavy. Just something to take the edge off.”

In the end, I led her to the kitchen which lay off the main room. After showing her around, I withdrew cheese from the cooling chest, bread from the cupboard, and even a bottle of wine from the rack hanging on the wall. I didn’t miss the flash of relief in her eyes.

“That will definitely help take the edge off. Thanks.”

Sometimes human dialect was difficult to interpret, but I sensed the first expression must be referring to hunger and the second to her nervousness. I indicated which cupboard held plates. Delle opened it, withdrew a couple, then arranged the food on a plate while I fetched glasses and poured wine for both of us. She picked up her glass first, holding it in the air between us.

“Cheers?”

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