Page 57 of The Marriage Bargain

“I’ll not have your blood sullied by a human,” he growled.

“Too late,” Caide smiled, sliding an arm around my shoulders, drawing me closer. “I’ve emptied my seed into her more than once. Quite likely, she carries my offspring. Your offspring, Father. A half-human, half-Asterion creation. At least,” he went on, goading his parent further, “it will be a child born in wedlock.”

Now, while I could appreciate what Caide was trying to do—reinforce our marriage bonds with the idea of a possible pregnancy—the way he stated it, so boldly in front of the other two men, was pretty embarrassing. I felt my cheeks heat. Both at the language he used, and also his bold insinuations…which weren’t even true, although I obviously wasn’t going to speak up and deny them.

His father did not flinch. His features were so cold they might have been carved from the icy night outside.

“Well said, son,” he growled. “Nevertheless, I have come to see this union severed. I need you back home.”

Caide laughed. “You need me? You have not needed me my entire life, except for needing me to vanish and not trouble you.”

“Your brother is dead,” his father responded flatly, refusing to take the bait. “As is his mother. I need an heir. Someone to whom I can pass my wealth and home. More importantly, someone to inherit my seat on the Asterion Council.”

That stilled Caide momentarily. Quietly, he said, “My brother and I were never friends, but I am sorry for his loss, and that of your wife. Truly. However, I am not returning to Asterion. It is not home. This is my home.” He gestured around the office, then towards me. “She is my home.”

“She is a human female with no worth other than producing Overlord offspring,” his father snapped. “You know this. I know this. The Flight Commander knows this. Why do you think he wants her?”

Caide shot a glare over his father’s shoulder at Abidah who stood in the background, arms folded, eyes glittering with sardonic humor as he observed the show.

“So he can potentially raise my offspring? I tell you, Father, Delle is mine. She is my wife. More than that, she is my mate. I will not surrender her.”

“Mate,” his father scoffed. “You are too old to believe in such stories.”

“Because you never found one? Perhaps if you had spent your energies with your own wife instead of bedding half the females on Asterion, you would have discovered a mate bond.”

“If I had, you would not be here,” his father pointed out.

“I cannot argue with that. But I doubt the world would have mourned.”

“Hey!” Indignant, I poked him in the ribs. “That’s not true. You’ve done a lot here. A lot. You’re one of the best people I know,” I added, thinking about all the ways he’d helped my family since we’d been together. Even more, his friendship with Zyn, when most Overlords weren’t interested in any kind of friendship with humans. “Besides, you mean something to me. You mean a lot to me.”

Caide looked down at me, smiled. “Thank you, my love,” he said gently, and the old-fashioned term of endearment made me shiver, as well as the feeling in his voice.

“How very touching,” his father broke in. “The human breeder appreciates you. This is the life you want for yourself, then? A bare, sterile office in a Citadel on a ruined planet, complete with marriage marks with a human breeder? Instead, you could have a palace in a thriving planet. You could have wealth and your pick of females, human or Asterion—or any other race, really. You could spread your seed wherever you like, so long as you have a proper wife in her quarters of the palace to bear you an heir and myself a grandchild. You could rule. You could help form policies that will shape life here on this planet. You could do all of those things if you give her up and come home.”

“Why give her up?” Caide challenged. “Why not come home with her as my wife, if you want me that badly? Those are my terms, Father. Perhaps I will consider returning home to be named your heir, but only with Delle as my wife.”

“Caide, no!” I pulled away, horrified. “That’s not what you want!”

“You are what I want,” he said, refusing to release my hand.

“Absolutely not!” his father nearly exploded. “Asterion rulers will not have their blood sullied by human blood. Our line is long and it is proud. You will give her up, Caide. You will surrender her to the Flight Commander.”

“Never,” Caide ground out.

“Hear me out,” his father said, holding up a hand. “We have a bargain for you.”

Another bargain? What was with the Asterions and their bargains? First Caide with his marriage bargain, now his father offering him a bargain to dissolve our marriage. Seemed a little ironic to me, but I held my peace and listened to the older Asterion male speak.

“You surrender your wife to Flight Commander Abaidah,” his father said. “Who, in return, will both marry her and see to it that she is given the chance to go to school and become the architect she wants to be. Otherwise, you know fully as well as I that no such opportunity will ever be given her. Not as a lowly human female.”

I glanced sharply at Caide. How had his father known about this?

Even he seemed taken by surprise.

“How did you know this?” he demanded.

His father smirked. “I have my sources. I knew, if I were to persuade you to surrender this human with whom you’re so infatuated…” His tone dripped with disgust. “I would have to produce a viable offer.

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