Page 37 of The Pregnancy Pact

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, my voice huskier than I would have liked. “You’re not getting sex from me until we agree on this pact. Not merely agree—write it down and sign it. Given your line of work, you know the importance of signing everything. I want this to be done right.”

“As opposed to being done wrongly?”

“Don’t be a smartass,” I quipped, glaring at his smug face. “If I’d let you have sex with me just now, if I’d gotten pregnant, you would have had the upper hand. A baby in my womb and no official pact between us? No, thanks. I’ve been on the losing end of a marriage before. I won’t go through that again.”

To my surprise, the smugness vanished outright from the Overlord’s face. Rather than smirk or laugh or even argue, an expression of pain and anger overtook his features. This time, I sensed they were real, honest emotions. Not something manufactured; not a front he was trying to put on. Quietly, he said,

“I will not put you on the losing end of this marriage, Lorelai. I desired this marriage no more than you, but if it is to be done, I will uphold my end of the bargain. I will do right by you, contract or not. You have my word.”

Chapter 21

Ellax

“What if your promise isn’t enough?” the human female challenged. “I want more assurance than that.”

She couldn’t know the sting her words inflicted. I hid the pain from my face. If my brief visit on Earth with Caide had shown me one thing, it was that I had been a terrible husband. Druea had not been a good wife either, but might she have been better if I had been better? Now, I would never know. Caide had given up everything for his human wife. I was not prepared to do that. I had not sunk to that degree of folly. In my heart, I was beginning to wonder if it were possible for me to at least attempt to reinvent myself into a better male, one more in my son’s image.

I had never tried to be better. Had never believed I needed to be better. My bastard son had proved me wrong. Now, I must prove this human female wrong. I supposed I could start by giving her what she wished.

“Assurance in the form of a contract?” I asked.

“If you don’t mind.”

I didn’t mind. I simply wished, in a forgotten part of my heart, that there was no need for it.

“I will write out the contract,” I promised. “You’ll have your pact. We’ll sign it. A mecha can witness it. Better a mecha witness than a living one, anyway.”

“A mecha?” Confusion scrunched her face. “What is that?”

“I forgot,” I smirked, “that you have not been off Earth yet.”

“No.” She shook her head. “My visit to Drixus was the first time I’ve been off my home planet.”

“You would have seen them there,” I acknowledged, walking away from her and to the desk folded into my wall. “They are built to look as any desired species, but they are robots with some degree of sentient intelligence.”

“Oh. I’ve heard of those, I think. We thought they were fictional, though. Or at least greatly exaggerated.”

I shook my head, even as I pressed a button on the wall. My desk, which had been folded away, slid out into the open space, unfolding itself into a handy spot for writing, a bench attached. I opened a drawer to retrieve a screenpad and stylus. “To answer your question about mechas,” I went on, “they have internalized computers. A mecha can be used legally on my planet as a witness. In fact, there are witness mechas, created especially for that purpose. They can witness the signing of a contract, and the information is stored away on their hard drives. The entire matter is kept safe and private.”

“Wish we’d had one of them marry us, instead of the ship’s captain,” Lorelai grumbled, moving to seat herself on the edge of my bed. I needed to have an extra chair brought into room. I’d not planned on sharing my cabin when I’d originally boarded this space ship. “Then we could have just let the mecha keep our secret and move on with our lives.”

“That would have been wise indeed,” I admitted, my stylus already moving in swoops and swirls across the screenpad. “Alas, after imbibing lyven, few of us are capable of making wise decisions.”

“It wasn’t merely an unwise decision,” she objected. “It was literally the biggest mistake of both our lives.”

I could not disagree.

Chapter 22

Lorelai

I’d half wondered what we’d do for the rest of the day aboard ship. Watching Ellax draw up our pregnancy pact quicky turned boring. I didn’t know how long it was supposed to take. Was he the sort to put tons of legal-ese into the document? I had a feeling, being a diplomat, that he might. In fact, the longer I watched him write, sitting up straight on his desk chair with his beautiful dark-silver hair lying perfectly around his shoulders, the more I considered that he might be the sort to wrap all sorts of hidden pitfalls into the language of this contract.

I’ll need to read this very carefully, I decided, rubbing my finger across my chin in thought. He might have some line in there that all bets are off if I don’t have sex with him as often as I want. Or that, if I don’t get pregnant and give him a baby, he gets to have my head cut off, like that King Henry who ruled the country of England hundreds of years ago.

I couldn’t suppress a shiver. Ellax didn’t seem like the sort to have my head cut off. He seemed more like the sort to dump me for a younger woman and try the whole pregnancy pact again. But what did I know? Literally nothing, except that he’d cheated on his first wife, which sure didn’t put me in a frame of mind to trust him with my life.

“If you are bored or anxious,” he suddenly spoke up, his stylus never pausing as it swept across his screenpad, you might visit the ship’s fitness center. I believe you humans refer to it as a gymnasium, or gym. You will find plenty there to keep you occupied.”

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