Page 42 of My Human Wife

“She’ll return when she and the baby are healthy.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. I obediently follow Rae into my room and lay down on my bed. I stare at the carved wood pattern in the window. It’s a flower of life pattern. I touch my abdomen and wonder if Gael has abandoned me.

In the middle of the night a burning sensation on my finger wakes me up. It takes me a minute to realize that it’s the lovers’ ring. I frantically try to remember today’s date. It’s the 5thday of the week. The 5thday! I sit up with anticipation. It must have been my passing out in Kamos’s reception room that sent the signal. Now I must decide.Is my mission real or does Gael only want me to steal this and then go on trial for all of his crimes with the IGC?

I look around my semi dark room. It’s so peaceful. Rae is sleeping in the corner and a slight breeze is coming in through the window. This isn’t a bad situation. I absently put a hand to my stomach again and remember that it’s not just me anymore. I’m pregnant with Kamos’s child.Can I allow this child to be born into this?

If it’s a girl she most certainly will be. She’ll be taken away just like Ava’s little girl. And then it’ll be my turn to play the part of Ava. And I never want to experience that. No matter if this child is grey or pale-pink like me, I know if it’s born, I’ll love it, andthen if it’s taken from me, I will lose all grip on reality. I’ve never experienced love except maybe with Gael, but after seeing Ava and Mei together, I think a mother’s love is stronger than any other bond. And what’s happened has broken Ava and I don’t know if she’ll ever recover. I don’t want to do that to myself without a fight.

I quietly move, always keeping my eyes on Rae. To send the clearest signal back to Gael I need to masturbate. These are lovers’ rings after all. But I don’t want to do that in my bed. First, because it’s forbidden for me to touch myself and second, I worry I’ll wake Rae up. As silently as I can, I walk into the bathroom which is far from the bedroom and close the door. I lean up against the stone wall and push my nightdress up around my hips. I begin touching myself before I think too much about this plan. Although my feelings are mixed I know that on the whole, I want to leave more than I want to stay. Even though, all of this, this illusion of peacefulness and luxury is a very alluring drug and, had I never experienced life on the outside, I might have stayed here never tasting freedom and assuming this is the best life had to offer.

A few minutes after I’ve orgasmed, I get the same response from Gael. Now he waits. All I need to do is figure out a way out of the harem and to the armory where I can steal the teleportation suit. I know where it is. I also know the head guard has a master key to everywhere in the palace including the armory.

It didn’t take me long to figure out Kamos’s codes while I stayed in his bedroom. He often would use his code right in front of me. So as far as I’m concerned I didn’t even have to steal it. He basically told it to me. With his code I could look at everything including what was stored in the armory and who had master keys.

The head guard of the harem was another situation altogether. She is a straightforward large woman who doesn’t seem to have a weakness. She knows better than Kamos than to let her guard down around humans. I don’t want to have to hurt anyone in my escape but there might be no other way. I’ve seen a lot of violence in my life and I have had to kill before. I hope that I won’t have to do it again.

It’s peaceful tonight.Maybe I should go now?Inspiration takes over and I take a carving knife from my small dining room. Then I go back to the bedroom. Rae is still asleep which I’m grateful for. I don’t want to have to kill her. I quietly slip out my front door and tiptoe through the harem to the head guard’s room.

I stand in front of it and of course it’s locked for the night. With shaky hands I ring the bell. I hold the knife innocently behind my back as I wait.

She answers. None of her other guards are in sight. “Lara?”

I don’t wait. I rush her and plunge the knife into her side. I stab her again and again. Red blood is going everywhere. She doesn’t’ even scream she just has a very surprised look on her face. She didn’t even have time to throw me off. Adrenaline is pumping through me. I’m covered in blood, but the head guard seems dead. I step over her body, drag her in and then close her door. Just in case, I tie her hands up. Then I quickly run into her bathroom and wash all the blood off of me. I contemplate putting on one of her dresses, but I think that will only raise more suspicion. I take her master key and a gun. Then, I run, naked, closing her door behind me. As far as I know I’ve managed to do that without an alarm sounding, but I know it’ll sound soon. The medical system counts heartbeats in the compound every 20 minutes. If I’m lucky I have 20 minutes from now. If I’m unlucky, only a few minutes or less. I run asfast as I can. My bare feet silently hitting the stone. I slow when I reach the ornate harem gates. I eye the guards who seem very relaxed but they aren’t sleeping.

I saunter up to them. “Good evening. Kamos has requested I see him.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“Where’s your servant?”

“She’s ill and the head guard said for me to just go.”

They don’t look convinced.

I push out my stomach more than it really is. “I’m already pregnant with Kamos’s child and the IGC has a bounty out for me. Trust me I’m not going anywhere.” News travels fast through the palace so I’ve no doubt everyone here knows I’m married to Gael and now responsible for all of his crimes.

“What he did to you is terrible,” one of the guards laments as the other opens the gate.

“To use a helpless human woman like that,” the other guard says and shakes his head.

“Thankfully Kamos rescued me and I’m safe with Imperials like you protecting me,” I say as I slowly walk away. I’m glad the guards didn’t notice what was in my hands, how much I was sweating, or could hear my heartbeat which seems almost deafening in my ears. They like most of the guards were just looking at my naked female body as I walked past.

As soon as I’m far enough away not to cause suspicion, I begin to run again. I’ve never been to the armory but I have a good ideawhere it is. I run through the deserted corridors until I see more guards. I stop running when I reach them.

“Oh I’m so glad you’re here, I’m lost,” I say.

They immediately are sympathetic and begin to try and help. I take out the head guard’s gun from behind my back and shoot them both quickly multiple times. They never even drew their weapons they thought I was so helpless they were momentarily stunned by a human with a gun. I can’t believe they don’t see me as a threat even when I’m armed.Then,I run into what I think is the armory. It looks like it. But it’s much bigger than I thought it’d be and confusing. After a few minutes I feel like I’m walking in circles.

“Come on. How do I find this thing?” I ask myself. Then I spot a tablet hanging on a wall. I have no idea how I missed it before. I put in Kamos’s code and search the device. I’m led right to the teleportation device.

It looks like a plain black suit with a helmet.This can’t be it. How can I get away and through the forcefield with this?

I put the suit on over my naked body and then put on the helmet. Nothing is working and I can hear my heart beating in my ears.Am I going to die?I can’t remember how to turn this on.

I hear the sound of the alarm. They know what I’ve done. It’s now or never. I begin frantically rubbing my hands up and down the outside of the suit and then I remember the controls are on the back of the helmet. I press them and then find the coordinates in the visor in front of my face. I’m so scared I can hardly read the Imperial hieroglyphs I memorized with Gael.

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