Page 20 of Royal Alien Mate

Was he falling in love with the human female?

She stirred again and her eyes fluttered open. He stared at her, lost in her blue eyes. He continued stroking her hair as she held his gaze. The moons rested low in the sky, but shone just enough light through the window that it bathed her in a blue hue, shining upon her hair and reflecting in her eyes. The palace was still quiet at this hour, as was the city below, making it seem as if they were the only two souls left on Mars.

“How did you sleep, sunshine?”

“Better than I expected,” she said. “This is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.” She sat up against the pillows and tucked her knees to her chest. She peered out the window and her eyes grew wide. “The moons are incredible. Where I lived on Earth, I rarely got to see the moon. The city lights were too bright, plus there is usually smog covering the city.”

“I’m glad you like the view.”

“Could your terraforming technology help Earth in any way?”

He stared at her, surprised by her question. “You mean could we get rid of the pollution?”

“Yes, and possibly help the areas affected by climate change?” She turned to look at him, her gaze hopeful.

He considered her question. Yes, it was possible to use terraforming technology to clean up a planet and make Earth like new, but relations between Marttiaxoxalians and humans were tense at best. Even if Vaath championed such a proposal, his father and likely all the royal advisors would be staunchly against it. He reminded himself of the humans’ assault on the first Marttiaxoxalian colony on Mars, of the five thousand colonists who were killed in the unprovoked attack.

“Yes, Esmay, I believe it would be possible for our terraforming technology to improve Earth’s environment, however, I do not think any members of the royal council, including my father, would vote to help Earth in such a way.”

Her face fell. “Why not?”

“Well, for a lot of reasons, but mainly because of the humans’ attack on our first Marttiaxoxalian colony on Mars, as well as the occasional uprisings against Martian forces on your planet. We initially tried for peace with your people, but—”

“What attack?” she interrupted. “What do you mean? Earth didn’t attack Mars. Your people arrived in our solar system and immediately waged war against mine. Millions died in the war.” She pushed away from him when he reached for her hands.

It didn’t surprise him that she wasn’t aware of the initial conflict that had started the fighting between their people. He’d heard that most human brides arriving on Mars didn’t know about the attack on the Marttiaxoxalian colony. Teachers in public schools were supposed to teach their pupils the true history of the Marttiaxoxalian-human conflict, though perhaps the human teachers were not being adequately supervised by Martian Affairs. It was yet another rebellion on the humans’ part, and a deviously quiet one. He made a mental note to contact the governors in charge of each zone on Earth and demand a full accounting of their efforts.

“Esmay,” he said, finally succeeding in grasping her hand. Even when she tried to wrench out of his grip, he didn’t allow her off the bed. He pulled her closer and cupped her face with his free hand. “Over twenty years ago, my people sent an ambassador to Earth, who was tasked with informing the humans of our peaceful intentions to settle on Mars, which we were preparing to terraform.”

“An ambassador? Are you certain?” A look of disbelief crossed her features.

“Yes, a male named Rothinus. The humans imprisoned him and he eventually died in captivity. The armed forces of several Earth countries then banded together, traveled to Mars, and killed the five thousand Marttiaxoxalian colonists who had settled in the first terraformed region of this planet.”

Her eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth, as if to speak, before clamping her lips together and turning to stare at the moons. The sky was becoming lighter and the sun would soon rise, bringing with it a brand-new day. He stared at Esmay, hoping she would believe him.

“I can show you proof of the attack, if you require it. Images of the devastation, as well as video surveillance of the assault on the colony that was transmitted to the fleet of Marttiaxoxalian vessels that were bound for Mars at the time.”

“No, I don’t need to see any proof.” She turned to face him. “I’m sorry about what happened to your people, to the five thousand colonists, but how could you justify killing millions of humans in return? I’ve seen videos of the battles. You took no prisoners. You killed so many humans. Millions of soldiers, and some civilians too.”

“Very few human civilians were killed,” he said. “And those who were did not die by Marttiaxoxalian hand. Instead, they died from what your people callfriendly fire. They died when a weapon intended to hit Marttiaxoxalian forces hit a populated part of a city instead.”

* * *

Esmay stared at Vaath,shocked to her core. But she didn’t think he was lying. For a reason she couldn’t quite explain, she doubted he would lie to her. Though he was an enemy of her people, he struck her as a man of honor, a man of principles. While some of the Martian males in the royal bunker had made her uneasy, particularly the king, she didn’t feel as though Vaath had a deceptive bone in his body. She’d always been good at reading people, at sensing other’s emotions, and her ability to do so apparently extended to Martians. To her new mate.

Perhaps it was the same reason she’d become so cold the night she crept toward the kitchen, intent to eavesdrop upon her parents’ late-night conversation. She’d experienced a sense of knowing before she’d even discovered what they were talking about. She’d known that their lives were about to change in a drastic way.

But, while she likely wouldn’t see her family again, the change wasn’t all bad. Her parents would avoid prison and their living circumstances would improve. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she tried to take in all the new information Vaath had just provided.

Technically, Earth had started the war. Humans had attacked first, and after the Martians had tried to arrive peacefully in the solar system. But, despite the fact that Earth had decimated the aliens’ first Martian colony, she didn’t think Vaath’s people had responded appropriately. Surely, they hadn’t needed to killmillionsof humans.

She thought of the stories she’d heard about the war, as well as the videos she’d seen of the brutal fighting. Vaath’s people had sought revenge on a disproportionate scale, in her opinion. Not only that, they had all but enslaved the people of Earth.

All humans paid taxes to the Martians, taxes that only kept increasing. Many humans also worked in factories run by the aliens. Martian enforcers patrolled every town and city, and an alien governor firmly controlled each zone on Earth. Under the current system, humans could not become wealthy or even somewhat comfortable in their finances. Not without the Martians coming in and taking it all. She’d heard horror stories of humans trying to hide their wealth, only for bloodthirsty enforcers to storm their residences and execute the poor souls on the spot.

She stared at Vaath and repressed a shudder. His grip on her hand remained firm, and the tension between them swelled. Gone were the affectionate feelings from yesterday, when he’d finally claimed her as his mate.

“We waged war against Earth, in the manner that we usually conduct warfare, until your planet offered an unconditional surrender.” His tone was firm, almost angry. “Our homeworld of Marttiaxoxalia was no longer inhabitable, as our enemies, the Xieandans, did something to our sun that caused it to dim. Even after we slaughtered most of the Xieandans and drove the rest from our solar system, we could not reverse the damage that had been done. Our explorers located your solar system not long after they ran into a group of humans at an outpost—where they discovered we were compatible with your race—and my people soon decided Mars would be the perfect planet for us to terraform.”

---