Page 78 of Bonded Queen: to the Alien Warlord Triad

“Is it safe?”

Ra’al turns to me, the hint of a smile on his face, and traces my jaw with his thumb. “Yes. Stay close to me,” he says, and pulls me tight to his side as we walk over the broken bridge. The wind whips at his black robes and my pleasure dress. Orr goes first, testing the way, making sure the engineers made no mistakes.

I stop in my tracks where the bridge narrows to a few feet of stable stone. The rest of it is big metal bars, with enough space between them I could slip right through. Orr walked right past it like it was nothing, but I’m petrified.

“Trust me,” says Ra’al, pulling me tighter to his body, going sideways so I am still by his side but we have more room as we sidle past the gaping hole. When we get to the other side, I breathe out a huge sigh, clinging to the alien warrior.

Orr is standing at the walls. I pull away from Ra’al and walk out into the open platform where they first took me. I get a clear view down to the city.

The city is back to life. It’s like the entire world was put through an Aurelian medical bay and restored. There’s no sign of the Scorp attack, the only remaining damage to the spire and the bridge caused by the terrorists.

People are walking the streets, laughing, smiling, though they do quickly move to the side if an Aurelian triad is marching through at a quick pace. There’s a new patio of chairs and tables sprawling out into the city square.

“Don’t they have to work?”

“They do. 6.13 hours per day, exactly a quarter of a day. Quarters, halfers, thirds and fulls, I’m told are the names the people give to each other. The rest of the day is theirs. Many of them choose to use their time to work the jobs they used to have, only now, they have equity in the businesses.” Kriz looks down at the populace over my shoulder. “You knew of the three families?”

“Yes.”

“They’re gone. They took everything they could with them, but they couldn’t rip the buildings out of the ground. They owned ninety percent of the city’s real estate. Those who worked for the businesses have the choice—they can continue working, and gain a portion of the ownership, or take the rest of their day as leisure. It’s a complex, fascinating system. It involves the hours worked, the—”

“Don’t bore her with details. It’s only interesting to you,” grunts out Orr. Out here, in the sun, looking down at the city, things canalmostfeel normal. I try to enjoy it. I’m grateful that I’ve got the three men here with me and that they’re not on some foreign world, killing and risking their lives.

“There are many squabbles and legal problems, but I have appointed triads to adjudicate. You saw one, when we walked by the library.”

On our way to the throne room, I glanced into the library, where three Aurelians huddled around books. They were ancient. One was missing an arm from a war long ago, with spectacles perched on his nose, his brows white as snow as he concentrated on his work.

“Trust Aurelian legal, we’ve got over a thousand years of experience,” I joke, weakly.

“Try two,” says Ra’al, and I swallow hard. I’m still not used to thinking in life in terms of centuries and not decades, and all that time in front of me is both reassuring and terrifying. Who will I be after a hundred years? A thousand? How much did someone like Queen Jasmine change from when she was a free woman to the Bonded Queen? She’s had the mantle of responsibility on her shoulders for centuries, and the same fate is in store for me.

“Those three families were the ones who pushed for the Independence vote over a hundred years ago, funding the effort. This was a democracy even under Aurelian Empire rule, and yet, the people voted against their own interests. Those three families went from controlling under twenty percent of the wealth to near everything, along with the Royal Family plundering you dry.”

“You bother her with one more inane detail and I’m throwing you off these fucking walls myself,” growls Orr, and I laugh as the darkness sloughs off them. I reach out and hold Kriz’s hand. He takes it with a smile, and I reach out to grab Orr’s on my left side.

Ra’al stands behind me, wrapping his arms around my neck, and I am complete.

I look down at the people, living their lives happily as if the Scorp had never attacked. Casualties were low. The Aurelians came right in time, stopping most of the Org-Ships before they even had a chance to crash to the ground, and they made short work of the Scorp that managed to land, cutting them down before they could burrow into the ground.

“Do the people accept it? Being forced to work?”

Orr grunts. “Factories, fields, or weapons. All must choose. Some resist. Especially the rich. They cannot own land if they do not work. Some survive in the black market. Leeches. They’ve be starved out and brought into the fold, or they will live as lesser. It is their choice.”

If there are angry, resentful people below, I don’t see it. There’s an aura of celebration to the populace below, even with the attack on the spire, people just grateful to be alive. All those happy lives, and they’ll depend on my decisions.

The air is clean and crisp. When I last stood here, smoke billowed. The only difference is the black flags raised through the city…

And the huge black ships descending into the atmosphere. Warships the size of city buildings land in fields converted to landing strips. Triads of Aurelians file out, black dots next to the behemoth ships.

“Trebulous is the staging ground for the war effort.” Ra’al’s voice bellows behind me. I can feel his words rumble through his body. My pleasure dress ripples at his touch, tickling and teasing my inner thighs and my nipples, and I press back against the huge man, enjoying the sensation of his might.

But as much as my body reacts, the talk of war spikes my anxiety. I push it down as best as I can, but Kriz looks down at me, concerned.

“Don’t fear. It’s safe here. The Aurelian Empire cannot mount an attack, not when we took three of their planets in their territories. They do not dare to Orb-Shift.”

“What if you’re wrong, Kriz? What if they do attack?”

“Obsidian will guide reinforcements through the rift instantly. We have his protection.”

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