Page 251 of Scorching the Alien Empire
“Alexandra the War Chieftainess came to me this morning,” he adds. A coral, shark-infested tsunami slams into my chest. “She offered me her... fleshy body,” he continues, voice dull as dead mollusks. “Said she’d mate me like a living star wrapped in a female’s skin.”
This can’t be happening.This is a nightmare. One ofAenarael’s weird visions. Haha. Very funny, Mother. You got me. You can wake me up now.
I slip from my chair. Knees hit the cold floor with a sickeningthud.At least... I think it’s me. It doesn’t feel like me. It feels like I’m watching someone else—some loser who really screwed up. Someone who can’t possibly be me.
“She said I’d taste her divinity if I cast my vote for Dracoth.” Surfer Bro drones on, his monotone voice somehow making it even worse, scraping against my skull like rusted metal.
Did I really say that? Yes—but not likethat. Not like that.
Laughter erupts. Rich. Cruel. Splintering the chamber’s silence into jagged, bloody shards.
It’s her. Bitch Brick. Twisting the knife deeper. Heartless and ruthless. Just like those bitches who bullied me in boarding school. I hate her, and the traitorous bastard Surfer Bro...
My breath hitches.
Strong arms wrap around me. Warmth floods my bones. Just enough to hold back the black tide.
“I—I...” I gasp. “Can’t... breathe.”
The world tilts. Suddenly I’m in the air. Carried like a doll in the arms of a mountain.
“Rest,” Dracoth murmurs. A voice like thunder. Distant. Comforting. Terrifying.
“Three-to-three.” The Imperator—I think—voice is warped, hazy, like it’s underwater. “A tie. But given the generous conditions set by the War Chieftain’s side... High Chieftain Krogoth remains leader. We’ll need time to... digest this outcome and... revise the terms for our alliance.”
It’s over.
“Todd?” I whisper, eyes fluttering. “Is Todd okay?”
No one answers. The light fades. And then—
Darkness.
Chapter 47
Alexandra
Breaking Bonds
Ijoltawakeintheform-fitting bed, that doesn’t float anymore. Groggy, I wipe at my eyes—crusting so thick I could launch a cereal brand.
Lexie-O’s: now with extra shame flakes.
It can mean only one thing. It wasn’t a nightmare.
I lost.
Lost toBitch Brick. Not only lost. Utterly humiliated. Exposed. All my dirty laundry—pink lingerie, emotional desperation, the star-fuckery flirting—fluttering in the wind like white flags of surrender.
Ugh. Kill me now. What do I even do now? Where do I go from here?
Maybe I’ll crawl into the toilet and flush myself into the void. A little Lexie-poop, orbiting space. A shooting star of remorse—a cautionary tale. A floating turd of regret for weird bug-eyed aliens to giggle at while they blast past at confetti-speed.
Why did I say a tie meanttheywin? Why did I seduce a coral-scented idiot? Stupid. Stupid. STUPID.
I should be in a zoo. Eating bananas. Scratching my ass. That’s all I’m good for.
This is whybasicFather never wanted me. Why Arawnoth has ghosted me. It’s obvious in hindsight. They couldsmellmy loser vibes. It oozes from my pores—a choking miasma of cheap perfume and desperation.
