“Please… just don’t. Call me Gen. Not… not the other.”
Her hair glows gold in the firelight. Disappointment winds through me, tightening my scales and making my tail lash erratically. “Are you so displeased about it?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” She gapes at me for a moment, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. “I didn’t know I was marrying you. None of us knew. It has nothing to do with you, so don’t go getting all weird.” Anger flits across her face, chased off by sullen resignation.
“So you would choose me as I chose you?” It pleases me to think that out of all the warlords, she would pick me, the ‘spoiled’ prince of Sueva. My molars grind together, and one of my fangs pricks against my lower lip.
She pinches the bridge of her nose, sighing deeply. “Kanuz. Can you focus on getting us out of here? That would make me want to choose you.”
“You promised to blow my dam when we leave. Do not think I won’t remember.”
“What?” Her jaw drops open, her eyes wide with surprise. “Blow your dam? Oh, god, you mean when I said I’d blow your mind…” She starts laughing again.
“I will remember.” Annoyed and amused by her giggles, I turn back to the wall. Everything the Suevan priestesses taught me about the ancients and their temples says the key to getting out of this trap lies somewhere on this glossy wall.
“What are all these markings? Is it a language? This is different from the hieroglyphs with the snake statue.”
“It’s ancient Suevan.” I cross my arms, standing back and picking out a few choice phrases. “I learned it from the priestesses charged with my education at a young age, but it has been many, many years.”
“They teach everyone ancient dead languages?”
“There is no such thing as a dead language,” I tell her, confused. “If it has been spoken, if there are still records of it, then it is still alive, is it not? How could a language die?”
“I just meant, since no one speaks it anymore—”
“The ancients still speak it,” I tell her, pointing to the wall. “Do you not see their words written here, same as I do?”
“Right. Sure. Okay, fine. Not a dead language. So then, Mr. Smarty-pants, what does it say?”
I gawk at her, the ancient Suevan melting from my mind as I try to make sense of her words. “Why do you think my pants are smart? Do you find them attractive? I can promise you, they will look better off than on, if only you—”
“Stop.” She holds up a hand, but her lips are curved in a smirk, a small laugh erupting out of her again. “Can you focus?”
“It is very hard to focus when you are near, Gen. But I will do as you wish.”
I squat next to the first string of words, squinting at the text etched in the tablet wall. A strange rattling sounds behind me, but I ignore it, focused on doing what my stubborn mate insists.
I would like her to blow my dam very much indeed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
GEN
I stretch my hands out toward the fire that burns in a strange spiral on the wall, casting odd shadows. It’s weird as fuck, but it’s hot. And right now? Hot is all I care about. After our impromptu dip in the ice-cold pool, I need all the warmth I can get.
And I need to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do about my new husband. I always knew the Federation was squirrely as all hell, and my constant disagreement and butting heads with the top brass is one of the reasons I’ve been stuck as first officer instead of moving up the ranks.
Still.
Marrying us off to aliens as a price for tech?
That’s some fucked up shit, even for the Federation.
I cross my arms over my chest, grinding my teeth together to keep them from chattering. I haven’t had enough calories today, and I can’t afford to expend much more energy. I creep closer to the fire, watching Kanuz.
The Prince of Sueva.
My husband.
Making me, Genevieve Durand, the princess of this alien planet. I don’t know whether to laugh or scream, so a weird, choked noise comes out of me instead, my teeth rattling against each other as a shiver wracks me.
The heat from the fire in the wall seeps through my clothes, and I’m grateful that Kanuz is, at the very least, not a Roth.
The enemy of my enemy is my husband, I guess.
I might come off like a blunt asshole most of the time, another fact that’s kept me from moving up the ranks and likely why the Federation jumped at the chance to throw me to the Suevans, but I’m also a realist.
The reality here is twofold:
Firstly, I have myself an alien husband. As far as aliens go, I could be much, much worse off. Kanuz is… hot. Like, super buff. For a human, that kind of musculature would be impossible, and I like sex and men too much not to appreciate it. His face is handsome, even by human standards, though his features are sharper and more rugged than any human I’ve ever seen.
Heat runs through me, despite the soaked clothes and my dripping hair.
Secondly, I need him. I’m stuck in an alien jungle with no weapons, no knowledge of this place, and he’s kept me alive pretty much single-handedly.
It should irk me. Usually, it would.
It’s a sign of how fucking exhausted I am that I can’t muster up more than gratitude and relief that he’s on my side.
At least he’s not a Roth.
I peel off my sodden tank, wringing it out, yet again.
At least, I’m clean.
At least, I can finally fucking talk to him. The amount of relief the thought gives me has me sagging as the weight lifts. I may have had him as a companion for the last week and half, but not being able to communicate has made this week a lonely hell.
“Why human women?” There are hundreds of alien species out there, and that’s just the ones Earth knows about.
Kanuz huffs out a breath, turning to glance at me over his shoulder before facing the wall again. “Because you can bear our children.”
My stomach flips. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. “Bear your children? Babies? Why can’t you do that with your own people?”
“There are no Suevan women, not anymore.”
“But there were Suevan women at the welcoming,” I choke. “Marriage ceremony.”
“They are elders. There have been no females born in generations.”
“Babies,” I say again, light-headed. “You want to breed us.”
“My wife, if you keep speaking of breeding, I will not be able to control myself. Your beauty already tempts me beyond all reason.” His voice is a low, husky growl, and the promise in his words sends a thrill through me.
Which it absolutely shouldn’t! Sure, I can’t help feeling slightly delighted by his obvious fascination with me, but…
I don’t want babies.
Well, that’s not entirely true. My mouth twists to the side, and I scooch as close as I dare to the flaming wall. I’ve always wanted a family, always wanted little sassy kids and fat toddlers to squish.
Until the Roth came and destroyed that dream, just like they destroyed so much of Earth.
“My mate,” Kanuz says, “I can smell your arousal.”
“You can do what now?!”