Confiscated Bride
Yaoimila’s Newest Sci-fi Romance!
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Ambassador
Janel is
proud to have finally brokered an alliance with the powerful Haraden.
What cinched the deal? The Haraden warriors want brides. Since war
ravaged her planet’s male
population they actually have a surplus of women looking for husbands.
It seems like a win-win.
General Kordan, the
austere Haraden negotiator Janel spent days wearing down, approaches her out of
the blue. She’s not married—and the
warrior general has his eyes on her. For
some reason, she feels compelled to go to him.
Unfortunately her
timing for a visit to a Haraden home world could not have been worse. Was she being courted or confiscated?
From the author of Indentured
Bride!
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~ Excerpt ~
“It is my
great honor,” High Council Leader, Ansella Devar-Ne said, “to imprint this
permanent Alliance with our new
friends, the mighty and honorable Haraden Empire.”
She placed her hand on a panel on
the ceremonial table before her. A
massive screen behind her broadcasted the live image of the Haraden viceroy, a
wisened blue alien with pronounced jowls.
After a moment his hand print appeared beside him on the
split-screen.
“The alliance is sealed,” said the
viceroy, and then he leaned down to turn off his communicator. The screen went blank on his side.
The thousands of Malakeezan’s in
audience rose in unison with an eruption of cheers. Janel saw many of her people break into
joyful tears from her seat on the stage.
Their emotion was reflected within her, but she felt too wrought from
her hellish negotiations to show much exuberance.
The very man she’d dueled with sat
a few feet away from her on stage, causing her to imagine the sensation of heat
emanating from that side. She rose from her seat and clapped while
making sure not to gaze toward the alien general.
“What a joke,” said Councilor Karrin
from the opposite side of her.
She eyed him. The scrawny senior looked shrunken in his
ceremonial robes. “Is there a problem,
Councilor?”
“This whole farce of an alliance is
a problem.”
She gave him a stony stare.
He turned toward her, while
clapping too softly to be heard above the audience’s cheers. “I beg your pardon, Ambassador; I know you
put some measure of effort into brokering this…”
“You’ve no idea the effort I put
in.”
“…but we’re selling our spirits to
these warlords. And for what?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Protection from the Hax-Rah.”
He pulled his wrinkled lips into a
grimace. “Feh. The Haraden helps no one but themselves. I tell you, once they get this vaunted grid
of theirs up they’ll start pillaging.
The few men remaining will be enslaved, and you women, well—”
“Shut your damned mouth, Karrin.”
He scoffed.
The High Council Leader turned to
the Haraden delegation seated on the stage a short distance from Janel’s
group. “Good warriors, there’s to be a
celebration in the High Council ballroom.
If you’ll follow these attendants.”
She gestured to three women in starched uniforms. “I shall meet you there shortly.”
Four blue-skinned Haraden soldiers,
bulging with chest and torso muscles which their black formal attire left
exposed, looked to their leader, General Kordan. Her adversary was the eldest of the group, though
Janel grudgingly admitted he was still quite handsome. The general sat with his arms crossed and an
expression of disdain. For a moment
Janel thought he was going to decline the invitation. Instead he flared his nostrils for a snort
and gave Ansella a nod.
“Magnificent,” Ansella said.
The aliens filtered off the stage
behind the attendants. Ansella looked
towards her group next. Janel had the
seat of honor closest to her beside the six ruling councilors. All
were female except for Karrin.
“I expect you all to be at the
party, ladies. You also Councilor Karrin.”
The old man stomped past the women to
leave the stage with a sneer.
Ansella stepped in front of Janel
and took her hand. The High Councilor
was a grandmother with kind eyes and soft lines on her face. She wore her white hair in a loose bun.
“You must attend, Janel. You’re the guest of honor.”
She closed her eyes with a quiet
groan. “Sella, I don’t want to be
anywhere near General Kordan. He put me
through the
knife-circle during negotiations.”
Ansella smiled. “Just make an appearance, dear. Have a few drinks. We can’t risk offending them.”
Her shoulders rose and fell in a
sigh, but she forced herself to nod.
She took a tram home first to
change out of her ceremonial robes. Her
closet was full of dour work clothes, some a bit faded and worn. Janel sighed.
What could she wear to a party?
Her black gown would do if she added a sash, but she always wore
that. There was a white lace gown, sheer
on the stomach and back, that showed a great deal of cleavage and thigh. She plucked it from her rotating
display. Why not? The Haraden men were always happy to flaunt
their sexy chests and stomachs. Maybe
she’d get that asshole general flustered.
Another tram ride brought her to
the council buildings. She entered the
ballroom through a side door, then grabbed a drink and cloistered herself in
the furthest seating area from the door.
Janel slouched back in the soft
cushions of a couch. A pleasant buzz
from her strong potion began to course through her. It allowed her to ignore the low rumble of
voices. A few dozen revelers were
already in attendance to schmooze. She
closed her eyes and tried to slacken her tight shoulders. Maybe if she appeared to be asleep no one
would bother her.
She felt a dip in the cushion
beside her. Janel kept her eyelids
sealed.
Go away.
“And another thing. The viceroy couldn’t even attend in person?”
Councilor Karrin said. “What an
insult. Planet Arkzin is only one
causeway jump from here. It’s not even a
major Haraden holding. Who does he think
he is?”
Janel leaned forward to massage her
temples. She flashed the old man a dirty
look. He’d changed from his ceremonial
robes to what looked like one of his grey work suits.
The majority of the gathering was still
up front near the
glavadeer musicians and buffet. No one other than Karrin had ventured near
her far corner.
“Why are you sitting next to me?”
He grudgingly moved over one
cushion space. “You have the right
idea. Who wants to rub noses with these
barbarians?”
And also you have no friends. She leaned back again. “I have legitimate reason to keep my
distance. General Kordan made
negotiations arduous for me. We went to
the Haraden on our knees with every resource we had to offer on a platter for
them. He tried to get far more than
that—even more than what the Hax-Rah tried to take from us. It took me a week to get a reasonable
accord.”
“Well of course. That’s how they are. You give them a
brad they take a
braddock. You think they’ll ever be satisfied? Ha!”
“They’re honorable. That’s the whole reason we went to them for
an alliance. They keep their word.”
“You’re a naïve imbecile, Janel.”
She drew a hand over her
forehead. “Please go away.”
“You’re a symptom of the disease of
our government. Female leadership is all
about talking, talking, talking. Some
aliens don’t listen. It was better
before the war. Men knew how to take
action.”
She sat up again to glower at
him. “And that’s why there’s so few of
you left. Kindly get the fuck away from
me. There must be someone else you can
annoy.”
Karrin scanned the room and rolled
back his top lip in disgust. “Feh.”
She drained the rest of her glass
and thrust it at him. “Make yourself
useful then. Chal-am potion. A double.”
He took her glass and hoisted
himself to his feet. “I go only because
I want a drink for myself. In my day
women serviced men—not the other way around.”
“Just go.” She closed her eyes again.
For a few moments she enjoyed her
solitude. Then she felt another dip on
the cushion beside her.
Janel didn’t bother to look. “You couldn’t have possibly gotten drinks
that fast, Karrin.”
“Are you and he a couple?”
Janel’s eyes opened wide. Then she sat up with her spine rigid. General Kordan’s large frame was taking up
one and a half of the cushions beside her.
He assessed her with auburn eyes that had been hidden by a black
skullcap during their negotiations. Now
he allowed glossy black hair to fall in free tresses over his forehead.
She turned from him. “Me and the Councilor? No.
I…I don’t even like him.”
Kordan gave a grunt and a nod. “Good.”
She blinked.
Good?
Why is it good?
“After this gathering I’m returning
to Arkzin. I would like for you to
accompany me.”
Janel’s heart began to thud. “I beg your pardon?”
Kordan lowered his head. He was a man used to getting his way, that’s
one thing Janel had learned ad nauseam, but they were no longer staring each
other down from across the negotiating table.
The alliance was sealed. Her work
with him as ambassador was done. She
never had to deal with the demanding alien ever again. Just why the hell did he want her to go with
him to his home world?
“Ambassador…”
“You may call me Janel. We’ve no longer a need to deal with each
other in our official capacities.”
Got
it?
Kordan’s auburn eyes fixed on
her. “Janel.”
Hearing him say her name for the
first time with his deep gravely voice sent a crackle down her spine.
“I no longer wish to be your
enemy.”
The crackling lingered, along with
a tightening in the pit of her stomach.
“I’m not sure I understand you,”
Janel said.
“It was my duty to be ruthless when
we were negotiating the alliance. My
masters told me what I had to gain and I couldn’t fail. In fact, I was meant to exceed their
expectations.” He paused to sigh. “You made things more difficult for me than I
was accustomed to. I thought your
planet’s use of a female negotiator was a bargaining tactic. I refused to be disarmed by you—and yet I was
affected.”
Her brow rose.
“It frustrated me. I resolved to be more vicious than I ever had
been before. I’d tear you apart before
your charms could infect me.”
My word.
“You’re right. We no longer need to deal with each other in
our official capacities. I would like
the opportunity to show you I’m not as cruel as you perceived.” His eyes grazed her face, not quite meeting
her own. “And also, an opportunity to
make amends with you.”
Janel couldn’t find words for
several moments. She realized she was
gaping at him like a dullard. This was
not a response befitting her. She
cleared her throat and attempted to regain some footing.
“So you’ve come to me out of
guilt?”
Kordan drew an audible breath
through his nostrils. “Guilt. And desire.”
Her eyes flashed wide once
more. She wrung her hands together.
“Not just for your body.” He added the words speedily. “I desire to have you as my wife.”
She turned to look straight
ahead. “I see.”
“Janel, I know you’ve no reason to
grant me sympathy, but it humiliates to come to you this way. I wanted to abandon the notion. I couldn’t.
This alliance has created a bridge for our people to intermarry. My rank entitles me to a bride, and my
masters said I may pursue bride candidates from Malakeeza. I wrestled with the thought of pursuing
anyone other than you. Of course you
despise me. It’s what I deserve. But I…I don’t want to be with anyone but
you.” She heard him swallow. “You’re my equal, educated,
cunning—vivacious, and yet gentle. You
even exceed me in some ways. You never
lost your temper. You were always the
embodiment of grace throughout the negotiations.”
“On the outside,” she said, while
only turning her head toward him slightly.
“I was a wreck just below the surface.
I couldn’t let my anger erupt because you might have gotten fed up and
walked away. My people needed this
alliance desperately.”
Kordan gave a grain of a
laugh. “As did mine. I didn’t have the luxury of storming
off. This alliance was too important to
the Haraden.”
Now she looked at him. “It was?”
Kordan nodded. “The looming wars three decades ago caused
our gestation facilities to produce five hundred male Haraden to every one
female. We expected to lose so many
soldiers to battle that the numbers would eventually even out. And then the Confederation of Planets
accepted the Haraden Empire as a member rather than succumb to a full-scale
war. We scarcely lost a soldier. Now we don’t have enough females to maintain
our population. We’re short a billion
brides. Not even men of my rank can find
a wife.”
Janel bashed her fist into the arm
rest. “Damn you! Why did you fight me so hard? Malakeeza was the perfect fit for your
empire. I kept saying this from the
beginning and you kept acting as though you didn’t need us. This could have been so simple.”
“There is no simple way to join the
Haraden Empire. We must always have the
advantage, even in an alliance that benefits us.”
Janel rubbed her hand over her
face. “My God.”
“We’ve both been under tremendous
stress during these negotiations,” Kordan said.
“I’ve a mansion on Arkzin and a seven day break from my duties. Come with me.
. This would be a time to rest,
recover, and enjoy each other’s company.
I believe we’re compatible, but perhaps we’re not. If it ends after my break is over, then so be
it. I just can’t bear for it to end
now.”
Janel brought her fist to her
chin. Was she actually considering this?
“No harm will come to you,
Janel. You know we are a people of
honor.”
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