Page 10 of Alien Prince’s Fake Bride (The Tentacle Throne #1)

- Umbra -

The blue alien with the tentacles is obviously the chief kidnapper. ‘Mareliux’ is a name I can just about pronounce, which is half surprising considering his extreme space monster looks.

He opens a door and pushes me through it.

“No!” I grab the door jamb and hang on to it for dear life. But Mareliux simply pulls my hand away and pushes me inside.

I’ve done everything I can to resist, but a girl only has so much energy and my mission in the shuttle was supposed to be long over by now.

I’m inside their ship, but I suppose there’s a chance they just want to look at me and then they’ll let me go.

That might not be great news — if they flush me out the airlock, I may not have time to put my helmet back on before I die in the total emptiness of space.

To my relief this is not an airlock. It looks most of all like a cabin on a ship or a hotel room with a high ceiling. There’s no window, but there’s a bed and some big chairs.

Mareliux closes the door and stays inside the room, saying something in his deep voice.

“ Do you want me to try translating?” Vera asks softly. “ I will make mistakes, but I have a handle on some of their language.”

Mareliux freezes, then gives me a little smile and says something.

“What?” I ask.

“‘ You have a little friend?’” Vera says in English, clearly translating because she changes her voice, making it deeper to match the alien's. “‘ So do I.’”

There’s a new voice in the room, the female one that comes from Mareliux’s belt and sounds like an AI. At first I can’t understand a word. Then it starts speaking English.

“ To translate into English,” the voice says.

“ Hi. I am Bellatriz, the most legendary sword in all of the Khavgren Empire. I have been able to learn your language and I can tell you some of what Mareliux says, when he deems that appropriate. This may be such a time. We know that you are Shadow Hadley. Does your AI have a name?”

“I… oh,” I manage, totally taken by surprise to have an alien sword speak to me. “Her name is Vera. And mine is Umbra, not Shadow.”

“ Umbra,” the alien AI goes on. “ Which means Shadow, and presumably that’s where you got your callsign. Wait, I’ll report this to His Imperial Highness, Crown Prince Mareliux, heir to the throne of the Khavgren Empire.” The AI switches languages.

“She has access to all of Earth’s radio wave transmissions,” Vera sniffs. “ No wonder she speaks so well. If I had that kind of access to their stuff, I’d be fluent in Khavgrenish right now.”

“I know. You’re ten times the brains of that thing,” I assure her, wanting to keep her morale up.

“ We call our language Khavgrese,” Bellatriz says. “ Just so you know. I don’t think your services will be needed, Vara.”

“ Vera,” Vera insists. “ You heard it the first time.”

“ Of course,” the alien AI says. “ Virra it is. Could you turn yourself off for a while, sweetie? It’s just that we don’t like it when strange alien AIs listen to what the Prince says. Who knows, you might get it into your circuits to record him. And that, I’m afraid, is a serious offense.”

“It’s all right, Vera,” I tell her. It might be a good idea to save her battery. I can’t see an outlet anywhere, and anyway my charger is back at the station. “Turn off for a while.”

My AI gives off a loud hmph before she goes quiet.

“Now that’s been settled,” Mareliux rumbles, translated by Bellatriz, “we can do some talking. You may sit.” He points to one of the tall chairs in the room.

“You have abducted me from my planet,” I tell him, ignoring his suggestion. “I’m an officer of Space Force, and so your act is an act of war. I’m a prisoner of war, and I will tell you only my name, rank, and serial number.”

“No, no,” Mareliux rumbles as he sits down on the bed.

It creaks under his weight. He’s now face to face with me.

“Your world sent a boarding party to my ship, and we received the ambassador, as we understood the request. There was some trouble in the hangar, and we had to make sure you weren’t harmed.

Now then, Ambassador Umbra. I have a plan for you. ”

“I’m not an ambassador,” I assure him. “I’m Umbra Hadley, Second lieutenant. SF-UH-8749-30. I demand you return me to my unit.”

My heart rate is finally coming down a fraction. This situation is bad, but nowhere near as bad as it could be. For one, I’m still alive. For another, I am inside an alien spaceship, gathering priceless intelligence. Especially if this guy really is a prince, the way his AI claims.

I actually don’t have a reason to doubt it.

He seems to own this huge spaceship. He has a commanding presence and an easy way about him, a confidence that it must have cost him years of authority to acquire.

His movements are measured and sure, his presence almost overpowering.

I just can’t look away. But he’s an alien, too. Maybe they’re all like that.

Damn, that’s a big bulge he has in his pants. And I think it just twitched. He can’t have tentacles there, too, can he?

“But my plans can wait,” he says. “This is an awkward meeting, I know. Don’t worry, Ambassador.

We will get you refreshments and such. It’s just that we’re a little short-handed at the moment.

There’s only me and Caret’ax aboard this ship.

Anyway, I liked the way you flew your ship and greeted us with a salutary laser beam.

It was much appreciated and made us feel welcome.

Do you bring a message from your king, perhaps? ”

His eyes glow red, but for some reason it doesn’t make him look sick or tired. It’s not that kind of redeye. He’s just intense and incredibly present.

Damn, those tentacles of his are both scary and kind of cool.

The gold that threads through his indigo skin seems to pulse faintly within the tentacles as well, catching the light in mesmerizing flashes.

They move slowly with a life of their own, the way my own fingers are almost always in motion, even when just sitting down.

It means he doesn’t have hair, but his face is downright beautiful, rugged and symmetrical, with a strong chin and hollow cheeks. That blue with gold veins is actually really fetching.

Well, I’m not going to remain standing like a schoolgirl in the principal’s office.

I sit down on the bed next to him. Might as well gather some more intel, and I’ll be bold about it.

“You can stop that ’ ambassador’ bullshit,” I tell him. “Nobody’s buying it. You abducted me and manhandled me like a prisoner. That’s not how ambassadors are received. Let me just ask: are you going to kill me?”

He raises his perfect golden eyebrows. “Of course I’m not going to kill you. No, you’re safe with me. I’m sure I can show you some interesting sights, if you’ve never been outside your solar system.” He turns his torso towards me. “But perhaps you’re well travelled.”

Something gives in me. He’s putting me at ease with small talk, and I’m sure he’s not going to kill me.

He could have thrown me into a cell or chained me up somewhere.

But he’s actually really nice. And I like the way he smells.

Those tentacles are really cool, too. He looks the way a space alien is supposed to.

“Mmm,” I tell him as one of my hands slides across the soft mattress towards him. “I went to Canada once.”

He casually stretches his arm out right behind me, resting it on the mattress. “Ah. Kadana in the Adruput system, I believe. I was never there myself.”

I focus on my hand as it slowly slides towards him on the smooth, cool alien fabric until the tip of the long finger touches his thigh. “No, the other Canada. The one with the bacon.”

His hand curls around my hip, just lightly, barely noticeable. “Oh. That one. I never came across it. Excuse me, I’ll just remove my sword. I’m sure I won’t need it.”

He stands up, unsnaps his belt, and tosses the whole rig, sword and all, onto a chair. The sword’s AI gives off an annoyed squeal as it lands.

“What do you use that for?” I ask. A part of my mind is wondering what the hell is going on. Why am I suddenly being so chummy with my abductor? But that part is easily shouted down by other parts of me. “It’s so big.”

“I use it to fight the enemies of the Empire,” he says as his hand squeezes my hip through nine layers of hi-tech materials. “But now that my sword is gone, won’t you make yourself comfortable, too? That suit looks heavy.”

“Don’t get me started,” I tell him as I jump down from the bed and start taking the spacesuit off. It’s actually not that heavy, but it is cumbersome to wear, especially with the helmet dangling down my back. “Can you help?”

The little voice in my mind yells at me to pull myself together. I decide to call that voice ‘Jezebel’ and to just let her yell until she tires of it.

Mareliux bounces to his feet, and together we’re able to get the spacesuit off me.

The whole time Jezebel is screaming at me to stop and to remember who I am, not to mention where I am, but I don’t care.

I’m the first human to be in this situation, sitting next to an alien prince, and I’m going to get as much out of it as I possibly can.

Viewed as a reconnaissance mission, this is already insanely successful.

The Space Force mission statement does say that we should find out as much as possible about aliens.

And at least I’m not being vivisected. Or not yet.

The suit drops to the ground and I jump back up on the bed, wearing only a jumpsuit.

It’s thin, but also hi-tech in the right places.

Underwear is not a thing in space, because doing laundry for dozens of people on a station in orbit is a very major problem that even Space Force hasn’t solved yet. There’s very little plumbing.

Mareliux sits down next to me, so close his thighs touch mine. “Ah. That’s better. What a remarkably attractive woman you are.”

I gasp when I hear the translation. He thinks I’m attractive?