Page 62 of Alien Prince’s Fake Bride (The Tentacle Throne #1)

“We agreed that we’d go to Earth at some point,” I make up on the spot.

“Together, of course. To see my family and show Earth the prince of the Khavgren Empire. It will be wonderful. But now I’m thinking that I can go there now, on my own, and then Mareliux can follow.

Right now, I’m just sitting here and doing nothing.

And so many want to kill me. If I go into space and head for Earth, I’ll be even safer than here.

Mareliux can follow me when he’s done with his war.

I think Earth needs time to prepare. They have never seen aliens, you know. ”

“Oh, but that’s not going to be a problem,” Darient says.

“Mareliux doesn’t care much for protocol and grand receptions and pomp and circumstance.

He’ll be perfectly happy whichever way your world welcomes him.

And you are safe, Umbra. Completely. I’ve never seen so many Calanians as there are in this building right now!

And outside! They’re milling around all over the place.

Nobody can get within a thousand paces of this place. No, you’re perfectly safe.”

Damn. How can I get rid of her?

I nod slowly. “That makes me feel better. You’re really sure?”

“Yes, of course!” Darient laughs, relieved. “Even the Emperor himself has fewer guards around him than you do. You’re the most precious thing in the palace.”

I grab her hand and squeeze. “If you think so, then that’s all I need.”

We eat dinner and have a drink. Then we get up to admire the view of Chicago and other sights that I flick through. I tell her about Earth, and she pretends to be interested, like any polite person would.

“Darient,” I begin when she’s about to leave. “There’s one thing I would like to find out. Have you heard of aliens that use strange spaceships that look like this?” I take a round plate and move it around like a flying saucer. “Except much bigger. The size of a building. White or gray.”

Her tentacles curl up as she takes the plate and looks at it. “What a strange design for a spaceship!”

“It’s weird, isn’t it? But they do exist. I am trying to find out which aliens use those.

I have asked a lot of people about it, but I only have one clue and I don’t think it helps.

Something called ’the Plood’?” I’m reluctant about telling her about Ashlynn.

It feels too private, and knowing the story might give the wrong people power over me.

Darient tosses the plate onto the couch like a frisbee. “It flies like that? I have never heard of it, but I will ask around.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

She finally leaves.

“She was a waste of time,” I mutter as the door closes behind her. “And I don’t think I can reach Sigise without going through the Calanians. They might wonder why I need to talk to her.”

“ You should leave Colonel Grast out of this for now,” Vera says. “ She needs to stay at a distance unless her extraction plan is activated. Nobody must suspect her real mission.”

I wander around in the apartment. It is very nice, and in many ways it’s tempting to stay.

“How do I activate that plan?”

“ I don’t think you can.” Vera’s reply comes quickly.

“I don’t think so either,” I fret as I stare at the fake view of Paris.

It’s a good fake, with no pixels that I can see.

It follows the daytime here, so that the Eiffel Tower is now illuminated the way it is at night.

I idly change it to display Mount Fuji at night, which is not illuminated, but just a dark cone against the evening sky.

“I’m only the object of the plan. Just an item, just cargo. Powerless to affect it in any way.”

I keep restlessly walking around the apartment for a good while. I’m perfectly aware of why. Whenever I lie down to sleep, all these theoretical things will go up in smoke, and the only thing on my mind will be Mareliux.

My anger is gone, and only sadness is left. I really never wanted to leave. He wanted me to stay, and I wanted that too. Not just because of Earth and Space Force. But because of him .

“He showed me a new world,” I mumble. “He brought me into his incredible life and was much nicer to me than he had to be. Was it love? I mean, for me, it was. But was it for him, too?”

“ Should I answer?” Vera asks carefully. “ Or is this meant only for yourself?”

“Answer if you have something real to say,” I tell her. “Don’t make things up to make me feel better.”

“ For him, everything I’ve heard tells me it was love, ” Vera tells me in her chipper voice. “ But I’m not a mind reader, and Mareliux is an alien. I may be wrong. Though it’s hard to imagine what he thought he could gain by acting as lovestruck as he has with you. In private, I mean.”

I twist the Syntrix ring on my finger. That strong connection I sometimes felt with him — it was real. I’m sure. Nobody can fake that. That was pure, raw emotion.

No, he did love me. He does . And keeping me here, against my will… he thinks it’s the right thing to do. I’m sure of that.

But he’s wrong.

Exhausted after a long day, I finally lie down on the bed in the normal bedroom, not the pink canopy one. The window screens slowly go dark as the room senses me lying down.

“I’ll have to deal with this tomorrow,” I mutter. “I have to get out.”

I don’t know how much time has passed when Vera buzzes on my wrist. “Umbra!”

“What?” I ask, groggy with interrupted sleep.

“It’s probably me,” says a deep, suave voice.

I open my eyes. The room is very dark. “Mareliux?”

There’s a soft, deep chuckle. “Not quite.”

“Vera, light!” I command as I grab the knife gun Mareliux got me and bounce out of bed.

The AI lights up the room in bright white.

Prince Nerox is standing just inside the bedroom door with his hands up, palms outward, casting a sharp shadow in Vera’s light. “Don’t make noise! You’re in great danger.”