Page 1 of Eclipse Bound (Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides #7)

Chapter One

Planet of Zorveya

Eclipsyionic stood at the edge of the Twilight Belt, where eternal day met endless night, and wondered, not for the first time, if their world was too fractured to heal.

To the west, the gold-tinged brilliance of Solarus City shimmered.

The never-setting sun refracted off crystalline spires like the sharpened edges of a weapon.

Opposite them, to the east, stood the obsidian towers of Lunaris.

They loomed in shadowed elegance, the blackened landscape drinking in perpetual starlight.

And between them, the neutral territory.

The Twilight Belt was a testament to compromise that neither side particularly wanted, but that both grudgingly had accepted.

Eclipsyionic lived in the everlasting twilight of his home district and had spent most of his adult years in the Peacemaker Council's diplomatic center, dealing with ambassadors who liked arguing as much as breathing.

Today, he feared that compromise was failing.

Eclipsyionic had believed that if he stood in the middle long enough, he could hold both sides back from the brink. But lately, it felt like he was merely sinking between two tides that refused to retreat.

He was tired of listening to the bickering and had put in for a transfer. Hopefully, with luck, this would be his last time dealing with delegates.

Those in the Twilight Belt long predicted that war was coming between the light and dark. Drastic measures needed to be taken to stop it. The sides needed to find a way to work together.

It was a long shot, but he had tried all the other shots.

"I refuse to dim our towers," Solarestabinian snapped, his golden skin pulsing with suppressed fury. He stalked the conference room, trailing sparks of sun-fueled energy in his wake. "The light is our birthright. Our towers have stood this way for generations."

"Your birthright is blinding half of my sector and giving my people migraines," Luniaren countered from his position in the darkest corner, the hint of his silhouette barely visible against the gloom.

His pale skin seemed to absorb what little light reached him, and his darker, night-adapted eyes narrowed.

"The new crystal arrays are reflecting directly into Lunaris territory. It's a deliberate provocation."

Eclipsyionic suppressed a sigh. This was the fourth diplomatic incident this month, and it wasn't even halfway through the cycle.

It was time to try something truly radical.

He touched the data pad containing the latest proposal from Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides Corporation, an idea so absurd it might actually work where centuries of traditional diplomacy had failed.

Absurd. Ridiculous. Desperate. All apt descriptors. And yet...

"If I may suggest—" Eclipsyionic began.

"You may not," Solarestabinian and Luniaren said in unison, before glaring at each other for agreeing on anything.

A gentle chime from the data pad drew Eclipsyionic's attention. The Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides’ representatives were ready to deliver their proposal.

"Perhaps," Eclipsyionic said carefully, "it is time to consider alternative solutions."

"Such as?" Solarestabinian's golden skin flared brighter with his temper. "More endless talks while they skulk in their shadows plotting against us?"

"We do not skulk," Luniaren said, his voice as cold as the eternal night.

"We strategize. Though I wouldn't expect someone who solves everything with brute force to understand the difference.

If you had your way, we would be throwing rocks at spaceships and would have lost our mines to the Tyoe. We saved your sparkly asses."

“And if we left it to you, we’d be strategizing how to turn down the Bevlon’s hostile takeover from the bowels of one of their lava pits. We saved your inky, spineless?—”

A loud beep cut Solarestabinian off as Eclipsyionic activated the data pad's holographic display. A lurid advertisement flashed between the arguing representatives, showing smiling couples of various species embracing beneath a glittering alien logo.

"What," Solarestabinian demanded, scowling, "is this?"

"Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides," Eclipsyionic explained. "They broker interspecies cultural exchanges."

Luniaren pushed away from his corner, moving like a liquid shadow to stare at the hologram. "You cannot be serious."

"Their success rate with difficult mating situations is interesting." Eclipsyionic scrolled through several case studies. "They recently succeeded in finding women for ash miners from Bravon?—”

Solarestabinian slashed his hand through the hologram. “We’re not interested in women who would accept a Bevlon demon into their bed.”

“He said Bravon, you stupid wormhole licker,” Luniaren snapped.

“Blackhole bait,” Solarestabinian countered.

“ And ,” Eclipsyionic interrupted, bringing up images of blue aliens next to smaller females, “they paired isolated ice warriors from Sintaz through a series of arranged marriages to Earth humans."

"Earth?" Solarestabinian and Luniaren asked simultaneously, before they resumed glaring at each other.

"A developing planet with no official knowledge of alien life," Eclipsyionic continued, showing images of the blue orb with changing light patterns.

"Their society is chaotic, their customs contradictory, and their technological advancement limited. But their capacity for adaptation is remarkable. Plus, they’re not unpleasant to behold, as far as alien creatures go. "

"And?" Solarestabinian crossed his arms, sun-sparks dancing around his shoulders. Luniaren expanded a shadow toward him like a taunt.

"Their atmosphere, food products, and local terrains are compatible with our kind," Eclipsyionic added. "Implanted nano-translators will take care of the language. Basic customs and information will be provided on the trip."

"And?" Solarestabinian prompted, brightening his body to counteract Luniaren's encroaching darkness.

The hostility was palpable. Eclipsyionic kept a tight hold on his energy, as he fought the urge to explode toward both of them.

"The Peacemaker Council feels that since all other attempts at mediation have been met with resistance, we need to try a new tactic, one where both sides join in an offworld mission." He averted his gaze before clarifying, "A mating expedition.”

They look at him like he’d grown another set of arms, but don’t speak.

“If representatives from the opposing zones can successfully integrate into Earth society and create relationships with the natives, it would prove that cooperation between contradictory forces is possible.

" Eclipsyionic tried to hide his exasperation as he looked at them. Being here was like mediating children, not that he had seen children in a long while. There weren’t many on the planet outside of the designated spawning centers.

"The Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides corporation is prepared to facilitate this experiment. "

“No,” Luniaren and Solarestabinian stated in unison.

“One unified goal. A symbolic peace,” Eclipsyionic insisted. “If the two of you?—”

"Symbolism won't stop a war," Solarestabinian muttered. "This is an absurd proposal."

The two men started bickering again, and Eclipsyionic blocked them out. The council had already signed the contracts. These two were going whether they wanted to or not. He just had to deliver the details.

After sixty cycles of listening to both sides quarrel, he’d finally had enough. Raising his voice, he projected over the arguing. “The Peacemaker Council has decreed it necessary. If you refuse, you will be personally responsible for the council withdrawing our support of?—”

“No, wait a moment,” Solarestabinian held up his hands, panicked. “There is no reason to be impulsive.”

“Says the Solarian.” Luniaren's night-dark eyes narrowed further as he returned to the shadows. "What exactly does this decree entail?"

“Do not withdraw support,” Solarestabinian insisted. Neither man would want to be responsible for such a thing. They’d be ostracized.

"I'm glad you're both willing to listen to reason," Eclipsyionic said, though he knew better than to believe either of them was truly being reasonable.

They were scared of the consequences. He pulled up pictures of the location to show them.

"The corporation has arranged for a small compound in a place called Duskrock, Arizona.

The planet is not tidal locked like ours, and this area has a good balance of light and dark.

Apparently, the locals are quite welcoming of unusual visitors, which will make it easier to blend with the population. "

Luniaren and Solarestabinian frowned.

“The idea is simple. You will both travel to Earth and participate in the mating customs,” Eclipsyionic said.

"Is our species even biologically compatible?" Luniaren asked doubtfully, though his tone hardly sounded like a question. "They look…"

Luniaren frowned harder, his shadow essence contracting inward.

"I'm told with our energy transformations, you will be able to perform in a way that…

pleases…" Eclipsyionic tried to think of a delicate way of explaining what he'd been told, but it was difficult while he was being optically threatened by both sides.

"That will pleasurably infuse a mate should it come to such an act. "

“Is there no other option?” Solarestabinian insisted. “Can you not arrange a marriage here?”

“Since the few inter-marriages between both sides have proven problematic—” Eclipsyionic began.

“Death is more than problematic,” Luniaren interrupted.

“Only one died,” Solarestabinian countered.

“Out of three,” Luniaren argued. "The others live apart."

Eclipsyionic continued, ignoring them, "You will be working together, living among humans, learning their customs, attempting to find compatible friendships?—"