“Princess Gen of Sueva, the Light of Perzivor,” I agree. “My bride and chosen, my human flower.”

“Fuck.” Then, a beat later, “You’re a prince. And you’re telling me we’re married.” Her voice is flat, and I turn away from the wall and my search, frowning into the darkness at her.

“Of course, we are married. That is what happens after a mating ceremony, after all. You chose to come here as our brides, a token of good-will from your Earth Federation in exchange for our technology. Was our communication unclear?” I chuckle at her obvious joke. “You ate from my hand, I ate from yours, you danced with me. We are wed. Now you are a princess of the Suevan people, and I—”

I stop talking, familiar shame filling me as she remains silent, the only sound the gentle lapping of water against the shore and her sharp, uneven breathing.

“You did not know?”

“No, my dude, Prince of Sueva, I most decidedly did not know. The Federation left that tiny piece of information out of our mission briefing. Did Niki know? She couldn’t have known. She would have told me. I’ll kill her if she knew.”

“I find your bloodthirstiness most alluring,” I tell her, my cock rising immediately.

“That’s messed up,” she says, “but thanks, I guess.”

“Would you like to appreciate it with your hand?”

“Can you not? Now is not the time,” she sputters, and I frown.

“So there will be a time?” I cannot keep the hope out of my voice, and sudden wonder fills me. Have I ever been as besotted with a female? Is it because she is mine, my mate, and I long to claim her as the goddess demands?

A weary sigh sounds. “I tell you what, buddy. If you can get us out of this pit, I will blow your damn mind.”

“My dam mind?” She would seek to let the tide of my passions loose, surging forth from a burst dam? I was already motivated to find a safe exit for us, but now? Now I would move the skies themselves for a chance at what she has promised.

She is my wife, and I will enjoy every morsel she deigns to give me.

Finally, my talons scrabble over a familiar surface, one every Suevan worth his quarn knows as soon as he can stand. A smug smile curls my lips, and I strike my talons across the rougher surface of the wall. Sparks fly and briefly illuminate Gen’s enticing figure, before igniting the tinder inlaid inside the wall. A line of fire rapidly consumes it, racing along the glossy surface. I blink against the sudden light.

“Did you light that fire with your fingers?” The firelight flickers across her stunned features, and she trudges closer to the wall, wet and shivering slightly.

“How else would I have done it? Do human males not know how to do this?”

“They probably couldn’t find the spot to hit if they wanted to.” She laughs at this, and I frown, confused.

“You think it is funny that your males do not know how to make fire?”

Gen doubles over, and alarm fills me, until a hoarse wheezing noise chokes out of her. When she straightens up, her eyes leak and her shoulders shake. With laughter.

“Oh,” she finally gasps. “Don’t worry, we’ll just pretend they did.”

“Wife, why do I feel as though there is something to this joke that I do not understand?”

Her laughter dies as quickly as it started, and I narrow my eyes, concerned about her rapid change in mood.

“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.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER SEVEN

OceanofPDF.com

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.