It was odd how quickly things could change. This morning, in my panic, I had not wanted her. Now, she did not want me, and I…

I now found myself entirely unwilling to lose her. The thought of her flitting off to marry Fallon or one of the others had my eyes burning so white I could see the glow of them reflected on the porch as I stepped up onto it.

There was nothing for it. I’d just have to go in there, find out what I’d done wrong, and somehow try to convince them both that I could fix it.

The warden stepped aside to let me pass, and he was frowning, but it did not exactly seem that his frown was directed at me. If anything, he looked uncertain about something.

“Silar,” he snapped, exasperation or maybe confusion making a quick bit of white zip through his eyes, “Do you still wish to marry Cherry Dawson?”

Was this about earlier? When I’d told him to give her to Fallon? I’d shown up here to claim her, hadn’t I? Surely that was answer enough.

I allowed myself a glance over at Cherry. Her eyes looked even larger now, and shiny. I hadn’t noticed the shininess before. Still white, but only at the edges, not in the centre. Her small hands were clenched into fists together and she pressed them what looked to be quite hard against her abdomen. I wondered if it hurt to press that hard. Or, alternatively, if something inside was hurting and that was why she was pressing. What did one even do for a human with a stomach ailment? My tail tightened around its hook.

“Silar,” growled the warden. “Now is not the time for your usual silence. I need to hear it verbally. Do you consent to this marriage?”

At this point I’d consent to a tail amputation if it meant I got to keep her. Not that I had a single cursed clue what it was I’d even do with her. Probably start by making her something for her stomach, which she seemed to be clutching at even harder now while she awaited my answer.

“Yes,” I rasped, my voice sounding oddly loud, booming in the space. “As long as she also… That is… Do you…” She tensed as I addressed her. “Do you also consent? Now that you’ve seen me… Will you still have me?”

She looked at me a moment and then moved her head rapidly up and down. I guessed I hadn’t read far enough in my human manual because the gesture meant absolutely nothing to me. I could only stare at her helplessly, guts twisting, because surely that was this tiny creature’s way of saying no.

She only just got here. She’s only just seen me. I haven’t even gotten to show her my wagon yet. And now-

“Yes! I consent! I’m in if you’re in.”

Oh.

That was… good? She consented. And she was in… something. What she was “in” was any man’s guess.

“Thank you!” she said and made a high, watery sound. A laugh? “Is it weird to say, ‘thank you?’ I’m just… I’m very grateful. And happy to be here. I promise I will be the best wife ever, Silar! I’ll work very hard and-”

I stared in silent confusion at this little female rattling off all the ways she planned to make my life better, as if she somehow owed me anything. As if she had to earn her place here, such a pure little thing among the rejected males of our Empire.

A pretty little thing, paired up with a male like me. A male who’d gotten another Zabrian’s life’s blood beneath his claws before he’d even reached adulthood.

My gaze roved over her face as she spoke. She seemed to have endless things to say, which I supposed was just as well, because I had very few. I wondered if she really was pretty, or if it had simply been so long since I’d seen a female that, starved of beauty, I had no real standards left to speak of. Did it even matter? She was here, for some unknown reason she was willing to have me, and she was the strangest, prettiest thing I could ever recall having seen.

She finally ran out of things to say and clamped her mouth shut. It seemed like she was waiting for a response, though I could not possibly fathom what she wanted to hear in the wake of all the enthusiastic vows she’d just made. I hesitated, then simply said, “Alright,” and hoped that was enough.

Perhaps it was, because she did that head movement again and she was no longer holding her stomach like it hurt. I probably should have used that moment to make grand, sweeping statements right back at her. To tell her that I would be a good husband in return. But I did not yet know how to do that and I had never been a very good liar. So I latched on to the first true thing I felt I could respond with. “I will work hard, too.”

I didn’t know how to be a husband to a human. But I knew how to work.

That much, I could promise.

9CHERRY

The ceremony was quick, which I was grateful for, because I was still paranoid that at any moment Silar would come to his senses and call the whole thing off. I watched him from the side as the warden, authorized to preside over Zabrian wedding ceremonies, read from his tablet. But Silar gave me nothing, his face hard and emotionless in profile, his white eyes fixed on a point on the wood-plank wall behind the warden.

“And now, you twist your tails to… Oh.” Warden Tenn glanced at me, then placed his tablet down on the wooden desk he stood behind. “Right. You don’t have a tail. Well. That’s it, then. In the eyes of the Zabrian Empire, you are now married.”

“What was I supposed to do with a tail?” I asked, feeling like I’d missed out on some vital Zabrian custom.

“Zabrians twist their tails together to represent the entwining of their future lives,” Warden Tenn explained. “But it’s not necessary to the legal aspects of the marriage. The ceremony is complete enough.”

“We could kiss,” I said with a laugh, half nervous, half relieved. “That’s what humans do.”

Warden Tenn cocked his head, and Silar looked at me for the first time since the ceremony had started.

“What’s ‘kiss?’” my new husband asked.

My mouth fell open and I hurried to snap it shut.

“It’s… You… You put your mouth… You know what? Never mind,” I blustered, face on fire.

“If it is important, he will do it,” the warden growled warningly. “Silar. Step up and do the human kiss thing.”

“Oh, it’s fine. Trust me,” I said, waving my hands to dispel the idea. I didn’t even know why I’d brought it up in the first place. This whole day had already been awkward as hell. Why the need to teach my new alien husband how to kiss on top of all that? Especially in front of the serious-faced warden.

But Silar was peering at me now from beneath the brim of his hat, a muscle leaping in the side of his jaw.

“If you tell me what it is, I can try to do it,” he said, uncertainty and grim determination warring on his face. It was as if he expected a kiss to be something extremely difficult or unpleasant. Like loading haybales or mucking stalls or something. Guess I gotta give him credit for being willing to try…

“I also have a wagon,” he added in a sudden rush. “Just… So you know.”

“Oh! Well… Good! I love wagons!”

I’d never been on a wagon in my entire fucking life.

I licked my lips, my gaze darting from Silar to the warden. They both stood there, obviously waiting for something.

Something like me kissing my husband.

Ah. Fuck it. I’d brought this on myself. Might as well just get it over with.

“Could you, ah, bend down a little?” I crooked my finger.

Silar looked at my finger, at me, then bent stiffly at the waist.

“Ok. Good enough,” I said with a nod. Holy Terra, the man really was huge. Even leaning down like he was, I’d still have to rise up on the balls of my feet. I did so, but I instantly wobbled, and my hands shot forward to brace myself on Silar. My fingers settled on his shoulders.

Shirtless as he was, I could see with utmost clarity the way every single muscle in his arms, chest, and abdomen grew harrowingly taut at the touch. I felt his shoulders tighten beneath my fingers. Saw the way his throat bobbed. Heard the catch of his breath. His eyes seemed even brighter than before. How was that possible?