Grumpy Alien King by Celeste King
Heather
“So…” I said.
“Yeah…” Dahrial said.
“Right…” Rulora said.
“These are your rooms?” I asked, gesturing around, doing anything to not have to look at them for a moment.
“Yeah,” Dahrial said. “My study. Yeah.”
“Nice.”
“Yeah,” he said again.
“Yeah,” Rulora added.
And then we were plunged into another awkward silence. By my count, it was the sixth awkward silence we’d had since I’d walked in on them fucking and they’d madly scurried to get dressed.
Mid-scurry, Dahrial, holding his shirt in front of his junk, had begged me not to leave. He said we needed to discuss this. He needed to know he could trust me.
So, while they got dressed, I stood where I was and averted my eyes. Not that the image of that reedy Sanax humping away at the lean, curvy Florian was going to be something that I could soon forget.
Once they were decent, I sat with them at the large wooden table in the middle of the room. Everything was still dimly lit. I figured that was for the best. It was harder to tell how much we were all blushing.
“So –” all three of us now said at the same time. We couldn’t help but share a smile at that, which helped break the tension some.
“Why don’t you tell me the deal here,” I said to Dahrial.
“Rulora and I are fated mates,” he said, staring at the table. Though he did reach out a hand and grab one of Rulora’s. Then something occurred to him and he looked at me. “Do you know what that means?”
“I learned a little about it in my Cultures classes. Sanax have genetic matches that reveal their fated mates. Ideal partners, compatible in every way. Emotionally, mentally… physically. Typically, Sanax males who find their mates find them in other Sanax females. But, occasionally, the genetic fating has been known to be cross-species in nature. Is that it?”
“That’s… yeah, that’s pretty good,” Dahrial said, finally looking at me.
“Well, then, I’m happy for you, I guess,” I shrugged. Though I wondered what this meant for me.
“You shouldn’t be happy for me,” Dahrial said, once more back to his normal morose mood. Rulora, seeing that he had gone quiet, looked at me and started to explain.
“I am from a servant class,” she said. “My status on this world, and among the Sanax, is very low. Especially compared to someone like Dahrial.”
I glanced at the two of them and for a moment I thought, Trust me, if anyone’s of low status in this relationship, it’s him, sweetheart. I didn’t say anything, though.
“Dahrial’s father would never agree to such a match,” Rulora summed up sadly.
“But if you’re fated mates…” I offered.
“My father doesn’t care about things like that,” Dahrial spit out. “He’s got no heart. He’s going to force me on you and that’ll be that.”
“Oh. Sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say.
“It’s all gotten worse since you’ve arrived,” Dahrial went on, his voice verging on whiny. I wondered what Rulora saw in him.
“It’s not my fault,” I said, “I was literally ordered.”
“No, of course, we understand,” Rulora said. “What my love – I mean, what Dahrial means, is that your arrival has increased our desperation.” They shared a glance that was full of desperation and passion. I guessed what I’d walked into had been a ‘desperation fuck’.
“Well,” I said, shifting in my chair and leaning forward. “There’s only one thing to do. We have to tell Xxuric.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Dahrial cried.
“Here’s what I know,” I countered, “I know I’m not marrying you and letting you have some woman on the side. No offense,” I added to Rulora.
“I don’t want to be on the side and have him married to you,” Rulora said.
“That settles it then,” I concluded. “We tell Xxuric.”
“I told you, he doesn’t care,” Dahrial said, his teeth grinding against each other. “He won’t change his mind. He’ll send Rulora away for good. Or he’ll disown me.”
“If he disowns you, at least you’ll be free to be with Rulora,” I offered.
“And we’ll be broke and disgraced,” Dahrial ranted, “and Rulora’s family will be shamed and humiliated. Neither us nor any of them will be able to work. We’ll all starve and die.”
He was really a glass half-empty kind of Sanax. I was glad that I wasn’t going to have to marry him.
Holy shit, I’m not going to have to marry him, I realized. My body suddenly relaxed. What a relief. There’s a catastrophe averted.
At the same time, I definitely felt bad for the reedy boy and the teacher he was hot for. He didn’t deserve to be miserable like this. And certainly Rulora, if she’d fallen in love with Dahrial, deserved to have him, God knew.
There was another wrinkle I needed to consider. If things with Dahrial and his father went south, where would that land me? Would I be tossed out on the streets, too? Then what? I wouldn’t be able to work, either. Even worse, my parents would lose the money I was intending to send them. They’d be worse off than before and I’d be in no position to help them, let alone myself.
I guess I’m not completely free of this dork yet, I realized.
“Listen,” I said, giving them both a warm gaze, “I will help in any way that I can. You have my word.”
I was pretty sure my words landed with them. While I’d been thinking about the situation, the two of them had begun making lovey eyes at each other. The temperature in the room was definitely rising.
Gingerly, I rose from my seat, muttered a good-bye, and snuck back into the secret passageway I’d come here from.
The door had barely closed behind me when I began to hear once again the sounds that had stirred me from sleep.
I hurried back to my room, hoping that in the giant bathroom’s giant medicine cabinet there were some human-sized earplugs.
