Princess for the Alien Commander by Tammy Walsh

Sofia

The veil didn’t only workone way.

I could barely make out a thing through the thick material.

Sure, I could see his tall horns and three-inch ears perked up on the side of his head, and the unmistakable golden gleam of his kauah eyes, but I couldn’t tell it was the same guy from the tent in the forest.

I would have screamed if he hadn’t leaned forward and pressed his lips on mine.

At least he didn’t kiss me the way he did back in the forest!

That sure would have sent the gossiping tongues wagging!

For a moment, I thought it was some kind of cruel joke and that Ikmale—if that was his real name—was somehow part of it.

But by the look in his eyes at seeing me, I knew with stone cold certainty that he was as surprised to see me there as I was to see him.

“I now pronounce you kauah and wife!” the high priest said.

The guests rose to their feet and roared with joy, throwing up their hands like it was a New Year party.

I just stood there, frozen in place.

I was married.

To him.

The creature that’d taken advantage of me in the forest.

He wasn’t only my father’s enemy.

He was my own.

I picked at my meal.

It was a delicious buffet of every type of human food you could think of and was interspersed with small pockets of kauah traditional meals.

The two styles couldn’t have been any more different.

Human food looked bland in comparison to the gargantuan roasted meat that occupied the protein-rich diet of the kauah.

Ikmale and I must have looked a sight.

Me, small and petite, him huge and muscular.

And now, husband and wife.

We didn’t say a word to each other the entire meal, though we were getting plenty of attention from up and down the table.

We sat to the right of the king, whose appetite made up for ours and then some.

The guests were spread out on wide benches at floor-level, having been amassed from every corner of the palace.

Children ate and played in the distant corners of the room.

Through the doors, spilling out onto the city streets, the servants worked hard to share the food among the ordinary citizens.

That was where I should have been sitting.

That was where I would have been sitting until I learned the truth of my parentage.

The only guest I knew was Camila, who sat at the far end of the head table.

I’d needed to argue tooth and nail to insist she got even that much.

Every few minutes, I cast her a glance.

She nibbled at her food like a little bird.

At least one of us could eat.

I tried to make eye contact with Camila, to communicate with her telepathically the way she always seemed able to in the past, to tell her I didn’t intend on staying here for long.

If this was how the king treated his daughter, how would a kauah with his human wife?

The kauah were vicious warriors, capable of committing terrible violence against their enemies.

And no enemy was greater than King Brant.

I doubted I would live long if I stayed attached to my newly-minted husband.

A soft tinkling sound snagged the guests’ attention as the king rapped on his wine glass with a soiled knife.

He got to his feet and the guests quietened down.

“Thank you all for coming here today,” he said. “I realize the invitations were sent at short notice.”

The guests shared a glance.

Most smiled, wanting to laugh, but unsure of the reaction it might provoke in the king.

Camila had been right about him, I thought.

I shifted uncomfortably on my chair as the hardwood pressed against the bruises on the back of my thighs.

He’d beaten me black and blue, but only where no one could see.

It turned my stomach having to sit so close to him, and when he’d led me down the aisle to hand me over to his mortal enemy…

It’d been almost too much to bear.

“Today marks the beginning of a new era,” the king went on. “The beginning of a new and close partnership between humans and the kauah. Just as we take from each other, we can also give.”

The king raised his goblet toward Ikmale and gave him a small nod.

“Now, we bring our two families together, as well as our two peoples, beneath a single crown.”

He drank from his goblet, never removing his eyes from Ikmale’s.

It was an open challenge, one I didn’t fully understand.

The guests raised their glasses and drank too.

Everyone but me and Ikmale.

The king put his goblet down, belched loudly, and marched out.

The guests returned to nattering among themselves, though it was quieter and with more excitement than earlier.

“Did you know about this?”

It was Ikmale, speaking out the corner of his mouth low enough for no one but me to hear.

His voice rumbled like thunder.

I shot him a look and hissed back at him.

“Know about what?”

“About what?” he said, spiking his voice with cruel sarcasm. “The wedding!”

“Of course not! I didn’t even know it was you I was marrying until you lifted my veil!”

Ikmale grunted.

“That’s very… convenient.”

I ground my teeth and would have spat if I was in less polite company.

“Actually, it’s very inconvenient but you can believe whatever you want. I didn’t know it was you any more than you knew it was me.”

He cocked his head to one side.

“You really didn’t know?”

“No. I didn’t. And if you knew, would you still have chosen to marry me?”

Ikmale was silent a long moment.

I was surprised at the nervous butterflies fluttering in the pit of my stomach at the thought of him denying me.

For some reason, it would have wounded me more than I could express or understand for him to admit he didn’t want me, didn’t find me attractive, hadn’t felt the same stirring I had during our private moment in his tent.

He took a sip from his goblet.

“I suppose I would.”

Thick relief settled over me like a blanket before annoyance tore it to shreds that he should have that kind of effect on me.

“What do you think we should do?” I said.

Saying “we” made it feel less difficult to deal with somehow.

After all, we were in the same sinking boat now, and when you were taking on water, you put aside your differences and emptied it as quickly as you could.

However you could.

“I suppose… we should try to make the most of the situation while we can,” he said.

He looked sideways at me, that familiar glint in his eye reminded me of our intimate moment in the forest.

It took a second for me to understand what he was referring to.

I choked on my wine and sputtered it over my empty plate.

A servant was on hand to gently tap me on the back.

I waved at him to stop.

“I’m fine! I’m fine!”

I scooped up my napkin and dabbed at my lips.

“I’m fine. I just need to… get some air.”

I hustled out of the room toward the nearest exit.

I needed to get away from there.

I needed to escape not only from my father but from my husband.

During the entire ceremony, I hadn’t once considered the wedding night.

We would be locked in a room together with nothing but a bed between us…

And if he intended on “making the most of the situation” that could only mean one thing…

And with him as muscular as he was, that would leave me at his whim.

I refused to be taken advantage of again!

Not by my father and my new husband all on the same day!

The servant opened the door and I stepped into the hallway.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves.

I would get Camila and together we could escape this nightmare.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I had to escape.

I had to—

A tall pair of shadows rose behind me, so fast and silently I immediately took them for assassins.

I spun and hopped back, my heart leaping into my throat to scream.

But it never presented itself.

I snapped my jaws shut at the last moment.

It was Bill and Steve, the pair of guards who’d brought me to my father.

“Are you okay, Princess?” Bill said with a genuine look of concern.

“I’m fine,” I said. “You just… took me by surprise.”

“Was there somewhere you wished to go?” Bill said.

“No. I just came out for some fresh air.”

Fresh air that could be found a thousand miles from here!

“Excuse me,” I said, marching down the adjacent hallway.

When I moved around the corner, I would find the second entrance, the one right behind Camila.

If I was careful, I could get her attention without anyone noticing.

Then we could escape into the night.

To think I now found myself in the same situation my mother had all those years ago…

I approached the door and heard the soft pad of footsteps behind me.

I spun around and shrieked, my heart thudding even faster than the first time the guards had taken me by surprise.

“Will you quit stalking me?” I snapped. “You’re going to give me a heart attack!”

The guards shared a look.

“Your father gave us orders to watch over you.”

“Watch over me?” I said. “From what? This is my wedding! No one’s going to attack the bride at her own wedding!”

Of course, they would if they could.

My father had more than one enemy in the banquet hall—among the humans, even more of the kauah, and then there were the dras to deal with…

So many enemies…

And now they were also mine.

“What I mean is, you don’t need to look after me,” I said. “Go take care of yourselves. Get some delicious food and drink. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“We’ve already eaten,” Bill said.

“Then go drink,” I said.

“No drinking while we’re on duty, I’m afraid,” Steve said.

Then how was I supposed to creep away?

Much less get Camila’s attention?

I didn’t know, but I had come up with something.

“Look—”

The doors behind me burst open and a gang of girls I had never met before squealed an unholy racket.

“Here she is!”

They grabbed me and dragged me into the hall.

“What are you doing?” I yelled. “What are you doing? Let me go! Help!”

I caught Bill’s eyes.

“Aren’t you supposed to protect me? Help!”

The girls dragged me to the head table.

“Where are you taking me?” I spat.

“To your husband!” a girl with unfortunate freckles said.

“For the bedding ceremony!” her twin said.

They slowed when they reached the head table.

The kauah fighters stood protectively around Ikmale.

They might not have any weapons, but there were plenty of forks and knives that could be utilized to commit great harm.

A larger gang of men surrounded them but lacked the kauah’s ferocity.

The Prime Minister approached the kauah slowly and directed his comments to the figure in the middle.

Ikmale.

“It’s tradition…” the Prime Minister said. “We always send the newly married couple up to the bedroom after the banquet.”

It was a tense moment with each side squaring off against the other.

The kauah weren’t about to let any man lay hands on their leader while they still drew breath.

“It’s all right,” Ikmale said. “I’ll go. It’s… tradition.”

His soldiers relaxed and stood down, their incredible muscles still tense and ready for action at a moment’s notice.

Still, the men didn’t approach Ikmale the same way the girls groped me—no doubt for fear of losing their hands.

No fair!

The women broke into two groups and dragged both me and Ikmale out of the banquet hall, up the stairs, and shoved us unceremoniously into our bedroom.

“We don’t expect to see you until morning!” the freckled ringleader said. “And by then, you’d better be bowlegged!”

They slammed the door in our faces and cackled as they headed down the hall.

The silence was deafening.

Ikmale looked everywhere but at me, just as I looked everywhere but at him.

I was relieved to discover it wasn’t just a bedroom, but a suite.

The bed must have been in an adjacent room.

To have that occupy the space between us was too much to bear.

“Is the banquet over already?”

The king stepped from the bedroom as he finished buttoning up his shirt.

As unpleasant as his grin was, it was better than what might have happened if he wasn’t present…

We ought to make the most of the situation.

“Yes, it’s over,” I said.

“I’ll have to head to the kitchens and see what they have leftover,” the king said.

“I wanted to thank you for hosting such a beautiful ceremony,” Ikmale said, though the words didn’t come easily. “I hope in future our two people’s will learn to fight for the common good.”

The king snorted.

“Our people will come together all right, but not under you or me, but the sovereign crown. They will unite beneath my banner and will do as the crown commands.”

Ikmale tensed.

The king had struck a nerve.

“My people will never take orders from a human that doesn’t respect them,” Ikmale said.

“How about from the king who has married into kauah?” the king said. “Doesn’t that show the kind of respect your barbarian people revere?”

Ikmale’s eyes burned like burning lumps of coal.

“Without my say, they won’t follow your orders or anyone else’s.”

Ikmale glared at the king and the king glared back.

What was father doing? I thought.

Didn’t he realize Ikmale could tear him apart?

And yet, the king was wearing a superior grin—

That was when I realized that was exactly what he wanted to happen.

For Ikmale to attack him.

Then he could call on his guards to attack the violent kauah.

But that wouldn’t be all.

Ikmale’s soldiers would burst in and attack.

It would be a bloodbath.

I stepped between the two giant egos.

“There’ll be no discussing politics on my wedding night!” I snapped. “We can discuss these issues in the morning.”

Ikmale and the king were slow to tear their eyes from each other and focus on me.

The intensity of their gazes faltered.

The king, with the fiery rage still present in his eyes, finally nodded and relented.

“Very well. Enjoy your wedding night. If your new bride is anything like her mother, you’ll be in for a wild ride.”

He reached for the handle but hadn’t turned it yet.

“By the way, I took the liberty of Christening your marriage bed for you. If any bastard children are spawned from this night, I want at least some semblance of civility to be present in the process.”

He raised his chin and called out:

“Come!”

A young woman—different to the one who’d been dancing in his study earlier—rushed from the adjacent room, her clothes dirty and torn, the obvious sign of tears having run down her young cheeks.

The king grabbed her ass and squeezed hard, making the girl squeak.

He gave us a wicked wink, slammed the door behind himself, and turned the key in the lock.

We were trapped.