Alien's Bride: Lisette (14 page)

Lenora darted her eyes back at him. She
hated how emotional he made her. “I said I’m not going to do it!
There are plenty of girls in the colony dumb enough to want
Dak-Hiliah husbands. Get Tara Schnider or Julie Xian—“

“
Those women aren’t causing
problems in the colony. You are.”

She felt herself begin to
hyperventilate.

“
It’s in your best interest
to be married. You’re incapable of seeing to your own
self-preservation. This is partly due to the extreme thinking you
garnered from your military programming and partly due to the
misinformation these ex-wives are giving you. The greatest problem
you pose is that you’re enticing others to run with
you.”

“
I…I never enticed Vivian. I
did everything I could to convince her to stay.”

“
Punishment has no effect on
you. As soon as you recover you escape again. You should fear dying
in the cold woods or being shocked to death. Instead you’re scared
of masters who have very little reason to be cruel.” He fumed.
“Most of the other slaves are thriving and happy. Your distorted
mind has left you incapable of contentment. A cancer like you must
be excised for the health of the colony. And yet, you’re too
valuable to be frivolously destroyed.”

Lenora felt as though the tumult in her
breast was about to boil over. “Getting married to one of you…that
was exactly what I was trying to escape.”

Elentinus examined her several moments.
“My wife is human. We’re deeply in love and I’ve never been cruel
to her. She’s found happiness as a member of our empire. You would
be lucky to know this same fate.”

Lenora swallowed. “Your wife…is Earth’s
greatest traitor.” It made her stomach twist to say it. She just
couldn’t hold back. The monster’s wife exposed an escape route
dozens of human women had used. She was a hero to the Dak-Hiliah,
so of course she had a good life with them.

Elentinus turned away from her. Lenora
had a fresh shiver of fear, but there were more words fighting to
get out of her.

“
You…you people swear up and
down that you never violate your surrender agreements. You tell
every planet in the universe that you’re noble conquerors. That
they can surrender without any fear because you’ll always abide by
your covenants.” She sniffled. “So, what? All that’s a
lie?”

He was unmoved. “You can’t stay in the
colony. Marriage is your only option.”

“
No it’s not. You can let me
free.”

“
Freedom for you means death
in the woods.”

“
Marriage…to one of you…is a
fate worse than death.”

Elentinus leaned back and drew a long
breath. “Very well. You’ve steered me toward the third option. I
wished to do this simply, but you’re too self-destructive to accept
what’s best for you. There are several in the High Council who
enjoy forcing defiant slaves to willingly submit. This is not my
preference.” He looked downward. “You’re going to planet Dornovonia
to participate in the Bride Games.”

“
The…the what?”

“
You’ll be presented with
several challenges. If you succeed in them you’ll be granted your
freedom. If you fail you’ll agree to become a consenting bride of a
Dak-Hiliah nobleman.”

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