HIGHLANDER: The Highlander’s Surrender Bride (Scottish Alpha Male Pregnancy Romance) (47 page)

She thought of Urala and why she had said she wasn’t
exactly
human.  That left a curiosity in her that demanded to be satisfied, but that would have to come later.  For the moment, she had other things to learn.

The planet – moon – was run by her intended, like a private fiefdom.  That was also a sign that he had studied Earth’s history, but why he’d settled on such a means of government she wasn’t sure.  Not unless he had a flare for the romantic. 
Chivalry and all that. 
The layout of the government was fairly simple.  He’d designated a few others – also outcasts from their home worlds – as vassals, but he sat at the top of it all like a king.  The moon was divided up into parcels and each parcel was given over to one person or another to lord over as their own.  They all paid taxes to him and the people lived together in relative harmony.

That’ll be a relief.

As far as crime, war, poverty, and other ills of society went, the numbers were fairly low.  At worst, there was an occasional border dispute that resulted in the occasional clash or two, but nothing that really resulted in all-out-war.  Most disputes were usually settled within a day or so after concessions were made.  It was nothing too serious. 

She studied the composition of the moon.  It was a moon in orbit of the second planet in the system, the body it orbited an inhospitable gas giant.  It had all of the life-friendly features that were common for human and xeno races alike.  It had liquid water and oxygen to breathe, which were the biggest winners of the day and therefore making the place prime real estate.  It also had a day and night cycle; though the days were a little shorter than on Earth and the nights were a little longer.  The moon had a tilt in its axis so it experienced a changing of the seasons.  It was a little heavier in gravity than Earth was, but she didn’t think that that would take much getting used to.  Overall the moon didn’t have anything of intrinsic value.  But as it so happened it had one thing that seemed to draw adventurers from across the galaxy.

Pleasure.

She almost laughed as she read the details on that.  It was said that in the sixty years – since her intended first established the moon as his own property – that peoples from a variety of worlds would come to experience what he and his vassals had to offer.

They were rich in the arts mostly.  There were places dedicated to one form of expression or another strewn across the planet like spilt jewels.  There were some venues dedicated strictly to music, or dance, the theater, like that.  But they were also reputed to have the best casinos, the wildest betting games, the most interesting of sports, the most beautiful beaches, serene forests, tall mountains, religious shrines, and oceans that even a few of the more advanced alien races didn’t have the technology to explore down to the last detail.  Additionally, there were no dangerous animals, insects, or plants on the moon, so that would be a relief as well. 

She found that in the last sixty years pilgrims seeking religious enlightenment, solitude for mediation, or people just looking to get away from their troubles on their own worlds had come here seeking the more secluded spots. 
Just like I do,
she thought with a grin.  And as a result, the income that her future husband generated was substantial.  She didn’t understand business so well but Shayla knew that for a place like this, peoples of many cultures would turn up in droves demanding that their money be taken for what was being offered.

The last thing that she noted was, of course, the pleasure dens that the moon offered.  If there was any race in the galaxy that enjoyed sex simply for the sensation and enjoyment of it, that too could be found on
Paradiso
.  Right off she saw that there were over sixty thousand different sporting houses registered on the planet that offered a wide range of physical pleasures in a variety of forms. 

Some places offered the kind of delights where some had to be satisfied with only watching.  Others offered the chance to look, but touching could happen for a little extra.  Some offered the chance to have no less than two women – or even men – at one time.  Others catered specifically to the ultra-rich where, if one had the money, a legion of serfs could make a person’s dreams come true, whatever shape, form, or species one could desire and for as long as their money held out.

An interesting venture, certainly
, she thought. 
And my fiancé controls it all…

That thought sent a strange feeling through her.

On Earth, everything had been simple: she wanted to leave and that was reason enough to get off world.  She hadn’t given much thought as to what would happen after that.  She supposed, like so many others, that once she was off world she would find that her husband-to-be was handsome, even if he was alien.  And that her life thereafter would be nothing short of a dream come true.  Why?  Because she would be off of Earth and that was all that mattered. 

Of course she wanted to leave the killing behind… not to mention the monotony of day to day living.  Routines had their place but when she could perform her function in her sleep, something else and something more was needed.  She wanted to be free of everything that had made her life dull and not worth experiencing any further.  But now that she was here, she felt a new kind of reality being heaped upon her shoulders. 

She was going to be wed… to an alien… and she was going to inherit the responsibility for helping to run a moon dedicated to pleasure.  Simply thinking of it that way made the very air in the room seem heavier to her somehow… like she was submerged and trying to both swim and breathe through concrete. 

“Wow…” she said, thinking on that and leaning back in the chair of the study nook that her private cabin had come with.

“Is everything alright, mistress?” asked Urala, suddenly appearing at her side.

Shayla had gotten used to her new friend appearing as if from nowhere.  It was the sixth day of their voyage and they hadn’t dropped out of FTL once.  She was beginning to feel a slight strain on her nerves which she had considered calling cabin fever, but she managed to endure with the help of hot food and a little wine.

She looked at Urala.  The young girl was fitted in a dress made of the same shimmering material that she had seen the day that they had met.  The only difference was that this dress was blue and the hairpiece she wore was of a matching color, almost as if the girl was in uniform and that uniform changed colors every day. 

“Yes, everything is fine,” she said to the young girl.

“Would you like me to bring you anything?” Urala offered.  “That beverage you’re so fond of, for instance… I believe it’s called vodka?”

She chuckled.  It did sound tempting, but she shook her head.  “No, that’s fine…” she paused as a thought streaked across her mind.  “Although, there is one thing that I think you can do for me.”

“Yes, mistress?”

She smirked and sat forward on her chair, gesturing for Urala to sit in the chair opposite her.  “Tell me about my intended.”

“Mistress?” the young girl asked as she slid into the chair opposite her.

“Tell me about him… as much as I’ve been studying about
Paradiso
, I’m not learning anything about the
man
that I’m supposed to marry.”

Urala looked contemplative for a moment before a pleased smile settled on her face.  “What would you like to know, mistress?”

“Well… for starters, what’s his name?  Everything I’ve seen and read so far, I don’t see his name on anything.”

“He is called Ugil,” Urala reported with a nod.

“What’s he like?  By that I mean… what does his species look like?”

Urala’s face seemed to darken somewhat.  “Are you curious to know if he’s handsome or not, milady?  I have heard that some humans base their companionships on how their mates appear at first.  Is that why you desire to know?”

The directness of the statement took her by surprise, but she shook her head.  “No, no, no,” she said assuredly.  “That’s not it at all.   What I really want to know is; what does he look like?  Does he have scales?  Does he have wings?  Is he bipedal?  Does he live under water?  Anything like that?”

Urala looked uncertain how to answer, but she rolled her lips together nervously before replying, “I could not say, mistress.”

“No?  Why not?” she asked curiously.

“I’ve never seen him.”

Shayla was shocked to hear that.  “You haven’t?”

The girl shook her head.  “Not many have.  And those that have never discuss what manner of species he is.  All that they care for is that they are satisfied with the business that they conduct.  But I have not heard that he is a terrifying man in any regard.  And the few women that are in his inner circle all say, at the very least, that he is not terrible to look upon.”

She rolled that around in her head for a moment before she nodded approvingly. 
That’s comforting at least… but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
  That was true enough.  A human eye didn’t see things the same way that a xeno’s eye saw anything. 

“Alright… so, Ugil is his name?”

“Yes, mistress.”

“Where’s he from?  I mean, originally.”

“None can say,” the girl said with a shrug.  “He purchased
Paradiso
before my time.  If he came to live there with any of his own race no one speaks of it.  All that I can say for certain is that he chooses to call it home now.  The world of his birth is long forgotten to him.”

A new thought occurred to her.  “Wait… you said that he purchased
Paradiso
sixty years ago, right?”

“Sixty years by
your
calendar, mistress.  In the calendars of others, it varies… for some, he’s owned it for centuries.  Others, he’s not yet owned it for a year.  It’s all relative.”

“So… how old is he then?”

“Mistress?”

“I’m curious,” she explained.  “On Earth, when someone gets old they have wrinkles in their skin… they lose hair… their bones and organs become brittle… like that.  If he purchased the moon sixty of my years ago… then by my calendar he’s older than sixty.  So does that mean…?”

“That he’s wrinkled and hairless?” Urala asked with an amused grin.

Shayla nodded.

Urala giggled aloud.  “Oh, no… mistress.  I would be lying if I said that I could measure the calendars of others precisely, but from what I understand your betrothed is not old and wrinkled.  He is of one of those races that, I’m pleased to say, do not show their age at all.”

Comforting
, she thought. 
At least I won’t be getting married to someone that
looks
like an old geezer.

“But he
is
a kind hearted soul, mistress,” Urala pointed out, “And…” she hesitated.

“What?”

Urala looked uncomfortable by answering, but she did nonetheless.  “That he would take a
human
wife has made him the subject of much discussion.  But he cares nothing for ridicule… he has immersed himself in the culture of your world so profoundly I think he has determined that it’s only logical that he should have a human wife.”

Shayla had never been one to delve too deeply into philosophy, but somehow that reasoning made perfect sense to her. 
At least I think it does
…

She and Urala sat and spoke more as days went by.

In that time she learned a great deal about her future husband.  His favorite dish was some kind of a fish that was imported from an all-water world, though she couldn’t pronounce the name.  He enjoyed lifting weights and considered watching dancers to be one of his favorite joys in life.  He was a terrible cook, though he tried repeatedly to not be so.  He dedicated a small portion of his day to business matters that could not go unattended but he spent a larger portion of the day seeing to the disposition of his guests.  Urala was willing to bet that once they were formally wed he would give over a portion of his time entertain patrons strictly to her. 

“I’m not exactly thrilled about being a part of someone’s daily schedule,” she admitted.

“It won’t be like that at all, mistress,” Urala said knowledgeably.  “My master, I’m certain, will be as attentive to you as any human male.”

Shayla wanted to laugh at that, but managed to hide it by asking more questions. 

She learned that Ugil, like herself, had no family that he’d left behind on his home world.  If there was one thing that Urala was able to confirm it was that Ugil was alone in the galaxy.  That was something that they had in common at least.  Overall, the picture that she was painting in her mind was not an unpleasant one at the thought of the man she was only a week away from marrying.

She leaned back in her chair and a girlish smile split her features as she and Urala sipped at a bottle of wine that she had opened at some point during their conversation.  Urala, having become a little tipsy, had laughed and giggled away with her every time she let some new secret spill and Shayla felt as if she were hearing was too good to be true.

She’d heard stories like this.  Stories of men from Earth’s past that had been so selfless and so noble that they couldn’t possibly be real.  What she was hearing now made Ugil of
Paradiso
fit to be among men like King Arthur and Lancelot.  Taken together, what she had heard didn’t make Ugil a bad person.  But still, the idea of what he was like in person flittered at the edge of her desires.