Entered in the Alien Bride Lottery by Margo Collins (best large ebook reader TXT) 📗

He returned with another plate of the Khanavai noodles I had enjoyed at the luncheon. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised he had noticed which food I had liked.

“I will pay you back for this,” I promised.

“For that? You eat so little, I promise it won’t matter.”

He slid into the chair across from me, placing his own plate of food down. I was about to take my first bite when all the viewscreens in the courtyard came to life around us,. And they all showed the same scene: me, held down on Banana-Man’s lap as I struggled, and he slapped my exposed ass twice.

I sat down my utensils, suddenly not hungry anymore.

The scene played through twice, but the second time it kept going, right up to the moment Cav thundered into the room. The image froze on a close-up of Cav’s furious expression. Then Vos appeared in the frame. “Stay tuned for an exciting rescue attempt as Cav Adredoni attempts to rescue Natalie Ferguson from a spanking ceremony gone wrong.”

“Fuck.” The word whooshed out of me.

Cav raised one dark blue eyebrow at me.

“I guess you were right,” I said. “They were looking for better television.” I dropped my head into my hands, resting my elbows on the table.

“I think we should take this with us,” Cav said, gathering our plates and moving to a self-packing station.

God. This was humiliating. Miserable. Everyone back home would see it. Hell, probably every human and alien in the universe was watching it right now.

Could anything possibly make this any worse?

I should have known better than to jinx myself, even with a thought.

Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Cav

“Of course you can request a different game.” From behind his desk, Vos smiled brightly. Beside me, I felt rather than heard Natalie heave a relieved sigh.

“All you have to do is announce your engagement to one another.”

Natalie stiffened. “But we’re not engaged.”

“What happened in the game room yesterday was unfortunate,” Vos said, as if Natalie had never spoken. He stood up and moved around his desk to lean back against the edge. It was a calculated move designed to emphasize his power over us as we sat in the two chairs he had motioned us into when we entered the room, ushered in by his secretary.

I repressed the growl that threatened to escape.

“Cav coming in and sweeping you off your feet was a heroic move in any culture.” Vos picked up a small decoration from his desk, a painted metal rendering of Earth and Khanav Prime, with the Bride Games station in between them, providing a link between the two. “It made for amazing television. Our rates were incredible yesterday. Everyone in the entire known universe is pulling for you two kids.”

I bristled at his words. Vos might be older than I, but in Khanavai culture, I outranked him. It was all I could do to keep from launching myself over the desk and attacking him. Only the knowledge that it would not go well for me if I did kept me from it. When the military had seconded me to the Bride Games, they had essentially transferred command to him. I’d signed an agreement to treat the Games Administrator as if he were my commanding officer.

And I was nothing if not an obedient soldier.

Most of the time.

Vos continued talking. “What we need now is a happily ever after. Women on Earth will eat it up. The Khanavai warriors will look up to you, Cav, and Natalie, you will be the envy of every bride from here to Alpha Centauri and beyond.”

Natalie crossed her arms and glared at the Games Administrator. “And what if we refuse?”

Vos gave a delicate shrug. “Then the games will continue as scheduled. Including your roles in them.”

My stomach clenched at the idea of subjecting Natalie to another round in the spanking room. Besides that … “Will Tiziani be allowed to continue participating?”

Vos gave me a knowing glance. “That depends on what the two of you decide, I suppose. Every drama needs a villain.” The smile he gave us could have belonged to one of those villains.

“I will not accept Tiziani as a mate.”

“No one expects you to.”

“What if I don’t accept Cav, either?”

My stomach sank at her words. Having met her, touched her, I didn’t know how I could ever leave the space station without her.

I had never heard of a mate-match discovered during the Bride Games not working out. I had to wonder if it had happened, though. Vos’s devotion to creating drama and giving the viewers the happy endings they craved made me wonder how many times the truth behind the Bride Games had been covered up. How many other couples had been blackmailed into announcing an engagement or making a claim to romance that didn’t exist?

And how often had a Khanavai warrior met his mate, known that they belonged together the way I knew Natalie and I did, and gone home alone, without a bride, anyway?

How did someone even recover from that? The mere suggestion of it was enough to clog my throat with misery.

“In previous years, you have allowed brides to eliminate suitors,” Natalie pointed out.

“Indeed we have. But never under such dramatic circumstances.”

“So this is all about getting the right ratings for your television show?” Natalie’s voice shook with barely suppressed rage.

“Not entirely.” Vos brushed nonexistent lint off his purple suit. “We work very hard to ensure that our contestants are happily matched.”

“As long as we continue to help you get good ratings, at least,” Natalie muttered.

“See? I knew you were a smart woman.” Vos pushed himself off the corner of the desk and strolled back to his seat—an oversized version of an Earth-style executive chair. “You have one hour to make a decision,” he said briskly. “If you announce your engagement, we will move to the wedding planning portion of the games.” His smile turned predatory. “Otherwise, you’ll be expected to report to the game rooms.” He glanced down at the epaper on