by Robin Roseau
Taken
(Selected Book Two)
Robin Roseau
Table of Contents
Conversation
Rules
Message
Travels
Alien Biology
Lunar Landscape
Earth Behind
The Dark Of Space
Fear
Station
Neighbors
Touch
Part Two
Truth
Confinement
Home
Intervention
Doorbell
Explanation
Healing
Afterward
About the Author
Conversation
I was numb, and when Bronze directed the cage to deliver me to her, I didn't struggle. The cage handed me into her waiting arms, and I didn't struggle. Instead, I lay my head against her shoulder and cried quietly.
She carried me from the arena.
We didn't return to my cell. I would leave Earth without seeing that space again. Instead, she took me to what I learned were her own rooms. She carried me to the bathroom and set me down, and then she knelt down in front of me and lifted my chin so I would look into her eyes.
"Are you all right?"
"I don't know." I pulled my chin away from her grip. "No. You've ruined my life. And you seem to be speaking amazingly good English. What's up with that?"
"I want to talk to you. But I need to know what you need right now. From past experience, I think you want to clean up. I don't know if you want to be alone for a few minutes, or if I took you to the wrong room, and you want me to hold you."
She let me look back down. I didn't answer.
"I will take very good care of you. If you cannot come to love me, then five months is not so long a time."
"I-" I looked around the room, still not speaking. I was feeling deeply overwhelmed.
And a portion was relieved, relieved she had won, and I didn't understand that, and I was angry at myself for it. But I was a mix of emotions, and it was overwhelming.
"You are feeling vulnerable. If you do not decide, I will clean you myself and carry you to our bed. We will lie together, and I will hold you until you are more composed."
"No," I said, growing stronger in the face of her decisiveness. I looked up. "I am not your mate to treat in this fashion." I pushed her away, but it was like pushing a mountain.
"You like me," she said. "This I know. Humans and my race do this differently. But I understand liking me is a good start."
"I hate you and everything you represent." I pushed against her again then set my jaw. "My life, my hopes, my dreams, everything I've tried to achieve mean nothing to you. My friends, my family, the connections I've formed for 25 years: they all mean nothing to you. Nothing!" I spat. "All you care about is having your human plaything, helpless to defend herself from your depravity. You making me throw everything away. Everything."
She stared at me, blinking a few times. "Everything I've done since first setting eyes on you has been for you."
"No," I replied. "That's a lie. What you've done is what a human would call stalking. Followed by kidnapping, illegal extradition, false imprisonment, and I don't even know what else. You didn't do any of this for me. You did this so you could possess me. That isn't remotely the same thing as doing it for me."
"You're distraught. That's understandable. Will you answer some questions honestly?"
"Don't patronize me!" I yelled. "Of course I'm distraught. Are you going to suggest I shouldn't be angry as hell?"
I could watch her thinking before she responded. When she did, her tone was gentle. "No. Everything you're feeling is fully justified."
"Leave me alone," I said. "Get out."
"Can you tell me you don't find me attractive?"
"That's not the point."
"Perhaps not. But can you?"
"Of course I find you attractive. It's still not the point."
"Do you enjoy my company?"
"Bronze..."
"Do you?"
I looked to the side. "Go away." The words were quiet, and my tumbling emotions were driving me insane. "Go away," I repeated.
"Do you?"
"No."
"Come on, Sapphire. Do you want me to lie to you?"
"Why are you asking if you think you know the answer?"
"Would it be so hard to admit it?"
I turned back. "I could like you. I could enjoy your company. You're... you're amazing. All right? I've never known anyone like you, and you're amazing. The thought you want me..." I shook my head. "Frankly, I don't get it. All this. All this. And I even believe you would take care of me the way you say you would. You have to be insane to go through what you've gone through for me. There has to be something else."
"There's not. The situation is complicated in some ways, but what I want is as simple as it appears. I want you. And I am pretty sure you don't completely reject that idea, either. I'm pretty sure there's a really, really big part of you that has enjoyed all of this. Every. Bit."
I stared at her. "You're insane."
"You have space aliens fighting over you, Sapphire. You have a woman who you say is pretty amazing fighting for you. Tell me that doesn't do your ego some good. Tell me it's not flattering. Tell me I don't make you feel alive in ways you've never felt alive before."
And the problem was, I couldn't say any of those things, not honestly. I have always detested those people who lie to win an argument. I've always believed that if you have to lie, then you are conceding your position lacks merit.
I think she read the truth in my face. "Good," she said. "I want you to consider something. The downside of this is lost time, but even then, you'll have gotten a rare, rare adventure, and we don't let you suffer financially."
I looked up into her face, not responding.
"The upside, though. Consider the upside." She smiled. "Will you please give this a chance?"
I didn't answer.
"Think about it. Do you want help cleaning up? What do you need?"
I offered a weak smile. "I want to clean up. I want to change clothes. Do you have any for me?"
"I want you in feminine human attire."
"And you will also wear feminine attire of your race?"
She growl-laughed. "My original race wears no clothing. So if that is what you prefer..."
I blushed.
"I have had clothing styled for me. Humans have no clothing in my dimensions, but I have had clothing taken from human female designs and altered to suit me. I hope you will be pleased."
"I will dress as you desire," I said, "as long as you do not make me look or feel foolish."
"Thank you. That pleases me." She caressed my cheek, but I pulled away. For a moment her hand hovered where my cheek had been, then she slowly dropped it.
I looked around. "Is that a shower I would recognize?"
"Yes. Inside you will find the things you may require. You will shower?"
"May I? Or do we leave immediately?"
"We leave when you are emotionally ready. If that takes you a day or two, we are in no hurry. I will retrieve the clothing I wish you to wear and leave it here for you while you shower."
"Thank you, Bronze. When will you tell me your real name? Do you have one I can pronounce?"
"I do. I will tell you soon, if you are ready for a very serious conversation."
"All right." I paused. "I haven't conceded any of your points. I hurt, Bronze. I'm scared, and my heart is breaking. And I'm angry. And maybe it's not fair to direct that anger at you specifically, but that's just too bad. You are doing this to me. Yes, you're amazing in so many ways. But look at the price you're making
me pay. Maybe if a single one of you just looked like you cared about that-"
"I care, Sapphire."
"I believe you'll take care of me the way you've promised, but I don't believe you care about my price. Maybe by that I mean all of you aliens when I say that. Maybe Bronze cares, but the aliens collectively do not, or you would find a different way to do this. I bet there are millions of humans who would kill to be where I am now. But I'm not one of them."
I couldn't read her alien expression. I'd like to say I saw compassion there, but I didn't know what it was. But then she said, very gently, "I know, Sapphire." She caressed my cheek -- and this time I let her.
* * * *
She left the clothing for me, telling me, "Take all the time you want." I took her at her word, and I stood under the water for a very long time.
But finally I decided that was more than long enough. I emerged to wrap a towel around myself. There was a waiting hair dryer, brush, and the other things I might need. I took my time with that, too.
The clothing was simple. Undies, bra, blouse, skirt, and sandals. But I thought I looked good when I was done.
I emerged from the bathroom. Bronze was hovering outside, and she turned to me. She looked as nervous as I felt, but she smiled.
"You look wonderful."
"I can't imagine I'm your image of beauty."
"Do you find the birds of this world beautiful? A starfish? An octopus?"
"Jasmine partially resembles an octopus."
She smiled. "So she does. I find you to be the most beautiful human on the planet."
"Please don't patronize me."
"I'm not. You are the only human I have ever wanted. I wanted you for your mind and your spirit, and by extension, your body. You are my definition of human perfection, even if you aren't anyone else's. That is their mistake, for they do not see all of you."
I looked around, and then I set my lips tightly. "While I've been locked in that cage, you've been here. While I've had nothing to do, you've had everything." I turned to face her, a hand on my hip.
"Those were not my decisions."
"I was left there so I'd feel isolated. Lonely. Vulnerable. So I'd accept your advances."
"Yes, but you knew that at the time, Sapphire."
"Is that my future for the next five months? Will you keep me isolated so I beg for your attention?"
"No. It is nearly impossible for me to even think about being away from you. I feel freshly mated, Sapphire, and that means I can't stand the thought of being away from you. You won't beg for attention. You're a human, and you're going to beg for solitude. It will be agony for me, but I will grant it. In moderation."
I considered what she said, finally nodding. I was still feeling emotionally vulnerable. I took two steps closer and said, "Please hold me."
I would never have to ask more than once. She enveloped me, and then she picked me up.
"We may lie on the bed or sit on the sofa."
"Bed is just comfort, not sex." Even while I said it, I wondered if I was making a mistake. I was giving her what she wanted. I should be fighting her every step of the way.
But the thing is, I didn't want to fight, not right then. I wanted comforting. And I already knew she was good at providing it.
"Not sex. Comfort and simple touch." And so she carried me to her bedroom, set me down with extreme tenderness, and then climbed onto the bed with me. She held me to her, and I curled against her.
"I want to know what happens next."
"I will tell you what is supposed to happen next. Your reaction now is expected. It is expected for you to feel emotional. And this is a portion of our time to bond together, to touch, to hold. This is a time when you turn to me for comfort."
"Aren't you feeling emotional?"
"Deeply so, but it is built from victory at winning my mate."
"You haven't won me yet."
"To me, I have. I understand you will take more time. So I am feeling extremely grateful and tender."
"You want to mate. To have sex."
"It is not that simple. Becoming mated for my species is complicated. So yes, eventually, but not until you are ready."
"So, we share this time. You soothe me. I know what you're doing. You're wooing me. Seducing me. You're teaching me to turn to you for comfort."
"Yes, and you don't seem to be struggling."
"I can struggle tomorrow."
She growl-chuckled.
"Once you are ready, which could be later today, or tomorrow, or the next day, although no later, we again meet with Jasmine Brighteyes. And we use our points to set the rules for our next five months together. You have your points, and I have mine. She will explain the rest."
"What happens if one of us breaks the rules?"
"If it is a small break, then we apologize. If you make a large break, then I may demand you remain with me for a longer period. If I make a large break, then you may demand time away from me, which will be agony to me, as I have said."
"What if you do a very bad break? What if you... force yourself on me?"
"I couldn't possibly!"
"What if?"
"I couldn't. Sapphire, I am not emotionally able to do that."
"The males of some species are. What if?"
"All right. It won't happen to you, but it could happen to someone who has been claimed by one of these males. In that case, then she may demand an end to their relationship. She is returned home and compensated for any losses."
"And he is unpunished."
"No. We would punish him, but that is an issue for us to resolve, and she is not involved. She is compensated as best as one can be compensated, and she is sent home. Or, if she prefers, she could offer herself as a mate to another."
"If she had grown to like the space station, could she stay, even without a mate?"
"You know, I don't know. Perhaps. Especially if she expressed a willingness to accept suitors in time. This will not happen to you. I may inadvertently break the rules in a small way, but never in a big way."
"All right. Then what happens?"
"After our conversation with Jasmine, we would leave, perhaps later the same day or early the next."
"You will take me home with you."
"We will leave this place. But maybe I wish to tour Earth. Maybe I wish to meet your family. Now, you and I will not do this, because emotionally you need to focus on me, and you cannot do that if we remain here. But we will return. This is not forever. Once you realize you are my mate, and we are well and firmly bonded, then we can share adventures that allow a distraction from our focus on each other."
"I understand."
"However, I have promised you the moon. And so we will first go there. I will teach you how to walk on the moon. And then I have promised you Saturn, and we will go there, to see the rings, probably from orbit, but possibly from one of the moons. And then I will take you to my home. We will arrive in two or three weeks."
"I don't know if I will get space sick."
"You won't. On this, you must trust me for now."
"All right." I cuddled more tightly to her. "How is it you speak English so well? You have been faking poor speech."
"We require a serious conversation, and I want to hold you a little longer before we have it. When you are ready for serious, we will move to the next room."
"A little longer then."
We lay together quietly after that. I paid no attention to the time. But then I asked, "Do I have to give the visor back to Jasmine?"
"Yes, but I have a better one for you. But you understand, now I will have all the control over your visor that Jasmine has had. And I will not allow you to leave our rooms unless you are wearing it."
"It has a tracking device in it, doesn't it?"
"Yes."
"I wouldn't give you reason to need it."
"Nevertheless, that is a rule, and it is not one you can change with your points. The bedroom doors will not open for you unless you are wearin
g the visor and it is locked onto you."
"That's fine," I said. I knew there would be rules. But if there were rules for me to follow, there were also rules she had to follow.
"We will exchange visors during the conversation with Jasmine. I require her assistance in calibrating your new visor to your needs. It looks identical, but it has features this one does not have. For instance, it can change color and appearance."
"Thank you. I've grown attached."
"Literally," Bronze said, and we chuckled together. "You are welcome, Sapphire."
I had questions, so many questions. "I'm afraid."
"I know."
"I don't know what is to become of me. I don't know what to expect. I don't know what I'll be allowed to do. I don't know what you expect of me. I don't know if there will be foods I can eat or what your home on the space station is like. Is there a shower? I love showers. Are there other humans? Will you allow me to have friends?"
"Sapphire, when I said I would devote myself to your happiness, weren't you listening? Do you think I would withhold the things you need for happiness? Two people sharing a life must compromise, but I would be in agony if you were not happy."
"I think I understand, but that doesn't mean I'm not scared."
"I know. I will take care of you."
"I know. But-" I thought for a moment. "I'm quite capable of taking care of myself, and you have stolen that from me along with everything else you have taken. Now I must ask you for everything." She didn't respond, and I grew still. But finally, I sighed. "We should have our talk. I can tell you're nervous, and I think you need to tell me the things you want to tell me."
"You're right. I'm sorry."
I sat up. "Don't be. I'll be okay. I have questions."
"We'll talk. I'll probably answer many of your questions when I say what I need to say. And then we'll see if you have others you wish me to answer."
We climbed from the bed, and I let her take my hand and lead me to the living room. It, too, looked like any human living room, and there was even a window, jungle past it.
"Am I allowed to look?"
"If you weren't, I would have programmed your visor accordingly."
So I moved to the window and looked out for a while. There were birds and a few insects. But no tigers. There were no tigers in Africa, after all, but still, I kept thinking I should see space tigers.
