Alien Romance: The Alien's Captive Bride (Alien Protectors Book 6)

by Zena Zion

  "Have you accepted Gwydion?"

  Jasmine looked up at the question, surprised by the change in subject. She shook her head.

  "No," she replied, "And I'm not going to."

  "But you do care about him," Efnysien pointed out, his eyes solemn, "Anyone could see it."

  She took a deep breath and finished her tea, wishing it was of the long island variety.

  "Yes, I do," she admitted, her heart fluttering with excitement as she said the words out loud for the first time, "Which is exactly why I won't bond with him. I'm not going to tie his life to someone like me. It isn't fair."

  "I see," Efnysien’s expression softened with sympathy, "You two really are suited for each other. I see so much of the best of him in you. Beneath all his posturing your kind hearts are the same."

  He reached out to touch her hand suddenly, catching her off guard. She looked back at him, confused.

  "Be mine instead," he took her hand gently, his eyes pleading, "You are not my Amorent, but we could be pragmata. A practical relationship, made for logical reasons. I would take care of you as part of my family. When he sees you have chosen me, Gwydion will have no choice but to give you up."

  Jasmine considered it for a moment. Efnysien was handsome, and not that much older, at least not in appearance. And if Gwydion could give her up and move on... Her heart ached at the thought and she shook her head. She wasn't going to be around that much longer anyway. She wanted to spend the time she had left with him.

  "I'm sorry," she met his eye, hoping he would understand, "I appreciate the offer more than you know. But I can't leave him."

  "I see," Efnysien’s eyes darkened with disappointment as he pulled his hand away from hers, "Then when the council convenes tonight to determine succession, they will choose him. As long as you are with him, the council will not care that you have not accepted him."

  "I'm sorry," Jasmine said again as he took her cup to refill it, "But just because you won't be king doesn't mean it's the end. Gwydion is going to need your help and advice to get through this."

  "He won't listen," Efnysien’s tone was surprisingly mild, resigned, "He never does. My relationship with his father was always... antagonistic. And I'm afraid that bled over into my dealings with Gwydion. He'll never see me as anything but an enemy.

  He is so very much like his father. Look there, do you see that tree with the white flowers? My brother and I planted that together, so long ago. We had so much hope for the future then."

  Jasmine looked away at the huge old tree, still budding with bright white flowers despite its clear age. Had they been children, still in the depths of winter, when Efnysien and the old king had put its seed in the earth?

  She looked back at the clink of china as he pushed her tea cup back towards her. She took it, sipping thoughtfully.

  "My brother was a good man," Efnysien said, "And a good leader. But he was a summer king. He forgot the chill of winter too quickly, and refused to accept that it would return. He was honorable and kind, but also too proud, and too willfully ignorant. And Gwydion is the same. Which is why I cannot allow him to be king."

  Jasmine felt a strange tightness in her chest, and then her throat. Her breath came in unsteady wheezes. Unable to speak, she stared at Efnysien in horror, eyes bulging as it became more and more difficult to breathe.

  "I'm sorry," Efnysien said, and looked sincere as he said it, ducking around the table to catch her as she slipped out of her chair, "I didn't want to do this. But there is too much at stake. If Gwydion becomes king, it could mean the loss of this kingdom, potentially of the entire species. I can't risk that."

  He lowered her with surprising gentleness into a flower bed while she wheezed and struggled feebly to breathe.

  "With no mate and no heirs, the council will choose me," Efnysien assured her, "And if they don't, then I will just have to kill Gwydion as well. I will protect this kingdom, no matter the cost."

  Darkness gathered at the edge of Jasmine's vision and she wheezed harder, hands shaking as she scrabbled at the front of Efnysien’s clothes, desperate to somehow stop him.

  "Your death won't be in vain," Gwydion promised, prying her hands away from his shirt and standing, "Please take comfort in knowing how many lives you're saving right now. I will make sure you're remembered through the winter as a hero."

  He gave her one last guilty glance and started to hurry away. Jasmine's vision was failing, but she followed him with her eyes and a spark of hope made her heart race faster as the door to the garden opened suddenly and she saw Gwydion standing there. Efnysien didn't miss a beat.

  "Hurry!" he shouted, turning back towards Jasmine, "She's had some kind of allergic reaction!"

  Gwydion paled with horror and rushed past Efnysien to Jasmine's side. Every desperate, straining breath seemed to bring in only the tiniest amount of air and Jasmine was rapidly weakening. She struggled to reach for Gwydion with shaking hands as he stared down at her, wishing she could speak and warn him.

  "She can't breathe," Efnysien said, "We need to get her to the doctors, quickly!"

  Gwydion didn't respond to Efnysien, only gathered Jasmine up into his arms, holding her tightly as he stood.

  "Let me help," Efnysien reached for Jasmine, "I know the way."

  Gwydion snarled at his uncle, teeth sharp and threatening. Efnysien jumped back in surprise.

  "I will kill you for this later," Gwydion growled, then hurried away, racing out of the garden and towards the outer doors. The cold outside air, even sharper than before, hit Jasmine like a bolt of lightning, and for a moment her breath came easier as the cold air rushed into her lungs. But the relief was only temporary, the chill not enough to fight the poison's effects. She was fading out and she could feel it.

  As Gwydion raced for the glass greenhouse, Jasmine's vision narrowed to only his face, strained with fear and yet still so beautiful. She'd never seen anything so beautiful. She could die, having seen this, she thought. Having known him was enough.

  Her hand, clinging weakly to his shirt, dropped limp as the darkness over whelmed her.

  Chapter Eight

  Death was warm.

  There were no pearly gates or dead family members or anything else she'd expected. The closest thing she could imagine was that it was like being in the womb again. Warm comfort. The certainty that this was all there was or ever would be.

  There would be no demands made on her again. No pain, no stress, no fear. She would drift in placid bliss forever. She couldn't remember where she'd come from, or how she had died. There was only endless contentment. She breathed deeply, and let go.

  And then she breathed in again, and her lungs were screaming, burning as they fought to take in as much air as they could. She coughed, wheezing between each coughing fit as she struggled to replenish the oxygen she'd been deprived of.

  She was cold and there was grass and silk under her hands and a massive face was looming over her. She was alive. She was alive and lying in the lap of Queen Rhiannon, who smiled serenely down at her.

  "Jasmine!"

  No sooner had she begun to catch her breath than it was driven from her lungs again by Gwydion's arms, hugging her so tightly she saw spots.

  "Thank you," he was gasping as he held her, tears in his eyes, "Thank you, Rhiannon."

  "No thanks are necessary, my son," Rhiannon's voice rumbled in Jasmine's bones from this distance and yet was somehow still soothing, "It was not her time. I had only to correct what fate had already deemed incorrect."

  As Jasmine hung in Gwydion's arms, still regathering her senses, she saw Efnysien appear over his shoulder. She wheezed a warning, still the most she was capable of.

  Gwydion turned at once, pushing Jasmine behind him where he knelt on the grass beneath the great oak. Rhiannon loomed above them all as Gwydion growled at Efnysien like a feral dog.

  Efnysien, unarmed, stared past Gwydion at Jasmine, his expression tense with fear, waiting for her to confirm that he was the one who'd
poisoned her. She knew Gwydion would kill him if she did. Gwydion might kill him even if she didn't.

  "Wait," she croaked, her voice still rough from her near strangulation. She reached out and caught Gwydion's sleeve. He turned back to her, confusion mixing with the anger in his eyes.

  "Why?" he asked, teeth bared, "He tried to-"

  She shook her head sharply.

  "Don't."

  Gwydion strained between his desire to avenge her and to listen to her, his hands tensing like they ached to be around his uncle's throat.

  "It is good that you are all here," Rhiannon broke the tension between the three at her feet, her voice too powerful to ignore, "I would have you all witness this. Gwydion has told me that the glacier is coming. At the pace it is moving, we will barely have time to evacuate the people before the ice waves begin taking the city.

  We will not have time to transport the books, the technology, and most terribly, the seed banks and plants in this greenhouse which are the last of their kind."

  Efnysien hung his head, guilt and shame twisting his features. Perhaps he was thinking if he'd acted sooner, forced his way onto the throne before this, they would have had time. Jasmine could only guess.

  "There must be something we can do," Gwydion insisted, looking up at Rhiannon with desperate determination, "This can't be the end."

  Rhiannon dipped her head in acknowledgement, her long hair sweeping the grass around them as she bent.

  "There is time for just one thing," she replied, "In the first days of the long winter, thousands of Elders gave their lives to divert the glaciers, leaving only a handful behind to guide our children. They could not stop them, but only hold them off for a time, and at great cost. The last of these, Elder Mathonwy, fell trying to turn the White glacier from the kingdom of Rhydderch. His bones lay in that city still, beneath a thousand tons of ice. But I know how it is done. I may yet be able to turn the glacier from Taliesin. But I cannot do it alone."

  She turned her gaze then to Gwydion.

  "My son," she spoke gently, reaching out to him with a vast hand, "Though all of Taliesin are my children, you are the last I bore of my own blood. I would not ask this of you if there were any other way. But would you spill that blood with me, to save your kingdom?"

  Gwydion looked up at her in shock, and then he turned to Jasmine. The doubt in his eyes cleared as he looked at her.

  "I will," he agreed, running his fingers through Jasmine's hair, "For Taliesin. Whatever it takes."

  Efnysien was staring at Gwydion as the prince reached for Rhiannon's hand, a strange expression on his face. Jasmine was frozen, her heart torn in two. She hardly knew what was happening except that Gwydion was letting go of her and she had a terrible feeling she would never see him again.

  "Wait."

  The voice caught them all by surprise as Efnysien spoke up at last, stepping forward.

  "I'll do it," his voice shook but his eyes were steady and determined, "All I've ever wanted was to protect this kingdom. I have done terrible things in its name. I would like to die doing something I can be proud of. Now that I know Taliesin will have a king worthy of her."

  He turned to Gwydion with a solemn nod.

  "I was wrong," Efnysien said solemnly, "There is not too much of your father in you. You had only the best of him all along. I am sorry I did not see it sooner."

  He reached for Rhiannon's hand and Rhiannon accepted it. As they touched, golden light engulfed Efnysien, rolling like boiling water with a consistency of warm honey, glowing too brilliantly to look at. The liquid light swelled and grew as Rhiannon climbed to her feet, until they were matched in size. When at last it melted away Efnysien stood beside her, just as tall and majestic, his eyes wide and starry with wonders revealed to him.

  Rhiannon waved an arm and the domed roof of the greenhouse swung open, folding back in complex panels to let in the cold sky. Still holding Efnysien’s hand, she began to lift up through the opening, floating gracefully as a soap bubble, her hair swirling around her like she was riding on a breeze.

  Efnysien flew upwards with her, silent and awed. Rhiannon paused once to look down at Jasmine and Gwydion, who were watching her ascent with awe.

  "Hail Gwydion, King of Taliesin," Rhiannon spoke, her voice shaking the glass, "I make this prophecy to you. Your reign will be long and more prosperous than you imagine, and your Amorent, burned clean by fire, will be beside you always. And Jasmine of Earth, I promise you this. You will live. And you will live."

  With that, she and Efnysien rose into the pale blue sky and vanished into the distance, away to fight the unstoppable, to change the path of a river of ice as it flowed.

  Too stunned by what they were seeing, for a moment Jasmine didn't process what Rhiannon had said to her. When it did, tears flowed down her cheeks too quickly to be stopped.

  She hiccupped, then sobbed, then turned into Gwydion's arms and let herself properly cry at last. He held her and kissed her as she did and she realized that he was crying as well, their joy too great to be contained. She was going to live.

  Chapter Nine

  Rhiannon and Efnysien did not return from their battle with the glacier. Whether it had consumed them or whether their battle raged on, Jasmine couldn't know.

  They kept careful watch on the glacier in the next days however, and saw that its path had indeed shifted. It would flow past the city, but it would not consume it. Of course the glacier was only the herald for the winter that would follow it, but they had time to prepare for that now.

  Efnysien had prepared many plans, and Gwydion poured over them to find the solutions they needed. He would never forgive his uncle for the murder of the king and the attempted poisoning of Jasmine, but the man would be remembered as a hero by the kingdom forever. In Jasmine's mind, that was better, especially for his family, who hadn't known about the lengths he was willing to go to keep them safe.

  Only a few days after they became certain the glacier had been diverted, the ceremony was held in the greenhouse beneath the great oak, where a place was being prepared for Rhiannon, should her body ever be found.

  A great golden bower beneath the huge tree was lit with glowing flowers, illuminating the spreading branches and spilling slowly drifting petals down on Jasmine where she stood beneath it, wreathed in white. Gwydion had assured her the announcement ceremony wasn't the same as a human wedding, but she'd insisted on the big white dress anyway.

  It had been a secret fantasy of hers since she was a girl to have a fairy tale wedding. And here she was, marrying a literal prince. Even if it wasn't in quite the way she'd imagined when she was a kid.

  The assembled crowd parted, murmuring, as Gwydion, now King Gwydion, appeared at the end of the garden. Music, strange and sweet, played as he made his way to her. Speeches were made, in a language Jasmine still couldn't understand (though she was finding it easier to pick out words since her strange resurrection), but Jasmine couldn't look at anything but Gwydion, awed by how perfect he looked with the shimmering golden light of the flowers dancing on his skin.

  She was still processing the fact that she was going to live, but every time she looked at him she couldn't help but be struck by gratitude all over again. To him, to Rhiannon, to whatever strange fates had conspired to bring her here. He kissed her and her heart soared and she knew with absolute certainty that this was exactly where she was meant to be.

  After, he carried her from the greenhouse back to his room, as full of flowers as the garden, gifts from their subjects in congratulations for their union. Gwydion laid Jasmine out on the bed and began to pluck at the laces of her dress.

  "So, does this mean we're officially Amorent now?" she asked, watching him as he struggled with the ties. He chuckled and kissed her.

  "No, the ceremony is only to announce your acceptance to our subjects," he explained, "We are not bonded until you have accepted me within you."

  "I'm pretty sure I've already done that."

  "It's different. You'll see
."

  "If you ever get my dress off."

  "Why are these things so complicated? This is why I didn't want to give you clothing."

  Jasmine laughed and pulled him into a deep kiss, skin warming with desire as his lips pressed against hers. She could feel him smiling, and she knew she was as well, deliriously happy.

  She helped him remove her dress, glad to be free of it herself, and stretched out naked beneath him as he showered her skin in kisses. For the ceremony, she'd been painted with gold markings to match his. She might have them tattooed eventually, but for now her skin was an intricate map of golden lines that she longed to see blurred by his touch.

  His lips ran devoted down the hollow of her throat and over each breast, across her trembling stomach and down her tender inner thighs, following the lines of gold to the curve of her ankle. At last he leaned over her, just taking in her beauty spread out for him with eyes that were more than lustful. He looked at her like she was a work of art he was afraid of damaging.

  "I keep thinking you're going to disappear the moment I look away," he ran his fingers through her hair, his voice raw with emotion, "You've been too perfect to be real from the first moment I saw you. When I thought you were dying, it was like what I'd been waiting for all along had finally arrived. That you're alive, that you're here with me now, it still doesn't feel real."

  "I know how you feel," Jasmine replied, smiling as she swallowed the lump in her throat, "But I don't care if it's real. All that matters is that we're here. I just want to be here with you as long as I can."

  "I love you, Jasmine," Gwydion spoke so faintly she almost couldn't hear it, her heart leaping with sudden happiness to hear those words for the first time.

  "I love you too, Gwydion," she answered with absolute certainty, all her doubt gone. There was nothing she wanted more than to be right here with him.

  He kissed her softly and with such sweet affection she might have cried. His hands drifted over her skin as delicately as if she were made of glass. She caught his hands and squeezed them reassuringly, pressing smaller kisses to the corner of his mouth. She wasn't going anywhere. There was nothing to be afraid of anymore.