“Nor I,” Atticon snickered meaningfully.
“Actually,” Alaina said, chin lifting proudly. She pointed at Vega. “That is my prize as well.”
Lennai frowned. “Excuse me?”
Alaina lifted her wrist and tugged up the bloody sleeve of her armor, revealing the leather cord tied there. “He’s my husband. So we’ll be leaving together.”
Vega watched all the color drain from Lennai’s face, and she turned to glare at him. “You married her?”
Vega nodded. “I love her.” And he bent down and scooped up the bag of money, walking to Alaina’s side. He curled an arm around her, smiling. “I love her, and I am very proud of her, and amazed by her.”
“This wasn’t part of our arrangement!” Lennai cried.
“No,” Alaina said simply, looking at her. “It’s not. It’s our life. And you no longer have any control over it.” She leaned toward Lennai. “Or would you like me to tell the Master of Games that you’re going back on your word?”
Lennai hissed between her teeth. “Get out of my sight. Go! Go! You wretched bitch!”
Alaina just smiled and took Vega’s hand. His eyes lingered on Lennai a moment, then he turned and went with his wife. His heart was calm and at peace. At last.
In the arena corridor he came up short as the human Rua approached them. Rua grinned and looked at Alaina. “I got your message.”
Alaina gave him a wide smile. “You’ll take us?”
Rua nodded. “Free of charge, just this once.”
Vega frowned, looking down at Alaina. “Where are we going?”
But Alaina’s smile only grew. “Home.”
EPILOGUE
Captain Rua delivered Vega and Alaina to Sundara, Vega’s home planet. There, Alaina was welcomed onto Vega’s family farm by his sister and her husband, by his nieces and nephews, and it was there he told her why she had been strong enough to defeat Khamun. She collapsed into his arms in shock and happiness, and many months later they welcomed their son into the world. He had misty gray eyes like his mother, and shining black scales like his father. And he was perfect.
With Vega back to work the land and Alaina to help, the farm thrived. In a few short years, Alaina and Vega were able to return to the Arena Station and purchase not only Bathari and Yfia’s freedom, but also Nyssa’s. Bathari and Yfia returned to their home planet, where they held a boisterous wedding despite having already been married, and quickly started popping out little antlered children.
Yfia and Alaina spoke frequently, their friendship cemented forever. Nyssa came to work at the farm, and her clever mind and head for numbers helped them triple their profits until the farm was the system’s leading producer of a rare spice flower considered one of the highest luxuries in the system. It had been her idea to plant the first batch, and they quickly discovered the secrets of growing such a rare spice. Soon after their first harvest, they found they needn’t ever plant anything else for profit again.
Of course they did, though, because Vega liked to grow things. And Alaina liked to help him.
No one on Sundara was ever made to fight in the arena games again. Vega and Alaina had secured enough fame and fortune for the entire planet that it was soon given its independence within the Cepheus system. Their names would be whispered in the arena for generations to come. The story of the Errai champion and the human champion who fell in love and saved each other would inspire thousands of cursii in the future.
Alaina only returned to Earth once. Rua, of all people, had become a good family friend, and he still traveled the universe. He flew far and wide, exploring planets and peoples, rescuing those he could from the raiding Ankaa who stole their slaves instead of purchasing them. Every so often he came to the farm and spent some time with Vega and Alaina, and their family. And, eventually, Alaina asked him to take her and her son back to Earth. It wasn’t home, but she wanted her son to see where at least half of him came from.
In Rua’s ship, they flew through the atmosphere bursting with fluffy white clouds, over the tops of familiar white-capped mountain peaks and across blue oceans. Alaina pointed out to her son what each continent was named, and then she took him to see her childhood home, long repurposed by another family. They breathed the air together, and Alaina remembered the good times she’d had on Earth, not the bad or the lonely ones. She hadn’t any room in her heart anymore for those memories.
They stayed for a day, and Rua took them home again. And there Alaina found true happiness with Vega, her alien prize, on an alien planet that felt more like home than anything ever had, with a family more perfect than she could ever have imagined.
They didn’t know how their actions would spark the flame of rebellion across the systems, and the story of their love and how they fought to save each other would eventually bring the arena itself crashing down. Cursii would whisper it to each other in the night. Slaves would tell it through the walls, until the slave masters couldn’t compete with the power of love and the innate desire of every creature, on every planet, for freedom. There is no greater combination than love and freedom. And it will win, in the end, every time.
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Alien Conquest: (The Warrior's Prize) An Alien SciFi Romance Page 23
