Charged: An Otherwordly Reverse Harem (The Otherworlds Series Book 1)

by Gillian Zane

  “I think until Roc comes back, we need to keep things PG-13 at least,” Bobbie sighed as she pulled the robe tighter around her.

  “What is PG-13?”

  “Do you have movies here, where people pretend to be other people and act out a scripted story? I didn’t notice anything that looked like televisions in the palace, but your technology is very advanced so I might not be able to recognize it.”

  “We have something like that.”

  “Well, on my planet, we rate them based on content. Bad language, nudity, so parents know if their kids can see it.”

  “Your world will display something that is not suitable for children?”

  “Yes, but only in a closed room and children aren’t allowed. PG-13 means kids under 13 aren’t allowed without a parent due to language, brief nudity. That sort of thing.”

  “We would not have any kind of nudity on our displays. If it is not suitable for polite society, it is not displayed. There are certain darker avenues if one would like to pursue that route, but it isn’t considered proper.”

  “Porn isn’t exactly thought that highly of where I’m from either, but it’s becoming more and more accepted,” Bobbie said and was proud of herself for not blushing.

  “That word, porn,” he mouthed it with a heavy accent, “is not translating.”

  “Shortened version of pornography. It’s a film that shows people engaged in all kinds of sexual activity. Some are standard sex, some are more adventurous…like one girl with four guys.” Bobbie couldn’t stop the blush from forming on her cheeks this time.

  “And it is filmed and displayed for all to see? Who are these women that would engage in something like this?”

  “I see how it is, so similar to my world. Your mind went straight to blaming the women first, and not the men that buy the porn.” Bobbie rolled her eyes.

  “Bobbie, this is not against women. I just know why a man would do this. Some men measure their self-worth by the number of women they bedded, but what does a woman get out of behaving in this fashion? What would entice her to have sex with strangers?”

  “Money,” Bobbie stated plainly.

  “Ah,” Four nodded with understanding.

  “A lot of money, actually, and for a woman without options, sometimes this is their only outlet to make a good deal of money. And honestly, some women are similar to men. They like the conquest, they like the sex and like being a sex object to hundreds, sometimes thousands of men and women.”

  “Your world is a lot more accepting of this than ours. With the low number of females in our population, there would be outrage if a female engaged in this behavior with men she was not committed to. Now, there have been instances where couples have displayed themselves on purpose, some on accident, but it would not be tolerated for it to be a career.”

  “I guess that’s a no then,” Bobbie pouted.

  “A no for what?” Four turned to ask her.

  “Well, I had big dreams of starring in my own adult films, thought with your planet’s market not being saturated and all, I could make the big bucks.” Four threw the closest thing he had at her, which turned out to be a pillow. It hit her right across the face. Bobbie faked outrage.

  “Your humor is not funny, female,” he said as the pillow made contact.

  “You’ll pay for that, Four! Especially after I make it big as the hottest porn star on Polaridis!”

  The clothes that the tailor worked his magic on were stunning, and Bobbie walked out of the little shop dressed like a proper Vondan female, resplendent in flowing materials in bright colors, and tiny slippers that made her feel like she was walking on air.

  They didn’t make it back to the palace until after nightfall, and Bobbie’s long day caught up to her. Servants had set up another meal, but after her constant yawning didn’t let her take a bite of her food, she finally asked to be pointed to her bed. She collapsed on it without even bothering to find her toothbrush, or undress. A few hours later, the bed moved and a big body pressed against her back. Not that long after that, there was another that pressed against her front. When she woke in the morning, she was sandwiched between three of the most attractive men she had ever laid eyes on. Her men.

  Hers. The thought sent delightful shivers down her skin. She wanted to nudge them onto their backs and explore their bodies like a proper day should be greeted, but the elephant in the room was there was one missing. The puzzle piece needed to start everything rolling. So, instead of bending over Two and licking him until he came alive, Bobbie tried her best to not disturb anyone, and slipped out of bed.

  She began the arduous task of trying to figure out where everything was. It wasn’t working, but she didn’t need to despair. Within minutes of her being awake, the wall began to flash, the boys were getting groggily to their feet, and there were three chittering females descending on Bobbie. Their goal was to show her the ropes, fix her face, do her hair, and get her ready for a very important brunch with the Emperor.

  She was having brunch with the Emperor.

  Could life get any weirder?

  The women were all life-mates of members of the House Representatives. From what Bobbie could discern, this was similar to the Roman senate of her planet’s history. Which made sense if they were run by an Emperor. The common people needed to be represented.

  The ladies fussed over her, showing her how to apply their forms of make-up, which was very different from Earth-based make-up. A screen was called up on the wall and this contraption popped up which fit over Bobbie’s face and should have given her hives because of the claustrophobia, but it went opaque and it was light; she barely felt it.

  “You’ll be eating brunch with the Emperor and his life-mate, and two members of the House Representatives, respectively. They are considered the third and fifth influential of the lot.” The woman who spoke was named Ulidinia. She was a life-mate to a member of the lower House Representatives, but Bobbie wasn’t sure what that meant and asked if they could explain their political system.

  “Our world is divided into six land masses, one is uninhabitable. Each of the continents have their own ruling system in place, based on their own policies, but each has an Emperor, and our Emperor is the First Emperor.”

  “What does that mean?” Bobbie asked.

  “The most influential.” The girls tittered when Ulidinia said this.

  “I’m still not getting it,” Bobbie confessed.

  “Our land is the richest, our population the greatest, our military the strongest, therefore our Emperor is the First. If we ever declined and another Emperor challenged our Emperor, we could be dropped down in influence.” Bobbie nodded, she kind of got it. She wondered how they decided on this. Did they compare their bank accounts and census reports?

  “And the House Representatives, what is this?”

  “Each influential family sends a member to represent them. The House advises the Emperor and he usually listens to them because they have the voice of the people, but it will always be his decision.”

  “What decides whether a family is influential or not?” The mask made a whirring sound and withdrew from Bobbie’s face. She gasped when she looked in the mirror. The makeup was perfection, subtle highlights and contouring, nothing too outrageous, which is what she had been afraid of. None of the women she’d met on this planet had been done up crazily, but you never knew.

  “A split, or a legacy of splits, a prophet, or someone who possesses the touch,” Grendu said. “My life-mate is the first of his family to split, so we are a lower house. The higher houses are represented by legacy members. Generation after generation of families that have multiple splits, or they have members that have been touched with sight, visions, that sort of thing.”

  “Can women split?” Bobbie asked and all three women shook their head.

  “But it is the female line that produces prophets, and those with sight, which is much more powerful than any split,” Jin said, nodding for emphasis.

  T
hey had begun working on Bobbie’s hair, this time extracting another device that disengaged itself from the wall. They placed it on her head like she was Judy Jetson, and depressed a button. Bobbie didn’t feel a thing but when they removed the hat, her hair was done in an elaborate mass of curls that spilled around her face and neck.

  “Now the clothes.” A hidden door in the wall slid back to reveal the clothes Bobbie and Four had purchased yesterday. They discussed them until they finally settled on a flowing rose gold material.

  “No one on our planet has skin like yours, or your color hair,” Jin said, holding the light dress up to Bobbie’s chest. “This will look spectacular on you.” They held their arms next to hers, comparing, and Bobbie smiled, enjoying how they were interested in her differences, and not judgmental. Each of them had light skin, with bronze highlights. She couldn’t compare it to a race on Earth, maybe similar to people from Korea, but slightly darker.

  Bobbie was exactly what she had been called over and over again, a mutt. Her parents were both mixed races, her mother was a blend of Irish, Scandanavian, and African, while her father was Japanese and Hispanic. It usually led to people asking Bobbie, “what in the world are you?” Her skin could get quite dark if she tanned, but she rarely did that because of fear of skin cancer, and her hair was a thick red mass of curls, but was tame because she had been doing treatments for the last year. Her eyes were slightly tilted at the corner, but large, and nothing as obviously Japanese as her father’s had been. Even without the tan, she was much darker than the rest of the people on this world. Between her height, her curves, skin tone, and hair, Bobbie wasn’t going to blend in on this planet, no matter what she did.

  Bobbie looked at the tiny pale wrists next to her own and sighed. She was used to being different. She guessed it was destined to be her thing, no matter what planet she was on. She let the women undress her and slip on what they called undergarments, but was more like strips of soft fabric that stayed in place by sheer force of will. Then they slipped the dress over her head and ran their hands over the material until it fell into place. When she moved side to side, the material sparkled and shimmered like actual gold.

  The women clapped their hands and gushed over her. They gave her compliments and found some lovely slippers that matched the dress. She didn’t even have a moment to look in the mirror before they were pushing her out of the door, claiming she was running late, but calling out words of encouragement along the way.

  It was time for Bobbie’s first political meeting.

  27

  How do you spell that?

  She recognized Four standing at the entryway when she left the sleeping area. All four of the men were identical, but there was something about the way Four held himself. Whether it was the curve of his lip, the different way he fixed his hair—whatever it was, Bobbie was proud of her observation skills. Two was more rigid, plus his telltale scar, Three slumped his shoulders slightly and was shyer than the others, not willing to stand out in a crowd. And Roc, he exuded control, the born Prince who would one day rule this realm.

  “Four,” she greeted and nodded at him. He leaned down and kissed her cheek, touching her waist lightly and sending sparks raining up her thigh to pool between her legs.

  “You look amazing,” he whispered, his eyes trailing from breasts to toes.

  “Thank you, you don’t look that bad yourself,” she said and took in the cut of his clothes, perfectly tailored and streamlined across his fit body.

  “Thanks, but I wanted to talk to you about something serious before we leave,” he winked.

  “Um, okay, shoot,” she said with only a hint of trepidation in her voice.

  “I don’t think I’m a huge fan of the name you’ve given me, and neither are the others.” His lips tilted in a smirk, but she could tell he was serious.

  “I don’t have much of a choice, considering it would get kind of confusing to call all of you Roc,” she protested. “What else am I supposed to do?”

  “I can see where that would be confusing,” he conceded.

  “So, Four.”

  “There are other options,” he said and slipped his arm through hers and began to walk her out of the wing.

  “Like what?” she asked, taking in how the architecture changed once they left Roc’s wing of the palace. The entire building was what would be called ultra-modern on Earth, but there were hints of age to a lot of the furniture that dotted the different rooms. She tried to keep all of her attention on the man next to her, but she kept getting distracted by strange objects she was unable to place. She wanted to run up to it and ask Four what it was and what it did.

  “I happen to have four names,” he said. Bobbie skidded to a halt and regarded Four in shock. That was so random.

  “Four names? That’s a mighty fine coincidence.”

  “It is, isn’t it?”

  “Do you guys do surnames like we do on Earth? My culture does three names, but there are a few cultures on Earth that have just two names, some, four or more.”

  “We take a name that represents our father, our mother, our nation, and ourselves. But, as far as a surname, I guess you could consider the prefix on my primary name as the sur, since all the males share the same prefix and the females will incorporate it into the paternal name.”

  “I don’t understand,” Bobbie said honestly.

  “Roch is my father’s prefix. He is known as Rochforral, and inherited the Roch from his father, Rochmorrai.”

  “And your mother?”

  “She was known as Tamattreia RochPolari, and the P is capitalized only because she was a direct descendant of the original, Polari.”

  “That sounds important.” They had slowed their pace and Bobbie pulled Four along to check out what she assumed was a piece of art. It was a spiraling statue of what looked to be a type of rock. When she got closer she realized that the rock had a slight glow to it, almost like the rock was heated.

  “It is. My mother was one of the most important females of her time. The only female born in that generation of her family, even though the grandfather of her house had ten sons. She was from an original family, with great power of her own. The only reason her family was not a member of the empire ruling class was because one of her ancestors abdicated when he could not split.”

  “That sounds like an interesting history.” Bobbie touched the statue and felt the stone; it was actually pretty hot.

  “There have been a lot of recounting of my mother’s line, especially after her death. Her family has since become the second family of Polari, and with the current emperor never producing an heir, it is considered that they will regain control one day.”

  “That will be quite an ally to have,” Bobbie said and Four nodded gravely.

  “They have remained in contact with our father, and on occasion we visit with the family. It is very large, and nothing like our own. Our father was an only child, and he had only one child himself.”

  “Do you miss your mother?” Bobbie asked when she saw the thoughtful look on Four’s face.

  “I wasn’t even in existence when she died. I only have the memories that I possess from Roc,” he said, but there was still a pull at his eyes, a downturn of his mouth.

  “And what name do you get from her?” Bobbie said changing the subject.

  “Our secondary name, Tameratti. Our tertiary is our home realm, Vondan.”

  “As a people, you call yourselves Vondans, right? Like I would call myself an American?”

  “Correct, but the region is Thames Vondan, the only region that took its entire name from the founder. You’ll hear us say Rochford of Thames, but refer to each other as Vondans. It makes no sense, but it’s how we do things.”

  “Vondans sounds better than Thamians,” Bobbie joked and Four cocked a head in acknowledgment of her great wit.

  “Most males will have a tertiary name of Vondan, or the masculinized ending, Vondand, Vondsta, or Vondi. Females usually use Vondia, Vondon. My mother
kept hers original and did the same with us.”

  “The suspense is killing me. What is the final name?” Bobbie whined.

  “Finnrod,” Four said and looked down at her as if for approval.

  “I like it. What does it mean?”

  “Space traveler.” He walked them to a door and pulled on her arm to stop her. “We’re here.”

  “I think I might call you guys by your names, in order,” she whispered in case they could be overheard.

  “In order?”

  “Yes, One is officially Roc, Two will be Tam, Three, Von, and now you’re officially Finn.”

  “A good name,” he smiled.

  “Shall we do this shit, Finn?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  The door led to an atrium that only boasted a small table, and another huge door guarded by two guards. When Bobbie and Finn walked into the atrium, both guards moved as one to open the doors for them.

  “Prince Rochford of Thames, son of Rochforral, high Emperor of Polaridis and Charge Mate Roberta Flemming,” the door guards announced.

  “They already know about me?” Bobbie hissed.

  “Two, err, Tam sent a communication when we landed.”

  Bobbie looked into the room, which seemed to go on forever. There was a large table at the center, with numerous Vondans standing around looking bored. There were no chairs in sight. They all turned as one—the men shifting their bodies to the side in a deferential way, the women doing a head bowing gesture. Only two figures did not acknowledge Finn and Bobbie. They stood on a dais, their part of the table raised up to reach their waist. The man was smaller than the woman, who stood a couple of inches above him. They both looked young, in their thirties at the most. The man had hair that had hardly any pigment, and looked nothing like his sons, because this man could be none other than the Emperor. The woman at his side’s hair was almost brown, but still on the blonde side. She regarded Bobbie with cool appraising eyes.