by Sky Winters
He disappeared behind the wall, and she was relieved she was no longer under his scrutiny. Her emotions regarding him fluctuated between admiration and anger, and she grew even more anxious to escape this godforsaken place. She gripped the thin fabric around her and walked softly and warily, to the window. She kept glancing behind her, as if she expected him to come up behind her and toss her back into the room.
The world was already buzzing outside. She saw scooters whizzing by the window, hovercrafts settling below, and Argonites disembarking from both. There was laughter and happiness, something she had forgotten the sound of.
For the first time in a while, she thought of Jeffrey. Things had been so different a year ago--they had been making plans to start a family and…it didn't matter. It was useless bringing the rest to memory.
Her mind had grown so blank, she didn’t hear Darius come up behind her.
“So, are you with child as yet?” he asked. That was it—no formality, no greeting, just business as usual.
“I wouldn't know yet,” Cynthia replied. She wasn’t sure if it was even possible for the two of them to conceive, and she suddenly wondered what might happen to her if she couldn’t.
“Then when?” he asked. He seemed irritated and impatient, and he shifted on his feet as he waited her reply.
“Well, it's only been two times, and the female cycle is different for every woman. The more times that we…” She paused when she realized what she was setting up herself for.
He had gotten the gist, and took her by the hand. “Let’s go then,” he said, and tugged her along behind him.
She was willing to seduce him, to bend him to her will, but how was she going to overcome his might and dominance? In a desperate attempt to maintain the upper-hand, she stopped. Her abruptness startled him.
“Is this how you plan to be? I thought you wanted a mate, not just a vessel for your child,” she said, feigning hurt.
He came closer and leveled his eyes with hers. “What’s the difference?” he asked. He pulled her to him, kissing her forcefully.
Once again she was swept along by his current, and in control of nothing.
CHAPTER 8
Darius got up from the bed and stole out into the night. He needed to clear his mind of the human woman he'd left in his bed. It was their custom to sleep in separate rooms, but he was finding it increasingly difficult to pull himself away from her. He felt a magnetic attraction when he was with her, one that even he could not deny.
He wiped his hand down his face and then locked his hands behind him.
“Is something the matter, my Lord?” A young man hurried over to ask him.
“No, everything is fine Jakob,” he told the man. “I just needed some air.”
“Very well, sir,” he replied. He took two steps back, and then turned to hurry off again.
Darius ventured into the courtyard, which was always kept lit, and walked the serpentine path that passed beneath her window. He sat on the oval bench atop the perfectly kept lawn, and sat there looking up at the place she slept, feeling weak, vulnerable, and very unlike the leader he was. The irony was he needed her to maintain his position.
His mind was still quite unsettled when he returned to the solitude of his bed an hour later.
************
Cynthia had never been pregnant before, so she didn’t realize immediately when the symptoms manifested themselves. She was standing on the terrace, watching the good people of Argon from the only place she was allowed, when she felt suddenly light headed. She swooned, and gripped the steel bars as she tried to compose herself. She reached for the chair and sat, just as a wave of uneasiness washed over her. She rested her head on the cushioned seat and closed her eyes, trying to will her upset stomach away. When she opened them again, he was standing there, looking at her, much too intently.
Before she was able to analyze his face, he began to smile. He stood upright, and in that moment he seemed even more puffed up with pride. It wasn’t until he lowered himself and brought his hand to rest on her still flat stomach that she acknowledged her present condition. She bounded from the chair, and he caught her before she could go far.
“You are going nowhere, little flower,” he whispered into her ear, and crushed her in an embrace.
Cynthia wanted to flee. She did not want to believe she was already carrying an alien child within her, but she could no longer deny the attraction she for him. She had convinced herself she was using him as her means of escape, but somewhere along the way, she had gotten lost. She no longer saw him as cruel, but as a strong and respected leader. She had also seen some changes in him, mostly in the way he looked at her, but she wasn’t quite sure she'd be able to open up fully to another man, even one as handsome and powerful as Darius. The image of Jeffrey still haunted her, and she had not yet escaped the hurt he'd inflicted.
“I’m not sure that’s the reason. Maybe it’s the food I ate this morning,” she offered, already afraid of what being pregnant might mean.
He held her at arms' length, his blue eyes lit and sparkling, and melting the parts of her she tried to keep hardened. “You have my child growing within you. You are really mine, now,” he said to her.
Darius seemed to transform before her very eyes. He took her hand and led her back to the bed, the one he usually slept in, alone. This time, instead of commanding her, he was more reverent. Cynthia stood there, mesmerized, as he used both of his hands to slide the silk dress from her shoulders. He locked eyes with her and held her gaze as he lifted her and placed her on the strange bed. Her heart was racing in anticipation of what felt like the first time, even though there had been many in the month she had been with him.
He kissed her hand, her stomach, her breasts, and then ended on lips that were ready for him by the time he got there. Cynthia struggled inwardly, trying to deny this was real, that it was no more than a means to an end, but everything else in her was screaming otherwise.
Her fingers curled around his neck, and despite her inner turmoil, she opened up herself to him, and her lips accepted his. Their tongues engaged in a friendly duel until their breathing began to intensify. Darius flattened his palm against the small of her back, and his touch seemed to sear her skin. She shivered, and pressed closer to him as his other hand surveyed the rest of her body.
His long, golden hair fell over his shoulder, and her hand moved to grab a fistful as his head found the hollow in her neck. She groaned as his tongue traveled to her ear, then back to her neck, and then to her mouth again. She wanted him, and she was no longer afraid of letting go. She pressed him back, allowing him to fall on the bed, and as he lay there, beckoning to her, she responded, and showered him with kisses. He looked surprised as he watched her move over him like a snake. Her body seemed to dance, and he reached out and cupped her breasts as they seemed to reach for his chest.
Cynthia was in her element, and she closed her eyes as she drank him in, only now realizing he had a pungent smell that had captivated her senses and caused her to feel enamored. He writhed when her tongue found his side, and followed all the way to his inner thigh. His skin was smooth, almost like marble, and she reveled in his taste and feel. Then her head dipped, and Darius almost knocked her off the bed when his erection disappeared, inch by inch inside her mouth. She held him back, pressing him back down on the bed, and he shivered, spilling almost instantly when her tongue flicked over his peak.
The agony was grew unbearable for him, and he grew impatient with her torture. He held her thigh, and she appeared as light as a fairy when he lifted her and planted her onto him. He slowly brought her down, and when her hands flattened against his bulging chest, he pumped hard and fast inside her. She screamed as he filled her, his movement seeming to go on forever. Sweat beads rained down on him, mingling with that which he was producing. Each stroke he made brought them even closer in ways they had never expected.
Soon, her cries drowned in his ever increasing moans, until he bolted upright, caug
ht her around the middle, sank deep inside her, and climaxed. Her legs shook as evidence of the same in her trickled down over him.
He looked into her eyes, brushed her hair back, gave her one last kiss, and fell back onto the bed with her in his arms. He spent the rest of the afternoon in the same manner, and for the first time in a month, they slept in the same bed.
CHAPTER 9
Cynthia could not believe the euphoria she had felt ever since Darius had found out about the baby. He was no longer the cold and domineering man of before, but was, instead, sweet and sensitive.
“I don’t get it,” she said to him one morning at breakfast. He had a habit of leaving early in the day in order to see to the proper running of Argon, and she'd started rising early with him.
“Get what?” he asked, and spooned a mouthful of wild bird’s egg into his mouth.
“It’s like you're a different man,” she told him. She bit into a fruit that resembled an avocado, but tasted more like apple. She could barely stomach much of anything else anymore, so she avoided the venison. And the eggs. “Did the baby do this to you?”
“Darling, I don’t even recognize the man of which you speak,” he said, and smiled. He wiped his hands with a piece of napkin and leaned back in the chair.
Someone burst into the room, excused himself, and passed a device to Darius which he quickly scanned, and handed back to the man.
“Pressing matters?” she asked.
“I’m afraid so,” he told her. “It seems there has been a disturbance among some of the members of the council who are trying to ratify an amendment.” He wiped his lips and got up. He went over to her and kissed her briefly on the lips. “See you later?”
“Where else would I be after spending another long, boring day counting hovercrafts from the terrace?” she asked sarcastically.
Darius chuckled and slipped into his coat. “You can always go out,” he told her.
“Yeah, but where?” she asked his slowly disappearing back. She looked down at her stomach, which hadn't yet begun to show, and decided that she'd indeed venture into the city, for the first time since she'd left it in chains.
She went to the bedroom and put on an animal skin coat Darius had given her. When she pressed the buttons to open the door and it slid apart, she stepped out onto a marble walkway. She received a few nods from the guards, and she wrapped her coat tighter around her and went down the steps. The air was crisp and clean, and life on the streets had already begun for the day. She didn’t plan on going far, maybe only around the block and back; the architectural setting made it easy for one to get lost.
She walked farther than she thought she would, drawing the attention of several other men from the planet, and some humans, too. She passed one woman, who had red eyes and bruises on her face, and she shivered as she thought of the life she must have lived so far. She kept her head low and walked quickly onwards, but she couldn’t help noticing, after some time, the looks she was getting from some of the women. It wasn’t hard to see that all the women were human, and obviously from Earth. The thought occurred to her that she should probably return to the safety of the house, as she was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
She had barely taken a few steps in the direction from which she had come, when she noticed a familiar face, only this time, it didn’t seem as bland as it had been back at the compound.
“I thought they might like that pretty face with the blue eyes, I just didn’t think it would be Lord Darius,” she said, placing great emphasis on her owner’s name.
“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” Cynthia said. She took a few steps back.
“I guess now you think you're better than the rest of us, huh?” the woman said. She took a step or two closer to Cynthia.
“What? This is crazy,” she said. She turned to walk away, her heart fluttering so hard in her chest she was sure she was about to have a heart attack.
“I was talking to you,” the woman pressed, shoving Cynthia in the process.
Cynthia stumbled and fell, landing hard, on her side, and she screamed out in pain. Before she was able to stand, the woman was standing over her, eyes flaming red. Cynthia pushed against her and twisted her body, causing the woman to topple over sideways. Cynthia got onto her knees in a bid to stand, but before her hands had left the ground, she felt searing pain in the back of her neck.
Her hands found the spot, as her eyes tried to focus. Everything seemed in a daze. Tears stung her eyes, and she fell to the ground. Through the mist of her tears she saw one of the guards from the house as he apprehended the woman, still flailing and kicking in his grasp. The others who had gathered close quickly dispersed, and the woman was carted off.
Cynthia's head grew heavy, she fell back, and everything grew still.
CHAPTER 10
When Cynthia opened her eyes again, it felt as if her head was bobbing in water. She saw the sky moving and felt her body rocking before she realized she was being carried. Her head pounded, and she made no attempt to move. She looked upwards to see the face of the guard she'd seen earlier, when she'd left the house.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“Don’t worry,” he replied, without looking down. “You'll be home soon.”
Her head dipped back, and her eyes closed as the door to the house opened. The guard placed her on a futon-like resting pad, as he and the other guards busied themselves deciding whether to get Lord Darius, or to wait until he came from the meeting. They decided on the latter, and Cynthia spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon nursing a head injury and a nagging pain in her neck.
She was rubbing the bruised spot and walking into the bedroom when Darius charged through the door. “Why didn’t someone come to get me?” he barked.
“Sir, we didn’t want to disturb you, and--”
“Nonsense!” he shouted, and he rushed to her side. “There is nothing more important to me now than her,” he said as he sat down beside her and took her hand, “and this child.”
“It really was nothing,” Cynthia told him, but he would hear none of it.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for a woman I wanted to be with? I got lucky when I met you,” he told her.
“They got her,” she tried to tell him.
“Where is the woman?” Darius shouted at the guard.
“In custody,” the man replied, respectfully.
“I will see to it that she is shown the full measure--”
“Darling,” Cynthia said, stopping him. “Don’t be so hasty to make judgement. She was just…jealous.”
“Jealous? Of what?” He didn’t seem to realize his own station and status, and how the other humans would perceive someone chosen by him.
“Not all of the women who were taken here are treated well. I saw one with a bruised cheek and red eyes. The woman who hit me seemed like she'd seen better days, as well.’
He seemed to register what she was saying, and his features softened. His eyes sloped downwards, and his hand reached out and touched her stomach. “Is he all right?” he asked tenderly.
“I think so,” she told him, smoothing the hair that had been hiding half of his face like a drawn curtain. She could hardly believe he had become everything she had ever wanted, and had given her even more, this man from another planet. With each passing day, the memory of her hurt sank further into the abyss, and she embraced Darius.
“He'd better be,” he whispered, and even while his guests looked on, he lowered his head and kissed her slowly and deliberately. She curled her hand around his neck, allowing the emotions within to overcome her. “How about we go and do something else?” he asked her, a grin spreading from ear to ear.
“I can barely move,” she replied, though her body had already begun to react to his words.
“That’s all right--you won’t have to do a thing,” he said, and whisked her off to the bedroom. By this time, the help had all but disappeared, leaving the two alone, and as the evening sun grew
orange in the background, they made love, not as master and servant, but as lovers.
************
His little face looked up at them, his bright, blue eyes melting their hearts. He reached tiny pale fingers upwards, his face displaying features that resembled his father, and cooed.
“Are you ready?” Darius asked as he bent to pick up the infant. Baby Dane was just two weeks old, and already the spitting image of his father.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Cynthia replied. She stood and took her place next to him. There was to be a showing in the large council room where Dane would be presented to the people in a welcoming ceremony. It was a big deal, considering his status on Argon, though there were smaller ceremonies for the other babies when they were born.
“So, do you still want to go back to Earth?” he whispered into her ear as she walked next to him.
She was clad in an elegant, silver gown that fell to her ankles, and adorned with diamond accessories. “I wouldn’t dream of it now.” She turned to him and smiled, remembering the conversation they'd had a few months ago, when she had told him of her desire to return home. “You’re not as bad as when I first met you.”
“Not as bad, huh?” he asked.
“Nope. He is adorable, isn’t he?” she asked. She reached over and touched her son’s chin. He gripped her finger, smiled, and her world seemed to shake.
“He absolutely is,” Darius replied. Cynthia looked up at his face, her heart warming when she saw nothing but love there.
When they got to the room, she sucked in her breath. She hadn’t made a public appearance of this magnitude since Darius had taken her. She witnessed the smiles and nods she received as they made their way to the entrance hall.
“Welcome, Lord Darius,” the guard said. He pressed the button and the door slid back.
“Thank you,” he replied, much to the guard’s surprise, who smiled in turn, and then faced forward, once more.
