Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“I’ll come see you soon,” Aleena had promised—she was crying herself as she hugged her mother goodbye. “Hopefully my new husband will allow me to visit you after our Joining night.”
“Don’t risk angering him!” Her mother’s purple eyes—a shade darker than Aleena’s—went wide with fright. “Obey him in all things. If he restricts you to the house, you must stay there. I don’t want you to be beaten!”
“I won’t be,” Aleena had said, though of course she could promise no such thing. After the Joining ceremony she would be the property of her husband and he could do anything he wished with her—including beat her if the mood struck him.
“I used to think your father was kind because he rarely beat me,” her mother said sadly. “But that was before your stepmother got such a hold on him and he disavowed me to Join with her instead.” She had sighed sadly. “How I wish I could come and see you be Joined, my dear! I used to dream of your Joining Ceremony when you were little—I had it all planned out. It was to be such a grand affair.”
Well, her mother would be disappointed if she saw what was happening now, Aleena thought. This Joining would be far from the “grand affair” she had dreamed of. There was no Holy Hall and no big reception afterwards either. This ceremony was going to be as bare as the branches of a tree in the cold season.
Still, the outdoor venue wasn’t all bad. The weather was fine and not too hot and the sun was shining on the billum blossoms, making their vivid colors even more beautiful. The birds were singing softly in the trees, which almost made up for the fact that her stepmother had refused to hire a chorus or even a single musician, though music was traditional for a Joining.
Her father had persuaded a leading dignitary to perform the ceremony itself and a local bakery had agreed to provide the Joining Bread for free, as long as they told everyone where it had come from. All in all, her father was getting off very cheaply for this Joining, Aleena thought. Especially since the dowry he had agreed to give, because he was sponsoring the ceremony, was going to be less than a fourth of what he would have given for Faleesha.
She only hoped that the credit he was saving was being put towards her mother’s medical bills. She had yet to get a call from the House of Healing saying that the balance had been settled but when she’d asked her father about it, he had waved her off, saying the matter was “being taken care of.” Aleena hoped that it was—her mother’s next treatment was coming up and they would refuse to give it to her if the money wasn’t paid. They—
Just then a hush fell over the assembled crowd and her father whispered,
“He’s here! Be on your best behavior, child!”
Then he rushed over to the edge of the clearing where the ceremony was being held and began bowing and talking rapidly to someone Aleena couldn’t see because of the large bilberry bush in the way.
Soon enough, however, the stranger came into view. Aleena caught her breath when she saw him.
The Kindred Ambassador was absolutely huge. He was so tall that she estimated the top of her head would barely come up past his elbow. And he looked strong too—he was wearing a scarlet, long sleeved shirt that draped over his broad chest and showed the muscles of his arms under its satiny fabric. He also had on tight black trousers and high black boots, which emphasized his long legs.
He had short, sharp horns on either side of his head—horns! Just like a beast in a fairy story, she thought uneasily. But her eyes were also drawn to his thick black hair gathered neatly at the back of his neck—an unusual color on Karpsian Sigma, where most people had either gold or silver or copper colored hair. His skin was olive green—a shade or two lighter than Aleena’s own bronze coloring—and his eyes…
His eyes look like melted gold!
Aleena couldn’t help staring. They were beautiful and so unusual. Most males on Karpsian Sigma had dark colored eyes. Unlike a female, their eyes didn’t start out light and then change when they had intimate relations, so no one knew or cared how many females they had bedded. However, once a female’s eye color was changed and darkened, her value was gone—it was a double standard, but there were many such rules on Aleena’s home world.
Her father led the Kindred Ambassador past the rows of spectators to the front of the clearing where Aleena and the official who would be performing the ceremony were already standing.
“Er, I hope I’m not late,” the Ambassador said in a voice that was a low rumble in Aleena’s ears. “I was getting my new residence in order—I was under the impression that the ceremony would be starting a few standard hours from now.”