Read Online Bride Games: (Alien's Bride) by Yamila Abraham - Free Book Online

at least a forth of our people have these traits dominant.”   A picture came up on his screen.   “Oh.   It’s an Earth animal.   I suppose it does look like them.”  
    He played a video.   Lenora drew near to watch it.   A llama was trotting around a herd of sheep.   Now Lysanter had to laugh.  
    “They’re cute aren’t they?” he said.
    Lenora sighed.   “That’s old Earth, before the war.   I never saw a real farm growing up.   I just saw old videos, like this.”
    Lysanter reached out to soothe her back instinctively.   His hand was already on her before he considered what he was doing.   She continued watching the video without pulling away from him.   His heart quickened.   When the video ended he removed his hand from her in order to put away his tablet.   She went on to the next display.
    “You call this a slave world because they raise your children for you?”
    “Slave world is probably no longer accurate for Dornovonia.   The population is autonomous.   Only families who volunteer are granted Dak-Hiliah children, and they’re compensated.”
    “You could have just done a trade agreement instead of conquering them.”
    “Dornovonia wasn’t conquered.   We liberated them from the Jan-delts hundreds of years ago.”
    “Liberated, huh?”
    “They don’t seem liberated to you?”   He pointed to a picture of a lively festival.   “This is our ideal.   To have a world thrive under our governance.   It’s what we want for the entire universe.”
    “Because you know best.”
    Lysanter kept his lips sealed.
    “No, it’s fine.   It looks like you’ve done right by these people.   I want to think that if you’d been in charge of the Earth war it would have gone differently, but apparently you and Elentinus are two peas in a pod.   The only reason you don’t have as much blood on your hands as him is because you were busy here.”
    “Elentinus voted against denying you the Instajant vaccine.”
    Lenora became still.  
    “He was outvoted by the old guard on the council.   Nayjoor and his cohorts.”
    “That figures.”
    He touched her shoulder to guide her to the other side of the corridor.   Again, she didn’t jerk from him.
    “There are only 200 adult Dak-Hiliah on this world, but around 10,000 children.”
    “What do the adults do?”
    “Many oversee the foster families.   Some run our base here or our robot factories.   A few merely live in Dornovonian society.”
    “So most of the children leave and don’t come back?”

“They visit once a year on our most prominent holiday.   But, no, they don’t stay here.   We have many other worlds where our influence is needed.   Our population is still direly low.”
    “Do you visit your foster family?”
    Lysanter grinned.   “Often.   They live right here in Canopania.”  
    “That must be nice.”
    Though she didn’t look at him, Lysanter could sense her longing.   Of course, her entire family was probably dead.   That was why she needed strong connections with friends like Vivian.
    “My mother would adore you, Lenora.”
    She smiled slightly.   “Hm.”
    He touched her hair.   When she didn’t recoil he allowed his fingers to slip between the silky strands and glide through.
    “The Dak-Hiliah aren’t pure evil.   You see that, don’t you?”
    Lenora took two steps forward to move out of his reach.   The ache this caused in his chest struck him.   Ruling Dornovonia was simple compared to the challenge she was presenting.
    And yet, he felt undaunted.
    ***
    Lenora was left to her own devices until dinner.   She assumed Lysanter had some work he couldn’t put off, and later saw him in an office of sorts working at a terminal when she wandered the corridors.   After a while she went back to the room he’d assigned to her.   She sat on the bed and let the thoughts come.
    Elentinus was still a creep.   The Dak-Hiliah were still self-important religious fanatics who felt entitled to rule