Power: BBW Alien Lottery Romance (Chosen by the Karal Book 3) (8 page)

“No. I rarely leave the tower. There is always so much to do.” He sat looking disinterested as they drove out across open land. Green grasses, their heads heavy with seeds, swayed as they sped past.

“You live in this wonderful world and yet you take little notice of it.”

“This wonderful world stays so because I work hard. I wish I could just walk away. But I can’t.”

“Just as your father couldn’t. Is that right?” she asked gently, seeing how his life must be. A repetition of his father’s: doing the same thing because that’s what he was
supposed
to do.

“Yes,” he said, looking at her, but his eyes were distant, somewhere far away.

“Lytril. I want you to think about what I said, about children needing their mothers. But I also need you to promise me that you will spend time with our child and show it all the wonders of your planet.” She placed her hand on his, feeling nothing, only the warmth of his skin. He had completely shut down his emotional reactions.

“You ask for too many promises, Vanessa.”

The cruiser slowed and before she could say another word, he unbuckled his seat belt and rose from his seat. “Okil will look after you for now. I will come to your quarters tonight. It might be late. But please be ready.”

Stunned, she watched him walk away down the exit ramp, and into a group of aliens who had been waiting for him. At that thought, she stopped herself. Now she was the alien. On this planet, she was the one that didn’t belong. Once more, her enthusiasm waned, and she wished she hadn’t been so easily swayed into accepting the lottery prize. Because right now it felt as though she had won the forfeit.

“Shall I show you to your rooms?” Okil appeared in front of her, holding out his hand. She took it, feeling his emotions spill out across her skin.

“Thank you, Okil. I appreciate the sentiment.”

He grinned at her. “I don’t pity you coming here, or having the Hier Ruler as your mate. But I do pity you the road ahead. He is going to be a hard one to break.”

“Does he need breaking?” she asked, not sure what he meant.

“Only the way he sees you and the other people of Earth. I have walked among you, more than anyone else on Karal has. It has taken me many months to understand you. Now I know we have to break the Hier Ruler’s resolve, and only you can do that. If you wish to save your species, Vanessa, you have to find a way.”

She stood up. “He’s not going to make it easy, is he?”

“No. But I have never seen anyone have such an effect on him.”

“Saw anyone, because now it’s gone. He isn’t the same person I met.”

“That person is still in there. You just have to reach in and find him. Many of us will support a change in policy where humans are concerned. If nothing else, we are willing to go out into the vastness of space and help you find a new home.”

“Because you don’t want us all on Karal?”

“That is a thing that will never happen. Even I would not support that. Nor, I believe, would you ask it. Not once you have seen the beauty of our planet.”

“Because we would ruin it?”

“There are just too many of you, Vanessa.”

“I know.” She sighed. “Can we forget about this for now? Take me to my rooms, I would love to see where I am going to spend the next few days, because something tells me that might be the only length of time I am here. If I’m not careful, I will no doubt upset Lytril and be exiled to this island of yours.”

Okil laughed. “That would not be too bad. Grenvet is a beautiful island.”

“Okil, will he keep his word about that? Or will he send me to the breeding house?”

“If there is one thing Lytril is, it is loyal and true to his word. If has given you his promise, then he will not take it back.”

“You are a good man, Okil. If that’s what I am meant to call you? Or is that an insult, because here on Karal you despise men.”

“You can call me what you want, Vanessa. You cannot offend me. I see through to your soul. I know how you helped that old woman and her son. It is why I know you were the right person to persuade Lytril that we have a duty not to abandon Earth.”

“Wait, how could you know? That was before I met Lytril,” she asked suspiciously.

“Here we have an all-seeing eye onto the Earth. We have satellites, which record your world. They are left over from before we made ourselves known. We used them to collect data.”

“That is so wrong.”

“Regardless of the rights or wrongs of it, I watched you help them. I saw your compassion.” He smiled sadly at her. “I had to know who you were. When Lytril asked me to help him, I had to know who I was helping.”

“Oh, Okil, I wish that you hadn’t. I have spent so long trying to distance myself from other people. Now you have thrust me right into a thing I wanted nothing to do with.”

“Are you so sure?”

“Yes,” she insisted as they walked down the ramp and she took her first proper breath of clean, fresh air. Shielding her eyes, she took in the breath-taking scenery. “Oh, my!”

“Still sure?” Okil asked.

“Okil, do you have paints on Karal? I brought what I had, but they would never do justice to this view.”

“I’ll see what I can do. But maybe you are pleased you came here now?”

As she took in the green grass and the trees festooned with heavily scented blossoms, she couldn’t deny that whatever happened between her and Lytril, this view alone would have been worth winning the lottery for.

Up above her head the dual suns wound their slow deliberate paths around each other. Okil stood patiently while she took her fill of her surroundings. She didn’t care what her rooms were like. Not when the outside world held such joy.

He was tired. A thing he rarely experienced, but the journey from Earth had drained him. Immediately on exiting the space cruiser, he had been thrust back into his old life. The strain of using his willpower to both keep his own emotions in check, and read other Karalians had increased his fatigue.

There had been a small dispute while he was away; he had been hard-pressed to keep his temper under control while he listened to both sides. A Karalian, who seemed predisposed to not taking on any gainful employment for his whole life, was caught stealing from a farmer, ruining some of the harvest in his haste to get away. With so much abundant food, if the thief didn’t want to work, he could no doubt live off the land. But he was too lazy to even do that and had taken the farmer’s produce.

Now the judgement was over, he had ordered fifty lashes to the thief, a typical punishment on Karal. The whip carried an electrical current that did not harm the skin, but reverberated along the emotional receptors. It hurt, but not in the same physical way a bullwhip would. Karalians were not that inhumane.

Now that was settled, he could move on to the more mundane aspects of his job. Although all he really wanted to do was go and find Vanessa. The longer the day wore on, the more she consumed his thoughts.

“How did you find Earth?” Torac asked. They were eating a brief meal before the Hier Council continued their meeting.

“Dismal.” Lytril ate one more mouthful of food, and then sat, breathing in the cool night air, fragrant with flowers. “It was worse than I could ever have imagined.”

“And the woman, the female who is your mate?” Torac was watching his ruler closely. Not for the first time did he feel there was something unsaid between them.

“I like her. She will give me a good son.”

“And you still intend to send her away?” Torac pushed the question that had been foremost in his mind.

“I hope not. But who knows.” Lytril hesitated, before adding, “I have agreed to allow the females who do not stay with their prize after producing a son, to be relocated to Grenvet.”

A hush settled over the room, all the council members looked at him. But he had born their stares before.

“These are not the same savages our mothers were. And in light of what I have seen on Earth, I believe that giving them the freedom of the island will keep them content.” He glanced around at the council, gauging their reactions. Lytril knew he would have to give them more than that, or they would believe Vanessa had already taken control of his mind.
Had she?

“You want to hand over the island to them?” asked Ishk. Ishk had been voted as the person responsible for bringing the views of the farmers to the Hier Council. It was these farmers who would have to give up their land.

“If we do nothing, and simply send them to the breeding house, as our fathers did, we will have a revolt, and these females do not arm themselves with sticks and stones.”

“But they do not have weapons here. We would be able to control them.”

“I have a different idea. In the same way, the breeding house was set up to house the last few generations of mothers. We have to do something different. Something more radical. We need these females to be cooperative. It is the only way our sons will thrive.”

“Cooperative is one thing. But to give them … what, a colony?” Ishk stood, his face red with anger, the colours not flowing; he was livid.

“Sit, please, Ishk, hear me out.” He motioned for Ishk to sit, and when he hesitated, Lytril brought forth the power of his emotions on him. Forcing him to his seat. “I will not allow dissent in this council.”

“Apologies, Hier Ruler.” Ishk’s face still showed red, but the colours were more muted now.

“The colony may be small. Many of the females may choose to live with their chosen mate. Because while on Earth I was given an idea of how we should run this lottery in a better, more productive way.”

If emotions were voices, the whole room would be a murmur of small voices of unease. As it was, they remained silent. Lytril continued. “We will increase the number of females arriving on Karal. DNA matching and observance of the fertility of all those who enter will still take place. But now we will take into account the preferences of the females.”

“Hier Ruler.” Ishk half stood and then sat down with a thump, his face ashen.

“If you no longer wish to be a member of this council, Ishk, you may leave. Or you will do me the courtesy of listening.”

Silence, Ishk looked away, staring at his hands. Around the room, others stirred and for the first time Lytril knew he was in danger of a mutiny. Only Torac, Hier Commander, was in agreement with him. He could sense this was what he wanted, but a female from Earth had influenced him too. Lytril should have abandoned his promise to Vanessa; she was indirectly swaying his mind. He knew it. Yet he had given her his word and that must be upheld.

“The females will be more manageable if they are kept separate, a distance apart. If large numbers gather, then we are in danger of them becoming a force too big. We will be spending too much of our time dealing with them instead of raising our children.”

He looked around the room, his council calmer now. So he continued, knowing this was the biggest gamble he had ever made as Hier Ruler. No. It was the only gamble.

“We will start with the farmers. Ishk, chose one hundred of your people. I want them spread out across a wide area. The women we will match them with will be expected to work alongside their prize. It will keep the females occupied. If they do not want to stay once they are with child, they will be removed. But those that do will be expected to earn their place here on Karal.”

“Women. Work?” Ishk’s voice held contempt.

“Yes, Ishk. I see this is hard for you to understand, but on Earth, as I believe the original mothers of Karal would have, the females work alongside the males. This we will embrace. By starting with the farmers, the production of food will go up to combat the increased population.”

“I must state my disbelief that our Hier Ruler would suggest such a thing.”

Lytril had thought that by starting with the farmers, Ishk would have been appeased. It seemed nothing was going to make him happy. So Lytril played his last card.

“Ishk, you will be one of the hundred. Within the next two days you will depart for Earth.” He ignored the shocked face of Ishk, and instead turned his gaze upon the other silent council members. “Each of you will do the same. Choose one hundred of your people. But count yourself as one amongst them. Only by understanding the task before us, can we hope to keep control.”

“Hier Ruler,” the voices of the men before him murmured.

Lytril hoped he had done enough. By removing Ishk, and sending him to Earth, he hoped to stem the tide against him. Torac would be on his side, he knew. So this only left three members. Enough for a mutiny? He hoped not.

His final words were meant to squash all thoughts of a revolt. “For our species to survive, we have to find a way of making the females of Earth feel welcome. I am not suggesting they integrate with us. This is not the final plan for how we accomplish our goal. I ask for your support while we learn everything we can about these humans. Our sons will thank us for these efforts.”

As the council meeting broke up, Torac lingered behind, a point noted by Ishk. But Lytril ignored the accusing looks thrown his way. He would deal with Ishk in time if he became a problem.

“How is your female, Lytril?” Torac asked. “Elissa would like to visit some time and introduce herself.”

“In a few days, Torac. Let Vanessa settle in first.” He wanted to keep her to himself, all day he had thought about her and imagined being with her. Damn, she affected his mind.

“The others will come around. Once they have experience of the Earth. And you are right; the breeding program needs to be increased. Otherwise we will not all breed before the end of our prime.”

“I understand that only too well, Torac. We took too long to find the Earth. If we had time, I would go on searching for a new species. The humans will be our downfall.”

“Or our salvation, Lytril.” Torac left, his words reverberating around the Hier Ruler’s head as he went to find his Vanessa. It was late. However, he had every intention of claiming her tonight. In the hope he could purge her from his mind.

Her rooms were beautiful, simple, but with a large window leading out onto a small walled garden filled with flowers. That was where she was now, her sketchpad on her lap, several discarded drawings by the side of her. There was so much to draw; she had finished one after another. She would go back and fill them with colour when Okil brought her the promised paints and pencils.