Bethany hovered nervously behind the other girls, who lined up at the door. She hurried to join them, placing herself beside Trili, but Beoli took her hand and moved her so that she was right in the middle, between Lizzy and Snia.

When the door opened, Bethany had to hold in her gasp. Klowix was… gorgeous. Actually, gorgeous was too dull a word. His brown eyes moved so fast they made Bethany dizzy, faster than Snia’s hands moved when doing her hair. He was powerfully built, and he held himself with an air of authority and power that made her breathless.

Remembering herself, Bethany quickly followed the others’ example, bending her knees and tilting her head towards the floor. She felt a touch on her forehead, and reluctantly raised her eyes to meet his. Klowix’s expression was inscrutable as he seemed to evaluate her.

“You’re new.”

Bethany glanced nervously to Snia, who nodded encouragingly.

“Yes, I just arrived today.” She sounded meek.

Klowix nodded. “Come.”

His hand on her arm sent tingles through her, and Bethany gasped as the room flew by. When they stopped a moment later, they were in a dining room with a huge, domed ceiling lit by floating chandeliers. Bethany gasped as he let go of her.

“Sit down.” Klowix indicated a chair, and she collapsed into it.

“How was your day, Commander?” Snia curtseyed before sitting down on his other side.

“Regiment training proceeds as planned.” Klowix met her gaze before turning back to Bethany. “Tell me your story.” His voice sent shivers down Bethany’s spine.

“My family wanted a better life for me.” She did meet his eyes, worried he’d see the lie in her gaze. “They applied for me to come here. I don’t know much about Evion society, but the girls have been teaching me.”

“You find the companionship satisfactory?”

“Very much.” She’d only known them a few hours, but already the others felt like friends.

Lizzy whispered in her ear. “Commander.”

Bethany quickly corrected herself. “Very much, Commander.” Klowix nodded.

The food arrived – food as alien as the man sitting next to her. There was a tall mound of gooey-looking spheres about the size of her fist. Spread around them were thin strands of what looked like spaghetti. Everyone around her started picking up the strangest utensils Bethany had ever seen – long sticks with circles on the end, like those sticks children used to blow bubbles through back home.

“Oh, right, here.” Lizzy saw Bethany’s confusion and leaned over to help her, but Klowix interrupted and Lizzy drew back at once.

Klowix instead murmured in her ear. “You hold the fork like this.” Klowix deftly spun the stick in her hand so that she was holding it somewhat like a pen, with the circle horizontal above the table. “The spoon in your left hand, thus.”

Upon closer examination, the ‘spoon’, while exactly the same shape as the ‘fork’, had a slightly smaller circle, and tiny spikes on the end.

“Watch.” Bethany watched as Klowix used the spoon to push one of the spheres into the fork, then twirled it around to catch the end of a piece of spaghetti, draping it over the sphere.

“This is erish and lete.” He told gestured first to the sphere and then the spaghetti. “It is an Evion delicacy.”

Ruth gave her a subtle thumbs-up across the table.

Remembering her instructions, Bethany waited for Klowix to take the first bite before tackling dinner herself. Klowix made it look a lot easier than it really was. Bethany dropped the erish the first time, and spent ages using the stupid spherical spoon to snag a piece of lete. Klowix ignored her incompetence and spoke to Culip about her day.

Apparently, Culip was always one to want to learn new things, and Klowix obliged her by bringing her any book she wanted. She was currently learning about inter-dimensional theory. Though her words boggled Bethany, Klowix kept up with the conversation with no difficulty. Of course, he had to be gorgeous and intelligent.

The erish was good; it tasted like a strange mixture of meat and spices, though it had the texture of mousse. The lete seemed to be some kind of vegetable, and complemented the taste of the erish perfectly. Bethany eyed the plate, wanting more but hesitant to embarrass herself with the utensils again.

Lizzy saved her, casually taking Bethany’s fork, expertly snagging more erish and lete, and handing the balanced parcel back to her.

“Thanks.”

Lizzy shrugged. “Don’t mention it. Took me weeks to learn how to use these things, and that’s with some prior experience dining with Evions.”

Beoli chimed in. “This is the proper way to eat, but where I grew up, where it wasn’t so high class, people would use the ends of the forks and spoons to spear things to eat.”

Privately thinking that seemed a much more practical approach, Bethany chanced a glance at Klowix. He was watching her. She blushed and went back to her food.

Dinner was about as good as she could have expected. Klowix was polite, spending time talking to each of them. He seemed nice.

That wasn’t what was bothering Bethany, though. She felt flustered around him. He seemed to make her lose her voice with just a look; no doubt he thought she was an idiot by now. She reminded herself that it was a good thing; she didn’t want him to like her, after all. Did she?

She snuck glances at Klowix throughout the meal, finding herself wishing he’d put his hand on her again. He never did.

She could see his muscles flex under his clothes as he ate, as though he worked out every day, but not excessively. His skin was tanned and his bright green eyes seemed to see everything. His black hair was neat and cut close to his head, though still long enough to run her fingers through – not that she wanted to do that.

Klowix was slightly taller than her and powerfully built, but it was his face that captivated her most. High cheekbones illuminated his captivating eyes, and his thin mouth seemed pinker than most people’s. Entranced, Bethany even watched those lips move as he ate.

After they’d all eaten their fill, Klowix stood up and the others hastened to do the same; Bethany copied them.

“May I give you a massage, Commander?” Anna was eager to please.

He seemed to think about it. “Yes. Come.”

Anna followed him to his room, looking pleased.

“I thought he hadn’t…?”

Trili shook her head. “Oh, he hasn’t. It really is just a massage. Anna gives them to us as well, she’s excellent. Anyway, we’re all off for the night, let me just get something for you first.”

It seemed a bit early to Bethany to go to bed, but she wasn’t complaining; she was exhausted. More than that, she was frustrated. Watching Klowix throughout dinner left her wishing he wasn’t quite as restrained as the others had told her he was.

Everyone else seemed to melt into their individual rooms, but Trili came back out holding something long and purple.

Bethany nearly choked. “Is that… a vibrator?”

Trili laughed. “Oh, come on, you know you want to. Where do you think the others all went off to? Klowix didn’t just get so many applicants because of his money. Most any woman on the planet would jump at the chance to be with him. Watching him sit there, all sexy and remote, all through dinner… anyway, we keep a spare for new people, because never come prepared.”

Bethany hesitated, but Trili pushed it into her hand and was gone before Bethany could protest. Not wanting Klowix to see her standing in the hall with a vibrator in her hand, Bethany quickly went into her own room and shut the door.

She couldn’t resist. She imagined Klowix’s strong arms around her, imagined him kissing her…

She turned the vibrator on and pulled up her dress. Not even making it to the bed, she sank down onto the floor as the vibrations went through her…

* * *

The next day, Anna came to wake Bethany up for breakfast, which was a lot easier to manage than dinner. It consisted of a kind of sweet bread they called reni, and it was thankfully eaten with hands rather than utensils.

They all said goodbye to Klowix in the same manner as they greeted him. Once he was gone, the girls clustered around Bethany once again.

Ruth gushed right away. “He likes you.”

Bethany knew she should be horrified, but she couldn’t help being a bit pleased. “How do you know?”

Snia explained. “Klowix isn’t exactly known for his patience. He didn’t help any of the others with their food, he left that all to me.”

Culip interrupted. “Enough of that, we need her to have something spectacular to wear when Klowix comes home.” She whipped out the same screen they’d used yesterday. “Let’s see what we can do.”

Bethany watched as Culip searched for silk dresses. She opened her mouth to indicate she didn’t want silk, but the words wouldn’t come out. She wondered how Klowix would react to her in some of the things Culip was flicking past. Before she could put a stop to the madness, the girls had ordered at least ten stunning dresses for her, from simple and elegant to the kind a queen might wear.

“Come on, while we’re waiting I’ll teach you Evion etiquette.” Ruth grabbed Bethany’s hand and dragged her through to the dining room.

The day seemed to fly by. Bethany was glad she’d gotten a good night’s rest in that huge, comfortable bed. She’d been especially tired and relaxed after… well, the vibrator was now in the drawer next to her bed, and there it would wait for her.

The bell rang intermittently with deliveries, which always signaled a pause in what they were doing to try on yet more dresses. Bethany had to admit, they were amazing. In them she looked… regal. She’d never worn such clothing before.

In every spare moment, she was learning. Ruth taught her about Evion etiquette. Snia taught her how to dance in the traditional fashion. Beoli ran through common customs with her. Lizzy gave her tips on how life with Evions differed to life with humans. Culip showed her the proper way to dress on Telion. Trili told her about history, both the history of Telion and Klowix’s personal history, which she found a lot more captivating.

Constantly throughout the day, the girls shared bits of advice on how to be a good member of Klowix’s harem. They seemed to know a lot about what he liked and what he didn’t. It was all so much to remember, Bethany was tempted to ask for paper to start writing it down, but resisted the urge. She could do this.

By the time the sun started setting, she was once again exhausted. While the others were all getting ready to greet Klowix, Anna massaged her shoulders, which had been getting more and more tense for the past hour as the time for Klowix to get home drew closer.

Despite feeling slightly overwhelmed, Bethany was a little more confident tonight. She knew a lot more now; hopefully she wouldn’t make a fool of herself. Trili had called ahead to ask the chef what they were eating for dinner, and Bethany had already practiced picking up the new food with the strange Evion utensils.

She didn’t even scream anymore when one of the Evions suddenly blurred out of sight and appeared on the other side of the room. She was still working on keeping her feet under her when they took her with them.

Klowix surprised everyone when he came home. After exchanging greetings, he announced that he would like to have a private dinner with Bethany to welcome her. Instead of looking disappointed, the girls gave Bethany encouraging smiles; perhaps this lack of competition was an Evion thing she had yet to understand.

Klowix handed over a card and told the others to go have fun. Their faces lit up; from what they’d told Bethany, this was the first time they’d been given permission to leave their quarters. She wished she was going with them. All too soon, she and Klowix were alone.

“Tell me more about yourself.” His voice was commanding and sexy.

Bethany scrambled to work out what she could tell him and what she couldn’t. Not wanting to get caught in a nest of lies, she told him mainly about her past, avoiding her more recent history. Klowix seemed genuinely interested in her life.

“So these… backlands. The king of your planet does not visit them? He does not make promises to you to improve your lives?”

“Earth is ruled by governments, not kings. They say they’re going to make things better, but never really do.”

“Ah yes, Lizzy has told me of these governments. I do not mean to sound judgmental to your chosen system of ruling, but it seems an awfully inefficient one to me.”

Bethany couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing. Klowix looked at her in confusion. “You’re right, it is inefficient.”

Klowix smiled at her, and she felt herself melting. “Here too, there are many areas that could be improved. Some of my men have joked that they could replace the king with a monkey and no one would notice.”

Bethany giggled, and Klowix smiled more widely.

“Of course, I disallow such talk, but though I would never say it to them, I believe they have a fair point.”

“From what I know of the history of Earth, human kings and queens were about the same.”

“Perhaps neither of our races have yet perfected matters of rule, then. That is why we have armies, of course.”

“What?”

“Are armies on your planet not made up of people from all places and all peoples?”

“Yes, they are.”

Klowix nodded. “There you go. Armies know what the people need, and give it to them. Why have Earth’s armies not brought technology to these backlands?”

“Armies do what the government tells them. Isn’t it like that here? Don’t you need to obey your king?”

“Of course, disobeying the king is treason, but he seldom gives orders. For the most part, I just direct my men in seeing to what the people need. I still keep them sharp, though; in times of war, the army is the line of defense around the planet.”

Bethany was fascinated. “There haven’t been times of war here for… what, about a generation?”

Klowix nodded again. “Over twenty years. I see Trili has been teaching you.”

“She knows so much about history. It’s a bit intimidating, I don’t think I could ever have the kind of knowledge she does.”

“It is not necessary, Each person has their own area of interest in which they have great knowledge. I take it you don’t know yours yet?”

Bethany shook her head. “No.”

“Most who come to me don’t. Here, you will have the time to explore any field you wish. You will find your passion.”

The word passion coming from his lips made Bethany blush. She realized that they’d finished eating. Klowix stood up and she hurried to do the same.

“Come.” He held out his arm, indicating the lounge. Bethany made to follow his direction, but he stopped her with a light hand on her shoulder. He leaned in slightly.

He was close enough that Bethany could feel his breath on her cheek. She yearned to reach out, to close that distance… but she mustn’t. She mustn’t let him become interested in her, or she’d never be allowed to go home. His hand moved to the back of her neck. He was moving slowly, giving her ample chance to pull away.

What would she do if he did, though? He may be polite, even nice, but he was powerful and intimidating, and clearly a man used to getting what he wanted. Could she dare reject him? Did she want to?