“You didn’t have to. I don’t mind going straight to your home,” she just wanted to extend to the maximum time that they would spend in the vehicle. Spending the night in an inn meant spending the night with him and she certainly was not prepared for it.
Though he certainly didn’t disgust her, he was still a stranger and one with marital rights over her.
“It’s alright, I don’t want you to be exhausted the first time you see your new home,” he assured her.
She realized insisting would be rude, so she nodded. She would have to deal with the situation as it arose. “Thank you, that’s very considerate of you.”
He glanced at her with a sensuous smile as he started the vehicle. A few seconds later, they had left the docking bay, and she was able to take a good look at her new planet. The vehicle barely produced any sound, and she soon realized they were hovering over the street, explaining the absence of wheels.
The city they were in wasn’t very big, and it didn’t have any skyscrapers like the ones that once existed in the large cities all over her planet. The tallest building she was able to see was about six stories high and was built in what looked like gray marble. The windows weren’t very big, and some were closed with what looked like metallic shades.
Few people were walking around the place, and as the Cetian had informed her, there was a great variety of species.
Curious, she turned to look at him. “I wasn’t given much information about you. Would you mind answering a few questions for me?”
“Of course, I will. Go ahead.”
“Are you a native inhabitant of this planet?”
“No, I’m Arghearian from the planet Arghear, in the fifth quadrant,” he informed her.
“Why are you living here and not on your home planet?”
“Arghearians are basically warriors. They are always fighting someone’s war, and sometimes those wars reach their home planet. It’s not the sort of place for you to enjoy life,” he explained.
“So, you’re a warrior too?” she asked, looking to confirm her first impression on him.
“I used to be. A few solar cycles ago, I decided it was time to stop fighting and enjoy life. Since Arghear wasn’t the place for it, I started looking around, and I found this place,” he replied, with half a smile. “Now, I breed cattle.”
It was a dramatic change, and she wondered if there was more to it than he was admitting. “Don’t you miss being a warrior?”
“At first, yes, I did. It was all I had been trained to do. I was sent to a military school when my parents died in battle and ever since then my whole life was focused on being the best warrior around,” he admitted. “But becoming a cattle rancher was a challenge, one I’m still perfecting, so I really don’t have much time to miss the wars.”
“I see, what about your family? Don’t you miss them?”
“My parents were my family. Once they died, I was alone. You can’t miss what you’ve never had,” he explained, as a matter of fact.
“How old were you when your parents died?” she asked, trying to understand his lack of feelings for his lost parents.
“I was four solar cycles old. I barely remember them at all, since they spent most of their time away fighting in one war or another,” Kahm replied, his tone still cold and indifferent.
She guessed he was right. You couldn’t miss what you never had.
“What about you?” he asked her, tilting his head to look at her.
The vehicle practically drove itself so he could concentrate on the woman next to her.
She cleared her throat. “I’m an only child too, and my parents are still alive, and still on planet Earth,” she explained. It wasn’t the moment to ask him to help them escape from there, but she had to make a huge effort not to beg him to. “I was trained as a nurse, and I was working at the general hospital when I decided to participate in the Mail Order Bride project.”
“Why did you? I’m sure there must be enough single males left on your planet,” he asked, curious.
“Yes, I’m sure of that, but the planet is destroyed, it’s not a place you would consider to form a new family. There’s a shortage of food and medicines. Violence explodes in every corner of the city, all the time, and chaos still reigns all over the place,” she explained.
He remembered the Cetian female saying they were using the Mail Order Bride as an escape route and Selena’s words confirmed that assumption.
“It must be terrible living like that.”
“Yes, it is.”
They had left the city behind them, and now they were on some sort of highway, with two lanes each way, but there weren’t many vehicles traveling on it. So far, she had only seen a couple of vehicles, quite similar to trucks, probably carrying food produce to the docking bay.
On both sides of the highway, there were extensive areas cultivated with vegetables that she was unable to identify. The landscape soon proved to be quite boring, since all they were able to see was the cultivated fields.
“Are there any wild areas on this planet?” she asked, curious.
“Yes, there are. This planet only has two continents: the one we’re in, called Terrion, and another one, a lot smaller, called Sumitera, where most of the native inhabitants of this planet live. Sumitera is mainly wild, with vast woods and high mountains, wild Terrion is the best land around this side of the universe to grow vegetables and raise cattle.”
“How come the Sumirions aren’t the ones growing the produce?”
“It’s not in their nature. They prefer to live in small villages and hunt whatever they need. So, when asked, they sold Terrion to whoever paid the highest bid and moved to Sumitera,” he explained.
“Is it possible to visit Sumitera?” she asked, intrigued with all she was learning about the planet.
“You need a special permit to enter Sumitera. They prefer to stay away from the other species living here, alleging they don’t want to have their culture contaminated by the foreigners’ cultures.”
“I guess it’s fair enough.”
He nodded. “It’s their choice. Sumitera is too wild and primitive for most of the species living here. I’m sure you wouldn’t like it. Only a few members of their people have left the planet, and they don’t even own a spaceship or the technology to build one, for that matter. They don’t care about those things.”
“They sound like an interesting people.”
He tilted his head to look at her. “Yes, I believe they are too,” he agreed. “Most people here in Terrion think they are too primitive for their taste.”
She shrugged. Most people didn’t have the patience for people that were different. That seemed to be a universal rule.
After a few hours, he left the main road and took a smaller road, up some fields of tall trees. It wasn’t a wild forest, the trees were clearly farmed, being in perfect lines, showed the intervention.
After a few minutes, they reached a two-story building surrounded by small cabins all over the place. Selena counted at least ten cabins.
“We’re staying here tonight,” he announced, helping her out of the vehicle.
Selena trembled a bit when their hands touched but did her best to hide her reaction to him.
“Will you need all your luggage?” he asked.
“No, just the smallest bag.” She had prepared a small bag just in case she might need one.
He took out the bag she mentioned and guided her to the main building. She didn’t want to go in. She wasn’t ready to be with him. A simple signed document didn’t make him her husband, right? She needed more time, time to get to know him.
Oblivious of the raging storm of doubts going on inside her, he entered the building and asked for a cabin. The female behind the desk almost melted to serve him, and her subservient attitude made Selena cringe with scorn and an emotion she wasn’t ready to recognize.
“Would you like us to send dinner up to your cabin?” the woman asked, her eyes solely in Kahm.
He opened his mouth to answer the woman’s question, but Selena jumped ahead and answered her question first. “No. We would like to have dinner here, in the restaurant.”
The woman looked at her as if she was a worm that had just crawled from underneath a rock. “Restaurant? What’s that?” she didn’t know the word.
“The place you serve food to your customers,” she explained, in a cold tone.
“Ah, you mean the refectory,” she ignored her again and looked at Kahm. “I’m sure you would prefer the privacy of your cabin. There are no extra charges for sending you the meals to the cabin.”
Kahm tilted his head to look at Selena.
“I would really prefer to have dinner here if it’s alright with you,” she insisted. She wasn’t ready to be alone in a room with him. She needed time.
He seemed to consider her request and finally rejected the other woman’s suggestion. “We’ll have our meal in the refectory.”
“Of course. It will be a pleasure to serve you there.”
She handed him a key card and showed him on a map where to locate their cabin. She had given them one of the furthest ones.
He took Selena there and opened the door before he invited her in. The room was elegant and not that different from a hotel suite back on her planet. It had a comfortable living room with a small table for two, and through the inner door, she could see a bedroom with a massive bed in its center. She guessed a man like him required a huge bed, and she would be more than happy to give it all to him.
She looked around looking for another room, or even a couch, but there wasn’t anything.
Nervous, she looked around again, trying to gain the courage to tell him she wanted another room.
“Do you like the room?” he asked, closing the door behind them.
“Yes…yes…it looks fine, but…” she stopped, took a deep breath and continued, wringing her hands nervously. “I know we’re legally married, but do you think we could sleep in separate rooms tonight?” she finally asked, a bit scared, unknowing how he would react to her request.
His face changed immediately. Any sign of cordiality disappeared, wiped entirely out of his expression. “I can’t ask for another room. Everybody knows who we are and that you’ve just arrived as my wife. We are a small community,” he pointed out in a cold tone.
She rubbed her forehead, trying to appease a sudden headache. “I’m sorry. I understand your position, I truly do, but please, try to understand mine: today was the first time I have ever met you. I need more than a few hours to get to know you and accept you’re my husband,” she struggled to explain.
“You already accepted me as your husband, there’s no doubt about that,” he said, his tone even colder than before.
“Yes, of course, it was a poor choice of words, just give me a bit more time.”
“You can have all the time you need, but you’ll share my room and my bed. I won’t become the planet’s laughing stock,” he conceded, his tone now ice-cold. “I’ve never imposed myself on a woman and I sure as hell won’t start with my wife.”
She let out her breath, unconscious she had been holding it. “It was never my intention to insinuate that, this has been a huge change for me, I just need more time to assimilate it all.”
He nodded and strode to the door. “Use the bathing room. I’ll go for a walk.” He walked out of the room and slammed the door shut.
Selena shuddered and shook her head in dismay. This wasn’t the way she wanted to start her marriage. She should have understood what asking for another room would mean for him. She had been told the planet’s population was quite small, so it wasn’t surprising they all knew each other, to a certain degree.
The news of his marriage inevitably spread like fire on a dry prairie, and she allowed fear to control her mind, and the result was a total disaster.
Now, she had enraged her new husband on the very first day. Covering her face with both her hands, she let her body fall to her knees and stayed there for a few moments trying to control her overwhelming desire to crawl into bed and hide there until the sun came up.