Victoria

When Nero returns to his private quarters that evening I can tell he’s filled with frustration. I reach out to him, half-asleep, but he shrugs my hand away.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

The only reply I get is a grunt.

I curl up against him and dream of a life together with him. I know I’m leaving behind a lot of people for him. I hope they’ll be able to forgive me.

Sometime there’s simply no time to say goodbye.

When I open my eyes again the room is empty and the place next to me cold. For a second I fear the worst, but then Nero steps into the room, freshly showered, a few stray drops of water sliding down his naked body.

“We’re almost there,” he says. “Ready to see your first alien world?”

With a jolt I realize that I’ll be the first human being to ever set foot on an alien planet. I haven’t even had time to think about the momentousness of the occasion.

Perhaps I ought to keep a journal, just to make sure I don’t forget anything. Future historians would probably be glad if I did.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time. First we have a murderous Elban noble to stop. My memoirs will have to wait.

I take the quickest shower I’ve ever taken. When I return to the room, to my surprise, there’s a white dress waiting for me — along with a black collar.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“Your outfit,” Nero says apologetically.

I eye the collar suspiciously. It’s more fit for a dog than a human.

“On Elba, you are the alien. And aliens don’t walk around freely. They are chained.”

The dress is low-cut, and it’s a bit small for my curves.

“Do I have a choice?”

One look at Nero is more than enough to answer that question.

No, I do not.

He did warn me that I wasn’t going to like this…

I slip into the dress as best I can.

“How do I look? Do I even want to know?”

“You look gorgeous,” Nero says. “Like always.”

And then he slips the collar around my neck.

“It’s best if you pretend to not understand a single word anyone speaks,” Nero says. He leans down and kisses me.

“I might have to call you terrible names to sell our cover… know that it brings me no pleasure to do so.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Sure,” I say. “You know, if you’re into BDSM you could have just told me, you know.”

“BDSM?”

“Never mind,” I laugh. “That’s a bit of human culture we might get into in the future. I’m ready if you are.”

Nero leads me towards the helm of the ship, my collar connecting to chains he holds in the palm of his hands.

It feels strange being led around like this. Paraded around like a piece of meat. Like Nero owns me. The low-cut dress accentuating every curve in my body. If I’m perfectly honest with myself…

I kinda like it.

I suppose that’s easy to say that when I know Nero is a good guy. When I know he loves me, that he cares for me, that he’d never hurt me.

Still, I find myself growing wet at the thought of serving Nero, my master… like a good, obedient pet.

The doors to the control room whizz open, and all the Elbans inside fall silent as their eyes land on me.

My cheeks grow red with embarrassment, my eyes cast towards the ground, but my arousal grows.

I’ve never had a room of men fall silent because of me before.

“We’re getting close,” Nero says, “look.”

I look up, and I’m both glad and disappointed to see not all eyes are fixed on me anymore. Maybe they’re afraid of incurring Nero’s wrath.

On the screen I see a massive planet grow ever closer. It’s so much bigger than Earth that it boggles my mind.

“Is that…?”

“Elba,” Nero answers. “In all its glory.”

“I am taking the Classis down towards the city of Massa right now,” Romulus says. “We should be able to touch down in the docks district without raising any eyebrows. With the chaos Bruttius is still causing I expect to be able to slip through the cracks fairly easily.”

“Have you scrambled the ship’s code?”

“Of course,” Romulus says. “I’m not a rookie anymore. According to any logs, this is a simple merchant’s vessel.

“We’re pirates now,” Nero chuckles.

“What am I then? The booty?” I say.

All eyes turn to me, and I find my cheeks growing red once more.

“You most definitely are,” Nero growls, and the brooding look in his eyes makes my heart thump a tad bit louder.

Romulus pulls out several oversized fur-lined cloaks, the kind you’d wear in the arctic.

“Here,” he says as he hands one to Nero. “Try this on.”

My mate slips the coat on. It looks damn good on him.

“Pull the cloak over your head, don’t look at anyone, don’t try to draw any attention,” Romulus says. “If anyone asks, we’re traders from the planet Mika.”

“Got it,” Nero answers.

“I’m going to scout out the Octavius mansion, see if there’s any sign of Gaius’s research still there, and if not, follow the trail,” Romulus says.

Nero nods. “I’ll ask around for Marcius Livius. I have some unanswered questions for him.”

“Let’s meet back at the ship in twelve hours then,” Romulus says.

“Agreed.”

Meanwhile, I’m plastered against the window, my eyes fixed on the alien city as it rises up to greet us.

I’m about to set foot on an alien world.

* * *

Nero

The streets of the docks districts are busy as usual. Peddlers hawk their wares, ships come and go, and Elbans and servant-species rub elbows.

In this chaos, Victoria doesn’t even stand out all that much. That would change drastically in the Noble district — she’d stick out like a sore thumb.

That is why Romulus is headed there, scouting out the ruins of House Octavius, while I’m looking for an old friend: Marcius Livius.

He was a good friend of Gaius Octavius, and according to Romulus, he knows more of my heritage.

“It’s so busy here,” Victoria whispers to me. “Look at all the people.”

“Yeah, this is the commercial hub of the entire planet,” I answer. “Try to avoid making eye-contact. We don’t want to any trouble.”

We shuffle our way through the crowd, keeping both our heads down, when a lecher jumps in front of me, barring the way.

“Look at that,” he says, running a finger across Victoria’s cheek. “I haven’t seen one of those before! How much?”

“She’s not for sale,” I growl.

“Everyone’s for sale,” the Elban man says with a smarmy smile. Two wings are tattooed on either side of his neck, the sign of one who is without a house.

“Not this one,” I say.

The man still bars the way. He’s looking at me suspiciously, his eyes narrowed. I pull my hood down another inch.

“Let us pass.”

He rests his hands on his sides.

“Don’t I know you from somewhere? You’ve got a face… the kind of face a man remembers…”

Victoria backs up into me, and I can feel her shivering. From the corners of my eyes I see we’re starting to draw a crowd. This house-less one is not going to ruin our plan.

“This delivery is for Magnus Bruttius himself,” I growl as menacingly as I can. “Do you want to explain to him why he had to wait for his canis?”

The man’s eyes widen. “Oh n-n-no,” he stammers. “Excuse me.”

He slinks away, and I push my way through the crowd, away from the peering eyes.

“What would happen if he recognized you?” Victoria whispers

“We’d be fucked,” I answer.

I glance over my shoulder to see the un-housed one talk to — fuck me — House Bruttius guards. Their shiny, horned helmets stand out clearly amongst the rabble. He points in our direction, and my heart starts racing.

“In here,” I growl, grabbing Victoria by her shoulders and pushing her into a random shop. The doorbell clings when we enter, the strange smells of alien spices filling my nose.

“Ah, a visitor,” an old man says. “Let me grab my glasses.”

A small man, hunched over, peers out through thick-glasses behind the counter.

To my surprise, I recognize him instantly. “Quintus? Is that you?!”

“Nero? Nero Octavius?”

“Keep your voice down,” I whisper, glancing over my shoulder. The shop seems empty.

“There’s no one here,” Quintus says. “Don’t worry. No one’s interested in spices anymore. Now, aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

“I could ask you the same thing. How old you are now? Two hundred and fifty?”

“I’d let you know I’m still a young and healthy two hundred and forty-nine, thank you very much.”

Victoria’s eyes go wide. “Are you talking years?!”

“Yes,” I say. “Why?”

“That can’t be right.”

“Why not?”

Victoria eyes me suspiciously. “How old are you?”

“One hundred and three,” I answer.

For a second, it looks like she’s about to faint.

“Why? How old are you?” I ask.

“You’re not supposed to ask a woman that,” Victoria says with a cough. “But its barely a third of what you are. Or claim to be.”

“Ha,” Quintus laughs. “An infant!”

“Shut up, old coot,” I tell him. “We’ll talk about this later. Right now there are some Bruttius guards tailing us, and we need to disappear.”

Quintus pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“Still always getting yourself into trouble, hm, Nero?”

“You have no idea, Quintus.”

“You two can slip out the backdoor. I’ll keep those guards busy, don’t you worry about that… is there anything else I can help you with?”

“I’m looking for Marcius Livius.”

“Hm,” the old man muses. “I haven’t heard from him since… well, since the troubles started. Might be worth asking his father, Virgil Livius, though. He’s at his estate, last I heard. What’s this all about?”

“The less you know, the better, Quintus.”

“Ah, you youth and your insolence,” he mutters. “Get out of here before those guards see you.”

“Thank you,” I say, bowing my head.

“Yes yes, go on, get.”

Victoria and I slip into the back of the curiosity shop, disappearing between the rows and rows of alien artifacts, and out the back door.

“Who was that?” my mate asks as we walk as fast as we can without looking like we’re running away.

“An old teacher of mine,” I answer. “Best herbologist on the damn planet.”

“You’re an herbologist?!”

“I said he was a teacher. I never say I learned a damn thing. Through here!”

I duck into an alleyway, pulling Victoria close to me. I shield her body with mine, right as a patrol of guards passes us by. I can feel the heat of her skin through the flimsy dress, my fingers resting on her lower back, wanting nothing more than to lift the cloth up and take a look at her naked skin…

But there’s no time.

When the coast is clear, we make our way to the Livius estate. There, we will both find the answers we’re looking for…