Alien's Bride: Lisette by Yamila Abraham Page A

leave the slums?” Elentinus said.
“He’ll see that the vote failed because of you when this is
reported.”
    “ You make me sick.” Nayjoor
punched his button, got up, and left.
    “ Fantastic!” Prax-Denay
said. Lisette laughed again.
    Elentinus rose. “Adjourned.”
    “ That’s not for you to say,”
Matoranis said, but also stood.
    “ Adjourned!” number four
said.
    The rest of them dispersed.
    Barrister Graw emerged from the
audience (where a petulant Jorenkis was ranting to his
peers).
    “ I’ve recorded that you’ve
been absolved of blasphemy,” Graw said to them. “Do you need
accommodations in the city?”
    Prax-Denay looked at
Lisette.
    “ I want to go home,” she
said.
    He hugged her against him once again.
“Just deliver us to the spaceport.”
    Graw bowed to him. “Of course. And
congratulations. Both on the trial, and on your impending
birth.”
    Lisette broke down into joyful tears.
Prax-Denay tipped up her chin with a finger and kissed
her.
    ***
    They had to wait inside the sleek
spaceport for transport to Paggellatin to be prepared for them.
They sat on a bench with a broad window behind them. Prax-Denay
chose to face a large monitor with a newscast rather than watch the
ships. The headline of ‘Etiken Castration Outlawed’ stayed on the
top of the screen. A feminine android was giving the full report of
what happened in the Hall of Governance. Lisette only half
listened. She leaned against Prax-Denay with their fingers
entwined. The weight of anxiety had left her exhausted. All she
wanted was to be back home, in her bed, with her
husband.
    Prax-Denay stood suddenly.
“Brother!”
    Elentinus and Hor-Denay walked to them.
Prax-Denay went to his much homelier brother and took both his
hands.
    “ Gods it’s good to see you
again,” Prax-Denay said.
    “ I can’t believe what you
accomplished,” Hor-Denay said. “You’re a hero to our race once
again.”
    “ Lord Elentinus is the
hero.”
    Elentinus stared at Lisette. She met
his gaze.
    “ You’ve a glow about you,”
he said. “I see the same in Maritza when she’s
pregnant.”
    Lisette pursed her lips.
    “ You don’t need to fear me.
I was only harsh toward Prax-Denay so the others would vote in his
favor.”
    “ I know,” Lisette said. She
smiled. “Thank you.”
    He bowed his head to her.
    “ It’s just as I planned all
along,” Hor-Denay said. “We’ve ended castration and ensured the
continuation of our people.”
    “ What did you have to do
with it?” Prax-Denay said.
    “ I told her to pursue you.
She was merely obeying my orders.”
    Prax-Denay looked at Lisette. “Is that
so?”
    A mischievous smile formed on her
face.
    “ What a foolhardy thing to
do, brother! You could have ruined everything. How dare you
interfere?”
    “ How dare I? You should
thank me. You’re happy, aren’t you?”
    Lisette stood and put herself under
Prax-Denay’s arm. She beamed a bright smile to both Hor-Denay and
Elentinus.
    “ Yes,” she said. “We
are.”
    ***
    “ Jorenkis,” Celia-Denay
said.
    Lisette peeked into Jorenkis’ office
while her pale blue four-year-old daughter stood beside his
desk.
    “ What is it?” Jorenkis
said.
    “ Mommy wanted me to give you
this.” She placed a spitty piece of candy in his hand.
    “ Gah!” Jorenkis threw it
against the wall.
    Lisette laughed from the doorway.
Jorenkis was appalled.
    “ Would you get her out of
here? I’m trying to get some work done.”
    Lisette came in and plucked
her daughter up by her armpits. “It’s Saturday ,” she said.
    “ No. No Saturday. Saturday
is an Earth thing. There’s no Saturdays here. We work every
day.”
    “ You don’t work every day,”
Celia-Denay said.
    “ Hey! Would you just—get old
enough to marry or something?”
    Lisette made a disgusted face. The
suggestion would have made her furious just a few years ago.
Thankfully the spoiled aristocrat had started to grow up. If he
continued improving there just might be a chance