Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Sarah

B est. Hallucination. Ever. I cannot believe how good that sexfest was.

I knew it wasn’t real. No man or alien could ever put it down like that. But I didn’t care. If this is what my hallucinations have become, so be it. I was happily at their mercy. It was strange though—I had been taking my meds consistently, so why was this hallucination so strong? Whatever the cause, this one had been the wildest ride of my life.

Sandwiched between Deacon’s tree-trunk thighs and leaning back against his chest, I was surrounded by his heat and had never felt more delicious. Sure, I was sore, and I knew I’d be sore for days to come, but I didn’t care. Maybe hallucination sex soreness doesn’t translate into the real world, and I won’t be sore when I come to? I wasn’t sure—I had never had rough alien sex during one before.

Deacon played with my hair and periodically kissed the top of my head. I hadn’t expected him to be so affectionate, but I liked it. Still, part of me wished Jac was in the bed with us. He understood me in ways that Deacon never would. I liked the way he touched me, too. It was as if he knew my body, as if he knew me .

Deacon said, “You smell like dessert.”

I grinned and asked, “What do you eat for dessert around here?”

“Nothing too strange—usually sweet bean paste cakes or fruit.”

I could live with that. “Sweet bean paste cakes? That sounds Vietnamese or something.”

“Ladrians have been scouting to Earth for many generations, so we’ve taken to many of your foods and grow them on Orhon. Well, we try. Our soil and rain patterns differ greatly from yours. Additionally, most of us cannot digest a strictly human diet, so we make modifications.”

“Like what?”

“We ferment most of our foods. Aside from water with herbs, most of our diet is things like aliubock, banwine, meeser, rannat, nothing too scary for humans. I’ve been told aliubock is similar to your kimchi. Meeser is like a salad. Rannat…I’m not sure what it might be like.”

Kimchi and salad? Okay, at least it’s food. “What is rannat made of?”

“As I understand the process, cinas are milked—and they’re small, so it takes a lot of them—and that milk is fermented with spores. Then that mixture is dried and becomes a paste.”

I gulped. “Maybe I’ll stick with the aliubock and the meeser.”

“Rannat is one of our best sources for protein. You will learn to like it.”

“We’ll see, pushy guy,” I teased. “How is it that Jac knows so much about humans?”

“He has been a scout since we were young.”

I wasn’t sure how he would take the next question. “What I meant to ask was, how does he know so much about pleasuring them?”

He chuckled. “He has always been popular when he travels to Earth. He has seduced many of your kind.”

That would explain it. Practice makes perfect, and he was as close to perfect as it gets. Still, I didn’t like hearing that he was a manwhore. It bothered me for no good reason.

“Ladrians are pretty relaxed when it comes to sex, aren’t you?” I asked, glancing up at him.

“We do not have the same issues surrounding sex that humans do, if that’s what you mean.”

“Why is that?”

“Why would we?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it seems natural to me to be prudish about sex, but I suppose that’s because of how I was raised. What is your culture around sex?”

“When we are young, we learn about our bodies,” Deacon said, absently playing with my hair. “As we get older, we learn what our bodies are good for. We do not allow for nonconsensual behaviors, not for any reason. There are other taboos—”

“Like what? Are there problems with homosexuality or—”

“What’s that?”

So, I explained it to him. But by the end of the explanation, he was still lost.

Deacon asked, “Why would anyone have a problem with that?”

I took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to explain it, but thousands of years of human history felt like too much to get into, so I simply said, “It’s a long story, but it boils down to religion, pretty much.”

He thought about it for a moment, then said, “Our gods are better.”

“They don’t have a problem with that then?”

“Of course not,” he scoffed. “Our gods decide what body you are given when you come from the ether, they control the flow of water and our weather, they even speak to the ghosts sometimes, but they do not care where we put our cocks. It is Ladrians who have rules about where we put our cocks and release, but that is only to ensure our bloodlines remain strong. Our gods do not care about anything like that.”

I smiled and sighed. “Sounds freeing.”

“If your gods care where you put your cocks, then human life sounds like a trap.”

I laughed and nodded. “It really can be.”

He glanced out the window and said, “We will be landing on Orhon soon. You will need to dress and transmogrify.”

“That’s the mogging thing, right?”

“Yes.”

I bit my bottom lip. “What is it, exactly?”

“There is no need to be nervous, Sarah. It is painless.”

I didn’t like that he already knew my nervous face. “Well, what happens when you mog?”

“We will put you into one of my crew’s uniforms and attach a mog belt. You press the blue button, and your body will go through many changes. Your cells will expand to their proper size and change until you look properly Ladrian. I am excited to see how your cells change. I’m not sure if I will like you better as a human or a Ladrian.”

He sounded so excited, and I laughed at the thought. “I’m not sure if I should feel insulted right now. You seemed to like me well enough as a human.”

“I do,” he said earnestly, “but you might be fetching as Ladrian, too. There is only one way to find out.”

“You promise it’s painless?” I couldn’t help but ask.

He smiled with a serenity in his eyes that set my mind at ease. “I promise. There will be no pain.”

We found a uniform close to my size. I was lucky Drift was on his crew—he wasn’t much larger than a human man, so his uniform draped on me, but not as badly as the first one Deacon had me try on.

He wrapped the mog belt around my waist and said, “Blue button to change to Ladrian. Purple button for human. When we are on Orhon, you will want to remain as a Ladrian. I am told the change can be awkward, at first. You will be much taller, your limbs longer. Do not be surprised if you knock things around. Watch your surroundings more carefully, and you will be fine.”

“You were told all this?” I asked curiously as I fiddled with the belt. “You don’t mog?”

“I have been doing it since I was a child. I am accustomed to the alterations.”

“Oh.”

“Ready?”

I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”

I flicked the blue button. The change was instantaneous, and though it was pain-free, being eighteen inches taller all of a sudden was very strange. It was like I was on a step stool.

“How do you feel?” Deacon asked. There was a sparkle in his eyes, like he enjoyed what he saw.

“Way too tall,” I replied, already feeling awkward. “But at least the uniform fits better now.”

His eyes were all over my new body. “It does,” he said enthusiastically.

Now that I was taller and larger, I felt like I was on display for him. My shorter, smaller human body was out of his eye-line. He had to look down at me. But as a Ladrian, I was only a foot shorter than him, and I could tell that he liked it.

“Give me a mirror,” I asked, curious to see what I looked like as a Ladrian.

He said, “ Allegiant , mirror view.” Then he pointed to the monitor behind me.

It had become a giant mirror. What I saw shocked me. As a Ladrian, my pearly skin had a faint blue sheen. I had purple eyes and my hair was blue. My mouth dropped, but I just stared at myself. Words had left me.

Deacon came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, also staring at me. “You’re gorgeous. I knew you would be.”

“I…I don’t know how I feel.”

He nuzzled my neck. “You should feel proud of your beauty.”

Something felt off behind me. I fidgeted against him, but there was no relief.

He softly chuckled, then reached into the rear hole of the uniform.

I tried to glance back to see what he was attempting to do. “What are you doing?”

But then, he pulled my tail through the hole.

My tail. Attached to me.

“The fuck?” I hissed and my tail drooped.

“It is just another part of you as a Ladrian, Sarah. There is no need to panic.”

My tail was around six inches long and covered in blue hair. It was kind of pretty in a strange and absolutely terrifying way. The hair had a nice glossiness to it. As I noticed the good things about my tail, it perked up.

I frowned. “Is this…do the tails work like a mood ring?”

“I’m not—”

“Do they tell other Ladrians how you’re feeling?” I asked, knowing he hadn’t understood my earthly reference.

He nodded. “Yes, for the most part.”

I sighed. “That must be hell for lying.”

“It takes practice but is not unmanageable.”

I narrowed my gaze at him. “Are you a good liar, Deacon?”

He became bashful, which looked adorable on him considering his size and masculine features. “I have told a lie or two in my lifetime.”

“I’m not judging you for it. Humans lie all the time.”

“Now you are a Ladrian, and Ladrians do not lie all the time,” he said more firmly now. “There are courtesies, of course, and we are not always literal, but real lies are not well tolerated.”

I was glad for the distinction. “Why am I a Ladrian now? What is so wrong with taking a human to Orhon?”

He took a deep breath, like he was nervous. “Humans are not new to Orhon, however, there are those who believe humans and Ladrians should not mix, socially or otherwise. Many of those who feel that way are my family. It will be easier to complete this mission, if you present as a Ladrian.”

“Do you feel like we shouldn’t mix?” I asked softly, surprised by how much his answer mattered to me.

He shook his head adamantly. “No. I have never understood their disdain for humans, not since we were able to sort out the disease factors.”

I frowned. “What disease factors?” And did I really want to know?

“Centuries ago, when we first came to Earth, there were various Earth diseases which killed most of the explorers. We have since made many upgrades to our medicines, allowing us to interact safely with those from other planets and stars. There are still places we cannot go, but we are making advancements and will one day.”

I thought back to all those history documentaries that talked about a similar thing happening with indigenous tribes as they met the Europeans. “And so, your people think humans are diseased now?”

“Well, it’s not without cause, is it?”

I thought back to something that had happened when I arrived on the ship. “Is that why Wave dropped me into that hot vat of red liquid when I was brought on board?”

He nodded. “To guarantee there would be no issues.”

“Oh.”

“Moving on, when we land, if people ask who you are, you are my consort from Thunder’s capital, Yesanol.”

I shook my head. “The weather has its own capital city on Orhon?”

“ Her own, yes.”

My brows rose. “Thunder is a girl?”

He laughed at my misunderstanding. “Thunder Bateen is a fierce general and sister to our ruler, Justice Bateen,” he explained. “Yesanol is the capital where she rules in his stead, and Justice lives in the proper capital, Ladrille. The Bateens have ruled over Orhon for many generations.”

“And this Justice Bateen, he is the one that you are on a crusade against?” I asked, trying to make sense of it all.

He placed his hands on his lean hips. “Yes.”

“Why?”

His eyes darkened, and I suddenly felt awful for asking the question. “Justice Bateen beheaded my father.”

Everything stopped. My breathing, my thinking, my heart. I had no idea what to say to that horrific announcement.

Deacon continued, “It was four months ago. He discovered my father had been having an affair with his daughter, Silence. She is the people’s most favored princess, so Justice cannot behead her—there would be a revolution of revenge for that, and he is too prudent to do such a thing. He interrogated my entire family to understand who knew about the affair. None of us did. My father was careful to keep us from knowing. For many reasons…”

Moments before I had asked the question, he had seemed so full of life and joy. But now, he appeared to have aged. His voice became heavy with emotion as he continued. “If any of us had known about the affair, then we would have been just as guilty as he and Silence. Any of us but my mother.”

“I don’t understand.”

“If my mother had known about the affair and had consented to it, then it would not have been illegal. But my father did not tell her about it, because then,” he took a deep breath and sighed, “she would have told me about it. If she had told me about it, I would have been within my rights to object to the affair.”

It all sounded so convoluted. “Why?”

“Because I was to unite with Silence.”

“Wait. . .” I thought I might tumble backwards over all of the deceptions, so I sat down on the bed before clarifying for myself, “Your dad was nailing your fiancée?”

His lips thinned before he answered. “In effect, yes.”

“And now, she’s having his baby?”

He nodded, and a fierce light flickered in his eyes. “And I will do whatever I need to do to protect it.”

The entire conversation was making my head spin, as was Deacon’s acceptance of the situation. “Why? It’s evidence of his betrayal of you. Why wouldn’t you want the kid dead?”

“It is not the child’s fault,” he pointed out. “I am loyal to my father. He raised me—”

“He betrayed you!”

Again he nodded, but slower this time. “He did. For love.”

My heart swelled for him. His compassion and his forgiveness were remarkable. But then, I asked, “What about your mom?”

“She turned her back on him at his beheading,” he said, quieter now. “It was the deal she had to make with Justice—if she turned her back on my father, then our family was able to keep our lands and our titles. If she had not, then Justice would have taken our properties and stripped us of everything. I do not malign her for her choice. But I do not have to like it, either.”

“I can understand that.” I thought about everything he had just told me, and it had rattled me. I wasn’t sure what to think about anything. So, I changed the topic. “What happens when we land on Orhon?”

“It will be night, so you will get to see the city lights. They are quite pretty.”

“No, I mean as far as the mission goes.”

“Currently, Sovereign is docked with Allegiant , so once we enter the atmosphere, Sovereign will leave and head for the royal prison, where Jac and his crew will rescue Silence. Allegiant will land at my family’s estate, and I will introduce you to my family as Star Qvia, my consort from Yesanol. I have already sent word ahead and they are interested in meeting you. Being from Yesanol is the perfect story, as no one from Ladrille cares about the high society of Yesanol—”

“That seems snobby.”

He grinned. “Get used to it. My cousins might be that way toward you, but I doubt my mother will be. Regardless, we will wait there until Jac sends word—”

“Why go there at all?” I wanted to know. “Seems strange to me.”

“My mother will have heard her son was united. If I do not bring you to her, she will be insulted.”

I smirked. “Mothers are mothers, no matter the species, huh?”

He looked confused. “Yes, that is what makes them mothers.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Turn of phrase. Go on.”

“After we receive his message, we will meet in Halla’s dark orbit once more. From there, we will go to Halla, and your new life as a conduit between the living and the dead will begin.”

Oh, joy.