Ginny

GINNY

" U m, hi?" I say, my voice cracking. "You can call me ," I squeak as this behemoth of a male has to stand back a little to stare down at me.

"Asteron," he intones in a voice so deep and rich I feel like he's inside my body. "Wife," he adds, inhaling deeply.

I'm getting a crick in my neck from looking up at him. For a moment, I wonder if my universal translator is malfunctioning. Starlight Brides insisted on upgrading it as part of my "preparations," so maybe they broke it.

Asteron turns to Piet. "The ceremony," he growls.

"Of course." Piet grins. "By the honor invested in me by the Starlight Brides program, I pronounce you husband and wife."

Asteron snorts and stamps a hoof.

"That's it?" I query.

"No," my massive bull husband says. "Once we return to my planet, there will be a lavish ceremony to show you to all my subjects." His shoulders drop. "Phinade, my vizier, will explain." He waves a hand at the thinner bull. "We should return to Xnos immediately."

And with nothing further to say to me, not even a second glance, he stomps out of the circular room and back into the atrium.

I look at Piet and Kitri, and they give me supportive smiles. "You'll do just fine," Kitri says. "He didn't eat you."

"Yet," I reply as the vizier gestures for me to follow the king.

He starts talking the second we enter the atrium at a pace I decide I can't be bothered to keep up with. There's some more about a big wedding, about the planet we're going to which has multiple clans, along with something about Asteron recently having become king after his father died.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I say.

"What?"

"About the king…I mean my husband's, father."

I can't exactly fathom the expression which crosses Phinade's face, partly because I've only just met the species so body language is going to take a while to work out, but also because he's clearly trying to conceal something from me.

"King Asteron doesn't feel that way. His father had become…difficult before his death."

I want to query more, but we've reached the airlock, and beyond it, I see there is a plush spaceship, sleek in design and absolutely nothing like Britannia .

"You're not going to drug me, are you? Like last time?" I ask quickly.

"Drug?" King Asteron appears suddenly, which, given his size, has me wondering where he was concealed. "Who drugged you?"

"To get here, Starlight Brides gave me something for the wormhole."

Asteron lowers his head, as if he's about to charge the space station or something. "Are you a fragile species?"

"I wouldn't specifically say so," I reply.

"Then they should not have done that to you," he says, darkly. "I will not permit such a thing."

Now I'm not sure if I should feel reassured or concerned. Perhaps I did need the drug.

"Are we using a wormhole to get back to…Xnos?" I'm pleased with myself I remembered the name.

"No. We are only two nova-hours away. Phinade will see you to your quarters. We will discuss matters further on arrival."

Yet again, Asteron stalks away from me, his hooves a dull thud on the thickly carpeted floor of his ship, and this time I notice his tail, sinuously swaying, the tip at the end a mass of dark hair.

There is no way I should find any of this situation in any way arousing, even if my bullish new husband does have abs for days and an actual tail which makes me wonder what happens if I pull on it.

The giggle I release has Phinade giving me the strangest of looks.

"I'm tired," I say, by way of explanation. "It's been a long nova-day."

"Of course, my queen." He executes a low bow. "Let me show you where you can rest."

My stomach flips over in a terrible squirming motion. I'm a queen now.

Bollocks.