Alien General's Bride (Brion Brides 3)(11)

Isolde was staring up at him, eyes brimming with tears.

“I was sleeping,” she began, the sound of that beautiful voice shaking making Diego’s blood boil. “I woke up and there he was. I didn’t even have time to scream, but then there was this guy who came flying out of nowhere, and he knocked him off of me and…”

She pointed to the floor. Diego found no words. He himself had given Ensha access to her room, in case of an emergency, so he wouldn’t have to wait for her to open the door. So he could help her. The gods must have been kind to him, for Ensha to leave the door open behind him, or Isolde would have been trapped.

Unable to find the words to assure her she was safe – mostly because he didn’t believe she was – he simply walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. Isolde flung her arms around him, her warm tears falling on his skin. He had never felt such a need to keep someone safe. This was what a gesha was. Something to fight for. His and his alone, and he would protect her from anything the galaxy could throw at them.

That something made itself known, as he had thought it would. The device, seemingly intent to ruin his life on that particular day, beeped again. It was the bridge, reporting with complete calm, “Commander, the Unbroken and the Fearless are en route to us. Most likely with orders to kill the human and take you into custody. If possible.”

Diego smiled. His fellow generals had named their ships in response to the Triumphant. They would soon have those boasts crammed down their throats, if they thought to challenge him.

With Isolde in his arms, he patiently waited to hear death come knocking. And then he would slam the door in its face. It was the Brion way.





CHAPTER TEN

Isolde



Isolde Fenner – Terran by birth, researcher by choice, the first human gesha by some great galactic joke she didn’t get – sat on her bed on an alien spaceship and pondered her life choices.

Sanity had packed its bags and left her alone some time ago, and now she was battling rationality and reason, coaxing them to stick around. Saying that her life had taken some bizarre turns in the last 24 hours would be the understatement of the century. Frankly, she was not amused.

At least they had cleared away the corpse at the foot of her bed and cleaned up. That had really improved her mood, although of course she would have preferred not to have a spear-wielding maniac try to kill her for no reason she could fathom in the first place. Apparently not every Brion was OK with a human gesha. In that sense, she was almost grateful for the absurdity of it all – buried in the overall mess of her life right now, Isolde felt she could better deal with the fact someone had just gotten killed before her very eyes.

Still. The unease refused to go away and she didn’t want to be alone. Funny how Grothan became less and less threatening to her as the number of her enemies seemed to grow. Enemies. Isolde would have rolled her eyes if she hadn’t been so terrified. Why did she have enemies? With self-deprecating humor she didn’t know she had, she thought they’d chosen the least interesting person in the galaxy to attack.

Well, not really. Isolde Fenner was now a rarity, and the moment this got out, she would be something of an intergalactic celebrity – the first human gesha. The first non-Brion gesha, in fact.

Something, which had become – impossibly, it seemed to her – more complicated than it had been to begin with. Her mind still kept saying no and giving her lectures about good girls not running off with weird and very hot aliens, and pointing to the fact that the courting period had been somewhat short. Her body, however, along with her mouth had said yes very loudly, and Isolde honestly felt a bit at a disadvantage.#p#分页标题#e#

The point was she needed sleep, but her last wake-up call having been of the unpleasant sort, she didn’t dare to. The general had his hands full with the incoming threats, so guarding her was out of the question – oh yes, sleep was bound to come easy, it wasn’t like she was about to find herself in the middle of a space battle, and she felt so weary she could barely keep her eyes open. Trust was running a bit low aboard the Triumphant, and Isolde watched with a sinking feeling in her gut as the general’s mouth drew into a hard line when she pointed out her last guards hadn’t exactly been up to their task, so to speak.

She wondered how he felt about that. Brions… they didn’t fight too much in-between themselves? At least she thought so. In her research, everything pointed to it being sort of complicated. She would have to ask at a more convenient time. Right now, what mattered to her most was that when she looked into his eyes, she saw the truth of his unshakeable need to protect her. It calmed her somewhat, but not completely.

“Can’t you, um, lock the door so no one will get in?” Isolde offered. But you, she added in her mind. For some alone time, added her body. Her mind filled with pleasant images, quickly driven away by not-so-pleasant ones about unseen assassins in her room.

Grothan shook his head. “I will, but it is not enough. A skilled warrior would have no problem disabling the system or accessing the room in some other way.”

He spoke with such pride Isolde thought better of telling him that while it was sort of cute how proud he was, it meant the ship was packed with possible murderers.

Not telling him didn’t seem to do much good, since he took her in his arms again – Mmm… she could get used to being there, stupid Terran modesty could go and hang… – and spoke with such certainty she was left with no choice but to believe him.

“Isolde,” the general said, “I understand this must be scary to you. But trust me, you will never again be in such danger. Ensha was perfectly capable, which is why I picked him. But he was also a traitor – to me and to all Brions. I will not entrust you with someone like that again. The warriors who guard you now will be ones I would trust to hold a blade to my own throat. They will let no one past them. I swear it.”

Isolde could only nod, her breath caught in her throat. The general was so close, holding her with surprising gentleness against his broad chest. The valor squares gleamed in response to his blood being up, but even they couldn’t match the brightness of his eyes.

She could admit it. She was completely, hopelessly lost in those eyes that made her hang on his every word and trust him with her life. Brions did not give oaths easily, thinking them too important to simply blurt out. And she had already received several from him. No, this was real. For all the good and bad it might bring, Grothan held nothing back with her. His and his alone, Isolde thought. It felt absurdly good to feel so treasured. She nodded again, to make sure he understood she trusted him.

Grothan kissed her in response, strong and fierce, hands in her hair, pulling her even closer. It felt amazing, and for once no part of Isolde wanted to pull away, her fists clenching the front of his jacket, a moan escaping her lips…

To be interrupted by her door beeping. Why did everything on that bloody ship keep beeping? Her grunt of irritation must have been audible, since Grothan rounded on the door so quickly she nearly lost her balance as he released her from his grip. She was about to call out to save the life of whoever came ringing at the wrong time, again – sigh – when the general relaxed visibly, all anger drained from him, and authorized the entrance.

Isolde came face to face with the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.

Oh gods almighty, don’t let this be the Ex…

That first reaction passed through her mind like a flash of lightning, nearly making it to her lips, but this time common sense and not a small amount of womanly pride won out. Then her studies started to come back as well – the Brions didn’t do exes. They had good companions and what could only be described as fuck-buddies, not that Isolde would ever be heard voicing that, but not exes as such. The Brions didn’t form emotional commitments between sexes in that sense with anyone else but their fated mates. Still. The ice cold flash of jealousy refused to go away as Isolde sized up her new guard.

Years and years of bad dates came rushing back. She wasn’t comparable to the new woman at all. Where Isolde was all curves and fluffiness, the warrior woman before her was lean and slim. Her eyes were blue like Grothan’s, although a softer, lighter shade. That was also the only thing soft about her. Immediately after entering, she saluted fist over her heart to Grothan and stood to stiff attention. She hadn’t moved since, despite the lingering silence and the enormous Brion battle spear on her back that Isolde couldn’t have lifted to save her life. Out of the corner of her eye, Isolde was sure she saw the most guarded smirk on Grothan’s lips.#p#分页标题#e#

You evil bastard, you…

“Isolde,” Grothan said – with a yet unidentified sense even alien men apparently had, which gave them a microsecond to save their butts – “these are your guards.”

Oh, yes. There was another Brion in the room, but Isolde had barely registered his presence, what with the spear-wielding Playmate of the Year and all.

“This is Deliya,” Grothan went on, prompting the female warrior to give Isolde a curt, but polite nod of the head – one woman to another, if only Isolde hadn’t felt they were on the opposite ends of every scale imaginable. “She is one of my best warriors, my lifelong companion, who I would trust with my own life.”