Then, I stare down at her, naked gorgeous body – fully exposed to me. My cock surges, but I will not wake her now...
I cover her with the thin blanket, and then stand to watch her for a few minutes.
She is my life. I know that now.
All these trillions of credits we have accumulated – all this great wealth, and countless ancient treasures. They’re all nothing compared to the simple, repetitive beat of her heart.
If Mia is not my Fated Mate, I will be tempted to end it all – drawing my Orb-Sword against my wrists and bleeding out.
What would be the point of living, if I had no future except the lonely, emptiness of riches and baubles? My fate to grow old millennia from now, and breath my rattling last in a cryo-chamber as I condemn my clone to the same empty, worthless existence.
So, instead, I breath in life – her scent, just once more, and then I leave; closing the door softly behind me.
13
Mia
I come awake with a gasp, not even certain of where I am.
The early sunlight of pre-dawn basks my room in a warm glow – one that feels alive, bringing color to this huge room. I realize I’m naked, the pleasure dress ripped to shreds around me.
Did I do that?
The events of last night suddenly come flooding back to me, and my cheeks burn bright red.
I can’t believe what I just did. I can’t believe what the Aurelians have turned me into. It feels so…
…it feels so right.
I’ve never been with a man before, but I know any coupling I could have had with a human would never compare to my first and only encounter with the Aurelians.
I sit up and slide out of bed. I pad, naked and barefoot, into to the bathroom – where instead of drawing a bath, I simply step into the shower. Never before did I think I could live in such luxury – a full bathroom? With both a bath long enough to fully stretch my legs out, and a shower?
The water turns on, automatically adjusting itself to my body temperature. I turn off my thoughts. I don’t want to think right now. That can come later. Instead, I just stand beneath the scalding deluge and let it wash the sticky crusts of cum from my trembling body.
When I’m clean, I brush my teeth, looking at myself in the mirror. I no longer see the thief and the cut-purse I once was looking back at me. Now, I’m looking at the reflection of a woman who has fully embraced her position within an Aurelian harem.
I’m looking at one of thirty other women, all of whom dresses for their gaze, who rolls her hips to elicit their lust, and who exist simply to serves their every need.
“I won’t be that.”
It’s cold, but it’s necessary. I allowed myself one taste of that life, and it was more than I could ever have wished for.
But it was too good – and losing that would kill me. Losing the desire of those Aurelians. That ache that they have for me…
That pain I could not bounce back from.
I know the moment they claim me, it’ll be over. They’ll confirm that I’m not their Fated Mate, and then their interest in me will fade like the smoke from the hookah they indulged in last night.
I can’t survive that. I could never be satisfied being just one more woman in their overstuffed harem. I can’t survive growing old while those three godlike Aurelians stay forever young. I can’t watch myself be replaced, and then my replacement get replaced. I can’t take the pain of seeing each new woman arrive, who they’d obsess over the way they did me – a repeated reminder of what I had, and what fate robbed me of.
I thought that Kendra, the redhead, was a bitch. She wasn’t. She was just a vision of my own future if I remain here.
I, too, would feel that scalding jealousy. For a moment – just a quick, solitary moment – Kendra must have felt the same adoration as I do in the warm glow of now. That was before the Aurelians claimed her for the first time; and instantly realized she was not their Fated Mate. That was before she was relegated to just another woman in their harem.
“You know what you are, Mia? You’re a shiny new toy.”
Her words ring in my head. I didn’t want to believe them, but they’re true.
I open the wardrobe and take out a simple, light robe dress with large pockets in the front. It’s made for visits to the marketplace, with a place for trinkets to be kept after they’ve been purchased from the stall. The design will cover my body – supposedly to protect me from the sun, but conveniently also protecting my identity.
I pull on the robe dress, and then I sit at my window, staring out over the luxurious grounds, waiting patiently. An hour or so passes, but it’s like mere minutes as I lose myself in my thoughts.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to be patient. I’ve sat and watched houses for hours before, never moving a muscle until the inhabitants had left. Then, I’ve sprung into action like a cat, waiting for my prey to make itself vulnerable.
As I sit there, I see the sun start to journey upward in the sky. Through the window, I watch the three Aurelians – dressed in fresh, crisply pressed new togas – stride out of the mansion towards the landing pad, and to one of their shuttles.
They take off – off to visit the huge plots of land they secured ownership of last night - and suddenly I’m free.
I slip out
