I’m an idiot.
I’ve spent my whole life behind these walls, venturing out only when escorted. I’ve lived my whole life vicariously – through books, holo-vids, and virtual reality.
But for what?
For the promise of a safe, beautiful life once my father earned our fortune? Now, my father has a chance to take that fortune – to reap rewards beyond the understanding of most humans in this cruel universe. What’s more, it’s a reward without risk. Our biggest liability is that the Aurelians are willing to pay so handsomely for…
But my father demands more. So much more.
It reminds me of something he’d said to me, once – back when I’d been demanding to know why I couldn’t explore beyond the walls of this estate.
“It’s not safe,” he’d told me. “The families here… Even when they have plenty, they want more. The rich stop counting their money when the only thing that sates their appetite is more… It makes them willing to do terrible things…”
And now, my father was blinded by that same greed he’d warned me about. The willingness to sacrifice real wealth and security for the promise of some intangible more.
That my father would succumb to such greed? It’s not surprising. It’s been my greatest fear all along.
No, the only one of us to be surprised was that alien.
The leader of the Aurelians had been surprised when he’d noticed me. I imagine he didn’t even know I existed. It’s unsurprising. My father keeps word of me to a minimum – and there was no reason for a passing triad of Aurelian Warriors to know anything about my father except what the public records say.
A daughter, in a place like Marn, is a weak link. A liability.
I shudder. Was that Aurelian staring at me out of mere surprise – or did he have more sinister intentions?
I am the weak link – the one thing my father professes to care about more than those damned mines. Was the leader of the Aurelians planning to use threats against me to manipulate my father?
That’s why I’m an idiot – I revealed myself to them. I’m the one who put myself in danger.
But I couldn’t stop myself. I wanted – no, needed – to see Aurelians in real life. I needed to see something in real life, for once – instead of in a book, or on a holo-screen. I wanted to finally live for once. It was no longer enough to read about Aurelians in my books. I needed to see them in the flesh…
All that white, muscular, marble-hewn flesh.
I shudder.
Almost close enough to touch.
Gods, I’m so tired of living my life through other people.
I’m an idiot – but what’s done is done. The Aurelians have already seen me, so I might as well see them again. I clamber to my unsteady feet and walk to the window, waiting for the three Aurelians to leave the house and pass beneath me across the courtyard.
I just need to see them one last time.
Because I might never see them again.
Just like that, three men will have walked into my life, made me shudder, and then disappeared.
Those three Aurelians aren’t just men – huge, muscular, powerful men…
To me, they’re the outside world. They’re danger. Excitement. Adventure. They’re everything I’ve ever lacked in my life. They represent everything I’ve ever wanted in my life.
So, I have to see them one last time. I stand on tiptoes to peer at a sharper angle out of the window, making myself as small as possible against the window frame.
The door slams shut below.
Three figures crunch across the gravel beneath me.
I peer down at the three Aurelians – and I feel almost disappointed when they don’t turn and look up at my bedroom window.
The leader of the Aurelians had eyes that were so piercing – slate grey and dull, yet filled with intensity at the same time.
So… Alien.
Yes, the leader of the Aurelians had alien eyes – without any humanity behind them. Reading and learning about Aurelians had foolishly made me feel like I knew them; but I realize now I had no idea.
There was nothing human behind the leader’s eyes – and it made me realize that while this alien species might look like massive, marble-skinned men; they’re not just men. They’re something different, with unfathomable motives and legendary desires motivating their magnificent bodies.
The three Aurelians don’t look back. The gates ahead of them open, and the three warriors step through, leaving my little world and taking part of me with them as they do so.
The stone gates finally slide shut behind them with a thud. The tension suddenly leaves my body. I practically melt in the windowsill. Seeing those three warriors reminds me how much I still want to experience the other side of those walls. How much I still want adventure and excitement.
I want all of those things – just not in my home.
Having those Aurelians here violated the one thing this estate provides me with – a sense of safety and security.
There was nothing safe and secure about those three.
I thought I’d known what to expect from an Aurelian – but when my father welcomed them through the gates, it was like witnessing three deities descending to the mortal world.
No human is that tall, that wide, or that muscular – not all at the same time, without an ounce of fat on their marble-skinned bodies.
I reluctantly pull myself from the window and clamber into my bed, shivering despite the warm summer air that wisps through my window.
The knock on the door makes me jump. “Yes?”
“Nat. Dinner time. The guests have gone.”
Dinner?
Food is the last thing on my mind right now.
I’m not hungry, but I still pull myself from my bed, splash water on my face in my bathroom, and finally join my father downstairs.
We eat a meal cooked by robots, served by robots, and guarded by robots.
My
