I think it was the first house built.”
I step forward and stare in awe at the fantastical view of glittering lake and I find myself becoming much more interested in this house and its history. My home world is semi-arid, so the idea of living next to a body of water is just…amazing. “How old is this house?” I ask.
“This place was built one hundred years ago by Heimdall Hardstone, a renowned architect,” Bestla answers.
I crook an eyebrow. “The house was planned to look like a snarling dragon about to eat beings?”
Yes, she nods eagerly as she wanders around, reverently touching the faded green and gold staircase that’s curved in the likeness of the tail of the dragon. There’s a huge black barbed tip right at the base. “It was his first commission. He started a whole trend of Hyrrokin wanting houses built in the likeness of our famed creatures. My grandmother’s hunting lodge is shaped like a flaming battle-beast. It’s not a real Heimdall, but made in the same likeness. I always loved that lodge…”
Hmm.
“But because this is the first house he built and then he later became so famous, this domicile is on the historical register. That means it can’t be changed.”
“It can’t?” I think of the front, and all the scary details that will have to remain.
“Well, it can be fixed up and brought back to its original beauty so it’s livable, but it can’t be essentially changed to remove any dragon aspects.”
Riley and I exchange another horrified glance.
“That means…the wings have to stay?”
“And the flame chute?”
“And the bloody teeth?”
Her eyes light up. “Yes, those are the hallmarks of Heimdall design. All of his buildings have flame-throwing dragons.”
I look around. “It’s so…” I wave my hand at the dirt all over the floors, and the fact that it looks like animals have made their nest in the fireplace.
“Yep. Total mess,” Bestla remarks. “The whole inside needs major updating.”
This home is easily three times the size of the little house I grew up in on New Earth. Riley and I lived on the edge of New Earth’s largest ghetto. We were both what amounted to middle class there, but Riley was unfortunate in that her parents both died in the religious wars and she had basically no family left, so she found a way off planet. I’ve always been so proud of her for that. How bold and hard-working is my friend? Life hands her the worst and she turns it into pure gold. She came from nothing and now she’s married to a man she loves, and she’s created a new family and career for herself.
Riley is my hero.
Meanwhile, I’m here because I’m pregnant with Bergelmir Touchstone’s offspring. I’ve been hired as his surrogate. Berg used his seed and another Hyrrokin female’s donor egg, to create an embryo in a lab and it was implanted into me. And now I’m entering Bergelmir’s house for the first time and he’s not even here. It’s weird, but it was the only way I could get onto this planet. The immigration laws here are a bitch.
I really wanted to come to Tarvos to live with my best friend. What really sucks, though, is right when we were making plans for Riley and Aegir to sponsor me, that was when their planet voted in a new leader. And President Narcisstone promptly blocked all immigration, in particular from “shit hole planets,” like mine. Ugh. I learned that the only way to get to Tarvos now was to come over on a work visa. This was fine, but weirdly there were only two types of jobs available to my species—dung collector or surrogate.
And at the same time, my sister was in dire need of credits in order to make her dream wedding come true and surrogacy pays extremely well. So, obviously I chose surrogate.
I signed up with a fertility lab and suddenly I was in high demand. The Hyrrokin on Tarvos love the idea of an adorable “hew-man” female carrying their designer baby. I was stunned at how quickly it all happened.
There was an enormous virtual auction, and Bergelmir Touchstone, out of the blue, decides he wants to be a dad. Bergelmir Touchstone, my secret crush. That devil outbid everyone and got himself to the top of the list (pissing off a lot of other Hyrrokin) and, gulp, I’m his surrogate.
And…now I’m a pregnant virgin.
I have my head on straight about this. I’m okay with choosing to be Berg’s surrogate. I’m doing this