Married to Krampus - Marina Simcoe Page 0,1

There’d been no messages, no calls, no communication, nothing.

I snapped my spine straight and plastered the smile back on my face.

“The Colonel is meeting me upon landing, and I’ll be there in less than twenty-four hours, so...”

“Hmm.” Lily pursed her lips. “It’s rather weird, don’t you think, Daisy? Wouldn’t a man be eager to talk to his bride? He hasn’t even seen you, other than the application picture.”

“Well, it’s not a typical situation. I’m hardly his bride...”

I wasn’t thinking about myself as a bride or a wife yet, though the papers I’d signed were titled, “Marriage Contract.”

Voranians’ birth rate had historically been hovering at about one girl to ten boys. In ancient times, their families comprised a wife with multiple husbands. Since all the technological advancements and cultural developments had taken place, the Voranian society had eventually moved on to a single partner marriage. Now, a wife only had one husband.

With women being so few, most men never got married. However, every healthy male could have a family on his own. Artificially inseminated, the married females carried the babies of the unmarried males.

Multiple births were a norm. As a result, the Voranians didn’t have repopulation problems. Having reached a healthy birth rate in their country, they even ensured the slight population growth required to support their economy.

They weren’t interested in human females as breeders. Scientists had determined humans and Voranians weren’t genetically compatible to reproduce, anyway. Though, physiologically, the two species could have sex.

Since Voran ended up being populated predominantly by single dads, the role of a human woman would be that of a companion as well as a child caregiver, I imagined.

And that made my heart melt.

The Colonel had two young boys, five-year-old twins, and I was dying to meet them. I had yet to see any images of them.

When I woke up, I’d hoped some kind of communication would have come from the Colonel during my five months of sleep. There had been nothing, and I couldn’t help being disappointed.

I hid it from Lily now, smiling wider than ever. There was no need to upset my sister.

“I’ll get to meet his entire family soon enough.”

Her frown of concern didn’t ease.

“I hope Voranians look better in person,” she sighed.

“Lily!” I threw my hands up in the air. “You can’t hold their appearance against them. For all we know, they’re lovely people.”

“I know, I know... They’re just so scary-looking.”

We’d all seen the footage of the official meetings of Voranians with our politicians, and the videos of scientific expeditions to Neron. In addition, I had a photograph of Colonel Kyradus. It was a head shot of him I’d received along with the confirmation letter from the Liaison Committee.

The Colonel was definitely not someone a human would call beautiful. Or handsome. Or even pleasant to look at. In addition to the typical Voranian long horns and scruffy, charcoal fur, his blood-red eyes were, well... “scary-looking.” Terrifying, actually.

The moment I first saw his picture, my breath stuck in my throat, and my heart dropped into my stomach. I hid the picture in a kitchen drawer for a while, afraid to keep it in my room or to look at it, especially at night.

Over the course of the few weeks it took me to get ready to leave Earth, however, I’d gotten used to the picture, and even had it as the background photo on my cellphone.

The Colonel’s looks meant nothing, I’d decided. Behind terrifying appearances could live the most amazing personalities. Just like many handsome men were major douche bags once you got to know them better. I should know, I’d had my share of pretty boyfriends who’d turned out to be real assholes.

Though, I would’ve liked to get more pictures or videos of him and his family, the image of the Colonel’s flaming red eyes in the picture no longer terrified me.

I’d read and watched everything I could get my hands on about Neron, Voranians, and their culture. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much. They had provided me with general information, but I wanted something more personal to give me an idea of the man, his family, and his home that might all become mine, too, one day.

“Lily, I honestly don’t care about his looks. I’m sure the Colonel is a nice person, and we’ll get alone wonderfully,” I said, voicing my wish out loud.

“Daisy, he would have to be a real asshole to not get along with you,” Lily said in her usual big-sister, no-nonsense tone. “You’re a sweetheart, honey. Everyone loves you.”

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