Married to Krampus - Marina Simcoe Page 0,9

paradise.

I couldn’t care less about his moodiness, right now. This place was too beautiful to worry about such things. Spreading my arms out, the purse with the ornament clutched in my hand, I took a twirl.

“Like it? I love it!” I couldn’t help a soft laugh. “This is gorgeous. A beautiful summer in the middle of winter.”

I faced the Colonel, catching my breath.

“You must be an amazing gardener,” I gushed, happy to have finally found something redeeming about this man.

He folded his arms across his expansive chest.

“Me? No, this is all Omni’s work.”

“Omni?” I glanced around for someone with that name.

A whirring sound behind me made me spin around. An object rolled from the opposite door. It was a frame with a screen mounted on a tall stick attached to a short platform on wheels.

“Greetings, Madam Kyradus,” a soothing mechanical voice sounded from the softly glowing screen. “Welcome to the household of the Colonel Grevar Velna Kyradus. I am the Artificial Intelligence housekeeping system or ‘the house AI’ for short. But you can call me Omni.”

“Hi Omni.” I dipped my head in greeting, since the unit had no hands to shake. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

With no hands, I wondered how the robot could do anything around here at all, not to mention create and maintain this luscious indoor garden.

“I trust your journey was enjoyable?” Omni continued. “We have received your luggage from the spaceport. I’ve taken the liberty of taking it up to your room and unpacking.”

“Oh, really? Thank you...”

“Would you like me to take this up as well?” The image of the purse in my hands appeared on the screen.

I pressed the purse to my chest, unsure if I was ready to part with it yet, even for a little while.

“Or would you like me to place it near your chair while you’re having dinner?”

Insisting on holding onto the purse at this point would make me look like a toddler who refused to give up her favorite toy. The Colonel already seemed to have a less-than-stellar opinion about me.

“No, it’s fine. You can take it.” I stretched the purse toward Omni, wondering how the screen could take anything anywhere.

With a swish of air against my face, a small silver drone appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

“Could you hang the purse on the hook, please?” Omni instructed.

I did as I’d been told, carefully hanging the purse on a chrome hook extending from the drone. It took off toward a winding staircase that circled the entire room spiraling upwards.

“Carefully, please,” I begged, watching the purse with my grandma’s ornament fly away. “It’s fragile.” That was the reason why I didn’t leave it with the rest of my luggage, carrying it all the way here myself instead.

“There is absolutely nothing to worry about,” Omni assured me. “All my units boast extreme precision of movements.

“Is dinner ready?” the Colonel barked, holding a short wide glass in his hand. He had snagged a drink from somewhere.

“Yes. Follow me to the dining room, please.” Omni rolled back to the glass doors he’d come from. The Colonel and I followed.

“Do you drink alcohol?” the Colonel asked me on the way.

I couldn’t tell by his tone whether he was simply enquiring before offering me a drink or was getting ready to judge my choices.

Once again, I decided to go with the truth. “Yes, I do.”

“Which drink do you prefer?” His tone was gruff as usual but didn’t appear judgmental.

“Wine,” I said, and added, “If you have something like it on Neron?”

We entered an oval space with a large, glass table in the middle. Just like the room before, this one had a tall clear dome for a ceiling. The entire space also burst with plants and colors everywhere. Even the ornate chandelier hanging over the table served as a lattice for climbing vines. Their red and orange flowers were nearly as bright as its lights.

A drone flew my way with a tall glass of purple liquid clasped in one of its chrome pincers.

“Tell me what you think about this one.” The Colonel gestured at the glass as I carefully took it from the drone. “It was gifted to me for a special occasion last year.”

“Thank you.” I took a small sip and gasped as the purple liquid burned my tongue. The burn, however, was quickly soothed by a fresh, mildly sweet aftertaste. “It’s a little strong, I think...”

My knowledge about wine was limited mostly to its color—red or white. I liked drinking it sometimes and didn’t