Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Zane said as much. Spar replied like the politician he was. And things were already in motion, so whatever Zane had to say on the matter made no difference.
Zane had no choice but to participate on this day if he wanted her specifically. And he did. He had no choice but to participate as a male test subject in the ridiculous experiment, because he had one goal. He had to ensure no one else got Tanya. No one but Zane. Zane and Ollie, his four-year-old son.
Zane wanted Tanya; Ollie needed her. And Ollie had already chosen her, so it was Zane’s job to deliver.
Ollie had never asked for anything this significant before. He was the most selfless child Zane had ever met. When he’d said goodnight to his son the night before, Ollie had asked for this with so much hope in his eyes.
“Daddo, can we please have her? I want her. I don’t want us to have any of the others instead.” Ollie was in a state of rising panic.
“What is it you like about her?” Zane had asked, stroking the boy’s back in an effort to soothe.
Ollie’s eyes lit with sparkling green wonder. “She likes books. No, loves them. Like me. She’s so pretty when she talks about books. Always, but especially about books. She seems kind, doesn’t she, Daddo?”
“She does, Ollie. We won’t know until we meet her. If we get that opportunity.”
“I hope we do. I think she is, though. Kind, I mean.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Her eyes are kind. She doesn’t say rude things to anyone. She makes me happy when she smiles. She only smiled a few times, most times while talking about books or the stories she writes, but I liked it when she did. I want us to make her smile a whole lot.”
“I can’t make a promise, son, but I’ll see what I can do.”
The boy’s expression fell. And it felt like a blow to the gut for Zane. He was determined to not fail him. Or Tanya. Ollie was correct. Tanya deserved to smile.
“Don’t bring someone else back if you can’t, Daddo. Please d-don’t.” The little boy’s voice trembled.
Zane pulled him into a tight hug, unsurprised the boy didn’t want just anyone to fill the void of a mother. Zane felt the same. Just anyone wouldn’t do for him either.
“I’ll do my best to not let you down, son. If she doesn’t come home with me, I’ll wait, and we’ll talk some more.”
“But she might come home with you, right?”
“I hope so, son.”
Zane had always been a fierce competitor. Zane had an advantage due to his company’s role with the translation and tracking tools as well as his connection to Spar Blackstar. That advantage got him into the early rounds for competitions along with Daxx, his brother-in-law and close friend. Ranking high meant the pick of a pool of coveted Phallyxian females to court, with the secondary option of first rounds with the Earth women.
Daxx succumbed to paternal pressure when he won in competitions, finishing top in one hundred spots. (Zane finished third, after a man, Brecken, from the Mountainous region.) Daxx’s father, Spar, had pushed Daxx into competing for the beautiful Treya specifically. Daxx relented, earning the fetching young virgin, but their union hadn’t yet been consummated.
Zane was not surprised by this. Daxx was another man who was ruled by more than mere lust. Where many would jump at the chance for a wife, any wife, not the least of which was a wife from a prestigious family who was considered a prize, Daxx would settle for nothing less than the ideal companion.
Not all men on Phallyx behaved this way. Certainly, fewer could hold onto those ideals what with the fact that women were now a rarity. And despite that she was in good health and appeared fertile, there was no guarantee Treya would bring Daxx children. And not female children, particularly, which would be what would guarantee the continuation of Phallyxians of pure blood.
Zane was given choices where Daxx was pushed by Spar. Though Daxx hadn’t said a word, his expression said it all. Spar had put the pressure on to lock Daxx into a bride before the alternate Earth choices were laid out like the feast Zane was about to attend.
Zane had initially mulled over his options. He could wind up with another match like he’d had with his first marriage. He could wind up with a match that didn’t interest him much, but that would provide Ollie with a mother and siblings. He’d considered his options, getting encouraged by his father-in-law to choose one of the pool of eighteen Phallyxian women currently on offer so Ollie could have pureblood siblings.
But, then when he met the Earth female that had been involved in the first inter-planet breeding experiment in order to work on expanding the linguistics in the translation software with her, he realized it could be even more than logic or practicality to come out of participation.