Valentin smiled. Elloisa’s lovely pale cheeks were flushed with desire. Her pupils large from the same, “We will be tracked, and we cannot be more than 800 meters away from one another these next two weeks.”
“What happens if we are 801 meters away?”
“You will be shocked like you just were, but probably worse.”
“Just one shock? Then we can part?”
Valentin shook his head, “No, if we continue to be apart the bracelets will kill us.”
Ellie looked down at the bracelet which showed a rainbow now, “Of course it will.” She touched the bracelet which seemed so innocent on her wrist, “Anything else?”
“We can’t lie to one another or we will be shocked.”
“They think of everything don’t they?”
“Did you plan on lying to me?”
“No,” Ellie answered honestly.
Valentin shrugged and then didn’t want to waste any more time now on things they could discuss later. He thrust the handcuffs into her hands and held up his, wrists together, “Put these on me now.”
Ellie took a deep breath and said quietly to herself, “I hope this isn’t the biggest mistake of my life.”
Valentin smiled, “At least you are making it yourself.” He leaned in, put his hands on either side of her head strongly and kissed her chastely. Then said, with their faces only millimeters away from one another, “Anyway, there are no mistakes in life, just experiences.”
After a few seconds, Ellie secured the green laser handcuffs, “They’re bright aren’t’ they?”
“They have to be for the gossip drones and your guards to see them.” Then Valentin leaned in and whispered, “Now you must say, loudly, ‘I, Elloisa, the Ward of House Rega am claiming by my right of husband stealing, Val, the Outcast, Valentin, Commander of the Nage Horde.’”
Ellie repeated the phrase again and again. Many of the people around them stopped chatting. Silence fell across the water, except the sound of her voice.
“Say it again and again as you sail the boat to the shore,” Valentin told her quietly.
She obeyed him.
“‘I, Elloisa, the Ward of House Rega am claiming by my right of husband stealing, Val, the Outcast, Valentin, Commander of the Nage Horde.’”
While Ellie steered the boat to shore, she saw that Tamsin’s boat with his guards and the boat with the House Rega guards were following them. Following behind them were other boats of curious onlookers. Ellie felt strange being on display and without knowing what else to do she kept repeating the words, “I, Elloisa, the Ward of House Rega am claiming by my right of husband stealing, Val, the Outcast, Valentin, Commander of the Nage Horde.” Everything felt like a dream as she spoke, and their boat fluttered across the water. She wondered if she would wake up soon and realize this was all just a strange Alliance fantasy dream.
Once they reached the shore, Valentin instructed her again, “You need to lead me out and take my gun from my side. Aim it at your guards. Keep repeating what you are doing by saying the words. By ancient tradition they must let you pass.”
Ellie took Valentin’s slim silver gun from his hip and sure enough her guards from House Rega stood in front of them, “Let me pass, this is my right to claim this man as my husband by force.”
“Ellie,” one of them said sympathetically, “Don’t do this. You will be an Outcast too. Don’t leave us. Haven’t you been happy at House Rega?”
Ellie’s emotions wavered. These guards, just as all the members of House Rega, had been nothing but welcoming and supportive of her in their own Alliance ways. She didn’t want to hurt them. But now that she was on the cusp of leaving, she realized that she did want this, and she wanted to be with Valentin or at least see what he had to offer. “Is there anything that you can say about Commander Val that would make him unsuitable as a husband in your eyes except for his status as an Outcast?”
The House Rega guards looked at each other and then one spoke after a short pause, “No, but…” before he could continue, Valentin interrupted him.
“Elloisa, you were forced into House Rega. Going with me now is your choice alone. A cage is still a cage no matter how gilded. If we marry and you want to return to Earth, you may. But you can never leave Alliance Planet Two if you don’t take this opportunity to leave with me now.” Valentin quickly looked over at the House Rega guards and then back to Elloisa, “There’s no guarantee that either will be a fairy tale ending. I can’t promise you that, but neither can House Rega or the Empire. Imperial stability is only an illusion. All of us in the galaxy must live in the moment as it is the only thing that is really real.”
“Exactly,” Ellie said and accidently fired the gun, thankfully, not hitting anyone, but coming close to hitting one of the guards, “Oh, I didn’t mean to…” but then she corrected herself. “I thank House Rega for its hospitality, but my future is with Valentin for the next two weeks at least. Go with the gods and please move aside.”
Her guards stood their ground for a few seconds then nodded and solemnly let them pass. Ellie could hear Valentin’s guards’ footsteps behind them to guard their backs. Once they reached the lines of transports, she asked Valentin, “Where’s your transport?”
“It’s yours now,” he smiled. “You must call for it.”
Ellie didn’t know how he could joke at a time like this. She was overwhelmed with the seriousness of what they were doing. She was holding a gun and leaving the planet as a maximum class woman. “How do I do that?” she asked. Ellie also noticed that a large crowd had followed them and were continuing to follow them. “Why are so many people watching us?” she whispered.
Valentin didn’t whisper his reply, “Because no one has invoked this law in about a century and it’s romantic and exciting to everyone, not just to us.”
Ellie didn’t like all the attention on her. “Transport come here!” she called out as if she were calling for a beloved dog. She just wanted to go now that she had made her decision to do this with Valentin. She didn’t like all these people around her. She always felt like they were judging her.
A second later, Valentin stopped walking and doubled over with laughter, “That’s not how you do it. You have to say your name.”
Ellie pushed the gun into his back, “Don’t make fun of me. I have the gun, remember?” She had never had to summon her own transport before, her House Rega guards had always done it for her and on Earth, her family had never been wealthy enough to own a transport.
Valentin liked this side of Elloisa, “How could I forget that you have the gun? You’re pushing hard against my back. Now for the transport, call out to it as you were identifying yourself to someone at a slight distance but not kilometers away.”
In the center of hundreds of identical black and silver transports Ellie said loudly, “I, Elloisa, the Ward of House Rega, am looking for my transport.”
Nothing happened. The rows of transports just all sat there, dead.
Ellie looked at Valentin frustrated, “Why didn’t it work?”
“Are you really Elloisa the Ward of House Rega still?” he asked her seriously.