Married to the Alien with No House: Renascence Alliance Series Book 3 Read online

  “Why would it be embarrassing?”

  “It’s public.”

  “What?”

  “You know the Alliance puts shame as their highest form of punishment, and nothing is more shameful than to be publically punished.”

  Babette put her finger over her heart and said, “Thank the gods for the punishment I will receive.”

  “The gods are great, indeed. I’ll be in contact afterward.”

  Jane ended the RVM, and just then Babette received a notice for her punishment:

  Babette Lynn Thomas, House Human, Residential Ring Four, Punishment is scheduled at the Grand City Temple, The Pantheon Ring, Capital City, 4th day of the 1st week of the year 18906 for ten citations of kissing men. Report to the High Priestess’s punishment rooms at eight in the morning. Your debt will be paid back publically with blood. You may invite three members of your house to witness your punishment.

  Babette read that and then laughed. The last thing she could imagine doing was inviting anyone she knew to watch her be punished. But then sighed, she would have to let Librarian Zola know as her punishment was for tomorrow morning and would probably last for a few hours, and she was unsure if she would be able to go to work afterward.

  She opened an RVM to Chief Librarian Zola, “Good morning. I’ve some bad news.”

  Zola looked at Babette, confused, wondering what bad news she could possibly have, “Yes?”

  Babette took a deep breath and then said quickly, “I can’t come into work tomorrow because I’ve to go to the Grand City Temple for punishment.”

  “Punishment for what?”

  “Kissing men.”

  “Babette,” Zola chided. “Why are you still kissing men? I told you, you must speak to them. Listen to them. Look at what they present to you about themselves. You must throw off these barbaric human customs of physical contact before making a decision.”

  “I know,” Babette said. “I just…” she trailed off. Librarian Zola always made her feel like she could never be good enough to really be a member of Alliance maximum class.

  “Would you like me to attend with you?” Zola thought she was kind by offering this. She wanted to support Babette in becoming truly Alliance.

  “No,” Babette said with a knee jerk reaction. She couldn’t think of anything more embarrassing than having Chief Librarian Zola there with her. But when she saw the older woman’s expression, she backtracked, “Thank you for offering. I don’t want anyone to come with me. I will be into work on the 5th day.”

  “Are you sure? You know, punishments work best if one is most properly shamed.”

  Babette just looked at Zola and couldn’t speak for a second as she didn’t trust herself not to say something offensive. Finally, she said, “I realize that, but I’m not ready. Maybe next time.”

  “Unfortunately, without a proper shaming, there will be a next time, I’m afraid. I will see you on the 5th day. May the gods find your most humble core and bring it forward.”

  Babette frowned, that sounded horrible, “Thank the gods for their wisdom.” Then she ended the call, but she couldn’t get that shaming bit out of her mind and wondered then if anyone she knew would attend and if there was an advertisement then of who was being punished on which day. She only thought about it for a minute before searching the Day’s database, and sure enough, there were lists of the crimes, and then the times they would be punished. She saw her name with some others but couldn’t bear to look at it, so she closed her IC and put her head back under the covers and went back to sleep for a while.

  Babette was running late for her punishment at the Grand City Temple, so she had two options, take the public transport and be ten minutes late or pay a ridiculous price to take a private for-hire transport and be ten minutes early. She went for the latter. She was already nervous about her punishment and didn’t want to complicate things any more by being late.

  She used her UC to summon an automated transport and then put in her destination. It would have been cheaper to share the ride with others, but she didn’t have the time. She looked out the window and thought, I’ve got to try to enjoy this as it’s costing me my entire weeks spending money.

  When the transport arrived at the Grand City Temple’s gates, she touched her fingerprint to the payment screen and winced. It was more than she had expected as it was rush hour. “Four flipping UCs,” Babette muttered to herself as she exited the transport.

  She didn’t even need to say her name for the guards to open the ancient gates and escort her directly to the High Priestess’s punishment rooms. She felt her footsteps become more burdensome with every step she took. Walking through the courtyard of the temple, smelling the incense, candles, and blood, she remembered why she was there and was suddenly very nervous. Her sweaty hand inside her pocket began playing with the silver ring she always had there as a comfort.

  When Babette found the punishment halls, her name was checked off by a young woman disciple, and she was told to remain in the waiting room.

  Babette was surprised to see only one other person in the waiting room. When she had looked at the list yesterday, there were supposed to be about seven of them. But here in this large room decorated with calligraphy of some of the most famous myths about punishments was just a young man.

  Babette didn’t know what she was supposed to do. There was no protocol for this. Eligible men and women weren’t supposed to talk to each other outside Assemblies, work contexts, or religious functions. But then she assumed this was a religious function of sorts she said, “Hi. I’m Babette.”

  Mir turned to see the beautiful light-haired human standing in the center of the waiting room. She was the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen and was dumbstruck for a moment. Then he replied, “We don’t typically say our names, you know?” pointing to his ID necklace. “But I’ll make an exception for an exceptional human woman. I’m called Mir.”

  Babette felt the world was spinning when he turned and spoke to her. She knew who he was instantly and blushed. He was the man who occupied the room before her on the Fira. He owned the ring in her pocket. Well, she thought, I’m not giving that back. Finders keepers. But she stood frozen, her hand turning the silver ring in her pocket, nervous now that he would somehow know what she had done with his hologram. Is it possible to track who uses holograms for sexual pleasure?

  Mir wondered if he had imagined this woman saying ‘hello’ as she was dead silent now just staring at him. It was making him nervous. “Are you feeling okay?”

  Babette found her voice, “Yes, it’s just that you look like someone I met before.” Babette didn’t know why she said that. Her inner voice was telling her, Be quiet. There’s no need to go anywhere near that topic. Change the subject. “What are you here for?” she asked innocently. Thinking this was a good question to ask as they had both broken some kind of religious rule.

  “I’m here to be punished, probably for the same thing as you are, that’s why we are here at the same time.” Mir looked directly into her blue eyes and asked, “Is this your first time to the High Priestess’s punishment rooms?”

  And just like that, Babette was smitten. It only took that minute. The Mir standing in front of her was exactly the same as his hologram, except he was wearing clothing and not pleasuring her sexually. He was tall and muscular, like all good Alliance men ought to be, given that the whole culture was obsessed with health and fitness, but he also had a bit of mischievousness in his eyes, which was an uncommon trait in the Alliance. She met his gaze, noticing for the first time he had green eyes, “Yes, my first time to be punished.”

  “Ever?”

  “Yes,” she said, a bit annoyed. “Why do you think that is odd? Do I look particularly naughty to you?” The moment the word ‘naughty’ left her lips, she knew it also had the double meaning in the Alliance culture as well.

  Mir grinned at her. He looked her up and down. She was only a little shorter than he was and had on very little jewelry, so it was impossi
ble to make out her figure underneath the copious dress she wore, but he liked her face, and what he assumed was a slender figure. He directed his gaze to her blue eyes again, an entirely human feature as Alliance people only had green or grey eyes, “You do actually look a bit naughty. Tell me, Babette, what was the naughty thing you did to end up here?”

  Babette felt so aroused by just listening to his deep voice talk to her like this so she would play this game, “You could have read it on the listing for today’s punishments.”

  “I could have,” he replied. “But I want to hear you say it,” he leaned over and whispered in her ear.

  Shivers went up her spine at his breath on her ear as he spoke. When he leaned back again, their eye contact was intense and didn’t break, “I kissed some men at an Assembly,” she confessed in what she hoped was a sultry way.

  Mir was entranced by this human woman, she was so beautiful, her voice so perfect, he began to question if she was genuine or if he was dreaming. He took a step closer, “And would you kiss me here, naughty human Babette?”

  Gods, Babette thought, This was exactly the kind of behavior I shouldn’t be doing, but oh I’m already being punished, what’s one more kiss? Babette closed the distance between them, put her hands on his head, and led him down to her mouth. As soon as their lips touched, his strong arms encircled her waist, and he pulled her against him. His tongue entered her mouth, and she completely forgot where she was. Her body had taken over, and for the first time in her life, she wanted a man like she had never wanted anyone. She forgot about everything, there was just him.

  Mir could not believe that this woman was kissing him, but it felt so right. He never imagined kissing an alien before, but this was perfect. Through his mind ran the following over and over again, They are the Lost People. They are us. It’s written by the gods. He could not help himself. He wanted her closer. He put his hands on her body and moved her against him. She felt perfect.

  Their cloud of lust and perfection, though, was broken off by one of the Grand City Temple’s many disciples, “Sinners,” she shouted. “Sinners move away from one another. It is time for your punishment, and you both require it. Please come into the punishment room.”

  Mir and Babette let go of one another but couldn’t stop looking at each other with small smiles as they walked into the punishment room.

  Babette thought she could take on anything now that she had found Mir, and somehow this all seemed fitting to her that he would be punished alongside her today.

  The punishment room was all made of yellow stone. There was fresh blood on the floor, and Babette sincerely hoped that was from sacrificial animals, not the people who had been ushered out another door before them. There was an area for spectators, but Babette was relieved to see there were none there. Along the walls were many statues of various gods and goddesses with real green candles burning. Somewhere there was incense burning as well. There were a couple disciples cleaning and preparing. Babette and Mir just stood in the middle of the room, waiting.

  Babette looked over at Mir, and he looked at her as he felt her eyes on him and gave her a mischievous smile.

  She tried to smile back, but out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a disciple wipe a lot of blood off a large knife and became scared.

  Mir whispered to her, “You’re not going to die, today human.”

  “I’m not convinced,” she whispered back.

  “If you die, I promise to bring you back,” Mir said.

  “Ha. Thanks. I feel so much better,” she said nervously.

  Mir didn’t answer because at that time the High Priestess walked in flanked by two young women disciples. She began looking at Babette and Mir. “On your knees sinners,” the High Priestess demanded, and her voice echoed in her punishment room.

  Babette quickly got to her knees on the cold stone floor and hoped that this would be the worst of it, having to kneel uncomfortably and be yelled at by the High Priestess, but she knew that was probably just a fantasy given the blood on the floor.

  “You two,” she said evenly. “You two,” she repeated as she came to stand between them.

  Babette was looking at the floor and the High Priestess shoes until she grabbed Babette’s chin and forced her gaze up.

  “Look at me,” the High Priestess demanded. “You two have a problem with breaking the rules. You both misbehave so much that you could not even control yourselves in the punishment waiting room. Therefore, your punishments have been doubled unless either of you have the UCs to pay the extra fine?”

  “No, High Priestess, I accept the punishment,” Mir said confidently.

  Babette looked over at Mir and then said the same.

  “Good. This is better for you. Unfortunately, neither of you have any witnesses to aid your redemption today. But what can I expect from a human and a man with no House.”

  Babette’s mind was swimming then. What did she mean ‘no House’ maybe that was an actual name, and I have misunderstood, like ‘Know House.’ However, before she could think about it anymore, a disciple was helping her up and disrobing her.

  Babette had never been embarrassed of her body, but that didn’t mean she wanted to walk around naked either. She couldn’t help but ask, “We have to be naked?”

  “You will address me as High Priestess, and yes, the only way to seek redemption from the gods is with nothing standing between you or them. This is reached through the purity of the mind and body.”

  “High Priestess, how will we reach this purity?”

  “Through pain and prayer.”

  Babette swallowed hard. She had never been purposely hit in her whole life, and she was scared of what it would feel like. She almost began shaking. She looked at Mir then and tried to be brave for him, this man that she only met minutes before, but she knew she wanted to remember forever.

  Mir looked at Babette, she had real fear in her eyes. He only nodded to her. He could not speak now, or else they would both be punished more.

  The disciple behind Babette removed her Alliance dress and carried it in such a way the silver ring fell onto the floor in front of Mir.

  Mir could not believe what he was seeing. His ring. The ring that he thought he had lost now on the floor in front of him. And it had come from this human woman’s pocket. He reached down to pick up the ring, but the High Priestess picked it up before he could.

  “Mir of House Rog, born to the gods,” the High Priestess read out and then asked, “Why does she have your ring? Are you two secretly courting? Has all of this kissing been a rouse to throw us off what is really going on?”

  “No, High Priestess,” Mir answered quickly. “I just met Babette of House Human in the waiting room. I put the ring in her pocket so she would not forget me. The punishment is mine. She is innocent.”

  Babette could not believe her ears, Why was he lying for me? And how did she know the ring was his, it doesn’t say anything on it. I’ve looked at it a thousand times. She looked over at Mir, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the High Priestess. Her eyes couldn’t remain on his face or her thoughts on the ring. Her eyes had to investigate every centimeter of his body and compare it to the hologram she had had sex with onboard the Fira. She decided that the computer had done an accurate job, however as his penis was not erect now she couldn’t be one hundred percent about how accurate. Then she thought to herself, Stay focused, this woman is going to beat the living daylights out of me, and I’m thinking about sex?

  “Mir of No House, consider yourself punished again for the ring. It goes against the gods to give this woman jewelry.”

  Babette was confused. She thought men could give jewelry to any woman they wanted. Then she wondered if the ring was different. But she didn’t have time to think too long as two wooden stocks were brought out.

  “Prostrate yourselves there,” the High Priestess commanded them.

  Babette kneeled on the stone floor again and put her hands through two wooden holes. A disciple came up f
rom behind her and pressed her head to the rough wood so that she and Mir were looking at one another.

  “This is going to hurt,” the disciple whispered to her as she forced her head down. “Look at him and remember the pain.”

  Babette’s face must have been one of pure fear because Mir’s face reflected sincere concern.

  “Babette, look at me and only at me,” he said gently. “You can do this.”

  Babette didn’t want to cry, but she was so scared. She could hear the High Priestess and her disciples talking about the punishments, knives, whips, and chalices to catch their blood. She was sure some tears escaped her eyes, but she was too scared to care.

  Mir was very concerned for this human. That’s how he already thought of her. She was so visibly shaken that he wanted to say to the High Priestess that he would take both of their punishments. Unfortunately, without a House, he was unable to do that. But looking over at her, he was going to ask anyway.

  The High Priestess stood in front of them with a large whip in her hand and said, “Sinners, do you ask for redemption from the gods?”

  “Yes,” Mir replied and then added, “So much redemption that I will happily take both of our punishments.”

  The High Priestess looked at Babette so scared and shaking she almost felt sorry for her. “Mir, you know the rules. You have no House. You don’t have the right to help or be helped by anyone, you are outside. You will both be punished.” She waited for Babette to speak and then prompted her, “Babette of House Human, are you ready to confess your sins to the gods for redemption?”

  Babette’s voice shook, “Ye..ess.”

  “Let us begin,” the High Priestess said and then nodded to her disciples. She began first with Mir. The disciples held his ankles and began chanting as the High Priestess whipped his back bloody. Saying a prayer for each stroke.

  Mir never broke eye contact with Babette. Her blue eyes filled with concern for him. He wanted to tell her that he’d been here before and that this time it wasn’t that bad. He felt that High Priestess had purposely chosen a lighter whip for the human. He resisted crying out as painful as it was because he didn’t want to scare her.