At Odds
Karn's pov(Alien King)
I stood in the center of that cold room while those old fossils looked down their noses at me. They weren't done talking. They wanted to humiliate me. They wanted to remind me that even though I was the richest, I was still a dog in their eyes because I couldn't control my hunger.
"You have wasted so much," the Head Elder said, his voice echoing off the high stone walls. "We have the Great Projects. We are launching the Seed-Ships into the far reaches of the deep space to find new minerals and build new empires. We are trying to advance our race. And what are you doing, Karn? You are launching ships into the atmosphere of Earth just to find another girl to put in your bed."
"It is a disgrace," the silver King added, his lip curling in disgust. "You are a King of our blood, yet you take a human as a wife? A soft, weak thing from a primitive dirt ball? You bring her into your palace, you give her the same status as an Alien Queen, and you expect us to treat you with respect? You are tainting our lineage for a bit of human flesh."
I felt the heat rising in my neck. "She is better than any of the cold, dry women you keep in your halls!" I snapped.
"She is a pet!" the Elder shouted back. "And now you want us to risk the Great Projects for your pet? You want to divert energy from the deep space launches, from the building of the new Dyson rings, just so you can go get revenge for your ego? You are obsessed. You have a thousand wives, Karn. You have enough women to populate a small moon. Why is this one human worth the lives of my soldiers?"
Hmmm...the way these elders were talking about this human--my human, as if she were someone without any value.
This human made me feel happy. She made me feel at ease. I have not felt this way in a thousand years. If I could pull down the universe to make sure that she'd come back to me, I would do it in a twinkle of an eye!
"Because he has no discipline!" another King yelled from the shadows. "He is a glutton. He takes and takes."
"Yeah!!" One mocked. "He apparently has the biggest penis the planet and someone once whispered that even if he fucked a thousand women in a day, he would not be satisfied. So, he needs the human pussy to spice things up and satisfy his greed."
What?! So this was no more about Aurora but my penis?
That particukar statement made the whole elders to burst into laughter. If there was a way for me to do something evil like command a fire breathing dragon to burn everyone, I would have done so right now.
How did my sexual life become their business? Hmph! Grown ass men, sitting on a table to discuss what I'm doing in my bedroom. Wonders!!
"He has too many wives, too many mistresses, and now he wants to start a galactic war because he's jealous that a human girl is being used by someone else. You are a joke, Karn. Your 'Human Queen' is a stain on our history."
The words "Human Wife" tasted like poison coming out of their mouths. They hated that I didn't just use her and kill her. They hated that I actually wanted her to be mine in every way.
They wanted me to pass Aurora around so they could use her for orgies and kill her afterwards.
"You speak of projects," I growled, my voice dropping to a dangerous rumble. "You speak of ships and rings. You think that's what makes a King? No. Power is being able to take whatever you want, whenever you want it. You are all just accountants in fancy robes. You're afraid of the Crab King's shields, so you hide behind your 'projects' and pretend you're too busy to fight."
I stepped closer to the Elder's throne, ignoring the guards who raised their spears. "You blame me for having a human wife? You blame me for my hunger? Fine. Keep your respect. Keep your Seed-Ships. I have enough money to build my own universe, and I don't need your permission to burn down a planet that has my property on it."
"If you do this, you are no longer one of us," the Elder warned. "You will be an outcast. We will seize your assets in the inner rim."
"Try it," I said, a dark smile spreading across my face. "I'll spend my last credit buying the biggest gun in the black market, and I'll point it at this hall first. You think you're better than me because you don't 'chase women'? You're just too old and weak to remember what it feels like to want something."
I didn't wait for them to sentence me. I turned around and walked out, my cape snapping behind me. They were all the same—scared of anything they couldn't control. They thought they could shame me into being a "good king" who cared about space launches and budgets.
But I wasn't a good king. I was the Alien King.
I got to my ship and saw the fear in my crew's eyes. They had heard the shouting. They knew I had just spit in the face of the Council.
"Get the engines hot," I commanded. "We're going to the Dark Sector. If the Council wants to blame me for having a human wife, then I'm going to give them a reason to really hate me. I’m going to bring her back, and I’m going to make her the Empress of everything I touch."
I sat in my chair, my mind full of the Crab King’s touch on her. The Council was wrong. I didn't have too many wives. I had one less than I needed. And I was going to kill everyone on Planet 444 to get the count back to where it belonged.