Chapter 5: When Your Husband-to-be Looks Like a Anthro-Cat

"Well, what about you? Did you have a husband?" Ellis asked. This time she was polite. She started to sympathize. 

"I did. They call them mates here. Mine died so I went back into the pool. It will take a long time to find someone new, though." Nadia's voice was tight as she replied. 

Ellis quieted down. "I'm sorry to hear that. But can I ask why it will take a long time?"

Nadia's jaws tightened visibly. "I'm not a high priority. You, on the other hand, would be. Don't ask me why. I don't make the rules. If you refuse the Emperor, you'll be quickly matched with someone else."

Ellis nodded. She'll find some way around it when she reached Zothea. For now, she needed only that information. She could deal with everything else as it came to her. 

"How long will it take for us to get to the Emperor's planet?"

There was silence. "We reached when you fainted. We transferred you to another room." She looked around and explained. "They all look pretty much the same. The ministry doesn't spend much money on interior decoration."

"I can see that." Ellis shoved down the wave of panic that gripped her heart. She could see Nadia was getting irritated with her, her smile stretching tighter and tighter. Ellis pulled herself to her feet. 

"Let's go," she said finally. Ellis had quickly realized that her protest would end putting her in a bad position. Her first priority would be to reach a safe location with a lot of people. Angering the person who was in charge of sending you there would be dumb. Now that she knew Nadia wouldn't help her to get back to Earth, she would have to go along with their plan for a while before thinking of an alternate route to get out.

Nadia moved towards the door and pressed a button. She stepped out and waited for Ellis to do the same. For a second, Ellis didn't want to step out. It had been safe inside that white room. Out there, she had no idea what she was going to experience. 

Nadia pulled her through. "I'm tired and I want to go home. The jet lag is killing me."

"My shoes?" Ellis asked, feeling the mild warmth of the floor against her bare skin.

"You don't need any," Nadia said.

Ellis took a deep breath before taking the first step out. "You're perfectly safe. In this solar system, women are worshipped. No one would dare to touch you without your explicit permission."

They walked down a hallway with ceilings so high that it seemed to be never-ending. There didn't seem to be a light source, so she didn't know how this whole place was alight. Nin appeared at a distance and started to walk closely by her. 

"Empress, do not fret. I will remain by your side and protect you."

With how high all the ceilings and doorframes were, Ellis was sure that the creatures that walked through were tall, to say the least. 

"One last thing," Nadia said, stopping short in front of a door. "When you smile, make sure your teeth don't show. Zotheans take the show of teeth as a threat."

Ellis didn't worry about that. She wouldn't be smiling any time soon. But she took the words into consideration. Even if she were to fake a laugh, she had a had habit of showing her teeth. She didn't want to be attacked or something. 

Seeing her acknowledgment, Nadia pushed the door open. 

The room was better decorated than the ones she had been in. It looked more like a waiting room with furniture for people to sit on and walls colored in soft cream color. Inside the room were a group of people waiting. 

Nadia pushed Ellis through the door and without a warning, shut it. She didn't follow. She stared at the closed door and then back to the people in the room in astonishment. Was she being abandoned?

On the couch, a woman sat. On her side, a group of men sat cross-legged on cushions. They looked comfortable so Ellis didn't want to disrupt anything. On her arrival, they jumped onto their feet in invitation. 

Among the men was one whom Ellis recognized as her husband-to-be. He had been accompanied by two other men who looked to be of the same species. Ellis mulled over what she should call the man. 

Logan? Emperor? 'You'? What was considered polite on this planet? Suddenly she missed Nadia.

The Emperor approached her slowly as if trying not to startle her, but from the look of things, it looked like a predator approaching their prey slowly. Ellis shook the thoughts away. She was a tall woman, five foot seven inches in height, but in front of his man, she had to crane her neck to look up at him. The top of her head barely reached the center of his chest. 

He smiled at her, no teeth showing, and crouched down in front of her, meeting her eye level. The men beside him seemed to do the same. 

Ellis felt like she was a specimen in a museum. 

"Greetings," he said softly. She quietly scrutinized his features. Up close, his features were much more distinguished. His nose was flatter and his ears a little raised. On top of that, his eyes were copper with diamond-shaped pupils. No white spaces were visible around the iris. When he spoke, she could see the flashes of his fanglike teeth. 

She tried to remember how to speak. "H-hello?" she stuttered out. 

Seeing him up close, she still felt afraid, but... this man looked like an anthropomorphized cat. She loved cats. How could she not take a closer look?

He was studying her with interest, especially her long brown hair. He reached out to touch it but she recoiled at the sight of his hand. Four fingers with the tips with claws at the tip. Definitely some sort of cat. 

"Stop!" the woman from earlier called from her seat. She stood up and pushed through the group of men to stand between the Emperor and Ellis. She was tiny with short blonde hair. In front of these men, this woman looked like a dwarf. 

The Emperor let out a small growl that spiked Ellis's anxiety. 

The woman paid no attention to the Emperor and smiled at Ellis politely. Still no show of teeth. That was definitely a rule she needed to follow, then. 

"My name is Laurel." She extended her hand forward. Ellis looked down and sighed in relief. She never thought she would be so pleased to see five fingers on a hand. She grabbed it and shook it firmly. 

"We're going to be great friends in no time." All Ellis was do was nod helplessly. She doubted that she would be making any friends, but she could accept some human companionship that lacked threats and sarcasm.