Chapter 34
Romival
Romival sat back with a satisfied grin, the warm throbbing of his orgasm still rolling through his body – not including his aching knot and balls that were filled with seed that he desperately wanted to pump into his female.
But he didn’t and the satisfaction of protecting Holly, despite the heaviness in his sac that insisted he hadn’t done his job right, lingered along with his climax as he watched her walk away, her delicious backside shaking with each step.
He thought it would feel wrong to waste his seed on her body, but to his own surprise, he rather liked the sight of his female marked by him so obviously. The humans were really onto something there and he wondered where else he could put it. Her belly? Her ass? Her face?
His mind spun with the possibilities.
Holly finished in the cleanser just as he was debating going to join her – much quicker than usual. He kissed her before stepping inside himself.
She was strangely quiet as he flew them back to the palace, but he didn’t think much of it. She seemed pretty focused on whatever she was looking up on her combot. He didn’t get a chance to see what it was as she closed the display the moment they landed.
And when they went to do their yoga, her silence wasn’t unusual either. She didn’t need to talk him through the poses anymore and it seemed that silent meditation as you pushed your body through the motions was part of it.
But when they finished and she only nodded when he made to wish her farewell, he realized something was wrong.
“What is it?” He asked, searching her face.
Holly just smiled at him. “I’m fine. Have a nice day at work.”
He hesitated, unsure why his instincts were yelling at him that something was wrong. But she was smiling, and she said she was fine.
Still, he looked back at her twice as he was leaving.
The first time she was still smiling.
The second time, she was frowning at her feet.
What was wrong? Why did she look like that?
Was she still feeling bad from the poisoning?
Was she perhaps expecting something from him, and he hadn’t done it?
Sometimes, when he left her, she gave him a look like she wanted something, but he wasn’t sure what it was, and she never said. It might be a human thing.
But then why would she say she was fine?
“First Scholar!”
The familiar call brought him up short. He turned to see Second Scholar standing in the hall, pointing at him in a very familiar way.
“Ryna,” he grinned. “I’m glad to see you.”
That was obviously not what she was expecting him to say, and she hesitated, casting her eyes about in confusion. “Wha… No! I mean, I’m here to cha-”
“Yes, yes, your challenge,” he waved away her words, deepening her confusion.
“Ryna?” The soft call turned his eyes as – even better – Hattie came jogging around the corner. “Why did you take off like-… Oh, hey, Romival.”
“Ryna, Hattie, perfect,” he approached them. “You can help me.”
“Is it work?” Ryna asked slowly, clearly trying to figure out his motivation. She might challenge him on sight every ten days, but she would delay the challenge if they had to finish their duties first. She was competitive but not detrimental.
“It’s females. A specific female.”
“Did you and Holly get into a fight?” Hattie asked, cocking her head curiously.
“No. Nothing like that. I am worried that something is wrong with her. She seemed subdued when I left her earlier. Can either of you help me?”
Ryna crossed her arms. “Fine, but afterwards-”
“Yes, your challenge, of course.”
“What happened?” Hattie prompted.
“Well, whenever I say farewell to her, she gives me an expectant look. Like she wants something from me. I’m afraid that I’ve disappointed her too many times today.”
Ryna looked just as confused as him, but Hattie asked immediately-
“How did you say goodbye?”
“I said farewell. She wished me a nice day. That’s it.”
“Did you kiss her goodbye?”
Ryna looked at her, surprised by the suggestion. As surprised as he felt.
“Is that something humans do?”
“Couples do, sure,” she shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “I mean, maybe not all of them? It’s pretty culturally standard where we’re from though.”
“Why?” Ryna asked, confused. “He’s leaving. It’s hardly the time for romance or sex.”
Hattie laughed at her. At both of them really, since Romival had been having the same thought. “No, it’s not about sex. It’s about making sure they know they’re loved.”
“How does a single kiss goodbye assure that?” Romival asked, his gut clenching with unease. “Should that not be something she already knows?”
Hattie gave him a pitying look that only made him more anxious.
“I mean, yeah, but it’s more like… a precaution?
You never know when something bad might happen, right?
Tragedy can strike at any time and sometimes you can’t see it coming or repair the damage afterwards.
Making sure to kiss someone goodbye and tell them that you love them ensures that, even if the worst does happen, you can rest easy knowing that the last thing you ever said to each other was that reminder.
Even if it’s brief. Even if it’s perfunctory.
“You hear horror stories on Earth all the time about people who had terrible conversations with people they loved before they died. Fights or insults or just anger. How the regret ate at them, knowing that the last thing they said to someone so important to them was harsh or hurtful. From both sides. People who lost someone hating that they can never take back the last thing they said, or people who nearly died who worried that the last thing they said to that person might have been mean and they would leave them with that memory. So, even if it’s just a quick peck and a quicker ‘love ya’, we always make sure to kiss each other goodbye. Just in case.”
Romival’s stomach dropped. This was something so important?
He knew the humans weren’t as poetic as the domini just based on what the females described, but for such importance to be placed on such an innocuous act must mean that it was vital to them.
That was why Holly had always given him such a look when he left her?
She was waiting for him to give that reminder.
In case something happened to either of them, she would have comfort in knowing that their last words were meaningful. It was a beautiful idea.
And disconcerting because he hadn’t been doing it at all! He sometimes kissed her as he was leaving, but that was more him resisting the urge to fuck her than saying farewell.
“You’ve seen Atem kiss Peony goodbye, right?” Hattie asked, reminding him of the short interaction he had, indeed, noted between his Dominani and Adassani. He had just assumed it was something the two of them did, the sort of private interaction that loving partners always developed.
But apparently, he was wrong. And foolish.
He had asked Holly about her personal preferences in a relationship, but he hadn’t asked what she would expect from her culture.
Which was a foolish oversight on his part.
He had asked her many things about her Earth, but he hadn’t gotten enough information or asked the right questions.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Hattie rushed to comfort him. “You didn’t know, and it’s not like a necessity or anything.”
“Are there any other such ways I’m failing Holly?”
“It’s not a failure. She could have asked if it was important to her.”
Romival waved away her words. His Holly would never have asked. She was uncertain and uneasy with most things. It would just be something she hoped for, be quietly disappointed if she didn’t get, but never bring up for fear of embarrassment or rejection.
“Please, Hattie. Anything else of importance that I don’t know yet?”
She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, has Atem told you about wedding rings?”
“No, he did not. Are they important?”
“So important!” Hattie sighed dreamily. “It’s a ring you wear on this finger here. Males and females. They’re meant to match, and they show everyone that you’re married. Mated, sorry.”
Romival had seen the crystal ring that his Dominani had taken to wearing.
He hadn’t noticed a similar piece of jewelry on his Adassani, but he didn’t doubt Hattie’s words.
There was no other reason for Atem to suddenly start wearing a ring on that very finger.
And by the sparkle in Hattie’s eyes, it truly was something important.
But Holly hadn’t brought it up at all. She was willing to make her nest in his den and she had made comments about becoming his mate, but she hadn’t brought up this ring ritual that put stars in Hattie’s eyes and a smile on her face.
“Really?” Ryna asked, skeptical. “Why does your species need a ring to tell others they’re mated? Can’t you just open your mouth and say that?”
Hattie gave her an affectionately exasperated look.
“That’s not the point. It’s the history and meaning of the ring that’s important.
When humans decide they want to mate, males will offer a ring to a female when he asks and her accepting it means that they’re going to be proper mates.
Guys can get really creative and personal with their proposals.
Funny or romantic, private or public, big or small.
So many ways to propose and they’re all so wonderful.
I’ve always dreamed of being proposed to in a really special way. It’s a huge moment in a relationship.”
“Ah,” Ryna grinned in understanding. “It’s a way for males to prove their devotion.”
Hattie chuckled. “Sure, I guess.”
Romival was frowning though. Why would Holly not tell him something that important? Had he disappointed her so much with the goodbye kisses that she couldn’t even tell him about something so basic as how humans asked to be mates?
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Hattie hastened to reassure him. “The ring is important to me, but, you know, everyone’s different. It might not be a big deal to her.”
Perhaps she was right, but that didn’t change the fact that he had disappointed Holly somehow. Even if he didn’t know exactly how.
“Did she say anything?” Hattie asked, seeing the uncertainty on his face.
“That’s just the thing. She said she was fine.”
Hattie’s brows shot up. He didn’t have the little tufts of hair above his eyes that she did. They were highly expressive, but he had never seen one of the human females raise both of their brows so high, so quickly before.
“What?” He asked, nerves clutching his gut.
“And you believed that?” Hattie asked, an odd tone in her voice.
Ryna frowned at her. “Why wouldn’t he? Holly said she was fine, right?”
“Yeah, but fine doesn’t mean ‘fine’. Everyone knows- … And I forgot I’m on an alien planet again. You guys wouldn’t know that.” She made another weird face, kind of rocking on her heels.
“Tell me what it means,” Romival demanded, fear making his voice sharp. Had he said something so bad that he would turn his Holly from food as Tuvo had done with Hattie? What had he possibly said that triggered that reaction?
“You know… fine,” she said with a half-hearted shrug of her shoulders. As though that was enough to explain the concept of a word not meaning what it meant. “Just like, it’s not fine but you’re going to say it’s fine anyway.”
“Why? Why not just say it’s not fine if it’s not fine?”
“Well, sometimes, ‘fine’ means that you’re mad but you don’t want to make a big deal about it.”
“Mad?” Had he made her mad, not just upset?
“Or sometimes, ‘fine’ means that she’s unhappy about something but she’s giving you a chance to fix your mistake before she does make a big deal about it.”
Oh, krik. That was both hopeful and terrifying.
A chance to repair damage before it was done was more than a domini would give him – a domini would just attack and get their anger out through aggression and violence.
But that also meant he was now on a time limit to undo whatever he had done before that chance was lost.
And he didn’t even know what he had done!
“Then again,” Hattie continued, stretching his nerves further, “there are times when ‘fine’ really does mean ‘fine’. I mean, not all the time. Most people are aware of how ‘fine’ sounds, so they don’t usually use it that way.”
“You are confusing me,” Ryna said, banishing her words with a wave of her hands. So, it wasn’t a universal female thing, this was something human females did.
Though, that was hardly surprising. Domini were too direct and aggressive for saying something they didn’t mean like that. A domini would just approach him and, if the issue was bad enough, they would fight.
But of course, the human females couldn’t do that. They were soft and delicate. Regardless of if human males were strong and powerful to protect them or soft and delicate to compliment them, it would make sense that they would use words and warnings as defense mechanisms.
“Thank you for your assistance, Hattie,” he said formally. “If I can do anything for you, please let me know.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” she waved away the debt with a smile. “I like seeing my friends happy, so if I can help with that, that’s enough for me.”
Romival saluted her before turning to Ryna. “Now then, forgive me for delaying you. You were saying?”
“I challenge you!” She declared immediately, the words bursting out of her like they had just been waiting, spring loaded, to launch out of her mouth.