The Dying

4

Marcus stands nervously outside her door. He has the right to just enter the room, but so much harm has been done to her that he doesn't dare do so. Taking a breath he knocks on the door. "Come in," is heard faintly.

He closes his eyes and opens the door. He can't make this even worse. He needs her to solidify his position. Not because she was married to his father, no, he needs her as his queen because she will be able to give him full blooded children, as will Margaret.

Aurora turns to look to see who came to see her. None of the lords have done so since she came here and so didn't expect any one of consequence. She was less than pleased to see the new king. "Great."

"Please, Lady Aurora, just hear me out and after that if you wish, I will leave you alone forever." Marcus tells her before she has a chance to say anything else.

Aurora goes to say something and so Marcus continues. "Please, my lady, you trusted me last night, give me just a bit more trust. If you do so then I will abide by your decision."

"Answer me this, Your majesty, why do you need me if you already cemented your position on the throne with getting five females pregnant, all of them Garrett's females?"

"That is part of what I would like to talk to you about. If I might stay?" Marcus is holding his breath hoping that Aurora would allow him the chance to talk, explain.

"Very well, have a seat and start talking." Aurora isn't very welcoming, but he'll take what he can get. At least she isn't throwing him out. He takes a seat that she indicated and watches as she sits, keeping her eyes on him. He feels nervous with how much distrust she is showing him.

"I would like to explain a few things, one of which is your family history." This gets her full attention.

"You know who my father is?" Aurora had never been told who her father was, no one that she had grown up with had known.

"Yes, I also know who were your grandparents." This has her leaning forward in rapt attention.

"First I must ask you, how much of our history do you know?" He doesn't think much, they don't teach humans much of the history. They are too prideful to share their stupidity to those they consider weaker.

Aurora shrugs, "Just what was allowed by the tutor for Margaret."

"That's what I thought. For much of our time we had peace. Our numbers neither increased nor decreased. You are aware of the fact that we are a long lived race. How long," Marcus shrugs, "we don't know. We never die of natural causes. Not once in all of our history. Somehow we die of wounds, poison, violent acts of all kinds, but never of old age. So that meant that having children was of low priority. That, for some reason made our females of lower priority. The men started thinking that just because they were stronger that made them better.

"That's also about the time pride got in the way and peace started falling apart.

"One thing about our people, we didn't get sick or have genetic weaknesses. That meant that we would have sexual relationships with siblings and sometimes parents and in our world that isn't a bad thing.

"My mother was the first wife of my father. She gave him several children, including me. He, however, had other wives, Garrett came from one of them, but since she wasn't the first wife, Garrett wasn't the crown prince.

"He had a solid hold on the palace, had I tried to take my place he would have had me killed, but that will play a part later on in the story.

"Before war broke out, we had sent out exploration parties to see what else was out in the universe. We found Earth and it's people several centuries before it became necessary for us to harvest the people there. That's when we found that they were actually compatible with us. We also found out that our genetic material will overtake and change that of the humans given enough and sufficient time.

"Although my father had several wives he felt that wasn't enough. He found that he preferred males. Many followed his lead and soon the females were being ignored. For the first time ever death came from illness. When a bound female was abandoned from the one that bound her," Marcus stops at the confused expression Aurora was wearing.

"Being bound is what happens when a female is taken as either a wife or mistress. My father bound you as his wife. The binding ends with the death of the male, but without the female accepting another male she will never be able to be impregnated. You would never have accepted Garrett and so he would never have been able to get you with child. He would just have raped you multiple times. Margaret isn't so fortunate. There is a possibility he would have managed to get her with child, although the chance was low, almost zero."

"That's why you helped us last night." Aurora states, she knew that he didn't help her just because he wanted to.

"Part of it," Marcus nods to her acknowledging her statement. "But only part of it. I had no wish for Margaret to experience the same hell you did and the other servants went through.

"But back to the story. Once the bound females felt the abandonment, something happened to them, they weakened. Some actually died from wasting away, others killed themselves.

"Most of my father's wives and mistresses passed that way. My mother was one of the last. Not just last of my father's harem, but last females in our world. My mother knew it was just a matter of time that my father would send to Earth to harvest the people there. She and the other females knew the truth."

"What truth is that Majesty?" Aurora asks nearly breathless.

"That we were a dying race. There hadn't been a birth in nearly a century by that point. My mother was pregnant with my baby brother. He was the last one born until Margaret's birth two centuries later." Marcus tells her and she blinks at his words. She had no idea that he was that old or that it had been so long since children had been born here, other than Margaret and the purely human babies.

"My mother understanding the situation better than my father and the other leaders taught me how to pleasure and meet the conditions necessary for a woman to conceive. She taught me for years before it was made impossible for her to do so." Marcus is now lost in memories of his mother. He loved her more than anything and his father abandoning her is the reason she died.

"Sire?" Aurora calls again.

"Forgive me, Lady Aurora. Please call me Marcus, at least when we are private. There will be no punishment for you to do so."

"What kind of lessons did she give you?" Aurora grew up in this culture so the idea didn't upset her. She just wants to make sure she understands him correctly.

"Sexual lessons, Lady Aurora. We would spend hours sometimes with those lessons. My mother had a great deal of stamina and sexual drive. Has she not been bound she would have had several children of mine."

"So you know the conditions that need to be met in order to have children?" Aurora demands in shock. Not from the fact of him being lovers with his mother, but because no one has known what those conditions were.

"Yes," Marcus replies a bit more reluctant. He's not sure how she'll take the news.

"You can stop the abuse."

"Once I have consolidated my position, yes. Until then, no. Even now I am rather unprotected. Once I am secured on the throne, then yes, I can give out the secret and stop the rapes. With the law in place, that is a start. Many of the males won't believe that I'll enforce it since we are too few, but they will find out soon enough that I not only will but I won't hesitate. Not even my family."

Aurora sniffs, "Yeah, you showed that by beheading Garrett last night and then bedding Karla."

"Don't be so shocked. Karla and I have been lovers off and on for years. Garrett wasn't a good lover, much like my father. She much preferred me. It was safe enough since she was bound to Garrett I couldn't get her pregnant, even if I did the DNA would be mine, not his."

"Okay, now how about we get back to my story." Aurora says after a few minutes of silence.