“Why hasn’t your government outlawed it, then?” Mia interrupted, trying to understand this peculiar quirk of Krinar culture. “Why not get rid of such a barbaric custom? Your society is so advanced in every other way . . .”
“Because the violence is more contained this way – better controlled, if you will,” he explained calmly, watching her with those amber eyes. “If someone has a problem with me, they can just challenge me in the Arena instead of going after my family. Vendettas still happen occasionally, but they’re much more rare than in the past – and our society is much more peaceful as a result. Technically, it’s illegal to kill someone in the Arena, but nobody has ever been prosecuted for getting carried away in a fair fight.”
“Is that what happened today? You got carried away during the fight?”
He nodded, his mouth tightening. “I did . . . but my only regret is that I didn’t get a chance to question him, to find out why he did what he did. He hurt you – he could’ve easily killed you – and he deserved exactly what he got.”
Mia looked away, not really knowing what to say. He had killed to protect her – and she probably would’ve done the same for him – but she still found it frightening, knowing that he was capable of taking someone’s life with so little compunction.
“What about humans?” she asked as they walked further, thinking of all the rumors she’d heard about K brutality during the Great Panic months. “Have you killed many humans?”
He didn’t answer for a few moments. “Why are you doing this, Mia?” he said quietly as they stopped in front of a large alligator pen. “Why do you ask questions to which you don’t want to know the answer?”
“I don’t know,” Mia told him honestly. “In some ways, you’re still such a mystery to me. I love you, yet I feel like I barely know you . . .”
He gazed down into the water with seeming fascination, watching the alligators gliding smoothly through the water. The tourists gave the spot where they were standing a wide berth; like most humans, they had correctly deduced that the K among them was by far the most dangerous creature in the vicinity. Mia was now so used to this that she barely paid attention. Whenever they went somewhere in public, Korum’s presence inevitably attracted frightened stares and whispers among the human population.
After a while, he turned to look at her. “Yes, Mia,” he said wearily. “I’ve killed humans. Some in self-defense, some for other reasons. I’ve had many interactions with your kind over the centuries, and not all of them have been good. Is there anything else you would like to know?”
Mia moistened her lips, staring at him. “Would you have killed Peter that night? In the club? If I hadn’t stopped you?”
“You didn’t stop me, Mia,” Korum said coolly. “I had already made up my mind to let him go with a warning. His offense was not grave enough to warrant anything more.”
A breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding escaped her lips in relief. “I see.”
“Of course,” he added, his eyes glittering, “if he had touched you more – if he had slept with you – the outcome would’ve been different.”
Mia’s heart skipped a beat. “You would’ve killed him for that?” she whispered, a shiver running down her spine.
Korum didn’t answer, just looked at her evenly . . . and she knew that what she had always sensed about him was true.
He was dangerous – not to her, but to everyone else. As civilized as he appeared on the outside, as advanced as the Ks were with their science and technology, at the core, he was a predator. A predator with a violent nature and a deeply ingrained territorial instinct.
A predator who apparently loved her as much as she loved him.
* * *
That evening, Marisa and Connor came over for dinner again, and Korum prepared a smaller version of the feast he’d made the previous day. Her sister was positively glowing, her skin flushed with healthy color and her eyes sparkling. Her appetite was back to normal, and she was again eating all her favorite foods. Whatever procedure Ellet had performed on her seemed to be having the promised effect.
Connor was beyond grateful. “I finally have my wife back,” he confided to them when Marisa went to use the restroom. “The last few weeks have been hell – I was so afraid she would need to be hospitalized for the rest of the pregnancy. The horror stories we’d heard about women with her type of condition . . .”
Korum smiled at him. “I’m glad everything worked out. Ellet is quite skilled –”
Mia felt a pang of jealousy at his praise of the woman who had been his lover, but she did her best to ignore it.
“– and she was more than happy to help in this situation.”
After the dinner was over, the four of them decided to go see a movie – the latest James Bond thriller featuring a K villain. Korum was highly amused by the premise, particularly the parts where the human agent managed to outwit the evil K and use the Krinar’s own technology to thwart his plan of exterminating all humans. The villain was played by a human actor who actually did a fairly decent job of imitating a K with the aid of computer graphics, but Mia still found his performance inadequate. Marisa and Connor really enjoyed it, however, and peppered Korum with ton
s of questions on their way back to the house.
As Mia observed their interactions, she realized that her family was completely enthralled with her lover. They’d never seen his truly intimidating side, and they’d never had a reason to fear him – the way Mia did in the beginning. Instead, to them, he was a fascinating foreigner who could entertain them with endless interesting facts and stories, a generous benefactor who had already given them the priceless gift of improved health, and a kind boyfriend who treated Mia like a princess.
And Mia loved it. Never in her wildest dreams would she have expected her family to get on so well with her alien lover. She’d thought they would be frightened and worried sick about her – and they probably would’ve been if Korum hadn’t put in the effort to win them over. That, more than anything, showed her how deeply he cared. He’d known that her family was important to her, and he’d made sure that they would be comfortable with their relationship – or at least as comfortable as they could be knowing that their daughter’s boyfriend was not human.
Her thoughts turned to the future again, and she felt a familiar ache in her chest – the same sensation she always got when she thought about the inevitable end of their relationship. He loved her, but surely that couldn’t last forever. How long would she remain young and pretty? Ten years, twenty if she was lucky? Granted, some of the actresses these days looked amazing even into their late forties and fifties. Maybe Mia would as well, particularly if Krinar medical prowess extended to cosmetic procedures as well. She pictured Ellet giving her a facelift and almost shuddered at the thought of the beautiful K seeing her when she was old and wrinkled.
Finally, they arrived back at the house and said goodbye to Marisa and Connor, who picked up their car and drove away.