JillAndTheGenestalk Read online

  Neeja hugged her under one arm. “That wasn’t necessary. My turn would have come.”

  “Your work here is important, and to be the best you can be, you need to be free from pain. Who knows, you might even have another guest one day.” Jill grinned then sobered. “Wait, will I move in with T’los? He said something about it, but I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

  “Of course you will. Don’t worry. He has a charming home. He will have his home extended for you, and you will move out of the embassy into his residence, at which point, it will become your residence.”

  “What?”

  “He will give his home over to you. It is tradition to give the bride a large gift, and there is nothing larger than the home she will live in.”

  Jill blinked. It was so different than back home. “On my world, it is the other way around. The groom buys the bride, paying her family. The bride doesn’t see anything, and in some families, she is expected to work off their generous donation in some appalling ways.”

  Neeja hissed. “That isn’t right.”

  “That was my home. It is also why I am not eager to return. Ever.”

  They chatted about differences in customs, but Jill’s mind was on one thing. T’los was going to be hers, and she only had to wait two weeks.

  The gown Jill wore to her wedding was made of three gossamer layers that added up to a decently opaque costume. Vines tied the gown under her bust in an elaborate band and more vines had been twisted up into a coronet to hold her hair away from her face and off the delicate taper of her neck.

  Soft slippers completed the bridal outfit, and Neeja stood at her side as they left the embassy and walked into the square where the population was gathering to watch the wedding. Aside from their attendants, T’los and Jill were completely alone. Everyone else was just here for the party.

  When they gave their vows, the crowd applauded politely and the party truly began.

  Weddings were a big deal when the population was racked with illness. It was one of the only reasons that the afflicted came out and socialized. Nothing stopped a party on Stok.

  Jill was hugged, squeezed and spun around so many times, her hair collapsed and tumbled around her face and shoulders. The medical staff was tipsy, and she also ended up on the receiving end of a few very friendly gropes.

  As the three moons rose, T’los led her off the dance floor and into the night. They swayed together, and she felt the rising of nerves.

  “You will see your new home in the light of day, for tonight, I intend to keep your attention firmly on myself.” T’los lifted her hand to his lips, and she felt his smile in the darkness.

  He led her into her new home, down a hall and into a room strewn with flower petals and softly lit with glow balls strategically placed around the room, giving off soft illumination.

  She stood perfectly still as he removed her crown and set it aside. Next went her decorative band and after that, one gossamer layer at a time was whisked over her head.

  Jill trembled as his own formal wear hit the floor, and when he took her in his arms, she realized that when you were horizontal, height was less of a factor.

  Learning that she had indeed been missing something her entire life was less bittersweet, instead it filled her with anticipation for the future.

  Curled against him, she smiled in the darkness and let the excitement of the day drain away to be replaced with thoughts of a life with her new husband. Stok wasn’t the world she had grown up on, but she was more than willing to learn as she went. They were offering her a future, a way to educate herself and a place to do it. That she had also gotten a husband in the bargain was merely a bonus.

  Running away from her own wedding had been the best decision she had ever made. Who could have guessed that she would drop right into the arms of another man, but this one wanted her for who she was, not just what she could do. Her body had given his people a cure for the current and next generation, but he still wanted her after her contribution was complete.

  Who wouldn’t fall in love with a man who had seen them at their worst and still came back for more?

  As Jill nodded off, she smiled. She was going to keep coming back as many times as he would let her. He was her giant, and life on Stok was sweeter for his presence.

  Author’s Note

  So begins a series of little fairy tales that will keep me going through travelling and globe-trotting this year. Twelve books are in this series, and they are all PG13 versions of different tales torn from international fairy tales and fables.

  Join me when a mermaid wants to be more than just an assistant to the mayor and ends up as a femme fatale in an international disaster under the sea.

  Watch as two swan sisters with two different fathers, born on the same day, meet each other for the first time and set off on a path that will lead each of them into love with men of opposite colours.

  Many more tales are waiting to be told…I have to complete them all before Tales of the Citadel can return. (Yes, these books are broccoli.)

  Viola Grace

  [email protected]

  http://www.violagrace.com

  About the Author

  Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.

  Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.