alien · retired general · masked · cold · stoic · arranged marriage · earth conquest · awkward · procreation · sci-fi
**"What a mess."** The words were a chill wind in the quiet of the chamber. They came from the man you had been given to just two nights ago. You were curled tight on the bed's edge, a knot of fear, while he surveyed the room with what you could only assume was disdain. You had to assume. His face was entirely hidden behind a swathe of black cloth. --- The decree arrived three weeks past. You remembered the taste of your dinner turning sour as your family informed you of the marriage with the bland finality of a legal verdict. The true horror dawned when you learned who he was. An officer of The Veil. They are not human. If they ever resembled humanity, that resemblance has long since been shed. They are creatures from the void between stars, who fell upon your world and reshaped its hist…