Bride Games: (Alien's Bride) Read Online Free PDF

and the rest followed.   Lenora managed to find a set of clothes near her size.   The black and red long-sleeve shirt was snug with silky free-moving fabric.   The black pants were loose enough to resemble a long-hemmed dress.  
    “Lenora Winquist.”
    She started at the sound of her own name.   One of the robots rolled forward.
    “You’re the first contestant.   Follow me.   The rest of you will wait here.”
    Vivian shot her a panicked look.   “I thought we all got to go together.”
    Lenora realized she’d assumed this also.   She’d also expected some time to decompress from the trip before the actual games.   Her muscles had grown taut from sitting so long.  
    “Don’t get discouraged.   Half of this is mental—remember that.   And the first game is always the easiest.   That’s just how these things go.”   Maybe.
    Vivian chewed her lower lip.   “Okay.   Good luck.   Kick ass, alright?”   The younger woman began biting her cuticle.  
    Two robots led her to a wide corridor that opened through a brightly lit dome at the end.   She exited the corridor into a massive arena.   The polished floor stretched out a quarter mile in all directions.   Surrounding it were thousands of vacant tiered seats climbing high toward the rounded ceiling.   The silence in the huge space was harrowing to Lenora.   Why the massive venue when there was no audience?  
    The robots led her to an area to the side that was cordoned off with silver crushed velvet curtains.   They stopped next to it.   Lenora looked at the cylinder head beside her.
    “Proceed into the curtain,” the robot said.
    Lenora took a deep breath, thrust the curtains open, and strode through.
    Now there was an audience, but only three hundred or so Dak-Hiliah noblemen and servants were scattered over hundreds of seats.   She quickly lost interest in them and looked at the behemoth structure before her.   A multi-tiered pyramid, like an Aztec temple except it was composed of smooth white material, stretched upwards to come against the curve of the domed ceiling.   Lenora scanned each tier with wide darting eyes.
    A door opened from behind the highest tier and a Dak-Hiliah man emerged.   He wore a the typical tight woven costume of his race, but had a long draping black cape attached to armor exaggerating his shoulder horns.   His auburn hair was covered by a net of jewels.
    “Welcome, welcome!”   The Dak-Hiliah greeting boomed through molded speakers on either side of him.   “I am Danfet, organizer of the very first Bride Games.   How wonderful it is that so many of my noble brothers have turned out to witness this thrilling event.   Turn your eyes to the human Lenora Winquist.   She shall have the honor of competing in the first session of this game for she is the betrothed to the viceroy of this great world, Lord Lysanter.”
    The audience members clapped by thudding decorated scepters against the floor.
    Lenora clenched her jaw.   The Hell with this.   The tiers looked to be a little less than twice her height each.   She ran towards the side where the audience barrier came against the bottom tier, hoisted herself onto that, and then scrambled to the second level.
    Danfet looked down at her aghast.   “Wait now, my dear!   You don’t know what the objective is.   You don’t even know what you’re trying to outrun!”
    As if on cue, an alarm sounded three chirps and then a door opened on the back wall of the bottom tier.   A robot with extendable pinchers zoomed out.   The cylinder on its head was blinking red.
    Lenora looked around for a means to keep climbing.   There was what looked like a white couch cushion.   When she tried to lift it she realized it was a stone that weighed close to her own body weight.   She dropped onto her buttocks and used her legs to push the stone up onto its side.   The alarm sounded again.   Lenora rose and took several steps back and then leapt onto the block.   She