Page 24 of I Married A Syllen

“And there is far more where that came from,” Taelen said in a sickly sweet voice.

“The land claimed her,” Nym said. “She’s our sister now.”

“I claimed her,” Taelen said while tightening his embrace around my waist.

My stomach did a couple of backflips at the possessiveness with which he spoke those words. But I didn’t miss the stunned expressions on Nym’s and Drannor’s faces. It struck me then that this wouldn’t be a wording they casually used.

“You claimed her?” Professor Ludwig repeated, incredulous.

“You heard me,” Taelen confirmed.

“But she’s a nobody!” he exclaimed, seeming genuinely baffled that he wasn’t receiving the respect and deference he felt entitled to. “She’s just an inexperienced newcomer. Whereas I am the head of—”

“What you are is Doopelok Moniuk,” Taelen interrupted harshly. “The land wants nothing to do with you. We want nothing to do with you. Leave us and do not show your face again.”

“But—!”

“Please go,” Mares interjected, interrupting the professor.

“The UPO will contact you later once we have handled the situation here,” Kayog said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Ludwig opened and closed his mouth a few times, failing to find the proper arguments to respond with. Finally, he cast a venomous glance my way, and I shuddered at the pure hatred in his eyes.

“You’re fired!” he hissed before turning on his heel and storming off.

“What?! No. Wait!” I exclaimed, trying to chase after him.

But Taelen held me back and looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

“You will stay away from this male,” he ordered sternly.

“But if he fires me, I will be forced to leave Mazeria!” I said in a panicked voice.

“No you won’t!” all three Syllens said in almost perfect unison.

“You’re mine,” Taelen said forcefully.

Cue ovaries exploding for the second time. My eyes flicked between his as I tried to assess if he meant it in the insane way my brain wanted to interpret his words. I mean, what else could that possibly mean?!

“Only the land can force you out,” Nym said, breaking the ‘magic’ of the moment.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter, Mirella,” Kayog said in a reassuring tone. “As I mentioned to you last night, the UPO would want someone like you in their ranks where Mazeria is concerned. The paperwork was initiated last night, and we were waiting to see your interaction with the Syllens before making a formal offer.”

“What are you saying?” I asked, not daring to hope.

“That the UPO officially wants to hire you as their Ambassador here. We need someone who can establish a good rapport with the Syllens. They claimed you… in more ways than one. And so did the land.”

“This… this is amazing!” I said in a shaky voice.

“It is!” Mares chimed in. “Peter ‘firing’ you simply expedited the process since you won’t have to put in your two weeks’ notice. But this remains a wrongful termination. So feel free to file a complaint if you wish.”

The Kalrin chirping interrupted our conversation. She was done feeding and seemed a bit sleepy. Nym carefully placed her back in the knot she’d previously occupied in the tree. The Kalrin closed her eyes, and like a chameleon, her skin shifted to match the bark of the trunk. Had I not recently held her in my arms, I’d never believe she wasn’t just a highly realistic sculpture.

Taelen—who had still been holding me against him, but not with his tail as well anymore—dropped his arm around my waist. I almost whimpered at the loss of his contact.

“We must tend to the Kandra trees, and then we must find the queens,” he said with a frown.

Drannor had discreetly peed in the third bucket, and all three Syllens each grabbed one by the handle. They rotated their respective bucket left and right to mix the water and urine. They then poured it around the tree roots. At the same time, the garden’s groundkeeper appeared at the end of the path and slowly made his way back to us with the additional buckets of water Taelen had requested.