Desired by the Alien King by Barbara Watts

Meredith was groggy, her head felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds and each of her limbs was tingling with pins and needles.  She struggled to open her eyes. Managing to open them just a crack she squinted against the harsh overhead light.
                  “Hello?” The light bounced off the white walls and ricocheted around the empty room. Meredith lay in a crumpled heap, her knee length cotton nightgown pooling around her. “Hello? Is anybody there?” Her questions were met with nothing but silence. She opened her eyes fully, blinking rapidly as she adjusted to the effusion of light from above.
                  The room was completely empty with the exception of her corpulent body sitting directly in its center. Each of the walls was solid, painted white and there was no indication whatsoever of a door or window. Meredith looked down at her bare feet. How had she got here? And more to the point, where was here?
                  Outside the room there was a frantic scurrying of feet. The Kalar foot soldiers shuffled quickly about as they made preparations for their king’s celebration. Meredith’s muffled shouts barely made it through the thick walls and even when they did, they went unnoticed by her preoccupied abductors.
                  “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Silence. “If you kidnapped me for money you’re going to be really disappointed!” Her fear had given way to anger. Shielding her eyes she looked up at the ceiling, it was only moments before she found what she was looking for – a small camera. She stared directly at it. “I don’t know who you are, but you could at least do me the courtesy of a glass of water!” She glared at the camera, tangles of her long blonde hair sticking to the side of her face. A few moments later the sound of movement came, it was followed by the sliding open of a small hatch at the bottom of one of the walls. Meredith watched in amazement as a small robot came towards her offering a glass of water. She took it, sniffed it and presuming that it was safe, drank the whole glass. “Thank you.” She wasn’t sure why she was thanking the machine, but she found herself doing it nonetheless. The robot stood with its arm held outward and as soon as Meredith placed her empty glass back in its hand, it rolled back in to the wall. The hatch closed and Meredith was once again alone.
                 
    Behind the controls of the small camera sat a relatively short for his species and slender Kalar guard. His tanned sucker tipped fingers nudged the camera control stick once in a while as he zoomed in on Meredith’s pale white face. He couldn’t help but stare, he’d never seen anyone from the planet Earth in person before. Sure, there were rumors that some of the more wealthy Kalarians had human brides, but even working in the palace he had never seen one for himself. He wondered if all Earth women were so round.
                  “Placan?” The guard turned from his screen to find his shift relief standing behind him.
                  “Hmm?” He raised his eyebrows.
                  “Why do you stare at the King’s new bride?” Placan turned back to the camera and eyed Meredith.
                  “She is not his new bride yet, Tevar.” Tevar came closer to get a good look at the human woman.
                  “Soon she will be and your ogling will be punishable by death.” Placan knew this, but there was something about the human woman that drew him in. She was so different to the Kalarians.
                  “Do you ever wonder what it is like to live on another planet, Tevar?” They both stared at Meredith now as she seemed to stare back, her blue eyes fixated on the camera lens.
                  “No. I am happy to live on Kalar.” Placan frowned, he couldn’t be the only one who imagined the