The Commander's Reluctant Mate

“My goodness, that’s incredible news. But what will happen to the adopted girl?” another woman responded, her voice laced with genuine worry.

“Oh, that’s not even the half of it. I heard the long-lost heiress and the adopted daughter’s fiancé grew… quite intimate during his rut,” the first lady added, her tone dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

“If I were in her position, I don’t think I could stand to stay under the same roof for another single day,” the second woman murmured, shaking her head in pity.

A striking young woman with long, dark hair stood by the window, massaging her throbbing temples. A slight frown creased her brow. ‘That’s odd. I did drink a lot last night, but not enough to knock me out so completely.’

The hushed whispers drifting in from the garden path caught her attention. Recognizing the subject of the gossip, a bitter, self-deprecating laugh escaped her lips.

Ten years ago, Eliana Valence, the cherished daughter of the noble Valence family on Neo-Terra, vanished in a catastrophic starship accident.

The Valence family was shattered. In their grief, they later adopted a young girl from the Aridia-9 Sanctuary Core, a child who bore a faint resemblance to Eliana and was roughly the same age. They named her Aria Valence.

A decade later, Eliana was miraculously found. The Valence family’s joy knew no bounds. They showered their lost daughter with affection, buying her favorite gowns, exquisite jewelry, the latest neural interfaces, and sleek aero-skimmers.

They even had Aria move out of her suite, all because Eliana had once remarked, “Aria’s rooms are so lovely.”

The Valences spared no expense in indulging Eliana. None of this surprised Aria. After all, she was merely the adopted one, while Eliana was their flesh and blood.

Aria had moved out without complaint and tried her best to be gracious to Eliana. What she never anticipated, however, was that her own fiancé had chosen to spend his rut with Eliana.

Shaking off the painful thought, Aria let out a slow, weary breath and turned to pack her belongings. She was due to leave for Aethelstan Academy. ‘It’s time to leave the Valences behind anyway,’ she told herself firmly.

Packing took little time. She had few personal possessions and wanted nothing that belonged to the Valence family. She pulled on her crisp white and blue freshman uniform, tucking the cuffs neatly into her black boots. Catching her reflection in the mirror, she swiftly tied her hair into a severe, practical ponytail.

The only item left was her neural interface, a birthday gift from her eldest brother, Julian Valence, two years prior. Julian had always been kind to her. He’d been stationed on a frontier world overseeing resource extraction and hadn’t been home in over six months.

But Aria knew that even Julian’s loyalty would ultimately lie with Eliana. She decided to format the neural interface, wiping all her personal data clean, before returning it to the Valences for good.

Just as her fingers hovered over the initiate command, a notification from the Prime AI flashed across the device’s surface. [Ms. Aria Valence, your application for the Genetic Compatibility Program has been received. Data processing in progress. Genetic comparison and matching ongoing.]

Aria froze, her fingers turning to ice. The wrist-mounted device slipped from her nerveless grasp, hitting the polished floor with a sharp, discordant clatter.

On Neo-Terra, there were two recognized paths to marriage. The first was free choice and union, selected by the vast majority. The second was the Genetic Compatibility Program.

Once an application was submitted, the Prime AI would compare the applicant’s genetic profile with every eligible, unmarried individual on the planet. The highest match resulted in an automatically sanctioned marriage bond. In essence, it was asking the AI to assign you a spouse.

But this second option had largely fallen into disuse. It was viewed as cold, impersonal, and a frequent recipe for marital misery. Almost no one voluntarily chose it anymore.

A cold, sharp glint flashed in Aria’s eyes. ‘Who accessed my neural interface and submitted that application?’ She strode out of her room and summoned the household android. “Who entered my quarters last night?”

The android’s optical sensors flickered. Without waiting for a potentially fabricated response, Aria reached over and accessed its central control core, pulling up the surveillance logs from the previous night—a period during which she had been insensate from drink.

The logs had been deleted, but data recovery was a trivial task for Aria. Within minutes, the restored footage clearly showed a slender figure slipping into her room.

It was Eliana. Furthermore, the footage also revealed that last night, Eliana had furtively added a substance to Aria’s drink before she retired.

The Valence kitchen was vast and gleaming. Most meals were prepared by culinary androids, but this morning, Eliana was a flurry of activity. She wore a simple white dress, her curly hair pulled back, a frilly pink apron tied over her front.

She glanced at her mother, Evelyn Valence, who stood nearby observing. “Mother, the oatmeal I made probably isn’t as flawless as the android’s.”

Evelyn, a woman with a gentle demeanor, looked at Eliana with tender eyes. “Nothing tastes better than something made by my daughter’s own hands.”

Eliana smiled, about to reply when hurried, determined footsteps echoed through the quiet kitchen. Before she could fully turn, Aria walked straight up to her and delivered a stinging slap across her cheek.

Eliana’s hand flew to her face, tears instantly welling in her large eyes. “Aria! Why would you hit me?” She looked utterly wounded and fragile, a picture designed to evoke sympathy.

Evelyn’s eyes widened, then filled with protective anger. She pulled Eliana into a hug and glared at Aria. “Aria, what is the meaning of this? How could you strike Eliana?”

“Ask Eliana what she did to my neural interface last night,” Aria replied, her voice devoid of warmth, flat and icy.

“That does not give you the right to resort to violence, no matter what she may have done,” Evelyn shot back, holding her sobbing daughter closer.

A cold smile touched Aria’s lips. “What if I told you she used my interface to submit an application for the Genetic Compatibility Program in my name?”

Evelyn stiffened. She looked down at Eliana in her arms. Eliana’s tears fell in earnest. “Mother, I didn’t mean to! I just wanted to download some academic materials from her interface.

“You know Aria got into Aethelstan Academy, but I never had proper schooling when I was… away. I wanted to study hard this year and attempt the entrance exams next time.

“She was so deeply asleep last night. I didn’t want to wake her, so I tried to access the files myself. I must have pressed the wrong sequence, accidentally sending off some application. I would never do such a thing on purpose, I swear it.”

The more Evelyn listened, the more her heart ached for her ‘poor, suffering daughter.’ The familiar, sharp pang of guilt twisted inside her.

She turned back to Aria, her expression hardening. “Aria, regardless, Eliana didn’t intend any harm. If you’re dissatisfied with the match the AI provides, the family will cover all costs for a formal annulment.”

Aria looked at the woman who had once shown her kindness, now speaking of her potential forced marriage as a mere financial transaction. A profound chill settled deep in her chest.

“Do you know what else she did last night?” Aria’s voice was low, each word measured. “She slipped into the kitchen and tampered with my drink.