It was stifling. I’d consumed too much food and too much to drink. My dress was too tight, and there was no way I could leave. Summers on Hestia were torrid.

My cousin Magda tried to force another slice of wedding cake on me, but I knew another mouthful would nauseate me. Being nauseous is not something you do on your wedding day.

My wedding day, was this a dream or a nightmare. I was perfectly content on Earth pursuing my degree in xenobiology when I received the summons from the matriarchs. The short version was, ‘get your ass over here; we have chosen your husbands.’ So I had boarded the next outbound ship headed for my planet, and now one month later, I was duly married to three men I only knew by name.

One does not argue with the matriarchs on pain of being permanently exiled from home. I loved my planet. Earth was fine, and I understood the people who raved about the green hills of Earth. However, those green hills had disappeared long ago. It was not a planet I would want to live on as it was now.

Epidemics were rampant, the air was hardly breathable, and a woman did not risk herself outside alone day or night. But, of course, in the seclusion of the university, I had been protected from all of these risks, but one cannot live one’s life in a glass jar.

Society had evolved differently on Hestia. The original colonization had involved very few women. In a predominantly male-populated planet, women were very precious and rare. Because of this situation, the practice of polyandry had evolved. We were not the first human culture to travel this road; however, we were the first where it succeeded.

Women in my culture were cherished, protected, and happy. A woman who was not respected and loved and complained to any male of her problem would see the culprit torn limb from limb if he was lucky. On Hestia, women ruled on all non-international aspects, such as health, welfare, education, and the like, while men ruled on affairs between the nation-states.

Today’s ceremony would unite the four states of our continent. The glue which would hold them together was between my loins. I looked around the room and saw my new husbands, each with his own sept in a different corner of the room. When they caught me looking at them, they averted their eyes and pretended they were not looking at me.

I had no such scruples. On the contrary, I stared at these three strangers. Each was the heir presumptive of their state, and I attempted to understand and evaluate who I was getting as a husband.

My cousin Magda, my bridesmaid, sitting next to me, said, “Not bad, Xandria. You have certainly lucked out. Not a cull in that lot. I wouldn’t kick any out of bed for eating crackers as long as they devoured me.”

“Magda, behave. You have your own husbands to keep your fires stoked.”

“I know, dear cousin. I know. But it is all women’s right to dream. Look at young Gordon. He could have been used as the model for Michelangelo’s David. Raphael and Michael remind me of two movie actors I have seen in antique movies. But, unfortunately, I can’t remember their names offhand.”

“Let me help you. You’re thinking of Alain Delon and Sean Connery. Now you have to get me out of here before I scream.”

“Your mother will kill you if you leave.”

“Magda, I am no longer my mother’s responsibility. I now have my own household.”

“She is still the chief matriarch, Xandria.”

“Unfortunately, not for long. This whole gymkhana was organized to take place before she passed away.”

“Why gymkhana?

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m the steed, and there are the three riders who will be mounting me before the night is over.”

She snickered, took my hand, and led me out of the reception hall.

We ascended a long staircase to the second floor and down a corridor. “Your bridal suite, Me Lady,” Magda said, halting in front of a massive oak door. She ushered me into the room, and I looked around me.

Sybaritic was the only word to describe what I saw before me. I had previously resolved to make drastic alterations to this drafty structure, yet the chamber of my dreams was in front of me. Plush carpets brightly and tastefully decorated walls, and a profusion of exotic plants and flowers surrounded me.

“Do you approve, Xandria?”

“Who arranged all this, Magda?”

“I did.”

“Well, whatever your other multiple faults, you did good, girl.”

“I’m delighted you approve.”

“I could not have done better myself, honey. You will be an ideal partner for some of the changes I intend to make here. Now one last favor, please. Go and find my husbands and invite them to attend to me. My loins are burning to feel them take me in multiple and myriad ways.”

“Your wish is my command. If you intend to discard any of the three, remember that I stand ready to offer them my services. By this time, they must be ready to ravage any available maiden. I now run to do your bidding.”

I wandered around the premises looking at the artwork and gazing out of the floor-to-ceiling windows at the glorious summer flowers in the gardens below. As I wandered, my mind was composing a scheme on how to deal with three men at once. I was not a virgin, having crossed that river when I turned sixteen and having had multiple lovers since. However, this was unchartered territory for me.

The sharp knock on the door brought me back to my present reality. “Come in,” I said in a voice harsher than I intended. My three husbands, who I did not really know, trooped in and looked silently at me.

“Please come in, and let’s sit and talk. Why don’t you sit on the sofa or the armchairs and make yourself at home? After all, this is now your home.”

“That’s most gracious, My Lady,” said Michael, the rugged oldest looking of the three.

“Michael, My Lady, is not my name; I’m your wife and not an obligation you have undertaken. If you consider me an obligation, you may leave, and we will find a credible reason for your departure. If you decide to stay, call me Xandria, love or darling, anything but My Lady. The same applies to all three of you. So if you agree, please sit down.”

“I apologize, Xandria. The last thing I want would be to leave,” he said, settling into one of the armchairs.

Gordon and Raphael seated themselves in the two remaining armchairs, leaving me alone on the sofa. So here we were, four separate entities all sitting across from each other. “Refreshments are available if you desire on the sideboard. So help yourselves to what you wish. I would not refuse if one of you popped the cork on one of the bottles of champagne I see there and poured me a flute.”

Young Gordon sprang up as if mounted on springs and rushed to bring me the champagne. “Ok, the three of you sit, and we will talk,” I said after all had served themselves.

“The first thing I want to bring up is that I’m not a virgin. However, I have no unclaimed baggage here on Hestia or on Earth. So please tell me if you have unclaimed baggage as I presume none of you have led monastic lives.”

There was a communal blush from the three of them as they acknowledged not to have unclaimed baggage.

“Now, secondly, I am what used to be called lusty. In today’s language, I think the term is horny. I presume that is also the case with you three. Gordon manifests his horniness magnificently though he tries to hide it,” I remarked with a smile gazing at Gordon’s crotch, where he was attempting to conceal a very noticeable bulge.

Gordon blushed and tried to excuse himself. I hushed him and told him I saw the bulge as a compliment to me and hoped I could always keep him in that state.

“Now, lastly, let’s tackle the elephant in the room, who, when, and how will we handle marital relations, or as I prefer to think of it as, sex. I understand that each husband was assigned his night with his bride in the past. Those not scheduled for that night retired to their solitary chambers.

“To me, that is plain stupidity. I plan to love you and make love to you as often as possible. In the bed-chamber is a bed that will comfortably accommodate four of us simultaneously. Does that pose a problem for any of you to sleep in proximity or make love to me while the other two are present?