by Viola Grace
She read that security measures had been put in place and continued giggling. “That was a great party.”
He led her to their room and helped her through the sitting area and through to their bedroom.
“Come on, love. Let’s get you into bed.”
“Promises, promises.” She grabbed him by the front of his tunic and kissed him wildly before she pulled back with a sigh. “I am so sleepy.”
“Then, go to sleep, love. I will be here in the morning.”
She fell back, and her dress turned into a band around her calf. “Good night, lover.”
He chuckled. “I will join you in a moment.”
She rolled to her side and settled. She let her lids flutter closed and felt him sit on the bed next to her. When his arm came around her and he pressed to her back, she could feel the tight warmth of his muscle against her. Her low, ragged sigh was genuine. It felt wonderful to have another being skin to skin against her. It was a pity that they were only here for show.
The moment that they were in a secure location, she started to dictate every secret, plan, plot and scheme that would harm another living being, species or world.
Urado watched her from his own desk in their VIP quarters of the Uranak royal shuttle.
“How did you get all that information?”
“The ladies told me. They got drunk and spilled everything. I just don’t get drunk. I listen. It is a much better way to know what is happening around you.”
“Did you take it from their minds?”
“No, I just used my talent to confirm the truth through the blurry fuzz.”
He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “I still can’t get the way you looked out of my head.”
She smirked. “That is because I keep putting it in there to remind you.”
He paused and stared at her. “You are doing it?”
“Well, I did look rather attractive. I thought you might want to keep the image fresh.” She smiled and batted her lashes at him.
He looked pensive. “Is that an invitation?”
She cocked her head. “To what?”
“Intimacy.”
She shook her head. “No. I am not going to have sex out of a contract. The price to a child is too great.”
“We could simply engage in protected sex.” He sounded hopeful.
“How do you think I got here? My parents’ trial contract expired and they had protected sex the day after. He got pregnant after all and she didn’t want to raise a child on her own. Our laws are exceptionally strict about children out of contract who are rejected. I will not do that to a child.”
“You would not reject your child.”
“No, but as I don’t know what is coming for me next, I don’t want to risk an issue.”
“What if we formalized a contract?” He got up from his desk and walked to hers, kneeling at her feet.
Her eyes widened. “Urado, I know we are partners, but this is a farce too many.”
“Not a farce. I will agree to any stipulation that you have, as will my family.”
She stared at him. “I don’t... I have to think...”
He leaned up and kissed her. “Of course.”
She giggled and pressed her forehead to his. “I am going to regret telling you that.”
“Oh, yes. Do you want to meet with a contract specialist?”
“I think it might be best. I will make a list of demands, and then, we will negotiate for my frequent use of your body.” Zeeat chuckled.
“I have asked the pilot to make a run to Lieffa Station. There is a contract specialist there who will be able to assist.”
She laughed. “In a hurry?”
“After your promise to ravish me? Hell, yes.” He kissed her softly, and the kiss deepened with every passing second.
Suddenly putting on the speed didn’t feel like a bad idea.
“Urado is to carry to transfer no less than two children for you. The children shall have citizen status on Uranak. In case of sudden death of the mother, the children shall be raised by Urado’s family as family members. Education shall be carried out by a local monastery or abbey with a psychic instructor on staff. Upon adulthood, the children will be given the ability to leave Uranak if they choose to. They will receive the entirety of their mother’s estate and can use it for their own start in life.”
Negotiator Tremmel spoke through a speaker hidden in his armoured suit. He continued. “If Zeeat survives, she will have a bound contract to Urado for no less than twenty years from the date of the last child’s birth. All children shall bear both parents’ names and inherit according to Uranak tradition if both parents survive to their child’s adulthood.”
“Urado’s stipulations are as follows. Once per Uranak calendar year, three weeks shall be set aside to attempt to produce a child. If there is no pregnancy within that period, at Zeeat’s discretion, they may return to their work for the Sector Guard and Citadel respectively.”
Zeeat looked at her prospective mate. “Three weeks?”
“Of my choosing.” He smirked. “If we do not get pregnant during that time, we shall simply wait for the next opportunity.”
“Selected by you.”
“Yes, but it will be scheduled so that time off will be arranged. My family has a lovely house in the mountains, and I think it would be an excellent place to start.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Fine.”
The negotiator nodded and finished the documents. “Here you are. Your family has no objection to these stipulations, so you may proceed with the contract and witnesses.”
Zeeat let out a long exhalation. “Well, I suppose that is that.”
Urado chuckled. “Not by a long shot. My mother and grandmother are preparing a ceremony.”
“What about work?”
“They have an instructor teaching them light touches for the next few weeks.”
She blinked at him in surprise. “Weeks?”
“My first three weeks start as soon as that contract is signed.”
The seriousness in his clear crystal gaze was definite. She had found her broken Minder, and now, he was keeping her.
Epilogue
“So, Lossic, you concentrate on the touch of the other minds and pull a veil around your own thoughts. If you learn to do this when entering a room, you can easily pick up on stray hostilities.”
She ran every one of the security personnel through the protocol and sat back at her desk when her students proved their competency and left.
Urado came through the doorway. “You look exhausted, love. Time to come home.”
She rose to her feet and groaned. Their first child was nearing term. The appalling thing was that Urado was pregnant again. It should not have happened, but there it was.
He was only a month along, so she would have three months with her newborn before the next transfer took place.
He held her with an arm around the waist. “We could still get a surrogate for the second child.”
She shook her head. “No. This is going to be my chance at a family. I may sound greedy, but I want them to be mine.”
He kissed her forehead. “Then they shall be.”
The transfer back to Morganti had made sense for both of them. Urado could work with the Sector Guard and she could continue her life as an instructor with the Citadel.
“My father sent a letter.” She blurted it out before she could stop it.
“Did he? What did it say?”
“He is trying to get to Morganti for a visit. The abbess is pleased with the connections to Uranak, and my eldest half-brother managed a high score on scholastic testing this week.” She chuckled.
“So, the family is doing well.”
She nudged him with her hip as they left the towers and headed toward their home at the edge of the Citadel property. “Of course.”
Author’s Note
All credit to my editor, Jan
et, if this goes out on time. It certainly had nothing to do with me.
She’s kidding. It was all Viola.
Viola Grace
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.