Bound by the Ice Dragon

by Alyx X

  In the back of the car as we were driven to her school, Jari had cried fresh tears as she mourned the loss of Lyra all over again, and it tore a fresh piece from my heart. I’d done this to her by hiring Tessa.

  I’d thought about it all the way home, trying to see all the angles and explore all of the solutions, but in the end, there was only one. I only had one resolution available to me, and that was to terminate Tessa’s contract.

  That realization brought a fresh wave of guilt because the humans who volunteered for the Terran Program were desperate creatures—I knew that. And while I didn’t know the backstories of the humans employed in my house, I did my part by ensuring their lives were no worse simply as a result of being there.

  Stories of Earth were told across the universe, and the death of a planet was an idea that united us all in horror. So I prided myself on not just providing work for those who needed it, but also some degree of rescue for those who could do what I asked of them.

  But my good intentions had failed me this time. In fact, they’d failed three of us, and that knowledge grated against my sense of honor. I wasn’t used to losing—or losing control.

  But I had to remedy my bad decision which meant Tessa had to go.

  As I finished telling her that I’d terminate her contract, her face had flushed, and she gasped, looking like I’d punched her. I had added the news that I’d already found her a new position, hoping that would soften the blow of terminating her contract.

  But when her eyes had met mine they blazed with fury, and that emotion made them sparkle, the gold flecks deep in her woodland eyes becoming alive.

  “You did what?” Her mouth barely moved, her face a stiff mask.

  “I… I…” I was stuttering. I, The King, couldn’t form a sentence in the face of this angry human. I dealt with angry people all the time, so this wasn’t an acceptable state of affairs in anyone’s world—especially mine.

  “You.” She rose from her seat and jabbed a forefinger against my desk.

  If she’d been Hydronian, she might have cracked it, and I leaned back on instinct.

  “You do not get to just terminate my contract,” she continued. “Have you even read it?”

  “I…” I snapped my mouth shut. Had I read it, or had I just trusted my advisers to make it watertight for me? I held up my finger. I needed her to stop talking while I thought about this. Maybe I even needed her to stop looking at me.

  Something in her gaze made thought almost impossible.

  She ignored me completely. “My contract states that you can only terminate my services if I’m not performing to your standards, and if you have followed the correct procedure, which is at least one official warning.” She took a breath, and I waited, not entirely sure what I was waiting for.

  As King, I didn’t wait for people to direct their fury at me. I took charge, I made them listen. I got my way. But with Tessa, I couldn’t. My cock stirred as she spoke, and blood rushed through me in a way it hadn’t since Lyra. How the hell was this conversation eliciting this reaction in me?

  And Tessa still wasn’t done talking. She raised her voice a little louder. “You haven’t warned me, and I haven’t failed in my duties.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Therefore, you cannot void my contract.”

  Fuck. My gums tingled, signaling the descent of my fangs. This time it was not from anger. Horror flashed through me. No, this time I was aroused. Her intelligence excited and challenged me.

  She took my silence as permission to continue, because more words poured from her mouth. “If you want to send me away, you need to follow the contract’s rules.” She sat back down, and my chest tightened as waves of something like defeat radiated from her. “And I am so, so sorry that Jari is hurting right now.” Her eyes glazed, but she blinked the tears back, shaking her head like she was telling them no. “This isn’t what I want for her. I don’t want her to hurt, or to be the source of her pain.”

  I released a slow breath. Part of me had wanted to fidget, to not be aware of the bone deep sadness wafting from her as she spoke about Jari’s pain, but I couldn’t redirect my focus away from Tessa long enough to do so. Instead, I surrendered to it and simply watched her.

  “I know what it’s like to miss a mother. I understand that.” She blinked and lost her battle against a tear. It escaped her eye and slid down her cheek.

  I expected her to swipe it angrily away, but she ignored it.

  “And right now, my mother is depending on me. She’s depending on this—” She broke off and gestured vaguely around my office. I knew the movement encompassed my family, my home, possibly my entire planet. “She needs… We need this to work out. And I can’t save her if you void my contract.”

  The scent of sadness in the air increased. Thank fuck the desk was between us, or I might have tried to hug her to make the sadness go away. I gripped the arms of my chair to anchor myself where I sat. If I couldn’t move, hopefully I wouldn’t do anything stupid.

  For a moment, she seemed to pause like she was done, but maybe she was just reoxygenating or something.

  When she spoke again, her tone was measured, her breathing even, and she smoothed a crease in her pants. My gaze followed the movement of her hand down her thigh and my cock thickened. Damnit. I scooted in closer to my desk.

  “With time, I know Jari will grow to at least tolerate me. She might never actually like me”—She flashed me a lopsided grin—“because maybe she’ll always believe I’m someone trying to replace her mom, but I can do the liking for both of us, and I think I can bring her around.”

  I started to nod like the woman I’d just tried to fire was making a lot of sense.

  “But hey, if I don’t, at least you’ll have bought enough time to find a reason to cancel my contract legally?” She lifted a nonchalant shoulder, as if none of the pain she was feeling was truly that serious. It made my chest ache, and I realized I couldn’t argue with her.

  Shit, she was smart, and she had a smart mouth, too. I watched her lips as she nibbled the lower one—apparently actually waiting for me to respond this time. I realized that I wanted to feel that lip against mine. With some effort, I dragged my gaze to her eyes and cleared my throat.

  “I will…” I hesitated. I needed something that sounded regal, so she knew I was still the boss. But I didn’t want her to cry, and I couldn’t add hopelessness to the mix of unhappy scents surrounding her. “Consider it,” I finished lamely. I used my best imperious tone, though I could tell it fell flat.

  She nodded, but the fight in her wasn’t completely gone. Challenge still lingered in her eyes as she dared to meet my gaze. She was done being submissive and meek, and now she was fighting.

  That was refreshing and completely opposite of Lyra. It intrigued me as much as the change in speed aroused me. She was bold and daring, intelligent and brave, and that was a very exciting package to encounter. I closed my eyes. Not that I needed to even venture in that direction. She was the help.

  “You may go.” I didn’t stand. I couldn’t without pointing my cock right at her. Instead, I gestured as dismissively as I could at the door.

  “Okay. Well, thank you for your time.”

  I almost choked. I’d brought her in here to terminate her contract, and somehow she’d ended up thanking me? I was getting this King thing all wrong with her.

  She walked from the room, my eyes trained on her ass. Despite the heavy nature of our conversation, I found myself wanting to cup it, stroke it, grind against it. From the scant research I’d done on human women, our biology was pretty compatible…and Hydronian males were even considered superior to human ones.

  I flicked my tongue over my bottom lip as Tessa closed my office door behind her, and my fangs descended all the way. I drew a deep breath, filling my lungs with the scent lingering in the air—sadness mixed with her usual vanilla.

  I couldn’t ignore my cock any longer. It hadn’t been this hard in months, but I groaned. I couldn’t stroke myse
lf to the image of my children’s nanny.

  Only I wanted to. I wanted to so, so badly.

  One touch wouldn’t hurt...

  I unfastened my pants and released my dick, taking it in my hand. Fuck, it felt good. Going so long without any form of sexual pleasure made this moment of release nearly painful. My skin tingled and heated.

  One more touch wouldn’t hurt.

  I groaned as my cock thickened, the cushion-like knots around the head swelling, ready to pleasure the female of my choice. Tessa… I wanted to pleasure Tessa. I caressed myself, working my fingers over the sensitive flesh, and my hips bucked upward as my body demanded more.

  I thrust my hips again, and my chair creaked. I froze. I didn’t need to attract anyone’s attention, and any form of rhythmic creaking while I was alone in my office would definitely do that.

  But I couldn’t stop. My cock demanded attention. It stood straight up, jutting away from my body, and I touched it again, wrapping my fingers around it and moving them from base to tip.

  I bit my lip against a groan and opened a drawer. Lubing up would help. I rubbed the lube in my hand to warm it, then returned my attention to my dick. It glistened as I stroked it, and pre cum beaded at the tip. All of this from one heated discussion?

  My strokes were long and smooth, but my hips bucked to a beat of their own, my creaking chair anything but rhythmic. I gasped. I sucked in a breath, then another as I tightened my grip, focusing on the way each of my muscles tensed as my orgasm approached.

  Then all of my attention centered on the base of my cock and I held my breath as I bit my lip to keep from yelling.

  Cum spurted between my fingers. So much I couldn’t contain it all, and it landed on my desk, my chair arm, the carpet. I released my breath in one long sigh, relief short lived before guilt crept through me, winding around the inside of my chest.

  I’d just jerked off to thoughts of the nanny. I hadn’t been able to control myself. And, as King, I had to always be in control. There was no other way.

  Cum cooled and dripped between my fingers, sending horror and regret through me. I needed to find any reason to end Tessa’s contract. In fact, that was now the highest priority on my list.

  8

  Tessa

  So, I stayed. Somehow. Or at least, no one arranged for me to leave right away, to Jari’s ever-present dismay. Izon was out of the house more than he was in it for the rest of the week, and for a nanny I sure spent a lot of time showing people of varying snobbery to a sitting room in the house where he received guests.

  Gabby helped me serve Vike and Luka their lunch on Friday. While we worked, I touched her forearm to get her attention.

  “Hey,” I whispered. “Why are there always people here?”

  “People?” She wrinkled her nose.

  “Yeah. Well, they’re Hydronians, but they make the house feel like I can’t keep the children safe enough.” The constant comings and goings made me uneasy, like no one had considered the security of The King’s children.

  “Oh, that’s why you have Dyan.” She wrinkled her nose again, as if my worry confused her.

  “Okay.” But the children’s happiness, health, and safety were still my sole responsibility. The potential for failure weighed heavy on my mind. Especially considering Izon was actively looking for a way to terminate my contract and return me to the Terran Program with his very best wishes. Best wishes or a flip of the bird, it could go either way.

  “So why do all these people come here?” I found my way back to my original question.

  “Okay.” Gabby cast a quick glance at Dyan before she took a seat at the same table as the children.

  I pulled a chair up alongside her so I could help Luka with his food, and I ignored Dyan’s smirk.

  “Don’t get too cozy, ladies,” he called. “There’s a schedule.” He tapped his wrist.

  Neither he nor Izon wore idents, but Dyan had some kind of timepiece he occasionally spoke into instead.

  Gabby rolled her eyes, but Dyan had returned to a book he had spread open on his lap. He spent most of the day appearing to read, but he rarely turned the page, and he seemed to grab a different book at random each day.

  “The King of Hydronia has a lot of planet admin to deal with. He gets a lot of visitors because people want a lot of things.” She shrugged, and I turned away to wrestle a spoonful of Luka’s food into his mouth.

  He seemed to take particular delight in biting on the spoon and grinning at me as practically none of the food made it into his mouth.

  “Like what things?”

  “Oh, things similar to what the Earth president does, I guess? Permissions to travel between planets, arrangements for visiting dignitaries, land disputes, marriage blessings—”

  “What?” I glanced over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah.” She laughed. “Some parts of this planet are really old fashioned. Those kinds of details keep The King really busy.”

  Dyan huffed a laugh that he quickly turned into a cough. Then he stood and walked to the glass doors that led out to a garden with a small sandpit and some play-gym equipment. He did that at least once per hour. Then he took a slow stroll around the room, glancing through the other windows, and finishing by the door into the hallway. He always lingered there a moment, listening.

  It was never clear what he was listening for, but nothing he heard worried him enough to make him leave the room.

  “So,” I dropped my voice, “does The King ever take a break?”

  Gabby laughed loudly and everyone in the room reacted. Dyan spun to face her, his hand on his hip. Luka’s eyes widened, and he burst into loud wails. Vike joined Gabby’s laughter, though his was a lot more maniacal and ever-so-slightly worrying.

  “Sorry! Sorry!” Gabby held a hand up. Then she looked back at me. “Take a break? That would require actual time off, and I don’t think King Izon is familiar with that concept.”

  Huh. “You know, I might have an idea to help with that. Want to help me?”

  Gabby lifted a curious eyebrow but nodded her head.

  The next morning, I got up before the children—and hopefully before the chef—and sneaked down the stairs. I looked through the glass pane in the kitchen door. The room looked deserted, so I pushed the door open and tip-toed across the floor to the large walk-in fridge.

  I almost gasped when I opened the door—it was filled with more food than I’d ever seen in one place. Some of it I even recognized, which was a huge bonus. I’d been living here awhile now and I’d gotten used to the strange cuisine the chef served, but the variety and quantity of food still shocked me.

  I grabbed the basket I’d found in a hall closet and lined it with a tablecloth that would double as a picnic blanket. Then I lifted a selection of food out of the fridge and took a little more out of the cupboards. I tried not to take too much. I didn’t want Chef to know I’d been in.

  Oh, who was I kidding? Of course he’d know I’d been in there—according to the way everyone spoke about him, he ruled the kitchen with more force than Izon ruled a whole planet. Maybe if I didn’t take too much he wouldn’t mind.

  Once I was done packing the picnic, I carried it to Gabby’s room. I tapped on her door, which she opened looking cheerful and bright, despite the early morning.

  “Is that it?” She nodded at the full basket.

  “No, this is just a snack before breakfast.”

  Her jaw dropped open.

  “Of course this is it,” I said sarcastically, “can you lay it out where we agreed?”

  “Absolutely.” Her eyes twinkled. Maybe this was the first secret plan she’s been involved in since she’d arrived on Hydronia. I hoped I was making a friend here. “Now go. The King and Dyan are downstairs. Dyan is probably doing his usual room check, and The King will be in his office. He usually spends a couple of hours there each morning.” She reeled off schedules I’d never even thought about. My mornings were usually full of diaper changes, face washes,
clothes changes, and closed-eyed grumbling from people too small to be my boss, no matter their attitude.

  “I’ll go and find Dyan. Can you have everything set up in forty-five minutes?”

  “Sure. Good luck!” She winked. “You’re going to need it.”

  I shook my head and walked back down the stairs, passing the image of Lyra as I went. I hoped she’d approve of my plan. I found Dyan in the library.

  He looked up as I entered. “It appears you’ve forgotten something this morning.”

  I looked behind me, perplexed for a moment.

  “I’ll give you a clue: six legs, three heads, and three different levels of attitude.”

  “Oh.” I laughed. “No, I’m getting the children up as soon as I ask you to do me a favor.”

  “Intriguing.” He stepped a little into my personal space and I drew away from his intimidating frame.

  “Uh, yeah.” I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I need you to convince The King to join the children and me on the beach for a picnic.”

  He laughed—maybe the first genuine laugh I’d seen from him. Then he stopped, looked at me, and cracked up all over again. Then he waved a hand in my direction and left the room, still chuckling to himself.

  “It’s okay. I’ll wait,” I called after him, and dropped into the easy chair he usually occupied in the corner.

  He reappeared after about three minutes, shaking his head. “No,” he said, like I didn’t know what a head shake meant.

  “That’s all he said to you? Was it just really long and drawn out?”

  Dyan laughed again. I hadn’t heard so much genuine merriment from him in… well, ever.

  He inclined his head. “Well, Izon did say some other stuff, but I probably shouldn’t repeat it in front of a lady.”

  I huffed as I stood up. “I guess that proves it then.”

  “Proves what?” Dyan’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  “That if I want a job done properly, I need to do it myself.” I walked past him and headed to Izon’s office. I could sense the mirth in Dyan’s eyes without turning around.