by Chloe Joel
Going on this diplomatic trip would be good for him, he needed to get away from her and clear his head. She had him in knots in his mind and he couldn't be a rational person when she was involved. He wasn't sure when she'd worked her way under his skin, but short break from each other should give him perspective and control over his own emotions again.
Or so he thought.
Chapter 9
Aris was on the planet Terrabu and was meeting with their Prime Minister to sign the treaties again. He was sitting in his guest chambers and staring at the woman they'd provided him. Sipping their alcoholic drink of choice, he felt the burn as it hit his belly. He didn't want to admit it out loud, but he missed Helena. He wished she was here with him, and it disturbed him that he couldn't stop thinking about her.
He looked down at the small girl with dark skin and purple-tinged hair who was on the floor. She was quietly sitting at his feet, trying to arouse him and it just wasn't working. She tried not to show her confusion with him, as it wasn't her place to react no matter what he did or said. She was only supposed to do what she was told, but it was clear he just wasn't interested in her.
The slave reminded him nothing of Helena and he couldn't get himself to pretend he wanted her. The girl had one hand on his leg as she kneeled between his knees and was touching him through his clothes and looked up at him curiously when she was unable to get his penis to respond to her touch.
"It's not you, I'm just thinking of my girl back home," Aris said sighing in frustration. He'd never had a problem performing before. His lack of interest made him question his own manhood, even though he felt his cock twitch at the idea of being on top of Helena touching her delicate body and skin. He was fairly certain it wasn't this girl's fault, but rather his desire for Helena that was preventing him from being attracted to her or using her like she was offered.
"She must be a very lucky girl," The slave told him smiling at him, not seeming overly distressed by his answer. It was not her place to act offended, instead she reassured him.
Helena's big eyes and tears were fresh in his mind as she asked him to consider being faithful to her, and he couldn't bring himself to ignore her request. He was frustrated that in such a short time, she'd wormed her way into his head in a way that was keeping him from behaving like he would have before he'd met her.
Frustrated with everything he ordered the girl to get out and he threw his glass across the room watching it shatter as it hit the wall, the liquid remaining sprayed everywhere with the shattered glass.
Even thousands of miles away from her, on another planet, he couldn't get away from her. He had promised himself he wouldn't change for any woman, let alone a slave and when he was provided with a slave to pleasure him, he couldn't bring himself to use her.
This wasn't what he had pictured. He knew he needed to finish the treaties and get back home to get married and start working on the baby his father was hoping to meet before he died. He didn't expect his feelings for Helena would stop him from being able to appreciate all that life had to offer in the form of female pleasures.
Aris was confused and unsure, which were new feelings to him, he just wasn't used to feeling insecure. He was trying to stay emotionally detached from the situation, but he pictured Helena naked and his cock instantly got hard, almost uncomfortably so.
Frustrated, he stroked himself until he had an orgasm and released some of the tension from his balls, and then laid down on the bed in the room staring at the ceiling. He wondered what she was doing right now, if she was thinking about him.
It would have been so easy to push that slave down on the bed and have sex with her, burying himself balls deep inside of her, and Helena never would have even known, but all he could do is picture the hurt on her face if she ever found out, and that killed his erection for the girl.
Why was this happening to him? How could he be a good leader to his people if his wife-to-be had him tied up in knots so he couldn't even make decisions on his own without considering her feelings?
He knew his father would say that caring about another showed strength of heart, which could be a valuable trait, but seeing his father grieve for his mother had made him promise to never allow himself that type of emotionally involved with any woman.
Aris was worried it would make him weak, a target for his cousin to challenge him for the throne. A weakness that an enemy might pick up on and use against him to start a war, or even a weakness his wife might use against him to get what she wanted all the time.
When he got up the next morning, he was still troubled by his feelings, and the dreams of Helena naked and in his arms all night had left him feeling restless when he awoke.
He went out to meet with the reigning monarch to sign the last of the papers before heading home.
"Aris, we would like to give you a slave." The man told him and clapped his hands, bringing in a beautiful young girl who had black hair down past her waist. She was tiny and had large dark eyes.
"What is this?" Aris asked confused.
"This is our gift to you for the treaties. Take her with you. She is yours now." The man told him and clapped him on the back. "I'm sorry to hear about your father. Please let him know we think about him frequently, and if my doctors come up with anything that might help, we'll send you the data if we get anything useful."
"Thank you," Aris said politely, and wondered what in the world he was going to do with the girl he had been given. He'd take her back to his home, but he couldn't keep her. He knew Helena wouldn't understand. But, with the treaties newly signed, he also couldn't refuse the girl, it would be an insult.
Wishing this trip would be over already, and he could get back to Helena. He was shocked at how much he missed her, and it disturbed him a little bit to realize that all he could think about while he was gone was her.
Chapter 10
Helena was pacing their room, wishing Aris was here. Studying his culture, their language, and learning to read their writing made her brain hurt a little bit, but she was trying to be grateful for the life if he was about to offer it to her. She felt like the weight of the world was on her shoulders and she didn't know how to cope with the stress.
She had no one who really understood what she was feeling and going through, and she was so far out of any experience she had previously in life. All she could try to do was take it one day at a time and try to adapt as needed. But it was hard.
She missed Aris. She didn't want to miss him, but he'd made love to her and it was all she could think about. She knew he was far away on another planet, she knew he'd have access to other women.
She just hoped he wouldn't do anything with anyone else while he was gone. She didn't know if she could handle knowing that he'd touched another woman, and then would come back expecting to touch her. She came from a different background and culture, and monogamy was important to her.
She knew that as a slave, even though he was planning on marrying her, it wasn't up to her, but she could still hope. Hope that somewhere in his heart, he loved her enough to not want to hurt her.
She could handle most other things, that he was in charge, and she had to be a supportive role, but in order to do that, she needed to trust him, to know he loved her enough to respect and avoid something that would damage her if he did it.
He'd seemed like he would miss her when he had to go, he didn't say the words exactly, but his actions had shown her his real feelings. He'd been extra clingy with her the day before his trip. Touching her for no reason, pressing gentle kisses to her cheek and forehead, finding a reason to grab her hand and hug her close.
He cared about her, she just needed him to admit to himself, and to her that he could love her. She didn't know if she could go through this marriage if he couldn't admit that she had worked her way inside his heart.
Helena knew she was asking a lot of him, it was against his beliefs to love anyone. Her being a slave didn't matter, he'd told her more than once he didn't believe in love, yet h
is actions belied his declarations. The way he'd look at her when he thought she wasn't looking, the way he'd gently pushed her hair off her face when he thought she was asleep, the way he cupped his body protectively around hers and wouldn't go to sleep until she was.
It was the little subtle things that told her how he really felt about her and the situation, but she wanted to hear the words, not just see the actions and hope that someday he could admit it to himself and to her.
Her mind made up, she was trying to write him a letter in his own language, to practice, but also to confide her real feelings and hope that he'd see how much effort she was putting into this for the both of them, and that he'd give her something small in return.
Just three little words. She wasn't asking for much.
Chapter 11
Aris arrived back home and took the slave that he'd been given inside the castle. He decided he'd give her to his father. He wasn't sure his father would appreciate the girl, given how sick he was, but at least this way Helena wouldn't have reason to freak out.
He struggled to understand why he cared so much about how she felt, but he knew he couldn't risk breaking her heart over something like this, not when he wanted children from her, and they were going to be married. He was trying to be tolerant of her cultures that she came from, he didn't have to be, but he cared. It was confusing.
He took the girl into his father's chambers, and left her there kneeling at the end of the bed on a red pillow.
She stayed where he'd put her and he went off to find his father before seeing Helena. He needed to let his father know how the trip went, and that all the treaties were signed.
His father was in his office room, with one of his main advisors, who would become Aris's when he was crowned King. He didn't mind being King, he just wished it didn't come at the expense of losing his father.
"Hello, I'm back." He announced as he knocked on the door and walked through, smiling at his father.
"I'm just taking care of some of the paperwork to make this transition as smooth as possible for you. I'm sending letters to the local dignitaries surrounding our Kingdom, and letters to our allies in the off world planets. There may be more trips for you in the future, but after the wedding."
"I think it may be best if I took Helena with me on future trips." Aris told him, realizing he didn't want to leave her behind. He didn't really want to admit the reason was he simply missed her, and if she was with him, he wouldn't.
"That will be up to you, though you'll need to be careful to prepare her for each planet and culture you are visiting. All it takes is one wrong move and she could start a war between the planets." Hydan warned his son but shrugged, not against the idea in general.
"I wanted to warn you, they gifted me a slave. Due to Helena's feelings, I'm giving her to you. The girl is in your room, do with her as you wish. I'm sure if you don't want her, there's plenty of men around here who might." He told his father, and then updated him about his trip, the colony he went to see, and how their Prime Minister was doing along with the economy of their planet.
"Sounds like the trip was successful. You'll have more to do after the wedding, are you ready to be married?" Hydan asked his son, and started coughing. The blood he coughed up was worse than Aris had ever seen before. He regretted leaving his father and realized the time they had was limited together.
"I'm ready to be married, maybe we should move up the wedding, Father. I'm worried about your health." Aris hesitated after he spoke, not wanting to offend his dying father, but realizing that if he waited too long, his father might not even live long enough for the wedding, let alone the birth of an heir.
"If you feel like doing that, you two could be married in a week's time. That's about as fast as we could get the invitations out for people to come." Hydan nodded at his advisor who was taking notes down.
"That would be fine, I will go speak with Helena and let her know the change of plans." Aris paused when he got to the doorway, "I had planned on giving Helena time to adjust to being married before intentionally having children with her, but I decided to go off the birth prevention while I was away, so we could make a baby, sooner, rather than later."
"Does Helena know, that you plan on going off it now?" Hydan asked his son.
"From what we've talked about in the past, their world doesn't have prevention for the males to take, the responsibility is all on the females. It makes no sense to me, it should be up to the man. If he doesn't want children, then a man should prevent children." Aris said shaking his head. "She assumed if we had sex, she could get pregnant. I never went into detail about being able to prevent children myself."
"Not all planets are advanced medically, or scientifically as ours. You'll need to remember that when you go on future diplomatic missions." Hydan told his son and then broke out into a coughing fit.
Aris wasn't sure if he should leave, or stay with his father, but when the advisor shooed him away, he went to go find Helena.
He found Cindy before he found Helena, she was flirting with a guard outside of the training room, her hand on his chest and was giggling at something the man was saying to her.
"Cindy," Aris said, startling her so the guard nearly jumped out of his skin and backed away from Cindy, looking guilty. "At ease man."
The guard nodded and then averted his gaze, pretending that neither of them existed.
"You're home," Cindy mused. "Helena's in your room. She's been sleeping there while you were gone, I think she missed you."
"Thanks, I'm on my way to find her. Did anything weird happen while I was gone?" Aris asked Cindy, knowing she'd tell him the truth.
"Nope, not really, same old routine." Cindy shrugged, "Anything else?"
"Yes, stop flirting with the guards when they are on duty, you have plenty of time to fornicate when they aren't." Aris raised a brow at her and with the parting message, went off to find Helena.
He entered his room and found Helena sleeping on his bed. She had a book, and practice scratch paper scattered around her on the bed, she must have been practicing their language, and he smiled. She looked so young and innocent when she was sleeping.
He walked over quietly and removed all the items off the bed, and then took his boots off and laid down next to her, intending to kiss her awake.
Helena rolled over in her sleep, her dress falling open since she'd unlaced the top, the fullness of her breasts caught Aris's attention, and before he could stop himself, he reached out and started to massage her breasts gently. He pulled one of the lobes out of her dress and ducked his head, pulling one of the perky nipples into his mouth.
Helena moaned in her sleep and then reached for him. Her eyes opening just enough to give him a sleepy smile and wrap her arms around his body as he played with her chest.
"I missed you," She whispered to him as she ran her fingers in his hair, she was glad to see him.
Aris didn't answer her, instead, he just played with her breasts and started to unlace the rest of her dress, pulling it open, letting out a soft sigh as they bounced free for his pleasure. His other hand reached down by her knees and pulled it up from the other direction, exposing her legs and thighs to him. He put his hand between her legs and touched her gently, working his way up to the core of her heat. She had no panties on.
He'd made a comment once that he liked the idea of being able to lift her skirt at anytime, anyplace and take her and no panties made that easier. She apparently took it to heart and left her under garments off.
Slipping his hand higher, he started to touch her, fondling her most intimate parts. He inserted a finger inside her, massaging her quietly as he licked and sucked on her breasts.
Helena moaned, and was glad he was home, she pushed herself against him and spread her legs wider, giving him easier access to touch her.
Aris pulled back after he got her juices flowing, and his hand and fingers were dripping wet.
"We are moving up the wedding." He told her as he reached down
and started to work on undoing his pants.
Helena looked at him confused, "Any particular reason why?"
"My father is getting sicker, and I don't think he'll live much longer. We need to be married before he dies, so the wedding will be in a week from now." He told her, and then kissed her to shut her up. He'd missed her, he'd denied himself sex while he was gone, and now he was going to get his needs met since he honored her wishes.
He spread her legs and positioned himself between her legs, looking down at her big eyes, she looked up at him, relaxed and trusting and it made something inside him melt.
Ignoring what that might mean, he shook it off and slammed himself inside of her, and then leaned down to nibble on her neck, ears and shoulder while he used her body. He didn't last as long as he'd hoped, not having sex for a while had made him sensitive.
Helena didn't complain, instead she held him while he shuddered in her arms and kissed him back as passionately as he kissed her.
"Sorry," Aris muttered. "I went without sex while I was gone, and it made it so I didn't last as long. I'll make it up to you."
"That's okay, I enjoyed the feeling of being close to you, regardless if I cum in the middle of it." Helena reassured him, feeling relieved that he admitted he had waited to get back to her. She knew he didn't have to, and she appreciated his willingness to care about her feelings.
"I haven't exactly covered what the marriage ceremony is going to be like. We haven't got to that part of my studies yet, they were more focused on other things, if it's going to be in a week, is there anything I need to know?" Helena asked him, as she cuddled up to him and curled close. She'd missed him, the way he'd smelled, the sound of his heartbeat, she was so glad he was close to her right now.
"You'll be dressed up, and you'll be carried on a chair down to where my father is waiting. As reigning monarch, he has the right to marry us, and he's chosen to exercise that right. I'll arrive after you do, and help you off the platform with the chair. We'll bow to the crowd and then face my father while he goes through our family history a little bit, explaining the joining of our union and why we are getting married. After that, we'll exchange blood, we'll each be expected to cut our palms and then he'll tie a chain around our wrist, to bind us together. We'll repeat a few words, then you'll be escorted back to the wedding chamber to wait for me. I'll be expected to socialize while you are prepared for our wedding night." Aris told her. He didn't think their weddings were very complicated, but the more he talked the bigger her eyes got. "Everything okay?"