by Jaid Black
Rem palmed one of her breasts, the pad of his thumb circling her distended nipple as he laved at her ear with his tongue. “Do not hold a grudge against me, my hearts,” he murmured. “We will burn the wretched collar the moment we leave Lii-Lii. You’ve my word.”
She softened a bit at that caring proclamation, but wasn’t quite ready to let bygones be bygones. “It frightens me,” she admitted on a whisper, “that you are so unyielding where I am concerned.”
Rem’s entire body stilled. “I cannot believe you see it that way.” He plucked a nipple as he sighed. “I am bedeviled by you for a certainty. I am but moldable trelli sand in your hands.”
She couldn’t suppress the tiny smile that found its way to her lips. “Then why is everything always your way or no way?” she asked seriously.
He thought that over for a protracted moment. “I suppose ‘tis true it appears that way just now...” He ran his hand over her belly, the belly she didn’t yet realize was carrying his hatchling. “...but ever since I claimed you there has been naught but life-threatening circumstance after life-threatening circumstance. I cannot take chances with your safety, my hearts, nor can I take chances,” he murmured, “with the life of our unborn pani.”
Pani? Didn’t that mean—
Giselle felt as though the breath had been knocked out of her. Her head darted up to glance over her shoulder and meet Rem’s glowing blue gaze. “A child?” she whispered. “I’m pregnant?”
He gently nudged her onto her back and settled himself between her thighs. Craning his neck, he bent it to sweetly kiss her lips and dart his tongue into her mouth. He made a few soft brushstrokes then raised his head to meet her rounded eyes. With much emotion in his expression, he nodded. “Aye,” he shakily confirmed.
“Oh my god,” she breathed out. Her eyes locking with his, she felt his every emotion, felt the pain and the torture of having longed for hundreds of years for a child, felt the agony of having believed himself to be forever damned to a life without a true mate and offspring. Hundreds of years worth of grief mingled with a tiny spark of hope borne but four nights past was so overwhelming to Giselle that unshed tears burned in the backs of her eyes for him. “Oh Rem.”
In that moment she wanted to be joined to his body more fiercely than she could ever remember having wanted something in the past. With a strength she didn’t even know she possessed, she rolled her surprised Sacred Mate onto his back, straddled his lap, and plunged her flesh downwards to impale herself on his cock.
“Nee’ka,” he said hoarsely, his large hands reaching up to palm her buttocks, “does this mean you have forgiven your Sacred Mate?”
She groaned out her yes as she sank down onto him, finding a pace that heightened their mutual pleasure. “I love you,” she whispered as she locked eyes with him, “and I can’t wait to have your baby.”
“My hearts,” he murmured, running his hands over her breasts and massaging her nipples while she rode him, “I love you more than ‘tis possible to express with mere words.”
Giselle closed her eyes briefly as if savoring the moment. She, a woman who had been a spinster but a week ago, had never thought to have this intimate bond with a man. Rem wasn’t the only one who knew a thing or two about loneliness. She realized it was but a drop in the hat compared to what he had experienced, but back on earth she could have written the book on the subject.
“Prove it,” she said with a coy expression as she bent over him and rode him so that her breasts were dangling in his face, “suck on my migi-candies.”
She was teasing him, he knew, wanting them to dwell on the pleasure of the present, the glory of the future, rather than on the grief of the past.
He grinned. “’Tis my favorite treat.”
Giselle half chuckled and half groaned as he popped a nipple into his mouth and suckled from it. Within mere moments she needed to climax so badly that she had to sit back up so she was seated fully on his thick erection. Her breasts jiggled wantonly as she closed her eyes and rode him hard.
“Mmm,” Rem purred, his hands reaching behind her to knead her buttocks, “’tis the sweetest channel in the goddess’ creation.”
“Oh Rem.”
Giselle’s breathing grew labored as she impaled herself on his shaft, her flesh suctioning in his as their bodies mated. “I love your cock,” she admitted breathlessly, “it’s so thick and filling.”
“’Tis yours,” he ground out, “all yours.”
Rem’s need to dominate her body took over, inducing him to roll her onto her back and slide into her flesh in a series of long, quick thrusts. Grabbing one of her thighs, he nudged it upwards and burrowed into her channel to the hilt.
“Oh god.”
“Tell me what you want,” he arrogantly commanded her. He rotated his hips and slammed into her fast and deep. “Tell me.”
“You,” Giselle groaned. She wrapped her legs around his hips and held on for a hard ride. “I want your cum.”
He picked up the pace of his thrusting. “’Tis my life-force you covet?” he ground out, his jaw clenched tightly.
“Oh god yes.”
“Then milk my rod, nee’ka.”
Giselle’s head fell back on a moan. His thrusting was driving her toward delirium, the feel of him burrowing into her flesh exquisite. Within seconds she was shouting out a hoarse cry, an intense orgasm ripping through her belly. Her nipples stabbed upwards as blood rushed up to heat her face and her vagina convulsed around Rem’s cock.
He joined her in bliss but a fraction of a moment later, the spurting of his seed inducing the bridal necklace to pulse. They held onto each other and moaned, their bodies trembling and convulsing with a euphoric mutual hedonism.
When the waves of peaking had passed and their breathing began to steady they remembered for the first time that they had coupled in a filled dining stall. From Death and Yoli, to Rem’s warriors, to the citizens of Lii-Lii, they could only chuckle at the wide-eyed looks everyone was throwing them.
Giselle grinned up at Rem and wrapped her arms about his neck. The former spinster felt like a vixen and she loved him all the more for it.
Chapter 14
Meanwhile in Sand City...
The High Princess Kara Q’ana Tal paced within her royal apartments as she anxiously awaited the arrival of her best friend and cousin, Princess Jana Q’ana Tal. Jana had set out for the great hall on a mission and now Kara could do naught but wait for her return.
Kara’s teeth sank into her bottom lip as she continued to pace. When the doors to her chamber flew open a few minutes later and the beautiful golden Jana strode in, Kara flew across the room and grabbed a hold of her shoulders. “Well,” she whispered, her glowing blue eyes rounded, “what does he look like?”
Jana grinned, deciding to toy with her a bit. She shrugged out of Kara’s hold and sauntered over to the raised bed. “Are you sure you want to know?” she threw over her shoulder, her expression coy.
“For a certainty.”
Jana giggled, giving up her game. “Oh Kara, he is the handsomest of warriors,” she said with the drama only a girl of eighteen can perfect. She took Kara’s hands in her own as they sank down onto the raised bed to gossip. “He’s as tall and thickly muscled as our sires and fair-haired like mine...”
Kara’s breath caught in her throat.
“...his eyes are the most beautiful shade of glowing turquoise-green I’ve ever beheld. In truth, they’ve the same color as the most vintage bottle of matpow.”
“And?” Kara asked excitedly, “what of his cock?”
Jana nodded, grinning. “’Tis an ominous bulge your future Sacred Mate carries about in his leathers.”
Kara admittedly knew next to nothing about shafts and man sacs, but she’d often heard her mani praise her papa over his lusty thick cock. ‘Twas best if big, she could only conclude. “Which mazi should I wear do you think?”
“Hmm,” Jana murmured, tapping a finger against her cheek. “Mayhap the blue to
show your respect.” She nodded definitively. “’Tis the emblem of High Lords and ‘twill match the color of your betrothed’s leathers. Besides,” she shrugged, “it matches your eyes and goes well against your lovely black hair.”
“You’ve a point with the last bit,” Kara conceded. She threw her an impish grin. “But what of the other bit? Do I really want to appear as though I am all things submissive and complacent right from the start? Leastways he’ll be bored of me outside of two Nuba-minutes if I do that.” Her eyebrows rose fractionally. “Especially considering the fact my family would know it to be a lie.”
Jana giggled. “So bedevil him then.”
“Oh? And how do I do that?”
“Well,” she said in a worldly tone, feeling vastly more knowledgeable on the subject of warriors since she’d been permitted to dine with them for three full weeks now, “wear the blue mazi to show your respect but flirt with the other warriors.” She wagged an instructional finger. “Never let him think that you’re his for the taking.”
Kara frowned at that. “I am his for the taking,” she said quietly, not sure how she felt about the fact that she’d never know a day of freedom before being claimed. “Leastways now that I am eighteen ‘tis understood by all and sundry that he owns me by the Holy Law.” She shook her head, her voice lowering to a threadbare whisper. “Mani and papa are but figureheads now, two people my betrothed entrusts to keep my channel virgin until he claims me in seven Yessat years.”
Jana sighed, squeezing her hand to remind her of her support. “’Tis true, your words.”
Kara took a calming breath. “What if I hate him, Jana?” she whispered. “What if the goddess seeks to punish me for past transgressions by giving me into the care of a beast?”
Jana felt Kara’s anguish as if it were her own. “Then we will shall flee this galaxy forever...together.”
Kara’s head shot up. She sucked in her breath. “Do you mean that?”
Jana nodded definitively. “’Tis a vow amongst best friends.”
Kara swiped at the tears falling from her eyes. She searched Jana’s gaze. “Best friends forever?” she murmured.
“Aye.” Jana threw her arms around her and they embraced with the fierce and untainted passion of eighteen-year-old girls. “Best friends forever.”
* * * * *
High Lord Cam K’al Ra had never felt so nervous in all of his Yessat years. He had spent the morn of this day fantasizing about what Kara might look like, then spent the afternoon working out his anxiousness and lust on a bevy of bound servants and Kefas. He had had his needs seen to as the Emperor had instructed him, yet still he felt no surcease.
Upon entering the great hall, he saw that all had taken their seats and were assembled around the vast raised table awaiting the moment when his future Sacred Mate would make her appearance on her sire’s arm and the feasting would begin. Tons and tons of presents were lined up on another table, all of them come-out gifts for the High Princess Kara.
Cam strode toward the empty seat next to Klea, the High Princess who was to have her come-out in a few months. Still in the kazi, his seventeen-year-old future sister-within-the-law reveled in the moment of being able to dine amongst the assembled warriors, for ‘twas only upon celebratory occasions a girl-child could do so before her come-out.
On the right of Klea sat the High King Jor. The Emperor’s heir continually threw glares at the warriors who dared look upon Klea over long. Cam noted that the High King was filling out rapidly, having already developed a heavier musculature since he’d dined with him last moon-rising.
On the other side of Jor sat wee Geris, the seven-year-old High Princess who had been named for the Empress’ best friend and sister-within-the-law, the Queen of the green moon Ti Q’won. Like Zora and Zara, who were seated next to their youngest sister, wee Geris sported the same fire-berry locks as their mani, Kara and Klea being the only two daughters who had inherited their sire’s black hair.
The only of the ruling family Cam noticed was absent was two-year-old Jun, the King of planet Zolak. Cam noted the hour, realizing ‘twas no doubt past the wee King’s bedtime.
Plopping down into his seat next to Klea, Cam took note of the fact that the Empress was seated to his left. She hadn’t noticed his arrival just yet though, for she was embroiled in a heated discussion with the couple seated to her left, Queen Geris and King Dak. ‘Twas because of the fact he’d taken his seat with the Empress unawares that Cam overheard a conversation he had likely been meant never to be made privy to.
“I’m not certain what to do about Kara.” Kyra shook her head and sighed. “How is Dari dealing with it, Ger?”
Geris did a little sighing of her own as she glanced first to her husband and then to her best friend. “Not well at all.”
“What’s this?” Dak asked, clearly astounded by his wife’s confession. “’Tis the first I’ve heard that my daughter is troubled.”
Kyra glanced across the raised table to where the fourteen-year-old Princess Dari was seated next to a few of her siblings. Where most of Geris and Dak’s six children favored their father with his golden hair and golden skin, Dari and her three-year-old sister Hera were the spitting images of Geris, their long black locks plaited away from their faces in micro-braids that hung to their waists, their dark African-inherited skins a deep onyx. On this planet, as in all of Trek Mi Q’an galaxy, Dari and Hera were considered highly coveted marriage prizes for their rare skins alone. And all of Geris and Dak’s children, Dari and Hera included, were possessed of the ever-sought-after glowing blue eyes of the Q’an Tal bloodline.
“I don’t think the warriors here take into consideration the way a young girl feels when she knows her life has already been chosen for her,” Geris explained to her husband, her lips puckering into the trademark frown she used when agitated with her Sacred Mate.
Dak harrumphed. “You best explain yourself, nee’ka.”
Geris sighed as if the answer should have been obvious. “Dari knows that she will never get to experience a moment of freedom, that she will never get to do all of the fun things most Trystonni girls get to do when they reach the age of twenty-five and legally become women.” She shook her head. “We both know that Gio will take her away the very moment she comes into the claimable age.”
Dak’s eyes narrowed. “I have not a care for the way you say our future son-within-the-law’s name, nee’ka. ‘Tis true Gio was a bit of a ne’er-do-well in his youth, but he has grown into the finest of warriors. Indeed,” he plowed on, “he might have inherited the title of High Lord from his sire rather than having earned it, but ‘tis whispered about that Zor will give unto Gio another sector as reward for his hunting prowess.” He spread his hands in a gesture of pride. “I cannot name a warrior more worthy of my beloved Dari’s hand.”
Geris huffed, her arms crossing under her engorged breasts. “As usual, you have totally missed my point. I suspect you do it on purpose!”
“Do not backtalk me, nee’ka,” he sniffed in a kingly tone, “else will you be grounded from your woman’s joy yet again.”
Her lips pinched together in a glower. “I might have fallen for that line seventeen Yessat years ago, but that threat is useless now.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Because you can’t take the separation,” she murmured. Geris ran her tongue seductively about her upper lip while she meaningfully fingered her bridal necklace. She watched her Sacred Mate gulp roughly. “Grounding me grounds you as well.”
Dak’s jaw tightened. “You best stop toying with me, nee’ka,” he ground out, “else will I sample of your charms at this very table.”
“The point is,” Kyra smoothly interjected before Dak lost his control and began mating with Geris right in front of her, “that Kara and Dari are both feeling as though they have been cheated of the rite of passage most females here take for granted that they’ll have.” She shook her head. “Trek Mi Q’an is a vast galaxy of warriors with very few female hatchin
gs. I’ve only lived here eighteen Yessat years and even I know that most females here realize they will have a period of freedom in between reaching adulthood and being claimed for the sole reason that the chances of them having bumped into their Sacred Mates in such a huge galaxy before they experience a time of freedom is rare.” She shrugged. “Kara and Dari are two of only a handful of exceptions I can think of.”
Dak begrudgingly conceded to that fact. “I take your meaning,” he muttered.
Cam felt his entire body stiffen even as his heart rates accelerated and his nostrils flared in primordial possessiveness. Every day without Kara felt an eternity. He, who was over twice his betrothed’s age, would not be able to wait even a Nuba-second once she reached five and twenty and he could legally sample of her charms. He would care for his pani bride well and love her with all of his hearts, but she would be given no reprieve. ‘Twas final, his decision.
Realistically Cam knew that he now owned Kara and that she would therefore have no say in the matter of being claimed, but he couldn’t suppress the worry he felt that the Empress might seek to intervene on his betrothed’s behalf and somehow thwart the claiming. He would have to speak on this matter to the Emperor later, warrior to warrior.
“I know Gio is a fine warrior as is Cam,” Kyra said gently to Dak, “I don’t take issue with that fact. I’m merely trying to point out what Kara and Dari are going through because I have no idea how to deal with it.”
Cam felt his body relax. Mayhap he would not need to speak with the Emperor after all. Mayhap all he needed to do was speak with the Empress in privacy later to reassure her he would make for a fine Sacred Mate. The High Princess Kara might harbor her doubts now, but ‘twas for a certainty she would be fine once he joined her to him for all times.
Cam felt a pang of empathy for Gio when he watched the High Lord take a seat next to the exquisitely beautiful Dari only to be rebuffed by his future bride. The Princess, who was allowed in Gio’s presence only because ‘twas a celebratory occasion, refused to speak with him, turning her attention instead toward her golden elder sister Jana. Cam could almost hear Gio’s teeth grinding together from his own seat.