The sleigh’s inbuilt dampening shields negated much of the adverse effects of the cold climate, and she felt warm and snug inside the sleigh. Nax sat next to her, a solid presence of power, and she had to stop herself several times from snuggling up to him.
“The village of Kron is just up ahead,” Nax said at length, breaking the companionable silence. “I have some duties to perform before we go to the lodge, and you can do some research, if you want.”
“Okay, that’s great,” replied Lara, excited at the prospect of getting the chance to do some fieldwork. Her travel bag had been returned to her with all its equipment and her scientific curiosity was piqued at getting to see more of Nardenstar.
Before long they reached the cluster of mean looking huts clinging to the edge of the iceberg laden ocean. Narden men and women wrapped in heavy furs went about their business and Lara was shocked at the contrast between them and the richly furnished nobles in the castle.
“The poverty is shocking,” she said candidly, as they climbed out of the jet sleigh. “Is it the same everywhere on Nardenstar?”
“Pretty much so,” Nax said indifferently. “Narden society is divided into two classes, the peasants and the nobles. It has been like that since time immemorial.”
“Don’t the people in the lower class not get sick of their conditions? Don’t they ever try and change anything?”
Nax laughed mirthlessly. “Nothing ever changes on Nardenstar. Loyalty to the Ruling House and fear of our Yetoid soldiers keep the people in check.”
Lara didn’t like the sound of that, but she said nothing. She opened her travel bag and took out her scanner so she could record the scene and take some rock samples. As she went about her work an elderly man approached them.
“That’s the headman of the village,” Nax said. “I need to speak to him. Do what you need to do but be quick about it while I talk to him. Granor, bring the supplies.”
As Nax trudged across the snow to talk to the headman, Lara watched the Yetoid unload the containers from the back of the sleigh which they had brought with them from the castle. She had thought they were being taken to the hunting lodge, but obviously she was wrong.
“What did he mean by supplies?” Lara asked curiously.
“Extra food for the village,” Granor said briskly carrying on with his work. “The fishing season has been poor and the village won’t make it through the deep winter without extra supplies.”
Lara raised her eyebrows, pleasantly surprised by this act of charity. “Well, at least the King makes some provision for his subjects so it’s not as bad as I thought it was.”
“King Prius isn’t doing this,” Granor retorted, letting out a disdainful laugh. “He doesn’t care about if his people live or die, just as long as he receives his tribute. No, this is Nax is doing. The King would be furious with him if he found out he was giving away food from the castle.”
Lara stared at him in surprise and then looked at Nax. He was talking animatedly with the headman and she felt a grudging admiration for him. She hadn’t expected he’d care about anyone else but himself.
“How do I know this isn’t for my benefit?” she asked.
Granor shrugged his furry shoulders. “It would never occur to Nax to try and impress you through his good works. Usually, his face and body is enough to make women drool. If you don’t believe me, we can stop at every village along the coast and ask them. At one time or another, he’s helped all of them when things got tough.”
“Okay, I believe you,” Lara replied. She couldn’t explain it, but she felt instinctively that he and Nax were on the level. She carried on watching him as he patted the headman on the back and then got into a snowball fight with several of the village children. A warm glow suffused her as she watched him goofing about. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t that bad after all.
Chapter 5: A Touch That Melts
After they had concluded their business at the village, they headed on to the hunting lodge. It was a sturdy structure of wood and glass set onto the hillside overlooking a gaping chasm. Behind it the rugged mountains reared up to the sky, creating a dramatic backdrop.
“This place is breathtaking,” Lara said, looking around at the lodge in awe.
“It’s okay,” Nax said in an airy voice. “It serves as a suitable getaway from the crushing boredom of the court.”
“You don’t really like life at the castle, do you?” Lara observed as they entered the well lit front room of the lodge. Granor bustled past with the luggage.
“You noticed?” Nax said wryly. “As a matter of fact I hate it there. The people are so self-serving and fake and they spend all their time lounging around drinking and scheming. It is all so painfully tedious.”
“But you’re different?”
Nax shrugged him shoulders. “I enjoy the outdoor life and I like keeping an eye on the settlements. There are predators in the mountains that sometimes come down and cause trouble, and a lot of the people struggle to get through the deep winter. I do what I can.”
Lara nodded. “It’s very commendable of you.”
“Maybe,” Nax said indifferently. “I get on better with the peasants than I do with my fellow nobles. That’s why my father hates me so much. He’s afraid I might one day get them to rise up and overthrow him.”
“Would you do that?” Lara asked wide-eyed. “You’d make their lives better, I’m sure of it.”
Nax sneered. “I despise politics, and I’d be stuck in the castle all day having to deal with boring duties. I’d never get the chance to do what I wanted to do. No, my dear father can keep his crown for as long as he wants.”
They went and sat down on fur-covered chairs before a stone hearth, and Granor made up a fire before preparing some food. As they waited, Lara’s fledgling admiration for Nax began to fizzle away.
From the way he was talking he was coming across as the immature, carefree player she’d taken him to be. “But surely you won’t be able to do what you want forever. When the King dies you’ll have to take over.”
“He’ll be around forever,” Nax said sardonically, “and even if he isn’t, I won’t be around to take over anyway. The parasitic nobles can fight it out.”
“Where will you be then?”
Nax scratched his nose. Lara found it an artless, endearing gesture. “I don’t know. When the time is right, I will just disappear. Granor will help me get off the planet. I shall travel, maybe sign on with a merchant ship and travel the galaxy. I’d love to see what’s beyond Narden territory, go to the Carnation Expanse or visit the Vakrall Dominance.
You know the Vakrallans live on a world that’s completely desert waste? It must be so hot and heavy-going. I’d love to visit there. I can’t imagine anywhere that hot though. I’ve seen some holo-casts of it on Earthtube and do you know they ride about on giant lizards? Isn’t that fantastic?”
“I guess so,” Lara said nonplussed, “though I think it sounds like you’re shirking your responsibilities. From what I saw in the village, it’s clear the people like you a lot. You could do a lot of good if you wanted to.”
Nax waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t nag so. You’re as bad as Granor here. I’ll lead my life the way I want to.”
“I’m not nagging,” Lara replied, feeling her irritation rise. He really was a typical guy, just looking for an easy life.
Granor brought them each a bowl of hot stew and they ate in silence. “Anyway, it will be years before my father dies so it’s not worth talking about,” Nax said at length, pouting a little. “And just because I was born a prince doesn’t mean I have to do what’s expected of me.”
“I’m not judging you,” Lara said, finishing her stew. “You do whatever you like.”
“As a matter of fact, I have another career I want to pursue. I am an accomplished sculptor.”
Lara gave him a quizzical look. “A sculptor?”
“Don’t look so bloody surprised,” Nax said indignantly. “I’m not a complete sav
age.”
“I’m not surprised,” Lara retorted, “well, not completely surprised. I’m just . . . ”
“Surprised,” Nax provided in a deadpan voice.
“Okay, yes I am surprised,” Lara admitted. “It just seems quite artistic for you.”
“That’s what my father says,” Nax said sourly, “that’s why I only sculpt out here where I have peace and quiet.”
“You have some pieces here? A studio? Can I see it?” Lara asked, genuinely intrigued.
Nax made a face. “I’m not sure. I don’t think I could bear your scorn on something that is so important to me.”
“I wouldn’t do that!” Lara protested. “Please, show me.”
Nax made a show of resisting but she could tell from the gleam of his eyes that he was excited at showing off his work. He got to his feet and beckoned her to follow him. “Very well then, but if you laugh, you’re sleeping out in the snow.”
Lara followed him through the lodge until they entered a large room lit by a skylight from above and with one wall made of glass with a door set in to it, which led out to a wide balcony that stretched out over the chasm itself. Inside the room a number of exquisitely sculpted statues made of ice were scattered around the floor. Most of them were unfinished.
“These are fantastic,” Lara said gazing at the elegant looking men and women Nax had sculpted. He had also carved several Yetoids and angelic looking children, magnificent landscapes and mountains, along with strange and fearsome looking animals that she guessed were native to Nardenstar.
“You like them?” Nax asked a flicker of hesitation in his voice.
“Yes,” she said, smiling with genuine pleasure. “You have a real talent, I can’t deny that.”
She paused in front of a sculpture of a tall, regal looking Narden woman who caught her eye. Though the woman shared the typical statuesque and flawless beauty of the Narden women she’d seen at court, there was something in the woman’s eyes that conveyed a sense of warmth and compassion. It was something she’d sometimes seen in Nax’s eyes as well.
“Who’s this?” she asked.
Nax didn’t answer at once. He looked down at his feet. “It’s of my mother,” he said quietly.
“Oh, I didn’t know you had a mother.”
Nax raised an eyebrow. “How did you think I came about then? Did you think I was hatched from an egg like a Vakrallan?”
“No, I know you had a mother, I just, you’ve never mentioned her. Does she live in the castle too? I don’t think I saw her in the throne room.”
“She’s dead,” Nax said in a flat voice.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” replied Lara looking back at the sculpture. She felt real sadness at the news. For some reason, she thought she would like this woman if she were alive.
“Don’t be, it was a long time ago,” Nax said looking out at the chasm. “I was nine years old when she died. I inherited her gift for sculpting though. That snowflake ornament in the throne room you were so taken with? She sculpted that. I’m nowhere near as good as her, but maybe one day, I will produce something equal or even better than that.”
Lara nodded. “She must have been a remarkable person.”
“She was,” replied Nax turning round and looking at her with shining eyes. “She was so full of life and passion, much different to the stiff and formal nobles that I have to endure now. When she was alive, the whole court was a different place, full of warmth and laughter. My father was a different person. Then she died, and it all changed.”
“How did she die?” Lara asked.
“A rival warlord wanted to take the crown for himself, and sent an assassin to kill me to further his plans. There was a great banquet and that was where the assassin was to strike. My mother must have somehow sensed the danger. She blocked the assassin’s blade meant for me, sacrificing her own life in the process. I still remember every second of that night. I’d never seen my father so angry before.
He had the assassin flayed alive and wiped out the warlord and his entire family and their servants, even burning their estate to the ground. I’d never seen such fury before, and after he was done he was still angry. Only now, he was angry with me. He blamed me for my mother’s death, though I’d give everything I have to get her back.”
Nax fell silent, and Lara felt her eyes tear up. Her first impulse was to go and comfort him, to hug him tightly, but she stayed where she was. If she made such a move she had no idea where it would lead, and she wouldn’t allow her emotions to get the better of her.
“Hey, I just had the most wonderful idea,” he said abruptly, his sombre mood dispelling in heartbeat. “I could sculpt you.”
“Oh no, I’m no artist’s model,” Lara protested.
“You must do it!” Nax insisted. “It will be my greatest creation yet.”
“I’m meant to be doing research,” Lara pointed out, though the idea of sitting for him was very exciting. Nobody had ever asked her to pose for them and the idea of joining this wonderful collection appealed to her.
“You can do that in the day and sit for me in the evening,” Nax insisted. “Please say yes. It will make me so happy.”
She tried to formulate another argument but couldn’t be bothered. She wanted him to sculpt her and resisting was just pointless. “As you wish my prince,” she said in mock-exasperation, “I’ll sit for you if it’ll stop you whining.”
“Excellent,” beamed Nax. “So, do you want to be naked or not naked?” he asked slyly, waggling his eyebrows.
“Shut up you pervert!”
“I was only asking.”
“Well don’t!”
“Just let me know if you change your mind.”
“Nax!”
* * *
The next few days were the most pleasant Lara had spent on Nardenstar. The feelings of anxiety and oppression faded into the background as she spent her days absorbed in her research while Nax went sledding and fishing around the hunting lodge.
In the evening, she would sit for him in his studio while he got to work making a sculpture of her. He behaved as the perfect gentleman during their time together and his arrogance and brashness receded, giving way to a more sensitive, gentler persona.
It made her desire for him grow stronger, and she could no longer resist his charms. She wanted him more than ever now and one night, she could no longer contain herself any longer.
“Just lift your head up a little,” Nax asked as he began his work that fateful night. “I need the light to catch your hair.”
She was sat several feet away from him, her back to the glass wall. Spectral moonlight flooded the studio, limning her in silver light. “Like this,” she asked.
“Hmmm,” he murmured, studying his work with a studious eye. “Just tilt your head to the left a little.”
“I am tilting,” Lara replied.
He looked up at her and rubbed his chin. He was chillingly handsome in the moonlight, dressed only in a rough tunic and dark leggings. A thrill went through her as their eyes met.
“No, it’s not right,” he said at length. He padded over to her and tilted her chin with his hand. The touch of his skin against hers made her thrum with desire. “There, that’s it,” he said pushing away a stray hair from her neck.
He seemed ready to move away from her but lingered, his fingers staying on the curve of her neck. She stared up at him, her body on autopilot, willing him on, absolutely terrified but unable to turn away. His touch had melted the last of her defences and they had now gone past the point of no return.
Nax seemed to feel the same way. He leant forward and the kiss they shared made fireworks explode in the pit of her stomach. Before she knew it, she had flung her arms around him and was kissing him with wild abandon.
His strong arms wrapped round her and his hands slipped down to her hips, caressing her slow and sensual. He slowly hitched up her top and she ran her fingers down his broad back.
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her ove
r to the heap of furs in the centre of the room. He set her down gently on the impromptu bed and kissed her softly on the lips.
“Is this what you want?” he asked softly.
“More than anything else,” she growled, unable to fight her raging desire any longer.
He nodded and slowly undressed her, leaving her naked and exposed to him. She sighed deeply as he ran his hands along her quivering thighs and sunk his head between her legs.
“Oh God!” she moaned as his tongue danced along the wet folds of her pussy, and flicking across the pleasure zone of her swelling clit. “Oh Nax! Nax!”
He pushed in deeper, exploring her with expert ease. His tongue sucked and flicked across her clit until Lara could take it no longer. The build up of orgasm gripped her body and she let out a pitched scream as sweet release flooded through her and into Nax’s mouth.
He surfaced from her soaking sweet spot and grinned. She grabbed at his shoulders and pulled him on top of her, kissing him hard on the mouth. He returned the kiss with equal ferocity, and her hands were all over him yanking off his top to reveal his chiselled chest.
She wriggled down lower, kissing his sculpted body until she reached his leggings. The thick bulge of his dick was a hidden treasure and she helped him pull his beast free before wrapping her lips around him.
She sucked him hard and vigorously, delighting in the moans of pleasure that Nax made. She buried her mouth down to his thick root and left off to lap her tongue over his balls before sucking them hard. He groaned in delight and bunched her hair in his fists.
“No more,” he hissed. “I want to be inside you.”
He’d get no resistance from her and she spread her legs as he positioned himself. Pushing his fat dick head inside her made her shudder with untrammelled pleasure and she pushed up, wanting every inch of him inside her.
He fucked her hard and deep, his magnificent body enveloping her in its iron strength. She clung to him with all her strength, the first time in her life feeling safe and protected. His passion for her made her climax just a few moments before he shot his load into her pussy.
The Savage Alien's Chosen (Astral Heat Book 3) Page 5