The Golden Heart: Alliance Book One (Alliance Series 1)

by Jessamyne Hunter

  Of course, he could always ask her to bring him some food later because she had a lot of food at home. Kellan didn’t question that. He was damn sure she kept a ton of sweets and cake and such stuff around.

  And he also wasn’t surprised she had no husband and no children. That poor man wouldn’t even be able to find her vagina with a map…so many folds of fat. Kellan shuddered. It sounded mean, but seriously…it was rather nicely put. He didn’t want to imagine how she would look like with the corset gone…nothing to press together her fat. He shuddered even harder.

  He knew that it was mean. Everything in him wanted to slap him for thinking such rude things about another person, but Jacyrah clearly had a problem. That was reversed eating disorder and he pitied her for it. She didn’t seem to know when to stop. And she clearly couldn’t determine what was healthy. He knew quite some obese councilors back home and he had no problem with them. It was just Jacyrah and the little visible veins on her skin that showed him that she wasn’t okay. Too much sugar seemed to be unhealthy for the Phy’vohranians too, but this woman didn’t appear to care. She probably couldn’t care less about what she ate, though, Kellan wished he could smack that scone out of her hand.

  Kellan was thinking about food and obesity, Jacyrah and probably non-existing lovers when she started to talk again.

  “Oh, honey-bun. You’re so petite, so tiny. How did Sartak even get his cock inside you? Tell aunty Jacy, do you have sex with him? Have you had a lot of practice before? I bet you enjoyed a lot of nice cocks with your looks. You must be one of the most beautiful things out there!” she rattled on, not even noticing that Jarvan and Kellan were choking on their own breath.

  Kellan’s cheeks burned with embarrassment and he didn’t quite know what to say when she was clearly waiting for him to give her an answer.

  “I, err…it fits just fine. Err…I…err…join him in the marital bed on a…err…regular basis. He is good. I came into this marriage as a…err…virgin,” his cheeks were quite on fire right now.

  Jacyrah nodded musingly and then asked: “How’d you know he’s good if you never had another man before?”

  He wanted to smack his head on the table or just against the wall.

  He didn’t want to have such a discussion.

  She was family now, but still a total stranger to him.

  And even if she wasn’t- his husband’s kmera was present, and he believed that Jarvan would rather not want to hear about his child’s bedroom activities.

  Jacyrah was still waiting for an answer.

  Oh, blasted galaxies!

  Why did he have to dignify that with an answer?

  “I…err…have…orgasms…so…I…err…assume…he is good,” could he sound even more pathetic; could it get even more embarrassing or humiliating?

  Now, he really wanted to bang his head against a wall or something very hard and forget about this day.

  This couldn’t be real.

  He’d wake up any moment and find out it was just a super creepy nightmare. Only that he wasn’t waking up and that awful woman was asking him, even more, questions. Why was she asking him whether he had already tried different positions?

  Did he even need to answer that or would she just throw the Phy’vohranian Kama-Sutra at him?

  Was she getting a kick out of this?

  Why did she even want to know this stuff in the first place?

  Why was the answer that this was too personal and intimate not counting?

  Why did he need to respond to such questions at all?

  Why didn’t they just go home already?!

  Oh no! Now she wanted to give him tips. How could she even? Kellan didn’t think she ever had sex…maybe in her early years but not now…not anymore.

  Kellan hadn’t even made up his own mind on the matter of sex. He liked it…he liked Sartak. It was good to feel him so close. His husband knew how to make him enjoy their sweaty encounters in the bedroom, but it wasn’t like he needed it or felt the urge to try everything. There were just some things that sounded good to him and that he wanted to try with Sartak, though there was no need to rush.

  Kellan needed to get his mind around the fact that he was having sex at all. Because he had never wanted it.

  His changed body though…it made him feel and want differently from how he felt and what he wanted on the matter of intercourse before he had come to Phy’vohran.

  He was changed, slightly only but changed.

  His mind was still not made up, but Jacyrah asked him so many questions and demanded so many answers he couldn’t provide…not yet. Probably not ever, and clearly not for other people but Sartak to hear.

  She rambled on and on, asking stuff no other person would ask him.

  Oh, now she stopped asking and started to give more tips.

  Oh, no! Hell, someone had to stop her! Now!

  Why was she talking about different penis sizes now?

  Why? Why?!

  Leaving the manor behind in their glider, both Jarvan and Kellan stayed silent. His brain was about to explode. He had a stack of pornography-books sitting on his lap right now, not daring to look at them at all. Advice, Jacyrah had said.

  “Advice, my ass. Advice!” he whispered, still deeply disturbed from their visit.

  He also had her belated wedding gift with him- a fucking huge golden- yes golden- vibrator. At least Dershra enjoyed that thing. He was happily nibbling at its tip while Kellan was torn between wanting to run to Sartak to have sex with him as soon as possible so he could forget or never wanting to have sex ever again.

  “I’m sorry…so sorry,” Jarvan looked blankly into the air, seemingly shell-shocked. “I didn’t think she would do that. She hadn’t done so with me.”

  “Why? Why did you bring me?” Kellan asked.

  “She wasn’t at the wedding, but she wanted to meet you…so,” Jarvan didn’t end the sentence.

  He didn’t need to.

  Nosy people, why were there always nosy people? None of their business appeared to be even more their business.

  “Sartak ever met her?” he hoped his husband had advice on how to survive that woman.

  “Yes, but he prefers to avoid her, understandably,” the kmer admitted.

  Kellan raised an eyebrow.

  Oh good! Jarvan understood why people didn’t want to deal with Jacyrah, so why did he still bring Kellan to see her? Like seriously, he was traumatized after that encounter.

  “Is he going to be gone for very much longer? It’s been a few days now. I’d like to have my husband back,” Kellan muttered, annoyed that Sartak didn’t even have time to talk to him and instead only sent very brief messages.

  Kellan himself was busy too, doing Ambassador Jaxtell’s work while he was still on Cjon’vaii, although he should be on his way back to Phy’vohran.

  For Kellan, it was the same works as back home on the governmental ship, only that he didn’t get to travel around much at the moment and he had some extra jobs, such as advising the king and meeting with the Crown Council.

  It was a good chance to learn even more about politics while proving himself.

  Nevertheless, sometimes he felt weird when he sat with all those tall and much older people.

  Galaxies, most of them were double the age of Leylos, anyway. So it was slightly intimidating to have so much power while so young and compared to the others still inexperienced.

  On the other hand, meetings with the political council were rather dull.

  At least on the governmental ship, the military council had also seats at the table. Leylos had said that it was like that for them too, only not in war-times or exceptional situations, and this was an exceptional situation.

  So now he was discussing the economy, trade, grand balls, taxes, finances and all that dull stuff. Kellan was no expert on those topics, negotiations were his expertise.

  In fact, another council meeting was scheduled to be in twenty minutes, and Leylos was already sending him information and whatno
t so he could prepare.

  He would do that.

  He just only didn’t have the mind to do it now.

  Not after Jacyrah.

  Not after Phy’vohranian porn and strange dildos.

  Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he could make it in time. He hoped, though.

  He could probably read through the files during the meeting. Kellan pretty much loved the Royal Ambassador part, just not the Advisor part where he was forced to sit through endless council meetings.

  He liked to give Leylos advice or tell him his opinion on a matter; he just didn’t like listening to councilors yelling at each other over minor problems.

  Hopefully, today’s meeting would turn out less boring.

  He was almost at the guarded door when the guards bowed and opened it for him. His dark red robe stood out against the less colorful clothes of the council members when he entered the room.

  They had just arrived a few minutes ago and he was late, but the Crown Council didn’t seem offended.

  Instead, they were all smiles and politeness, bowing and welcoming him while glancing curiously at the stack of books he carried… OH! THE BOOKS! THE VIBRATOR!

  Goddamn, shit, imploding galaxies and blasted stars!

  He had totally forgotten about that stuff, hell he still clutched that stuff.

  He should drop it immediately, but his tablet was balancing on top of the stack, so maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to throw that shit through the room.

  Leylos watched his approach with big eyes, Sartak was sitting there too. Apparently, the military council was here today, so hurray…even more, people to see him going to a council meeting supplied with porn and a dildo.

  What did they think about him now? Oh hell no!

  Scowling, he dumped everything on the table in front of his seat and went on to sit down on Leylos’s right side while Sartak was sitting on the left side where all the military members were seated.

  “I met Lady Jacyrah Darlvok,” was all he needed to say as an explanation because several people started groaning and condoling to him.

  Kellan sighed and put a hand over his face when the dildo rolled from the top of the book stack. It started to vibrate and bounced happily over the table, then fell to the floor, while Dershra- who of course had followed him- was chirping and chasing after that unspeakable thing.

  Leylos seemed like he was about to choke- he was coughing and quite red in his face. Several council members looked the same though while Sartak was only silently watching the bat-shit-crazy little wyvern clawing that plastic cock and flew off with it and nibbled at the head.

  “You have him under control, don’t you? He’s not going to do that to me, is he?” Sartak looked quite concerned.

  Kellan looked at him speechlessly before he started to snort with laughter.

  By the time the council members were finally finished with yelling at each other, Sartak was half asleep. Kellan was absently shifting pages of Jacyrah’s porn books, cringing or laughing now and then.

  Dershra had ruined the golden vibrator and was now coating it with acid which disturbed all the male councilors quite a bit. Supposedly, they were imagining getting their own penises treated that way. The women of the council, on the other hand, just chuckled at all the pained expressions their colleagues were making.

  “Is it settled now? Do you all agree on proceeding like I proposed earlier?” he questioned them, sounding quite annoyed by now.

  The whole argument had been a never-ending back and forth.

  Sartak was tired. He was annoyed. He had a hell of a lot of other things to see to for today. Council meetings were really blasting his schedule right now.

  He wished to give the commands to his forces and then speak to Kellan about him leaving the planet to fetch the weapons.

  Sartak knew already that Kellan would be furious. His little mate would be very angry with him indeed.

  Of all the things he could imagine doing while his mate was with child, fighting yet another small kind of war against outlaws was the least he wanted. But he had no other chance then to answer to the troubles those goddess-forsaken pirates were making.

  They weren’t hurting people on purpose, but they still posed an annoying threat.

  Maybe when this whole pirate-business was done, he’d go grab Kellan and take him on a long trip- a belated honeymoon-vacation so to say.

  But for now, he was impatiently waiting for a response, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair.

  He knew well enough that his facial expression was rather sullen, his mouth curved downwards and his eyes glistening with beginning anger.

  Of course, upon seeing his face, the council quickly decided they were content with his plan and nodded their okay.

  Growling quietly but still audible for those sitting near him, he rose to his feet and snatched his notes from the table.

  With a steady stride he made for the doors, his military council following behind.

  Just at the doors, he turned around, glancing at each of the remaining councilors.

  As he left, he couldn’t bite back the: “I would have done it anyway for I do not need your approval in military matters.”

  He walked through the palace hallways, limping slightly since he had forgotten to take his cane with him.

  That silver walking stick with the head of a wyvern as a grip was a hidden weapon and in his opinion far more fashionable for a prince and a warrior. His old-fashioned walking stick contained a slim sword, sharp enough to do actual damage to Phy’vohranian scales, not to speak of the lizard-skin parts.

  His kmeran would love such a weapon; the sharpness that is.

  His councilors had recounted Kellan’s fight during the trial. They had been seriously impressed and deeply shaken that a petite human like Kellan could do such things. They had expected to be needed to jump to their crown prince’s consort’s rescue, but Kellan hadn’t needed their assistance at all.

  What would his mate be able to do with sharper weapons?

  He dared not to think of it right now. The thought was strangely arousing, sending heat and blood right to his groin.

  Kellan was beautiful, brave, intelligent and much more. Sartak couldn’t quite believe he was actually married to him.

  He was so perfect, it almost seemed unreal to him.

  Of course, Sartak had found out about a few of Kellan’s flaws, but he didn’t mind that his kmeran could get alarmingly cold-blooded if he thought that his beloved were threatened or in danger.

  He was like a mother-wyvern defending and fighting for her family with all she had. This ruthlessness proved rather attractive to Sartak, judging by his now half-hard cock.

  He should really stop to picture his mate with weapons on a battlefield, no matter how sexy the picture was. It was difficult enough to keep walking on his damaged foot without a cane and only one eye to see, he really didn’t need his trousers to get uncomfortable too.

  He exited the glider which had taken him to the military moon. The Headquarter was a broad four-story building of black stone and metal. It looked highly futuristic with all its edges and rocket-proof glass windows. Gliders were non-stop flying around, while soldiers exercised on the ground.

  Sartak gave a brief nod to everyone he encountered, wishing to be in his office as soon as possible.

  Walking through the security doors was a strange experience.

  As the outer shell of the building was metallic black, the inside was bright with lights on the ceiling and pale metallic gray walls. Only the hallways of the higher ranking officers had dark red carpets and dark brown wood covering the walls.

  He waited for the elevator capsules which traveled in between the thick walls to bring a person to the desired floor or hallway.

  When one of them was free, he slipped inside and punched in his code so it would spit him out right in front of his office.

  When he had first been to the Headquarter, he had been deeply confused, even freaked out by the shifting
walls but now it was all old and boring to him.

  He didn’t jump at the walls opening beside him to reveal a capsule anymore. It had become ordinary to him, even though he had grown up in an ancient palace without such display of advanced technologies.

  To make it more exciting on extraordinary dull days, he had taken on the habit to pretend these walls he traveled in between were just like the hidden corridors in the walls of the palace. Of course, those leading to the royal quarters were secured. One had to perform several things like pulling a lamp or twisting a picture or pushing a stone to gain access.

  Those behind-the-wall corridors were meant for the royal family as an escape route if the palace should ever be under attack, even though it had never happened that enemies had gotten this far into their home- not even political opponents who hailed from Phy’vohran themselves

  As he waited for the lift to arrive at his destination, he watched the other people outside the walls. The fun thing with the capsules was that they were made from the same glass as the windows. The walls of the hallways where the lifts traveled through in between were made of a material which allowed people from in between the walls to watch the corridors while the walls seemed just like regular walls from the other side. Only the walls of the office hallways were not see-through.

  He saw quite a lot of people with whom he needed to speak, but still, he didn’t halt the capsule. He could talk to them later, probably tomorrow was early enough.

  When he finally arrived directly in his office, he stepped out of the capsule and went straight to his desk.

  Sighing he brought the screens to life and started a video call to the generals.

  Hands folded on his stomach, he sat waiting in his chair, deep in thought. Everything was ready, his Star-Cruiser, the Pra’vs-kwarana, was waiting for him at the space docks.

  It was the same luxurious starship that he had sent to fetch Kellan. The Blood Queen had been a present for his appointment as Warlord from his parents.

  If he hadn’t been busy back then, he would have loved to fetch Kellan himself, but alas, he had been preparing their forces to come back home, scheduling some of the ships to return later in case of resistance against peace.