by Viola Grace
Her hands gripped and pulled her over walls, she spun on metal poles, her jumps took her from roof to roof and excitement spilled over and through her. When she paused at the top of one of the tower walls, she looked around at her new domain.
The city was made of white and golden stone. The pattern was a series of nested circles that formed a maze to slow folk down when they entered. To Myra’s surprise, the path that she had approached on was gone. The direct route to the tower was now blocked.
Arbor swung onto the roof and landed next to her. “What are you looking at?”
“The walkway is gone. It was there when I entered, and now, it is completely gone.”
He stood so close, she could feel the warmth radiating from him. “It was shifting when we came through.”
“How did that happen?”
“You said it yourself, the city is alive. All of the people who have breached the walls in the last several centuries have simply woken up the next day in front of the gates. They don’t know what happened, but they do not stay more than one night.”
Myra wished that she could have some time alone to talk with the city, but it didn’t seem likely that it would be possible.
The wind pulled at her sash and fluttered it in front of her. Her hair rippled and waved in the breeze.
“How goes your internal struggle?” Arbor wasn’t touching her, but she felt the caress in the whisper.
“The exercise helps.” The sun was dipping and the sky was reddening. Her personal glow was illuminating a few inches on either side of her.
“Would you like to have a meal? You have engaged in several unaccustomed exertions today.”
Myra glanced at his innocent expression. “I suppose that I would.”
“Did you want to climb down?”
She laughed. “I thought I would just use the door that appeared in the wall behind you. I am guessing that I have run through all the extra energy I have had for the day.”
The jump to the platform containing the door was only a leap of six feet, but Myra barely made it. She was exhausted.
Arbor put his arm around her and supported her as they walked back into the tower. He continued to carry her partially until the doors to her quarters were visible once again.
Arbor settled her on a chair in her room, and he paused when he saw a dispensing unit.
“Myra, was that there before?”
She looked over with tired eyes. “Nope. It was a blank wall when we left.”
“Well, this is convenient and unsettling.” He went and checked the selections, bringing back a pitcher and glasses of water before the machine chirped and opened to display a tray of snacks.
The moment he removed the tray, the doors closed and the machine began to prepare the next course.
Myra ate mechanically, and when she had finished everything put in front of her, she stripped and crawled back into bed.
The sheets had changed, and a white and gold coverlet was on top. She burrowed into the bedding and breathed deeply.
Arbor removed his clothing and joined her before she was fully asleep. He wrapped himself around her and pulled her close.
With his heartbeat and breathing acting as a metronome for her own, she smiled slightly and let exhaustion claim her.
The light woke her up when the night was at its darkest. She was no longer cuddled against Arbor; she was sprawled on top of him.
Myra tried to pry herself away from him, but he reached up and slid a hand up her back.
His eyes were open, and her light was reflected in them. His voice was a low growl. “You appear rested.”
She took stock, and her knees were grazing the sheets to either side of his hips. His erection was hard and thick between her thighs, slick with the liquid invitation her body was offering.
He stroked her hair back from her face and pulled her down for a kiss.
Arbor brushed his lips across hers and nuzzled her cheek.
Her light flared at the small touch. With a sudden surge, she jumped off him and ran for the bathroom.
He was sitting, his dark hair rumpled and his expression confused when she returned. “What was wrong?”
She blushed. “I had morning breath. I just went to brush my teeth.”
His shoulders shook in amusement. “Oddly enough, that never occurred to me.”
“I may have been through decontamination, but Terran bacteria love the night.” She brushed her hair with her fingers.
“Would you like to continue the very interesting moment we were having?”
Myra bit her lip. “If it isn’t too much of an imposition, I would like to get the scene in the throne room out of the way. I hate having undone tasks.”
He was fighting a laugh. “I will take you any way I can get you.”
He put his cloak on and picked her up, wrapping her in the folds.
Blushing, she watched the pulse at his neck. “You don’t have to carry me.”
“I don’t want you to get cold feet.”
She wasn’t sure if he was using a euphemism or a description of what would happen if she walked the stone floors, but she kept her mouth shut until he walked into the throne room.
“Yup. The tower is alive. The city as well. This is definitely a hint.”
The hint was a wide couch where the throne should have been. The base now extended into a long, flat platform and the dais had elongated for their exertions.
Myra cleared her throat. “There is something upsetting about a building knowing when you are in the mood.”
Arbor settled her on her throne-turned-roman-chaise, and he flinched as the blaze of light came out of her.
Again, lust filled her, and the light was the indicator. Myra arched as contact with the throne sent her into a dizzying wave of need.
Arbor stood beside her until she reached for him, kneeling to pull him to join her.
When he kissed her, she got an image of herself in his thoughts, gripping the edges of the throne on her hands and knees.
She wrapped her hand around his cock and stroked him while her tongue duelled with his. He reached between her thighs and stroked the slick curls before inserting two fingers.
She shuddered as his thumb pressed her clit with each thrust of his fingers. When she couldn’t keep still, she pulled away from him and knelt in the position she saw in his mind.
He groaned and moved behind her. He pressed kisses to her back and buttocks, licking his way back up to her neck, running his hands over her breasts and gently kneading the mounds. When he pressed his cock to her, she was more than ready. He pushed forward, she pushed back, and soon, he was inside her as far as he could go.
Myra’s fingers gripped the edges of the couch as the slow fucking drove her to the edge of release in minutes. Her breath came in deep pants and her vision was spotted with the flares and flickers of light that she was putting out. She got brighter and brighter as he thrust deep, bucking against him to pull him in deeper.
She trembled as the wild energy built under her skin. Low moans answered every slide inside her, and when he stroked her clit, his fingers circled furiously until she screamed.
He shouted and drove into her, her arms collapsed and he flattened her to the couch. It didn’t matter. Light burst out of them in a wave, the chair amplified it and the windows shuddered as the power streamed outward.
Myra lay quietly under him, getting her breath back and trying to clear her vision from the spots that were taunting her.
She finally shifted and Arbor withdrew from her, lifting her up, sitting against the back of the throne with her in his lap.
For the first time, she saw the tower at work as the throne resumed its chair form.
When she glanced up at Arbor, she chuckled. “Wow. The Day clan marked you as well.”
“What?”
She touched the tattoos on his face that now glowed with the same cheery sunlight as her own body. “I think that mask is now going to be more than ornamental. If you want to
sneak up on anyone, you are going to need it.”
He sighed and leaned his head back. “There had to be a payment for this, I suppose.”
“For what?”
“For being your consort. For gaining power and your bed.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I wish the gates wouldn’t open.”
“Now that the spark has been sent back across Fremiat, there is no reason to hide in here. It was only your privacy that needed to be protected. Now, we do not need to be in the throne room for any further intimacy. Well, not until next year.”
Myra rubbed her cheek against his chest. “Good. Wait...what?”
He stroked her back and smiled as if he was truly enjoying the feel of her. “You are the quickening of fertility for this world, or the light spectrum that you produce is. Once a year, you will have to start the growing season. From here. With me.”
She made a face. “Let me just mark my calendar.”
He must have caught on to her disgruntled tone, because he was laughing a lot for a man trained as an assassin.
Chapter Eight
Myra sat on the Day throne, and Arbor sat next to her on a new structure, the Night throne.
She gave him a nod and closed her eyes as she let the outer gate open wide.
Flowers were sending scents through the air, the gardens were riots of colour and Fremiat was on its way to coming alive again.
She thought it had happened rather quickly, but Arbor reminded her that it had taken eight hundred years for a Day clan member to return. That wasn’t quick at all.
She was wearing a graceful, dark dress, something that had surprised Arbor. The Day clan were known for embracing their light side at all times.
“You will have to get used to it. I am not fond of pastel colours. I like the shadows and those that lurk in them.”
Arbor took her hand. “I rarely lurk.”
She winked as she felt the first of the Kameraet approach them. “Here they come. Are you ready?”
“With you around, usually.” He winked.
She rolled her eyes, and the inner doors opened. The Fremiat court was open for business, High Lady and High Lord presiding.
Fremiat was once again open for business.
Over one hundred Kameraet came and went before the first attempt on her life.
The tiny pinprick would have gone unnoticed if the man hadn’t been staring at her with disgust in his eyes. He held her hand and the prick into her finger caught her attention.
She screamed, pulled back her free hand and clawed him across the face. The courtiers in the room covered their eyes as her attacker began to smoke from the marks she had made in his face.
Arbor was at her side, and he swiftly cut off the head of her attacker.
Myra turned her hand over and looked at the injection site. A sickly green was in a small pool under her skin. She focused on it and light burned away the damage.
Arbor was standing in front of her and the body was at her feet.
She touched his arm. “I am fine. Let’s continue.”
He looked at the injector that was in the open hand of the headless corpse. “It should have killed you.”
“It just irritated me. I guess that Terran physiology is different from that of the Kameraet.” She smiled, and a bowl of water came out of the arm of the throne. She scrubbed the blood from her fingertips and sat back in her position.
Arbor was still vibrating with fury, but he wiped the blood off his blade and returned to her side, standing in front of the Night throne instead of sitting.
She twisted her lips and shrugged at his stubborn look.
She beckoned to the next in line with a challenge in her eyes. He looked at the body on the ground and inclined his head toward her, coming forward to kneel and kiss her hand.
After two hours of the nobles, she asked her consort, “Where are the women?”
“They are not Kameraet. They have no legal status under our laws.”
Her shock could not have been more apparent. “Get. Them. In. Here. Now. Every woman who will come through those gates is welcome.”
Arbor shook his head. “The men will not bring them.”
Myra got to her feet. “Fuck that. Then, I will go to them.”
Arbor was at her side as she walked through the city. The straight line took her back to the gate and obscured the pathway behind her.
He looked back and chuckled. “I wonder where the courtiers ended up.”
She shrugged. “They are in a courtyard with no exits.”
“You can feel that?”
“I can see it. I am not just part of this city, it is part of me.” Part of her was upset by it. She knew she was never leaving this world. There were thousands, if not more, of worlds out there with people, aliens and sights that she would never see.
“Why do you want to talk to the women?”
“Because they are bearing the next generation. You can’t build a society where only half the population has a voice.”
“You are going to invite more assassination attempts.”
She linked arms with him, careful of the still-exposed blade. “Then, you are going to have to teach me to defend myself.”
“No Kameraet woman has been trained in anything since we began our history.”
“Well, good thing I am not pure Kameraet. I have heavy Terran instincts, and they are telling me that this is a dangerous place.”
He stopped just inside the open gateway and turned to face her. “You are serious?”
“Of course. My body knows it can defend me, it just isn’t sure how. You can show me.”
“No one can know you are learning.”
She chuckled and leaned in to kiss him carefully. “Oddly enough, I figured that out.”
He smiled against her lips. “For today, pretend I am your consort and guard. If females start being born again, you will have far more protection than enemies.”
She leaned back and frowned. “I have never had enemies before. Well, not since I was seven. Why are they trying to kill me?”
“Change is difficult, even change that will benefit our people. Many were addicted to the predictable rise to power that did not depend on a woman’s whim.”
She winced. “That is a little harsh. It wasn’t a whim. You were the only one who didn’t have another woman on his mind or the throne in front of me.”
He blinked. “Fair enough. Come with me and meet your subjects.”
“Good.”
The women in the village outside the city stared at her in surprise. She smiled and walked up to them. “Hello, my name is Myra. Feel free to come to me if you have any points of concern. I might not be able to help, but I might. I am learning as I go.”
One woman with an infant on her hip stepped forward. “What if our men will not let us come?”
Before Arbor could stop her, she said, “I suppose that once a week, I will have to come to you.”
She heard the gusty sigh of her consort and grinned. He was going to have to get used to it. Myra was dedicated to duty, but her duty was now expanding to every member of the Kameraet on Fremiat or in space. Her focus was on building a new wave of living beings and that included the mothers who would bring them into the world.
Talking to half a population wouldn’t build a solid foundation. They would move forward together or she was going to drag them into societal equilibrium. She hoped that she lived long enough to see a more balanced generation.
The baby in the woman’s arms waved his hands toward Myra. She extended her hands and said, “May I?”
The woman looked at Arbor and nodded quickly. “If you like.”
Myra took the little boy and cuddled him, reminding herself of weekend after weekend babysitting while in high school. He reached out and grabbed her hair, stuffing it into his mouth.
“Who is a clever little boy?” She eased the hair out of his mouth and pried it from his grip.
He giggled and grabbed again, butting his head agai
nst her breast.
“Nothing there for you, junior.”
The mother looked flustered, her pale green skin shading to emerald. “I am so sorry.”
“It is instinct. I am a huge fan of following instinct. He will grow up to be a strapping young man one day. A little off on his targeting but perhaps he can find a nice assignment in a battle group that will keep him on the straight and narrow.”
His mother laughed, the baby laughed, and then, he filled his diaper so Myra quickly handed him back. That was a part of babies she was glad she didn’t have to deal with.
Two women carried out a chair and offered Myra a seat. She took the seat, and soon, all the children in the village had crawled over her from one side to the next. The mothers beamed, and Myra grinned and laughed as the boys introduced themselves one by one. The little men bowed and then ran to hide behind their mothers.
When she had met all the soon-to-be warriors, she smiled brightly and asked, “Same time next week?”
The women nodded and Arbor seemed relieved. They returned to the tower, and Myra settled in her throne once again. There was no trace of the body.
When the city released the nobles, some came to continue to pay their respects. Others left as quickly as they could. There were no additional attempts on her life, but she had only been introduced to five percent of the population. Life as a tourist attraction was going to get very busy.
She woke him in the middle of the night with slow caresses on his thighs and her mouth on his cock. He had defended her today, and he deserved a reward for being such a loyal and attentive consort.
When she caressed his balls, she came upon something that wasn’t listed in the information sheets about the Kameraet. The small slit before his perineum was definitely an opening. Sek-Rah’s explanation came to mind, and she continued to suck slowly as her finger delved into the small space.
He groaned, and she heard the sheets tear as he arched under her, lifting her upward. She felt the spasms and pulled away as he ejaculated. Myra watched the arc and laughed as it glowed and then splattered across his chest.