by Lisa Lace
He pulled my shirt off next and kissed me again. I pressed our bodies together, and I loved the feel of his hardness pressing into my soft breasts.
"You are so beautiful," he said as he bent down and suckled my breasts. My legs became unsteady as the pleasure flowed over me. He took off my skirt and his pants and laid them all on the floor before we lay down.
He worshiped my body, and I had never felt so desirable before. My heart felt full to overflowing with some emotion that kept bringing tears to my eyes. I was afraid to name it, even though I couldn't ignore it.
When I was wet and panting, he came between my legs, but I pushed him, forcing him to lie down instead.
"It's your turn to relax today," I told him and he lifted his eyebrows but lay back.
I sucked his big, beautiful cock until he made me stop. Then I climbed on top of him and eased myself down onto him.
"Kenna," he groaned as I joined our bodies, taking all of him until our hips were pressed tightly together. I supported myself on my hands and began to move up and down over him. I closed my eyes. Oh, that was so good. I needed him inside me. I needed him to be so close to me that I couldn't tell us apart.
After what seemed to be a long time of me grinding my pussy against him, I felt myself starting to come. The climax was slow to begin but unbelievably intense. Waves of sheer ecstasy rocked me, and I cried out, my voice echoing in the enormous cavern.
"Kenna," Dar said, as he waited till I was still. Then he drove up into me hard over and over, seeking his release now that he knew I had mine. I felt his passion building, and he held my hips hard against him while he exploded inside of me.
I moaned and came again from the intolerable pleasure of him thrusting inside me deep and hard and fast. It was the first time I had ever come twice in a row.
When we were both still, he spoke softly in my ear.
"Did you come twice?" he said.
"Mmmm, hmmm," I murmured.
"Damn, I'm good," he said, and I laughed lazily.
"Yes, Dar. You are."
Dar and I lay in each other's arms for a long time, talking about nothing in particular until he regretfully said that we had better get back to the palace.
When we arrived, we parking the hovercraft and entered one of the side doors of the building.
"I talked to Mana and Jared before I came to see you, and we think we have a plan for stopping the terrorists for good," Dar told me.
Suddenly, a group of imperial guards appeared around us, blocking our path.
"Excuse us," Dar said, waiting for them to step aside. But they didn't.
Dar frowned. "Please get out of our way."
He was clearly not used to his servants not listening to him.
"Sorry, your majesty. Queen's orders."
"I am the ruling king. My orders take precedence over the queen's. Please let us pass, Narrin."
The guard looked uncomfortable.
"I'm very sorry, sir, but I've been ordered to arrest you, sir."
"Arrest me?" Narrin's words shocked Dar.
"Yes, sir," the man said, looking completely miserable.
"For what?"
Narrin closed his eyes and then looked at Dar. I realized that he had not looked at me at all.
"For consorting with inferior species, sir."
To his credit, Dar didn't blush. But the guard did.
"The old harridan," Dar said under his breath. "I never thought she'd invoke it."
I looked at him.
"The statute I was telling you about." He looked back at the guard. "She has no proof."
"She has a witness that is willing to testify that she saw you going into the oasis. And that you were alone there for some time. It is enough to cast considerable doubt, sir," he said, apologetic now.
"Who is willing to testify?" Dar demanded.
"Salya Mayerova."
Dar's breath hissed in at the name, and I heard him mutter, "That jealous bitch."
He turned to me, wincing.
"She's a former lover. One who hoped to be queen and was not pleased when I told her that was never going to happen."
The guard wasn't done. "The queen mother also said…" he paused, swallowing audibly. "That if you were to refuse to come with me that I was to tell you we will seize the female."
He looked over at me.
"And a sample taken from inside of her, as proof that you hadn't had sexual relations."
All the bluster drained from Dar's body, and he looked beaten. He would never let them test me like that, would he?
He held out his hands so Narrin could handcuff him. No, of course he wouldn't. Besides, it would only prove their case, seeing as I still had his seed inside of me. We were trapped. And it looked as though Dar was going to be arrested.
"You admit to having sex with her?" the man continued what was clearly a distasteful mission to him.
Dar nodded sadly.
"Well, I admit to making love to her," he said, looking the man straight in the eye. "She is my sheeranla," he said. He had dropped out of Unified, which was the common language that was used all over the galaxy, and back into his mother tongue.
I wondered what the word was that he had used to describe me.
"I'm so sorry, your highness," he said, as he placed the handcuffs on Dar's wrists. "I'm following orders."
"I know, Narrin. I never thought she'd do this to me. Will you take care of Kenna and make sure she gets the safe passage back to Earth that my mother promised?"
My heart clenched at the thought of leaving him. I didn't know if I loved him, but I knew that I didn't want to separate from him.
Narrin sighed deeply.
"I'm afraid that's out of the question, your majesty."
"What do you mean?" Dar said, looking even more upset than before if that was even possible.
"If you admit to having sexual intercourse with this female, she is to be taken into custody with you."
"What is to be done with us?" I said, unable to keep silent any longer while these men talked about me as if I wasn't even here.
The guard now avoided both of our gazes as he put handcuffs on my wrists.
"Well, the statute calls for the highest penalty."
"What's the highest penalty?" I said, looking at Dar in fear now. The situation was quickly getting out of hand. "Death?"
"No. We would never kill another Susohnnan, no matter what they had done," the guard said. "That's what humans do."
He looked down his nose at me.
"What then?" I said, looking to Dar for an answer. But the guard quickly spoke before Dar could tell me.
"We can avoid this, your majesty, if you admit that you do not love her and say that you will never see her, ever again. There is no need for the penalty to be enforced," the guard said, and there was pleading in his tone. I assumed that Dar knew the man well. There seemed to be a subtext of this whole conversation that I wasn't quite picking up.
"I can't say that, Narrin. It would be lying. I do love her."
"But your majesty..."
"Okay, stop right now both of you," I said, and there was an authority in my tone. I wasn't going to be kept in the dark any longer. "Supposing that Dar is unwilling to tell the queen what she wants to hear. What then? What is this highest penalty if it's not death?"
The guard looked me in the eyes. His face filled with sadness, and I wondered how long he had known Dar.
"We will take you to Mount Shassin," the guard said.
"And?" God, it was like pulling teeth.
"It is an active volcano."
I blinked, not sure I wanted to know any more. Maybe I would be happier in the dark. Didn't they say that ignorance was bliss?
"There is a platform that overhangs the volcanic crater. You will be placed on this platform using a hovercraft. There is no way off of it."
Narrin hesitated a moment.
"And we will be left there, Kenna. My people wouldn't actively take another's life. But for the�
�" His jaw tensed. "…worst criminals in society, we are content to let them die, if circumstances so dictate." Dar said.
"Will you swear before the court that you don't love this female and that you will have nothing more to do with her, your highness?" Narrin said, trying one more time.
"Never," Dar said, stepping over to me so that our arms touched. The tiny bit of contact comforted me. "Take us to the volcano."
The time for conversation had ended. The guards escorted us back to the landing area and forced us to board a hovercraft.
It was HOT. I was sweating already, glistening really, and smoke filled the sky.
The hovercraft hung in the air over a small platform near the top of the volcano. How had they ever built this thing?
When I looked down at the volcano, the platform appeared to be about the size of a postage stamp. Below us, molten lava moved lazily. I glanced at Dar with fear in my heart. They were putting us down there? Why was it so important that he maintain his integrity, again? All of a sudden, a little white lie about his feelings for me didn't seem bad. Maybe he should say whatever they want him to say.
"It's always a little tricky getting prisoners onto the platform," the pilot said. Was this guy talking to himself? "Sometimes we drop them a wee bit to the side. Not good."
I didn't say anything and prayed that he wasn't going to have an accident and drop us in the volcano. I supposed for a Susohnnan, an 'accidental' death was totally different than intentional murder.
My mind could barely focus on anything, but the pilot was giving us instructions on how to survive getting onto the platform. "When you jump, now, mind that you aim right for the center of the platform. Sometimes we're all lined up but then the prisoners can't even exit the ship correctly. Not my fault."
I looked at Dar, my eyes wide with alarm. I was no acrobat. How could I jump off this hovercraft and land on that tiny area?
If anything, the heat had increased as we approached the lip of the volcano. "Okay, I'm in position," the guard informed us. "Get to the door, you two. And may The Three be with you… because there isn't anyone else who is."
Another guard had been holding a gun on us the entire time. He gestured with the gun, and we climbed over.
"Kenna, listen," Dar said, taking my cold hands in his own. "Just keep your eyes on the platform. It won't be that hard. Just make sure you're looking where you want to go, okay?"
"You've done this before?" I asked.
"I just wanted to be encouraging," he said.
The wind was blowing off the desert, and the heat from the volcano was oppressive even from this height. What had we got ourselves into?
He kissed me quickly, and I readied myself.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and sent a quick prayer to whatever deity might be watching over me. Then I fixed my eyes on the platform and without thinking, jumped.
I hit the wood hard and slammed my knees. I hoped I avoided bruises but that might not matter anymore. With a grunt of pain, I got up and moved quickly to the side, so that Dar could jump. I couldn't watch. I didn't want to see if he didn't make it.
There was a loud thump and a groan and then Dar was beside me, pulling me to him. We were safe.
Hooray.
The hovercraft pulled up and flew away.
Capture
KENNA, ON THE EDGE OF A VOLCANO
I shifted my feet nervously, and I accidentally touched a screw on the platform. I jumped away from the burning hot metal with a yelp.
"Are you okay?" Dar said, concern in his voice.
"Yeah, I just touched a bit of hot metal, that's all."
I could feel my foot beginning to ache, but I didn't complain. We had bigger problems than my foot.
We were on a wooden platform that had been built to hold Susohn's worst criminals. Mount Shassin was an active volcano — and yes, actually, that is as scary as it sounds. It was hot, there was smoke, and I felt like I was going to melt.
I made the mistake of looking down into the crater, and I felt my head spin. We were nearly four hundred feet above the lava, according to Dar. Below us, the volcano looked like deadly glowing coals. I wondered if anyone had ever given up hope and jumped. I shuddered at the thought of my fragile flesh being destroyed by the molten rock.
The heat was intense, like sitting beside an open oven set at maximum times about a million. I felt like I was baking. The sweat was already dripping down my neck.
It was awful, but I felt that I could handle the heat and the fear.
The infernal noise was making me lose my mind. As we had approached the volcano, the sounds got louder and louder. Sitting here on top of everything, I heard a dull roar that didn't stop. I felt like I couldn't even think. When Dar spoke, he had to raise his voice for me to hear him over the volcano.
"Kenna, I'm sorry. I should have just lied. Then we would not be here now," Dar shouted, his face full of regret. "I was not thinking clearly."
"No. Don't be silly. You had to tell the truth. Then you would be alive but you wouldn't be able to live with yourself." It was crazy, but I knew it to be true. His integrity was important to him. It would kill him to lie, especially in a situation like this. "Besides we're not dead yet, are we?" I grinned to show him I couldn't be beaten.
"No. Not yet," he said, looking away across the crater to where we could see the capital city in the distance. The palace gleamed in the fading light of one of Susohn's suns as it set. It was mocking us.
I wondered what Dar's mother thought of this turn of events. I hoped she hadn't expected this outcome. Maybe she would save Dar somehow. Right? I was pretty sure she thought he would discard me, and everything would go back to the way it was. She had not counted on her son's feelings for me being powerful.
I glanced over at him and saw a bruise on his right cheekbone appearing. One of the younger guards had punched him when Dar had been protecting me from their rough handling. He looked quite fierce at the time, and I felt one side of my mouth pull up in a half-smile at the thought.
"You never told me your name was Darvish," I said.
"It never came up," he said, still watching the sunset. He grinned.
"Darvish Shu'in," I said, trying it out.
"Officially, it's Darvish Micah Nindan Therossell Shu'in. But who's counting?" He shrugged.
"Wow. That's some name."
"Mm, hm." He seemed lost in thought. "But the real me is just Dar. That's why I used it with you."
He turned his head to look at me.
"Even then, you saw me, Kenna. The real me. The one who was not wearing a crown."
I bit my lip.
"I guess somebody's got to keep you on your toes," I said.
"You have certainly done that."
We were silent for a long time, watching the second sun descend in the sky. The oranges and reds set the desert on fire. I got thirsty, and I wondered how long we would last up here. I put the thought out of my head. It wouldn't do to complain — not even to myself. It would only make things worse.
"Doesn't it strike you as hypocritical to have your society be all about The Three but still execute people?"
"It is not execution..."
"Dar, let's be real here. It's murder by a different name. No one has blood on their hands, but we're as good as dead." I raised both eyebrows at him.
He sighed.
"You're right. There are many changes to make if we are to live by the principles of The Three in our hearts as well as in our minds. I see that now, thanks to you."
I suppose my subconscious had been thinking about our predicament this entire time, and without thinking about, I blurted out, "Tell me, your highness, what are the rules for this game?"
"Game?" He frowned in confusion.
"Nobody's going to kill us. They're just leaving us for dead."
"Right."
"Are we allowed to escape?"
"If we can."
"Is someone allowed to help us escape?"
"If they can
. It is not easy."
"Of course not, but it's allowed?"
"As I said before, we are content to let the criminals die if circumstances so dictate. If circumstances arrange themselves so the criminal escapes, then we accept that is how things were supposed to be."
"And you just let them go and do whatever they want?"
"Yes. If The Three wanted them to die, they would have. Everyone put up here dies, of course."
"As far as you know."
He looked over at me.
"Yes, as far as I know."
"Who comes to check?"
"No one."
"And if we escape then your mother can't put us back up here?"
"Nope. Unless we break another law."
"So all we have to do is escape," I said happily.
"Yes, Kenna," Dar said heavily, staring down into the lava. "That's all."
DAR
We had been on the platform for one day and one night.
The inside of my mouth felt stuck together, and my lips were as rough as sandpaper.
"I wonder what it would be like to die of thirst," I said conversationally to Kenna.
"It's probably about as comfortable as dying of embarrassment when you have to pee off a platform in front of the guy you're sleeping with," she said. She closed her eyes.
"I turned my back!" I said, protesting. At least we could still joke and talk. Pretty soon we wouldn't have enough saliva even for that.
"I'm sure you could hear me," she said. Then she returned to the original topic. "Maybe it's like freezing to death. They say that's the most pleasant way to go."
"What would you know about it?" I said, curious.
"Where I lived, it got down to minus forty Celsius and you could freeze to death if you got lost or ended up with no shelter."
I was horrified.
"Whatever you do, don't go to sleep," she told me seriously. "If you're stuck outside in the cold."
"Why not?" I said.
"Because you'll never wake up. That's what they say it's like when you freeze to death. You go to sleep, and you don't ever open your eyes again."
"That seems horrible."
"But peaceful!" she pointed out brightly. "Better than this."