by Nia Mars
“Look at me.”
I raise my head.
His dark gaze traps mine as he slides his fingers into me, probing and stretching. “Do you want me inside you?”
I can’t speak. My head moves in a barely perceptible nod.
“I want that, too,” he tells me in a silky tone. “But you’re not ready for me yet.”
“What are you—” Tiam’s clipped words come from the doorway.
I freeze.
Without taking his gaze from me, Roax raises his free hand in a hold-it-there gesture. He directs his words at Tiam. “Stay where you are.”
“Get your hands off—”
“I might not be able to stop myself, if you come in right now.”
And although he doesn’t say the words, I know what he means. I might not be able to stop myself from killing you, if you come near what’s mine. I should be thinking how utterly psychotic that sounds. Instead, the dark possessiveness in Roax’s tone makes my body clench around his fingers.
His other hand moves to the low neckline of my dress and tugs it lower, until my bra is fully showing. Then he tugs on the bra until my breasts pop free.
He steps to the side to give Tiam full view of his two fingers moving inside me while another two are pinching my nipple. Now, he seems ready to share. Why? Because now he’s controlling it?
“We have a beautiful Oath Forger, don’t we?”
“We do.” Tiam’s voice is raspy with need.
“We are lucky bastards.”
How is this happening? How am I not running as far as my feet can carry me? I should be overcome with shame, but instead, being opened and exposed by one man while being viewed by another fills me with so much heat, I’m about to melt onto the desk.
When Roax issues his next order, I shudder. “Brace yourself on your hands behind your back.”
Great, my breasts jut out even farther. I am on display. I should feel embarrassed, but the men are looking at me as if they want to consume me, so I feel wanted and admired.
Roax goes for the other nipple, a hard bead of need.
“She is a brilliant Oath Forger,” he tells Tiam next. “She did well with that speech.”
“Yes.” The word hisses out of Tiam. Silver fires burn in his gaze that’s locked on to the fingers thrusting in and out of me, coated in my juices. His erection, thick and hard, presses against the fabric of his pants, impossible to miss.
“Our Ava deserves a reward,” Roax pronounces.
He pinches a nipple hard, so hard I want to scream. At the same time, he fucks hard into my pussy with his fingers. My back bows with pleasure.
Then it all stops.
I watch through lust-hazed eyes as he pulls his wet fingers from me and licks them. Then he takes my lips in a dominating kiss, and I can taste myself on his mouth.
That, too, is over too fast.
Before I can recover, he is walking away from me, clapping a ready-to-combust Tiam on the shoulder. “Take good care of our Oath Forger.”
Then, while I’m struggling to breathe, Roax’s dark, possessive gaze cuts back to me. Soon, that gaze promises before he leaves.
Tiam closes the door. He is in front of me in three long strides.
I’ve fallen apart. I don’t know how to gather myself. Need pulses through me, demanding satisfaction.
“My Ava?” The words are a question on Tiam’s lips.
He looks torn in two, wanting to finish what Roax started, and willing to cover me up and return me to order, comfort me, if that’s what I need.
“Please.” I sit up and lay my cheek against his chest, my fingers tangling in his shirt. “Please.”
I can’t articulate what I want, but he gives it to me anyway. He takes my lips.
He kisses me with a mix of fury and adoration. It hadn’t been easy for him to watch Roax with me. Jealousy is burning in that kiss. Maybe even anger. I think he’s angry that he’s so turned on by watching another man’s hands on me, in me.
“Yes?” he begs against my wet, swollen mouth, his tone saying he might die if I respond with anything else but that single word.
“Yes.”
He reaches down and wraps my legs around his waist. I wrap my arms around his neck, and he backs us up to the plush, red visitor’s chair behind him and sits down with me straddling his lap.
I wonder if he moved me so he wouldn’t be making love to me in the position Roax set up for him. It’s Tiam’s way of making what happens next his.
When he reaches between us and frees his cock, it springs hard and heavy against me. I grind on him, and his fingers flex on my hips.
“If you don’t want me inside your body, I can give you release like this.” He sounds pained as he makes the offer. “And even if you do take me into your body, you don’t have to accept me.”
But there’s a terrible, gut-wrenching hope in his gray eyes.
This is the man, the king, who offered to give up everything, every ounce of wealth and power, to go into exile with me if the committee didn’t confirm me. The man who came after me when I ran away from the palace. Twice. The ruler who set aside his territory, his power, his people for the past week and spent nearly all his time making sure that I’m safe, using all his geeky brilliance to investigate who is trying to harm me.
“Tiam, Krek of Nezid, head of the Ternel Alliance, I accept you. I am your Oath Forger.”
He kisses me deeply, reverently. He makes my heart sing and my body yearn.
His warm lips claim my nipples in soft nibbles and hard pulls. I’m rubbing against him again. I can’t help it. Hunger is a fire inside me.
He lifts me far enough to line up the swollen head of his cock with my sopping wet opening.
“Do you want to control this?” he gives me the option.
I shake my head. I’m too far gone. I’m afraid I’ll just drop my full weight on him. And he’s so large, I would probably hurt myself.
My voice is breathy with need. “You. Please.”
His smile promises to fulfill my every fantasy as he lowers me an inch.
I gasp at the sensation of being so stretched. Yet when he stops, I don’t want to stay still. I squirm. His gaze heats. His lips pressing together, he lowers me another inch.
My head falls back, and I moan at the ceiling.
“There are one-hundred-and-eighty-two rooms in this palace,” he tells me, his voice tight, as if he’s concentrating hard. “I want to make love to you in every one of them.”
One-hundred-and-eighty-two? It seems excessive. But I’ll have to take his word for it. If anyone knows the exact number, it’s Tiam.
His lips return to my nipple, and I moan again. He draws on me as he fills me one more tight inch.
My fingers are digging into his skin. I might be hurting him, but I can’t stop myself.
“More,” I request in a hoarse whisper.
Instead, he pulls back.
“Tiam!”
He chuckles against my breast as he thrusts forward and, this time, fills me all the way.
I can’t catch my breath. My heart is beating so fast, my blood is rushing with such a speed that I’m dizzy. I cling to his shoulders, his silver hair spilled over my hands.
“Tiam...”
“Hold on, my Ava.” He grinds me down onto his cock.
Stars. I actually see them behind my closed eyelids.
Then he starts fucking up into me, slowly at first, then picking up speed.
Roax had me begging with need in the shower earlier in the day, and then again before he’d left my office. I’ve been aroused most of the day. It’s not going to take me any time at all to come.
So when Tiam asks, “Do you want me to make this last?”
I practically yell “No!” my gaze flying to his to make sure he knows I mean it.
The laugh that escapes him is thick with relief.
His large hands grip my hips, and he moves me up and down on his hard length, the bulbous head of his cock hitting a secret spot inside me on e
very glide.
“There’s a correct angle to do this,” he tells me.
Of course there is. And of course, he would know it and be able to produce it even at a mind-melting moment like this. I can’t think at all, and he’s calculating angles.
He pushes, and that dragging, tingling sensation is driving me crazy.
I take his lips to stop from screaming, to stop from drawing the attention of the guards outside in the hallway. Then, as my body convulses with pleasure, I scream anyway, while Tiam keeps drilling into me with merciless precision.
He comes with a harsh groan of satisfaction and fills me with his seed. Coming and coming and coming, before he pulls me against him, burying his face between my bare, heaving breasts.
“Stars,” we say at the same time.
Then we laugh at the same time, and because he’s still semi-hard inside me, that sends a renewed wave of tingles through my body.
“I don’t want to do anything else for the rest of my life,” he tells me as he leans back against the chair and takes me with him, my face pressed into the warm skin of his neck. “Just make love to you, and eat and rest in between, so I can do it again.”
Right at that moment, I can’t find a single fault with that plan.
After several languorous seconds pass, he puts a finger under my chin and raises my head so he can look into my eyes. “You are mine? Really and truly mine?”
“Yes.”
He brushes his lips over mine. “Thank the stars.”
He kisses my eyelids, then I kiss his. Then I kiss the corners of his lips. We play along for a while, before I shift on his lap. “We’re sticky.”
I slide off his lap and let my dress fall to my ankles. He tucks his cock away. “Let’s go clean up.”
I look for my underwear.
Not here.
Roax took it. I bite my lip. The man couldn’t be more possessive and dominating if he tried.
Sometimes he seriously scares me. But he also gets me so...hot. He sees and reaches a part of me that nobody else can.
We both know, at this stage, that I’m going to accept him. Yet he’s giving me time.
The anticipation is killing me. I draw a deep breath. I’m with Tiam at the moment. I need to focus on the here and now.
I glance toward my desk. “I really wanted to get a handle on the work today.”
“I’ll tell you a secret,” Tiam says as he stands and reaches for my hand. “You can do everything from your quarters that you can do here. This is for when you have visitors.”
Back in my bathroom, we take a shower together. It’s my second shower of the day, and with Tiam’s hands all over me, it’s just as pleasant as the first was. If the kreks keep this up, I’m going to be so spoiled I won’t know what to do with myself.
“What are you smiling at?” Tiam demands to know, asking around my swollen nipple.
“I like this.”
The next second, I’m pinned against the wall and my legs are wrapped around him as he enters me in one hard slide. “Like is such a weak word. It’s barely on this side of indifferent.”
“Love it!” I squeal as he drives into me, less careful with me now than he’d been in the office.
We are both lost to pleasure for a while, then he slows to more measured strokes, so we can catch our breaths.
“Maybe this is why there’s only one of you and five of us,” he says with a grin. “We want to make love to you all day long. This way, having to share, at least we won’t die of exhaustion and dehydration.”
“What about me?”
“Our life goal is to take care of you and make you happy. Also, I know where the special button is that can revitalize you, if needed.”
He puts his thumb on my clit and rubs it in a slow circle. My body clenches around him. My every nerve ending is alive. Revitalization accomplished.
I can’t take my eyes off Tiam’s handsome face and his hungry expression.
I love everything about him, my space warrior nerd, especially that he makes me laugh.
I’ve accepted him. I’ve accepted two of the five kreks. It’s a happy thought and a happy moment, so I decide to just enjoy it, because who knows what will come next.
Chapter Four
LATER, WHEN TIAM GETS CALLED AWAY, he tells me not to leave my quarters until he returns.
I spend an hour in the little office off the bedroom. I begin with a newly-found folder that contains nothing but requests for clemency from people in prison. I read through them, but decide to wait and ask for advice before I do anything rash. I move on to organizing more of my schedule and going through applications for my staff. I need to select a new personal assistant—preferably more than one, according to the kreks. I also need office staff.
On the personal front, I’m not ready to replace Taly yet. Among the office staff, a secretary is the most important, so I begin with that. I look through every electronic entry. All the applicants are more than qualified. I have no idea how to pick.
I get up from my desk to pace, and I end up in the enormous bedroom at the glass wall, staring out into the garden.
My quarters are gorgeous, truly fit for a queen. Yet I hate being left behind here while the kreks are out there investigating. I understand why they don’t want me out in the city, especially now that my face has been splashed over every display screen in multiple solar systems. I’ve suddenly become recognizable.
But inside the palace... I’m pretty sure I’m safe here. The palace guard has been doubled.
I need to walk around at least. See if I catch anything suspicious. Maybe I’ll run into one of the Confirmation Committee members and catch him or her in the middle of something nefarious. We have so few clues, anything I might find would be better than nothing.
When I walk out the door, the two guards, Valed and Nilo, immediately snap to attention.
“Is there a place where palace staff hang out?” I ask. “I’m sure Taly had friends among the staff. I would like to talk to them.”
“There are several staff lounges,” Valed tells me. He’s a burly warrior of a man, yet he manages to look clean-cut and very official in his red palace guard uniform. “Taly used the lounge reserved for your personal staff. It’s just around the corner from your public office.”
“Let’s go.” I head down the hallway, and the two guards immediately fall into step behind me.
I glance over my shoulder. “Thank you, Valed. Thank you, Nilo.”
“Oath Forger,” they reply in unison, tapping their fists over their chests.
Valed is a long-time palace guard. Nilo was one of Krek Koah’s personal guards before Koah assigned him to me. I first met him on our journey to Merim.
“Any interesting gossip in the palace?” I ask as we walk.
Silence behind me. I don’t think they expected the question.
“Such as?” Nilo speaks after several seconds.
“Anything about the Confirmation Committee? What do they do all day? Do you know where their rooms are exactly? I’d like to walk by there on the way to the staff lounge.”
“They stay in their quarters for the most part, Madam,” Nilo responds. “We’ll pass through their hallway. I haven’t seen any of them out yet.”
Except, as we turn the corner, I spy Senator Seke sneaking out of a room.
“Senator Delza’s room,” Nilo supplies the information in a low whisper behind me.
Aha!
Senator Seke stops, her body a rigid blue blade in corded satin. She clearly wants to be anywhere else but here. Even her giant earlobes look stiff. “Greetings, Ava.”
Technically, she should be calling me by my title, Oath Forger, but I don’t correct her. “Greetings, Senator. You must be bored, stuck on the planet for the next couple of days. Would you like a tour of the palace?”
Keep your enemies close, Tiam said.
“Thank you, maybe some other time.” Her earlobes swing as she shakes her head with false regret. “I’m exhausted a
t the moment.” Then, after a pause, she adds, “I am surprised the kreks leave you time to play tour guide. Is everything going well with accepting them? Have you not been able to go past accepting Krek Koah?”
She’s so smug that I can’t resist telling her the truth, even if it’s none of her business. “Thank you for asking. I’ve also accepted Krek Tiam.”
Senator Seke’s colorless lips flatten. She recovers after a second. “But not the others? Is the hesitation yours or theirs?”
She’s wondering if the men find me lacking. The bitch.
I flash her the most cheerful smile I’m capable of. “We are simply savoring the courting stage. Anticipation sweetens any experience.”
She purses her lips as if she’s just been forced to swallow broken glass.
I let her go with, “Enjoy your time at the palace.”
And after this, please never come back.
“Are you planning on visiting Senator Delza?” the woman asks, probably because I’m heading that way.
I hadn’t planned on it, but because Seke’s shoulders tense, I say, “Yes.”
“She’s resting.” The look in Seke’s eyes is not only protective, but borderline hostile.
Because I did not want to talk with Koah’s ex-girlfriend in the first place, I respond with, “Then I shall let her rest.”
I turn my back on the senator and sail along, my guards close behind me. I’m grateful for their presence.
“She’s had multiple partners over the years,” Nilo says quietly behind me. “Always one at a time, always for alliance.”
Something makes me ask, “Men or women?”
“All men. The joinings never last.”
“What are her political affiliations?”
“She is a separationist. Her pet causes are the deregulation of trade and the cancellation of tariffs. She comes from an old merchant family. She’s one of the wealthiest members of the senate. And none of them are hurting,” he adds.
“How about the others on the committee?”
Nilo lists them. They are evenly divided regarding their politics. Senators Seke, Delza, and Wortly are separationists, the other three are unionists. Those are the two main parties of the Federation. The separationists wish for more power in the hands of the Alliances, while the unionists want a strong central power in the Federation. I’ve been catching up on politics on my comm unit in my spare time.