by Nia Mars
His hands cup my butt cheeks. He squeezes. “Ready, my Ava?”
I hitch myself around until his cock is lined up with my opening. Then I press steadily until I work his long, thick cock deep inside me.
We don’t have much leverage so we grind softly against each other in the bobbing waves. The sensation is brand new and addictive. Pleasure builds and builds slowly, relentlessly.
“I think I like this even better than the treetop,” I tell him.
“So you did like the treetop? I thought it scared you.”
“At first.”
“Are you sure you like this more? Because we could go back up the tree.”
I tighten my arms around him as I laugh. “I’m sure. What just happened back at the palace already makes me feel like I’m a circus acrobat.”
“How do I make you feel?”
I think for a few seconds. “Like a mermaid.”
“What’s a mermaid?”
“Half-fish, half-woman.” I pause. “Actually, they live in the sea and lure sailors to their death.”
“Sounds unpleasant.”
“They can sing really well.”
“We have singers too. They don’t kill the audience.”
“Mermaids are mythical.”
That relaxes the frown on his forehead. “I’m glad to hear. I was trying to figure out how to forbid our sons from ever visiting Earth, without making you upset.”
My heart melts. “Will we have sons?”
He squeezes my butt and grinds his hard cock deep into me. “You think we’re doing this for some mystical purpose?”
I fall against his shoulder, laughing.
Then he pumps in harder, faster, and the bolt of pleasure he feels when I squeeze tight around his cock steals my breath. That I can also feel what he feels, makes everything a hundred times more potent.
Of course, it’s nearly impossible to go this hard at this pace for long in the water. Movement takes too much energy. The extended frustration makes all sensation that much sharper. I can almost climax. It’s just out of reach. Almost... Almost... I’m so maddeningly close.
He kisses me deeply, then trails his lips to my earlobes and nibbles, trying to distract me from my quest.
Several seconds pass before I’m finally onto him. “You’re trying to drag this out.”
He grins. “Can you blame me? I don’t want to return you to the others.”
I let my eyes plead. “I need... I can’t...”
“What do you need, my Ava?”
I squirm harder against him. “Release.”
“As my Oath Forger commands.”
We’re on the beach then, Uthan over me, and then he drills into me, fucks me hard. I glory in the power he feels as he plunges in and out of my body, and I embrace the sensation of being fully fucked by such an elemental power. This is Uthan, seventh-level mystic. He has the power to shape my experience. And, man, does he ever.
Our union is not merely physical. It goes into the spiritual realm. Because he’s in my head, he knows everything I need, long before I can find words. And he delivers. He makes me moan and beg then weep with gratification.
We come at the same time. I scream his name, and it echoes off the shower walls, because we’re back at the palace.
We’re surrounded by the other four, all hard again, and moving in, their gazes burning.
“Not so soon,” Roax snaps out the words, his voice shaking with control. “Right now we’re going to give Ava time to rest.”
The men agree, but from the looks on their faces, I know it costs them. The five perfect male bodies in the shower with me are overwhelming. For a moment, only a moment, I almost wish Roax wasn’t so strict. Then I come to my senses. There’s no rush. I have a lifetime with these men.
Which reminds me... I’ve started talking to them about this before the whole group sex thing, but I want to make sure I make myself completely clear.
“I’m the Oath Forger,” I tell them. “I’m not a waif to be sheltered in your mighty shadows.”
They wait and listen. “I can protect myself.”
“We don’t protect you because we don’t think you can’t protect yourself,” Koah tells me. “We protect you because we love you.”
“You left me in the pod to go and negotiate with the pirate lord in my place.”
“To make sure you were safe,” Roax says. “You blew up an entire pirate fleet to make sure we were safe.”
Okay, he has a point there.
“I know that accepting help from you,” I say after a few seconds of deep thinking, “doesn’t mean that I’m weak.”
“We’ll always be stronger as a team,” Uthan says in that reasonable tone of his.
“I agree.” I look from man to man. “You are welcome to offer help, and I appreciate you offering help, but I’m going to decide whether or not I’m going to take that help.”
Dason immediately says, “Of course, Oath Forger.”
Then silence.
Then Tiam. “Fair enough, my Ava.”
Then the others, too, agree, and I feel a sense of progress at long last. Our relationship is going to work, because we’re going to make it work.
Chapter Eleven
WE ALL TAKE A NAP TOGETHER. The kreks were right. I’m exhausted. Not so much physically, but mentally. The past few weeks have been draining. More has happened to me since I’ve arrived to Merim than in my entire previous life on Earth.
They’re all asleep around me; I guess that’s what men do after sex. They’re all touching me in some way while I soak in the comfort of their large, warm bodies. But after a while, I sneak out of bed, pull a dress over my head, then sneak out of the room. I want to see Taly’s Glen again, want to be alone with her memory for a moment.
I sit in the grass at the foot of the rock that carries her memory plaque. “The pirate lord who supplied the poison was arrested,” I tell her. “So was the man who paid the pirate lord. And the man at the palace who poisoned the fruit you ate. He was bribed. You will get justice, I swear.” I lean the back of my head against the rock. “I’m sorry. I wish you were still here. I hoped that we would become good friends.”
I close my eyes and listen to the stream, to the bugs and the birds in the trees. There’s such peace here. I can see myself coming here often in the future.
I stay for a while, but then I get up to go back in because I don’t want the kreks to have to come looking for me. I walk through the trees down the winding path. And then I nearly jump out of my skin when Fered Wofol steps out in front of me from behind a thick stand of bushes.
“I hoped I might find you here.”
He is too close, too looming, his eyes too sharp. Instead of all black, he’s wearing a dark-green flight uniform. Just by his clothes, you could mistake him for an ordinary man, but his bearing is regal and commanding. “I need you to come with me, Oath Forger.”
My heart sinks. I did not expect a snake in the garden. “Why?”
“I can use someone like you on my side. Behind the scenes, of course. I found what you did to the pirates who threatened Merim impressive. I’m not one to waste resources. In hindsight, I’m glad that the plans to permanently erase you didn’t work.”
My thoughts race to keep up with him. “You want to kidnap me and force me to be your assassin?”
“Could have been worse. Sayer very much wanted you dead. And I don’t think even your demonstration of power could have changed that. He would have eventually achieved your permanent removal, if he wasn’t caught in that Federation dragnet and arrested.”
Puzzle pieces fall into place. “You and Sayer were on the same side this whole time. He wasn’t running against you for presidency.”
“An organization is always most successful when its leadership is united. When you two met, he simply came to see you to measure you up. Some predators like playing with their prey. I prefer to be more direct.”
“He sent the poison to the palace.” Gaden had confessed as much at the tribu
nal. “A good, loyal, talented woman died because of that. I’m never going to forgive Feder Sayer for Taly. And I’m never going to forgive you either.”
“I’m not here for forgiveness.” Wofol’s gaze hardens. “Let’s go.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you. You had four senators murdered. All unionists so you could replace them with separationists who would vote in favor of the Trade Alliance on every issue. You are nothing but a thug and a murderer.”
“You worked that out. Good for you. The senators were no great loss, I assure you. The politicians in the Zebet are all idiots. Some are merely more useful to me than others.”
I can understand his hit on the Zebet, but... “Why did you order Olipha kidnapped?” I’m still angry for that, too. Olipha is my friend.
“To get Krek Tiam away from Merim, for one,” Wofol tells me. “And, also, because Gaden wanted her. He had plans for uniting all the pirates, creating a sixth alliance, and marrying royal blood to legitimize himself.” He raises a mocking eyebrow. “I take it, our pirate lord didn’t volunteer that information at his tribunal?”
He moves even closer. “We need to leave now. I’m afraid the trip is not optional for you. I have a pod waiting on the palace roof.”
His hand sneaks out so fast, I barely see it, and then he has me by the arm. “There’s no reason to make this unpleasant.”
I shift to fight him, but he knows, and he stops me with nothing but words. “If you come with me, I will not destroy Earth. And as a further sign of goodwill, I will let your kreks live.” He tugs me forward, until we’re at the edge of the tree line. I can see the men through the window. They’re still in bed.
Wofol leans to my ear. “My ship is in orbit with a laser cannon locked onto this room. My comm channel is open. My captain can hear every word I’m saying here. One word from me, and he vaporizes your quarters with everyone inside.”
My heart stops. No, no, no.
“Men like me always win.” The words slither out of his mouth, drop onto my neck, and make me shiver. “In any situation, the man who wins is the man who is willing to do what others aren’t. And honest men will only go to a point. They won’t sacrifice innocents in a blink. The winner on the field is the man who’s willing to sacrifice the most, and I’m willing to sacrifice a lot. The kreks. Or your whole precious Earth.”
“I’m not.”
He laughs. “As long as you stay with me and do what I tell you, when I tell you, the ones you care about will be safe and continue to live. If not... Do you know that I own a network of laboratories, among many other things? A few of them are testing viruses at the moment. Something to depopulate planets that I’m thinking about buying for mining. I understand, that on Earth, your people live underground, in burrows. Imagine how fast a deadly virus would go through a population that concentrated.”
He turns me to him, and he smiles a snake’s smile. He knows he has me. “No hard feelings.”
I can feel my Five in that room. The same room where Taly was murdered, where she died in my arms. Nobody else I care about will be lost on my watch, if I can help it. And I more than care about the kreks. I love them with all my heart.
I smile back at Wofol. “No hard feelings.”
And then I call on the tiniest spark of my power, and send it into his chest, slowly, gently. Into his chest and into his heart. Then... Pop.
Blowing up a pirate fleet requires vast power. As it turns out, blowing up a human heart barely requires a flick.
Wofol’s fingers slide off my arm as he collapses dead at my feet.
I might not be willing to sacrifice everything, but I’m certainly willing to sacrifice one murderous, corrupt Trade Alliance president.
“Are you listening, captain?” I say the words towards Wofol’s comm unit.
No response comes at first, but then “I’m listening.”
“Fered Wofol left the chain of command. You no longer report to him.”
Silence on the other end.
“Do you remember what I did to the pirate fleet that threatened Merim?” I ask the man.
“Yes, Madam. What are your orders?”
“Land at the military port and report for debriefing. You may end the comm connection.”
“Yes, Madam.”
He signs off, and then I have just one more thing to say here.
“I will protect my kreks,” I tell Wofol as he lies still on the ground with a look of surprise frozen on his face. “I will protect Merim. I will protect the Federation. I will protect my Earth.”
Then I leave him where he lies and walk inside where the kreks are awakening.
“There’s a body in the garden.” I share the whole story, the entirety of Wofol’s sordid tale.
Of course, they all bristle as they demand to know whether I’m hurt, dragging their clothes on, ready to charge off to do battle on my behalf.
“I’ll take care of him for you, Ava Mine.” Roax is the one to head to the door first. He winks back at me. “But don’t make a habit of this.”
Chapter Twelve
A LIFETIME AGO, I LEFT EARTH IN A BLIND PANIC about what was going to happen to me among space pirates. Today, I’m returning to Earth the happiest woman in the galaxy.
“Thank you for bringing me back,” I tell Koah as we prepare for landing.
He kisses me in response, a quick but thorough kiss. “It’s an honor, my Ava.”
It seems right that he’s the one here with me. He was the one to find me. Everything I have now I have because Koah recognized me as Oath Forger.
All five kreks wanted to come, of course. But, hey, someone has to stay home and run the galaxy.
When our pod lands outside Dallas Colony, my heart is beating so hard, I’m afraid it will bruise itself against my ribs. “I can’t believe I’m finally here.”
Already, there are changes.
“The rain collection pans are back!” People can capture extra water on the surface again, now that pirates are no longer a threat. I grin at Koah.
He probably has no idea what I’m talking about, but he grins back.
We are met by a delegation of three men and four women. Our arrival has been negotiated. I stare at Lily among the reception committee.
Koah bends his head to me. “Everything all right?”
“When did my little sister become a politician?”
We’ll talk about that later. For now, I press my hand against my chest to keep my heart from beating its way through my ribcage. I blink back tears. Then I relax, truly relax, for the first time since I’ve been taken.
I feel like I’m floating in relief, and it’s like floating in Uthan’s ocean. Lily is here, and she looks healthy and happy, her blue eyes shining, her blonde hair up in a sleek ponytail. Her clothes are in good repair, the green top new, I think. She is well, and nothing else even matters.
“I should have brought you back sooner,” Koah says, and I can’t disagree.
I don’t know how much time passes before I’m able to look away from Lily.
I know the others by name and sight, but not much more than that. Dallas is a large colony. I can’t know them all. And, as a scavenger, I never belonged to the highest circles.
They watch us with open curiosity; some with hope, others with fear. Lily is grinning so freaking wide, I can see all her teeth, but she’s rolling her eyes at the same time—probably at my clothes.
I’m dressed for the occasion. Stars, my brilliant Oath Forger robe looks out of place here. The clothes make it glaringly obvious that the Ava who is returning, is not the same Ava who left.
As the reception committee reaches us, greetings are exchanged.
“Oath Forger, welcome home. Earth welcomes the Federation’s representatives.”
Koah responds for us. He’s the leader of the Federation’s delegation to Earth. As the highest-ranking people going, he and I were both offered the honor, but I declined. I want to spend most of my time here with Lily, not sitting in meetings. In
any case, Koah knows a lot more about the Federation and its policies than I do.
Even as he’s talking, I lose all decorum and hug Lily for all I’m worth. She hugs me back hard. I want to shout with joy. I want to cry like a baby. I do manage to hold back for the moment, but only just, only because I need to remember that I am here in a semi-official capacity.
I hold her hand through the introductions. When Koah greets her as “Sister,” her face lights up another notch, and I swear she grows two inches on the spot.
I can’t let go of her even when we start to walk inside. Now that I have my sister back, all is right with my universe once again.
She clings to me just as desperately. “Where have you been? I thought you were dead! I thought your organs were harvested. I thought you were a sex slave to a giant snail! I thought—” The words break off as tears flood her eyes.
I’m blinking hard. “I can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t come back. Sisters forever. Didn’t I tell you that we’ll always stick together?”
“Nobody has ever come back before.”
“It’s good to do the unexpected every once in a while. Keeps your enemies guessing.”
She grins through her tears. She looks great: healthy, happy, more grown-up. A tight knot in the middle of my heart eases. She survived without me. I’m so freaking proud of her.
“How did you become a politician? When? Why?” I wouldn’t have predicted this in a million years.
“I was elected councilwoman the day the Federation communication arrived.” Her grin widens. “Right when the Federation offered us permanent protection from space pirates, and we were told that a delegation was coming from the Federation’s capital to discuss further cooperation with Earth. And the delegation chose Dallas Colony as their primary partner and representatives of Earth, because the Federation’s Oath Forger was from Dallas. When I heard your name on my comm unit, I screamed so long and so loud, people thought I was hurt and came running. My big sis, the freaking queen of the universe!”
I roll my eyes. “Let’s not get carried away.”
She glances at Koah on my other side who is talking with the head of the reception committee. He, along with the rest of the delegation, received English translation chips before we left Merim.
