by Viola Grace
Lal frowned. “I wonder why he didn’t do any other touching?”
The medical team had been waiting at the door. “Uh, Miss, I believe I know why. Your glands aren’t active yet.”
Lal’s cheeks darkened. “Oh, dear. Didn’t she have them initially?”
“Wait. What?”
“The glands that produce an oil-based lubricant that Los need during sex. We don’t sweat, we don’t have the same intimate lubrication that your species does. Our males and females have oil-based secretions. The consort is slowly turning over to it, but it isn’t there yet.”
Idalia looked down toward her crotch accusingly. “So, he didn’t have sex with me because of the friction coefficient?”
The medic blushed and kept his gaze on Lal. “And he would burn her without some kind of a slip layer between them. She isn’t quite as heat-resistant as he requires.”
Idalia stared from one to the other. “So, there is a book where this is all written down or something?”
“He communicates via a computer terminal in the capitol. We received specs that he required in a mate and set about locating a species that had the possibility of a match. You are that match; the only one we have found in a very long search.”
She frowned and then nodded. “Yeah, that was mentioned in my contract. How many citizen are there on Los?”
Lal answered, “Twelve million in total.”
“Do you have the means to evacuate all of them?”
Lal shook her head. “We could only transport about thirty thousand.”
“So, millions of lives are hinging on this ancient entity getting laid.”
Lal frowned. “Pardon?”
“Having sex.”
“I don’t think that it is necessary. He has only taken about ten percent of his companions as his lovers. The rest were just companions.”
“Uh-huh. Do you think that is going to fly here?”
Lal blinked. “Pardon?”
“Do you think he will be interested in a platonic relationship with me?”
The medic looked at her lips with a startled expression. “No, Miss. I don’t think he will. Did he mark you anywhere else?”
She pulled the skirt to one side, and the rest of the med team stifled laughter.
“Um, Miss, I believe that a more physical relationship is what he has in mind. Don’t worry, he will wait until you are... uh... capable.”
“So, how will I know when that situation occurs?”
The medic looked mortified. And he pushed his team outside.
Lal looked at her. “Don’t you have arousal or an emanation of juices when you want to have sex?”
“Sure, we get wet, so this is like that?” She frowned.
“It happens in a rush, so you will definitely feel it.” Lal waved it off.
“So, it’s an oil?”
“Mostly, there are some pheromones in the mix. When the breeding fruit is in season, the public spaces are all slick and sticky.”
Idalia laughed. “That is an appalling image.”
Lal shrugged. “Not if you are there and interested. In that case, it is... stimulating.”
“So, I am going to wreck a lot of clothing.”
Lal smiled. “No, our fashions take it into account.”
Idalia looked at the heavy skirt that didn’t stain or even show water marks. “Ah. Right. Well, wearing mineral fibre now makes sense. So, when I start dripping oil, he’s going to show up?”
Lal shrugged. “Probably. Who knows how he thinks?”
Idalia shivered. “I don’t know, but based on the design on my thigh, he is having fun with this.” She had a thought. “Wait, am I going to change colour wherever he touches me?”
Lal frowned. “I don’t think so. I believe that those marks were deliberate.”
Idalia sighed. “Of course, they are.”
She felt the tug and tried to ignore it.
Lal blinked. “What was that?”
“He wants me to lie on the bridge again.”
Lal’s expression was shocked. “You are fighting him?”
Idalia put her finger and thumb an inch apart. “A little bit. More like resisting.”
“Why? Do you know what’s at stake?” Lal looked desperate.
Idalia put her hand on Lal’s. “Nothing easy has as much value. If he has to coax me, it keeps his focus on me, and he gets here faster. That is what you want, right?”
Lal bit her lip and nodded.
“Well, in that case, let’s go out onto the balcony until the song in my head gets irritated or whiny. Or one of the fire kittens comes to get me.”
They walked out and overlooked the rapidly greening valley and the swarms of Los farmers tending the ground and the trees. Idalia leaned her elbows on the railing and watched.
Lal stood a few feet away. “Why are you playing these games with him?”
“I am out of practice, but with my people, the games are important. If your society has evolved to the point where the interested parties don’t have the right to physically accept or reject their courtship, you have to put obstacles in the way to make them sure that what they are reaching for is the right prize. Of course, this often backfires and the men get addicted to the pursuit. I am hoping that I ride the line, but I didn’t stand on the bridge this morning, and he is missing the view.”
Lal blinked. “You were on it last night.”
“I know, but if that gland is necessary, I believe he is hurrying it along.”
“Oh. Oohhh.” Lal looked embarrassed. “That’s a good thing.”
“Says you. I am the one facing the alien that can probably cum lava. Why aren’t there any images of him, by the way?”
“Um, we have them at the archives, but he always changes, so it doesn’t do any good.”
“Always changes?”
“Every time he has been gone for more than a decade, he changes. When he has emerged for you, the elders have decided to line up more maidens so that there will be a smooth transition when your life comes to an end. They will begin arriving in a few years.”
“Ah. Well, what a pleasant thought.” A nudge at her skirt got her attention. A grumpy fire kitten stood there and butted her leg with its little forehead.
She smiled. “Ah, so a direct order. Well, Lal, I have to go stand on the bridge.”
“I will come with you.”
“You might not want to. It has been getting a little heated of late.” Idalia was slightly embarrassed at what she knew was going to happen, but there wasn’t really anything she could do to stop it. She couldn’t run, she couldn’t fight. The whole thought of fighting fire with fire, implied that you could wield fire. She couldn’t.
The kitten pulled at her skirt and walked her to the bridge. Idalia stood there and focused, gradually feeling the tendrils of fire moving up her thighs. It was disconcerting that her body had become impervious to fire in such a short span of time, but what was more peculiar was that the fire was slipping and sliding against her inner thigh, coaxing her into widening her stance. The song became seductive, cajoling. It wanted her to play with him.
Lal was frantically taking notes, but Idalia tried to ignore her friend who worked for the species who had paid to have her shipped here, and she swayed. Her hands ran themselves over her bare belly and ribs, up to her breasts, and cupped the binder that kept her breasts in place.
She kneaded her breasts and pinched her nipples, gasping and moaning low. Lal squeaked and retreated around a corner, but Idalia could still feel her peeking.
She slid one hand into the side slit of her skirt and found her clit. The fire bands quivered on her inner thighs, waiting.
The moan from her throat was deep and vibrated, the song in her mind was urgent. She felt the fire creeping into her and widening her, and when she couldn’t hold off, she came with a soft shriek, locking in place while her body clenched and twisted against the flames, and then, she sl
owly collapsed to her hands and knees at the edge of the bridge.
She panted and saw white-hot eyes looking at her from the orange glow beneath her. She dipped her fingers between her thighs and examined the moisture. It was still basically human as it evaporated rapidly, but there was an oily coating left behind. She muttered into the deep. “Not quite yet.” And rolled onto the bridge until she caught her breath.
* * * *
Lal watched as the consort fell asleep on the bridge and a column of fire shot upward and encased her. She was held, suspended over the bridge, and there was a deep humming sound from below.
Fire was running along every part of Idalia, into her mouth, and around her legs. Aside from the thorough encapsulation, it seemed that Los was checking on her and offering a little of himself to sustain his new consort.
Lal jolted when a figure rose from the crevice and moved a hand over Idalia slowly. Lal started to shake as his hand remained a few inches from the woman who was limp in the grip of the flames.
Her fingers scribbled frantically, and when the glowing visage turned toward her and pressed a finger to his lips, she jumped. He knew she was there.
He caressed Idalia’s cheek softly, kissed her lips gently, and he lowered her to the bridge, her skin bright and gold with heat. He retreated to the crevice, and Lal knew one thing. The planet’s avatar did indeed have wings.
She looked at Idalia, glowing softly on the bridge, and she waited for the consort to wake.
* * * *
Idalia felt warm but not uncomfortably so. Her body was still humming from the climax, and then, she realized that her mind still had that song, and it was getting progressively more detailed and seductive.
She sat up and saw the eyes in the fire below. Her sex felt hot, like she was smuggling one of the fire kittens in there. She slid a hand under her skirt, and it emerged with only a slight bit of steam and a lot more remaining oil. Oh, he was speeding things up. “That isn’t playing fair, Los.”
The music in her mind soared, and there was laughter with it.
Idalia got to her feet and walked off the bridge, heading for the balcony to cool off enough to talk to Lal, who had been hiding around the corner.
Lal came to her. “So, uh, Los is awake.”
Idalia chuckled. “What was your first clue?”
“Well, I saw him.”
“Really? What does he look like?”
“White hot. Big wings.”
“Any other features?”
Lal blushed. “Uh, he was interested in you... intently interested.”
“Right. Glowing white, big wings, hardon. Anything else?”
“He put a finger to his lips to tell me to hush. I think it was so that I didn’t wake you while he accelerated you.”
Idalia nodded. “Noted.” She stretched. “I think it is time for lunch.”
Her skin was cool now. It cooled faster without the insulating ash layer on it.
She walked past Lal and headed for the meal dispenser. She was hungry. A hard climax and being wrapped in fire would do that for her.
She wasn’t a very complicated creature. She always compared sex to the slightly hollow burn of masturbation and her own touch came up short. She missed being touched.
Chapter Five
Idalia returned to the library for the rest of the day, but she kept watching her body for signs that his renovation project had reached its finale.
She went through the books and picked out one with a plain cover from a corner. She chuckled as she read. This wasn’t a book about Los, the maidens, or even the creature in the lava. This was a romantic novel.
She read the story with the same attention to the story that she always had when reading. She curled up in a corner and read the sweet story until it started to go from sweet to hot.
She closed the book carefully and set it aside as she felt something heating up in her belly. Idalia wanted to know what was going to happen with the characters, but the arousal from reading was not recommended under the circumstances. Books were always the easiest way to her heart and hormones.
She picked up a dry historical account of how Los had fallen into the empty world, sought the heat, and brought it up to warm the surface. Then, a small colony ship arrived, and that is where the population came from. They left their old world behind, brought their breeding fruit with them, and lived happily until Los began to feel alone.
The first consort was a volunteer. She offered herself to Los, and he took her as a lover. She was with him for twenty years, and then, she passed away and the world grew cold for a while.
Another woman, another return to normal warm temperatures. Apparently, once Los had companionship, he wasn’t the same without it.
The women of the colony weren’t up to more than two decades of companionship, and then, they passed and were replaced by the next one.
She flipped through the book and saw a listing of the dead women. She sighed. Her name was going to be listed there one day, in a different volume by a different hand.
She sighed again and picked up the romance novel. This was less depressing.
She bit her lip as the scene in the book got hot, the characters rubbing each other with the breeding fruit before mating took place.
The mating scene was pretty intense, and Idalia felt a pulsing flutter in her sex. The slick surge that followed made her blush, and she reached under her skirt to bring out her fingertips. “Oh, damn.”
Her skin was hot, but the fluid remained in place. She rubbed it between her fingers and thumb. Yeah, that was new. It was viscous, like a mineral oil. She looked around and tasted it. It still tasted like her but slicker.
The music in her mind took up a heavy beat.
“No fucking way. You can wait until this evening, perv.” She crossed her arms, and the music became seductive. “No. Absofuckinglutely not.”
She finished the scene and then continued the book. It went from sweet to heat and stayed there. She exhaled slowly when the book was done and put it back on the low shelf where she had found it.
The sunlight turned red and faded, so she got up and got her dinner. Her thighs were embarrassingly slick, and it was hard to ignore.
She ate her meal and put the tray in the recycler before she slowly made her way to the chamber with the crevice and the bridge.
The music in her mind got more excited, so she paused. “Calm down. I am not getting on that bridge until you calm the fuck down.”
She walked to the outer ring and waited for the song to resume a more neutral energy. When it calmed down, she walked onto the bridge and waited. The song gentled, and fire kittens arrived to rub against her. She smiled. They coaxed her into lying down, so she did, lying on her right side and propping her head on her elbow.
The heat and vapours swelled up from below, and it made her dizzy. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, drooping over the edge of the bridge. Bright eyes looked up at her and got larger.
“Aw, hell. What is with the light sedation?” She kicked her feet.
She heard his voice for the first time.
“I don’t want you to jump.” The roll of his voice over her made her smile.
“I don’t jump. I might try to crawl away though,” she mumbled as his head drew even with hers.
She looked up at him and frowned. “You have a big head.”
He chuckled. “I have a big everything, and with you, I can finally have a consort for life. I have enjoyed anticipating a mate and am shocked that they found you. I had been told you were unable to come to me.”
“Told by who?”
“Gaia and Zanican.”
Idalia blinked. “Was this decades ago?”
He nodded. “It was.”
“Um, I needed time. They reset me from middle age to this.” She was wide awake now as he was hovering next to her, easily twice her width and looked to be nearly two feet taller than she was. “This isn’t going to work.”
Los chuckled. “It will work. When you were reset, you were redesigned for it to work. Now that your body is set for Los, we will fit rather nicely.”
He lifted her in his arms, and the roof opened. A few wingbeats and he was up and out of the building, and she went with him.
He flew upward and smiled as he removed her from the only place she knew on the entire world as he streaked into the city.
“Holy. This place has a lot of technology.”
“Of course. They just couldn’t wake me without bait.”
“I am bait?”
He smiled slowly, his features dark enough to read with the wind blowing against them. “You are the enticement.”
“Uh, I can’t say that it wasn’t in my contract because it was, but I honestly didn’t think that you really existed. I just didn’t want to go into work the next day.”
He laughed brightly and did a barrel roll that made her clutch at his neck.
Whimsy was not something mentioned by any of the maidens. They had all described him as sombre and careful with them.
Her heart was thudding in her throat. “Why are you so happy?”
He chuckled. “I have a mate.”
Idalia looked at the bright glow of his features, and she saw a happy gleam in his eyes. “I thought I was a consort.”
“It was the best way to explain what you would expect. The people here do not understand the difference.”
She licked her lips. “There is a difference?”
He chuckled and landed on the roof of the tallest building in the city. As his feet made contact with the roof, the building lights came on.
“Where are we?”
“Our home?” His skin was cooling, and he was the same soft pewter that she was.
He walked to a guarded door, and two stunned guards snapped to attention, opening the door to let him and his wings through.
She looked down, and the floor was a lot further than it should be. She looked up, and he had an amused expression on his lips. She glanced down and then jerked her hands from around his neck.
