by Tasha Black
“You thieving scumbag,” Zane said quietly to the frightened-looking monarch. “You aren’t worthy to lick the mud off her boots.”
“And who are you to say that?” Cassius gasped. “Unhand me at once.”
“Gladly,” Zane said.
Cassius looked down at the drop below him and his eyes widened in terror.
Zane let him dangle another few seconds before hauling him back over the rail and letting him drop unceremoniously to the ground at his feet.
“And for your information, I am Zane, crown prince of Agwithia,” he said, his voice booming out over the gathered crowd. “If Juno will have me, I am ready to return to my home and rule as king.”
Prince Zane?
“Wait - what?” Juno asked as the crowd below erupted in cheers and applause.
“It’s true,” Zane told her quietly. “And there is room, and honest work, for your people on my planet. Although it might not be an easy transition.”
“But why? Why are you here? Why are you pretending to be a worker on this ship?” The questions occurred to her faster than she could get them out.
“Let’s get you two back to your suite,” Leo suggested, putting an arm around each of them and pulling them out of sight of the buzzing witnesses below.
Juno allowed herself to be led down a corridor and through a hidden doorway that led down a staircase and into the forest.
“We need to move,” Leo said softly. “This is going to spread fast.”
The three of them jogged down a well-trimmed trail, past an open meadow and back into the trees near the main glass doors.
Leo placed his hand on the sensor and the doors opened.
“Crown Prince Zane,” a humanoid woman in a beautiful golden tunic called out.
Leo wasn’t kidding about the news getting around.
Zane gave a little wave as they ran past her to the hallway where their private platform awaited.
“Please, go and talk,” Leo said. “I’ll have security forces waiting here to accompany you wherever you wish to go for the remainder of your stay.”
“That’s very kind,’ Zane replied. “But it won’t be necessary.”
“Apologies, your majesty, but now that your celebrity status is known, I suspect you will find it difficult to navigate the corridors without well-wishers accosting you,” Leo said with a smile. “There’s no rush, just tap when you’re ready to head out.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Zane said warmly.
Leo gave a little salute.
“Cloud Suite,” Zane said.
The platform flew upward just as a crowd of people appeared in the hallway, following the woman in gold.
“Please tell me what’s going on,” Juno said.
“Well… As you might have guessed, I’m not a woodsman, or a valet,” Zane said gently. “I’m the crown prince of a planet called Agwithia. Have you heard of it?”
Of course she had heard of Agwithia. It was one of the wealthiest planets in the inner ring. It was at the helm of a syndicate of wealthy and powerful planets who acted as leaders of culture and industry.
The platform stopped and they headed to her suite.
She placed her hand on the sensor and it opened, revealing the familiar but still breath-taking view over the treetops.
“Yes, I’ve heard of Agwithia,” she said, still not sure she believed his story. “Why are you here?”
“Let’s sit,” he suggested. “It’s a long story.”
She curled up on a divan and he sat on the sofa opposite her.
He sighed and leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
“My father was not a kind man, Juno,” he said. “When he died there was public mourning but private rejoicing, even in the palace.”
“I’m sorry,” Juno said sincerely. She seemed to remember something about Agwithia recently being under the reign of someone cruel.
“I was not yet of age,” Zane said. “So my mother and I selected a regent. He was an elderly man, but kind. The planet thrived for a short time.”
Juno nodded, glad that it sounded like Zane’s mother was a good judge of character.
“Meanwhile, my mother had taken a consort,” Zane explained. “He was a sweet man, shy and nervous, but she adored him. When the regent died in his sleep, we chose the consort as my next regent. I was twenty at the time, just two years from being able to wear the crown myself.”
“That sounds like a good thing,” Juno said.
“At first it seemed to be,” Zane said. “But over time he grew too fond of the sound of his own decrees. He stopped seeking counsel and his decisions became radical and unpredictable. When there were whispers that the people were unhappy, he grew angrier still.”
Juno could imagine how such a situation might deteriorate.
“Rumor got out that he had poisoned the last regent,” Zane went on. “I didn’t want to believe it, but his behavior was so tyrannical. He was worse than my father. I began to think the crown was cursed.”
“You didn’t want that to happen to you.” Juno realized out loud. “The corruption of power.”
“Of course not,” Zane said. “So I left.”
“But you would never be that way,” Juno told him.
“How do I know what I would do?” He stood, head in his hands. “I watched a man I admired go mad with power.”
“How long have you been on this ship?” Juno asked.
“Two years,” he replied.
“And no one knows who you are?” she asked.
“Anna and Leo know, and so do the other founders,” he said. “But no one else. Well, at least not until now.”
Juno nodded.
“So the most powerful people on this ship know that you are even more powerful than they are.”
She stood and went to him, kneeling at his feet and taking his hands in hers, forcing him to meet her eye.
“How have you used your position since arriving on this ship?” she asked.
“Mostly I just wanted to be left alone. But then I saw you, and I asked for permission to be your valet,” he said. “And another time I asked Anna to locate you, since I was concerned for your safety.”
“Any other employee of this ship could have asked for a job transfer, or for information to help them secure a client whose safety they were responsible for,” Juno said dismissively. “How have you used your power as crown prince of Agwithia to improve your own personal situation on this ship?”
He opened his mouth and closed it again.
“You haven’t,” Juno said. “And I knew the answer to that question before I asked it. Agwithia has been unlucky twice. Don’t torture your people further because of some misplaced sense of self-doubt.”
He closed his eyes.
She watched as the silver shimmered and vanished from his body, leaving tawny flesh in its wake.
He opened his eyes and smiled at her.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for having faith in me.”
“I will always believe in you, Zane,” Juno said sincerely. “You are a good man.”
“I would have gone back to rule anyway,” he told her. “I would have gone back to help you save your people.”
“Even if you believed you might lose yourself in the process?” she asked.
“Even then,” he told her. “Though I suspect with you by my side I will be in no danger of slipping.”
“Did you mean what you said about giving my people employment?” she asked.
“I did,” he said. “There will be free passage and a place on Agwithia for as many Terrans as want honest employment. I can’t promise they won’t face personal prejudices - my people have much to learn. The adjustment period will be difficult. But I will lead them by example.”
Juno felt tears spring to her eyes. She pressed her lips to his hands, overcome with gratitude.
“What are you doing?” He demanded.
“Thank you, your majesty,” she said, looking up into his beautiful silver
eyes and doing her best to ignore his nakedness. “I will serve you with honor for the rest of my days.”
“Like hell you will,” he retorted, pulling her to her feet.
“Zane,” she gasped, shocked.
“You won’t serve me, or anyone else,” he growled. “You are my mate. We will treasure each other for all our days.”
She opened her mouth to protest but he sealed it with a kiss, crushing her body against his.
By the time he pulled away they were both gasping.
“Can you even get a breath in that dress?” he asked.
“Not really,” she giggled.
“I have to ask you something,” he said. “But we need to get this thing off you first.”
“I don’t know,” she said, remembering the dressing process. “It took forever to get into.”
He laughed.
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s a royal wedding dress,” he replied, as if that was answer enough.
“So?”
“So,” he explained, reaching hand around to the back of her gown. “Royal weddings are not known for their modest consumption of spirits. And drunken kings are not known for patience and coordination on their wedding nights.”
He gave a tug, and in one deft motion, the gown released its grip on her. She had to catch it against herself to keep it from falling to the floor.
She giggled in surprise and delight.
Before her, Zane knelt, and looked up at her solemnly.
“Juno, you are my mate and I adore you,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion. “Will you have me as your husband?”
The room went blurry as tears sprang into her eyes. For a moment she couldn’t speak.
“Juno,” he whispered, offering her his hand.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, yes, yes.”
She released the dress to take his hand and felt the weight of it disappear and the velvety fabric pool around her ankles.
Then he was on his feet, wrapping his arms around her, lifting her up, striding toward the bedroom.
23
Zane
Zane deposited Juno on her bed and crawled in after her.
Her choice of a modest room made more sense to him now that he knew who she really was.
And he loved her all the more for it.
She lay on the pillow, her small body pinned beneath his, gazing up at him with those luminous blue-brown eyes.
“I need to claim you,” he told her. “Please.”
“Yes,” she whispered, twining her arms around his neck.
“First I need to taste you,” he told her, relishing the way her lips parted and her eyes went hazy with lust.
He lowered his face to hers and kissed her as gently as he could, though his body burned for satisfaction.
She kissed him back and he felt all the love and loyalty that defined his beautiful mate flowing through him, healing wounds he didn’t know he had.
I will always believe in you. You are a good man…
He pulled back and gazed into her eyes. “I love you so much,” he told her. “I can’t believe I found you. I will never let you out of my sight again.”
She laughed and he bent to kiss the apples of her cheeks, her eyelids, her chin.
When she tilted her head back, he slid downward to nibble her neck.
She froze, as if waiting for him to bite.
But he wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.
He released the slides on her undergarment, and it fell away, revealing her lush curves.
Her nipples stiffened in the cool air of the room.
He licked them into his mouth, one and then the other, until her cries filled his ears and she arched her back for more contact.
He nuzzled her soft belly and kissed his way down her hip to the soft skin of her inner thigh.
Her muscles tensed, then she allowed him to press her thighs apart.
He was rigid with lust, his own body nearly trembling with the need to claim her.
“Zane, please,” she moaned. “I need you. I need you inside me.”
The raw desire in her voice left him desperate to plunge into the delicious heat of her.
But he was determined this would not happen until she was frantic with lust.
He couldn’t risk hurting her. He had to send her into ecstasy with his bite.
So he fought off the wild demands of his own lust and pressed his mouth to her tender sex.
24
Juno
Juno lost track of her own sounds as Zane slowly teased her with his tongue, lapping and stroking, driving her wild with lust.
She slid her fingers through his hair, tilting her hips up to meet his mouth, grinding herself shamelessly against his cruel tongue, desperate for the spark that would allow her pleasure to detonate.
When she felt him ease a finger inside her and then two, she knew he would let her taste relief.
But he only lapped at her softly as he caressed her from the inside.
“Please,” she moaned.
But he drew away instead, leaving her panting.
He crawled up to cage her face between his arms, his silver eyes flashing with lust. His big body pinned her down, and she could feel the impossible rigid length of him, pulsing against her hip.
He pressed his lips to hers and she could taste herself on him, a musky sweet flavor that had her half-hypnotized as he kissed her.
She wasn’t afraid when he took himself in his hand and pressed against her opening. She needed him. She felt empty without his hot girth stretching her.
He slid himself in slowly, gently, until at last he was fully seated inside her.
“Oh, Juno,” he moaned against her throat.
“Please,” she urged him, trying to lift her hips under his weight to urge him on.
He drew himself slowly out and then thrust back in.
She saw stars with the pleasure.
When she let her nails sink into his shoulders he cried out and thrust again, and then again.
The room disappeared, the past, the future. There was only Zane and the smoldering flame of her desire as he stoked her higher and higher.
At last he eased a big hand between them, massaging her clitoris as he thrust inside her again, nuzzling her neck.
She barely felt it when he bit down on her neck. There was a sear of pain washed away by a wave of ecstasy.
The pleasure lifted her higher until she was flying, flying, and then crashing down with the weight of it, contracting around his rigid cock again and again as she felt him jet inside her, his own climax overtaking him.
When it was done, he collapsed on top of her, his head against her chest, one leg flung over her body.
“Juno,” he murmured.
She closed her eyes, feeling more whole than she ever had.
25
Juno
One week later, Juno spun around in front of a full-sized mirror at Vaxyn’s spa.
Her new wedding gown was far more attuned to her personal style. The fabric was whisper soft, but the cut reminded her of the clothing of her home planet, and the bodice was flexible enough that she could get a full breath, or maybe even go on a hike if she wanted.
Soft suede boots adorned her feet. And her hair was down in waves, the way Zane loved it.
“Are you sure this isn’t an insult to his people?” she asked Vaxyn.
“The people of Agwithia treasure independence and individualism,” Vaxyn said. “This wedding costume is in perfect keeping with their values. Anything otherwise would not suit.”
Juno nodded. It was exciting to think that Zane’s people shared so many traits with her own.
It gave her hope that the great migration to Agwithia might be more welcome than she had been fearing.
However it turned out, it was guaranteed to be better than whatever sour deal King Cassius had in mind for her. She had been thrilled to find out that he had “voluntarily” decided to take the next shuttle off the Stargaze
r II, with his lackey in tow and his tail between his legs. His bodyguard, Ozmarck, had remained onboard, determined to find a more honorable job at the next port. She didn’t blame the big Maltaffian for parting ways with such a scoundrel - in fact, she respected him for it.
BFF-67 flitted in, folding herself into a tiny sliver to slide through the paper curtain.
“Rose is connecting,” BFF-67 sang out. “Would you like to chat in demi-holo?”
“Sure,” Juno said, though she wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.
She lifted her palm so that the little robot could land.
BFF-67 alighted on her hand and folded herself into a fan shape.
An image flickered to life just above the drone.
“Rose?” Juno asked.
Her best friend nodded, and Juno could see her eyes twinkling, even in the tiny image from the choppy feed. But the background didn't make sense. Her friend appeared to be sitting on a domed seat, stars streaking by a portal behind her.
“Are you… on a ship?” Juno asked.
“I’m coming to your wedding,” Rose said.
“What?”
“It was supposed to be a surprise, but I know you don’t like surprises,” Rose told her. “So this is your fair warning. Be prepared to see me cry.”
“You never cry,” Juno said automatically.
It was true. Rose had always been super tough and extremely cool-headed.
“I might,” Rose said, all but admitting she wouldn’t.
“I can’t believe it.” Juno laughed. “Are you really coming?”
“Sure am,” Rose said happily. “Your fiancé is a class act. He sent this PostHaste carrier to pick me up. Guess what was in it when it arrived?”
“I have no idea,” Juno said.
“It was loaded up to the support beams with textiles and dehydrated nutrition packs,” Rose said. “He told me it made sense to make use of the one-way fuel and balance the weight for the round-trip. But unless you told him I weigh about four tons, he was really just trying to gloss over a pretty amazing gift for our neighborhood.”
