Sleeping Beauty (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Beth D. Carter

  “Who are you?” she demanded.

  “I suppose I’m your second cousin,” he answered. “Gordon Asyiria. It’s nice to finally meet you, Alivia.”

  “Where are Ronan and Noah?”

  His brow creased, as if he didn’t know who she was talking about. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Who?”

  Instead of answering she looked around the large room. The cathedral ceilings had to be at least sixteen feet high. Painted murals showcased cherubs peeking through clouds. A desk rested near the fireplace and bookshelves lined every wall, filled with leather-bound volumes. The room had the look and feel of something that stepped out of Ancient Earth, except for the bank of computer monitors behind the desk.

  The doors opened and Kaden stepped inside, pushing the doors shut behind him.

  “Traitor,” she hissed at him.

  “He’s not a traitor, Cousin.”

  “Both of you are traitors,” she said. “I demand you release me. I only came to Marvala to find out what happened to my nannies.”

  “I regret to inform you they were killed soon after you left,” Kaden told her. “As were all who swore allegiance to King Elwin and Queen Marias.”

  Tears stung her eyes. But she’d be damned if she let them fall. “You allowed good people to die, Kaden. I never would have believed you could be so cold hearted.”

  His mouth tightened but he said nothing in his defense. She didn’t understand him, not at all. He prized his servitude to a king and queen more than he valued the love of his family. She couldn’t imagine being that blinded by the power of the throne. Maybe if she’d actually been raised at court she’d think differently. But after having experienced the love of Ronan and Noah, nothing would make her turn her back on them.

  “Kaden is a good warrior,” Gordon said. “Don’t think too harshly of him.”

  “That sounds funny, coming from you. After all, your father betrayed his family, betrayed this planet for what? Power?”

  “I want my father gone just as much as you,” Gordon told her.

  She snorted her disbelief. “Hypocrisy fits you well.”

  He shook his head. “You are the rightful queen of Marvala.”

  “And yet you benefited the most, didn’t you? With your father as king you’re the heir to the throne. You’ll be king yourself one day.”

  “I don’t want to be king.”

  “Liar!”

  “I am not a liar! Why do you think I had Kaden watching over you? Following you? You should have stayed hidden longer, until I had time to take Otarun out of power, but what’s done is done and now you’re here.”

  She looked him up and down, not trusting him one little bit. “How old were you when your father invaded Carian?”

  “I was fifteen. Too young to help you then.”

  “You could’ve helped me within the thirty-one years I was frozen but instead I wake up and the world has continued on while I remained the same. For you, years have passed but for me I was just here a week ago. And I can care less about your wants and desires. If you are so intent on taking down your father then I suggest usurping him like he usurped King Elwin.”

  “I said I don’t want to be king—”

  “Liar!” she yelled again.

  “Not like this!” Gordon shouted back. He ran a hand through his immaculately groomed hair, in an irritated gesture. “I don’t want a kingdom built upon murder!”

  “Tell me why I should believe you,” she said quietly.

  “My father’s only god is money,” he said. “Marvala had three kingdoms once and he has taken over all of them. Does not that say something? Phrygaria was once a prosperous ally to us until my father was seduced by their wealth. He invaded and conquered, back before any of us were born, back when my father was a young man. I only know because of stories my mother told me.”

  She shot a look at Kaden but he remained impassive.

  “The reason he started a war with Carian wasn’t for any reason other than greed.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “He’s sold every natural resource this planet has,” Gordon said. “From the jewels and minerals to plants, from animals to water. Anything that could be sold he’s selling. In a few years’ time, this planet will have been mined to extinction.”

  “Why don’t you do something about it?”

  “I have been! I’ve been protesting among the people, I’ve been pleading with my father, but he’s hired an army I can’t even hope to match. My last-ditch effort was to bring the rightful ruler to the throne but he learned of you and commanded Kaden here to find you and dispose of you. And thank whatever divinity is looking down upon you that it was Kaden he turned to. Because of his oath to your mother, he came to me first and so we devised a plan to slowly start toppling his reign of greed. I sent him to watch over you until it was time to wake you up, but someone took your coffin.”

  “My son,” Kaden said softly.

  Gordon looked at him in surprise. “What?”

  “My son found her, woke her up. Coincidence.”

  “It’s a small galaxy,” Gordon mused. He turned back to her. “You were born to be queen, Cousin.”

  “Tell me one thing…Cousin,” she said. “How would you turn the planet back to its original beauty?”

  “Well, first of all, I’d cancel all the contracts,” he stated. “Stop all mining procedures at once. I’d halt taxing the people and help agriculture. Maybe hire geophysics to establish a plan to refertilize the land. Waterways need to be reintroduced. Reforestation, of course. Open lines of communication with the people—”

  “All right,” she interrupted, holding up a hand. “I get the idea. You’ve thought long and hard on this.”

  “My mother raised me to have a love of the land,” he said. “She…she was a good woman while my father was rotten to the core.”

  At that moment, the doors to the library were flung open and a dozen men dressed in black sporting rifle blasters poured into the room. Gordon rushed to Alivia and thrust her behind him, shielding her body. Kaden jumped in front of him, protecting them both.

  The guards fanned out, their weapons trained on them, and once they were in place, a man walked forward. Alivia peeked around the two men and saw the other man was a lot older. His hair was white, his skin wrinkly and sallow with time. Although his eyes were faded, they still glared back with a way of hate and anger.

  She knew exactly who he was.

  “I knew you defied me, my son, but I didn’t think you would betray me like this,” Otarun said. “And Kaden. My loyal captain of the guards. Not so loyal I discover. Both of you disappoint me so you’ll be put to death.”

  “Wait!” Gordon cried. “Let Alivia go. Let her fly off Marvala.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Otarun said dryly. “This planet still has ten years worth of good production. I can’t have her thinking she can take what is mine.”

  “It’s not yours,” Gordon argued. “It was never yours! You killed innocent people for your greed.”

  “People are expendable, my son. Including you. Kill them.”

  “Wait!” Alivia cried out. She skipped around Kaden and Gordon, drawing attention off them. “It’s me you wanted, right? Me you wanted to get rid of. Spare them and you can have me.”

  Otarun snorted. “I have you regardless. Come here.”

  With her heart pounding in fear, she walked up to him, making sure to keep her chin up. She refused to let him see her cower.

  “Had I known about you sooner you never would have awoken from your frozen sleep.”

  “How did you find out?”

  “Kaden always thought I trusted him. I didn’t, of course.”

  “Of course,” she whispered.

  “Father,” Gordon said, moving from behind Kaden. He put his hands in prayer form. “Don’t do this. Please, just…let her walk away.”

  Otarun gave a humorless laugh. He stepped around her and walked over to his son. He raised his hand and backha
nded him. Gordon staggered back.

  “I have no son.”

  He turned and walked back to Alivia. “And now for you, you little…”

  In a flash Alivia pressed herself against him while pressing a little dagger over where the artery beat in his neck. His eyes widened as he stared at her.

  “You won’t do it,” he said.

  “I will.”

  “You’re too much of an innocent.”

  She gave him a benign smile. “Not that innocent. I killed a man the other day,” she said. “Shot him. Left a huge smoking hole in his chest and I did it to protect my friend. So what do you think I’d do to save my own life?”

  His eyes flickered and she saw the doubt creep into them.

  “You’re vulnerable here, against your throat. I’m assuming everywhere else is blaster resistant, but at this little spot on your neck? Not knife resistant. Now…tell your men to lay down their weapons.”

  “I can give the order to shoot you.”

  She pressed the knife in. He winced and a small sliver of blood ran down his neck.

  “You open your mouth again to say anything other than stand down and this knife goes in. I might die but so will you.” She stared into his eyes, making sure he knew she meant business. “I never wanted to be queen, you know. You hunted a ghost. But now that I’m here, I can’t let you continue on. You’re killing this planet for nothing more than a profit and as much as you want to take all the money with you, one day in the near future your bones will be sitting on stacks of money, gold and jewels, slowly turning to ash. Now tell them to stand down.”

  He didn’t open his mouth.

  She pressed harder and more blood ran. He winced.

  “I have nothing to lose,” she told him.

  “Stand down!” he called out.

  She didn’t take her eyes off him, even as she heard weapons hitting the floor. She didn’t budge from her position or remove her knife until Gordon came over to hold her shoulder.

  “You can step back now,” he murmured. “Kaden has a blaster on him.”

  Cautiously, step by step, she backed away, until her back hit a wall. She saw that all the guards had been handcuffed. Kaden and Gordon both held blasters in their hands, pointed at Otarun.

  And then she heard her name being called.

  “Alivia!”

  She ran to the doors of the library and threw them open. “Here! I’m here!”

  A second later they appeared and she ran to them, throwing her arms around them. She thought her heart would burst with love and pride. They’d found her. They’d followed and found her.

  “We were so fucking worried, baby,” Ronan murmured into her ear.

  Noah kissed her hard on the mouth. “Are you all right?”

  She kissed him back. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine, especially now that you’re here with me.”

  “Where’s the son of a bitch?”

  “Otarun’s in there,” she said, pointing to the library.

  “I meant my father. The fuckwad stunned us.”

  “Holding a blaster on Otarun,” she clarified.

  He marched past her, holding her hand. Noah gripped her other hand and they formed a marching chain. As they swept inside the library, each bent to retrieve a rifle blaster lying on the floor.

  Kaden and Gordon hadn’t moved position from keeping their rifle blasters on Otarun. They all stood silent, not saying a word, probably because no one knew what to say.

  And then she saw Otarun shift a little, saw his hand twitch and she knew, instinctively, he had some type of weapon up his sleeve. Without another thought she yelled out a warning.

  “He’s got a weapon!”

  And before she knew what was happening, four blasters fired, hitting Otarun directly in the chest. Kaden, Gordon, Ronan, and Noah. With his blaster resistant armor, however, they didn’t even slow him down. Otarun drew back and punched Gordon across the face, causing his son to collapse. As he ran toward the door, Kaden sprinted after him. He grabbed the dagger out of her hand and tackled Otarun to the floor.

  They wrestled but Otarun was no match for the man who had been a trained warrior his whole life. With a roar, Kaden sank the blade deep into Otarun’s neck. Blood bubbled up from his lips as he ineffectively tried to pull the blade out. His legs kicked and a gurgling sound hissed for a moment.

  And then slowly, gradually, he ceased movement. His hand fell away from his neck and his eyes stared unblinkingly up at the ceiling.

  “Oh my god,” Gordon brokenly whispered. “I…I killed my father.”

  “No,” Kaden commented, his voice hard and unyielding. “I killed your father and I fucking liked it.”

  He walked over and took Gordon’s blaster from his hand. Then he patted him on the shoulder.

  Alivia squeezed Ronan’s shoulder to get his attention. “Thank you for insisting I have a hidden weapon on me.”

  Hearing her, Gordon blinked and pulled his eyes off his father’s body to stare at Alivia.

  “You’re the queen,” he said in a tired, faraway voice. “Hail to the new queen of Carian, the rightful ruler of Marvala.”

  He went down on one knee. Kaden did the same thing.

  “Get up, you two,” she told them. “Listen, I was serious that I didn’t want to be queen. This isn’t my home anymore. Ronan and Noah are my home. I’m staying with them.”

  “But—”

  “Gordon, you know everything about Marvala. You know how to save it, how to bring it back from the brink of extinction. Become the king it needs.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re giving up.”

  She smiled at him. “I’m not giving up anything,” she told him and then took Ronan and Noah’s hands. “I have everything I could possibly need. You’ll be a wonderful king…as long as you save Marvala.”

  He nodded, tears turning his green eyes into sparkling jewels. “I swear Marvala will be great again.”

  She smiled and flicked a glance down at Otarun’s body. “I’m not sorry about your father. He ruined too many lives.”

  “I know,” Gordon whispered.

  She turned to leave but Ronan halted her departure. She looked at him questioningly.

  He glanced at his father. “I will never be the man you are. I’ll be better.”

  Kaden gave him a sad smile. “You already are.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “All right, I’m ready to go,” she told them as she dropped two large suitcases near the entrance to the bedroom.

  “What’s that?” Ronan asked.

  “My clothes,” she said. “Gordon had them delivered for me. I was tired of wearing Noah’s baggy clothing.”

  “Although I thought you looked damned good in my clothing,” Noah murmured.

  She winked at him and threw a small bag on the table. It came to a stop between them.

  “What’s that?” Ronan asked.

  Noah picked it up and poured out small bars of gold and silver. “What the hell?” he asked in awe.

  “I’m buying partnership in our salvaging operation,” she told them. “Plus I thought we could use some of it to expand the ship.”

  “Expand?” Ronan questioned as he, too, stared at what was in Noah’s hand.

  “Listen, that bed is barely big enough for two people let alone three,” she said. “And we could really use some refrigeration.”

  He laughed. “Okay! Expansion it is. But honey, you don’t need to buy a partnership. We’re already partners, the three of us.”

  “Then in the name of this partnership, why don’t we christen this ship in bed?” she asked. “Wait, what is the name of this ship?”

  Ronan shrugged. “Don’t really have one. We just go by the registration number.”

  She frowned. “That’s like fourteen numbers and a bunch of letters. No, a ship needs a name. A good name.”

  “We can name it something majestic,” Noah commented as he put the gold and silver back in the pouch. “Like Queen Alivia.�
��

  “No,” she said with a shudder. “Hell no. I barely got out of that fate.”

  “I agree,” Ronan said. “If it gets any name it’s going to get a man’s name. A manly name. No girly names.”

  “Even if the girly name is Stacia?” Alivia asked softly.

  She saw Ronan swallow thickly and she knew he liked it. He didn’t even have to confirm it. Instead he marched toward her and swung her up in his arms.

  “I think we have a ship to christen,” he said and marched to the bedroom, Noah eagerly trailing.

  Ronan set her on her feet at the foot of the bed and began to undress her. When he had managed to loosen everything, her clothes fell in a puddle at her feet, leaving her only in the binding around her breasts. Noah unwound that, and when she was free, she took a deep breath. Ronan ran his fingers gently through her red hair and she loved the feel of his fingers soothing her scalp. Noah took her breasts in his hands, cupping them and teasing the nipples by pinching them, making the ache between her thighs climb quickly.

  Ronan ran one hand over the curve of her bottom, down the back of her thighs and then up between them, to touch her intimately. His thumb circled around her back hole, then pressed in, just a little. Not enough to hurt but the pressure made her squirm, allowing his fingers to slide along her slit. He rubbed, feathery strokes that soon heated her blood and caused her juices to run. Now slick, he pressed his fingers inward. One finger bent, rubbing along the back wall of her pussy while the other found her clit and played with it. In and out he used his fingers to heighten her pleasure.

  It was torture, heavenly torture.

  “You’re so fucking hot,” Ronan groaned. “So wet. Feel how wet she is, Noah.”

  Noah’s fingers teased down her stomach and slid through her curls. When he found her slit he let his middle finger dive into her warmth.

  “So wet,” Noah replied. “I want to fuck this pussy. Would you like that, Alivia? Would you like my cock buried in your tight little cunt while Ronan discovers the delights of your ass?”

  She panted, the images turning her on so much.

  “Will it hurt?” she asked.

  “It’ll burn, but in such a good way, baby,” Ronan told her. “Relax and trust us.”