Reign: A Space Fantasy Romance (Strands of Starfire Book 1)

by May Sage

  Kai carried her to his room; she knew it was his, she’d seen it before. It hadn’t changed much, although the walls did seem different, sleek and metallic, rather than the old stones she recalled. The bed was also much larger, and a good thing, too.

  She wondered how many females had seen it.

  Kai laughed. “None.”

  “Will you stay out of my head!”

  “No,” he refused unapologetically, gently depositing her on his soft mattress.

  Then, as he’d said he would, Kai lowered his frame, dropping to one knee. She bit her lip, and licked it, too, extending her leg and caressing the side of his face with the tip of her toe. He took the foot in his hand and kissed it, making her laugh. Then, his lips wrapped around her biggest toe.

  Kai moved her leg down.

  “Clothes.”

  His word was a low, tense growl. A command that he gave all the while kneeling at her feet. And she obeyed, removing them just like she’d promised. Slowly.

  First, she unhooked the cape and peeled the armor from her torso, leaving the long chemise split down her middle. Then she did away with the layers gathered around her waist before turning, giving him a view of her back as she removed the rest of the top. She hid her breast with one arm and turned her head over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of him. The effort it took to remain immobile was making him shake. She laughed and winked.

  “You’re going to regret this,” he threatened darkly. “All of this.”

  It didn’t take much for his temper to flare, and with each passing second, she poked the beast within.

  “Am I?”

  Taking a leaf from his book, as kneeling was apparently hot, she sat up on her knees, before bending forward and pushing her hips up. Only then did she start lowering her breeches, one inch at a time, making it last.

  She laughed and turned back to Kai.

  He was done. Completely, utterly done.

  On his feet, his eyes blazing, he towered over her menacingly, glowering. She laughed as his hands pressed on her back, holding her in place. Then she was done laughing.

  He brought his head to her hot, wet center, and relentlessly, punishingly, he attacked it. Sucked on her clit, too hard. Bit it. She yelped and started to pant. Needing….

  She wiggled slightly. His hand pressed harder on her back, keeping her in place.

  Kai coaxed with his tongue, lips, and teeth until she panted harder than she had after twelve laps around the stadium, and when she was close, so, so close, he stopped.

  Then he started all over again.

  “Son of a fucking shitty—”

  A slap. Right on her left cheek. Then his teeth bit into her ass, hard.

  “Silent,” he growled.

  She knew she deserved it, so she just laughed.

  She took it all, until Kai’s fingers parted her ass cheeks and he licked her there, shocking the hell out of her. Not an unpleasant sensation. Like, at all. Especially while he still played with her clit with one hand and fingered her with the other. Then one of his fingers entered her sensitive hole. Another one. Parting it. Expanding it.

  “What are you … Argh!” Her sentence ended in one endless scream as the pressure of a foreign object pushed against her ass, hard.

  “I made this for you. Intended to give it to you someday soon. Looks like it’ll be today.”

  She tried to turn, but she couldn’t see what the ever-fucking hell he’d done to her. There was something—something that felt like a cock, but cold and metallic—inside her fucking asshole. Her asshole. He’d gone there. Really.

  She started to move, but one of his hands returned to the small of her back, keeping her in place.

  She turned her head as far as it could go and glared.

  Kai smirked, moving the invasive object, slightly at first. Inside and out. Inside a little deeper, and out again. Faster. “How much are you enjoying yourself, little lady?”

  Very, very much. And he knew it. If anything, her fucking soaked pussy was making that quite clear. No way was she actually saying it though. She stuck her tongue out again.

  “What I will do to that tongue… later.”

  Kai never stopped fucking her ass with that thing, whatever it was, but his hot, hard member was suddenly at her entrance. She yelled as it pushed inside her, filling her so fucking much. Given its length and girth, it would have stretched her to the max by itself, but with her asshole full as well, she was close to breaking. Kai finally stopped fucking her ass, although he left his instrument inside her. He retreated his hips once, before pushing back inside, hard, fast, deep. The second time, she moved with him, meeting his thrust. Tears in her eyes, every single part of her skin tingling, she felt like she might just die if this ever stopped. She was howling, panting, crying, chanting wordless prayers, along with him.

  Finally, it was just too much, she exploded in a million particles, tightening around him; groaning, he followed her into the abyss, coming and coming and coming inside her.

  Kai dropped on her back, his body hot against hers, although he kept his weight off. Seconds, hours, years might have passed. Then, he removed the object from inside her ass. She muttered something that may very well have been a protest, and he laughed. He dropped to his side, taking her with him, then flipped her over to have her straddling him. His hips moved upward, as he hardened inside her.

  “Again, now? After that?”

  She could have used another minute.

  Kai sat up and wrapped his lips around her left nipple as he cupped the other one, playing with it, and she realized she didn’t need a minute at all.

  Thirty-Three

  The End of the Dream

  No.”

  “But I made it for you. It’s the best fucking whip in the galaxy.”

  “Keep it if you like it so much.”

  That thing had been lodged in her fucking ass. Whatever he said about cleaning it, she wasn’t going to use it.

  “I’ll take those instead.”

  Kai groaned, grumbled, and even pouted, but, in the end, he gave her his deer horned knives and kept the whip.

  She soon realized relinquishing the weapon to his custody had been a mistake, as he enjoyed using its hilt on her at the first opportunity.

  Other than the disagreement over the whip-slash-dildo, fitting into Kai’s life was seamless, so natural she even questioned why she believed she might not have belonged there.

  There was always work to be done amongst the cabinet. Questions that needed to be weighed and assessed; her opinion was paramount to any decision Kai made. They didn’t always agree. In fact, most of the time, they butted heads. But truth was, no one else could challenge his ideas and decisions as she did. He listened to her. And he compromised.

  The sex was all so deliciously filthy after an argument in command. And in the mornings. In the evenings, too.

  There weren’t many occasions that didn’t demand filthy sex, she soon learned.

  Kai enjoyed controlling, dominating her, as much as he enjoyed having her tell him what to do. Remaining still and taking whatever she wanted to give. Letting her suck him without being allowed to touch her.

  She always paid for such torture, but it was worth it.

  Her third month in Vratis, he shocked the bejesus out of her one day. For the first time since her arrival, the Council of Ratna was gathering. Not just his cabinet, but every noble and senator would be there to discuss matters. She left their bathroom to find a white and gold robe in her size left on their bed.

  “You mean to have me attend? Wearing this?”

  Her astonishment amused him, but she saw nothing funny.

  “Evi isn’t attending. Park isn’t attending. Wench isn’t attending. Ollie isn’t attending. Only the Coats, because they’re senators. I can’t just barge in there and….”

  He was leaning against the wall, smiling in an infuriatingly gorgeous and sexy way, trying, and almost managing, to make her forget why she was so mad.

  “
You know when I asked you if you’d seen my wife a while back?”

  She froze.

  “That was because I saw her. Back the very first time we met. I mean, to be fair, there were fuckloads of visions running through those beautiful eyes of yours. But I caught sight of her, and everything else faded.”

  Nalini frowned and, without meaning to, took a step back as she attempted to decrypt his words. When she failed to, she did what he did to her every day, shamelessly. She brushed against his mind, finding it completely open. Bared to her.

  And she saw it, that vision he talked of. Her. In his arms. Smiling and pregnant and so fucking happy she cried, at a loss for words.

  Feeling like someone had just punched her in the stomach, then pulled her up, given her a hug, chucked her at a wall, and started to sing her name, she sat, dizzy, disoriented, knocked off course.

  “Obviously, I didn’t actually realize the cute little girl in front of me would grow into you. Would have made things easier. And it also took me a while to gather that you hadn’t seen that. Too busy paying attention to war, destruction, and all those pesky little details, I guess.” He tsked, biting back a smile.

  “Get changed, Nalini. We haven’t exchanged vows. I haven’t even worked out how I am to ask you to spend the rest of your life bound to me. But there is an official gathering today, and I will have you by my side.”

  He came to her, kneeling as he often did, and putting his head against her chest. Then he got up and went to the bathroom.

  It was as well that he had felt that she was needed in council. If he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have been there when it all fell apart.

  The council was held in a floating building, high over the city. Inside, it was circular, with rows upon rows of grandstands, so that every Coat could sit comfortably. Nalini noticed her parents, who gasped when they saw her. She kept her eyes forward, purposefully avoiding theirs. Not now.

  Council, it turned out, was boring. No doubt, Kai had asked her to come so he could play footsie while they discussed taxes and trade routes. Long hours passed, and preventing herself from yawning was a hell of a challenge.

  Then, all of a sudden, it started. An explosion, taking out rows of politicians, who screamed as they burned and fell into the skies of Vratis.

  Kai and Nalini got to their feet, hands hooked.

  It didn’t help. The next blast had them both unbalanced, falling away from each other.

  It had been a precise, fast, practically suicidal attack.

  First, came the bombs, sounding far too close for comfort; whatever technology had been used, it had hit their shield, she could tell.

  Nalini froze, completely shocked; she hadn’t seen this. This time, she’d been looking. Every day, she took the time to meditate and yet this attack took her completely by surprise.

  Nalini didn’t have the time to wallow in disappointment and guilt, however. Now it had all started, she could help.

  She leapt to her feet. Kai was giving evacuation orders to his troops; rather than trying to explain herself, she just stood towards the left side of the chamber, and yelled, “All of you, get down on the ground immediately, arms covering your head.”

  She was relieved to see that over half of the Coats obeyed. Seconds later, a bomb hit.

  Most of those who had listened to her lived. Practically all of those who’d ignored her, however, were killed either by the blast or the fall of large pieces of ceiling and walls flying around.

  Soldiers wearing black and purple exosuits, imperial colors, were flying down from the hole in their shield at high speed. Still in the sky, but close enough for her to read their minds.

  These were their enemy’s best fighters, and they’d been sent with one goal, one single focus in mind.

  She saw more.

  No fucking wonder she hadn’t seen this coming.

  She turned to Kai.

  “Listen to me. You’re going to hate this, but you have to go now. I have to be alone. They’ll take me, and go. That’s their one mission.”

  Nalini saw it in their minds. Knowing that they had orders to do whatever it took to bring her, her, alive, she did what she had to.

  “No way,” Kai replied, shaking his head to emphasize his refusal.

  “Yes, way,” she protested. “Trust me.”

  He glared at her for a long time, before dropping his forehead on hers, and holding it there.

  Then, he was gone.

  The enemy soldiers were down in no time. Nalini held her hands up, in show of surrender, and let them take her.

  Kai could have stopped it at any point. He was close, so close, watching them from the shadows. He could have destroyed them all. He wanted to

  «You better be fucking right about this.»

  She was.

  While she was taken in a transport heading up to the imperial command ship, Nalini scanned every soldier within range. They really ought to train them to keep their thoughts to themselves, if they were supposed to fight against mages. She had no problem identifying the perpetrators of this attack; the soldiers thought of them constantly, wondered if they’d be rewarded for a job well done.

  There were seven minds behind this. Six strangers and one person she knew. One person she and Kai both knew.

  Ian Krane.

  Everything Krane said or did was purposeful, she knew that now. He’d befriended Kai at the first opportunity, only to leave him and seek her out. Then, when he’d found her, he’d convinced her to follow him the only way she would have accepted. Then, he’d been wise enough to send her to Nimeria, first, rather than launching her into Kai’s arms. He was always one step ahead.

  One thing didn’t make any fucking sense, however. He’d spent a thousand years away from the Wise; he’d said so himself. And suddenly, he was joining them?

  Somehow, he all made sense.

  What had he said again, when they’d parted ways? I’m going to be right in a viper’s nest, and I could use an ally.

  The old male was moving pieces in a game, and only he knew the rules. The one question was, whose side was he on? Hers and the rest of their kingdom, or the Imperials’?

  There was no indubitable fact that could have irrefutably proven his loyalty. And yet…

  He was on their side. He cared about her, and about Kai. About them all. This was the one truth she knew about Ian Krane.

  Now, it was just a matter of figuring out what role she was supposed to play in his deadly games.

  She’d spent a year with him in Tejen, where there was so much for a mage to learn, so many different facets to explore. And yet, Krane had only been interested in two things: strengthening her shields and make her understand bonds.

  Shields and bonds…

  It all meant something. She strained against fear, disentangling the maze of her mind.

  Shields and bonds….

  And, quite suddenly, she knew.

  Her shields would allow her to navigate amongst vipers. They’d never know her inner thoughts, her true loyalty. She could show them what they wanted to see and hide the rest. She could lie. She was strong enough to.

  As for the bond...

  Nalini had often had her shields in place, and yet, she’d somehow been able to communicate with Kai by sharing thoughts directly through to his mind, as clearly as if she’d spoken them out loud, yet only heard by him. Thoughts Evi and other psychics couldn’t get access to.

  There was a strange bond linking them, connecting their minds, and it was impenetrable and inaccessible to anyone else.

  The moment these two facts clicked, she knew what matter of pawn she was meant to be.

  Once they reached the Imperial command ship, she was taken to a tall, beautiful, green-haired Wise, a member of the Council. Perhaps the most cunning amongst them.

  “Nalini Nova. We meet at last.”

  Nalini tested her theory out.

  “Thanks for getting me out. I didn’t think I’d ever be free of these monsters.”

  H
er shields firmly in place, she thought of all the ways she’d dismember the smiling female in front of her. Kovak’s mind was scanning hers, they both knew it. Yet her smile never faltered.

  “Oh, poor girl. Come, come. Tell me what happened to you.”

  It had worked. Easily. She smiled, conveying her gratefulness, and followed the snake into the belly of her ship.

  Telling her story took some time. Then she had to answer the questions.

  “Yes, Master Krane recommended I seek the loyalists after Tejen,” she informed them. “He thought I’d be safe from them there.”

  Kovak probed around her shields again. Nalini let her old memories pass through. Her fear of Kai, of being hunted and locked away.

  The Wise smiled.

  “But you weren’t. Kai Lor attacked the base.”

  No, the Imperials had attacked the base, probably on Kovak’s order, she now realized. Killing hundreds, if not thousands, of innocents to lure Kai’s armies out. The Imperials had been behind the loyalists’ attack on the Dominion right after they’d come to help the survivors of Nimeria. They’d attempted to hide in the shadows while the Ratnarians took each other out, rather than officially getting involved. Pure hatred in her heart, Nalini nodded and managed to fake a sniffle.

  And unbelievably, the ageless, all-powerful creature before her fell for it. For her lie.

  «Kai.»

  This was the ultimate test. Could she really speak to him from so far away, and without anyone else detecting it?

  Immediately, she felt his presence. Concealing her relief and happiness took some effort.

  «You’re alive.»

  She didn’t simply hear his words; she could also feel his emotions, his fear and apprehension, his relentlessness. He hadn’t really doubted it. If she’d died, he would have felt it, known it to his core. Still, hearing her voice was a relief he desperately needed. She wished she could tell him she was coming back right away.

  «I am.»

  He’d just trust her because she’d asked, but she knew he was desperate for an explanation. She didn’t have much time, but she tried to clarify the situation.