by 1
“Go to sleep. I will see you in the morning.”
Her mask was slightly uncomfortable, but it was still better than nothing and so she slept in fits and starts until dawn came streaming through the portholes.
Dirko rolled away from her and moving as stealthily as she could, she put on her skirt and top and carried her shoes out into the hallway.
A light thud told her that the Mar Clan airship had connected with them again and she wasted no time in making haste to her home.
Whether Dirko knew it or not, last night was a one-time event and she was not going to reappear in the dancer uniform again.
The guards on the skylord’s airship nodded to her and she ignored them, running for the safety of her own ship. Once on board, she passed her grandfather and moved below decks to her small chamber.
The mask and the dance outfit came off quickly and her minute lav provided a quick cleaning that she desperately wanted after the sweaty pursuits of the previous evening.
With her body clean and her mind replaying the night before, she slipped into her Mediator clothing and prepared for her morning’s clients.
She braided her hair tightly against her skull and put on the cap that she hated to wear. If Dirko’s ship were still docked with them, he would not find her as the dancer of the night before. She was as far from her appearance last night as it was possible to be.
Her stomach growled and she made her way to the refectory. It was time to eat and no matter what she wanted to concentrate on, her body wanted food.
She met with a few cousins who congratulated her on her change in status and while she tried to be polite, she could not be enthusiastic.
Last night had gone against everything she had ever been taught to believe about mating and how it should come to pass. She had lain with a stranger and left her virginity behind.
With a heavy heart, she picked up her book from the registrar and took her position on the deck. Her first assignment was a custody matter and she had to ratify her clan’s half of the information before they linked with the Reskin Clan later in the month.
Teera kept her head down and worked at her job all day. It was a blessed distraction when she heard that the skylord’s men were searching the ship.
She remained in work mode until sunset stained the decks. With a sigh, she stood and took her book to the registrar, as always, making sure that her duty to her clan was done.
The refectory was full and she didn’t feel like dancing, so Teera lifted the cowl on her robes and went for a walk on the decks.
The skylord’s guards were leaving the Mar Clan’s ship, but Dirko Velu was nowhere to be seen. Teera watched them from the corner of the largest mast and smiled as they left her family’s ship and she remained.
Teera heard a small noise and when she turned, Dirko was watching her.
“Dammit.”
Chapter Six
“How long were you watching me?” Teera demanded an answer.
“Most of the afternoon. Once we realized that you were not below decks, there could only be one answer. By the way, that was a cute happy dance you just did when you thought I was leaving.”
She blushed and brushed at her robes. “Thank you. I started honing it when I was four.”
“It shows. You have dedication to your craft.” Dirko approached and pinned her against the mast. “So, why did you escape this morning when you knew I was going to mark you as mine?”
She frowned. “It seemed like the thing to do. You never intended to keep me, so what is the problem?”
He sighed and scrubbed his hand through his hair. “It was not my intent at the time, but somewhere along the line, my plans changed. I believe that you and I could be something amazing together, as long as we keep to this side of honesty.”
She frowned. “The Mar Clan paid the Asku for my services as a Mediator. I can’t just leave them.”
He tilted his head. “But, I believe that Mako’s true purpose was to get you here to be with your family. He will not care as long as you are still floating on Leffuo.”
She snorted. “Would you care to test that theory?”
“No time like the present. We have to visit other clans and work our way across the gas fields.”
She was amazed at how easily he slipped into the phrasing we. It was something that she had not expected, nor even known that she wanted it until the night before.
He put his arm around her waist and escorted her to the portion of the deck where her clan leader was waiting.
Mako was not pleased. “Skylord, I am afraid that you cannot have my granddaughter. Teera has a duty to her family and the Mar Clan has hired her. You cannot take her from us.”
Nallura put her hand on her husband’s arm. “Mako, ask her what she wants.”
Dirko’s hand was warm and supportive on her back, but he let her speak to her grandparents without interjecting.
“Grandmother, Grandfather, I wish to go with Dirko. It was the way I was raised and he is the most familiar face on this world. I feel safe with him and he will keep me working in the capacity for which I was brought to Leffuo.”
She gave them a short smile and Mako looked as if a cloud had passed over his soul while Nallura looked relieved.
“I fought your mother leaving us and the result was that she never came back. I will let you go joyfully and with a good heart in the chance that you come back to visit. Will you visit?” Nallura came and took one of Teera’s hands in her own.
Teera smiled. “I will visit. Dirko has been stationed here for two years, which will mean at least nine rotations per annum. We don’t even know if he wants to keep me permanently.”
His hand on her waist tightened alarmingly. “I will be keeping you, Teera. You are mine now. This is merely a formality to assuage your family guilt. What does clan law tell you about this situation?”
She blinked and racked her brain. “Since you are a male wishing to claim me, my family has no recourse but to hand me over, especially in light of last night.”
Mako blinked. Teera could see him working it out. If any of his other granddaughters had been in the same situation, he would have let them go after recording the vital statistics for the registrar.
“I promised her father I would take care of her.” Mako said it through gritted teeth.
Dirko smiled grimly, “I will speak with Tekkon of Crassos. We have our own traditions to uphold.”
Mako still didn’t look happy, but he nodded grudgingly and inclined his head.
Nallura sighed in relief. “I will make sure that he files the documents with the registrar, Teera. You had best get to the skylord’s ship. There is a storm coming.”
Teera reached out and hugged her grandmother. “Thank you, Gran. I will keep in touch.”
“You had better. I lost your mother, because she knew she was no longer welcome and that is not the case here. You are welcome anytime you choose.” Nallura had tears in her beautiful amber eyes.
Sniffling, Teera felt herself tugged away from the woman who had made her mother into an adventurous, confident woman. The truest acceptance she had felt here had come from Nallura and this was the one face she would weep to leave.
Dirko held her close and walked with her to the links that held the two ships together. She saw a crewman with her bags over his shoulders and snivelled a little. When the links were severed, she was on her way to a new segment of her life and she had barely gotten used to the last one.
“Don’t cry, Teera. We aren’t leaving Leffuo. We are simply doing a little more travelling than the average ship.” The hand around her waist shifted to rub her arm in a soothing motion.
She sighed and leaned against him. “It is just too much change in too short a time.”
“I understand. Take as long as you need, but know that you aren’t going anywhere without me.”
He was leading her down one of the command halls and she blinked, “Where are we going?”
“I did mention that I was
going to speak to your father. That is occurring now.”
Her stomach churned with nervousness. Tekkon was the best of fathers, but how would he be when a member of the Asku royal family was taking her from him for life?
She bit her lip as they entered the com station and the call to Crassos was placed.
Dirko settled her in one of the seats in front of the screen and he stood behind her. He was wearing a loose leather vest over his chest and she could see him clearly in the reflection on the screen.
The com officer announced the status. “Link to Crassos has been created. Contacting Prefect Tekkon in process.”
Teera clasped her hands together in her lap when her father’s face flared up on the screen.
The com officer rose from his seat and left the room.
“Teera? Why are you on a private line?” Tekkon didn’t seem to see the huge bulk of muscle and mean at her back.
“Father. I would like to introduce you to Dirko Velu, Skylord of Leffuo. Dirko, this is my father, Tekkon of Crassos.”
After the introductions, she saw the camera tilt slightly and knew that it was focussing on Dirko’s face.
“Skylord.” Tekkon inclined his head. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”
“Your daughter is the reason for the call, Prefect. I am taking her to wife and wished to know if you have any opinion on the matter.”
Teera saw her father’s shock and it made her heart ache.
“My daughter? Are you sure? She was sent to Leffuo as Mediator for the Mar Clan.”
“I am aware of it. The laws of Leffuo are clear and firmly on the side of the male doing the claiming.”
Her father scrubbed his face with his hand. “Skylord, I am aware of the honour that you do our family—”
Dirko interjected. “I have already claimed her. This is more of a perfunctory announcement than a request for permission.”
Tekkon’s face darkened with anger before he glanced toward Teera’s image.
She faced her father and knew that the blush was warring with pale colour in her cheeks.
“Do you want him, Teera?”
She bit her lip and thought about it. “I think I do, Father. He is also the best option for me on this entire world, so it is not an upsetting thing. I believe in time, I will be quite happy, once I have gotten over the shock.”
He gave her a small smile. “You always did have trouble with change, pet. With my blessings, be happy and keep in touch. No matter who claims you, you are still my little girl.”
“Thank you, Father, it was what I needed to hear.”
Tekkon looked at Dirko again. “Take care of her, Velu. Allow one hair on her head to be injured and I will leave my home to come find you.”
“Her care is my greatest concern, Prefect.”
Tekkon swallowed and Teera could see that there were tears in his eyes. “Take care of her, Skylord.”
The screen went dark and tears started to make their slow way down her cheeks.
The com officer returned to the room.
Dirko helped her to her feet and led her away.
She didn’t know where they were going, but she knew one thing. She was his now. There was nowhere to run.
Chapter Seven
A strange Asku male was waiting for them in Dirko’s quarters.
“Are you ready, Viiko?”
“Of course, Dirko. Congratulations, by the way, to you as well, miss.”
The man flipped open a kit and Teera watched him prep the tattoo needle.
“What is your name in High Asku, miss? Do you know?”
Dirko grinned. “Her name is Teera, Knowing Heart.”
She smiled. “My mother named me after spending her entire pregnancy reading High Asku name definitions.”
Dirko removed the vest he was wearing and at Viiko’s urging, he lay on the bed.
Teera was surprised. From what she had known of this sort of thing, it was usually done in the tattoo artist’s studio, not in a bedroom.
Viiko swiped a sheet of something across Dirko’s chest and then he took a blunt needle and spelled out Teera in High Asku. The glyphs and twists that made up the word were lovely.
A moment later, Viiko fired up the needle and started to make her name a permanent part of Dirko’s body.
Acting out of a strange reflex, she sat at the side of the bed and took Dirko’s free hand in her own. There was pain in getting the marks, but he took it without a word.
The final glyph on his skin caused Viiko to lean back with a sigh.
Teera smiled and spoke. “You are not done yet.”
Both men looked at her. She continued, “In Leffuo tradition, I need to have Dirko’s mark put on me. Small and circumspect, but I will let him choose the place.”
“I don’t want you marked.” Dirko’s voice was solid, though his skin was pale over the majority of his body.
“Tough. When you used Leffuo law to bind me to you, you sealed the fate of the mark. I was thinking inner thigh.”
Viiko grinned. “Excellent. That way, only you and your mate will know of the mark and yet, you adhere to the tagging laws.”
Dirko looked at Viiko as if he wanted to punch the man.
“Viiko, don’t you dare move. I am going to get into something that will allow me a bit of dignity while the mark is placed.”
Viiko raised his hands and held still.
She quickly went to her bags and dug out one of her Crassos walking tunics. Normally, it was worn with loose trousers, but without, she would be able to hide all intimate regions while exposing her inner thigh.
She darted into the lav and quickly removed the robes of a Mediator before slipping on the tunic. The fabric covered her to mid-calf and exposed each leg to the hip.
When she left the lav, Dirko was speaking quietly to Viiko, but he paused when he saw her. “You are determined to do this.”
“I am. For all my life, I have been a child of two cultures. Both those cultures collide in my body, so why not make it official. Where should I sit?”
Dirko straightened and moved back so he was leaning against the headboard. “Come here.”
She blinked, but caught on and she scooted onto his lap, careful not to lean on his chest.
Well, she tried to be careful, he simply wrapped one arm under her breasts and he pulled her back against him.
His other arm hooked under her knee and lifted her thigh free of the fabric.
She smoothed the fabric down and Viiko looked a little alarmed at the arrangement. “Anytime you are ready, Viiko. The icon for Dirko, please.”
Viiko blinked a few times and then a grin came across his face.
She could almost read his thoughts via his expression. “Yes, you will have a weird story to tell the other tattoo artists.”
He swiped her with a disinfecting wipe, adjusted the angle at which Dirko was holding her and made the marks on her skin that he would trace and embellish to create a mark.
The moment that the needle touched her skin, Dirko tightened his hold so that she couldn’t move.
It was a good thing he did, because she had not counted on the number of nerves she had inside her thigh.
She turned her face into Dirko’s neck and he murmured soothing syllables to her as she was embossed with his name. The pain faded when he kissed her and she let that kiss become the focus of her body, not the burn below.
Dirko’s tongue licked at her mouth and he caught her lip with his teeth, every small movement bringing her pleasure and keeping her distracted.
“I am done, mistress. May I say, this may spark a new trend.” Viiko was packing up his kit and grinning.
She was confused and looked down at the pretty and complicated mark inside her thigh. “I don’t understand.”
He chuckled and gathered his back. “The skylord will be only too happy to explain it later I am sure.”
Dirko’s arms gripped her hard. “Get out now, Viiko.”
Viiko chuckled and lef
t them alone.
The colour on the door panel changed from white to purple.
The inside of her thigh throbbed and as Dirko let her go, her leg slowly slid against the sheets.
She turned in his arms, “Why did you kiss me while he was working?”
Teera ran her hand down his chest and smiled as he shivered when she got closer to his new mark, over his heart.
“Because you needed a distraction from the immediate pain. Your location of choice was going to be agony if you were allowed to focus on it, so I distracted you.” He shivered again as her finger trailed the edge of the mark.
“That was very thoughtful. I wonder how I could possibly repay you.” The mark on her inner thigh throbbed, but it wasn’t painful, far from it.
He grabbed her hand and flattened it on the unmarked part of his chest. “I think that you need to heal a bit from yesterday’s activities.”
She squirmed against him. “That does seem like a waste of time.”
He sighed and rolled her to her back, lifting her legs and pulling her tight against him. Her shoulders and head were the only part of her in contact with the bedding. Dirko slowly ran his hands up her legs on either side, caressing her skin and watching her reactions.
She blushed as his intense gaze became too much for her. She twisted against him, but it only forced her groin to his and sent the mark on her inner thigh skidding along his hip.
The sharp pleasure that ran through her at the lightest touch on the mark caused her to cry out. The moan that followed was low and throaty.
Dirko shifted her until she was on her down on her back and he slid the gown up past her waist.
To her surprise, she met his solid black gaze with a sense of anticipation. Whatever he was about to do, it was going to be fun.
His breath warmed the heart of her sex and she shivered as he leaned forward to place a soft kiss against her.
Liquid heat started throbbing in her channel immediately. When he lapped at her with his tongue, her limbs started vibrating with tension and she reached for his hair before she could stop herself.
Instead of stopping her, Dirko took her hands and placed them on his hair, letting her get a grip if she needed it.
