Her cheeks burned as she said, “He didn’t hurt me. Every moment in his arms was bliss.”
“You said he was drugged. How do you know you weren’t drugged also?” Raul shook his head. “No. We cannot allow his actions to go unpunished. You are too important to the colony now with True gone. I cannot allow you to continue this dalliance. Serri has made me aware that he would not object to continuing the betrothal.”
“No! I will not marry that tiny coward.”
“You’ve always liked Serri,” her mother pointed out.
“I love Gaedrian and I will have no other!”
Both of her parents were looking at her like she was crazy. She couldn’t blame them. She’d never defied them, never given them cause to worry. She tried to calm her breathing so that she would sound convincing.
“You are obviously suffering from Stockholm Syndrome,” Raul stated calmly. “In the morning, you will begin to see a therapist. In the meantime, you should return to your room. We will see to our guests.”
“About Gaedrian––“
“We are finished discussing this.” He opened the door and called to one of the guards. “Please escort Princess Whimsical to her bedroom. I want someone posted at her door until I come for her in the morning.”
Whimsy ground her teeth together in frustration. She knew they were doing this because they loved her and believed themselves to be protecting her. But she was an adult. She didn’t need or want anyone making her decisions for her. She would try again in the morning at Gaedrian’s “trial.” They weren’t willing to listen to her tonight but they would have to in the morning.
She followed the guard to her room. Once there, she paced the small confines. She was far too keyed up to sleep. Her third go around the chamber and she slammed into the hard wall of Dark’s chest. She squeaked.
“Stop doing that!”
“You have to help me free him.”
“I will, but at the moment I can’t even free myself. If you’d use a door, you’d know I have security keeping me here.”
“I can handle that.”
“No!” She grabbed his arm. “We handle this my way with no bloodshed. I will speak at Gaedrian’s trial tomorrow. I need to plan my speech.”
“No offense, but your parents are beyond listening to pretty speeches. If we don’t get Gaedrian out now, tonight, there’s going to be an apocalypse tomorrow.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Let me tell you a little story about a planet called Dark Sphere.”
“Your home world? Is this really the time for stories?”
He continued as if she had not interrupted. “The ruling family has long been the Dark family, thus the name Dark Sphere. Many of this planet’s inhabitants are known to have special talents. Some can tell the future. At the birth of any child into the royal family, a fortune teller is brought in to read their aura and foretell their future. The last family, before the planet…disappeared, had two sons and a daughter. The oldest boy was called Parker, the middle son was Raven, and the youngest, the girl, was Symphony. The night Raven was born there was a horrible storm and the fortune teller almost died in her attempt to make it to the palace for the birth.
“But make it she did. Her prediction, when it came, was not the usual benign affair about fortune and love. She said that Prince Raven would one day bring about the ruin of Dark Sphere. Well, of course, the king and queen did not care for her prediction and had her thrown out of the palace. This offended the fortune teller and she spread her tale far and wide.
“Those who would have sought to take the place of the royal family pounced upon this chance to overtake the crown. The king thought to protect his son and sent him away to another planet where he could be raised as a warrior. He thought this would end the matter.
“He was wrong. The people were terrified that one day the prediction would come true. And so they slaughtered the king, the queen, Prince Parker and even little Princess Symphony.
“Only Prince Raven was spared as he was unreachable. They sent an envoy to capture the boy, but he was protected by the warriors. When word reached the boy, his pain and anger were immeasurable.
“Never mentioned before was the fact that Prince Raven was…very talented. The king feared it would only make matters worse. Perhaps he was quite right.” Dark shrugged. “In any event, in his rage the young prince cursed his home world. And overnight, it disappeared.”
Whimsy gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.
Dark reached into his shirt and pulled out a necklace. The pendant was faintly oblong and flat. It appeared to be made of gold. The surface was etched with cloud shapes. As she watched, the clouds scudded over the oval. She swallowed as she realized what she was looking at. This was what was left of Dark Sphere.
His cold eyes met hers over the pendant. “So you see, the fortune teller was right. And now you know why the foretelling of the future can be dangerous.” He returned the necklace so that it was hidden beneath his collar. “I consider Gaedrian to be family. If I would do this to my home world, what do you think I will do to yours?”
She shivered. He was basically only a boy. To wield such power was a great responsibility. He had also suffered so much loss at his young age. “I-I won’t let you kill anyone.”
“Can you stop me?”
A knock interrupted them. Veracity entered. Her mouth formed an “O” when she saw that she was not alone. “Maybe,” Whimsy said in response to Dark’s question, reaching up to undo her hair. “Veracity, I’m going to need to borrow your dress. I’ll explain, but please hurry. Dark, I know you’ve seen it all before, but could you turn to face the wall.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“I prefer the other one.”
Whimsy halted outside of the glass and steel cell where they had housed Gaedrian. The ceiling was so low that when he stood he was slightly hunched. She glanced down at the puffy lavender dress she wore. The guard had barely glanced at her. He’d seen the dress and assumed she was Veracity. “I’ll change once we get you out of here.”
Dark appeared at her side. “How do these doors work?”
“They open with a card key or with-“
He placed his hand over the lock and the door swung open. She glared at him. “Why did you need me?”
“Do you think he would leave without you?”
Gaedrian crushed her to his chest and kissed the top of her head. When he held out his hand, she took it. She was ambivalent about leaving while there was this fission between her and her parents. But she knew if she didn’t leave right now, she’d never get another chance.
“I’m sorry Whimsical, but I can’t let you leave.”
“Serri? What are you doing here?” Her eyes dropped to his hand. He was holding a laser gun.
“I suspected you might try something like this and I just couldn’t risk it. Now come to me so that I don’t have to hurt your big friend here.” He gestured towards the gun. “I assure you, it’s set to kill and not stun.”
Dark stepped in front of her. “Please say I can kill him?”
“I don’t know who and what you are, but I will kill you if you interfere. This is between me and Whimsy. I’m her betrothed and she belongs to me.”
Gaedrian growled. “I do not know what the fuck that means, but Gaedrianna belongs to me. She is my wife.”
She jerked at the lie.
“If I believed you, it would mean I would have to kill you. Whimsy will marry me and then I will become ruler of C7.”
It finally clicked with her why he had been proclaiming his love for her. He wanted to be king. She shifted from behind Dark so that she could see him. Gaedrian growled and pulled her back. “Serri. That will never happen. I refuse to marry you.”
“What part of the fact that I have a gun don’t you people understand? I am in control of this situation.”
She heard Serri’s scream and then heard the clatter of metal hitting metal. The gun came clatter
ing her way. It was red and glowing. It disappeared seconds later. Serri was gripping his hand. Blood dripped from his curled palm. “Dark, can you heal him?”
“I don’t want to. He’ll heal on his own and the scar will serve as a reminder.”
“We have no more time to waste,” Gaedrian said. “Dark, lead us out of here.” As he passed Serri, he casually flung his fist out, hitting the other man squarely in the jaw and sending him crashing unconscious to the floor. “Sorry. Could not resist,” he muttered.
Gaedrian didn’t relax until they were safely in the larger ship and headed on their way back to C21. Whimsy could see the tension visibly drain from him. He didn’t want a violent confrontation any more than she did. They’d stayed at the helm of the ship and watched it pull away, Whimsy sitting in Gaedrian’s lap the entire time. She could feel his arousal but he said nothing.
When he led her back to his chamber, he backed her against the wall and covered her mouth with his, his tongue plunging deep. She moaned and wrapped her arms around him, her fingers burying themselves in the thick black waves of his hair. Oh, how she loved him.
He trailed kisses down her neck even as he lifted her skirt. “How do I get you out of this contraption?”
“Zipper at the back,” she gasped. She reached behind her and undid the fastening. It dropped to her feet and she kicked it aside. She was bare except for her panties. Gaedrian kissed her tight nipples before moving lower. He ran his tongue over the seam of her pussy. His breathing was harsh.
“Smell so good,” he groaned. “I have missed you so much, my sweet, Dessert.” He glanced up at her, his midnight blue eyes aglow with love and lust. He grinned at her. “Did I ever tell you that I hate panties? They keep me from that which I desire most.” He gripped the scrap of material and pushed them down her legs. “When I ordered your wardrobe, I requested that there be no panties.” He nudged the inside of her thighs until she spread them for him.
Her breath left her in a hiss as he traced her clit with the tip of his tongue before coming back for more. He kissed her flesh softly before circling it, flicking it, and eventually drawing it into his mouth to suck. Her knees nearly buckled. She gasped and braced herself on his broad shoulders. Her hands bunched in his shirt.
She wanted to touch skin. “You’re wearing too many clothes,” she panted.
Groaning, he stood and whipped his shirt over his head. His pants quickly followed. He picked her up and carried her to his bed. She bit her lip to hold in a moan as he lined up their bodies so that his erection slid over her wet pussy. Her legs tightened on him. She was eager for the feel of him filling her.
He kissed her again, his tongue entering her body even as his cock penetrated her pussy. She whimpered into his mouth as he stretched her. He withdrew, surging deeper with each thrust. Her nails dug into his sweat slicked back as his muscles there flexed with his movements.
His strokes in and out were slow and methodical. She met him for each thrust, her hips dancing with his to create the maximum amount of pleasure. “So hot, so tight,” he groaned into her neck before rearing back to his knees. He placed her legs over his elbows. At this angle, he was impossibly deeper. She cried out as his cock kissed her womb.
The pace increased. She lifted herself and parted her legs as wide as possible to be open to him. He rode her fiercely, each thrust causing her breasts to bounce.
Her cunt began to spasm suddenly, seizing over his turgid member. “Oh, Gaedrian, I love you,” she cried.
“Dessert,” he ground out, stilling above her. His cock thickened within her and then she felt his seed flooding her in hot bursts.
She rested her head on Gaedrian’s chest, listening to his heartbeat. She ran her fingertips over his biceps. “About what you said to Serri, about me belonging to you?”
“Explain betrothal to me. You mentioned it once. What does it mean?”
She sighed at the distraction. “It means our parents signed a contract saying that we would marry one day. That contract could have been broken by him once I gave my virginity to you. Obviously, he had reason to want to marry me. Without True, I’m next in line. Well, I would be, but I’m sure my parents will disown me once they discover that I ran off with you.”
“You are my wife. You belong with me.”
She frowned. “You said that earlier. When are you going to make it true?”
“What do you mean? You were there for the ceremony.”
Expelling an exasperated breath she sat up to glare down at him. He looked glorious with his hair spread out over the pillow. “What ceremony?”
“When I introduced you to our elders, my advisors, my friends and my family. I thought you understood.”
“Why would I? That’s not the way we do it at home. We have a wedding ceremony with a dress and flowers and stuff!”
He arched a brow. “You received a dress, did you not? Anyway, your way of marrying sounds very unstable. Allowing fate to choose ensures you will have a suitable mate.”
“My parents were betrothed and they love each other very much.”
He grunted. “And the weasel who tried to kill us is the man you would have married. Good thing you were abducted.” He pulled her down for a quick kiss.
“I’m married,” she whispered, letting it sink in. She’d actually been married for some time now. She sighed. “Only one more thing would make this absolutely perfect.”
“What would that be?”
“For you to tell me that you love me as much as I love you. I mean, I know that you do, but to hear the words….”
“Oh, Dessert, I love you more than life. But you do know I have already declared my love for you at our wedding ceremony?”
She threw her hands up. “When?”
He grinned. “When I introduced you as Gaedriana, it told everyone in the room that not only had fate chosen you for me, but that I loved you as well. Kings only rename their brides after themselves when it is a love match.”
Curiosity made her ask, “And was your mother named after your father?”
“No. I think she envies you. Please go easy on her when we return.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I have everything I could have ever wanted. I can afford to be generous.” She kissed him, and as his arms closed around her she knew she was the happiest woman in any world.
The End
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