The Golden Heart: Alliance Book One (Alliance Series 1)
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Capital City Nuxar; Phy’vohran; 17.00hours; the Grey Month (12) Day 15
Year 14 356 of the Nexvrin Dynasty
Kellan watched the two Cjon’vaiian girls fuss around the room in which he was put for the time being. Klaijvia shook out his pillow while Galjaia closed the curtains to the balcony. The sound of water filling the sunken bathtub in the other room was surprisingly calming. It soothed him. He didn’t even know he had been so restless for the last few hours.
When the royal family had shown him to this room, he had washed his face a bit and then waited to be fetched by a servant who turned out to be two servants- Klaijvia and Galjaia. He hadn’t seen them the whole time on the Star-Cruiser, and now their presence in his room seemed strange.
During the lunch, Jarvan had offered to tell Kellan more about being kmer, but he had politely refused. Kellan hadn’t had the desire to know more, even though it was foolish to not want to find out more about his new bodily conditions. But he didn’t want the awkward sex talk with the kmera of his husband.
Kellan hoped it wasn’t that different from sex between ordinary men since he knew in theory what happened there and what was necessary to make it happen. It couldn’t be that different since his outer appearance hadn’t change a bit. So talking with Jarvan about intercourse would be most uncomfortable and embarrassing.
Hell, he wouldn’t ask his husband’s parent how to have sex with another man. That was out of question.
“The bath is ready, your Highness,” Galjaia’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts and brought him back to the present.
“Ah, yes. Thank you. Both of you may leave now, enjoy a bit of leisure,“ he smiled at both of the servant girls to prevent it from sounding like he wanted to get rid of them.
The blue-skinned girls nodded obediently and minced out of the room. The noise of the door clicking shut was loud in the silence.
Dershra was sleeping on the bed, curled around himself on a pillow next to Kellan’s larger pillow. The little snoring sounds were almost inaudible.
Grinning, he went to the bed and sat down on the soft mattress. He watched his little beast sleep for a while before he sighed and kissed Dershra’s head. Kellan really shouldn’t wake up the little guy so he would give him some company. He wasn’t even sure whether wyverns liked bathrooms or not.
Discontented, he rose from the bed and wandered to the room where his hot bath was calling for him.
Opening the door, he looked back to the sleeping creature on the massive bed- big enough to let at least eight human males sleep in it.
The whole furniture seemed excessive and too big for Kellan, but well, even Blake and Luke would feel a little small here. He wondered what they were doing, now that the war was over.
The soldiers who had been drafted had nothing to do now, meaning that the government could establish a standing army, ready to defend their planet. It would be the nice thing to do since almost none of the men and women in the military had learned to work as something else.
Kellan had been lucky enough; his instructor had called him a lost cause, a lot to his father’s disappointment.
Too small, too hesitant and a total douche at aiming- that was the official account of his trainee years. Kellan had never listened to his instructor as well as to his superiors. He hadn’t done that on purpose, though. He only had struggled with the not-thinking-about-orders part. When everyone had followed, he was the only one to think about whether the orders made sense or not. That had gotten him many rounds around the military training grounds.
At least now Kellan knew he could run like the hell’s hounds were after him and he had been quite good at running the course. So maybe he hadn’t been that much of a lost cause at all…only with the obeying part and the weapon part.
As one of the sons of the president, they hadn’t been allowed to use him as cannon fodder, so his heritage had sometimes been quite helpful. It even got him to Voxus, so no hard feelings there.
Later on Voxus, he had learned quite a few tricks, no one knew about. He hadn’t been such a douche on Voxus. He had rather been the poster student and one of the champions of the Tournament of Holograms. That he was very proud of.
He even got the invitations every year but had been forced to refuse, since he didn’t want to explain it to his father. Maybe Sartak would let him go there. Maybe Jarvan would accompany him! He needed to write a letter to the administration of Voxus to let them know, his permanent residence had changed.
With new eagerness, he opened his robe and let it glide over his shoulders. Hastily, he peeled out of the rest of his clothes and fetched them from the floor. He almost ran back to his room to dump the pile of fabric on the bed.
Running back to the bathroom, he took a short glance at the mirror. His hair was a mess since Dershra had some kind of nested in it. Smiling, he stood on the edge of the sunken bathtub and inhaled the scented vapor steaming up from the hot water. It smelled of exotic flowers and herbs- a relaxing mixture that soothed him deeply.
The water was a bit too hot when he tapped a toe into it. Shrugging, he sat down on the edge and slid in his legs, then hissed at the temperature. He went on with sinking the rest of his body into the steaming tub and sighed when he was seated on a stone bench. The water hadn’t been filled to the edge since Kellan was too small to sit in the tub while it was full.
Kellan had closed his eyes a while ago and was about to fall asleep, but when the cold brush of fabric on his shoulder startled him, he opened his eyes wide and turned around in an instant. The first thing he saw was vibrant pink and some sunny brown leg. Then he remembered that Kohtah had wanted to see him later that day and now the prince was standing in his bathroom.
“Hello Kohtah?“ he greeted him, but it came out more like a question.
The prince chuckled and stepped around the tub. Facing Kellan, he gave him a friendly smile. Then, to Kellan’s shock, he undressed. Closing his eyes, he shifted around, not knowing what to do.
“Err…I don’t think it is seemly for us the bath together…,“ his voice trailed off when he heard the sounds of a body lowering into the water.
“Even though you smell incredible, I’d never dishonor you or my brother by…doing something…regretful. I want us to become friends,” the prince declared and chuckled again.
Kellan had the feeling that Kohtah wouldn’t go anywhere for a while now, so he reluctantly opened his eyes to see the other man smile at him. His hazelnut-brown hair was pinned up by a hair clip; his lashes thick and black with mascara and his lips a dark red.
“I’d like to be your friend. So...you can smell me? That means you’re not an altered kmer,” Kellan knew that the consort was the only kmer in the royal family, but he could have sworn Kohtah was at least altered.
“No. I still need to convince my parents to let me undergo alteration and then gender change. They say I’m too young to make such decisions,” Kohtah rolled his eyes and made a face like his parents’ objections were utterly ridiculous.
“You want to be a girl then? That’s cool. I’d like to have a sister-in-law,” Kellan gave Kohtah a coy smile, trying to encourage the young man in his decision and then said. “I’m twenty-two by the way. Some people say I shouldn’t get married so young and a lot more say, I shouldn’t have children before age thirty.”
Kellan shrugged and waited for Kohtah’s response.
“I’m nineteen cycles, but our years have thirty to thirty-one of your days less than your years,” Kohtah smiled gently at him. “The twins are six cycles, and Sartak is twenty-seven cycles.”
While talking, Kohtah had shifted nearer and was now sitting next to him. Kellan’s body tensed, and his skin tickled strangely. Heat built up in his veins, and he frowned. He heard Kohtah talk, but he didn’t understand a word.
The young man seemed content and relaxed while Kellan was burning inside. His scalp prickled in unknown sensation, when his future brother-in-law played with his hair, saying something about it.
Kohtah regarded him, deep frowns of worry on his forehead. The young Phy’vohranian bent over Kellan’s body.
“Kellan! Kellan! Are you okay?“ he touched the ambassador’s shoulder only lightly, but Kellan still winced, heat rushing down in his body to a place he had no idea of.
Quiet moans slipped over his lips while he tried to press his thighs together to do anything to make it stop.
Embarrassed red flushed his cheeks, while Kohtah still talked soothingly to him.
It didn’t work at all.
It even seemed like the young man’s nearness and his slight touches increased the strange heat in his belly.
Something inside him shifted and contracted, sending Kellan into a weird panic.
“Oh God!“ he exclaimed, and that was the moment when Kohtah rose out of the water, his beautiful even and smooth skin right in front of Kellan’s face.
Dear universe! That was a rather big little friend the young man had hanging between his legs…
“I’m going to get kmera, just don’t go anywhere!” Kohtah was halfway through the door when he screamed those words back into the room.
Kellan nodded. Where the hell would he go, anyway?
His cock was hardening a bit which confused him even more. He should have felt much too uncomfortable to get aroused.
He wasn’t aroused by any of this, or was he? Still, his stupid genitals seemed to think otherwise. He couldn’t even figure out, what had gotten him into this state, to begin with.
He thought hard, but nothing came to his mind, but his body still burned with the unknown desire to be touched and he wanted something…inside him?
Shocked, he sat up and forced his eyes open again. He had never thought such things, never wanted such things. Why did he crave it now?
But before he could investigate the matter further, Jarvan came running into his bathroom, Dr. Selarney right behind him. Kohtah was the last one to arrive. His golden skin was white with fear and worry. He had wrapped himself in a towel and was struggling to keep it in place. Strands of his hair had fallen out of his hair clip.
Jarvan kneeled next to Kellan in an instance, his golden eyes full of horror.
“What’s wrong, my dear?“ he asked, his voice rough and fearful.
Dr. Selarney kneeled on the other side and gently grabbed his arm to scan him with his little device he had used on Kellan before.
“I can’t see anything worrisome. He is fine…just…Oh. Oh! OH!“ the doctor’s eyes grew bigger and bigger and then his blue face turned a weird shade of dark green.
Kellan wanted to scream at the man, but he only felt his body temperature rise. Kohtah’s soft touches on his face didn’t make it better.
He knew the young Phy’vohranian only wanted to help him, but his lower body grew hotter and he felt like he wanted to open up.
“Your Highness, Prince Kohtah, you must leave now. Your pheromones…it is his first cycle. He only needs to smell male pheromones to be aroused,” the Xilitarian explained stiffly and shooed the prince away.
“Shit! I’m so sorry Kellan. I didn’t know. Forgive me? Please? I must admit I found your smell very delicious. It didn’t affect me that much because I’m more hooked by a man’s pheromones. We should better talk tomorrow,” with those words Kohtah was out of the room and the doctor left just a second later.
Jarvan exhaled in relief and shook his head.
“I’m sorry, too. I should have known that could happen. Damn, it happened to me when I was younger and I slept with Leylos that night. We’d only met that day and I was so embarrassed about my behavior, I ran away and never wanted to see him again. Of course, I knew who he was. It was hard to hide what had happened when I found out I was pregnant with the crown prince’s child. Leylos had searched the whole planet for me, but I wouldn’t talk to him in person, only through the door. He courted me a long time, and when my water broke, he happened to be around. He tore down the door and looked at me, then called for a healer. He sat by my side, even though he passed out a few times. Leylos asked me to be his consort the same night,“ Jarvan smiled dreamingly at the memory.
“I hope the whole struggle afterward was worth the night you had,” Kellan said and was surprised at his boldness.
The Phy’vohranian laughed lustily and smirked at him.
With a dirty grin, he leaned in close to Kellan’s ear and said: “Oh, my dear. We did it the whole night and missed all of the boring party. I had never been so sore in my life before. We both knew why we were so crazy about each other- we were fated mates, a thing not very common. But silly me thought I wasn’t good enough for a prince. I was just a minor lord’s kmeri. My father had worn by far the biggest smile on my wedding day.”
Suppressing a cough, Kellan looked away but felt his face blush. Then he noticed that his body had cooled down. He wasn’t aroused anymore and the urge to have sex was gone. His cock was soft again, and he thanked the gods that all the male people had left this room. Jarvan was a kmer, so Kellan didn’t go nuts because he could somehow smell the other man. He didn’t mind his chosen kmera staying here. Moreover, it calmed him down.
Kohtah’s presence had felt weird…he assumed that it wouldn’t have been so strange to have the other man here if he wasn’t like this…with this fertility cycle going on.
He liked Kohtah. He seemed so innocent in a way. The fact that he hadn’t thought a minute about what his pheromones could do to Kellan when he came to his room in the first place just showed it.
“So no one’s getting mad because I was turned on by the wrong prince?“ Kellan asked jokingly, but still, his gut clenched in anticipation of the answer.
The consort burst into laughter and laid his head on Kellan’s shoulder.
“Oh dear! I was even turned on by my father when it first hit me. I just couldn’t understand why and I thought I had been at home for too long, so I really wanted to go to this party, but then I ran into Leylos. This stupid cycle…over time I managed to ignore the scent of other men. You’ll learn that too, but it was in a cruel way funny to see Sartak fleeing the room when I entered it. That was the first years when he hit puberty. Some call the fertile phase heat as a joke like animals have heats, and it drives every male crazy, just like every male drives the one in heat crazy. I say, call it however you want. It is still annoying as fuck. So no one is angry about you wanting to jump the wrong prince,” Jarvan smirked and patted Kellan on his arm before he rose to his feet and walked towards the door.
Turning around, he said: “I’ll be back to help you with the wedding gown. Relax a bit, darling.”
Kellan nodded silently and leaned back into the water.
It was about two hours later when someone knocked on the door. Kellan turned in his bed and Dershra simply continued to munch some fruits from a silver plate and chirped in delight.
“Come in please,” Kellan only managed a mutter, but the other person must have heard it because the door swung open only seconds later.
Opening one eye, he peeked through a gap between the sheets and his blanket. When he saw tons of people enter the room, he moaned and snuggled back into the blanket.
“My dear, it’s time,” Jarvan’s voice sounded muffled through the thick layer of stuffed fabric.
Suddenly the blanket was taken away and he was yanked out of his bed onto his feet.
“Now, now, you look rested enough. It is your wedding tonight; you wouldn’t want to miss it. You can go to bed later…with your husband,” while the consort spoke, people tortured him with a comb and pins and clothing and everything.
They dragged him around the room, fussing all over him, pulling at his hair and dressing him in exaggerated robes.
5
He stood there, waiting. The priest smiled at him reassuringly, but he still felt like a nervous wreck. His father and his brothers were seated on the right side in the front row and t
hey too gave him some reassuring smiles.
Sartak felt downright stupid. He didn’t even know how the stylists had managed to squeeze his hulky body into such beautiful robes. He usually wore leather armor or armor of any other material or casual tunics. He liked formal attire and beautiful long and colorful robes, just not on himself.
His wild red mane had been halfway tamed with hair oils. When his brother Kohtah had brushed his shoulder-length auburn hair, Sartak had felt like his younger brother wanted to scalp him. He still thought his skin might peel off at any moment now. He wouldn’t even be surprised when it fell off the moment his human came through the great door of the temple.
Sartak glanced at the dark corners of the big hall. Countless candles lit the room; flames and shadows were dancing around each other on the walls. The high ceiling seemed to end within the stars, at least the white fluorescent dots above his head created the illusion of a sky full of tiny suns. The pillars surrounding the room were black marble, just like the floor and the walls, only the ceiling was night-blue crystals.
It was said that the Temple of the Cosmos was as old as the planet itself. Sartak knew it must be right. The temple had countless of unknown underground hallways and rooms. The hypogeal dungeons were located underneath the temple, just like the temple was underneath the palace, which was later built on top of this place as a means of protection. The Temple of the Cosmos was of unknown origin, but it was believed, that the first Phy’vohranians had built it. Research had shown that they had lived under the surface and most probably been blind.
There had been findings of skeletons similar to those of the Phy’vohranians- only they had horns and spikes on their skulls. The eye sockets had been closed and not open to the back like they were with the Phy'vohranians now. So scientist believed that they either had no eyes or eyes without any function. DNA tests had proven them to be early ancestors of the Phy’vohranians of today.
It was only natural to feel tiny and powerless within these ancient walls.