by Alyssa Ezra
“Keep them open. Watch me as I pleasure you until the sky is lit by the new day.”
Chapter 7
High sun had come and gone by the time Rayer stirred. He stretched, jostling the woman sleeping, snuggled against his chest. A low hiss slipped from her lips as her lashes fluttered erratically against her cheeks before sleepy gem stone eyes blinked open.
“Uhh, what time is it?” Coletta asked on a yawn. She sat and lifted her arms high above her head to stretch. The same movement lifted the feminine mounds on her chest high. When she arched her back and thrust her nipples high and forward, Rayer closed his eyes and stifled a thick moan.
She probably would like to see some of the compound today. But if she keeps doing that, I am going to ring for the kitchen to deliver a cold plate and keep her in this room all day.
*
Cole adjusted on the wide expanse of bed; most of the pillows had been shoved to the floor during the night…and morning. The alien had been insatiable. If she wasn’t pregnant after that night, it was because she wasn’t at her most fertile.
She smiled in memory and turned onto her knees to do her favorite stretch. Gran had always called it the Cole-cat stretch. Bracing herself on her hands and knees, Cole arched her back and allowed her thighs to part as her knees slid along the slick bedclothes, dropping her hips. She was too busy relishing the subtle pop-pop-pop in her back that she didn’t notice Rayer suddenly getting up until she felt his fingers between her thighs.
Before she could jerk around to look at him, a large hand planted between her shoulders to carefully push her chest down to the soft bed.
“Again?” Cole yipped a little as he slid a third finger into her pussy. At the startled sound, Rayer’s fingers moved even more carefully, they twitched and scissored inside her slowly, re-stretching her tender muscles.
“I was trying to resist, but you made it impossible.”
“I’m sore,” Cole grumbled.
Rayer leaned forward over her, fitting his hard cock against the opening of her stretched sheath. “I’ll be careful. Let me – then I’ll show you around the compound.”
“I’m hungry.”
“I’ll feed you before I show you around.” Rayer’s mouth nuzzled the sensitive skin beneath her ear; his breath wafted the thick tangle of her hair. “You’re feeling it too,” he murmured, feeling the thick wetness accumulating between her thighs.
“The food better be good,” Cole muttered.
“The best,” he promised. Then, he gave Cole another demonstration of his best.
*
The food was excellent, the tour of the High Royal Compound was fascinating, and the company was more than Cole had expected. Although, she was beginning to wonder where her clothes were; her body was draped in another silk kraftan. There had been a quiet knock on the door leading into the set of tower chambers, Rayer had gone to answer it, and had come back with an over-the-head robe in pale gold for her to wear.
Through the afternoon, Rayer led her through hall after hall filled with a vast collection of artistic works. She had been particularly impressed by a hall with hand-woven works of fiber art strung up on the walls. Each one was a snapshot of some historical epic. Cole wondered if they were actually representing history or a myth; however, instead of asking she decided that for the day she would simply enjoy the visuals and contemplate meaning another day.
As the sun began to set, they were wandering a lush garden that branched off the main courtyard. In the distance a low gonging chime rumbled. Cole turned and looked back toward the entrance into the courtyard.
“It is the signal for the evening meal. Are you hungry?”
“No, not after what your cook gave us.” A placid smile tilted Rayer’s lips. “Though if you are, or would like to go…”
“No,” he interrupted. Honestly, I prefer to avoid the public meals if at all possible. I doubt we will be able to avoid them all together, but I figure we will be safe from impression for today at least.”
“Why do you avoid them?”
“They are Montala’s personally orchestrated spectacles.” Rayer’s disgust for his father’s second mate had continued to be blatantly clear as Cole had continued to spend time with and get to know the man she was expected to provide an heir for.
“What is it about her that you loathe so much? And it is loathe, not dislike, not resent. You truly loathe, hate, and despise her.”
“She had done whatever she could think of to usurp me from the position of my father’s heir. She wants her son, from her previous mating to be the next High King. She has worked to force him into a position of succession. Once my father learned of her plot, he did his best to nip it. Unfortunately, he didn’t make a move in time. Instead, she managed to secure support from the noble and royal houses for her cause.” Rayer sighed wearily and tugged Cole over to a bench ensconced within a dazzling display of a climbing flower. The blossoms matched his eyes flawlessly. Once seated, he leaned back to rest against the wall of blossoms. “I suppose I should explain the Prime to you.”
“I’ve heard you mention it.”
“Yes, well the Sii ages differently from other humanoid races.”
“How so? Are you younger than you look?” Oh lord what if he isn’t even legal, just looks it…
“No,” he replied laughingly. “I am older. We age slower after we hit what is referred to as ‘puberty’ on Earth.”
“So… How old are you?”
“I recently met my fiftieth solar cycle.”
“Fifty? You’re fifty years old…”
“Not exactly, I have lived for fifty Siiger solar cycles. And while they are approximately the same length as Earth’s solar cycle – the Sii reach what is called the Prime. We enter our prime physical condition later than those of your world. Even for a Sii, I am late in achieving it. Compared with the men of your world, I would be considered approximately thirty-two, thirty-five years of age.”
*
When Coletta merely stared at him, waiting for further explanation, Rayer sighed heavily. “The males of my race are not particularly fertile until we reach prime. It was important for me to reach Prime before I could be pressed to take a mate and provide an heir to secure my line of succession. Unfortunately, my late achievement has provided Montala an opportunity to present Graith as an alternative. While there are plenty that recognize that by entering Prime later, my life expectancy is longer; there are others that are concerned with the succession of the High Throne.”
“So you now have to provide an heir quickly…”
“Yes, but more than that – Graith has gotten the idea that he actually has a chance at succession. He is dangerous. Montala wants him to have the position, so she is dangerous. I want you to stay away from them as much as you can.”
“What if they don’t make any problems? I am now here and mated to you…”
“I know, but I wouldn’t put it past them to try to make life difficult for you.” Or for Graith to try his hand at seducing you – but Rayer left that unsaid.
They sat together in companionable silence. Rayer took in the peace of the color streaked sky as night began to bleed across the horizon. The inky, star-dappled blackness would soon cast its shadows wide across the mountains and trees and lagoons. As daylight dimmed, the small lamps that scattered across the grounds glowed to life.
“Do you think we could sneak back into the kitchen?” Rayer jolted at his mate’s voice.
“Quite likely…”
“Oh good.” When she didn’t elaborate, Rayer walked the fingers of one hand up her arm to her shoulder, to settle on the side of her neck and stroke her soft skin.
“Why?”
“Oh, because I am craving something sweet.” Rayer chuckled. He had noticed that Coletta was fond of sweet treats – she had devoured the tartlets at the feast the day before, and had seemed to delight in the fruit selection that had been offered with their quiet meal off the kitchen.
“Well, let us see w
hat we can do about that,” he said as he stood and offered his hand to pull her to her feet.
*
Cole tugged on Rayer’s arm. He slept face-down, one arm wrapped around a fluffy pillow. Cole had been surprised to wake before him. She had taken the opportunity to rummage through the wardrobes to find clothes to wear. While she hadn’t managed to find anything that she recognized as hers, she had found a pair of skin-tight leggings that shimmered like indigo ink over her legs and a tunic that reached her knees of an airy cloth. She had stuck her feet into the same slippers as the day before – apparently another pair of his mother’s – and was now trying to get the man out of bed without him hauling her back into it.
“Get up!” Cole giggled. Then she saw Rayer’s lips twitch. “You faker,” she gasped before grabbing a pillow to bop the sneaky prince with.
Once the Earthling started bludgeoning him with a pillow, Rayer could not hope to control the laughter that he had been managing, barely, to hold back. Tugging his arm back from Coletta’s grasp, he brought his arms up to shelter his head as he laughed until he was gasping. Finally, when her harmless display lessened, Rayer held up his hands in defeat.
“Alright, alright. I will rise.” He managed between muffled chuckles. One last slap of the pillow landed on the back of his head. When the pillow didn’t move, Rayer sat up and searched the room for his mate.
She stood, at the foot of the bed with her hands on her hips and one delicate brow arched. For a moment, they stared at each other until she lifted one hand and pointed a finger at him only to then point it at the floor.
“Up!” Rayer tossed aside the bedclothes and, nude, stood. Only then did he notice what she was garbed in.
“Where did you get that?” He asked carefully while gesturing at her attire.
“From your wardrobe, or whatever you call it,” she retorted, gesturing at the clothes storage. “Why? Is something wrong with it?”
“No.” Though you in no way look like a woman who is mated to the High Prince…And I am not sure I want your figure so on display.
“Good.” Coletta returned with a bright smile, likely completely unaware of his internal struggle.
*
She was having fun. Cole had never thought that she would have such a delightful time with a man that she didn’t know. A man for whom she was contracted to have sex with and get pregnant; however, she was having fun – a lot of fun. Add to that, he was a serious pleasure to look at and she was a happy woman. So far, everything was much different than she had expected.
Cole sat back on the bed as she watched Rayer drag on a pair of the more loosely cut pants that he seemed to favor, shielding his long, muscular legs from her gaze. He shrugged into a sleeveless, deep v collared shirt. After crisscrossing the long draping tails that hung from the front of the shirt around his waist and back, Rayer tied them off so that they only hung down from the knot a couple of inches, fluttering against his hip. Finally, the man selected the pair of soft leather shoes Cole had seen earlier, and scuffed his feet into them.
He cocked a brow, and offered Cole his hand.
“We can get our meal in the city.”
“Yay!” Cole cheered, drawing a laugh from her otherwise reserved alien, now that his mask of inscrutability was falling back into place as they made their way down the stairs of the tower.
Rayer led Cole through a series of back halls, ducking them into alcoves whenever he heard someone coming. The ridiculous behavior had Cole giggling, and then trying to stifle the giggling as the prince insisted on sneaking them out of the compound as illicitly as thieves in the night.
When they finally cleared a door out onto the lushly planted grounds Cole doubled over and laughed as hard as Rayer had when she had battered him with the pillow.
“What is wrong with you?” Cole managed.
“What? I thought it would be advantageous for you to know the back way out of the compound.”
“You are outrageous.”
*
At ground level, the ‘city’ looked more like a small township. There were children, boys as far as Cole had noticed, running and playing. The markets were filled with oddly large items. There were fountains and pretty green spaces littered under the densely leaved branches of the sprawling trees. She had expected to be able to see the floating island that poured the torrent of water over the town, but she couldn’t see anything through the thick foliage – in fact, the lower level was lit with the same glowing orbs that were scattered over the High Royal Compound.
“Are you hungry?” Rayer asked through the wafting mist.
“Starving,” Cole replied. Where is there anywhere to eat? I haven’t seen anything the whole time we have been wandering around.
“We’ll go to the market. They have an excellent selection.” Rayer squeezed her hand that he had refused to let go of and led her toward the base of a large tree.
We were already at the market…I didn’t see anything there. Rayer pushed aside a large drape that fluttered over the trunk of the tree. He pulled Cole beneath the swath of fabric. Her eyes widened at the stairs that were seemed to grow out of the trunk of the tree. They spiraled, first along the outside of the tree, and then they seemed to disappear into the trunk of the tree.
Rayer dragged her up the steps. When they were several full turns off the ground, Cole found that the stairs did disappear into what was an otherwise hollow trunk. When the stairs opened again, Cole found herself in a bustling metropolis. The trees were connected by sprawling catwalks that stretched over the interwoven limbs. The trunks of the trees were bulged in at intervals, within the bulges were shops, gathering spaces, eateries, and judging by the clothes strung from lines over some of the balconies the people of the city had made their homes in the trees, not on the ground. The walkways seemed to extend on for miles. Ribbons and banners were strung in open space and in some places, the canopy opened to let in bright splotches of daylight. The breaches in the canopy also allowed Cole to see the hovering waterfall and the splash of rainbows streaking through the mist. The hovering water droplets seemed to glow and throw their own miniature rainbows through the city.
Cole had been awestruck by the 500 levels on Earth, but she now saw that there likely wasn’t anywhere on Earth as beautiful as the Forest City.
*
Rayer delighted in Coletta’s awe of the Forest City. There were few places, in his opinion, that had a hope of comparing with the explosions of color and bustling energy he had only ever found on his home world.
“It’s incredible,” she whispered up to him.
“Yes, it is. There is an excellent eatery not far from here, come. I think you will enjoy their offerings.
*
Cole sagged at the base of the tower stairs; she leaned against the wall for a moment. Her pause at the base of the stairs drew Rayer up short. He turned and stared down at her from the second of an obscene number of stairs.
“You go on ahead, I think I am just going to spend the night here,” she told him as she tugged lightly on the hand he was getting into the habit of possessing.
“You are tired.”
“And there are a lot of stairs.” Cole tossed a smile up at him and tugged on her hand again. “Really, I’ll come up in a bit.”
“No. If I leave you here, you are going to fall asleep on the stairs.”
Well that had been the plan. I can deal with a day of soreness. Cole didn’t have the opportunity to argue with Rayer. He stepped back down the stairs and before she realized what he was doing, much less could stop him; the big alien released her hand only to scoop her up against his chest.
“What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?” Cole squealed. No one had picked her up since she was a small child and certainly not since she had reached an adult size.
“I have not. And I am going to take you to bed.”
“I am too heavy for you to carry all the way up there. Put me down before we both fall and die.” Apparently, Rayer found Cole’s co
mment to be entertaining as he let out a short laugh.
“Hardly. I could carry a little thing like this all day and not be winded.”
“What?” Little? Cole pushed herself past his use of the word little and thought about the whole boast. “Sure you could,” she sneered. “If that were possible, you are in no way human!”
“No, I am Sii.” He smoothly retorted with an arrogant smirk. “I am different from the weak males that you are used to.” Cole was startled as she realized the weight of his boast and then as he proved himself correct and carried her straight to bed and another night of carnal pleasure.
Chapter 8
Before either of them stirred on their own, or at the prodding of the other, a brisk knock sounded on the bedroom door. Rayer turned over and sat on the side of the bed before the door swung open to reveal the intruder.
“Hanneth.” Rayer sighed.
“High Prince,” Hanneth replied quietly, his quick eyes taking in the rumpled bedding and the cloud of black to gold curls scattered over the cushions behind Rayer. “Your father requests your presence at the meeting of the Royal Houses. You and Princess Coletta are expected to attend the evening meal, which the representatives will be joining.”
Rayer sighed – he truly loathed the politics of dealing with the other Royal Houses, unfortunately it was required as a High Royal. “When is the meeting?”
“It is slated to begin soon. The evening meal will be chimed as usual. Princess Coletta should allow Shali and Glanna to dress her – I will tell them to be up here with plenty of time.” Hanneth turned to leave the room. “We will see you down in the House chamber immediately, High Prince,” Hanneth tossed over his shoulder as he strode down the stairs into the bathing chamber.
