Chapter Five
The Consort Ryan
Mikos and I arrived on Moravia in mid-morning, under blue-gray, rainy skies and big thunder bumper clouds that were alarmingly high and moving fast, swirling around over the palace and the mountains beyond.
There was a threat of impending sleet and heavy rain, not to mention high winds, according to the surface weather report.
Mikos had told me a bad storm was moving in, and it would be affecting the weather over this part of Moravia.
The rain here could be intense, and in this case, even freezing.
I didn’t like to fly through air turbulence storms caused by unstable air currents, even though I knew that it wasn’t necessarily a sign of danger, and aircraft weren’t downed by turbulence alone.
I knew all of that intellectually. And yet, I hated it like I hated the old roller coasters on Earth that I used to ride as a child.
The experience had been so unpleasant that the actual amount of danger was irrelevant.
I only wanted it to stop. I used to visit my grandparents on Earth as a child, and my grandmother had lived in the state called Texas back then, which was in a region prone to tornado formation due to the collision of cold, dry air currents from Canada and the warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.
Combined with the flat terrain and the strong wind shear, it created intense and frightening supercell thunderstorms with thunder, lightning, hail and sometimes tornadoes.
I still remember my grandmother herding all of us into the bathroom in the hallway to wait for the all-clear warnings.
I hated every second of it, and I guess I’d been traumatized by it, because I feared bad storms to this day.
Mikos, knowing how I felt, reached over and took my hand in his, thankfully not saying a word as we traveled down to Stefan and Vannos’s palace.
Mikos had made love to me fiercely the night before, though I think I gave as good as I got.
Even after all the years I’d been with my handsome prince, the passion between us still burned hotly, and I didn’t see that ever ending.
Last night’s lovemaking was all about him staking his claim and a little about me staking mine right back.
After we’d eaten dinner and had our after-dinner drink with the handsome, sexy general, we’d gone to our quarters.
I was tired, I told him and needed to lie down.
I don’t think I fooled him, but since he needed to be with me as much as I needed to be with him, we closed the door, locked it behind us and then he wrapped his arms around me.
I wanted him so desperately. We had always bickered back and forth, but I think it was like a steam valve that opened occasionally to let off the pressure.
Otherwise, our passion for each other might have torn us apart.
I told Mikos that once and he’d laughed and said he would never let me get away or leave him.
The facts said differently. We had separated once long ago when we had first married.
It had been the worst time in my life, and in his.
I kissed him as he pressed himself against me, but I ignored the kissing for a moment, focusing instead on pushing up his tunic and running my hands over his muscular chest. I never got tired of the feel of his tight little nipples as I ran my thumb and then my tongue over them.
His entire body stiffened and flushed, and I kissed his throat and licked and bit his nipples until he shuddered with pleasure.
I couldn’t hold off any longer when I wanted him so badly.
“Make love to me,” I whispered to him, and he lifted me and tumbled me back onto the bed, despite my protestations that I wasn’t a doll to be carried and thrown around.
He muttered something in his impossible language, mocking me even as he tore his clothes and mine off quickly.
But we needed lubricant, and I was afraid he’d forgotten to bring any.
I should have known better as he laughed at my look of desperation and said we had everything we might need.
He said he wouldn’t have let anything like that stop him anyway, when he had a perfectly good tongue.
That embarrassed me, though I should have been used to his outrageous comments by now.
He tossed his bag on the bed and rifled through it, finding the oil and holding it up with a triumphant little cry.
I laughed at him and he tackled me back down to the mattress.
Out of long practice, he soon found the place that lit me up inside and made me strain against him.
He was making delicious sounds of pleasure, and I couldn’t hold off much longer.
When I couldn’t stand it anymore, and I decided he was dragging this out too long, I rolled over on top of him to straddle him and work his cock inside me.
He lay on his back, way too smug and conceited, but he was giving me fond looks too and rubbing his hands on my ass, so it was hard to stay mad.
His body heat was incredible, and he began to impale me with every steady stroke.
His hips were smacking my ass, and I wanted him to own me completely. He was perfectly willing to oblige.
His long, thick cock was buried deep inside me, when I felt an orgasm already teasing me and making me feel weak with pleasure.
After we both came explosively, he fell asleep in my arms. I snuggled into his side, counting on his body heat to keep me warm, and I whispered a few silly things to him as his pretty face gently smoothed out in sleep.
We had come together a long time ago now, against all odds, with the whole galaxy aligned against us, and yet somehow, we’d made it, and I loved him as much today as the first time I ever saw his arrogant, spoiled and beautiful face. And I knew I always would.
We had slept a little late the next morning and then got ready to take the shuttles down to the surface.
We landed as the storm finally hit in earnest and a mixture of sleet and rain began to pelt down from of the sky.
I hoped this storm wasn’t some kind of metaphor for the meeting we were about to attend today.
This feud between Mikos and Larz seriously needed to be over.
It wasn’t just Mikos, though he certainly played his part.
Larz was just as bad, and I was pretty sick of both of them being so stubborn and unbending.
If this feud of theirs was ever to end, someone or something had to give.
Stefan and Vannos told us we should go directly to our room when we arrived, so we could change out of our wet clothing and rest a while in case the power went out.
That statement was alarming enough that I hurried upstairs to unpack.
The power on this planet was an old technology that had never been upgraded, like so many things on Moravia.
Vannos had often complained about it, saying that Stefan didn’t want to raise taxes, and they weren’t a wealthy planet like Tygeria, with its vast diamond reserves.
Davos would have helped from his personal funds, if Stefan would have allowed it, but Stefan was far too proud to accept what he’d call charity. Especially from his father-in-law.
The meeting was slated to start a little later that afternoon.
I changed out of my wet clothes and lay down to rest a while and get warm, though Mikos was far too restless and went downstairs to find his Imperials and check in with them.
There had been no sign so far of Larz and his family, though Vannos had mentioned they had come down to eat first meal.
About an hour or so later, I thought I heard voices and doors slamming in the main foyer and got dressed to go back downstairs.
Blake, Davos and their entourage had arrived, and I was relieved to see that they’d made it before the storm got any worse.
Vannos and King Stefan had both been on hand to greet them.
“Ryan,” Blake said, holding out a hand to me and giving me a smile as I went over to say hello. “Are we ready for this meeting, do you think?”
“Probably not, even though it’s been a long time coming.”
“True,” Blake said. “I had hoped things would get better between my boys over the years, but they’ve only gotten worse.”
“Larz isn’t happy about this meeting,” Vannos said, leading us into the parlor room where
the servants had built a huge fire in the fireplace, no doubt in honor of Blake, who was always freezing. “He told us so at first meal this morning. He doesn’t think anything will be resolved.”
“With that kind of attitude, nothing ever will,” Davos replied.
“Your son is stubborn,” I told him and he nodded.
“Both of them are,” Vannos said, earning himself a look from his father.
Davos took off then to find Mikos as the rest of us sat down in front of the fire to warm ourselves, because this beautiful old palace really could be a little drafty.
Blake always wore fur-lined robes because our palace was the same.
I no longer wore the robes. I had opted for trousers as soon as it became more prevalent for men like me to wear them.
Robed were traditional but a slightly old-fashioned custom these days.
Maybe I’d look into a heavier jacket to wear in the future.
I was pretty sure I’d brought one with me, remembering how cold Moravia could be.
“Larz hardly spoke to me at first meal this morning,” Vannos told us.
“Why is that, do you think?” Blake asked.
“He’s worried about Janos. The Imperials Mikos sent down ahead of him were at first meal this morning too, and I think their son, Taran, may have argued a little with one of them last night sometime. It was the general, I think. Larz and Janos didn’t like it much.”
“But surely Taran must be a grown man by now and can give as good as he gets.”