125. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
A vania
The ceremony was a blur, as was the sumptuous state dinner. I don’t believe I took a bite. My new mate was supposed to be seated to my right, but he didn’t touch his food either. He was moving about the room, greeting his guests. We have yet to exchange a single word.
I wish my mother had been here, or even one single person I know, but I’ve just been seated on this dais, watching hundreds of courtiers talking and dancing, as if I’m invisible.
Some of the males have glanced my way, assessing me in a manner that shouts their interest. I’ve seen this with children playing. A toy might be sitting unused for hoaras , but as soon as one picks it up and plays, all the others want it. As I suspected, I’m just a toy, an object.
The females are no kinder. They cut their eyes at me then flair their nostrils and purse their lips. If I hadn’t reached into the water and come up with the crimson flower, every unmated female in the room would have tried to stake a claim on the King.
I look around, wondering where Prince Kato is. He’s only a year younger than Valeris. I would think they would be here to support his brother, but I don’t believe he attended the ceremony.
I’m startled to find Blanesse at my right elbow. She padded in so quietly I didn’t hear her.
“My lady, I was told to take you to your bedchamber.”
Blessed relief. My bedchamber? So the world hasn’t completely gone off its axis. Finally, the madness has stopped. I may be mated, but at least the powers that be are going to allow me to get to know King Valeris before I’m expected to share a room—or a bed—with him.
“Wonderful,” I say, happy to follow her back to my room and process everything that’s happened so far today.
The palace is enormous. It will take weeks for me to learn my way around. It’s only when Blanesse opens the bedchamber door that I notice this is not my room.
The room where I bathed and dressed earlier was furnished in pale blues with golden accents. This suite is masculine and bold with rich chocolates and royal blues.
“This isn’t my room,” I breathe, refusing to cross the threshold.
“My lady, the other room was a guest room. A place for you to refresh and relax before your mating ceremony. This is where you will reside with your mate.” Blanesse is older than me, but has an innocent quality to her. In her world, it’s normal for the winner of the Zaypien Day Quest to excitedly embrace her new circumstances.
“No.” That should be all I need to say. When she doesn’t turn on her heel and escort me to the other room, the safe room of light blues and soothing golds, I insist. “Take me back to my other room.”
“I, uh…”
“My Queen,” a masculine voice interrupts our conversation. It takes long moments for me to realize whoever is talking is speaking to me. I’m a queen!
“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Chancellor Mathene.” He clicks his heels together like something out of a vid. Of course I know who he is. It was his head, twenty- fiertos -high, announcing today’s events.
“These are your new lodgings. Your mate will join you shortly. You will let your maid help you dress in the lingerie chosen especially for you by our staff. You will do your duty to your country to provide King Valeris an heir.”
His tone is soft, mellifluous, and honeyed. His intent is sharp-edged as a knife. As if he hadn’t made himself clear, he reaches over my head, presses the door farther open, and motions me to step in.
When I don’t immediately hop to it, he dips his chin the slightest fraction and allows his gaze to turn cold as steel.
An ornamental sword is hanging at his right hip. There are guards throughout the palace; I’ve seen them everywhere. I’m as powerless as a bug trapped in an inverted glass. The trappings may be beautiful, and I may be called “Queen,” but I have no more choice than an ant about to be crushed under someone’s heel.
Valeris
I can’t avoid it any longer. I stayed in the Galaxy ballroom as long as possible, but now I’m standing outside my door, hand on the knob, working up my nerve to meet my new mate. It may be awkward, but as Mathene’s already reminded me five times, it’s my duty.
Glancing in, I see the lights are off and there’s a small lump under my covers. One of the ruby beads in her braids sparkles as it catches the light slicing in from the hallway. I wonder how long she stayed up waiting for me.
After entering, I’m happy to rid myself of my heavy robe. After tossing it over a chair, I roll my shoulders and rub the back of my neck with my palm. Might as well do this. It won’t exactly be a chore. The female is pretty enough.
Now naked, I stalk to the bed, slide under the covers, and roll to her. Her back is facing me. I don’t want to scare her, so I clear my throat before I call her name, then touch her shoulder.
She rolls to me, her eyes fly open in a way that makes me wonder if I woke her from a deep sleep or if she was lying here awake waiting for me.
“Avania,” I rumble, not knowing what else to say.
“Your Majesty?” She focuses on my face in the dim light as if she’s taking my measure for the first time.
“Call me Valeris,” I say as I reach to brush an errant beaded braid off her cheek.
She doesn’t move, just looks at me, her gaze sweeping across my face. The more I look at her, the more I notice subtle nuances I find attractive. The way her darker brows offset her emerald eyes, subtle variations in the color of her mane, how her upper fangs rest outside her lips when she’s relaxed.
My cock thickens. No, it won’t be a burden to bed my mate. The less I think of it as something that must be done for the good of all of Ton’arr, and the more I think of this as something between little Avania and me, the easier this will be for both of us.
“Have you bedded a male before?” I ask, not knowing how they do things in the country.
Her gaze blazes with fury as it flicks toward me.
“I’m a good female,” she retorts, her nostrils flaring.
“Of course you are. I simply wanted to know if…” What, if I needed to be gentle or if I could simply take what I wanted?
She sits up in the covers and is now spotlighted with a perfectly placed shaft of moonlight slashing in from between the curtains. Perhaps she doesn’t know how much of her I can see in the dim light, because my face is almost completely in shadow. I doubt she’d be happy to realize I can see her torso as clearly as if she were nude. The filmy gown my staff provided is completely see-through in this light.
Her pelt is rich with golden tones, but it’s not her pelt I’m focused on. It’s her little cream-colored breasts. The small light tips poke at me through the thin fabric.
“You’re beautiful,” I say, my voice huskier than usual. When her little tongue slicks between her lips, my cock kicks in excitement. Perhaps this mandate to mate isn’t so terrible.
I sit up to reach for her, thinking I’ll sweep her mane behind her shoulder and then trail a finger down her breast to its already-pebbled tip. Holding her gaze, I reach out, but before I touch her mane, she grips my wrist with one hand and wields a paring knife with the other.
What remained of her sleepy expression has vanished as she brandishes the small knife at me. I’m shocked. I’ve never been attacked before, certainly not in my sleeping quarters.
“Do you know anything about me?” she asks as she sits up on her knees, her knife still menacing toward me. “Do you know the first thing about the female you want to bed?” She releases my wrist and flicks the covers back in one swift movement.
“How dare you come in here, shuck your clothes, and assume you could stick that,” she looks pointedly at my cock which is pulsing in time with my heartbeat, still hard as stone as if he hasn’t gotten the message that the rest of the body is under attack. “Stick that thing in me?”
“I…” I was about to say something placating, but in addition to not knowing what to say, she quells me with a look that tells me she doesn’t want to hear another word coming out of my mouth.
I consider disarming her, but realize I’m having too much fun. I want to see how this plays out.
“You shouldn’t have left me alone for so long. As I cooled my heels, wondering what was going to happen when you finally decided to darken the door and meet your new mate, I had plenty of time to think.”
She’s on a roll now, barely taking breaths between her words.
“I don’t have control over much. I can’t decide where I want to live or if I can invite my own mother to my mating ceremony or even who I am mated to. But hear this—” She pauses for effect until I nod. “You hear this, King Valeris. I do have control over who sticks their… thing in my body.” She takes a deep breath, shakes her head until the rubies in her braids jangle, and sits back down on her pretty bottom.
It’s silent now. The only things moving are her chest heaving and her tail flicking with high emotion.
I try to remember when the last time was that anyone spoke to me in anger. It’s not hard to find the answer—never. My parents were sometimes stern, as was Mathene, but this amount of passion? The nostrils flaring, knife-wielding fury? Never.
I’ve underestimated my little mate.