Chapter 9 #3
“Your skin darkens further when I suck on it,” he said, speaking at her but mostly to himself as he leaned back to observe his handiwork. “I’ve left marks of my kisses all over you. They’re so bright. How long will it take them to fade?”
“Wait, you gave me hickeys?!”
Her eyes darted downward, and she let out another unattractive quack of surprise.
He hadn’t just left a few discrete hickeys here or there.
He had made parallel lines, across each breast, then up, across her collarbones, then up, and across her shoulders.
Three neat little rows of evenly spaced hickeys.
Like the bastard had realized what was happening then proceeded to employ the scientific method to create more samples of the phenomena.
She was pretty sure that’s exactly what happened. It was both adorable and slightly distressing. The domini might not recognize the marks, but her fellow humans certainly would.
Romival stared at her expression with his head cocked curiously. “A hickey? Is that what you call these marks? What are they? Do they signify you’ve been kissed by your mate?”
“What is with you and-?! No! They’re little broken capillaries that you popped by sucking on them. Let me down!”
She wiggled in his grasp as he obligingly set her back on her feet. Still staring, fascinated, at the marks he had left on her.
“Your blood vessels are so delicate,” he whispered, awed. “How do they not break when you move if all it takes is a little suction to bust them?
Holly gave him the harshest look she could manage – that even she knew wasn’t that strong – as she fixed her top and hid the hickeys. Romival actually looked heartbroken, like a sad puppy, that she was hiding them away.
“Did I hurt you doing that, Holly?” He frowned, as though just realizing that hickeys were, technically, bruises.
She sighed, adjusting her top now that it was sealed in place again. “No. They don’t hurt. They’ll fade in a week or two. Er, a tenday or so?”
He stared and she couldn’t tell if his expression was one of relief or dismay. “So quickly. May I reapply them?”
Holly made a weird sound as the urge to tell him that he in no uncertain terms could not reapply them battled with her immediate desire to ask him to add more right now.
He smirked, cocky wizard bastard. “I’ll just keep track of these for the moment. Watch them in the fading process. I might have to reapply them again later.”
“For science, of course,” she murmured, her face burning.
“Naturally. It’s important for my research into you.”
“And what research is that? Just how quickly you can make me blush?’
“We can consider that a secondary finding,” he said, completely serious, as his finger trailed down her arm, again enraptured by the brief color change.
“I am investigating your skin colors. How it changes and why it does. It’s from blood, is it not?
Though, your blood is so much brighter than mine, it looks fake. ”
Holly laughed. She could say the same thing about how dark his blood was. It was as dark as Scarlet’s hair. Blood definitely shouldn’t be that color.
“I am fascinated,” he admitted, leaning close, too close to be polite, staring at her skin like he had never seen anything like it. “How does such a delicate creature survive? Your skin is so thin, I can see your blood vessels in so many places. And why are they blue? Your blood is red.”
“Er, Romi?” Holly was leaning back, creating a bit more space between them, unsure why she didn't just step away. “You're close...”
“Tell me to step back if you do not like it,” he replied, staring deep into her eyes.
She was having trouble figuring out which of his three eyes she was supposed to look back into.
“Tell me not to kiss you again if you did not enjoy it.
Tell me to keep my lips off you if you don't want them there. Otherwise, I will put them there again.”
Holly's mouth was moving, but she wasn't even making unattractive quacking sounds anymore. She should probably tell him no, but for the life of her, she couldn't think of why she would want to. Not when her body was still burning and trembling from his touch.
If her face got any hotter from the blood rush, her head might pop.
Romival grinned, leaning back. “This was quite a productive meeting, but I can see that I've pushed you too far. You are skittish and I do believe my attentions have quite driven you from your mind. And while I do want you mindless, underneath me, I want you there because you have chosen it, not because I seduced you there.”
“Huh...?” Holly was coming up with all the most intelligent responses today.
He smirked, running the back of his fingers over her cheek. She trembled, wondering if he had changed his mind...
But it was only for a moment, and then he pulled his hand back and smiled at his own fingers. At the pink color that she realized was her blush that his fingers had camouflaged against.
It lasted only a moment before the color changed back to the green of the rest of his body. He curled and uncurled his fingers, watching it fade with a hint of forlorn longing on his face. Only once the pink was fully gone did he smile at her again.
“Besides, today's meeting was only supposed to be me going over all the information I could about your Earth. I believe I have enough now to narrow the search slightly.” His smile faded.
“Please understand, Holly, while it does make it easier, I cannot guarantee that I can find your planet.
It is good information, but the universe is vast. Only so much of it has been explored, and though we can see beyond even that, it's a great deal of information and there's no telling even what direction your Earth is in. I will do my best, but I might never find it.”
Holly's racing heart finally calmed with that depressing reminder. “I know that.”
“Ah. Forgive me. I did not mean to make you sad. I simply wanted to manage your expectations.”
“No, I know.” She sniffed, fighting back the tears that threatened to rise in her eyes.
“I get that it's a long, long shot. Space is mind-bogglingly huge.
And I know that it's bigger than even my limited ability to grasp the idea of infinity.
I appreciate you trying, Romi. I'm sorry that we're sending you on a wild goose chase.”
“I do not know what a goose is, but I understand what you're saying.” Romival saluted her, putting his fist over his chest. “I vow that I will continue searching, Holly. No matter how many years it might take. Even if it must be a fruitless search forever.”
“No, Romi, that's not...”
“You miss your family. I saw the melancholy in your face when you spoke of them. And I know they will be worried about you. I cannot guarantee to return you to your home, but I will do everything in my power to succeed for the rest of my life.”
Holly smiled sadly. “Your lives are longer than mine. You don't have to keep searching even after I'm dead. I feel like that's too much.”
Romival's head tilted. “What do you mean, Holly?”
“I know domini live something like two hundred years, so...”
“Our average life expectancy is one-hundred seventy-five standard galactic years.”
“Yeah, and both Turv and standard years are longer than Earth years. Humans only live to like eighty on Earth, you know.”
“But you are not on Earth, vi Vakara.” Romival smirked. “If we are measuring by natural, unenhanced life spans, our year expectancy almost match. With our medical advancements, your life span will likely match mine.”
Holly blinked, startled. “Wha-...? Really?”
He hummed in agreement. “Every species has a different expected life span, even with advanced medical intervention, but it's usually somewhere near or around two hundred standard galactic years. We have many years for me to find your family.”
And it still probably wasn't enough. The universe was simply too big. But the fact that Romival was willing to search anyway, probably knowing better than her just how fruitless that search would be, warmed her heart.
“Thank you,” she whispered, trying not to be overwhelmed. It was such a little thing, but his sincerity made it everything.
“Think nothing of it, vi vakara. I will leave you now. May I see you again in three days? I have more questions. I would want to see you tomorrow, but I am needed at the academy.”
Holly nodded, trying not to be too eager. “Yeah. Of course.”
Romival smiled and she watched as he added the meeting to his calendar then shared it with her. He wished her goodnight and, with one last lingering look at her lips, he started to leave, turning back only at the last second.
“By the way, tell Hattie her paté was delicious.”
Holly, startled, didn't initially know what he was talking about. She recalled, too late, that Hattie had asked for his opinion. She couldn't believe that he had remembered. And the thoughtfulness made her laugh as he left.
A sexy, strong, considerate, nerd wizard. She really wasn't powerful enough to resist that, especially not with so little an argument as 'but he's an alien'.
And just like that, she was open to the idea of a relationship with an alien.
***
Holly had never left the palace by herself.
There was nothing stopping her from doing so.
She didn’t know how to drive a hover yet, though she was going through the lesson plans, but she did have access to drivers whenever she needed thanks to Atem.
She had always been too nervous to call on that service when it came to leaving by herself before.
For once, however, curiosity overrode her fear.