5. Rivvac

5

RIVVAC

Itook Mia once more before I showered and dressed to leave the room with her.

Mia was softer and more demanding than I had expected. It was just about all I could do to hold myself back from taking out my aggression on the poor little thing.

She was brave and strong and never blinked when I took everything I wanted from her. In fact, unless I missed my guess, I would have said she wanted me to challenge her, to dig deeper, and force more pleasure from her…

But it must be my imagination at play. No female could take the full passion of a Ulsen male, much less a female human. Still, I was intrigued to see just how far I could push the tasty little morsel.

I was massively relieved when she took me up on my offer and even more grateful that I didn’t have to pledge something I, nor my family, couldn’t afford.

As desperate as I was to have her, as well as to avoid the Sirens lurking outside my chambers and whatever devious plans they had in store for me, I would not lie to Mia just to get her into my bed. I would ensure I could pay her what we agreed before I even touched her.

I shivered at the memory of her soft supple flesh beneath my fingertips, the soft red lines my nails made as I trailed my nails up her back, around her full figure, and her broad hips, and luxuriated in the satisfied “Mm” she gave every time I gently slapped her on the ass.

Knowing she was enjoying it as much as I was made me lose control and almost fully lose myself to the Steyatt.

Almost.

She was in the shower now, washing the sweat of both me and her off her body. The thought of her naked in the shower booth made my cock twitch…

Seriously?I thought. Males were supposed to need a little time to recover before blowing again. Apparently it depended on your partner.

I shook my head.

I had promised Mia we would head out of the room for a walk. It was so late it was early morning the following day.

I cracked the suite door open and pressed my ear to the gap, not wanting to take the risk the Sirens had camped outside my room (I would put nothing past them). I was pleased to find nothing but shadowy curtains over the recesses that the fiery sconces on the walls didn’t reach.

The music had been silenced, the raucous conversations of partiers passing down the hallways long since disappeared.

Still, we needed to be careful as the other rooms, and not just the bedrooms and suites for such purposes, would be full of bodies happy and relieved after having satiated themselves.

And there would be the other males, still unsated, dangerous, on the edge, desperate to empty their seed into the first female they came to.

The guards would be on high alert, bolstering their numbers until the danger passed and the guests had finally left and got home.

I shook my head.

Why did the Royal Family always host the Steyatt Ceremony? It might be tradition, but there were plenty of traditions we didn’t adhere to anymore.

Confident the worst of the party was over, I shut the door and turned back to the suite.

Mia was singing a happy tune in her native tongue, an upbeat melody that brought a smile to my lips. I chuckled to myself at the thought of the idea she’d shared with me.

Stealing money hidden in Wyre’s shack!

How could she think it was appropriate for a prince and heir—however unlikely I was ever to be crowned—to go through with such an undertaking?

The shame I would bring to my House if it was ever discovered, and then the aftermath of the media discovering it afterward, and then releasing all the information about how we were destitute with barely a credit to our names…

It was only through my father’s force of will that kept us on the throne. We were also fortunate that the other families were so reviled by the people. They would rebel if they ever attempted to take our place.

Ironically, the reason we stood to lose the throne—for being so kind and good in attempting to support the everyday people—was the very same reason no other powerful family could hope to take the position from us.

You just couldn’t make this stuff up!

Still, if I wanted to marry Flara, I was going to have to come up with a way to raise money to appease her father, to show him I could keep her happy and in the kind of lifestyle she had become used to.

It was very unfortunate that he was one of the few people outside the Royal Family who knew the truth about our financial problems, otherwise, she would have leapt at the chance of being married into the Royal Family.

Oh well.

Something would come along, I knew, the way it always did.

Eventually.

The fates would weave their plans with the threads of our lives, and things would be what they would be.

But I was absolutely certain of one thing, and that was that there was no way I could ever bring myself to steal funds from a con—no matter how evil and corrupt his method at attaining it had been.

I would simply never be that desperate.

Ever.

Or so I thought…

* * *

Mia pulledon the same sexy suit she’d worn the day before. With the palace still suffering the after-effects of the party from the night before, I thought it was a good opportunity to give her a tour of the palace.

Mia’s stomach growled, and she hastily tugged her blouse over her belly. If her purpose was to stop me from hearing it, then her stomach clearly didn’t get the memo as it growled even louder the second time.

“Sorry,” she said.

“Sorry?” I said, grinning. “In the Ulsen culture, it’s a compliment—especially after a night of lovemaking.”

Mia’s cheeks colored red—a strange and alien hue, as the Ulsen only ever turned red when blood sprayed across our faces during a battle and victory was met.

Mia seemed embarrassed by the noises her body made and checked over her shoulders, making sure that no one could hear our conversation topic.

“I’ll take us to the kitchens first,” I said, turning to lead the way before thinking better of it and taking her hand in mine first.

She looked at my hand with a look of confusion.

“It helps with the bond,” I informed her.

“The bond?”

“The bond between us as mates during Steyatt.”

“Oh. I didn’t know a bond would form between us.”

I arched an eyebrow at her. “You mean to tell me you can’t feel it?”

“Can’t feel what?”

I drew to a stop and faced her. She was tall for a human—that is, if the servants at the palace were anything to go by. Still, the top of her head only reached up to my chin.

“The flow between us,” I said.

She cocked her head to one side. “Flow?”

“Yes. It’s like… a river, a big, powerful river that connects us. It waxes and wanes, sometimes big and strong and powerful, other times slowing to a trickle. It isn’t always felt, but it’s always there, always between us, linking us. For this week, at least.”

Mia shook her head. “No. I don’t feel anything like that.”

My shoulders fell with disappointment. “Well, we are alternate species. I suppose it could affect us differently.”

“What does it feel like?”

I was going to repeat my description of a river but decided that as it had failed to register for her the first time, I would try another way. “It’s like when I look into your eyes…. I’m not just looking into your eyes. I’m looking into you, into your depths, as if you are a part of me, and I’m a part of you. And when I ejaculate inside you—”

“Okay, okay!” Mia said. Now not just her cheeks turned a bright red but her entire face as well. “I understand. And if that’s the river, then yes, I feel it too. In fact, I’ve felt it ever since I first met you.”

Since I first met you.

It was a throwaway comment, and one she didn’t seem to notice she had made, but to me, it spoke volumes. My mind began to make connections, a thought process that I never thought I would have, not when I had Flara as my betrothed…

But no, it’s impossible.

Flara was my fated mate.

I hadn’t mated with her—and that was the only real way to know if we were destined to be together—but I was certain of it as I was my skin was blue, my scales shiny and hard as iron.

Mia was just sensitive, that was all. She didn’t come across as the type of girl to jump from one mate to another. I could tell that from her initial refusal to mate with me.

If mating meant nothing to her, she would have accepted my offer right away, with no reservations at all, but the fact she hadn’t…

She smiled, raising her arms out to either side, her smooth cheek curling around the pointed corner of her lips, eyes peering one way and then another. Then, as if I needed another clue as to what she was thinking, her stomach growled noisily for a third time.

“Kitchens,” I said. “Food. This way.”

I took her hand once more, and this time, she didn’t think anything of it.

I couldn’t help but run my index finger across her palm, feeling at the delicate lines on her skin, and loved when she curled her fist around my finger and squeezed it.

It lasted for but a fraction of an instant. It was so soft and delicate that I perhaps shouldn’t have been able to feel it through my hard scales. But I did and it sent a shiver through me. Once again, my cock perked up.

Not now, I informed it. Later.

It growled and lay back down, nestled in the smooth embrace of my thighs.

I would refuel Mia, give her a quick tour and then return to my suite for more lovemaking. I didn’t want to squander what time we still had together.

The kitchens were a hive of activity. The majority of the kitchen staff were human, but their overall commander—as the Chef liked to refer to himself—was a very large male Ulsen, a former warrior with a missing eye and a vicious-looking scar that ran from his left eye and across his cheek.

He barked an order at one of his underlings before turning to see our approach. He beamed at me and held his arms wide.

“Prince Rivvac!” he said, drawing me in close and wrapping his arms about my shoulders. “What a night, huh? I swear, the Steyatt Event gets wilder every year! Did you manage to find a mate to—”

Then his eyes lowered, locking onto Mia who stepped out from behind me.

He dropped down low, performing an overly respectful bow—the one he usually only reserved for the most senior Royal Family members. When he came up, he had somehow managed to cover the two yards between them.

Mia looked down and was astonished to find her hand clutched firmly in Chef’s massive scarred hands.

He kissed her palm and then each individual fingertip in the traditional Ulsen manner before drawing up and placing her hand on his chest, just above his heart, and placed his own on her chest. He shut his eyes and muttered a prayer under his breath.

Mia looked over at me, confused about what was happening.

“It’s the traditional Ulsen greeting,” I said.

“Oh,” she said. “Then why didn’t you do it when we first met?”

“’I seem to recall you were too busy trying to tear me a new ghizzar.”

Mia smiled despite herself. “I wasn’t that bad.”

“Weren’t you?” I said, arching my eyebrow.

“Ignore him,” Chef said. “He’s never had the best manners—despite all the endless lessons his tutors gave him, myself included.” He sighed. “Sometimes you just can’t teach a stone to bleed. Besides, you can’t blame him. Look at you. It is Steyatt, and he was too busy getting into your pants—”

“All right!” I interrupted.

“What?” Chef said, turning his attention to Mia. “She’s gorgeous. There isn’t a male in the Empire who wouldn’t want to tear her clothes off and—”

“Enough!” I said, cutting him off again. Imagining other males with Mia wasn’t exactly the kind of thing I wanted in my head right then.

Chef shrugged his muscular shoulders. “I calls it hows I sees it. Now, after your night of lovemaking, I assume you must be hungry. Here. Take this tray and take whatever you wish.”

“Thanks,” Mia said, walking along the long rows of pastries.

When Chef had first come to the palace to work for us, he knew nothing of human food, but as his servants were mostly of that race, he had been quick to learn how to bake their favorites so he could more easily score points with them so they would like him and do what he said.

Chef checked Mia was engrossed in making her choices before turning me and lowering his voice. “The word is the Sirens aren’t too happy with you,” he said.

The blood drained from my face. “They aren’t?”

“They had you earmarked on their silly list. Can you believe you were on it,- but my name was nowhere to be found?”

“That is a mystery,” I said. “I’ll let them know you were disappointed to discover your name wasn’t on their target list and—”

“You’ll do no such thing!” Chef snapped, waving a wooden spoon in my face. “I have enough trouble as it is keeping the females in order during the Steyatt.”

His expression was serious. With anyone else, I would have known they were joking, but Chef was such a kind-hearted gentleman that females seemed to pick up on his honesty the moment they came into his presence.

He gave them a friendly smile or compliment, and they became like putty—or, as he was a chef, like dough—in his hands.

He never lost his cool and was one of the few Ulsen that I thought actually could control his Steyatt. If pushed.

I’d seen him do it in the past, losing himself in his kitchen, working around the clock, not bothering to concern himself with sleep, turning out one delicious pastry dish after another. When he began to run out of ingredients for his creations, he got creative and invented whole new ones.

He insisted on working by himself during the Steyatt, to prevent any females from coming within smelling distance.

The scent of the food smothered his senses, preventing him from catching a passing female’s overpowering perfume. His ears focused on the rushing of the frying pan, the oven, and the squawking fellixix fire-breathing mewnark that aided him with baking. Likewise, all males were kept at a discreet distance, ordered not to come anywhere near him or to lift a finger to help him with any of his creations in the event he would snap at them and lose his flow.

I often thought about finding something I could lose myself in for Steyatt week… but then I remembered how much I enjoyed mating and knew it was a non-starter.

But if I ever had no choice other than to mate with a Siren, I knew I would find a passion pretty quickly to lose myself to.

“What do the Sirens plan on doing?” I said.

“I daren’t think. You know how vicious they can be when they feel they’ve been betrayed.”

Yes, I thought. Their acts of retaliation were as famous as their seduction abilities.

They had been known to bury their hooks so deeply into a male, making him so obsessed with them that they lost all interest in eating or sleeping. They became like wandering undead and nothing could break them out of it. If they wanted from their victim, all they had to do was ask and he would be powerless to prevent himself from carrying out their wishes.

If they ordered him to hand over all his worldly possessions, he would do so, and amiably go live on the streets. If that was his fate, then he considered himself very, very lucky.

As I had nothing to give them of material wealth, I suspected that wasn’t what they would demand from me.

Not initially, at least.

Other times, they had commanded their charges to murder someone, a pebble in their shoe, so they could more easily carry out their other complex plans.

Or they would turn their lovers into unwilling spies, turning on even their beloved Emperor for their own purposes.

It was more likely they would wish to assassinate me than use me to kill others… but who knows? I met many rich and powerful people from all over the galaxy, and the Sirens had such deep and complex webs of plans and influence that it was impossible to fully understand what they were up to and why.

My skin crawled at what plans they might have for me.

So long as I kept Mia close to me during the Steyatt, I would be safe. But if they got their claws into me before the week was over…

I would be as helpless as a newborn babe.

“What do they want with me?” I asked, not really expecting Chef to know. He picked up on a lot of rumors, but it was almost always only that—pieces of gossip he or his army of workers had heard as they circulated among the rich and powerful guests.

It was too easy for them to mishear or misunderstand what they had overheard. Chef operated as a kind of filter (or Bullshit Filter as he described it) before passing on anything he thought might be of importance.

“Just keep your mate close all week,” Chef said. “And between you and me…” He looked Mia over as she finished piling half a dozen pastries onto her plate. “I don’t think you could have picked a better mate to keep you company during the Steyatt.”

From another male, I might have taken it for a challenge, but from Chef, it was a warm compliment.

He wiped the saliva from his lips at gazing at her body before affixing a warm smile to his lips. As controlled as he was, even he wasn’t immune to the presence of a gorgeous female. He quickly grabbed a second plate and added a bunch more pastries and handed it to Mia.

“You forgot these!” he said.

When she began to protest that she couldn’t possibly eat it all, he said: “Just try them and give me your feedback. I always want good honest opinions. Between you and me…” He leaned forward and whispered behind his scarred hand. “I think my little workers are too scared of me and don’t tell me the Creator’s honest truth.”

Mia beamed and nodded, struggling beneath the weight of her trays. “Okay.”

Chef winked at me. “Keep this one close,” he said, “she’s a keeper.”

He turned back to his ovens and continued with his magical skill.

I’d always liked to watch him cook. He always reminded me of a powerful wizard at home in his own skin and his field of special skill and ability.

“Come on,” I said, taking the trays she was struggling under. “We can eat in the gardens. They’re beautiful.”

But no matter how beautiful they were, I knew they would never distract me from the girl at my side.

* * *

Mia leaned backand flopped her head on the bench’s seat behind us.

Initially, we’d sat and eaten on it, but Chef had given us so much to try out that there just wasn’t enough space, so we descended onto the ground at the bench’s feet and enjoyed a kind of impromptu early-morning picnic.

I barely ate much more than Mia, who ate a lot considering her smaller size. When she saw how little I was eating, she cocked her head to one side and looked over at me.

“You don’t like it?” she said.

“No,” I said. “It’s delicious. I’m just not… very hungry.”

“Good,” she said. “Because if you didn’t think these were the most delicious pastries you’ve ever had, I want you to take me where they are the most delicious. Although that might not be such a good idea as I’ll end up ballooning to the size of the Hindenburg… and then suffer the same fate.”

Sometimes she said things I couldn’t relate to—Hindenburg? We had a special kind of bloated frog that could expand its size and then, when threatened by a predator, would let out the air and fly away to safety… but I didn’t think that was what she meant. Did humans really have that kind of miraculous expanding stomach? Looking at Mia, I found that hard to believe.

“After last night,” Mia pressed on, “you should be ravenous.”

My stomach grumbled in agreement with Mia, but the growling wasn’t only due to hunger, but because of the news that the Sirens were angry at me. I feared what their response would be for scuppering the plans they had laid.

Whatever they were, I was pleased I had avoided them.

Would they let me go? I wondered. Forget about whatever unscrupulous design they might have for me? Or would they look for a chink in the mating relationship I shared with Mia? With six days remaining, it meant they would need to work fast.

By the fates and the Creator, I prayed, please let them give up their pursuit of me.

I didn’t need to worry about this whole problem, not when I had other issues to deal with—namely, how I was going to find the money to convince Flara’s father I could marry his daughter.

There had to be something I could do, some way I could attain that kind of wealth fast…

There just had to be…

“Oh, wow,” Mia said. “That’s beautiful.”

I followed her line of sight and saw the rising of the twin suns, generally accepted to be the most beautiful sunrise in the known galaxy—or at least this quadrant—with its whispering purple haze and orange clouds and the earthy tones of the native fazzakia trees that absorbed the colors of the plants and flowers around them, forming a constantly morphing blanket of color that changed with every blink of the eye, like a roving sea dipped in dye.

I had seen it so many times it no longer had a mesmerizing effect on me, but seeing the wonder on Mia’s face made me smile. The worries that had been as dense as the clouds over our heads began to dissipate as if letting the warmth of the twin suns of hope burst through.

Mia’s smile was beaming and bright, a trickle of wayward breadcrumbs and cream forgotten on her lips.

I knew I couldn’t stay apart from her—not even the few feet with the cakes between us.

I slowly got up and walked around our little picnic spot. I lay down behind her, tucking her into my arms in what she had earlier referred to as spooning. I felt the kind warmth of her in my arms. She turned her head to one side so her cheek was within easy distance of my lips. I kissed her over and over again.

My cock was raging hard by now. As Mia felt it—how could she not?—she curled her hips, making slow rolling movements, grinding against me and gasping softly out the corner of her mouth.

I buried my lips on hers and ground on her harder, raising her leg slightly so I could get at the folds between her legs. I placed my hand on her bare stomach that had become exposed as she raised her arm and wrapped her arm about my head. I slipped my hand beneath her underwear and felt her warm, soft, moist mound, and began to gently rub at her.

“Mmmm,” she said in that distractingly sexy groan.

I slipped a finger inside her and gently rocked back and forth. She raised her leg a little higher to allow me better entry. I did nothing to contain the growl birthed on my lips, fed by the knowledge that she was completely open to me, that she wanted me.

Some mates had been mechanical, robotic in their lovemaking, and it always left me feeling empty of emotion. If they couldn’t enjoy themselves, how could I?

Mia was nothing if not honest and real and true.

She reached back and gripped my cock in her hands. She looked me in the eye as she stroked me and began to shimmy her pants down and placed me at her entrance and—

“Cut, cut, cut!”

The voice of a third person shook us both from the moment. I must have fallen very deep for someone to be able to creep up on me so easily.

We hastily set to tucking ourselves in.

“Don’t stop on my account.”

The creature standing over us with a self-gratifying smile on his lips was none other than Crer.

With a thick thatch of black hair, his unusually delicate horns like the twisted limbs of the Earth willow tree, he had always been a favorite among female Ulsen.

I hastened to my feet and helped Mia up. She dusted off her knees.

“Have you found him?” a voice called out from behind Crer. I could have recognized the voice anywhere. As Flara pulled up alongside Crer, my shock at her appearance turned to anger and disappointment—disappointment at me allowing myself to be caught in the open like this, and anger at Crer standing at her side.

No doubt he would make wise cracks about the condition he had found Mia and I in, and would tell her every sordid detail—anything to force a wedge between us.

Flara told me Crer didn’t know about the Royal Family’s financial situation but I could never shake the sense that he knew something he wasn’t letting on.

“So, this must be your Steyatt mate?” Flara said, running her eyes over Mia, a tight smile curling one corner of her lips.

Mia, taken by surprise, hadn’t noticed the cold expression on Flara’s face. She extended a hand toward her.

Flara peered at the dirt under Mia’s fingernails and the red grass stains on the knees of her pants. “Charmed,” she said, not extending her hand back.

Mia’s smile faltered.

“Mia is an executive assistant,” I said. “The way we met is pretty funny—”

Flara saw our picnic, some of the cakes having been squashed beneath us. Her lips curled. “Eating on the dirty ground? Really, Rivvac? And you’ve ruined your clothes.”

“You’re right,” Mia said, and there was a heated edge to her voice now. “It’s a major tragedy. How can we ever hope to survive with slightly wrinkled clothes?”

Crer snorted but the joke was lost on Flara. She sniffed and raised her nose even higher into the air than usual. “I suppose when you dress in rags, it doesn’t make much difference, does it?”

Mia clenched her jaw, the muscles so visibly tight that I was surprised I couldn’t hear her teeth crunching.

“I’m glad you managed to find someone to be your mate,” Flara said. “The rumor going around is that the Sirens were baying for you.”

“They were,” I said. “Luckily, I managed to escape.”

Flara pursed her lips and didn’t look at Mia when she next said, “Are you sure about that?”

Mia moved to step forward but I blocked her.

“How about you?” I said. “Did you sate any males?”

Flara slid her arm through Crer’s arm and beamed happily. “We spent the night together and had lots of fun. Didn’t we, Crer?”

“That we did,” Crer said and, no doubt having seen the look of murder on my face, he hastily added: “We didn’t mate. We just… hung out. That’s all.”

I wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him. Was he one of the rare few Ulsen males like Chef who could control his urges?

Flara glanced at the rising sun. “Is that the time already? We’d better hurry if we’re going to catch the opera, Crer.”

Like all Ulsen, she could glance at the sky and know the exact time without needing to consult a clock.

Crer nodded at me before bowing to Mia and taking her hand, kissing it gently. “It was a pleasure to meet you too, Mia.”

He smiled at her, his hand lingering on hers. And that, for some reason, seemed to make me more angry than anything else.

“I hope to see you again sometime,” he added.

With that, they strode arm in arm, back toward the palace.

The opera.

He was taking her to the damn opera.

The Royal Family could get tickets for free and offered the best seats in the house out of respect… but if I had been forced to pay for them, I never would have had the money to do so.

Crer was going to take her, take Flara, from me, all because I couldn’t afford to buy her damn opera tickets!

I needed a way to make money, and make money… fast!

With no other ideas, Mia’s from the previous night sprung to the forefront of my mind and all my previous concerns were swept aside.

It was the only idea that had any merit. It would also deliver the fastest return.

By this time tomorrow, I could be swimming in cash and all my concerns about Flara would be over.

“How much did you say Wyre has buried beneath his house?” I asked.

“I don’t know exactly. But a lot. Why?”

There would be no question of going through with it now. My future with my fated mate depended on it.