Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“I have made my decision,” he said. “Guards, ready my royal star cruiser—we are going to the Court of Empress Shalaya the Twenty-second and one half!”
FIFTY-ONE
VIK’TOR
I saw relief on both Drace and Lucian’s faces after the long, tense moments when they had been telling me what was happening in the throne room of the Dark Emperor.
“That’s it,” Drace said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “They’re safe. They’re fucking safe.”
“The Emperor has agreed to court the Empress,” Lucian explained to me, over the viewscreen. “He’s going at once to the female side of the planet—we can meet our females there.”
“Not so fast,” I told them. “You know you have to have a female to vouch for you, right?”
“But our female is with the Emperor,” Drace objected, frowning.
“Don’t worry about it,” I told them. “I have a connection with the Empress already thanks to a, uh, favor that Natalie and I did for her.”
I was thinking of the “sex lessons” we had given the Empress the night before. I was damn glad I hadn’t refused her Highness. She was happy with me and Natalie, which would make it a damn sight easier to get Drace and Lucian into the Court.
“In that case, we’ll follow your lead,” Lucian told me. “By the way—do you know that your Natalie and our Rylee are related?”
“Really?” I frowned. I had thought the name “Rylee” sounded familiar. “Is your mate the cousin Natalie went looking for when she was first snatched by the Commercians?” I asked him.
Lucian nodded.
“The same. It seems an odd coincidence that they should meet again in this way when the universe is such a wide space.”
“There’s no such fucking thing as ‘coincidence’,” Drace growled. “It’s the will of the Goddess of Mercy—you’ll see.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said. “Let me get in contact with the female side of the planet again and negotiate so that the two of you can land. We’ll be seeing our females again before we know it.”
“We’ll be waiting to hear from you,” Lucian said and the viewscreen went blank as they cut communications.
As I opened a channel to the Empress’s palace on the Female side of Tangella Alpha-Prime, I swore that if I ever got a chance to hold Natalie in my arms again, I would never her go.
FIFTY-TWO
NATALIE
Once the Emperor decided to do something, he did it fast. Before I knew it, Rylee and I were aboard his royal spaceship, sitting side by side and surrounded by the Emperor’s regular retinue of enormous guards. The chairs were too big for us, of course—since they had been made for people twice our size. So we sat there with our legs dangling like kids waiting for the ship to take off.
At my urging, the Emperor did at least call ahead, and thank goodness the Empress was eager to have the Emperor as a guest. I could only imagine what would have happened if she had refused his request to come for a visit—at the very least Rylee and I would have lost our heads. But luckily, we were soon on the way.
All this time, Rylee was keeping up with her two husbands and letting them know what was going on via their mental link. I was getting really jealous of her Bond with them, I can tell you, and not just for the communication aspect. Rylee told me she felt incredibly close to both of them—she said it was a deeper relationship than she’d ever experienced before.
“It’s like our souls have joined together somehow,” she said, when she was trying to explain. “I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. The three of us are so happy together in our new life at Court.”
She told me all about her other friends, who were also La-ti-zals, including the Goddess Empress herself who had been a medical student back on Earth before she found out she was supposed to rule the galaxy.
“Her name is Charlotte and she Bonded with the Captain of her Royal Guards, Kristoff, even though she wasn’t supposed to,” she elaborated. “And then there’s Leah and her friend, Zoe—they’re also La-ti-zals bonded to alien men.”
“Isn’t Leah the one who’s bonded to a half-Braxian?” I asked with interest.
Rylee nodded.
“Yes—Grav. He’s a really nice guy. He was hired to be her Protector but then they fell in love. You know,” she added thoughtfully. “Leah told me that her Bond with him actually took some time to form. Maybe that’s the case with you and Vik’tor?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t think so. I think I’d have some kind of idea if I was forming an unbreakable mental bond with him by now.”
“Well…maybe you’re right.” Rylee sighed. “But did you do absolutely everything you could to Bond with him? I mean, with my guys, we did a lot of stuff before we actually Bonded.”