Burning for Love (Kindred Tales)

“Mmm…in that case, let me slake it for you, sweetheart.”

James kissed her again and slowly began to thrust.

Rissa moaned contentedly and settled in for a long, passionate night of lovemaking with her new husband. Of course, they weren’t married yet, but James had been the one to slake her Heat and so she felt married to him in her heart already. And she was determined to remedy the situation and marry him properly as soon as possible to make everything legal and permanent between them.

Whether she went back to Regalia Five or stayed here aboard the Mother Ship, she was never going to be parted from the man she loved again!

60

“Since you are asking my permission to be Joined, I am assuming the two of you are already Bonded?” Sylvan raised an eyebrow as he studied the two of them. They had knocked at his office door and asked to speak to him just as he was about to go to Mid-meal or “lunch,” as the humans called it.

Truly, no one could have missed the fact that the two of them were a bonded couple now. Besides the fact that they had been holed up together for the past few days, Princess Ka’rissa also had that newly bonded glow a female always got after a night of truly wonderful bonding sex with her new mate. And J-8—or James, as he now preferred to be called—was positively beaming. Sylvan had never seen the stoic Dark Kindred emoting so obviously and openly. After a lifetime of having no emotions, it seemed he was making up for lost time.

“We are bonded,” James confirmed, nodding firmly. “And I am well aware that this was not what you intended when you sent me to guard the Princess, Commander Sylvan,” he went on. “But I cannot be sorry—I feel that Ka’rissa and I were meant to be together. I honestly think the Goddess had me made specifically for her. When you consider that my Z’ngu DNA allows me to cool my body temperature in order to help control Ka’rissa’s temperature when her Heat rises—”

“Whoa!” Sylvan raised both hands to stop him. “The Goddess?” he asked, frowning at James. “I thought you were an unbeliever?”

“Not any more.” The other male shook his head firmly. “It was the Goddess who told me I must be ready for Ka’rissa’s call. And she also warned me when the Princess was about to drink poisoned tea,” he added.

Sylvan frowned. He remembered the other male saying something about a message from the Goddess before he had gone to get the Princess off her home planet, but this was the first time he had heard about the poisoned tea. Still, it was clear that the Mother of All Life did indeed have her hand in this situation.

“It seems that the Goddess has willed that the two of you should be together,” he told James and Ka’rissa. “And so, I cannot be upset, even though this is exactly what I was trying to avoid by sending a Dark Kindred…” he nodded at James, “whom I thought had no emotions to guard you, Princess.” He nodded at Ka’rissa. “But you should know, that things are progressing quickly on your home world of Regalia Five.”

“What? What do you mean?” Ka’rissa asked, frowning.

“I have here the latest copy of Lady TittleTattle’s Breadcrumbs,” Sylvan told them, lifting the piece of parchment, which he’d had specially delivered to the Mother Ship. “I was studying it to see if the Princess’s defection to another planet would cause any kind of outcry.”

“Oh, dear! And has it?” Ka’rissa asked worriedly. “I told that young Communications officer that he mustn’t breathe a word to anyone of whom I was calling but I suppose his superiors got it out of him after all.”

“To the contrary, Princess,” Sylvan told her. “He has kept your secret. No one on your home world knows that you are here with us. Indeed, they think you are dead.”

“Dead?” Ka’rissa and James exclaimed at once.

“Let me see!” Ka’rissa held out her hand and Sylvan gave her the gossip sheet. She scanned it quickly and then read aloud.

“Gentle Reader, such sad news! We are all in mourning for our beloved Princess Ka’rissa, who was burned to ashes on her wedding night in a terrible accident which must be laid squarely at the feet of Lady Mildew, her former Companion. It seems that Lady Mildew thought it advisable to lock our dear Princess into a Chastity Device to which only she had the key. Then, in a fit of spite, she burned the key before the Princess’s new husband, Lord Shammington, could unlock it and slake her Heat. His Highness watched in horror as our beloved Princess burned to ashes, right before his eyes, unable to do anything about it!

I am sorry to be so very graphic, Dear Reader, but I cannot find a gentler way to put these dreadful events. Of course, Lady Mildew is to be punished for her evil deeds. She shall hang for all to see this very seven-day, right after the coronation of Lord Shammington as the new King of Regalia Five.”