Bianca D'Arc (8 page)

“
This is good,” Theos said from
across the table. He had a satisfied gleam in his eye. “Whether
consciously or unconsciously, you have created a haven for your
brethren, Alex. It is the mark of a compassionate soul. Compassion
is something the Zenai cultivates in our novitiates.”

“
Novitiates?” Della asked. Why
were they talking about novitiates?

Theos looked from her to Alex and back. He seemed to
grasp for words. “I think it will smooth the way to have Alexander
become a novitiate of my order.”

“
Why?” She addressed her question
to Theos, but it was Alex who answered.

“
There are things you don’t know,
sweetheart. Things we need to deal with quietly. Father Theos
thinks this novitiate business is the way to do it.”

“
So he’s preparing you to become a
priest?” Alarm filled her. What would this mean to them as a
couple? Would Alex be allowed to return home to the Milky Way or
would be he cloistered in some Zenai temple while they sent her on
her merry way? No way was she leaving him behind.

“
Not a priest.” Theos held up one
hand, palm outward in a gesture of calm. “A novitiate only. As
such, he would be allowed to marry and have a family. Do not fear
for your mate bond.”

“
I
fear
for Alex’s freedom,” she
clarified. “I won’t let you keep him here. If you make him stay in
this galaxy, I’m staying too.”

“
I had not contemplated anything
different,” Theos said obligingly. “Mates are never separated if it
can be helped. I would not consciously send one of you anywhere
without the other.”

A harshness came into his voice and sent a shiver
down her spine. In his benign priestly guise she had almost
forgotten Theos had once been emperor of an entire galaxy. Even
now, he could snap his fingers and they’d be dead. She bit her
tongue to keep from saying anything that would anger him
further.

“
Be assured, your future as mates
is safe, wherever you end up living.” Theos was trying to be
helpful but his words only served to worry her more. “Your children
will prosper no matter where they grow up. You have my promise on
that.”

“
I can’t have children, Father, so
there’s no need to worry on that score.” Alex’s tone was subdued,
his expression resigned. She took his hand wanting to comfort
him.

“
Why do you believe this?” Theos
asked, frowning.

“
The genetic work they did on me.
They said it would make me sterile,” he admitted. Della’s heart
wept for him. Alex was a proud man. Admitting such a thing had to
be painful.

“
Perhaps that was their intent,
but it is not the result. Doctor Terva did a full workup on you
while you were unconscious. You are able to reproduce, which is
what had me concerned about protecting the succession in the first
place.”

“
Succession?” The word slipped out
of her mouth before she thought better of it.

“
That’s the stuff you don’t know
about.” Alex’s lips thinned in consternation.

“
You haven’t told your mate?”
Theos looked appalled, bless his heart.

“
I wasn’t sure you wanted her to
know. And to be honest, I’m not comfortable with the idea yet
myself.”

“
There should be no secrets
between mates. Not secrets of this caliber at least. This will
affect your children, should you be so blessed. Della needs to
know.” Theos frowned at Alex in disapproval.

“
Yeah, King Alexander. What
haven’t you been telling me?” She meant it to sound smart-alecky,
but her little joke got quite a different reception.

“
Why do you call him that?” Theos
thundered.

“
It’s just a joke between us. He’s
always been the King of Cups in my mind. It corresponds to the King
of Clubs, which represents an ancient king in human history called
Alexander the Great. So many coincidences there, I couldn’t resist
teasing him with the name ever since I met him. It means
nothing.”

“
It means more than you know.”
Theos subsided, sitting back in his chair. He watched them with
measuring eyes. “What is this King of Cups?”

“
You know I deal cards, right?”
Della began. She wondered what kind of mine field she’d just
wandered into. “We play with the standard playing deck.” She
reached into her pocket and took out the deck she always carried.
She’d had it in a small purse that had been returned to her along
with the clothes she’d been wearing when she’d been gassed. She
spread the cards expertly on the table, explaining as she went.
“There are four suits, similar to the cards your people use. What
few people realize is that our modern deck is based on a much older
deck.” She reached into another pocket for the tarot deck. She
placed this on the table, spreading it above the standard deck so
that all the cards were displayed in two fanning lines over the
surface of the table.

“
I have not seen this one before.”
Theos leaned forward to look at the more colorful cards, each with
a different scene depicted on it.

“
This deck is called the tarot. It
is used by some to foretell the future.” Theos’s gaze jumped to
meet hers. She selected the four kings out of the spread and placed
them face up in front of Theos, adding the four corresponding kings
from the standard deck. “Each king represents a famous king from
human history. Charlemagne, King David, Julius Caesar, and
Alexander the Great.” She pointed to each in turn. “See how much
the image on the King of Cups resembles Alex? Right down to the
aqua eyes. Plus, he owns a bar. Naturally, I teased him about it.
It didn’t mean anything. It’s just a joke.”

“
This is no laughing matter, my
lady. There are few coincidences in life. The aqua eyes of your
mate are due to my DNA. Your scientists remade him in my image. He
is almost half jit-suku now. Enough to be—genetically speaking—my
son.”

Alex had told her about Theos’s past as emperor, but
neglected to enlighten her about where Alex’s modified DNA had come
from. This changed things. Della sat back, stunned.

“
Now I see why you’re scrambling
for a solution,” she admitted after a moment.

“
Precisely,” the old man
agreed.

“
What can I do to help?” The
question seemed to surprise both men at first. Then identical
cunning smiles lit their faces.

“
You can help him study and learn
of the Lady while I hone his fighting skills. Between the two of
us, we should have him ready for the novitiate by the time we get
home.”

“
And becoming a novitiate will
protect him?” She wanted to be sure.

“
More than that, it will protect
my brother and his heir, Tren, from any future questions about
their right to the throne. Alexander will become a novitiate first,
then perform the renunciation ceremony. The word of a Zenai is
never doubted. Once he is proven worthy of the Zenai, his oaths
will carry all the weight that is necessary.”

“
All right. I’ll do everything I
can to help. Your beliefs are similar to mine, but not the same. I
will have to study as well.”

“
Good.” Theos looked inordinately
pleased. “I would like my grandchildren to know of the Lady and Her
ways.”

“
Who said anything about
grandchildren?” She joked, but the idea made her
breathless.

“
I have no doubt that given time,
you two will start a family. Personally, though I never thought to
have progeny after the death of my dear Amalina, I like the idea of
my genes passing on to someone—even if that child is raised among
humans. As a priest I am supposed to be content with my lot, but
this is an unexpected boon to a man who sees his days drawing to an
end and wishes for the small bit of immortality progeny can
provide.”

They spent the next hours talking, sharing
information, and on Della’s part at least, learning. Theos let them
go when the dinner chime sounded. Della and Alex ate in the crew
mess, then returned to their quarters.

When the hatch opened Della and Alex were on each
other before they even made it into their quarters. Crew members in
the hall stopped and stared at them necking in the doorway like
starving people, but Della didn’t care. She liked the ferocity with
which Alex came to her. She liked that he couldn’t even wait until
they were inside their quarters, alone. And she loved the way he
touched her, the way he kissed her as if she was the very breath in
his lungs.

They stumbled through the doorway eventually and the
automatic system sealed and locked the hatch behind them. Only
dimly was she aware of the mechanism clicking shut. She was too
busy being pinned to the wall next to the door. Alex lifted her as
if she weighed nothing at all and tore through the seals of her
shipsuit, exposing her skin to the soft breeze of recycled air. His
own suit was dealt with just as harshly. Della would be surprised
to find no permanent damage had been done to the rugged
material.

Alex was like a man possessed. Her back plastered to
the metal wall, she could do nothing but receive whatever he would
give her. He was frantic until he pushed within her, his hard cock
sliding in the slick wetness her body always seemed to produce for
him. She was more than ready. She was eager.

And so was Alex. He pushed in by slow degrees until
he was balls deep inside her. He met her gaze as he entered,
stopping all motion when he was fully inside.

“
That’s it. Where I’ve wanted to
be all day. Damn, woman, you drive me crazy.”

She twined her arms around his neck, tangling her
fingers in the short hair at the nape of his neck. She loved this
man with all her heart but couldn’t speak the words. Not yet. Maybe
not ever. No matter what daydreams of the future Theos tried to
weave.

“
I’ve wanted you too, Alex.
Nothing compares with this feeling.” She leaned in to nibble on his
chin. Her voice dropped to a whisper as her body clenched around
him. “Make me come, Alex. I want you so much.”

He needed no further prodding. Alex began to move,
fast and wild, pinning her to the wall with his massive strength.
She held onto his shoulders, enjoying the frenzied motions that
sent her excitement level through the roof. He was primal. He was a
force of nature. He made her feel more cherished with his loss of
control than any experience before. She knew after him, she would
be ruined for any other man and she didn’t care.

Alex was her life. Without him, she would cease to
exist. That’s the way it felt and even that fearsome notion didn’t
matter. Nothing mattered but Alex. Inside her body. Inside her
heart.

Alex increased his pace, nearly pushing her up the
wall with the force of his thrusts. She held on to him, her only
anchor in a sea of roaring pleasure.

“
Come with me,” he ordered in a
harsh voice. “Come now, Della.”

With a final thrust, he pushed her to the stars. She
heard him growl against her neck as he came hard within her
grasping body. She was too far gone to control the scream of
ecstasy that tore from her throat. It was his name. Alex. Always
Alex. Her man. Her mate. Her one true love.

The pleasure went on and on, slowly ratcheting down
as their labored breathing came more under control. They clung to
each other as their racing pulses began to slow. He was her anchor,
her one stable point in the universe.

“
That was...” She didn’t have
words for what she’d felt—what they’d just done
together.

“
Amazing.” He finished her
thought, kissing her gently, almost reverently. “I agree. Every
time with you only gets better. That’s never happened to me before,
Della. Never.”

“
Not for me either.”

She smiled, loving that they were able to
communicate on such an intimate level. He was still inside her.
Their voices were low, their thoughts shared quietly without the
need for lots of explanation. At the moment, everything seemed
clear between them. There was little need for words.

And yet there was so much left unsaid.

Chapter Eight

Alex didn’t quite know what had just happened. It
had almost felt like they’d... joined... in more than just the
obvious way. He’d felt her responses as if they were his own and he
thought maybe she’d felt something similar. He didn’t know how to
put it into words and didn’t really want to sit around dissecting
what had almost been a religious experience.

They grew closer day by day, minute by minute. How
was he going to leave this behind when they were finally free? How
was he going to live without her?

He disengaged from her body and let her slide
downward, one leg at a time. Her shipsuit was somewhere on the
floor. His was around his knees. He would have left it there or
kicked it off entirely except when he turned, he saw someone
sitting on the bed, waiting for them.

Tren.

Della gasped and grabbed for her discarded suit to
hold in front of her. It didn’t do much to shield her beautiful
naked body and Alex growled when he saw the direction of the
younger man’s gaze.

“
What the hell are you doing
here?” Alex fastened his suit over his hips, staring down the
interloper while Della made a dash for the attached lavatory. The
panel slid shut behind her as Alex advanced into their
quarters.

“
Forgive me. I wanted to talk to
you both without my uncle’s knowledge. I thought I’d wait for you
here but when you tumbled into the doorway...”