CalledtoPower (8 page)
When she had enough and was feeling guilty, she scooted under the sheets and clapped her hands again.
“What did you do?” Dorium looked down at his chest and blinked in shock.
“Um. I froze you so I could get undressed, and since you were frozen anyway, I went exploring.” She blushed and burrowed deep.
He flipped the blankets back, and she squeaked in panic. “There will be times when you can freeze me but our bonding night is not one of them.”
Syrella learned over the next hour why she wanted him awake and moving when they were alone together and when they were done he began the lesson again, making sure that she paid attention to every detail.
Curled together near midnight, Sy woke to get soft kisses from both of her parents before they returned to their shared stone.
She watched them stand in front of the soul stone and their tender kiss as they disappeared for another year. She wanted that kind of love in her life, and she was getting the idea that it was just getting started.
Epilogue
“And so, after the death of Syrella II, her daughter, Syrella III decided to open this educational facility to all people of the Vexar colonies.” The tour guide smiled and walked the new students through the Citadel school Vexa.
Nervous, one of the new students asked, “Is that a picture of Syrella III?”
The image on the wall was ten feet wide and fourteen feet tall. A woman in an amazing golden gown with a bloody hole under the ribs sat on the imperial throne of Vexa. On her lap were two strange things—one baby with green skin in a pink gown and a baby goat with eight legs. Standing to one side of her was a tall man with green skin and a fiercely proud expression.
The guide smiled, her green features soft as she explained. “That was Syrella II. She was a good rule maker and a better rule breaker. With every decision, she crafted a more stable society, and as you will see when we get further in the facility, she had a lot of children.”
The young girl went up on her toes to get a better view. She looked at her own green skin. “I never knew that Grandma was so pale.”
Her mother ruffled her hair and smiled. “She was a Vexar and Duchess of Saluthic. The Admaryn forest genes didn’t come into your line until Dorium, pet.”
She addressed the rest of the crowd. “Now, we are going to continue to the sanctum where the soul stones of Dorium and Syrella II are housed. Every Day of the Dead, they walk and talk with their extended family.”
The guide and group of new students moved on, and Syrella and Dorium entered the gallery.
“I still can’t believe that they painted me with a goat. It was a nice goat, mind you.” Sy leaned her spectral body back against her husband’s.
“I can’t believe you didn’t know you would share my life to the very end. Boy, were they surprised when you had a child every three years for a century before we decided that it was enough of an increase to the imperial line.” He wrapped his hands around her waist and pressed a kiss to her spectral neck. “Thirty-three daughters and you kept your figure.”
She laughed brightly and then stilled when she heard someone coming. “Come on, they can’t know that we are here all day, every day.”
He sighed and let her pull him into their private room, the hidden space a small addition to the Citadel facility while it was in the planning stages. It gave them a chance to be together without disturbing the living.
As long as they were together, he didn’t mind the occasional skulking. Her link to the throne kept them in the physical realm, and one day, they may move on to the next.
He would need a guarantee that they could still have freaky sex in the next realm, so until someone came to him with an affidavit, he was going to watch all of his beautiful daughters make dozens of beautiful granddaughters while he enjoyed spending every day with the wife he loved the moment he first set eyes on her. She still didn’t know about his love at first sight, and he wasn’t going to tell her.
A man needed to take some secrets to the next life.
Author’s Note
Called to Power was always going to be a Citadel outward book. She had to inherit a lot of power and the idea of being a last resort appealed to me.
Women of power have always had to choose their men carefully, and if not…hello tabloids. Syrella was a solid character who knew what she was and who she wanted.
Dorium just had to stay still long enough for her to get the nerve up. The breeding contract was a perfect excuse and the bondmate proposal wrapped everything else up.
Sigh. I liked this story even if I didn’t do it justice.
The Day of the Dead is a much better idea than being afraid of haunting spirits. There are those I love that I would love to see, just for a few moments. Ah well, perhaps in my dreams.
Thanks for reading,
Viola Grace
About the Author
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.
