Hers To Cherish (Verdantia Book 3) (30 page)

“Sir, if you could help me please? I am looking for Lieutenant Colonel Rickard. They told me at the palace she had moved her headquarters here. Could you give me her direction?”

Ram snorted to himself.
There goes any hope of privacy.
News of the Blue Daggers’ relocation from Sylvan Mintoth had traveled fast. The world had come to their door.

The last
three months had been a deluge of unwanted, aggravating, interminable and highly
inconvenient
assaults on his privacy. It began when the Tetriarch announced his pardon and the reinstatement of House DeKieran. Queen Constante had made the proclamation to a hushed audience hall bulging out the doors with the curious while his vixen glowed with a radiance that humbled him. Ari DeTano and Doral DeLorion had glared death – Ari because of the punch and Doral because Ram hadn’t had the good sense to die on Vxloncia.
Ha!
Ram snorted softly. He couldn’t have cared less. He figured DeTano owed Steffania several more punches for what happened on Vxloncia. The inconsistency in that thought didn’t bother him at all. As for Doral? His sister, Sophillia, would stay Doral’s hand. Ram grinned.
She likes me.

Then the wedding
.
The wedding.
Ram sucked a breath in with a hiss, as he remembered the endless functions and re-introductions into “proper” society. In some respects, he preferred his life as an accused murderer and thief. There, he could simply kill posturing fools. His vixen got mad when he snarled at people, so he sucked it up and played nice...most of the time...well...some of the time. He growled.
Rescuing Alessa DeAlbero required less effort.

Steffania’s promotion had followed swiftly
as the formal expression of the Second Tetriarch’s intense gratitude for service far exceeding duty to queen and country. The timing had been accelerated, perhaps, by Ramsey’s threat to dismember Ari DeTano if he didn’t expedite matters. Ram cared about nothing save his vixen’s happiness. His borderline violent confrontation with the High Lord of Verdantia and his devil of a lover to insure her happiness had not even created a stutter in his step.

Then,
Steffania’s Blue Daggers relocated to the expansive estates that comprised the reinstated House DeKieran. Steffania refused to be parted from her hand-picked combat unit and DeTano acceded to her wishes. The Daggers were happy to leave their stark, austere, military barracks in Sylvan Mintoth for the far more luxurious and hospitable quarters on Ramsey’s private estate. Ram’s dreams of a quiet, pastoral retreat had been shattered when thirty-six active-duty combat soldiers arrived to stay. His stables bulged with horseflesh and the quiet courtyards surrounding the mansion rang with practice bouts.

Yes,
overall, he was ready to consign everyone but Steffania to the seven hells.

With a heavy sigh, he turned to the young courier.
“Hand your horse off to a stable hand and follow me.” He didn’t bother to correct the rider’s use of Steffania’s maiden name. He wasn’t indifferent to the man’s mistake. It was a common one. But he liked the feeling of possession each time Steffania made a point to correct those addressing her. More, he craved the warm melting look she gave him as she said, “It’s
DeKieran
. Lieutenant Colonel
DeKieran
.”
She nailed it. I’m a possessive, horny bastard.
 

When the young messenger rejoined him, Ram led him into the great hall of the residence. He stopped
in the cavernous room, inhaled deeply, cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed, “Vixen! Someone to see you!” With a resigned shrug, he turned to the shocked messenger. “I never know where she is in this monstrosity of a house.”

Laughter from the second level answered his shout a
nd the face of his flame-haired temptress appeared over the railing. “No respect. Absolutely no respect. DeKieran, you are confined to quarters,” she admonished.

He grinned up at her and gestured with his thumb to the dumbstruck messenger standing next to him. “A courier from DeStroia.”

“Yes, thank you, I can see that. Will you point him to my office? I’ll be right down.” Steffania’s head disappeared and Ramsey ushered the stammering young messenger into the large room that had been set up as an office for Lieutenant Colonel Steffania
DeKieran
of the Queen’s Blue Daggers.

“Lord DeKieran! Sorry, my Lord, not really necessary
... ah, sir, I didn’t recognize you, that is, I’ve never met you but, um...I, well, ah . . .”

Ram snorted but took pity on the young man. “Sit. The lieutenant colonel will be with you in a minute.”

As Ramsey walked back toward his library, his roguish wife approached him in the hall with a brisk, “We must add more staff, DeKieran – at least someone to answer the door.”

He grabbed her for a thorough, ravishing kiss,
loosening his grip when she melted against him in boneless surrender. “I’ll accept my confinement only if you join me.”

A soft bundle in his arms, she ran a finger over his lips
, her voice a low purr. “Mmm, yes, confined to quarters until further notice.” She cast him a glance through half-lidded eyes. “I want time alone with you, my Lord.”

Ram leaned in and kissed her again, unwilling to release her.
He ran his hand up and cupped her breast. Through the fine material of her uniform, his thumb played with the small gryphon charm on her nipple ring. The depth of his pleasure in knowing she had never removed it probably confirmed him as a controlling bastard. “That will be a novelty – time alone.”

She hummed and moved into his caress
, then frowned slightly. “Yes, there hasn’t been much of that lately.” She brightened and smiled mysteriously. “And that is why I cleared the next three days for us. Gave
everyone
three days off. Told
everyone
to vacate the premises. It will be just you and me. Oh, and Lord DeKieran . . .” She looked down demurely. “I left something in your study –
Dominus
.” She rose on her toes, planted a salacious kiss on his mouth and then whirled out of reach with a saucy backward glance. Her heavy boots clicked briskly as she marched down the hall, once again all business.

Watching the sway of her tight little ass, Ram shook his head in bemusement, adjusted his pants and
strolled into his masculine sanctuary. Crossing to the bar, he poured a strong drink then sauntered to the desk to see what his volatile, undisciplined, independent and dearly beloved, wife had left for him. He snorted and then a slow smile broadened his lips. Centered on the floor in front of the desk sat a black bag identical to the one left on Vxloncia. The tasseled ends of red and black rope peeked from the slightly open top.
So, she has missed it, too
.

Ram unlocked a drawer in
his desk and pulled out the velvet-covered jewelry box he’d kept hidden from Steffania. With a predatory smile of intense satisfaction, he flipped open the lid. A golden collar, a tiny padlock and a key, duplicates of the ones abandoned on Vxloncia, lay nestled on a bed of white satin. Ram had ordered them the very day he and Steffania had returned to Verdantia but the immensely popular jeweler had not finished the set until recently. Ram intended to surprise Steffania but was waiting for a good time.
Tonight, I put this collar around her neck and the great Mother willing, that is where it will stay.  

He wondered how long before DeStroia’s courier left. Slinging the remainder of
his drink down his throat, he set the glass down with a thump.
I think I’ll hurry the man along.

“
In the case of GAPS v Lontz, The Supreme Court for Galactic Jurisprudence, finds in favor of the Plaintiff, The Galactic Agency for the Protection of Sentients. We the Court, find Vxloncian male, Vital Lontz, guilty of eleven counts of violation of the Constitution for Sentient Rights.” A translation device hung suspended from the neck of a sinuous, androgynous entity of vaguely humanoid shape. The hermaphrodite, for this event displaying
her female aspect, dropped her words into the silence of the courtroom. “As such, it is within our power to award the maximum sentence of ten NT Solar years to be served at hard labor for each count of violation. Furthermore, it is within the power of this Court to state that such years shall be served consecutively and not concurrently.” The judge’s gavel descended and the courtroom erupted into turmoil. The legal representatives for Vital Lontz leapt up and shouted for permission to approach the bench. The judge turned liquid black eyes on the entities shouting for her attention.

“Denied.”

Tok, observing the commotion, turned to his superior with a smile. “That is the last of them?”

The
humanoid hermaphrodite nodded and blinked her satisfaction. “Yes.”

“So what happens next?”

“The League of Federated Planets makes Vxloncia a protectorate, and a League
Protectorate General
works with a court-appointed committee of the planet’s sentient species to restructure the planet’s government. The committee will bring Vxloncia in line with galactic standards. The laws are being rewritten with the usual guarantees for equality of gender. But as always, their absorption in social and cultural implementation will take time.”

Tok grunted. “And Narr’s lab? What happened to the females?”

His superior turned and began to make her way toward the exit. Tok followed. “They were transferred to Talleo IV for treatment. Narr’s estate will pay for their recovery. Oh, by the way, the DNA results have come back on the remains found hanging from a bondage frame in Narr’s villa. It is who I suspected – Narr.” Her liquid black eyes flashed to Tok as they worked toward the exit. “I see you are not surprised. But one question lingers in my mind. How did Narr come to be bound to his own cross? I would have liked to prosecute that male.” Tok’s superior stopped and regarded the Khlossian with an expression of inquiry.

Tok shrugged. “I could not say.”

His superior made a trilling, gurgling sound that indicated laughter amongst her species. “No, you
will
not say.” With a sigh, she resumed her exit. “I believe you know the Senior Medica in charge of the cerebral recovery on Talleo IV.”

“Yes,
Angelica Giverny.”

Tok’s superior swung
her gaze to Tok. “Her testimony today made the guilty verdict a certainty. Good find.”

Tok smiled and his rumble of a chuckle filled the air. “
I didn’t find her. The stupid Verdantian did. Perhaps, not so stupid after all.”