Dark Throne, The (30 page)

Once again, she’d been claimed as his
.

When he fell on top of her, his far heavier weight pressing
her into the mattress, she sighed with relief
. To be surrounded by him on all sides was too
delicious for words and soothing with it. After such intensity, the
burden of his weight was the perfect post-coitus
accompaniment.

Of course, it was difficult to breathe, but it was worth
it
.

“
Should move
,” he
grunted, the words muffled against her shoulder and the bed
linen.

“
I don’t want you to
,”
she retorted immediately. Her voice was almost unrecognizable, so
deep and husky, it shocked even her. “I like you right where you
are.”

He nuzzled his face into her jaw
. “I can’t deny that I like it too.” He bit down
against the thin flesh of her throat and she felt his lips shift
into a smile at her squeal.

“
No fair
. No
biting.”

“
Says who?”

“
This princess and all her daddy’s army
,” she retorted and grinned at his
snort.

“
It is good to see you smile, Heather
. We will not be here for long. Of that I promise
you.”

She sighed
. “I wish I
didn’t long to be away from here. This has just not worked out how
I’d thought. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I haven’t had years to
think about meeting my parents, I haven’t had to work myself up to
meeting them. I had a few days to really make sense out of all
this. It’s just, the woman who wrote to me on that enchanted paper
is so unlike the woman I keep clashing with. They’re like two
different people. Although I can’t deny, ever since our altercation
with the wedding dress, she isn’t as astringent as she was. In
fact, she barely talks to me.”

She stared overhead, studying the fresco of two men with
wings on t
heir backs
frolicking about the sky. Had she been on Earth, she would have
thought the subject point to be about angels. But on Mearth, it was
about the antecedents of the Elfen. The people who looked like Fade
and for whom he was called a throwback. Absentmindedly, she pressed
a kiss to his head and wondered why the people of Mearth failed to
be turned on by such displays of brute strength. Because to her,
the wings represented that. Such fierce machismo housed within
butter-soft feathers and gnarly, rope-like muscles.

Yum
. And Christ, she
was from Earth. So why his own people had failed to spot that, she
didn’t know. From what she’d heard, he’d been rejected by his
father and because of that, his own nobles. And as his father
sought a new heir, one that wasn’t a throwback, he’d started
endless battles between different kingdoms as each new bride he
took, eventually died within mysterious circumstances, when they
failed to provide said heir.

Hell, she thought her mother was bad
.

Grimacing, she pressed another kiss to his temple and
tightened her hold on him, trying to embrace him with her entire
body
. She wanted to say, ‘You
might not have known love before, my darling, but you’ll never be
without it. Ever again.’

She’d never been the mothering sort and while the emotions
Fade inspired in her were anything but that, she wanted to cosset
him and shower him with her love and affections
.

Her only consolation was that they had a long life together
for her to do just that
.

As it was, a few days or so wasn’t much to
endure
. She had to stop being
a wuss. Fade and her father were treating her with kid gloves,
because of the transition between Mearth and Earth. But Heather
could no longer use that as an excuse. Mearth felt as homely as
Earth had. And how weird was that?

Yes, there were still odd sights to be seen and she had
plenty of questions, but her subconscious seemed to have come to
the rescue
. Every now and
then, she’d have a slither of recall. A bit of déjà vu. She’d walk
into one of the rooms of the palace and know where a secret passage
was. She recognized one of the cooks, who once upon a time, when
she’d been naught but a young toddler, had given her gooey cakes
and treats. The maze-like corridors of the palace held no
difficulty for her and yet, they did for Fade. Every now and then,
he’d have a hard time of finding the dining hall from wherever he
was in the palace. Whereas she was like a homing pigeon. She knew
where everything was.

This sensory memory made her feel right at
home
.

And with her mother giving her the silent treatment, life
wasn’t so bad here in Jender
.
The only downside to everything were the damned phases. The stupors
that overtook her mind and everything else. It didn’t matter that
the doctor said they were perfectly normal in such a long-awaited
transition into her true Elfen self. They were bloody
irritating.

“
Heather?”

Fade called her name twice more and she finally heard it,
recognizing that once again, without even realizing it, she’d
fallen into one of the stupors
. She sucked in a breath and willed herself not to get
angry. These stupid phases would come to an end soon. Her ears were
fully grown, something that had been the hardest thing to accustom
herself to- spindly ears, that with one suckle from Fade’s talented
mouth and tongue, she’d climax.

Talk about eye-crossing
.

“
Sorry, Fade
,” she
whispered around a sigh. “It must be as annoying as hell for
you.”

“
Don’t be silly
. You
can’t help it.”

“
I thought with all the sex we’re having that they’d have
stopped by now
.”

He jerked himself away from her and glared down at her with
his arms bracketing her shoulders
. “Is that all you want me for? My seed?”

At his mock-outrage, she chuckled, then reached up and
patted his cheek
. “You keep
thinking that, honey.”

“
Honey
? What is this
word?”

“
It doesn’t translate?” At the shake of his head, she
pouted
. “Crap. I love honey.
Firstly, it’s a term of endearment. But it’s actually a food
substance too. There are these insects called bees and –my biology
was never very good- but I think they eat the pollen in flowers and
then, somehow, they create honey with it. They’re very smart for
tiny little flying insects.”

He frowned
. “I think
we have something akin to this. But it is not called
hun-nie.”

His careful pronunciation had her hiding a
smile
. Sometimes, the best
parts of her day were clarifying words she’d spoken and having
others repeat them. Jenderians really butchered some of the
words.

“
What’s it
called?”

“
Malkie
.”

“
Malkie?” At his nod, she rolled out from underneath him and
strolled, naked, across the bedroom and towards the bell
pull
. She tugged it and had
ten seconds to return to the bed and grab the top sheet, before a
knock sounded at the door. She curled the sheet about her nude form
and said, “Come.” The door opened and one of her maids curtsied.
Heather would never get used to the curtsies or the lack of eye
contact, she still hadn’t trained some of the staff to look her in
the eye. It was disconcerting for them to be staring at the bloody
floor, when she was talking to them. “Ah, Beli, could you bring me
some Malkie please?”

This had Beli’s head shooting up and an eyebrow
lifting
. “Malkie, your
highness?” she croaked. “Alone? Just a pot of Malkie?”

Heather turned to Fade and enquired,
“What do you eat Malkie with?”

“
We usually have it on cakes
.”

“
There you have it then, Beli
. On cakes, please.”

Beli smiled, bobbed another curtsy and rushed
off
. Within five minutes,
there was a tray laden with a variety of Malkie-laden cakes sat
atop the bed.

Fade wasn’t eating, merely watching Heather make a mess of
herself with crumbs and Malkie, which was like nothing she’d ever
eaten before
. There was a
faint honey-ness about it, but it had the deep dark depths of
molasses melded with the sweetness of corn syrup. Most peculiar but
very tasty. She could already feel the sugar high popping a sweat
out of her pores.

“
You like it?” he asked
after her fifth cake.

She grinned at him around a pastry that was like a mixture
between a croissant and a palmier
.

“
I’ll take that as a yes
.” The smile lightened his face and his eyes drifted over
her, before he murmured, “I have a gift for you. Two,
actually.”

“
You do
? For what? It
isn’t my birthday.”

“
You will soon learn that I don’t need a reason to buy you a
gift, but no, this is an engagement present
.”

“
Oh, Fade, you didn’t have to do that
.”

“
I did
. And it’s a
selfish present…”

Before he could continue, she butted
in with lascivious pleasure at the idea of dressing naughtily for
him… “Is it dirty underwear?”

He immediately scowled
. “Why would I purchase you soiled
underclothes?”

Chortling, Heather shook her head
. “Dirty as in adult? As in barely there
lingerie?”

His frown cleared with his comprehension but he shook his
head
. “No. Selfish in that it
will give me more pleasure than you… it is a safety device,
Heather. I wish you to wear it at all times. I had one of your
father’s Elders craft it for me.”

Leaning over to his side of the bed, he dug around in one
of the long commodes that were a regal form of bedside
tables
. When he returned, in
his hand, he had a rectangular box in a peculiar fabric that seemed
to be like leather. Had they been on Earth, she would have classed
it as a jeweler’s box for necklaces. In the other, he had a
sack.

When he handed the case over to her, he murmured, “This
must always be in close contact to your skin
. If you press the pendant, it will act as an alarm.
It will emit a sound that will cause the people in the vicinity to
pass out. You too will also collapse. With our bond, I can sense if
you are in danger or not. Just as you can with me. This will give
me time to get to you.”

Touched at the idea of his present revolving around her
security, she opened the box and gasped
. It was hideous. She tried to school her features not
to show her repulsion, but Fade must have spotted because he
chuckled. “I know. It is not pretty. But come, I will show you, it
is enchanted.” He beckoned for the case and she handed it to him.
He reached for the chain, which was like nothing she’d ever seen
before.

It was like a long strand of slime
. Green, snotty slime.

When Fade picked it up, it began to
glitter
. Making it sparkly,
green, snotty slime.

With his free hand, he tugged at the sheet that still
covered her and kept on tugging until it rested on her
lap
. He then lowered the chain
of gloop over her head and once it was free of her hair, he dropped
it. The instant it touched her skin, like cream, the snot was
absorbed into her flesh.

There was a cold burn as her pores sucked it up and then, a
hot burn that made her shriek and the tray on the bed wobble as her
body began to jerk in reaction to the intrusion of this alien
substance
.

A
cold sweat broke out over her body and she glanced down to note
that the sweat that popped free was bright red
. Like blood. She gasped and gritted her teeth,
her eyes, filled with accusation, catching Fade’s. He grimaced,
reached out a hand for her shoulder and squeezed
comfortingly.

The odd pain continued for a few moments and then, there
was a sudden surge of agony between her breasts
. So severe was the sensation, she cried out and
fell backwards, her body tumbling off the bed and on to the floor.
She almost passed out as a fierce heat burned her chest, as hot as
a brand. The pain seemed endless until suddenly, it winked
out.

She gasped for breath and only then noticed that Fade was
knelt beside her on the floor
.
His wings were ruffling with his agitation and the scent calmed her
unease and memories of pain.

“
I’m sorry, dearling
.
The Elder said the reactions with each wearer are different.” He
swallowed. “Beg pardon, I just wanted you to be safe.”

She reached up to cup his jaw in her hand and patted
it
. “Just warn me in future,
okay? I thought I was dying.” Only the knowledge that he’d hurt
himself before he would her, kept her from snapping at him. She’d
felt terror briefly, but it had been outweighed by the sheer amount
of pain battering her.