Meri

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Meri

ISBN 9781419917240

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Meri Copyright © 2008 Judy Mays

Edited by Mary Altman & Nicholas Conrad.

Cover art by Syneca.

Electronic book Publication June 2008

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.  (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/)

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

Celestial Passions:

Meri

Judy Mays

“Men are idiots!” Meri growled as she stomped down the long hall toward her parents’ private apartments. Vibrant murals of ocean creatures leaping among foaming waves adorned the left wall of the corridor while on the right a soft, salty breeze wafted through the open, floor-to-ceiling windows and swirled amongst the gauzy blue-green curtains.

Meri ignored the colorful dance. “Idiots, idiots, idiots! All of them!”

“Surely you aren’t talking about me, Cuz?”

Stopping abruptly, Meri spun around and glared at her cousin. Then, after shaking her head and mumbling a curse under her breath, she launched herself against his chest and wrapped her arms around him. “Ban! When did you get back?” Leaning back in his arms, she cocked an eyebrow and stared into his handsome face. “And you know very well you aren’t an idiot. You may be a scoundrel, a womanizer and an unrepentant drain on the royal coffers, as Grandmama likes to say, but you are
not
an idiot.”

His grin widened and he bussed Meri’s cheek. “If you hadn’t been complaining about men, I’d blame your snit on Grandmama. What’s wrong? Every servant I’ve encountered is tiptoeing around like there’s a wet Gattan in the palace.”

Pushing herself out of his loose embrace, Meri tucked her hand under his arm and led him down the corridor at a much more sedate pace. “Oh, it’s Grandmama’s fault, all right. She refuses to acknowledge that I’ve abdicated my status as heir to the throne, has stated it’s time I married and has told Tendallis Davenet that he is the perfect consort. What’s more, she told him that Father completely agrees with her!”

A short bark of laughter exploded from her cousin’s throat. “Tendallis Davenet? That pompous imbecile? Why him?”

Meri ground her teeth. “Because his family is old and has royal blood in their ancestry. Something like ten generations ago, one of the daughters married the fourth son of the king, which, according to Grandmama, makes Tendallis the most logical choice for my husband. Not ten minutes ago, that pompous moron accosted me on the beach, patted my hand and told me not to worry my pretty head about governing Mediria. He’ll take care of all that. I’d only need to raise the children.” Meri snorted. “As if he’d have any idea how to govern our peoples!” She snorted again. “As if I’d allow it! He’d have us at war with both Varce and Gattan in a week’s time. But it doesn’t even matter, damn it! I am
not
going to be Mediria’s next ruler! Why won’t Grandmama believe me?”

Pulling Meri to a halt, Ban turned her to face him. “Because she refuses to accept that everyone won’t bow to her wishes. Calm down, Cuz. You’ve abdicated and your father and the Council have accepted it. Ignore Grandmama. I do.”

After staring into her cousin’s grinning face for a few seconds, Meri felt her lips twitch. As usual, he was right. She was getting worked up over nothing.

He cocked his head to the side and chuckled. “Besides, you wouldn’t have made a very good queen anyway. You spend too much time thinking about sex. Are you sure there isn’t a bit of Drakian blood somewhere in the royal line—other than mine, that is?”

Without warning, Meri punched Ban in the stomach and got a great deal of satisfaction watching him double over. “Bandalardrac Hardan! Just because you’re half Drakian and obsessed with sex doesn’t mean anyone else in the family is!”

Hands on her hips, Meri watched her cousin cough and wheeze as he stood doubled over with one hand braced against the wall. More than once she’d rued the day that she’d cornered her cousin with some very specific questions about sex, but he’d been the one person she knew would answer her honestly. Sure, she could have asked her mother, but somehow she didn’t think the current queen of Mediria would be very comfortable talking about sex toys.

Ban, on the other hand…

Shaking her head, Meri once again forced herself to admit Ban was the best-looking member of her extended family. Her cousin Bandalardrac was a very attractive man—too damn attractive for his own good. Even without the tail his Drakian relatives possessed, half the women on two planets wanted him in their beds, and, according to gossip, he’d been in most of them. Who better to ask about kinky sex?

She pursed her lips. Was Ban right? Did she think about sex too much? It wasn’t like she’d had all that much experience. Being a Medirian princess made casual sexual relations hard. There was always the chance her partner would begin to get ideas about becoming her consort, and she had yet to meet a man who she’d even consider marrying. Her grandmother’s choice was definitely unacceptable. Oh, Tendallis was handsome enough by Medirian standards, but he was also pompous and arrogant. She could never marry a man who thought he was better than almost everyone else.

Ban’s voice pulled her from her musings. “By all the seven hells, Meri,” he finally gasped. “Who taught you to punch like that?”

She snorted. “I spent six months with the Aradab Matriarch. She said I needed to learn a few things.” Meri didn’t even try to keep the satisfaction from her voice. Grabbing Ban’s arm, she pulled him forward. “Come on. Father and Mother will want to know you’re back.”

Rounding a corner, she plowed right into a portly figure and bounced back into Ban’s arms. As the familiar aroma of his favorite salty cologne surrounded her, she blinked up into her Uncle Kavlalardrac’s face.

“Uncle Kav, what are you doing here?”

Smiling broadly, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “The Matriarch summoned me. I, for one, am not going to ignore a summons from her.”

Frowning, Meri untangled herself from his arms and stared at him. “The Aradab Matriarch has never summoned an ambassador back from his or her post. That’s Father’s prerogative. What’s going on?”

Her uncle shrugged.

Meri glared at him, tapped her foot and continued, “Come on, Uncle Kav. You’re the head of Father’s spies and assassins. You know everything that’s going on.”

Obviously taken aback, her uncle simply stared at her.

“Oh, come on, Uncle Kav. It wasn’t that hard to figure out, and I know Ban is one of your spies too.”

“Not just any old spy, Cuz,” Ban answered with a grin. “I’m the Monarch’s Assassin.”

A chill ran down her spine, and for a moment Meri gaped at the two men. Then her common sense asserted itself and she burst out into laughter. “Monarch’s Assassin? You? I was wrong, Ban. You are an idiot if you think anybody would believe that. I have no doubt you’re a spy for Uncle Kav, but an assassin? Never! You’d have to give up sleeping in too many women’s beds for that.” Spinning on her heel, she sauntered back down the corridor toward the throne room instead of her parents’ apartments, her chuckles rolling back over her shoulder.

“That was a stupid thing to say,” Kavlalardrac murmured in a low voice as they followed Meri.

Ban grinned. “Don’t worry, she didn’t believe me. And if Meri, the most intuitive member of the family, doesn’t think I can be an assassin, neither will anyone else. You really should have talked Uncle Findal into letting her be trained. She’d have been a very good assassin.”

His uncle sighed. “I tried. Her mother wouldn’t allow it.”

Followed by her uncle and cousin, Meri slid quietly through the slightly opened door to the smaller of the palace’s two throne rooms. Once inside, she stopped short and looked around in surprise. The room was full of people—mostly Aradabs.

“I’ve never seen so many Aradabs here in the palace. What’s going on, Uncle Kav?” she asked in a low voice.

“Honestly, Meri, I have no idea,” he answered with a puzzled tone. “You know the Aradabs never involve themselves in anything political.”

She glanced at Ban.

He shook his head.

Pushing her way between muscular Aradab bodies—both male and female—she maneuvered her way to the front of the crowd. Her father and mother were sitting on the dais. Besides all the Aradabs, a few of her father’s ministers were in the room, as was her paternal grandmother and a couple of the dowager queen’s cronies. Facing her father with their backs to her were two men, unmistakably Drakians not only because they were wearing the familiar uniforms of the Alalakan space fleet but also because of their tails. No other human race had such flexible tails.

Meri looked closer and grinned. The one on the left was Alalakan don al’ Chardadon. She’d recognize him anywhere. His family and hers had been close friends for generations and she’d known him since she was a child. She shifted her glance to the other Drakian, sure that she’d never seen him before. He was even taller than Char, at least seven feet, and she certainly never would have forgotten that powerful figure with those broad shoulders and that tight ass.

“Who is he?” she hissed to her cousin.

“Who?” he answered in a sour voice. He was glaring at Chardadon.

Meri shook her head. She was going to find out why Ban had divorced himself from his father’s Drakian family if it was the last thing she did.

“Who’s standing next to Char? And don’t start pouting about him being here.”

“Lillalistross don al’ Ademis, the chief engineer of their space fleet,” Ban answered in a low voice. “And I don’t pout—women do.”

Meri ignored his second comment. “He seems young for that position.”

Her cousin shrugged. “I could not care less.”

“You
are
an idiot,” Meri murmured as she grabbed Ban’s arm and pulled him with her around the right side of the room. She really wanted to get a look at this Ademis from the front. He was
very
appealing from behind. “Now be quiet so I can hear what the Matriarch is saying.”

He snorted lightly. “You were the one asking questions.”

The door on the other side of the room opened and a dark-skinned, hoary-headed, white-bearded man walked sedately into the room.

Meri was taken aback. The Patriarch of the Nissians? Whatever was going on was very important if he was here too.

“Finally we can get to the bottom of this,” her father grumbled. He nodded to the old man. “Welcome, Patriarch. I’m sorry to disturb you, but the Matriarch demanded your attendance.”

Again, surprise rippled through Meri. The Matriarch demanded?

“I’m curious too, Your Majesty,” Chardadon interrupted. “Ademis and I should be back on Drakan by now. We’ve got a voyage to Deslossia scheduled.”

Before Meri’s father could answer, the Aradab Matriarch interrupted. “Patience, Son of the Alalakan Dragon. The time for which the races of Mediria have waited generations is almost upon us.” She directed her gaze at Chardadon’s companion. “Remove your tunic.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Lillalistross don al’ Ademis looked the Matriarch straight in the face and said, “No.”

Silence echoed off the walls as Meri felt her jaw drop. At her side, Ban stiffened and her grandmother looked like she was going to faint. Her mother’s complexion paled while her father choked and buried his face in his hands.

Nobody
ever
refused a direct order from the Aradab Matriarch.

Before the Drakian’s “No” finished reverberating around the throne room, two Aradabs stepped to either side of the Matriarch. The one on her left cracked his knuckles while the other flexed his fingers. Both wore eager grins.

Meri snapped her mouth shut. Aradabs rarely even smiled!

Gulping, Meri stared at the tall Drakian who had just demonstrated more audacity—or stupidity—than any man she’d ever seen.

Gritting his teeth, Ademis glared at the sturdy woman who’d just ordered him to strip half naked. He should never have agreed to accompany Char to Mediria. If he’d known how much trouble his presence was going to create, he’d have stayed on Drakan and let Char bring that kidnapped girl back home alone. Instead, he was being paraded around like some kind of freak in a circus sideshow. How was he supposed to know the clan totem he wore on his shoulder and chest was an exact representation of the Medirian’s precious dols?