The V'Dan (45 page)

Her reply was a mental singsong of smugness. (
I know what millions of ladies and gentlemen across
both
of our empires are dying to know: Is His Imperial Highness striped or unstriped down
there
? . . . And now I
also
know what you look like when aroused.
)

(
Ah. And . . . what do you think of what you have discovered?
) he asked, slipping the rest of the way onto the bed and lying back. The bed jolted after a moment, hissing and humming. (
What? What is it doing?
)

(
Relax; it’s just the mattress boxes—the airbag cushions, each one no bigger than a child’s head or so. There are dozens of them under the main padding, which is a layer of what we call memory foam. The boxes are hooked up to thin tubes and a series of quiet pumps with monitors. They will adjust to your pressure points every time you move,
) Jackie soothed him. (
Mostly around the hips, which are the biggest indentation point, but there are sensors to detect other points of weight distribution as well.

(
It’s all automated, and it’s set to medium-firm at the
moment, which is what I like, but adding a second person spikes the pressure a tiny bit because of the unified cushion and cover on top, even if most of the bladders beneath are individual compartments. We’ll see if that’s the right firmness for you in the morning—it doesn’t detect any difference if just one person lies down, but if it’s a second person, it’s going to attempt to automatically calibrate for the weight,
) she added.

The adjustments finished . . . and Li’eth found himself remarkably well supported. Blinking, he muttered aloud, “I see why you wanted to import this thing.”

“It does pack up easier than an archaic mattress,” she agreed. “And it was my other point of indulgence. I’m still waiting for a day I can try surfing, but eventually I’ll find a day that’s not busy, the weather is good, and there’s a decent beach within traveling distance.”

He lay there a few moments, enjoying the comfort, but it wasn’t enough. She was right next to him, just a handspan away. Rolling onto his side, Li’eth hesitated, then rolled against her, wrapping his arm around her ribs and sliding his right knee over her right thigh. (
Much better . . . Now, you were chuckling over something?
)

(
Mmm . . . one moment, I’m enjoying this feeling . . .
) She scooted a little closer, nuzzled his cheek with her own, then sighed. (
I really liked what I saw, Li’eth. But . . . tired. Sleep, now. Yes?
)

The bed adjusted under them. Li’eth nodded, nuzzling her back. (
And I liked what I saw, but . . . sleep, yes . . . Saints, Jackie, I feel . . . I feel like I’m in Heaven, pressed body to body with you. I don’t . . . Words,
) his sleepy mind asserted, as if that alone explained everything. Sighing, he snuggled close and relaxed. (
Such
joy
 . . .
)

(
A whole year’s worth,
) she agreed, more serious than the pun on his name would imply.

He would have agreed, save that between one breath and the next, he dropped into exhausted sleep. But not alone. Jackie dropped with him, body and mind melded with his.

—

Li’eth didn’t know when dreams turned into reality. And he didn’t care. He didn’t care quite a lot, right up to the point
where everything ended in heavily panting bliss. Right up to the point where he felt someone rapping on his mental walls—on both their minds—with a rather pointed, insistent pattern meant to get their attention.

.
 . . . Yes?
) Jackie asked cautiously, reaching out to see who it was. Li’eth, his thoughts still entwined with hers just like their bodies were entwined, recognized the other woman just as swiftly. Aixa, the eldest of the other four Terran telepaths.

(If
the two of you are done,
) the German stated briskly, (
it would be
good
if the two of you learned how to
shield
those sorts of thoughts.
)

(
I wasn’t . . . thinking,
) Li’eth mumbled, face suddenly hotter than any other part of his sweat-soaked body.

(
Precisely. You were both lucky you don’t know how to project empathically, or it would’ve bothered more than just those of us who can read thoughts. Darian and I have been shielding you for the last half hour . . . but for the first half hour, you were causing a ruckus while we were still trying to figure it out.
)

(
Our deepest apologies, Aixa. We . . . didn’t have time to practice on Earth, where we could’ve gotten lessons in how to, ah, be intimate in a Gestalt without leaking over onto everything. It’s my fault,
) Jackie added. (
I forgot that that might happen.
)

(
Well, I’m happy for both of you. Now, don’t do it again!—I mean, you can
do it
, but
shielded
,
fraulein
!
)

(
I got it, I’m shielding, I promise,
) Jackie pledged. Aixa retreated . . . and the slight sense of pressure in the air faded as well. She quickly put up a bubble of her own kinetic inergy around the two of them. (
Ancestors, that’s embarrassing . . .
)

Li’eth started to agree . . . then broke down in snickers, which he tried to smother into her inked shoulder. They quickly became chuckles, then turned into helpless laughter. He felt her trying to query as to why, but he simply could not explain it, other than just . . . joy. All-encompassing, thoroughly pervading joy. That, and the best night’s sleep he’d ever had, and full, saturation-level pleasure, like a sponge tossed into the ocean and allowed to sink to the depths, overflowing with liquid satisfaction.

He kissed her shoulder, feeling aroused once more. Jackie
groaned, however. (
We can’t, Li’eth. It’s already half past six. Neither of us heard the alarm go off . . . which is an absolute first, for me. I’ve never been so deeply involved in lovemaking before that I . . . that I, uh . . .
)

She broke off with a giggle. Another escaped her in a sort of
snerk
sound, then the rest of them pealed free, echoing off the walls of her bedchamber. Her joy hit him then, purified joy, straight through the link bonding them together. It went straight to his head, too. Before they knew it, they were—

(Verdammt, fraulein!
I told the two of you to
shield it
!
) Aixa snapped.

Both of them stopped moving, freezing in place. Sheepishly, Jackie replied, (
Sorry, Aixa . . . but it
is
our first time together. Add the effects of a Gestalt on top of that, and, well . . .
)

(
Yes, yes, I know. But I am
trying
to eat breakfast, and such things are not appropriate at the
verdammt
dining table. Thankfully, most of the embassy is mind-blind to such things, or we’d have soldiers and staff members rutting on every available surface.
)

(
Okay, okay, you don’t have to draw me a picture of a boot to get the message!
) Jackie retorted. (
We’ll stop . . . particularly since you’re ruining the mood.
)

(
Fair’s fair, you ruined my
blintzes
. You’ll need to approach lovemaking like any other lesson in psychic abilities,
) the older woman lectured them both. (
That means calm, clearheaded,
planned
practice sessions—and focus on the practicing of the
shielding
as the most important thing.
)

(
Yes, we do understand. Enjoy your breakfast, Aixa.
) Sighing, Jackie stared at the ceiling. The curtains were drawn against the glow of the lights illuminating the Winter Palace grounds, but there was light coming in from the washroom. (
We do need to get up. And shower. It may be my favorite scent right now, but this isn’t the sort of perfume that smells of professional behavior.
)

Li’eth chuckled at that. Kissing her shoulder, he moved away. (
I’ll go first, and get the shower started. You’ll want to hurry, or you’ll miss the soaping cycle.
)

(
Oh no, we are
not
sharing a shower. We’ll be even later if we do that, and get another lecture from Aixa,
) she told him. (
I’ll shower first. You will shower after I am through.
)

(
Yes,
meioa
,
) he quipped, teasing her for her autocratic decision. She was right, but he had to tease her for it.

Self-discipline was not easy. She was . . . breathtaking. Expressive. Warm and sensual and caring, and . . . it was a good thing the temperature of the water in the shower was adjustable; he needed to shiver like that by the time he got out. Combing his hair didn’t take long, but when he started to braid it, his now fully dressed partner shooed his hands away from his head. With just a bit of thought and a minute of work, tugging this way and that on his scalp, she had it plaited and tied off before he knew it.

Except it wasn’t a standard, simple plait. Li’eth frowned at the mirror, twisting this way and that. He pulled the tail forward. “What . . . ?”

“We call that style a fishtail braid with a twist down each side, a fancy variation. It’ll match your uniform a bit better than that simple one you usually wear,” Jackie added. Her hair had been pulled up into a braid that wrapped all the way around her head, with no end in sight. Almost like a reddish-black crown, albeit one with hints of kinks from her natural curls.

Her outfit was military as well, if in mottled shades of camouflage gray rather than anything formal. Then again, he knew she wore her “fatigues”—what an odd thing to call them—when she had her self-defense exercises scheduled in the mornings. Usually at the same time as his, though sometimes his were taken over by meetings. As were hers, sometimes.

He tossed his plait back over his shoulder. “It does look good. Thank you. I should go . . . I need to get breakfast.”

“Have some here,” she offered. “That’ll save you time even if it’s just buffet food. That, and I can feel how hungry you are, the same as I am. One thing, first.”

Curious, he leaned closer at her beckoning . . . and received a kiss for his troubles. A brief one. It ended in a smile as Jackie pulled back. He wanted more on a primal level, but . . . the kiss itself was satisfying enough, in its own way.

“How do you feel? In your level of restlessness, I mean,” she added in clarification.

Li’eth considered her question, evaluating himself internally. “Remarkably calm and centered. You?”

“The same.” Jackie smiled, her dark eyes glowing with satisfaction. “Ready to take on the mountain of paperwork ahead of me, in fact.”

He nodded and followed her out of the washroom. “As much as I want to come back tonight, I should probably stay away. I’ll stay tomorrow night,” he added quickly, feeling a pulse of disappointment. “Not that we could keep my presence here overnight a secret.”

(
Aixa implied that our, ah, “leakage” didn’t spill over any farther than the nearest sets of rooms, where the nontelepathic are concerned,
) she told him, reading his subthoughts. They passed from the hallway to the parlor, heading for the front door. (
Anyone sleeping in this sector is both smart and trustworthy enough to be discreet . . . and the other telepaths
won’t
tell anyone else. They’ll yell at
us
in private for any indiscretion, but they’ll otherwise be discreet about it.
)

She touched the door controls and started to step out, only to quickly step back. Li’eth almost ran into her, hastily moving back. Spotting the reason why, he made room for Lieutenant Jasmine Buraq as well. The tall, brown-skinned woman had a datapad in her hand and had been only a few lengths away when the door opened. She stepped inside as soon as she had room and lifted the pad the moment Jackie shut the door again.

“Colonel, I have some new regulations from the Command Staff, sir,” the platoon lieutenant told her. “Lieutenant Paea took the call personally, but since he’s still on watch for another few minutes, I said I’d run it to you. You’re going to have to tell everyone. Orders like these . . . have to come from the chain of command.” Pressing the tablet into Jackie’s hands, she apologized. “Sorry, sir, but the buck stops here.”

Visibly confused in both her expression and her aura, Jackie flicked past the cover letter, which bore the official military-themed seal of the Premiere of the Terran United Planets, Commander-in-Chief of the Space Force. All four Branches of it.

Li’eth politely turned his back in case it was sensitive information, only to hear her suck in a sharp breath. “. . . What’s wrong?”

She pulsed a subthought that said it was okay to turn back
and look, and waved the pad when he did so. “It’s . . . they’ve done it. They’ve gone and implemented Peacekeeper-style corporal punishment in the military. Caning,” Jackie added. “Blows from an antiseptic-soaked stick upon the buttocks, and/or the upper back, depending on the severity of the crime. The cover letter . . .”

“
Caning?
Even in the Empire, that’s . . .” He had no words for it, but from the subthoughts swirling through her mind, he could tell this was for a lot more than attempted harm of a member of the Imperial Tier.

“Remember how I pressed for colonization rights for anyone who wanted them, if they chose to fight in this war of yours?” she asked Li’eth. He nodded. He had sat in on several of those conversations since their arrival. “Well, the moment the ink was figuratively scrawled on that deal, and I told the Premiere, Callan announced it to the United Planets as a whole . . . and enrollment in the military jumped 850 percent overnight. It’s been growing since then. Demands for recruitment have gone past 1,000 percent since this point last year—since the start of
this
year, before I was even roped back into my commission as an officer. They are overwhelmed by raw recruits.”

“Saints . . .” he breathed.

Jackie nodded. “They’ve pulled in every single person they can spare
just
for the training camps, several of which are new, and several more are being cobbled together. ‘In order to instill the proper level of discipline in numbers of troops that will outmass the commissioned and noncommissioned officers, it is the regretful decision of the Command Staff and the Council of the Terran United Planets to implement the harsh discipline of caning for the following list of capital crimes against military law and military discipline . . .’