“Good Roxy!” Varan shouted, pushing her back as he blocked. “Faster! You won’t always be the strongest fighter!”

Roxy wiped the sweat from her brow and attacked again. Still Varan anticipated her move and he stepped aside, her blow missing him completely.

“I want you to be faster than me, now move!” Varan swatted her ass with the flat of his blade and it only served to infuriate her.

Adelina chuckled from the corner of the room and she whirled around, pointing her blade at the princess. “Think you can do better?”

That smirk only grew and the princess stood so smoothly Roxy had to blink to realize she’d moved.

“I don’t think I can do better than you, but I just might be faster,” Adelina admitted.

Nadyah grinned from her seat at the table, sipping her ice water. Roxy glared, but she kept track of the princess in her peripheral. That one was crafty.

“Have you ever seen Adelina fight?” Nadyah asked, raising one brow in question.

Roxy frowned, realizing that no, she never had. She honestly hadn’t thought the princess could fight. Even as the jewel thief Adelina didn’t need that particular skill, only the ability to make a quick escape.

“Are you some prodigy?” Roxy asked, shifting the long knife in her grip, wiping the rest of the sweat from her face with her arm.

“No,” Adelina admitted. “I am merely competent. Now try to catch me.” Her smile widened and Varan’s gaze grew hungry.

Roxy waited, but Adelina didn’t move. She simply stood before her with her hands behind her back. So she lunged forward, faking for the soft belly and then changing direction so the dull knife would slide between the princess’s ribs if it was actually sharp enough to cut.

Adelina hardly even moved but she was no longer standing before Roxy. Roxy couldn’t help the surprise she knew showed on her face, or the pleased smile. Again and again she attacked, but every time the princess slid or dodged or twirled away from her.

She was quicker than lightning when she stepped forward and slashed at Roxy’s face with her claws extended and only a lifetime of training saved her. She leaned so far back she nearly fell over and still she felt the whisper of those claws.

With a practiced twist Roxy got out of Adelina’s range. She appraised the princess again and flipped the knife to her other hand.

Adelina’s fighting style was like nothing she’d ever seen before. “Who trained you?”

The grin dropped from the princess’s face. “Alpha mostly, before him my previous guard trained me. Then Nadyah did.”

Ah, so a style only a select few would even recognize.

“And Varan has taught me a few things over the cycles, and quite a bit during the last few days,” Adelina admitted with a grin. “But the speed is my own. When you are raised thinking you are the most submissive creature known to Draga you learn how to run away as quickly as possible. I was never going to be stronger, because a dominant with equal strength could still force me.” Adelina slashed again, so fast her hand was a blur, but Roxy knew what to look for this time.

“Felix is the strongest and most submissive person I know,” Roxy countered.

Then the air in the room changed. Adelina stepped into Roxy’s guard and that strange, dark jasmine filled her nose. “Yes,” Adelina agreed. “Now kneel.”

The weight of Adelina’s dominance crashed down on Roxy and she hissed in a breath at the pain in her knees. Adelina’s hand wrapped around her neck, nails pricking the skin in warning. One move and she’d rip open Roxy’s throat.

“It would be so easy to kill you and I’m currently only two levels above you in dominance. Imagine five.” Adelina released Roxy and took a step back. “You may rise if you can manage it.”

Roxy fought the weight – heavy and suffocating as Adelina held her gaze, bearing down on her with that Draga dominance. She gave the princess a silent snarl and managed to get one foot underneath her. Roxy had never been as dominant as Varan, but she was closer to the orange blossom than she cared to admit.

“Release me,” Roxy demanded. “I am not your plaything.”

“Make me,” Adelina snarled back.

Roxy gritted her teeth, but no matter how she tried she couldn’t stand.

“Think around the problem, Rox,” Adelina murmured, pressing down harder with her dominance. “How can you accept my control and save yourself at the same time?”

She frowned up at the princess. “Submissives are not as powerful as dominants.”

“Wrong,” Adelina whispered. The weight disappeared and suddenly Roxy felt like she could breathe again. “Nadyah!”

The courtesan gave Roxy an apologetic look when she made her way over to the center of the training room. Varan sat at the table and sipped on a glass of chilled water, smiling at her.

Prick.

“Nadyah is a courtesan, and as such she can dominate even me,” Adelina explained. “She is the closest thing to Asher we have right now.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Varan called out. “I’m pretty sure you’d win that fight with the dark prince after a bit of practice.”

Adelina didn’t look away from Roxy but she smiled softly. “I will show you what I mean.” Then the princess squared off with the courtesan.

The sudden flurry of movement shocked Roxy and she scrambled back as the two fought like vicious little galinas. Both had the speed and skill. Together it was a dance of death and the clash of knives told Roxy they weren’t dulled as they whistled through the air.

Without warning they stopped and Nadyah held a knife against Adelina’s throat.

Roxy knew this was supposed to be a lesson, but she couldn’t stop staring at the courtesan. What a pretty little package for such a deadly thing. She was half in love with her already.

“Kneel,” Nadyah demanded, and compared to that sweet scent of jasmine the princess now had she had no choice.

Her knees slammed into the ground harder than Roxy’s had with the larger difference between dominance levels. Adelina dropped her eyes to the floor and Roxy saw the old princess for a moment.

Then a clawed hand snaked out, grabbing Nadyah’s leg and yanking. Before Nadyah could give another command Adelina had the courtesan underneath her, deadly claws on Nadyah’s neck.

It all happened so fast, Roxy took a step forward to keep the princess from hurting Nadyah, but then she stopped. Adelina would never hurt the courtesan.

“When dominance is used against you and you are alone without another dominant to protect you, you have to find a way around their command, around their wish. The dominant power is meant to make one obey, to prevent unnecessary bloodshed and violence among our own people. Submissives are highly valued for the balance and peace they provide, but some cannot resist their own power and abuse the submissive. So you need to find a way to comply, to acknowledge their strength until you can disarm them.”

It was a world Roxy had never truly seen. She was at the top of the food chain so to speak. The only people more dominant than she were the royals and some of those whose scent was that of the winterflower.

But for cycles Adelina had been the most submissive, not just of the royals, but of most people. Only her rank had given her any real power, and even then she’d been third-born and overlooked until recently.

Roxy had to give her credit for that.

“All right, I’ll catch you and then you can try to use your dominance on me,” Roxy said with a smirk. “This time I’ll win.”

Varan laughed and stood from the table. “Roxy I do believe you’ll be ready to take on any challenger by the time we return to Draga Terra. You aren’t as out of shape as I thought you might be. The last few days you’ve given me a run for my gold a few times.”

Roxy glared when he grabbed Adelina by the waist and tucked her into his side. Just because they hadn’t trained together the last cycle or so didn’t mean she’d been lazing about. Felix had taught her a thing or two as well as Mistress Jael.

She used to think she’d sell all her worldly possessions for Jael to give up her position at the House of Kismet, but looking at Nadyah, Roxy was glad she’d never proposed. Jael had broken her heart two cycles ago and it looked like another courtesan might be able to repair the damage.

Now she wondered if it was because she wasn’t the female’s mate, but the understanding still didn’t ease the pain.

“Princess, we need you on Command. There is something on the scanners,” the captain’s voice echoed through the speaker in the training room.

“Looks like we’ll have to finish training later,” Varan said, frowning at the speaker. “Adelina I know you’ll be getting exercise today, but you’ll have to find something that will make you work up a sweat, Roxy.”

Roxy watched her brother in all but blood lead Adelina out of the training room and down to Command. She wasn’t sure if his jab at the way she’d been eyeing Nadyah had been intentional or not, but it still made her want to stab him.

Nadyah smiled and adjusted her skirts. “Would you like for me to show you some of the courtesan fighting arts, or would you rather go to Command to see what’s so important?”

Roxy narrowed her eyes at the courtesan. The female constantly exuded this insane sexual heat, especially around Adelina so it was difficult to tell if Nadyah was making a pass at her or not. “What would you like to do?”

Whatever was on Command Roxy could almost guarantee she wouldn’t be interested in. But she wanted Nadyah. This fleeting thing between them would help them both; she could feel it – taut and straining.

Before the wedding she could have sworn Nadyah had been staring at her, appraising her. At first she thought it was because she was in a dress – Roxy never wore dresses. But as the night went on she’d seen the flirtations go deeper. It was impressive really how much courtesans picked up on. Nadyah never once tried to touch her without Roxy first initiating the contact.

Her question surprised Nadyah. The courtesan appraised her for a moment. “Would ‘you’ be an appropriate answer?”

Roxy choked, coughing as she tried to process such a forward question. Had she missed out on clues Nadyah had given her? She really didn’t think she was that dense.

“Excuse me?”

Nadyah smiled and brushed by her. It was such a slight touch, nearly a phantom on Roxy’s skin and she shivered in response. Goddess, she’d forgotten what it was like with a courtesan. Everything was intensified, heightened, and a thousand times better than anything Roxy could do herself.

“I’d like to check and see what’s happening on Command, but if you like I can think of a few enjoyable ways to sweat.”

Roxy turned and stared after Nadyah. “And your princess?”

“Oh, she thinks we’ve already slept together. Adelina approves.” Nadyah gave her a wink and then disappeared down the corridor.

It took Roxy a moment to understand exactly what the courtesan was saying. Then she lurched into motion, walking as quickly as she could without running. “Why does she think we’ve already slept together?” Roxy demanded as she caught up with the courtesan. She made sure her voice hid how curious she was. The bored, slightly annoyed tone she kept up for appearance’s sake.

“Oh, you know she worries about me.” Nadyah’s smile faltered as she thought about Adelina. “Knowing she’s not my mate isn’t the difficult part. It’s knowing who is.” Then the courtesan tapped the control pad and stepped into the lift.

Roxy kept her mouth shut and stepped in after her. If the courtesan wanted to tell her who it was she would. “Does Lina know?”

“No.”

Nadyah didn’t have to ask. Roxy nodded. She wouldn’t say anything. It wasn’t her place.

The lift opened onto Command and all the worried faces instantly put Roxy on alert. She tensed, hand on the hilt of her knife – not that it would do her any good on a ship in the middle of space. “What’s wrong Varan?”

“Pirates.”

“Pirates or privateers?” Nadyah asked, going to Adelina’s side.

The princess studied a holo, chewing on one of her nails as she waited for it to come into range. “We’ve sent out a hail, and now we wait. The captain threw up the colors, declaring who’s onboard. It was a risk, but if it’s a privateer I didn’t want to risk my own ships getting destroyed while they do exactly what I asked of them.”

Roxy nodded and watched the entire crew wait in tense silence.

As the large ship approached it still didn’t respond to the hail. But it wasn’t on the offensive. The crew reported no shield up and weapons were inactive, but it was armed with a few cannons. Roxy had no idea what to do. She took a step closer to Nadyah. Their ship was faster and had decent weaponry, but this standoff could put them at a disadvantage.

As long as the crew knew what they were doing, they should be all right. She’d built the damn thing to be the fastest ship in the galaxy after all. Not even the Corinthians and their precious tech could beat her improvement of their design.

“There is a request coming in,” someone announced.

“I’ll take it,” Adelina said, pulling up the cast on her personal console.

“Princess Adelina?” The voice was female, yet deeper than one would expect. Then the vid came through. A female wearing so much gold it was nearly obscene came into view. “I’m Delphine. The captain of the Ravager. We’ve received your message and fly your flag.”

Roxy let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and took a step away from Nadyah. She hadn’t noticed how close she stood to the courtesan until the danger had passed, though it wasn’t as if Nadyah even needed her protection.

“Thank you for your service,” Adelina said, instantly the royal once more. Roxy hated the tone the royals used when doing official business.

“Do you have need of us, Princess? Is there anything we could do to assist?”

Adelina glanced at the captain and then Varan, but they both looked to her. Roxy could tell the youngest princess wasn’t used to so much power, but she wore it well. Roxy watched her square her shoulders and stand as though she wore a crown atop her head.

“If you have the opportunity to escort us to the border and then report back what you see to Prince Asher I would greatly appreciate it.”

Delphine looked off to the side at something they couldn’t see. Her frown implied she didn’t like whatever it was, but she nodded. “My first mate doesn’t enjoy the idea of running into the dark prince, but we will do as you command.”

Adelina smiled. “If you wish to stay near this border I am fine with that. We will be heading back this way on our return trip to the Khara Galaxy. I simply thought you would be safer near the fleet. None of us truly knows what’s out here, even with the shield up.”

Delphine was a beauty with purple hair that fell around her shoulders. Roxy was intrigued. She hadn’t known any female pirates were captains. Perhaps she should reach out for an alliance if she was able to take the thieves’ throne.

“Is it possible to join your armada? No doubt you could use the extra protection in the Hai Galaxy.”

Oh, interesting development. Roxy was impressed at the balls the female had to even ask such a question.

Adelina didn’t look to Varan this time. “Send your personnel records and I will consider it. This is a diplomatic mission first and foremost. While I plan to waive all crimes up to my wedding I will not tolerate them in my presence. Anything done to harm my mission will be declared treason. Warn your people and we will reconvene in an hour.”

“Noted, Princess. I am sending the files now. I appreciate your honesty and respect your terms. Just know I’ve been captain for three cycles now. We can hold our own in a fight.”

There was a ping as something was delivered and the vidcast ended.

Roxy leaned over to see what had been sent. What she wouldn’t give to read something like that. The intel she could gain would no doubt assist in her future reign. Adelina didn’t try to hide the files but she didn’t make it easy to read either.

“Roxy, Nadyah, with me,” Adelina ordered. She tapped her shreve to the console and then left Command. She paused at the threshold for a moment. “Captain, no need to shield, but make sure we are armed and ready and at full power if need be. We’ll stay here for an hour while I decide.”

With that she disappeared, Varan a silent presence at her side. Despite all the cycles Adelina had spent in the shadows she took to ruling with a natural grace.

Roxy glanced at Nadyah. “What could she possibly want with us?”

Nadyah shrugged and walked slowly back towards the lift. “It doesn’t matter really. I will do whatever she asks of me.” The courtesan glanced at Roxy and gave her a knowing smile. “But if I was to speculate I’d say she’s forming a pack, an inner circle so to speak. And you’re a part of it.”

It was strange to think about. Roxy wasn’t used to being included in things so much. As an engineer and mechanic she kept mostly to herself, but due to her relation to Varan, Roxy was forced to attend certain events, swear fealty, and pay her dues. She’d never minded as Varan and his family had literally saved her life, but he left her alone mostly as did his court.

They took the next lift after Adelina and Varan.

Roxy glanced at Nadyah, noticing how tall she was in the small space. Then she realized how close the courtesan stood. There was barely a breath between their arms, but Roxy didn’t want to move away. If anything she wanted to move closer.

Nadyah didn’t look at her, but she smiled.

Roxy had had enough of this female’s teasing. She paused the lift and came at Nadyah until the courtesan was pressed against the wall. She got into her space without touching her at all, but their breath mingled and Roxy could feel the heat from her skin.

“Do you want me?” Roxy asked. Her voice was a bit huskier than normal. “Or are you just playing your courtesan games?”

Nadyah actually blushed. She’d seen Jael do the same – blushing on command. Until she learned Nadyah’s tells it would be difficult to know what was real and what was fabricated. Roxy would not make the mistake she’d made with Jael again.

“I’ve seen the way your kind can trick us into thinking you want us, I saw the way you hurt Varan. I’ve made the very same mistake with the Mistress of the House. I won’t be played again.”

Those sapphire eyes widened in surprise, but she said nothing. Her breathing sped up and Roxy pointedly ignored the quick rise and fall of her chest, causing Nadyah’s breasts to bounce in such a tantalizing manner.

“I never thought Varan wanted me for me, and by the time I did it was too late. Not that I could have done anything about it regardless. It was never meant to be and you’ve seen the way they are together. It’s no average love. What they have is close to what I’ve seen in a mate pairing.” Nadyah lifted her chin, practically daring Roxy to say Varan would be better off with the courtesan instead of the princess.

“And me?” Roxy asked, leaning in a little closer. Their lips nearly brushed they were so close and she felt the fire in her belly, the tingling sensation in her fingers. Roxy wanted the courtesan so much it nearly hurt, but she was done being careless.

“We aren’t mates. I can only offer you a temporary situation. When we return to Draga Terra it will physically be over, but I do hope we will be friends for a long while.”

Roxy wasn’t looking for forever – just honesty and companionship. “I agree to your terms, courtesan.” Then she grabbed the back of Nadyah’s neck and their mouths crashed together. Hungry – devouring.

When Nadyah slipped her tongue into her mouth Roxy nearly lost it. Instead she un-paused the lift and took a step back. “Your princess is expecting us.”

Nadyah smirked when the doors opened. “She’s your princess now, too.”

Right, the Princess of Thieves. What a mess. Roxy glared after Nadyah and adjusted her shirt. Hopefully whatever their princess wanted with them wouldn’t take long. She had plans for the courtesan.