Fourteen
Stevan
“Rise and approach,” I said as Kergah knelt in the entrance. “You have news?”
“Yes, my Lord. There have been official requests submitted on seventeen worlds to call a council of thirteen.”
I frowned. “And?”
“And, so far, none of the leaders petitioned have elected to call for the council.”
I sat back in my chair and twisted my lips to the side as I pondered. The council of thirteen was the mechanism by which the Peoples ruled themselves. The leader of a People can call for a council to decide an issue. If twelve others elect to join, then the council is formed. Other Peoples can then present their arguments, either for or against the action. Once all arguments are heard, or the prescribed amount of time has passed, whichever is shorter, the council votes, and the result is considered binding on all Peoples.
A council wasn’t something to convene lightly, and it has been over seven hundred years since the last council voted. There’d been numerous attempts to call a council in the subsequent years, but all had fallen short of the required thirteen members. The dilemma was, do you call a council and hope a majority who support your position joins, or do you wait and hope twelve worlds refuse to join?
“Do you think anyone will call for the council?” I asked.
“I don’t know, my Lord. The attack on Lady Catherina makes it doubtful, but those that wish to have you removed were smart in quickly condemning the attacks.”
I rapped my fingers rapidly on my desk. “Fuck!” I snarled. Kergah looked at me oddly. “It means to mate with someone vigorously, but it’s also an expression of great frustration or annoyance,” I explained.
“Ah. A human word,” Kergah said, his voice flat.
I grinned. “Yes. Catherina uses it occasionally.”
“To mean mate vigorously or as an expression of annoyance?” he asked with a teasing smile.
I snorted in amusement. “Both. Fortunately, not at the same time.”
Kergah nodded as his smile spread. “If she were to do so, that would be most unfortunate.”
I snickered. “Yes… most.” I paused as I pondered the problem. “We’ll make no comment on this matter unless I’m called to present testimony. I knew this was a possibility, and I accepted the risk. I will abide by the council’s decision, no matter what it is.”
“An honorable decision, but you have no heir. To have the Lordship pass to Litherbatherytus Mewertherantiganly would be most… unfortunate… for the People of Firaspatciti.”
I nodded slowly. My line, the Gerretterdedsath line, had ruled Firaspatciti for over a hundred thousand years. We had wrested control from the Mewertherantiganly when their Lord hadn’t produced an heir before his death. By agreement, if the Gerretterdedsath Lord fails to produce an heir, the Lordship would revert back to the Mewertherantiganly line.
Nobody but the Mewertherantiganly wanted that. The Mewertherantiganly rule had been notable for its bloody wars and political backstabbing that had brought Firaspatciti to the edge off ruin, and nobody wanted a return to the bloody years, as they had become known.
“A problem to worry about another time,” I finally said.
Catherina had made it clear she wasn’t ready to bear children, and I hadn’t, and wouldn’t, urge her on the issue. We were still young and had plenty of time.
“Yes, my Lord.”
I smiled at my dearest friend. “Don’t worry. She wants children, just not now. She’s so consumed with this dating agency of hers, she doesn’t feel she has the time to raise a child.”
“My Lord, she would have the best nannies available to help her.”
I made placating gestures with my hand. “All this is known, but I won’t press her on this matter. She will be the one to carry the child. The choice must be hers, and hers alone. I’m confident she’ll tell me when she's ready.”
Kergah dipped his head. “As you wish, my Lord.”
I rose from behind my desk and clasped him by the shoulder. “No worries, my friend. Even if the council is called, I could still produce an heir before I am removed from my position.” I smiled at him. “Then you can advise and guide a new Lord with the same wisdom as you have me.”
“I’m not as young as I once was, Stevan.”
“I know,” I said with a smile. “But I think you have one more Lord in you, don’t you?”
Kergah smiled and grasped my own shoulder. “Perhaps. He, or she, will have difficult steps to follow in.”
I released his shoulder. “With your steady hand, I have no doubt he, or she, will surpass me.”
Kergah looked like he was going to say something, but released my shoulder instead. “By your leave, my Lord.”
I smiled. “Go.” When he turned away I spoke again. “And Kergah, thank you.”
He turned back to face me. “For what, my Lord?”
“For all you have done for me and the Firaspatciti People, and for all you will yet do.”
He gave me a fatherly smile. “I stand at your weak side, my Lord. I always will.”
Of that, I had no doubt.
-oOo-
I stepped into our quarters and barely had time to react when Catherina threw herself into my arms, covering my face in fast kisses.
“They’ve done it!” she cried before kissing me hard on the lips.
“Who, and what?”
“The Waters! Today they finally broke out of their shell and asked the Estaans out on a date!”
I’d been around her enough to know that date wasn’t just the name of an Earth fruit but was also another name for asking someone to be a companion for a time. She still fell into her Earth slang when she was excited, and I smiled at her. She was glowing with triumph.
“Excellent news! What did you tell them that did it? Was it the tales of the Amazons?”
“No! That wasn’t working very well either! It was nothing I did. It was the attack on me on Boforous.”
“I don’t understand,” I said as she squirmed out of my arms.
“I don’t either, to be honest. I still have a lot of work to do with them, but something about it snapped them out of whatever malaise they had gotten into. They’re not Fires, but for Waters, today they were acting like hulking brutes. Two of them even argued, briefly, over who would get to take Bleu to Taluh Face. You could have knocked me over with a feather when they did that.” She giggled. “That means I was surprised and shocked.”
“Ah,” I said with a grin. Another Earth idiom to add to my growing collection. “This calls for a celebration.”
She pulled at the hidden closure on my clothing, causing the fabric to immediately loosen. “It certainly does,” she purred, stepping in close. “You said two days. Have you rec—”
I cut off her question by taking her lips with my own and kissing her deeply. She pulled me in, her tongue darting. Catherina was a mass of conflicting desires. Some nights she wanted to be treated like an Aquallian and handled gently. Other nights she was Firaspatciti and demanded that I, to use her term, ‘fuck the shit out of her.’ Sometimes the challenge was knowing which she wanted, but her desires were clear tonight. Tonight she was a Firaspatciti.
As we devoured each other, I picked her up, carried her to our bedchamber, and threw her into the center of the bed. She bounced to a stop, then smiled wickedly as she rose to her feet and slowly disrobed and flung her garment into the floor, her eyes never leaving me and her small smile promising much pleasure. I disrobed, leaving my clothing on the floor then joined her in our large bed.
As I crossed the bed, she retrieved her mating blade and drew it from its scabbard, smiling at me as she taunted me with her blade. It had been months since we’d renewed our bond with our blades and I smiled. When she’d first started working with Peval, she’d been anxious to try her new skills on me. I had only allowed her to touch me with the blade, but I had thrilled in devastating her with my blade, watching her shudder in rapture as I plunged the projected blade deep into her body, trigging her nanites to give her pleasure, her cries of passion inflaming me until we tossed our blades away and I ‘fucked the shit out of her.’
I retrieved my own blade, smiling as I slowly drew it. She knew she was no match for me, and I was going to destroy her with pleasure. She smiled as she took a battle stance and flipped her blade over into attack position.
“Ready to get some?” she sneered, teasing me.
“Always. Have you set your nanites?”
She paused and I saw the playful sneer leave her face.
“No.”
I smiled and nodded at her, indicating I would wait while she set her nanites to prevent her pregnancy. She touched the control to trigger the nanites and brought the handle of her mating blade to her temple, but stopped before she touched it to her head. She lowered the blade and looked at it, her face twisting into something I couldn’t read.
“What’s wrong?”
She looked up at me. “I thought I’d lost you on Boforous.”
I smiled at her. “I’m still here.”
“I know. But what if…”
“Catherina, we’ve already been over this. Nothing is going to happen to me. I’m Lord Stevanualfutherac Gerretterdedsath, the mighty warrior!” I said with exaggerated bravado.
She looked at me and smiled, but the fire had gone from her eyes. I tossed my blade to the bed and walked across the soft surface.
“Come here,” I said, taking her into my arms. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I have my security force with me at all times. Nothing is going to happen to you either. We were complacent, and that made our enemies bold. But no longer. You’re safe, Catherina. You’re safe and I’m safe.” I pushed her back and tipped her head up so I could look into her eyes. “Have I ever lied to you?”
“No.”
“I’m not lying to you now.”
She nodded but tossed her blade aside. “I’m sorry. I’m suddenly not in the mood to use the blades tonight. Are you upset?”
She knew I enjoyed the blades, and it ceremoniously renewed our bond, but she was again in need of reassurance. The blades could wait.
“Of course not.” I kissed her slowly, softly, as she taught me. “If you don’t wish to mate tonight, I understand,” I murmured as I pulled her in close and tight.
She held me for a long moment then pulled back.
“No, I want to. I… I just want to feel you close.”
I smiled and pulled her down as I settled into the bed. From Firaspatciti to Aquallian in the blink of an eye. She was truly remarkable. I kissed her softly again and reached for her blade. I made sure the trigger for the nanites was set and moved to touch it to her temple, but she blocked my hand.
“No.”
“No?”
She smiled at me. “No.”
I watched her eyes. “Have you spoken to Kergah?”
“About what?”
“About… anything… the council of thirteen and what that means?”
She looked at me strangely. “I haven’t seen Kergah today. What’s the council of thirteen?”
I smiled at her. “Nothing. It’s all part of this chaos with the rabble calling for me to step down. Nothing to worry about. But why the change?”
“I don’t know. The attack… and seeing you injured.” She shrugged. “Living two hundred years seems like forever, but after the attack, I realized that any of us could be whisked away in a moment. Tokalas almost died, despite the wonder of the nanites. He would have died on Earth.”
“But we’re not on Earth and he didn’t die.”
“I know, but he could have still died. That could have been you.” She looked at me, her eyes slightly sad. “I thought the most important thing in the world, in the universe, was the dating agency, matching people up, getting them to mate and produce children and…” She paused. “I guess I was starting to believe my own hype. But now I realize the thing that’s most important isn’t the dating agency, it’s you. I felt you were like the stars, that you were eternal.” She paused again and looked down. “But you’re not. You could be killed like everyone else.” She looked up and held my gaze. “Can you forgive me for forgetting that, for taking you for granted?”
I softly touched her face, offering her a small smile of reassurance. “There is nothing to forgive, my dear Catherina. But are you sure about this?”
She smiled softly. “Do you remember what you said the first time we mated, and I thought I might get pregnant? You said, ‘It would it would be a glorious day.’ Do you remember that?”
“I do.”
“Do you still feel that way?”
I touched her face again. “Now, more than ever.”
She took her blade from my hand, reset the trigger, and then sheathed her blade. She smiled at me and leaned in for a kiss. “Slowly,” she breathed. “I want it to last a long time.”
I returned her smile as I took her lips and gently lowered her to the bed. She pulled me down, holding me tight as she steered me between her legs. I entered slowly, my sigh of pleasure joining with her own, as I sank deep into her womanly pleasures.
I made love to her, slowly, gently, tenderly, long into the night as she whispered softly of her love and passion into my ear, and I repeated the same into hers. As we collapsed, exhausted by our labors, I realized we’d missed the evening meal, but it was no matter. I had everything I needed, everything I wanted, here in my arms.