I have something special to share with you,” I tell my mates, lifting a glass of spiced merrow wine. “My brother Sysko and I have made a huge breakthrough. Thanks to Donte's help in getting into the library of Remotis, we were able to find important information in an ancient book of mythology. This discovery could prevent the demise of our species. And possibly cure the plague.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Mika asks.

“For now, let's just focus on our dates. Everything is going better than expected,” I say. “Now everyone can relax and eat their morning meal.”

I take a sip of black tea and devour my gow cheese and starfruit pastries. I'm dressed in a sleek blue jumpsuit and nano sandals that I chose specifically for my date with Reese. I’m hoping he’ll take me for a swim.

“Did you sleep well, my Queen?” he asks me.

“I did. Very well. What do you have planned for us today, Reese?” I ask him.

“I want to take you to my home on Umbria.”

“I thought we already saw that.”

“That was my parents’ home, the royal palace. I want to show you my own palace.”

“I can't wait to see it,” I say with a smile.

The last time we were together was so unexpectedly erotic, it makes my lady parts quiver to think about.

I bid my mates farewell, and Reese and I depart for Umbria. We ride in Reese's luxury speeder, breaking through the atmosphere of Arcadia. It is good to get away for a break that doesn't have anything to do with my research. I need a break. I need to clear my head and think about something else.

The work before me will be arduous and challenging. The shipment of physical human genetic material will not arrive for a few days and when it does, I will be consumed by experiments.

I try to push thoughts of my work from my mind as we break through the atmosphere of Umbria and dive into the ocean. Reese looks over at me, with a bright smile on his face, and takes my hand in his.

He is so sweet and sensitive. My other mates are all very masculine males. Even Mika was an athlete on the air spree team for the Academy of Bones. My Poet Prince, while obviously a strong enough fighter to hold his own against Uri, doesn't have those stereotypical markers of masculinity. But that isn't what I want from him. What I want is to connect with him for who he really is. To see inside his soul and to find ourselves together, in the most honest and whole way we can.

Some would say that my scientific obsession and my drive to find a cure is not exactly a feminine quality. Especially now that women are being cloistered more and more every day. Many families restrict their girls’ activities. Luckily for me, my parents did not. I can't even imagine who I would be without my work.

I long for Reese’s touch and the tenderness inside him. I want to go to that deep and passionate place we shared the last time we were together. I hunger for the soul connection Reese evokes with me.

We dive below the waves and continue on for several leagues until we come to a cave inside a wall of blue coral. We continue into the cave and turn several corners.

A crystal palace juts up from inside the coral reef. Lights shine inside the dome, illuminating the entire reef. Reese hurries for the porthole and enters a password to open the hatch. We zoom inside and the hatch closes, depressurizing the space. After the water drains, the second hatch opens, allowing us inside.

We land in front of the palace and exit the speeder. Under the crystal dome, his front garden. The air is so still under the small glass dome, I look around, feeling the damp atmosphere. My inner dragon breathes out a puff of icy air.

A robot rolls out of the palace and greets us. Reese instructs his robot butler to prepare a meal of fresh fish over a fire. We walk hand-in-hand into Reese’s home.

“You live here by yourself?” I ask him.

“I do, indeed,” he says. “I come here when I need to get away from my family and contemplate my life. This is where I do my best work.”

“I've read most of your poetry in the pages of Bone and Ash,” I tell him.

“You have?”

“Who hasn't?”

“None of those words can compare to what it is to be mated with you, dear Joon,” he says, turning to me and taking my hands.

He holds them to his chest as we stand in the front hallway. The foyer rises into a three-story domed ceiling that looks out onto the sea above. Lights sparkle all around us.

“We will take our meal by the pool,” he says. “I want to show you something special.”

We take an antigrav lift to the second floor and emerge into a hallway lined with modern art and stained-glass sculptures. Stepping through a sliding door, we walk into a massive pool room. There is a large circular pool on the glass floor. Above the pool is a circular hatch that is the same size as the pool.

“What is this?” I ask, examining the strange pool.

“You’ll see. But first let us enjoy our meal.”

There's a table set for two by a window that overlooks a garden with the glass dome wall beyond. Creatures flit by in massive schools in vibrant pinks, yellows, neon green, and purple. We sit at the table and I nibble on the ocean delicacies grilled over an open fire. When we finish, Reese rises and takes my hand.

“Are you ready?” he asks.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I say, as we begin toward the pool.

We step inside and the water is cool and buoyant with salt. Reese gathers me in his arms as we stand in chest deep water. As he kisses me, I feel him blow air into my mouth. I take his air down into my lungs as the glass tube descends over the pool. Water rushes up around us, and I shriek as it reaches my neck.

“Don’t worry, you can breathe in the water.”

I gasp as the water covers my mouth, taking it into my lungs. Water fills the tube, and I hold Reese’s hand, remembering the royal water dragon’s ability to fill another’s lungs with a special gas that allows for a short period of underwater breathing.

“Come,” he says, under the water.

He pushes upward, his nanotech clothes disappearing as his tail emerges from his body. We swim through the tube, emerging at the top of his dome, and swim through a water leveling chamber and emerge in the reef.

The beautiful sea life swims all around. The tendrils of jellyfish flutter on the ocean currents as they swim past. My heart is pounding like crazy, still stunned that I can breathe underwater.

Reese uses his powerful tail to swim us over the reef and down into the trenches with the fish. He gathers me in his arms as wisps of sea light lichen glow around us. We kiss passionately as Reese’s tail treads water.

He pulls my legs around his waist and I can feel the full length of his cock under me. His hands grasp my behind, as we float weightless over the reef. I can see the surface of the water, not far overhead. Sunlight streams down onto the blue towers of coral all around.

I am surprisingly at ease and completely turned on as Reese holds me in his arms. I dematerialize my nanotech outfit, and it recedes into my wrist com.

What felt like a spongy, moist pad before has now extended into a full-sized phallus. Reese rubs me up and down on it, our desire twisting around us like the schools of yellow gill fish swimming through the coral trenches.

He slips inside me, activating every pleasure button on my body as his wet, vibrating base connects with my core. I gasp in the water, bubbles floating to the surface.

His hands hold me tight as he uses his powerful tail to thrust into me as we float in the water. I arch my back, and let my arms float out to the sides. I gaze at the surface light streaming down around us. Reese takes my body in a swirling rush of blinding light. I climax magnificently and repeatedly, letting go of so much pressure as Reese holds me weightless in the ocean.

He kisses me again, blowing more air into my lungs as he grows thick. He explodes inside me with a burst of heat. It feels like a firehose inside me. The force of it shoots me into another orgasm.

I groan and hold his shoulders, taking all of it. Reese pulls me to him, holding me tight as our hearts beat against each other’s chests.

After a moment, we begin to swim back to his palace. When we emerge from the pool holding hands, I feel as if I’ve been cleansed in some way.

“You have a way of getting me out of my head and bringing me into your world,” I say, toweling off by the pool.

“I will always be there to remind you of our world, my lady,” Reese says, kissing the back of my hand.

I watch him reconstitute his clothing, smiling as I take a nibble of sea foam sweets. I sigh, happy, knowing that he will.

We spend the rest of the day at Reese’s palace, exploring the rooms and changing our costumes to pretend we live in different times. We create entire playful scenarios, taking on characters from our imaginations.

Play acting with Reese lets me pretend to be someone else for a while. Someone without the pressure of the world on her shoulders. We sleep in his big pillow bed with the view of the ocean above us. I rest on his chest, feeling his precious heartbeat.

I want to stay here with him and pretend the outside world doesn’t exist. This is how I always feel with Reese. As I drift off to sleep, I let go of my guilt. Tonight, I find a slice of peace in the storm. Tomorrow, I return to my life above the surface, and stand up against the horrors that would destroy us all.

Reese kisses my forehead, and I let go, falling into a blissful and dreamless sleep.