Patty only smiled at her, like none of the words could ever touch her. He envied that in her, but no one would speak to his human in such a way. Especially not his kin.
Rema stepped close to his aunt, flaring his wings so that they cast shadows across his family, while also blocking Patty from their view, and leaned down to get in close to her face. “Speak to her like that again, and blood or not, I will twist your head from your body.” He kept his voice low, so that only his aunt would hear him. This was probably not the wisest of diplomatic moves, as he did need at least some of his family’s support in order togain traction with the Royal Court, but not at the expense of Patty. Never.
Her eyes widened. “You cannot make threats against me, Rema.”
He straightened, wings folding tightly against his back, and held out his secondary hand to Patty, keeping his eyes on his aunt. “It is Commander.” He tucked Patty into his side, keeping his lower arm hugged around her. “And that was not a threat, Matriarch. It was a vow.” He brushed past them, continuing down the docking platform. “No need to follow us.” He tossed over his shoulder. “I know the way.”
Only stunned silence answered him. Rema grinned to himself. That had felt good. The flowering scent wafting from Patty indicated she approved. He didn’t look down at her, or they’d risk never making it off the docks.
The ornate door leading into one of the grand halls was already opened, two hard faced guards standing to either side. Rema nodded to them as he passed, a sign of respect he was sure his kin had not done. The guards were disciplined, not looking at him or Patty, and he made a mental note to speak to their captain to praise them.
“Your family sucks,” Patty said when they were halfway down the Grand Hall. She was looking around at the rich tapestries hanging from the ceiling on either side of the hall. The stone floors were the red of the deep mountains, polished to a high sheen so that he could see their reflections in it.
Rema’s shoulders slumped on a sigh. “I understand suck to mean something bad, so yes, they do. I am sorry for what Sira said. She is a vile female.”
Patty stopped surveying the hall to look up at him, her face serious. “Don’t apologize for other people’s actions, Rema. You can’t take responsibility for them. But thank you for defending me.” Her look morphed to one that made his body flush, the hotpromise in her gaze carnal and predatory. “I’ll be sure to thank you for it properly later.”
He always felt like prey when he was around this female. Hunted. She was the predator in the dark, herding him to a corner he could never hope to escape from, where she would pounce and devour him. He had never looked forward to something more in his life, not even his assignment to the Solus and to General At’ens command had elicited this much anticipation.
“I will remind you,” he rasped, feeling his cheeks heat.
Patty’s eyes widened in surprise, and then she laughed, bumping his body with hers. “I love it when you flirt with me. It’s so adorable. Gets me all hot and wet.”
His cock twitched when her voice dropped, growing silky. The things she said to him were shocking. She never failed to tell him when she was aroused, even when her scent wrapped around him, it was her voicing these things that truly drove him mad. Rema was discovering that he liked this “dirty talk” as Patty called it. Dirty did not seem to do it enough justice.
“So, what else should I expect from this meeting?” she asked, blinking her wide green eyes up at him.
The abrupt change of subject blanked his mind for a moment, her grin giving away that it was intentional. He cleared his throat, pushing open the double doors at the end of the hall, and directing her to the right down another long hallway. This one had guards lining both sides, all in ceremonial dress, holding long spears in front of them with both hands. They wore only long loincloths, colored in a brilliant orange, with a thick metal belt around their waists that shone a deep emerald. It made the paleness of their skin standout in stark contrasts, and brought out the beauty of each individual.
Patty whistled, eyeing each male as they passed. Rema chuckled as blushes spread across stoic faces, and hurried Pattythrough the hall and into the receiving room before she made them lose their discipline.
“Are the loincloths standard wear for males here, because if they are, I want to see you in one. Pretty please?” Patty all but purred up at him as she pressed herself into his side.
His stomach tightened low, and he couldn’t help the nervous laugh that escaped his lips. “They are ceremonial, and yes, I will be wearing one for one of the Ceremony days.”
He watched as Patty’s eyes closed, and her small tongue darted out to lick her lips. “Thank you sweet baby Jesus for this blessing I am about to receive.”
His own cheeks heated, but it was the wide grin full of mischief that she directed at him as he gestured for her to take a seat on the lavish couch situated in the center of the room that had laughter erupting, a full deep laugh straight from his belly. With a shake of his head, he took his seat beside her, draping his wings over the low back of the couch.
“Stop it, Patty. I can’t be laughing when the Royals get here,” he begged of her, still chuckling. She only grinned at him.
“To answer your earlier question before you were distracted by the guards, we will wait here until the Royal Caller comes to grant us entry into the throne room.” He gestured with one of his hands to the tall, intricately carved red stone doors at the other side of the room behind Patty. She looked over her shoulder, nodded and turned back to him.
“Okay, got it. What then?”
Clearing his throat and shifting a little in his seat at the intensity of her gaze he went on. “Once we are inside the throne room, that will be our first chance to pique her interest. The Queen will either grant us a second audience for more information, usually less formal than this one, or she will dismiss us and that will be that.” He sighed, catching her hands in his primary ones. “This will also be when the Queen grantsyou courting rights. I will accept, and then the mating schedule will commence from that moment forward. It takes eight days to complete. There are several steps we must take before our consummation night.”
Patty frowned, her head tilting to the side. “She has to grant mepermission?”Her eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you reject two of her daughters?”
Ah, he saw where her mind was taking her.
“It was her sister’s daughters, and she and her sister do not get along, so I do not think she will hold my rejection against me.”
Patty’s shoulders relaxed and she blew out a breath. “Okay good. Murdering royalty wasn’t really on my To Do list.”
He didn’t really know how to answer that, as he thought she might be serious. He’d witnessed what her vines could do when she was angry, and they left behind no evidence unless she willed it. There were churned up, bloody battlefields with bodies twisted through with thorny vines. Others had been pulled underground, forever buried. Some of those had still been alive when the dirt had closed over their heads.
“Let us avoid murder while we are here, please.”
