“You are ethereal, Patty. A goddess made flesh,” he whispered hoarsely, his eyes roaming back up to meet mine.
I grinned at him, stepping back to take in his tall form from the tips of his shiny silver slippers, up the darker silver pants covered in shimmery embroidery that clung lovingly to the thickness of his thighs, to his matching silver tunic that highlighted his narrow waist and the wide heavily muscled expanse of his chest and shoulders, molding to the burliness of his four arms and up his thick throat to his lush lips. Fuller than they had a right to be, and the same pearly iridescent as the rest of his skin, they begged to be nibbled on. His hair was loose of the formal braids from earlier, as if he’d second guessed something along the way, now spilling down his back between his wings, but a few long strands fell over his shoulder to his hips, the straight black strands shiny in the red light. He’d kept the shining silver jeweled forehead piece though, it caught the light and made him appear princely.
My nipples tightened against the fabric of the dress, and my skin grew heated. The male had no right to be this gorgeous. And he wasmine! Me, Patricia Dells from the poorest area of Chicago, former addict and prostitute, was going to marry this beautiful alien male.
I covered my grinning mouth with my fingers, and only barely managed not to dance around him.
“And you look very sexy in this outfit, Rema. I love your hair down like this,” I said, when I’d gotten myself under control,reaching out a hand to take a strand to run my fingers through it. His mottled brown wings were partially extended to the sides behind him, providing an illusion of privacy from the eyes at the table, though Lyees was still standing next to me.
Rema ran his secondary set of hands down the front of his tunic, tugging at the bottom with a grimace. “I believe the weavers made this too small.”
Itwastighter than normal. Not that I was going to complain. Rema was a heavily muscled male, much like an orc, with wide set shoulders and bulging arms. His thighs were easily twice the size of mine, and combined with his towering height, even taller than Jack’s six foot six frame, he cut a hyper masculine figure. His clothing tonight clung to every inch of him like a second skin. I was going to find the weaver who’d made this outfit and kiss them right on the mouth.
“You look amazing. Stop fidgeting,” I told him, catching his hands in mine.
He pulled me closer, tucking me into his side before turning to address Lyees.
“Thank you for escorting her, Lady Lyees. And for your hard work in preparing her.”
Lyees bowed over her lower hands, palms up before straightening to smile at us.
“It was my pleasure, truly.”
“Dhenea, if you are done making new friends, our guests would like to begin their meal.” The Queen's dual tone voice echoed in the room, and Lyees’s eyes danced with humor as she turned to address her. The desire in her emotions notched higher.Interesting.
I narrowed my eyes at them.
“Apologies, my Queen. I did not mean to keep you from your di’lii.” Lyees, or Dhenea, as that was apparently her first name, practically floated to the empty chair to the Queen’s right.
My eyes just about popped out of my head and rolled across the ground when the Queen stood, towering over the room but especially over the slight female, and moved to pull out Lyees’s chair. The eldritch horror that was the Neldre Queen then leaned down to plant a soft, lingering kiss to Lyees’s cheek before pushing her chair in and then taking her own seat back on the dining room throne.
Rema had to pilot me to our seats while I stared at Lyees. It wasn’t until Rema pushed my chair in that I noticed the plates were black glass. So were the cups, and the eating utensils. Gothic vampire dinner, indeed. Not that any of that mattered right now, however.
I looked between the Queen, who’d yet to address me, and Lyees, who sat like a golden pixie in her chair, all soft smiles and lingering glances at the four winged devil sitting to her left.
“Was no one going to tell me you were the Queen's main squeeze?”
Rema snorted out a startled laugh, and covered it with a cough. The conversation around the table died.
The six amber jeweled eyes of the Queen pinned me in place for a hard moment, before her sharp teeth were exposed in a smile.
“My translator is having difficulty deciphering what you mean, but I gather enough to understand you want to know if the Lady Lyees and I are a mated pair?”
Her dual tone voice gave me the uber creeps. Goosebumps pricked across my skin. “Yeah. I feel like that’s some pretty need to know information. Since she’s supposed to be my lady's maid or whatever.”
Oh my god, what if I’d stabbed her or something? Not that she’d done anything stab worthy but still!
Lyees leaned forward, laughing a little. “I am sorry, Patty. I sometimes forget to explain when dealing with other species.Here among my own kind, it is something that has always been for many generations.” She reached out with her left secondary hand and took the Queen's lower hand in hers. The Queen looked down at her with such a profound tenderness that it made me pause and watch her. “We have been mated for over a thousand years now. ”
My mind erupted into so many questions that they all blended together in a buzz of incoherent thoughts.
The Queen’s many eyes met mine and her smile widened, humor making her appear less scary. “Go ahead, ask. I know you desire to.”
I shifted in my chair, trying to organize the questions in order of importance. “Okay, first. Why is the Queen’s wife getting me dressed and acting as my guide? Seems like the job for a—” I waved my hand “—I don’t know, lower caste of Lady or whatever you call it. And second, “ I eyed the Queen, “Are you a different kind of Neldre? You’reverydifferent from the others.”
She was a giant nightmare, with four blood red wings and six freaking eyes.
I looked back at Lyees, and then at the Queen and then back at Lyees. “And how does that even work?” I asked, gesturing between them. The size difference alone was bordering on obscene.
