“Understood,”Amee answered, her hologram disappearing.
We sat down together, all the air coming out of me with a whoosh of breath. “What the fuck just happened?”
We’d been cozy in our beds not five minutes ago and now it felt as if a bomb had gone off.
“This is it, Patty. The battle to end it all. This universe’s future will be decided by the victor,” he said, meeting my gaze. He took my hand in two of his, sandwiching it between them. “And here we are, with our friends scattered across the universe,” he finished with a frown.
I patted his cheek. “Hey, don’t worry. Jack has never let me down before, I don’t see her starting now. She’ll be here. And Aga and Callie will too. Or they better be because I don’t want to deal with that crocodile if he misses the war.”
Rema winced, his smile returning. “No. There would be no living with him if that should happen.”
That was an understatement. I imagine Aga would start flipping tables at random intervals every time the memory of missing the biggest battle of this generation popped into his mind.
We needed to delay the Unity… somehow. A thought lit up in my head… of one very scary lady.
“Hey Rema… could Imma— I don’t know—stall the Unity maybe? I know they are already fighting with the out planets, but could a ceasefire be called if someone powerful enough called for it? What’s the Neldre’s standing in the Unity?”
Rema’s lips flattened into a straight line as he thought about my question. He rubbed his chin, nodding after several long moments. “It might work. We have decent pull, the Queen being a formidable enemy when crossed. She and Ohem’s father, Thasnan, have known each other for hundreds of years, and he might parley with her if she requested it. We can ask her and see.”
A tentative plan was better than none at all.
“Right. Let’s go ask her.”
I went to stand, but Rema’s hand on my arm stopped me. I looked at him, saw his dry smile and frowned in confusion. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder right as the door to my sittingroom dinged open and a pissed off Imma stormed into my room dressed in a skimpy nightdress that gave me a nightmare inducing view of the outline of her dick. I was going to send a condolence card to Dhenea.
“That filthy snake has declared all out war! He’s calling for all Unity planets to send soldiers and supplies to support his war effort. You two have three more days left of your ceremony and no more time.”
“How the hell did you get here so fast?”
Imma stopped, her eyes rolling—which was a horrifying thing to see six eyes do—and popped her lower hands onto her hips. “Rema sent for me over the link, and because I have your comms monitored.”
Laying my head on Rema’s shoulder, suddenly exhausted, I narrowed my eyes at the red winged devil currently pacing in my room. “Why are you so hell bent on Rema and I getting married. Not that I’m complaining, but why did you make it a requirement for your support? Also monitoring my calls? Rude.”
Imma stopped pacing to look at me, all six eyes glaring. “ I am the Queen. I do what I need to do and monitoring your comms is part of that responsibility. I made your marriage a requirement because you are kin to the Rijitera called Jack. It is advantageous for one of our own high Houses to marry you, and Rema is as good as my child. I want a union between the Rijiteran clan and my people, Patty. It will let me sleep at night.”
Rema felt a spark of deep emotion when Imma had called him her child, the honeydew taste of his pleased acceptance of her love kept me from scowling at the woman.
“It feels super nice to be a chess piece, Imma, truly.”
The female scoffed, waving her primary hand at me. “Oh, save me your indignation. I like you, Patricia Dells, but if using you to solidify an alliance with the Rijiterans is what keeps them fromturning on us in the future, then that is what I will do. That you and Rema love each other is simply a happy bonus.”
A wisp of nervous uncertainty mixed with hopefulness wafted from Rema beside me, and I gave him a smile. His eyes widened when I didn’t deny that I loved him, and the tidal wave of happiness that exploded from him almost fried my senses.
“Yes, yes. She loves you, foolish male. Now, I will do as you suggest and try to stall the A’tens but do not get your hopes up. I’m sure Dhenea can think of a suitable reason to call a ceasefire, but in the meantime, I will be canceling Conviction and Quiet. You will only need to complete Heat, because the Court demands it, and seeing how I found you two in bed together, I suppose I can cancel Presentation. You have seen his cock, have you not?”
I grinned. “Oh yeah, I’ve seen it all right.”
“And you approve of it? Is it acceptable?”
Rema’s face turned hot pink, the tips of his pointed ears coloring at her words.
I licked my lips, remembering the taste of his cum on my tongue. “Yep. Acceptable. Totally.”
That had Rema shifting on the bench, his arousal spiking.
Imma clapped her upper hands together. “There, that settles that. So Heat and Consummation are next and we will just merge them into one day. And since we know that you both are burning for each other, I will take out a part of the dance, so that there are only two performances you must complete. We will move Celebration to the very end, so that the Court will have something to distract them after I announce we are going to war with the Unity and throwing ourselves under the command of the Rijitera,” she said with a grimace.
“She wouldn’t turn on you, by the way. That’s not how Jack is.”
