Rathal had risen and was wading through the heated water towards the stairs with me wrapped in his arms. He’d somehow shifted me from straddling him to a bridal carry without waking me up.
“How long was I asleep?” I asked, rubbing at my eyes with the heel of my palm.
“A little less than an hour. You needed your rest,” he said, gloating.
I’d say that I had created a monster, but I suspect he’d always been this way and was just getting worse with age. He carried me up the four steps and out of the pool, walking towards the exit, but stopped right in front of the door and waved his hand over a small recessed circle that had a tiny scanner lens in the center. It blinked twice and then a panel popped out an inch from the wallwith a hiss of billowed steam. Rathal pulled the panel out and inside were neatly folded white towels. He gently set me on my feet and shook one of the towels out and I discovered that they were actually plush robes.
He held the robe out for me and I slipped my arms into the sleeves and groaned at how warm and soft it was. It smelled like fresh lemongrass and fell to my ankles. Rathal pulled the front closed and the robe self-sealed with what felt like magnets sewed into the edges. He then reached back into the panel and procured a pair of fluffy white slippers for me. I slid them on, ever thankful that they were just as warm as the rob.
“Pretty fancy little spa you have down here.”
Rathal grinned at me as he put his own robe and slippers on. It was funny seeing shoes made for what amounted to overgrown dog feet.
“I’m shocked these aren’t fuzzy and pink with little pom poms on them or something,” I teased, pointing at his slippers.
He huffed at me, pressing a hand to his chest. “Darling, spa clothes should be soothing, not thought provoking. I have some decorum.”
“Barely,” I muttered under my breath as he scooped me back up into his arms.
A sharp sting on my right butt cheek had me yelping and I glared up at his face only to be met with a smug smile and laughing brown eyes.
“I heard that, my prize. It's rude to sass talk the male who delivered such excellent climaxes. It's ungrateful really.”
I narrowed my eyes further. “You just wanted to pinch my butt.”
He sucked his lips in and tried to look innocent.
“You are so full of shit.”
He laughed and started down the spooky tomb corridor and back up the stairs to the lift. People stared this time on thewalk back to the palace. Blatantly curious stares from some, while others appeared shocked, like it was outside of Rathal’s character to be carrying around a female through the station. He’d announced our marriage on the general net, but I imagine reading and seeing were two different things. Rathal had told me that he was very selective in who he spent his time with, so most on the station were not accustomed to seeing him with a female.
Exactly how long does an immortal go between lovers? The thought brought to mind one of the questions I’d been meaning to ask either Jack or Anu but had never gotten around to it. Might as well ask Rathal, especially now that we were married.
“So Jack said she had ten aunts, right? How many kids does a typical long lived person have?”
If I ever wanted children—which as of right now I didn’t—I’d want to have a decent idea of what was typically expected family planning wise among aliens. My nanos rendered me sterile until I decided otherwise. Not that being with Rathal made me think of breeding or anything kinky.
Not at all.
This was a perfectly random thought that had absolutely nothing to do with the ridiculous amount of cum that Rathal had filled me with.
Right?
Right.
Rathal hummed thoughtfully. “Rijiteran’s were a lot like humans in that they bred in large amounts, though in one hundred year cycles. Usually ten children to a cycle, so that the siblings were all around the same age with only a year or two between them. That way a young Rijitera had a group of siblings they could play with and be close to. If you live forever, having siblings your age is nice. A happily mated female would have hundreds of children if she was one of the ancients. Yenes hadone hundred and twenty five children.” He looked down at me with a fond smile. “She had fifteen in one of her cycles.”
I gaped up at him. “That’s a lot of freaking kids.”
There was no way in hell I was doing any of that.
Fuck no.
Rathal nodded, chuckling and started up the stairs of the palace. “There were billions and billions of Rijitera just on Ara’Ama alone. If you think ten children sounds like a handful, now imagine those children are born fully formed, though miniature, complete with fangs and claws and homicidal tendencies. With the way most cycles worked out, the children would only have a year between them, so they were like a feral little pack of spree killers who defied authority and chewed the furniture.”
He laughed out loud, shaking his head. “I was the same age as Hella when she and her pack of sisters ran like wild hellions through the palace. Her poor mothers were always exhausted and snarling.”
His smile faded, the light in his eyes dying like someone had snuffed it out. “Only Yalea made it off the planet alive. Her mate, Vehrai, died early during the Plague.” He looked at me, an old sharp sadness present in his eyes. “They were fierce guardians of Empress Yenes. Bigger than most Rijitera. Yalea had the darkest black fur I’d ever seen in any Rijiteran who tended towards browns and grays. She seemed to absorb all the light around her, the antithesis of her mate Vehrai, who was as white as starlight.” He took in a deep breath and released it. “I’d always thought of them as indestructible. They included me in their family chaos since I was an only child. It was a shock to learn that one of them had died, though they had managed to get all of their younger children on theVengeancein time.”
