Page 21 of The Pleasure Contract

I can’t help the smile on my face – a smile so wide, my cheeks hurt.

She turns back to Lady, giving her some special scritches by her facial frill. “Vel showed us a game one time. That’s all. I didn’t understand any of it.”

Deciding that she doesn’t like Lady getting all of Lois’ attention, Puff’s big head approaches her from behind, butting gently into her rear, demanding to be pet, too. Lois startles at first, and I reach out to steady her, but she’s soon giggling and giving both drak heads a fuss.

“All my girls together,” I sigh, happier than a zulix-hog in shit.

Lois shakes her head. “You’re relentless.”

I lean in close. “Is it working?”

Lois narrows her eyes at me. “Depends what you’re trying to achieve here, Prince Az.”

I step closer, dropping my voice. “Giving you the ride of your life, of course,” I tell her, not allowing Lois time to react before I scoop her up and over my shoulder. She squeals and squirms, and my heart is thudding excitedly in my chest as I stride to the mounting side of Lady. I have never handled a female like this before. Not a real one, anyway.

“Easy, easy,” I murmur, patting Lady’s shifting flank, letting her know we’re about to mount. Very briefly, I wonder if the same command and a pat to the rear would work similarly on my female?

“Az, put me down!”

I do as she asks, which is probably for the best. I enjoy when my Lois turns into a hissing sand-cat and gets a little mean with me, but I’m not as stupid as I look. I’m not going to force her into the saddle. But I can’t help trap her against the scaly side of my drak, my hands braced above her as she looks up at me with those gorgeously furious eyes. “Come ride with me,” I say, my voice low and scratchy in my throat. “I promise you will enjoy yourself.”

She assesses me for a moment or two before there’s the barest of nods – and somehow even that tiny gesture still feels like a chastisement. But I wouldn’t expect anything less from such a devastatingly stunning little standoffish creature. So I do the only thing I can – stand there, grinning like the stupid geliklik I am when I’m around her.

11

Lois

The saddle is soft, worn leather. The kind of leather that warms quickly after contact. My step-dad, Jerry, had owned what he’d claimed to be a real leather recliner chair that took pride of place right in front of the TV. He loved that thing even though it always felt cold. No one else was allowed to sit in it when he was home. Right before things got really bad – when money got so tight, having cereal for dinner started to become a regular thing – he tried to sell it. The guy who came to pick it up refused the price Jerry was asking because he claimed it was cheap, plastic faux-leather. Jerry ended up refusing the sale, stating he’d rather keep the chair if he can’t fetch a decent price for it. That was right before he started asking Mom to-

I shake the memories from my head before I start wandering down avenues and alleys that lead to darker places.

Fuck, I miss my mom.

Sighing, I brush the pads of my fingers over the elaborate embroidery that runs along the edges of the saddle.

Az had been about to swing his leg – about to seat himself behind me. But he pauses, ducking his head to look me in the eye. “Is all well?… I promise you, Lois, I will not let harm come to you.”

A humorless chuckle escapes me. “You better not!” I say, trying to avoid any further probing.

It doesn’t work.

Az still hasn’t sat his ass down in the saddle. Instead, he balances there, one foot in the stirrup as he waits for me to say more.

I don’t want to say more.

I shake my head again, looking down at the gold-thread embroidery. Absently, my fingers trace a swirling script that my translator belatedly reconfigures until my brain can read it properly in Earth English: Prince Az Zerradaeth Xeverrique, Ninth Son of King Zeelix Xeverrique IV, Second Prince of the Northern Principality, First Drak Rider, Seven Times Xaviann drakball Champion.

I pull my hand back, realizing I’ve been caressing Az’s very long, very illustrious, very… formidable-sounding title. “Uh… I just-… I’ve just been missing my mom, that’s all.”

The truth slips out. I can feel my cheeks start to heat.

What I want is to either get off this creature or for Az to hurry up and get going with this ride. But he doesn’t move. Instead, he waits for me to look at him.

And it’s such an unexpectedly comforting sight when I finally do. His pretty brown eyes with pinkish flashes scan my face, briefly flitting down to where I’d been idly, unknowingly, stroking his name.

“Your mother was fond of drak-riding, was she?” he finally asks when it’s become very clear I wasn’t going to say anything else.

The joke is welcome. It feels like a key that’s unlocked the sudden tightness in my heart.