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  I had to force the words out—the idea of him with another woman sent a bitter zing of jealousy through me, though I didn’t know why. Still, it was only fair, right?

  “Do you mean I might find another female and have her sexually?” He sounded shocked, as though I had suggested he go commit some kind of a blasphemy.

  “Well, yeah—since you’re not, uh, allowed to do anything with me. Not that I want you to,” I added quickly. “I just mean with all your weird rules and everything…”

  “I will not touch another female,” he growled as though the very thought disgusted him. “Never.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to offend you. Do you not, uh, have relationships with other women while you’re serving the Empress?”

  “I have not been intimate with a female for ten cycles—since right before I entered Sundalla the 999th’s service,” he growled, still sounding offended. “As I told you before, my chastity is dedicated to the Empress’s service and I take my vows very seriously.”

  “Ten years? Wow—that’s some dry spell,” I murmured. “And I thought I held the record there.”

  “You have not…been intimate for some time?” he asked.

  “No.” I sighed. “Not since I was attacked by a drunk frat guy in college. After that I just didn’t…want anything to do with it anymore. Not that it was great before that.”

  I felt Kristoff stiffen behind me, this time with rage.

  “What was his name, this male who attacked you?” His voice was a low, fierce growl. “I will hunt him down and kill him.”

  “I don’t know who he was,” I said honestly. “It was dark and I couldn’t see his face.”

  “The coward,” Kristoff growled. “To attack a defenseless female in the darkness!”

  “Not completely defenseless,” I said sharply. “I did manage to fight him off. He…” I swallowed hard. I didn’t like to remember the details of the attack. “He had me pinned and he was trying to spread my legs but I…I got a knee up and rammed him in the balls.”

  “Good.” Kristoff’s approval was sharp and immediate. “He deserved to have them cut off if he tried to take you—to take any female—against her will.”

  “I happen to agree,” I said as lightly as I could. “But I left my butcher knife back at my dorm room so I had to content myself with kneeing him in the balls and running away.”

  “And you have feared to be intimate with a male since then?” he murmured.

  “Not feared exactly.” I sighed. “I told you, I’ve never had much in the way of sexual feelings. It just seemed like a lot of fuss and bother over nothing. And after the…the attack, I felt like doing it even less.” I shrugged. “So I decided just to forget about it and concentrate on getting my degree.”

  It seemed incredibly strange to be lying naked in the dark with him and having such an intimate conversation when I hadn’t even known him two days ago. Strange but somehow completely right. I hadn’t even told Leah and Zoe everything that I had just told the big alien who was holding me so gently in his arms, and yet, telling Kristoff seemed natural somehow. I don’t know how I knew it, but I understood instinctively that he would never betray my confidences or tell my secrets. And he wouldn’t think less of me either, no matter how embarrassing they were.

  “Well…” I sighed and settled down, my head pillowed on his muscular bicep. “I’m getting tired. It’s been a long day…or night…or whatever it is.”

  “Then you should sleep,” Kristoff murmured. “I will hold you and ward your dreams, my Lady.”

  “Told you…” I yawned, finding that I hadn’t been lying—I really was tired. “You can call me Charlotte.”

  “That’s not proper,” he murmured, but I thought I heard amusement in his voice.

  “I don’t care.” I yawned again and let my eyelids drift closed. “Don’t care about propriety.” Which was clearly evident by the way I was sleeping naked and spooned up against a strange man.

  Only he’s not so strange anymore is he? whispered a little voice in my head. In fact, I think you’re becoming quite attached to your new bodyguard.

  Doesn’t matter if I feel attached to him or not—it’s not sexual between us, I reminded myself, even as I nestled my breast into his big palm and pressed my bottom against his hard shaft. Not even a little. The only reason we’re so close is so my symptoms don’t come back.

  It was true—I was sure of it. So then why did that strange little tingle follow me down into sleep?

  Kristoff

  It was, as I had told her, sweet torture to hold her lush body close and be unable to pleasure her. I couldn’t help feeling the soft weight of her full breast in my hand, and the press of her ripe ass against my hard shaft was nearly maddening.

  I wanted desperately to roll her sweet nipple between my thumb and fingers, drawing a low moan from her throat, and then to slide down between her legs and pleasure her with my mouth and tongue.

  The oral pleasuring of a female—of his goddess—is what every Majoran male craves with all his being. In fact, bringing a female to orgasm in this way is the most effective way to make a Majoran warrior come as well. Show me a male who can kneel between his goddess’s legs and make love to her with his mouth without coming and I’ll show you a male made of stone.

  I could picture myself between Charlotte’s thighs right now—rubbing my cheeks against her soft mound of blonde curls, kissing every inch of her outer pussy first, then going deeper. Spreading the lips of her sweet sex to find her Goddess-pearl nestled in her inner folds like a treasure. I would bathe it with my tongue, tracing gently and firmly, savoring her secret flavor while she pulled my hair and moaned her delight, begging me never to stop, calling my name as I tasted her…

  Stop! I ordered myself. It can never be between you—don’t torture yourself with such inane thoughts and fantasies.

  I tried to heed my own advice but it was hard…so hard. Especially with my new mistress curled lush and naked in my arms. I hoped that the healer waiting for us on Denaris would be able to give Charlotte something to help with her withdrawal symptoms.

  I’m a strong male but I didn’t know how much of this I could stand.

  You’ll stand as much as you have to—as much as the new Goddess-Empress deems necessary, Verrai, I told myself sternly. I thought again of the tale of Sundalla the 887th and her Imperial Guard. It was all written down in a hologramatic scroll in the Great Library of Femme One—it was one of the texts we of the Imperial Guard were made to study. It was meant to teach us that everything we did was only for our Empress’s pleasure and our bodies were meant only to serve her.

  Goddess—how I longed to serve her that way now! Especially after the long, intimate talk we had just had. It was much like the way I had used to talk to my old mistress, Sundalla the 999th, who confided in me almost from the start of my service to her. But the conversation I’d had with Charlotte held a special intimacy because she was curled naked in my arms as we spoke—I’d certainly never had that with my old mistress! Though the former Empress told me everything in her heart, she had always kept me at an arm’s length physically—which was, of course, right and proper.

  It was different with Charlotte. She pressed herself against me as she told me things—painful things—that I thought she might have kept secret in her own heart for many long years. It made me feel close to her, to feel that she trusted me enough to confide in me and know I would keep her confidences. We had talked the way lovers might talk—honestly and openly and the connection between us had been established as it hadn’t been back on her home planet of Earth.

  It felt almost like the beginning of a bond.

  But I knew that could never be. Once we reached Femme One, the Council of Wisdom would appoint Consort candidates, Charlotte would give them each a few drops of her blood, and her true withdrawal would begin, leading her to the male who was supposed to be her mate.

  Of course, all this would take place only after Charlotte
had passed the trials to prove she was the True Incarnation. But I didn’t anticipate much difficulty there—she had the rainbow aura. Though I was the only one who could see it, it proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was, indeed, Sundalla the 1000th. And the Council would see the truth of it during the trials.

  Charlotte would be crowned, enthroned, and mated all within the space of days. And I…I would guard her the rest of my life and probably never hold her like this again.

  It was the life I had chosen willingly and I had never regretted it. I didn’t regret it now. I simply pulled her closer and buried my face in her hair, breathing in the warm, sweet scent of her.

  Remember this, Verrai, I told myself. Treasure this memory in your heart. It’s the only time you’ll hold the goddess you serve in such a way. It is an honor and a pleasure never to be forgotten.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Charlotte

  I woke to a feeling I’d never had before.

  It started as that little tingle I’d been feeling before I fell asleep and grew into a warm glow that started somewhere in my pelvis and seemed to spread outward.

  I lay there in Kristoff’s arms, still half asleep, wondering what was happening to me. Was this another symptom of the Burning Blood disease I’d somehow contracted by giving him a transfusion of my blood? But it wasn’t unpleasant—it didn’t make me feel like I was burning up or that I couldn’t breathe.

  In fact it was kind of nice—a warm, tingling glow that seemed to encompass my whole body. It did seem to center on my breasts and the area between my legs, though.

  I shifted a little and had to bite back a little cry as my nipple brushed against Kristoff’s big hand. He was still cupping my breast as he had been when we fell asleep. Also, his shaft was still pressed against my ass. Which felt really interesting for some reason.

  Experimentally, I shifted again, deliberately letting my sensitive peak rub against his palm, and nearly moaned. That felt good. Really good. Good in a way I had never felt before.

  I thought back to the two other lovers I’d had back on Earth. Both had been especially eager to play with my breasts—I have big ones which a lot of guys like—although I’d always considered them a nuisance. But I’d never felt much of anything while they were pawing and fondling me—it just didn’t turn me on.

  Now, the lightest brush of my nipple against Kristoff’s hand sent a hot spark of pleasure straight through me—from my breast all the way down to the area between my thighs. Why?

  Speaking of the area between my legs, I was feeling a strange fullness and heat there. It made me press my thighs together, which caused an almost electrical jolt of pleasure to go through me. God, I was so sensitive! Why was that?

  I had no idea why—I only knew the feelings were growing, filling me with a need that was as unfamiliar as it was frightening.

  Back on Earth, I had never had these feelings. I had read about them, watched tons of TV shows and movies that included them, but never actually had them myself. I had tried masturbating but it didn’t do a damn thing for me so I gave it up. Most days I lived entirely in my head. I felt like I had more in common with Vulcans—the race of beings who favored logic over emotion on the old Star Trek shows Zoe made me watch with her—than I did with my fellow humans.

  Now I was feeling all-too human but I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not.

  Moaning softly, I spread my thighs, trying to ease some of the ache I was feeling. My pussy felt hot and swollen and throbbing. I wondered if it looked like it felt. The room had lightened some—a soft, overhead glow which seemed to come from the corners and cast a golden, indirect illumination almost like an artificial dawn. Being careful not to wake the still-sleeping Kristoff, I scooted a little away from him and opened wider, peering down at myself.

  What I saw made me suck in my breath.

  My pussy lips were puffy and pink, fuller than I had ever seen them. My clit, like a little pink pearl, was peeping out from between my glistening wet folds, as though begging for attention.

  I had never seen myself look that way before. So…ripe. What was going on with my body? Why was I suddenly having feelings that had eluded me my entire life up until now?

  “Gods…so beautiful.” Kristoff’s low, hoarse voice behind me startled me. I looked up over my shoulder and realized he was surveying my body.

  “Kristoff!” Feeling shy, I tried to shut my thighs. But the pressure and need were too much. With a little cry, I had to open them again, baring myself and my new, shameful desire to the man behind me.

  “Forgive me, my Lady,” he murmured in a deep voice. “But you need not be ashamed to show your body to me.”

  “I…I wasn’t trying to, uh, show it,” I said, my voice tight with embarrassment. “I was just…trying to figure out what’s going on with me. I feel…strange today.”

  “Are you having pain?” he asked, sounding concerned.

  “Not exactly…” I didn’t know how to explain the throbbing, tingling warmth that seemed to radiate outward and center in my nipples and pussy.

  “You may be entering the needing stage of your Royal Cycle,” he murmured. “My Lady, would you permit me to perform a test?”

  “What…what kind of test?” I asked uncertainly.

  “A test for sensitivity. I believe it will help us learn what’s happening to your body—such information could be vital when we get to Denaris.”

  “I…I thought we were going to Femme One,” I whispered.

  “We are. But given your extreme symptoms last night, I wanted to take you to a healer first. Don’t worry—she was the official court physician to your predecessor, Sundalla the 999th. I trust her implicitly.”

  “Well, if you trust her then I trust her,” I said. “But…why should you perform a, uh, sensitivity test now if we’re going to a doctor?”

  “To give her an idea of what stage of your cycle you’re in,” he said. “But if you’d rather not, we can wait until we get to Denaris and let Dr. Churika perform it. We should be in orbit soon.”

  I thought of letting a stranger I didn’t know touch me…as opposed to letting Kristoff, who I was beginning to know and trust, do it.

  It was no contest.

  “Do it,” I whispered. “Do the, uh, sensitivity test, Kristoff. I’d rather have you do it than anyone else.”

  “My Lady honors me with her trust,” he murmured. “Very well, lie on your back and relax.”

  It was easier said than done—the relaxing part, I mean. My whole body felt tight as a wire but somehow I managed to make myself lay back and keep my arms and legs open, though I desperately wanted to close them.

  Kristoff leaned over me, propped on one arm, and for a moment, he just looked at me, his eyes changing color rapidly as he took me in.

  “Kristoff…” I murmured, shifting uneasily. “Is this, uh, part of the test?”

  “Forgive me, my Lady—no it is not. I was just admiring your beauty. Your curves are so ripe and full.”

  “We call that being plus-sized on Earth,” I remarked. “And it’s not exactly considered a good thing.”

  “Truly?” He looked at me, frowning. “How can it not be? Your curves are formed in the likeness of the Goddess—they should be worshiped accordingly.”

  I didn’t know how I felt about being “worshipped” but I did know that my body was aching for some reason. Aching and throbbing in a way that made me feel restless and anxious.

  “Kristoff,” I said, “when does this, uh, test begin?”

  “Now,” he murmured. Leaning over me, he began to blow a cool, ticklish stream of air over my heated skin.

  You wouldn’t think such a small thing would have much of an effect on me—well, you’d be wrong. Though he didn’t touch me a bit—not with his hands, anyway—that cool stream of air seemed to light up my body like a Christmas tree.

  “Kristoff,” I whispered in a tight voice as he blew lightly across my nipples, which were now tight and aching. “What are you
doing?”

  “Gauging your sensitivity, as I said, my Lady,” he murmured. “Do you feel yourself stirred when I do this?”

  Stirred? Hell yes, I was stirred! But it was too embarrassing to admit.

  “I…I guess so,” I murmured, fighting the urge to press my breasts up to him and try to get those luscious lips of his wrapped around my nipples. Well, that was certainly something I had never craved before!

  “Then I must continue lower, to gauge your reaction below,” he murmured. “Will you allow it, my Lady?”

  “I…sure. Okay,” I said, my voice coming out slightly breathless.

  “Thank you,” Kristoff said. Leaning over me, he blew that same, cool, ticklish stream of air over my body. Starting at my collar bones, he moved lower, past my breasts and over my trembling belly. Finally he reached the apex of my thighs.

  I jumped and gasped when the cool air stirred the neatly trimmed curls on my mound. It was simply too much to bear—even though he was just blowing on the top of my pussy I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin.

  Kristoff stopped at once.

  “Ah—I fear you’re too sensitive for me to test you here,” he murmured.

  Somehow I didn’t want him to stop.

  “No, I’m not,” I protested breathlessly. “Please…please, don’t stop.”

  He looked up at me, those amazing eyes half-lidded with an emotion I didn’t dare to name.

  “Very well, my Lady, but if I’m to continue, you’ll need to spread your legs for me.”

  I did as he said without protest, spreading my thighs to bare myself completely. As I spread, I felt my pussy open as well—my outer lips so full and ripe they were spreading on their own to reveal my swollen clit. I had never felt so incredibly exposed with anyone—it was too much.

  With a little cry of embarrassment, I reached down to cover myself. But Kristoff caught my wrist and brought my hand firmly back to my side.