Burning for Love Read online

  “Yes!” she gasped and she found that she was—found that the pleasure was rushing over her, driving her Heat even higher. “James!” she cried—she was molten at the core! “James, now! I need your seed in me now!”

  “As…my Princess…wishes,” he growled, punctuating each word with a deep thrust. “But lean down. Need to…bite you.”

  He drew her down to him and Rissa bared her neck willingly, brushing her long hair aside for his fangs. With a feeling of being impaled in two places at once, she gasped as the sharp points pierced her tender flesh and his Essence flowed into her bloodstream.

  The big Kindred seemed to be injecting pleasure chemicals into her because they caused her to come again, her body clenching helplessly tight and her inner channel squeezing reflexively around the thick shaft that filled her.

  James groaned low in his throat, though he continued to bite her. And then he pressed deep inside her, the head of his cock giving the mouth of her womb a hard, passionate kiss. At last, he began to come.

  As Rissa finally felt his shaft pulsing inside her, a sensation of cooling relief suddenly rushed over her. The Heat which had been growing and expanding inside her—threatening to overwhelm her and burn her alive—was finally quenched in a rush.

  It felt as though she had been standing in the center of the blazing sun and then someone had pushed her under an icy waterfall, Rissa thought. The sensation of cooling was almost as good as the orgasm itself and she moaned aloud in pleasure and relief.

  “James…James!” she cried, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing down hard with her hips, to get him as deeply into her as she could. “That is perfect—amazing! Finally, I feel cool inside and out!”

  “I know, sweetheart,” said a deep, rumbling voice inside her head. “I can feel it—you are no longer in danger of combustion.”

  “James?” Rissa’s eyes had been clenched shut in pleasure but now they flew open. “Did you…did you just talk inside my head?” she asked breathlessly.

  He withdrew his fangs and looked up at her.

  “Yes, sweetheart, I did,” he said, still talking inside her mind, rather than using his mouth. “When I slaked your Heat, I bonded you to me. We formed a mental link that we can always use to communicate from now on.” He smiled up at her. “Go on—try it for yourself. Think something to me.”

  “Hello,” Rissa thought hesitantly. “Can you hear me?”

  “Of course I can.”

  “Oh—it works!” She laughed in delight at the discovery.

  A broad smile—the biggest she had ever seen on him—crossed James’s face.

  “Now I can feel your emotions as well as my own,” he sent to her, through their new connection. “I never knew how wonderful that could be. I love you so much, my Princess.”

  “I am not a Princess now,” Rissa told him. “Now I am simply yours, James.”

  “And I am yours as well,” he murmured and drew her down for a kiss.

  “Mmm…” Rissa wiggled a little, noticing that he was still hard inside of her. “James, I know that you told me Kindred men don’t have to wait to make love again and I can’t help wondering…”

  “If I might be up for round two?” he finished for her, his metallic blue eyes going half-lidded again.

  Rissa giggled—she was really enjoying this new kind of communication.

  “You read my mind.”

  “Not really—you just think really loudly. But it was on my mind, too,” James assured her. “Because this is our first bonding, it will probably take hours and hours to complete—especially since I have grown a Mating Fist which ties us together.”

  “That sounds fine to me,” Rissa told him, wiggling again. “I think it will probably take more than once to completely slake my Heat. Already I can feel it beginning to build again inside me.”

  “Mmm…in that case, let me slake it for you, sweetheart.”

  James kissed her again and slowly began to thrust.

  Rissa moaned contentedly and settled in for a long, passionate night of lovemaking with her new husband. Of course, they weren’t married yet, but James had been the one to slake her Heat and so she felt married to him in her heart already. And she was determined to remedy the situation and marry him properly as soon as possible to make everything legal and permanent between them.

  Whether she went back to Regalia Five or stayed here aboard the Mother Ship, she was never going to be parted from the man she loved again!

  60

  “Since you are asking my permission to be Joined, I am assuming the two of you are already Bonded?” Sylvan raised an eyebrow as he studied the two of them. They had knocked at his office door and asked to speak to him just as he was about to go to Mid-meal or “lunch,” as the humans called it.

  Truly, no one could have missed the fact that the two of them were a bonded couple now. Besides the fact that they had been holed up together for the past few days, Princess Ka’rissa also had that newly bonded glow a female always got after a night of truly wonderful bonding sex with her new mate. And J-8—or James, as he now preferred to be called—was positively beaming. Sylvan had never seen the stoic Dark Kindred emoting so obviously and openly. After a lifetime of having no emotions, it seemed he was making up for lost time.

  “We are bonded,” James confirmed, nodding firmly. “And I am well aware that this was not what you intended when you sent me to guard the Princess, Commander Sylvan,” he went on. “But I cannot be sorry—I feel that Ka’rissa and I were meant to be together. I honestly think the Goddess had me made specifically for her. When you consider that my Z’ngu DNA allows me to cool my body temperature in order to help control Ka’rissa’s temperature when her Heat rises—”

  “Whoa!” Sylvan raised both hands to stop him. “The Goddess?” he asked, frowning at James. “I thought you were an unbeliever?”

  “Not any more.” The other male shook his head firmly. “It was the Goddess who told me I must be ready for Ka’rissa’s call. And she also warned me when the Princess was about to drink poisoned tea,” he added.

  Sylvan frowned. He remembered the other male saying something about a message from the Goddess before he had gone to get the Princess off her home planet, but this was the first time he had heard about the poisoned tea. Still, it was clear that the Mother of All Life did indeed have her hand in this situation.

  “It seems that the Goddess has willed that the two of you should be together,” he told James and Ka’rissa. “And so, I cannot be upset, even though this is exactly what I was trying to avoid by sending a Dark Kindred…” he nodded at James, “whom I thought had no emotions to guard you, Princess.” He nodded at Ka’rissa. “But you should know, that things are progressing quickly on your home world of Regalia Five.”

  “What? What do you mean?” Ka’rissa asked, frowning.

  “I have here the latest copy of Lady TittleTattle’s Breadcrumbs,” Sylvan told them, lifting the piece of parchment, which he’d had specially delivered to the Mother Ship. “I was studying it to see if the Princess’s defection to another planet would cause any kind of outcry.”

  “Oh, dear! And has it?” Ka’rissa asked worriedly. “I told that young Communications officer that he mustn’t breathe a word to anyone of whom I was calling but I suppose his superiors got it out of him after all.”

  “To the contrary, Princess,” Sylvan told her. “He has kept your secret. No one on your home world knows that you are here with us. Indeed, they think you are dead.”

  “Dead?” Ka’rissa and James exclaimed at once.

  “Let me see!” Ka’rissa held out her hand and Sylvan gave her the gossip sheet. She scanned it quickly and then read aloud.

  “Gentle Reader, such sad news! We are all in mourning for our beloved Princess Ka’rissa, who was burned to ashes on her wedding night in a terrible accident which must be laid squarely at the feet of Lady Mildew, her former Companion. It seems that Lady Mildew thought it advisable to lock our dear Princess into a Chas
tity Device to which only she had the key. Then, in a fit of spite, she burned the key before the Princess’s new husband, Lord Shammington, could unlock it and slake her Heat. His Highness watched in horror as our beloved Princess burned to ashes, right before his eyes, unable to do anything about it!

  I am sorry to be so very graphic, Dear Reader, but I cannot find a gentler way to put these dreadful events. Of course, Lady Mildew is to be punished for her evil deeds. She shall hang for all to see this very seven-day, right after the coronation of Lord Shammington as the new King of Regalia Five.”

  Ka’rissa stopped reading, her eyes wide.

  “This very seven-day!” she exclaimed, looking at James. “Dearest, I have completely lost track of time! What is today by my world’s calendar?”

  “Six-day,” James said, frowning. “It seems that tomorrow, Duke Grabbington is going to try to usurp your rightful throne.”

  “Wait—Duke Grabbington?” Sylvan shook his head. “Explain, please. The Breadcrumbs talks about a Lord Shammington—it doesn’t mention anything about a Duke.”

  Rapidly, Ka’rissa explained to him about the lecherous, rejected suitor who had donned a disguise in order Join with her even though she had rejected him. Sylvan frowned deeply as he heard how the male had been planning to let her burn to death so he could rule Regalia Five on his own, without her interference.

  “He must have gotten a pile of ashes from the fireplace and claimed that it was your remains,” James said to his new mate. “And now he plans to pin your supposed death on Lady Mildew and claim the throne for himself.”

  “And all of it is happening tomorrow!” The Princess put a hand to her cheek, which had gone slightly pale. “What are we going to do?”

  “What do you want to do?” Sylvan asked reasonably. “Do you wish to get involved? The Kindred High Council will support you, if you do. We are your sworn allies and you are the rightful ruler of Regalia Five, after all.”

  “I feel I must get involved,” Ka’rissa said earnestly. “Lady Mildew is a horrid old woman and she has been cruel to me in the past, but I cannot see her hang. Just as I cannot, in good conscious, allow my planet to be ruled by an unprincipled monster like Duke Grabbington!” She shook her head. “But how are we to stop him? We only have a day to prepare!”

  “That should be long enough,” Sylvan remarked. “According to Lady TittleTattle’s Breadcrumbs, both the hanging and the coronation are to take place tomorrow at noon and both will be broadcast planet-wide. I think it’s safe to say, almost every person on Regalia Five will be watching.”

  “I see.” James leaned forward, knitting his brow. “That is, I think I begin to see your plan, Commander Sylvan.”

  “I do as well,” Ka’rissa said cautiously. “But it will be tricky to pull off, I fear.”

  “The Kindred are behind you,” Sylvan said firmly. “We have stealth technology that will allow us to enter unobserved until the last minute. Now, let us plan the details…”

  61

  The Grand Ballroom in the Royal Palace had been completely redecorated for the big day. In the center of the huge room, a large stage had been erected. It included both a golden throne…and a hangman’s gibbet. To one side of the gibbet stood the hapless Lady Mildew. She was dressed in black with her hands tied behind her back.

  On the other side of the stage was the Steward, who was at last ready to hand over the crown, now that a worthy successor to the old King had finally been found. He was sitting not on the throne, but on the small silver chair which was usually reserved for the Steward during such ceremonies.

  Before the stage were numerous communications specialists with their cameras and equipment. All of Regalia Five would be glued to their viewscreens on this very special day, both to witness the coronation of a new King and the hanging of the villainess who had killed the lovely young Princess before she could ever become their Queen.

  Duke Grabbington surveyed all of this with delight from the double doors leading into the ballroom. His wig, with the projection bead firmly in place, was on his head, showing the youthful appearance of the late Lord Shammington to all who looked at him. And soon it would be King Shammington the Just, he told himself. Or maybe King Shammington the Wise. Or possibly King Shammington the Handsome. He hadn’t decided what he would call himself yet—what title would be entered into the history books. He only knew that all his dreams of absolute power and untold wealth were about to be realized at last.

  Of course, there was the little mystery of what had actually happened to Princess Ka’rissa. But the Duke didn’t concern himself with that overly much. One of the guards had seen her running out into the gardens. Probably she had combusted out there, somewhere on the vast grounds of the palace, and was now nothing but a pile of ashes and some melted slag from her Chastity Device under some distant tree or bush.

  Where, exactly, she had died didn’t matter to the Duke. And since it had been several days since she had disappeared on their “wedding night,” he was quite sure she was dead. There was no way she could have survived her Heat Cycle rising without being able to slake her Heat. And no one could slake it for her, since the Chastity Device had been completely unbreakable and the only key to it had been destroyed.

  The Duke considered himself especially clever for his construction of the lie about Lady Mildew’s involvement in the incident.

  “She has always been jealous of my darling Ka’rissa’s youth and beauty—the Princess told me so!” he had cried dramatically, pointing at the confused old woman, whom he had told the guards to drag out of bed in the middle of the night. “She threw the only key to the Princess’s Chastity Device into the fire and declared that she should burn! And so she did—before I could save her!”

  He had pointed with a shaking finger to the pile of ashes he had swept up from the fireplace and heaped carefully onto the golden rug in the middle of the honeymoon bed chamber floor. He had sobbed noisily—a new husband overcome with grief at the loss of his lovely young wife.

  The guards had marched the bewildered Lady Mildew away to the dungeons to await her fate and the Duke had immediately set his plans in motion for a swift coronation. Today, with the planet still stunned and grieving for the lost Princess, he would take the crown and claim the throne as his own.

  “And then all will be right with the world,” Duke Grabbington muttered, smiling smugly.

  “Your Highness, the ceremony is about to begin,” murmured his personal Valet. “Are you quite ready?”

  “I am.” Duke Grabbington rubbed his hands together, eyeing the golden throne with avarice in his eyes. “Ready to claim what is mine. By all means, let us begin.”

  62

  “…and so,” the Steward droned as he stood before the golden throne, holding the heavy, ceremonial crown in his hands. “Though we all miss our beloved Princess Ka’rissa, we must accept the reality of her untimely death. Thankfully, she does not leave us completely without leadership. For the late Princess’s new husband, Lord Shammington, does indeed have the blood of the Very First Family flowing through his veins. Enough so that he is, in my estimation, more than eligible to be crowned the King of our fair planet, Regalia Five.” He turned to the young, handsome Lord, who stood looking modestly straight ahead into the communications devices, which were picking up his straight, well-formed figure and broadcasting it around the planet. “Your Highness, do you wish to say anything before you receive the crown?”

  “Indeed, I do.” Duke Grabbington disguised as Lord Shammington—soon to be King Shammington—nodded gracefully. “First, I wish to assure the people that the evil woman responsible for my beautiful wife’s death shall answer for her crimes.” He pointed across the stage and all the cameras zoomed out in order to include the hapless Lady Mildew in the shot.

  She was standing with her hands bound behind her back and a hangman’s noose already around her neck. She was gagged as well, so that she couldn’t interrupt the ceremony.

  “This horrid creature
was the Princess’s Constant Companion for many years—but her heart was black with corruption and jealousy for the lovely young Ka’rissa’s beauty and status,” the Duke went on, his voice breaking touchingly on his late wife’s name. “The moment I take the throne, she shall swing from the gibbet you all see before you and my darling Princess Ka’rissa shall be avenged.”

  There was an approving roar from the crowd of Nobles who were standing around the golden stage, waiting to see both the coronation and the hanging. It rebounded from the ballroom’s high ceiling, making the noise even louder, so that it sounded like thousands cheering instead of just hundreds. None of them had liked Lady Mildew—the contentious old creature—so they were delighted to see her hang for the supposed murder of the late Princess.

  The disguised Duke smiled in satisfaction. Surely everyone at home was cheering too, glad to know that the murderess who had killed the lovely young Princess would have her comeuppance and that the planet would soon be safe in the hands of a qualified King. Not the dithering old Steward and not a flighty young woman but a man who would do things right.

  The first thing I shall do is raise taxes planet-wide, he thought, as he nodded calmly to the cameras. And maybe enact a few more laws to put women in their place. There is entirely too much freedom for the female sex on Regalia Five at the moment.

  He was mainly thinking of how Ka’rissa had been allowed to reject his suit in the first place. It seemed to him that law number one should be that no woman should be allowed to reject a man who asked for her hand in marriage. And several more laws that made wives completely subservient to their husbands would be nice as well…

  “Thank you, Your Highness,” the Steward said, breaking his train of thought. He lifted the heavy crown with trembling arms and nodded.