Protector of the Realm (51 page)

Wanting to deny the truth in what Rae said, Kellen knew she was right. As Armeo’s guardian, she would always have to do what was best for the boy.

“How can you say we have a choice, then?” Kellen said huskily. “I’ll live on Earth with Armeo while you’re out here fighting a war.”

“Yes, that’s
one
option.”

Trying to hinder the tears burning behind her eyelids, Kellen bit into the tip of her tongue before she spoke. “There are others?”

“My father is, legally speaking, Armeo’s ultimate guardian within the SC. My mother has also signed the documents and her status, her diplomatic immunity, is irreproachable. Due to their positions in the military and diplomat core, my parents reside in a high-level security area on Earth, a region called Northern Europa. It’s where I grew up.” Rae moved closer and cupped Kellen’s face with her hands.

“We’re not at war yet. I’ve been offered a position to head up Gamma stations V, VI, and VII. It’s mostly a desk job, and initially I’ll work from Earth. I told the Council I had to talk with you first, but I know they want me to offer you a commission as…well, I guess you can call it subject matter expert regarding Gantharat. You’d receive a provisional rank as ensign and serve directly under me. We really need your help.”

Her heart racing, Kellen stared into Rae’s stormy gray eyes. “Armeo…”

“I know. We have our sacred duty. We love him and don’t want to be away from him. But he’s safer on Earth, and I can do some, but not all, of my work from there. He would be staying with my parents in a family environment.” Rae tugged Kellen close and whispered in her ear. “If you do this, if you accept the Council’s offer, I promise you…” Rae broke off, rubbing Kellen’s shoulders, perhaps for emphasis. “I
promise
you, we’d spend as much time as possible on Earth, and I’d never refuse to let you go to him, no matter when you needed to. Your duty--
our
duty toward him--won’t be compromised.”

“He would stay with your parents?”

“Yes. Their estate is large. We would have our own quarters there. The de Vies family lives nearby. He’d be with his friend.”

Kellen inhaled Rae’s intoxicating scent, flowery and with a fresh touch of something fruity, and slid her arms around her lover. “I…” Her voice faded.

“You don’t have to decide this instant, darling.” Kellen felt Rae’s hands tremble. “Think about it, okay? I just know I can’t lose you. I love you and will do my best to be with you and Armeo as much as I can.”

“I love you too, Rae.” The words gushed out before she could stop them.

“I know. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I haven’t learned every little detail about you yet, and I can’t wait.” Rae’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she looked into Kellen’s. “I have no idea what providence sent you to me, but I know this much is true…I can’t imagine life without you.”

Kellen could only nod. “I’ll think about the Council’s offer.” She leaned back and lifted Rae onto her lap. “When do I have to let them know?”

“In a week or so. We need to know before the evacuation begins.” Rae nuzzled her neck. “I realize this is difficult for you, but trust that I’ll love and support you, no matter what you decide.”

As she slid her hands underneath Rae’s fairy-silk high-neck shirt and pushed it up, Kellen felt her mouth go dry at the sight of the pale, freckled skin. “It’s been so long,” she breathed. Needing to distract herself from the choice she had to make sooner or later, she caressed her way up until she could tug the garment over Rae’s head and toss it on the floor. “I’ve longed…to touch you.” Kissing along Rae’s shoulder and nibbling at her neck, Kellen smiled against the dampening skin when she heard Rae moan.

“Kellen…”

“Yes?”

“You burn me…again,” Rae whispered. “You’re fire. Pure fire.”

Kellen licked up along Rae’s neck before she moved up to claim her mouth, exploring every part of it with her tongue. The passionate kiss seemed to go on forever. Rae tugged at Kellen’s shirt, sending the small buttons flying across the coffee table. Pushing it down her shoulders, she revealed naked breasts with blue-red taut nipples, ready to be stimulated.

Breaking free from the kiss, Rae leaned down and cupped Kellen’s left breast, raising it to her hot mouth. When she closed over the hard peak, Kellen cried out as she felt small teeth bit gently into her tender flesh. The pain fueled her passion, making her arch into the touch. Holding Rae’s head with both hands, she guided her toward the other breast.

“Yes…just like that…” Whimpering, Kellen grew increasingly impatient. She grasped Rae around the waist and laid her down on the couch. Unbuttoning Rae’s uniform trousers, she ripped them off, together with her boots. As she knelt between her lover’s legs, she studied her closely before she removed Rae’s underwear.

Rae lay shivering on the couch, looking flustered and aroused. “What are you doing to me?” she said huskily. “God…I want you so much…” She seemed unable to lie still, shifting back and forth as she placed an arm over her eyes.

“No, not like that. Look at me,” Kellen demanded in a low voice. As she pushed Rae’s muscular, slender legs farther apart and bent them more, she began to get a good view. “I want to learn what pleases you most.”

“Oh, Kellen, all you have to do is touch me.”

“Like this?” Caressing inside the trembling legs, Kellen reached the auburn tuft of hair above the drenched folds. She allowed her thumbs to part them, exposing the copious wetness pooling there. “You want me.”

“Damn right, I do,” Rae managed, her voice throaty. “You’re driving me crazy.”

Kellen smiled. She was aroused as well and wiggled out of her slacks and underwear, keeping her unbuttoned shirt on. Leaning down, she kissed the area around Rae’s sex. She looked up at the rapt expression on Rae’s features and decided to push farther. “Reach down and spread yourself for me. That’s right. No, keep your legs bent.”

Kellen spread the wetness everywhere between Rae’s legs, rubbing tender fingers around her lover’s entrances. “I can’t wait to take you…to make you mine.” Kellen carefully slid two fingers inside.

“Oh!” Rae arched and spread her legs wider. “Oh, God.”

Curling her fingers slightly, Kellen moved them out halfway and in again. She let her tongue barely touch the erect clitoris between Rae’s folds.

Rae began to undulate and met each thrust of the insistent fingers. “More. Please…”

In a swift movement, Kellen added a third finger and used her other hand to caress Rae’s anus. Her fingers were slick with Rae’s juices, and she kept them hotly pressed against her lover, on the verge of penetration.

Rae breathed heavily and moaned with every breath. “The things…you do to me…”

The sight of the otherwise commanding woman writhing on the couch in abandon made Kellen’s own arousal surge. She needed to push Rae into the monumental pleasure and match her own feelings. Kellen opened her mouth and sucked the sensitized ridge of nerves inside. Licking it furiously, she pressed more fingers inside Rae, feeling an incredible tightness as she did.

Rae threw her head back and gave a short, high-pitched cry. Muscles contracted around Kellen’s fingers, as if to draw them farther in. Aroused beyond words, Kellen felt the first twitches inside herself. “Rae…now…come for me. With…me…”

Pleasure flooded every part of her system, and Kellen devoured the sensitive tissues before her, pushing inside the other woman, again and again, until her own orgasm began to mellow. Slowly she freed her hands and lifted Rae from the couch, again placing her on her lap. Mindful to wipe her hands, Kellen wrapped a velver-down blanket around both of them. She closed her eyes as she rocked the sobbing woman in her arms.

“Nobody has ever touched me like you do,” Rae said in a choked voice. “Nobody has loved me this way.”

“I’ve never loved anyone…or acted so freely--ever,” Kellen admitted, taken aback at how weak her voice sounded.

Nuzzling Kellen’s cheek, Rae tugged the blanket closer around them. “It’s amazing how I can let myself go when I’m with you. I can put everything else in my life on hold and just exist in the moment. It’s such an amazing gift…from you.”

“Only the two of us in the universe…” Kellen became quiet. “It’s a Gantharian song.” She trusted Rae to understand as she sang in a low voice.

I was lost and so were you,

And I was found where you begin.

I stayed with you,

I dreamed your dreams.

You claimed me,

Professed to love.

Each broken soul must find her own--

The two of us in the universe

Allow the planets to align.

“We learned that in the Academy of Pilots, believe it or not.”

“It’s beautiful, and you have a wonderful voice.” Rae gave a soft smile. “I think the song applies to us very well.”

“I do too.”

Silence descended as Kellen visualized the
Gamma VI
station revolving on its axis and watched its commanding officer close her eyes, wrapped up in the arms of the woman who loved her. Kellen smiled. “Go to sleep, Rae. I’ll watch over you.”

“Mm. You’ll be my protector?”

Soft laughter, stemming from sheer happiness, bubbled within Kellen. “Always.”

“It will begin in a few minutes, Ambassador.”

M’Ekar turned around and saw M’Indo standing in the doorway that led out to the large, mesh-covered veranda. The Jasin nights around the planet’s equator were filled with night insects, mostly large, bloodsucking mosquitoes. Though a vast, synthetic net saturated with a repellant to keep the damn bugs out engulfed his dwelling completely,
he
was locked in. Allowed only a few of his staff to accompany him, he had grudgingly agreed to live in a modest bungalow. Compared to his mansion on Gantharat, it was little more than a cabin.

“Ambassador?”

“Very well. I’m coming.” M’Ekar entered what passed for a salon and sat down on a three-seat couch. Secretly bracing himself, he looked up.

The large view screen on the wall showed the entire semicircle of the Council Chamber. The lowest section of the hall was called the Pit, and the tall podium in its center, the Speaker’s Pillar. Councilman Thorosac stood behind the podium, and Council members, representing their homeworlds, filled every seat in the gallery.

Reminded of ancient theaters on many worlds, M’Ekar smiled inwardly, thinking how many great, and not so great, actors in the political arena had stood in similar places, speaking truths and lies, just like in the Onotharian equivalent.

Thorosac now raised his hand, wordlessly asking for silence. The voices quieted, and then Thorosac spoke.

“Council members, honored guests. Today is a day of great importance. We stand united, for the first time in years, against the Onotharian Empire, determined to fight for justice and freedom. Our neighbors, the Gantharians, have paid a terrible price for having desirable natural resources and a politically important location.”

Several voices shouted agreement. Thorosac raised his hand, again requesting silence. “It is a day of resolve combined with regret. All hope for a peaceful solution to the conflict is gone. Onotharat refuses to draw back their occupation forces from Gantharat, and the Supreme Constellations cannot abandon a people seeking our assistance for a second time.” Thorosac paused.

“Three months ago, a young man took refuge in our part of space. He arrived with his guardian, a woman of great courage who has on several occasions proved herself loyal to him and, thus, to the SC. I want to introduce that young man: Armeo O’Saral M’Aido, exiled Prince of Gantharat.”

During complete silence a young boy entered from one of the doors leading to the podium. Dressed in an Earth school uniform consisting of gray twillmix slacks and a blue leathermix jacket, he walked the few steps across the pit and joined Thorosac by the podium.

“Prince Armeo…” M’Ekar whispered. He’d never met the child, only seen pictures taken covertly by the Onotharian intelligence. Armeo was a handsome boy, with a distinct resemblance to both his parents. His royal blood was obvious in the way he moved, and his keen eyes reminded M’Ekar of his late wife.

Two women followed him. The taller of the two, a striking blonde with shimmering blue eyes, stayed close to the child. Despite being of obvious Gantharian descent, she wore an SC uniform.
What the hell?
M’Ekar barely resisted the impulse to throw something at the screen.

The other woman stood next to the Gantharian, her commanding presence tangible. Wearing commodore rank insignias, the woman scanned the faces in the gallery.
And her! She and her mother made all this happen. Those Jacelon women will pay the price one day. One day, no matter how long it takes, I’ll make certain they know who they crossed--and they’ll regret it.

One Councilwoman rose from her chair in the first row, and then the man sitting beside her mimicked her, until a storm of applause thundered in the large hall. Armeo blushed at the reception, but he stood quietly next to Thorosac and waited for the cheering to subside. Only then did he step up to the sound system that would carry his voice to the Council members and every citizen throughout the SC watching on view screens.