The Claiming of a Virgin King (4 page)

William waited, wondering how her
words would resonate with the alien leader, but he simply smiled
and nodded slowly.

“
As you say.” He gestured
behind them, to the group of males and females who were watching
the exchange curiously. “There is much to see on these islands. I
would be happy to give you a tour of them myself.”

“
That would be welcome,”
William replied. “But a tour must take second place to our
business. We are here to see Lord Dragan.”

Lei nodded. “Of course you are. He is
expecting you. We saw your ship approach some hours
ago.”

William had to work hard to conceal
his shock at that. Though he had known that Dragan would be aware
of his approach, that his scouts would pick up on their arrival, he
had not expected such…welcome? Was that even the word? William
wasn’t sure, but after the reception his messengers had received it
had crossed his mind more than once that he too might be turned
away the moment he stepped foot on the islands. And now, instead
there was a courteous greeting and Lord Dragan was expecting him?
It was more than William had hoped for and already his mind was
leaping ahead, considering all the plans he had made should such an
eventuality arise.

“
He is waiting in town,”
Lei added. “I have just come from him. He asked me to say that he
will see you immediately. I have been tasked with taking you to
him. Will you follow me and I will show you the way?”

“
Of course.”

Lei nodded and turned to make his way
down the walkway. William waited a moment or two then followed. His
guards moved at the same time so before long William was surrounded
by them. He didn’t think they needed to stick quite as close as
they were, but William did not say that. The court had insisted he
be guarded throughout his time on the islands, and William had
agreed with them more as an olive branch than anything else,
because he didn’t think anyone would actually try to hurt him here.
The aliens of the islands had never gotten involved in any of the
battles that raged on the mainland and there was no reason to think
they would now.

“
This way,” Lei
said.

He gestured to the land craft he had
just arrived in. It was familiar to William, as he had seen such
crafts in the north, and had several of them in the capital. He did
not use them, alien tech was pretty much banned in the capital, but
his people had investigated them, worked to see if there was any
tech they could use, and in fact some things had been created off
the back of the alien tech. But William was conscious that, though
the aliens were on his lands now, though he could not ever get rid
of them completely, he did not want his kingdom to turn into an
uncontrollable mish-mash of both species. His father had always
said they should maintain as much of their own culture as they
could, and William had always been in agreement with that. To lose
who they were would lose them the war quicker than anything
else.

“
This is a land craft,”
Lei said coming to a stop next to the vehicle.

“
I’m familiar with it,”
William said.

“
Then you are comfortable
riding in it?” he asked. “They are built specifically to navigate
the islands. We will make it to our main town in a very short time.
Alternatively,” he added. “We can walk. But that would take
considerably longer, and it is very cold.”

“
How many will each craft
take?” William asked.

“
A dozen,” Lei replied.
“We will take the lead. Include as many of your people as you wish
and I will accompany you.” He paused and then looked William
straight in the eye. “More crafts will come soon for the rest. They
will be safe here. Lord Dragan has asked me to assure you of your
safety. You will come to no harm on these islands. You could leave
all of your guards here and still be safe.”

William considered Lei’s
words, and as he did so he realized that although he was nervous,
he was
not
worried about his safety. He had his guards and they would
die to protect him if need be, but by undertaking this journey,
William had accepted that much was now out of his hands. If an
ambush was waiting for them there was nothing he would be able to
do. If the aliens here decided to kill them all then that was what
was going to happen.

Travelling to these islands carried an
inherent risk. The risk was worth it though, because to William
this really was the last throw of the dice. Without Dragan’s help
he knew the war was unwinnable. It always had been really. It had
just taken the death of the old king and the months of heavy
fighting that had followed for William to realize it.

“
I appreciate your words,”
William said. “And I have no fear for my safety.”

Lei tilted his head. “Then please,
pick whoever you would like to accompany you.”

William gestured to Bertram then
waited whilst his advisor picked out the guards he wanted to join
them in the lead craft. There was no question that Niahm too would
come on board and Bertram knew that, even going as far as to help
her inside. The alien leader also picked out some of his people.
One of them was a female, and she was clearly the driver because
she took the seat up front. Before long they were all seated inside
the craft and were moving along the road and into the
clouds.

William took the opportunity to look
around, to scrutinize the ice structures, to look at the people who
were wandering about and down from the coastal town to the docks,
busy doing whatever it was they did with their lives. They all
seemed happy enough, William thought. And it was odd for him to see
the aliens behaving so normally. Those in the north, the ones that
William had met at least, had always been bristling with
aggression. These aliens…well, they seemed very much like his own
people.

They
were
his own people.

Like or not, the islands were still
his. The aliens here were part of his kingdom. It was a strange and
slightly surprising realization, but one that William hoped he
might be able to work to his advantage in some way.

Before long they were moving back down
the cliff and towards the valley. It was filled with lights, filled
with thousands of buildings…and it was where Dragan waited for
him.

“
Our town,” Lei said,
following his gaze. “We’ll be there in no time.”

“
These ships move very
quickly,” William said. “Each island has them?”

Lei was sat right opposite him and
seemed happy to answer his questions. “The inhabited ones,” he
said. “As you know not all the islands have settlements. Some are
just too difficult to settle on.”

“
And between the islands?”
William asked.

“
We have our other ships,”
Lei said. “I’m sure you are familiar with those also.”

“
I am,” William agreed.
“They all run off your crystal system. You power them in that
way.”

Lei nodded. “You are well informed,
William.”

“
You will refer to him as
‘your grace’.”

William sighed, because he supposed it
was too much for Bertram to let that one slip by. William could
practically feel the other man bristling across from
him.

“
Bertram,” he said. “It is
fine.”

“
You are the
king!”

“
And I have always been
pleased to hear my people call me by my name,” William said. “As I
do with them.” He turned his attention back to Lei before Bertram
could speak again. “This crystal system,” he asked. “It interfaces
with your DNA? The stuff that we are all built of?”

Lei nodded again. “Yes.”

“
But only your
DNA?”

“
That is
correct.”

William would have liked to ask why
they had designed their system in such a way but his attention was
diverted because they were whizzing towards the town now and
William couldn’t help but look around again, taking it all
in.

The first thing that struck him was
how well organized it all was. The buildings were laid out in a
grid-like manner, and yet they seemed to be perfectly aligned to
the shape of the valley that nestled against the mountains behind.
There were also a number of open spaces, and if William was not
mistaken several children were racing around the spaces, squealing
and laughing. Other aliens, these ones fully grown, paused in
whatever they were doing to watch the land craft pass. William
guessed they were curious about who was inside, and wondered if
news of his arrival had reached these people yet. Had this been the
capital practically everyone would have been aware what was
happening. Gossip ran rife in his city despite William’s attempts
to ensure otherwise.

He frowned at that thought as they
came to a stop. The building they were in front of now was no
different to the ones surrounding it, but William guessed this must
be Dragan’s home. His suspicion was confirmed when Lei jumped out
of the craft and his people began to follow.

Bertram gestured for theirs to do the
same and before long they were all stood outside. William took a
deep breath, readying himself for what was to come, and looked
around him once more. It was then that he realized exactly what
else besides the order of this town jolted him. It hadn’t been
obvious at first, because it was so cold and everyone was so well
wrapped up, and they had been moving at speed, but now, with the
buildings so close together, and everything paused, there was no
denying what he was seeing.

“
Are those…”

“
Our people,” William
said, finishing Bertram’s shocked sentence for him.

Because they were,
standing side by side with the aliens, eyes wide, fixed on him,
were
humans
, and
there were an awful lot of them.

“
I don’t understand,”
Bertram said.

“
What is there to
understand?” William asked, recovering from his shock. “Some of our
people have decided to live on the islands.”

“
But why?” Bertram
whispered.

“
Because they had no
choice.”

It was an unfamiliar voice
that said those words, not any of his people and certainly not Lei.
In fact, it could have been any number of the aliens surrounding
him. Only it wasn’t, because the moment he heard it he knew. How,
William was not sure, but he knew.
Lord
Dragan…

Chapter Four

Dragan had met the old king just three
times since he had arrived on this planet. The first time had been
when the king visited the islands to assess what manner of male had
taken them. The second time had been when Maylor had rebelled. And
the third time had been just before the king’s death. Though, and
on all three occasions, Dragan had not given the king what he
wanted, he had always respected the old man. He had an air about
him which spoke of a confident, capable leader, and after each
meeting Dragan had been pleased in an odd way that the king had
come. When he had heard of the king’s death, Dragan had been
saddened, and he’d wondered if the time would come when the son,
the new king, would see fit to visit him also instead of just
sending messengers.

It seemed that time was
now.

And yet…Dragan wasn’t really sure what
he had expected of the new king. More of the same? A male very much
like the one who had sired him? That would make sense because
Dragan had heard stories, tales of valor and daring do. The humans
who now lived on the islands alongside his own people, spoke highly
of their king in waiting, and seemed confident that he would be
able to continue his father’s efforts to rid them of the alien
rebels. More than that, they had spoken of his good looks and his
charm.

Still…Dragan had not expected anything
like the male who now turned, eyes wide, to look into
his.

Not at all.

He was tall for a human, just a few
inches shorter than Dragan in fact. He had the same milky pale skin
as all those from the capital area did, though his cheeks were
faintly pink, from the cold Dragan suspected. His eyes, and these
surprised Dragan, were a startling blue, almost like the seas that
surrounded the islands. And his form…the king was dressed in winter
furs, so really there was no way to be able to tell exactly what
his build was. But Dragan knew, he just knew, that if stripped bare
the king would be formed in the exact way that Dragan had come to
like in a human. All sinewy muscles and hard angles packed beneath
smooth, strokable skin.

Yes, King William was a surprise, and
Dragan suddenly found himself intrigued by the human in a way that
he had not felt with any of the others, not even the ones he had
bedded during the past years on this planet.

He wanted him.

It was immediate.

It was visceral.

And it was unforeseen.

But it was there. Dragan was instantly
and overwhelmingly attracted to the male stood in front of him and
it took all of his self-control not to let that attraction
show.

“
King William.”

Everyone, both the king’s and his own
people, turned at his words. They were all curious, all waiting to
see how this, a historic meeting, was going to play out. In truth,
Dragan was curious too, and not just because of his abrupt
attraction to the male who, in name at least, was his
king.