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  He held her chair out for her and settled himself at the chair next to her. “Who told you?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Why me?”

  He narrowed his eyes in an attempt at intimidation. She didn’t fall for it.

  “Fine. Your genetic pattern was compatible, and like the women in my family before you, you are inheritance neutral or a class zero. It is the prime characteristic that my family looks for in a bride.”

  That was a surprise.

  “Oh.”

  He tilted his head. “You seem disappointed.”

  “I guess I am. I thought it was something different.”

  “That I fell in love with your looks? There are many women of great beauty on Hredu. You were different.”

  She kicked him under the table.

  He jumped and laughed. “I didn’t mean that. You were attractive enough by my standards, but your mind and task fixation were characteristics that I wanted in my offspring. It takes a great deal of focus to wield the kind of energy that my mind produces, and your mind has the kind of structure that would make the process easier.”

  “You wanted me for my mind.” She nodded and looked around for something to hit him with.

  “I did, though the body that it comes with is amazingly hypnotic.” He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the palm.

  “You are digging yourself out of the hole…slightly.” She grimaced.

  He drew a pattern on her skin with his tongue, and she shivered.

  When the servers arrived to bring in the food, he didn’t let go of her hand, but he did press a final kiss to her palm and held her hand on the table for any of the servers to see.

  Ari had never done anything to elicit gossip before, but she sensed that behind the scenes, the buzzing would be tremendous.

  She was forced to eat her meal with one hand, which was more difficult than it had to be. Usorn just wouldn’t let go.

  “Since we are here off the books, so to speak, I still don’t have a contract for working here.”

  He paused. “Do you want a contract?”

  “That was the idea. I was supposed to outline my duties here so that I didn’t go wild doing everything that I could think of.”

  “Oh, is that all? We can draw one up this evening.”

  She was relieved. “I do better with boundaries and limitations.”

  He smiled and kissed the back of her hand. “I can respect that.”

  Five courses were served, and when they left the dining room, she was swinging the mask and humming absently.

  “So, Emperor Usorn, why don’t you need more guards than I do?”

  “Because, Scribe Longway, my life is not in danger. Yours is and it will be until I wed and have an heir.”

  She blinked. “Why is that a thing?”

  “When there is an heir, there will be proof of continuation of my bloodline. That will ease things as it does in every royal family around the world, or the universe for that matter.”

  “Why did you look for a Terran?”

  He smiled. “The Guardians have a network, and your species was spoken of highly when it came to being able to handle psychically inherited traits. The women that volunteer to leave your world also have more of a strength of character than many of those who are raised on other worlds.”

  She quirked her lips. “I come from a culture that moved away from their homes over and over until they could find a place to make their own. Their methods were not always pleasant and they created lasting scars on our society, but they did something that their people had not done before. Throwing themselves into the void, even if it was on their own world.”

  He grinned. “Much as my ancestor did when he reshaped his world. No one had thought to do it before, and no one else was willing to take the risk. It is a heavy inheritance, but my family has managed to bear it.”

  They were at the imperial apartments, the doors opened at Usorn’s mental touch and closed behind them again.

  Before she could do anything, Usorn had her backed up against the wall, and his hands were pulling the pins free of her hair, removing the wrapped headpiece and freeing her hair for him to pull the smaller pins.

  Her locks unravelled down her back, and he sighed and buried his fingers in her hair.

  “I am guessing you like the hair.” She quirked her lips.

  He tightened his hands into fists and pulled her head to his. He grazed her lips with his teeth. “Yes, it is one of your more fascinating attributes.”

  Ari enjoyed the sting of his teeth, but as he worked his way down her neck, her clothing began to unravel.

  “It took Nexica forever to get me into the dress.”

  He grinned. “She did not design it.”

  The wrap slipped to her feet, and she felt the connections part and surrender to him as his mind undressed her.

  “Cheater.”

  He chuckled and knelt to bury his face between her breasts. “You say that a lot.”

  “You cheat a lot.” She shivered and tangled her hand in the crest of his hair.

  He suckled hard at her breast, flicking the nipple with his tongue before drawing back. Her knees buckled, and she held tight, but he suddenly stiffened and stood up.

  “Damn it.”

  He pressed his hand to his ear and he growled. “Acknowledged. Fall is on the way.”

  She realised what had happened, and she crouched, picking up her gown and slipping it over her shoulders. “Duty calls?”

  He nodded. “A skirmish between three kings. I am sorry.”

  She swallowed. “Don’t be sorry, go and come back. I will work on that contract. I don’t think I will get much sleep.”

  He sighed, kissed her sweetly and stroked one hand down her body. When he withdrew, she felt hot and cold at the same time. He walked into his room and stripped off, putting on a form fitting suit. A few moments later, he was out the balcony doors and flying toward the moon to a ship hovering in the distance.

  Ari shook her head and found her kit, writing her contract out, trying to be as fair as possible.

  When it was done, she left it on her desk and crawled into the empress’s bed. Worry over what Usorn was up to eventually faded and she fell asleep.

  Being tucked into a cold bed was enough to wake her up. “Usorn?”

  “Yes, Ariadne. Home and safe.” He crawled into bed next to her and wrapped her in his arms.

  She turned to him and bent her leg to slide it up his thigh. “You are so cold.”

  “I have been outside, darling.” He kissed her neck and caressed her waist.

  “You are warming up quickly.”

  “You have that effect on me.”

  He stroked his fingers between her thighs, and when he found her hot and wet, he shuddered.

  He rolled her to her back and moved until he was between her thighs. He lapped at her, and when he obviously enjoyed what he found, he lifted her buttocks in both hands and raised her to his mouth.

  She had never felt devoured before, but her breathing increased in violence until a low, groaning wail broke from her. Her body was one entire pulse and Usorn was controlling it.

  When he finally ceased the slick pressure of his tongue, he rolled her to her stomach, tucked a pillow under her hips and placed the head of his erection against her.

  His weight bore him inside, and she was still slick from the attentions of his tongue, so he eased into her.

  She felt the heat of his chest against her back, and he ran his hands over her again and again, as he rocked in to the hilt. When he began to thrust in earnest, she flexed her hands in the bedding and pressed against him as best she could.

  The deep penetration and pounding heat ran through her, pushing her up and back against him as he slid into her.

  He gripped her shoulders and held tight as he shouted his release. Ari was so close, but she may as well have been back on Earth for all the good it would do. />
  To her surprise, after he had stilled, he stroked the nape of her neck and his phantom hands ran over her, the cool-hot touch moved on her clit, slid into her ass and stroked her breasts.

  Her tense senses overloaded as every erogenous zone she had sparked and flared at the same time. Her body flared with flames as she choked out a cry and lost herself to her release.

  When she managed to return to herself, he had withdrawn from her and was cuddling her against him. He pressed soft kisses to her face and smiled. “I do so love your climaxes. You hold nothing back.”

  She was still dazed. “Should I?”

  He stroked her neck and kissed her again. “Never. I want to hear a thousand versions of the song, and then, I want to revisit my favourites over and over.”

  Usorn ran his fingers between her breasts and flattened his hand against her belly. “Sleep, Ariadne. We will go over your contract when you wake.”

  She didn’t need to be told twice. She was out in a dozen heartbeats.

  Chapter Nine

  It wasn’t Nexica’s blunt demands that woke her. A strong hand rubbed her back slowly and eased her into waking.

  “There you are.” Usorn smiled at her.

  She blinked and shoved her hair out of her way. “Oh. Am I late?”

  “You will have the day off. This looks like it will require another draft.” He nodded his head at his lap, and she saw the lap desk, the vivid purple ink and the pen that he was using.

  Ari sat up. “What are you doing?”

  “I am rewriting the contract. I am the emperor. I can do that, you know.”

  She rubbed her eyes and scowled. “Why? It was a fair contract.”

  “To me, not to you. You shorted yourself and demanded much in this contract. I will not have it.”

  He handed her the revised document.

  She read it, paled and read it again. “This says you want to marry me.”

  “I do.”

  “Why?” she blinked and rubbed her eyes again.

  “You really do not wake up well.”

  She made a face. “Nexica’s bath usually gets me up and running, with outrage if nothing else. I have to admit, she is thorough.”

  “I will have to see what I can do to wake you. I don’t like servants hovering around me unless it is necessary.”

  “I need her for all the makeup and other crud I have to wear every day.”

  “Understandable, but when I am here, she will not attend you. I can manage to help with your bathing.” He winked.

  Marginally more aware, she looked over the contract again. “This is ridiculous. I was only supposed to be here for two years.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You have an objection to being the empress of Hredu?”

  “Not really. I just never considered it as a career option.”

  He fell back on the bedding and laughed, a wild sound that woke her up completely.

  She pressed a kiss to his lips, and his laughter slowed as he pulled her against him. The desk and contract floated to the table in the corner of the room, and he rolled with her across the bed.

  “I am very glad that you have not considered it a career option, but it is one that is before you nonetheless. You will be empress and I your devoted servant and companion.”

  She surrendered to his kiss for a moment before she asked, “Do I still get my scribe bands?”

  He gave her a look that said she was insane, but he nodded. “Yes, my single-minded darling, you will have your bands.”

  She smiled, and he got on with the pursuit of morning sex. He didn’t have to pursue it far, she enjoyed being with him and the contrast between their skins.

  When he sat up and pulled her into his lap, it was the first time that they were truly face to face as their bodies joined. She made a note to try this again.

  * * * *

  It was late and someone was missing from her bed. After ten years, he still rarely left her alone in the morning. He knew she was not at her best.

  Nexica came in with a wide robe. “Here is your robe. They are in the morning room.”

  A few moments later, her hair was straight down her back and she had slippers on her feet with the heavy, ornate robe on her shoulders.

  Captain Kredik was waiting for her, and he escorted her to the morning room through the halls and past those who served the imperial household.

  “You look lovely today, my lady.”

  “Implying that I looked crappy yesterday? Don’t worry, Kredik. I know what I looked like.”

  Being forced to wake early had caused her system to rebel in a violent manner on Kredik’s boots.

  “Sorry about your shoes, Kredik.”

  “Do not trouble yourself, my lady. I am sure that I deserved it.”

  Kredik constantly seemed to be the victim of her strange lapses in decorum. He was pelted with food that slipped from her spoon, caught her shoes whenever they flipped lose, and the day she blew the bands of her corset, he had nearly lost an eye.

  They entered the morning room, and she froze at the sight of the brunette that was on Usorn’s lap.

  He looked at her and smiled. “We did not want to wake you.”

  The little girl looked at her and the fruit that she had been balancing near the ceiling dropped to the tablecloth.

  “Urena, where is my morning kiss?”

  Her daughter sprinted around the edge of the table and ran up to her, frowning as she lifted in the air to kiss her mother on the cheek. Ari caught her and walked with her to the emperor’s seat.

  The chair was pulled out for her, and she put her daughter down as she settled herself.

  “What is on the agenda today, dear heart?” She smiled at him.

  “There are the petitions, Urena’s teachers need to speak with us and Yomin’s sleepover did not go well. He will have to have his friends over here in the future. He lit the room on fire.”

  The breakfast that was placed in front of her was just what she wanted. “Any matters of state you need me for?”

  “No, just rest and take care of yourself.”

  She grinned. “That is your job.”

  He snickered. “You won’t let me do it.”

  “I let you do many things. Some you have to fight for.”

  Urena was playing with more fruit, balancing the berries in the air.

  “You are doing well, Ury.”

  “Thank you, Mama.”

  To Ari’s surprise, Urena focused with her face flat and her brows furrowed. Ari knew that face, it was her concentration face.

  Usorn smiled at her and winked. “Not for a bit.”

  “What?”

  “You often ask me if I regret you, and the answer is now as it always has been, not for a bit.”

  She worked on her breakfast as her husband helped the imperial princess put a berry through a seeded fruit slice. Some kids did puzzles, hers levitated fruit and turned fabrics into flame.

  She rubbed her belly and wondered what this next child would bring. She already had backache and nausea; she hoped that the child’s talent wasn’t inducing seasickness.

  Time would tell. At least there were other Terrans on Hredu now. Urena had other children to play with that understood the peculiarity of a chalky mother and the burden of power that rose unbidden.

  When her breakfast was over and her morning tea consumed, she got to her feet and headed back to her quarters for a bath and a change of clothing. An empress couldn’t run around in a robe all day, not twice in one week, anyway.

  Author’s Note

  This release date, Jan. 1, 2015, marks my 300th solo story in publication. Yay!

  I would like to take this moment to thank each and every reader who has picked up one of my works, the loyal fanatics, and my editor, publisher and cover artist.

  Book 300 will officially be the work of my alter ego, Zenina Masters, Snow Time for Love. Zenina gave me an outlet for some of the sto
ries I didn’t have space to write and so she gets book 300.

  Thanks for reading one and all,

  Viola Grace

  http://www.violagrace.com

  [email protected]

  About the Author

  Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

  An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.