Authors: Tracy St John
Lidon caught up her hands and kissed the backs of them lingeringly. “You know we’d do anything for you. You are our heart and soul.”
“And you, mine.” She found a smile. She didn’t realy have an appetite, but right now a taste of home, Earth home, was a beacon of comfort. She’d always been an emotional eater anyway. “How about Mexican for dinner?”
* * * *
“Who in the world would be visiting? And at this early hour?” Tranis muttered. Lidon said nothing. Used to sudden waking from their years in the military, they were dressed within seconds and out the door to the common area.
Degorsk rose almost lazily and put on his own formsuit with a much more leisurely pace. Cassidy also roled out of bed and shook out her waist-length hair before putting on a long pink dress that gave her fair skin a rosy glow.
Excited voices speaking loudly in the main part of the quarters made her pause as she slid her feet into soft-soled shoes. Degorsk also halted, his head cocked towards their closed bedroom door as he listened.
“What is it?” Cassidy whispered, seeing how intent he looked. Kalquorian hearing was incredibly sensitive, and she had no doubt he was picking up everything said.
“There is news.” He frowned. “General Hamilton died in his sleep en route to Kalquor. News relays are asking for your reaction. Lidon is teling them you are making no comment at this time. Tranis is teling whoever he’s speaking to on the com the same thing.”
Cassidy stared at him. “The general is dead?”
“It would seem so. I guess he won’t face the mind wipe after al.” Degorsk’s voice held no hint of emotion, but he watched her carefuly. “Sit down before you fal, Cassidy.” She did so, her mind reeling with the unexpected news. “He was in good health.”
“I found nothing wrong with him at any time while I was with him.”
“Someone kiled him. So many wanted him dead.”
“I’m sure that wil be the conclusion most come to.”
Cassidy didn’t have to think hard to figure out who had the means and motive. Afraid the excelent Kalquorian hearing outside the room would pick up her voice, she mouthed, “Lidon.” Degorsk paced across the room to sit next to her. He leaned close and whispered, “Lidon didn’t kil Hamilton.” She stared up at him. Her volume barely above a breath, she asked, “How could you know that? Unless…” Her mouth dropped open and her thoughts stuttered to a halt. Finaly she continued. “You would never take a life. You’re a doctor.”
He took a deep breath. “The mind wipe option is an abomination to you. It is to me as wel. In the end, I felt I had no choice.”
“Lidon had nothing to do with it?” She just couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that it had been her lighthearted, gentle Imdiko who’d executed Hamilton.
“He provided the means. He didn’t want you to suffer anymore for the general. But the final decision was left to me.” Degorsk stared into space.
Cassidy knew she gaped at him, but she couldn’t help herself. She’d known Lidon would kil for her without a second thought. He was a Nobek after al, trained to protect his clan at al costs. But for it to have been Degorsk, a man sworn to save lives … for him to commit murder, not just for his peace of mind but for hers as wel…
She swalowed the lump in her throat, overwhelmed by her beloved’s gesture that gave a heinous monster a kind end. “Does Tranis know?” Degorsk shook his head. “Absolutely not. It’s better if our Dramok remains innocent of the whole affair. He carries enough guilt as it is.” Cassidy nodded. “You won’t get caught, wil you?”
“The drug leaves no trace. Lidon only stole enough for this one thing, and I have no doubt he destroyed al evidence of culpability. He’s very, very good at being a spy.” Degorsk managed a smile. “We’l be suspected, but in the end there wil be no proof.”
Cassidy blew out a sigh of relief. Her clan remained safe. And her grandfather was out of the reach of a justice that may have been deserved but was too grim to be contemplated.
She hugged Degorsk close, hearing Tranis and Lidon returning to the bedroom. Before they could come in, she whispered, “Thank you. I can’t express my gratitude enough.” He kissed the top of her head, his arms puling her close. “Anything for you, my love. If you ever doubted it before, never doubt again.” A Family Affair
The lovers met in secret every day in her quarters. Of course the Royal Guards knew he visited her and how often, but the protective warriors were picked as much for their discretion as their fighting prowess. After so many years, most were loyal to him more than any other member of the Imperial Family.
The man and woman kept their affair secret for reasons of their own. Guilt. Worry they’d hurt those they loved most. In his case, there was also a sense of possessiveness, an unwilingness to share his woman with the other members of his clan. Time and again they’d vowed to end this tryst to save others pain. But passion and loneliness had thwarted their efforts to remain apart, sometimes only moments after the attempt had been made.
And now, as former Nobek Emperor Yuder stepped into her receiving room and swept her into his arms, Tara McInness, Imperial Mother of Empress Jessica, felt al recriminations flee once again. His lips found hers. Her body hummed in delight to feel his muscled frame, stil strong despite his 178 years, pressed against her.
He lifted her, one supportive arm beneath her buttocks, the other against her back to press her chest to his. Beneath his robe she felt the heat of him, the unabashed masculinity of this fierce and yet giving Kalquorian. Tara had thought she’d never want another man again, not after over thirty years of devoted marriage to her Aaron, now dead fourteen Earth months. Yet somehow Yuder had broken through the grief that surrounded her, had made her lonely heart his.
He carried her to her sleeping room, his blue-purple eyes never leaving her face as he easily navigated the hal. Had he realy visited her so often now that he didn’t need to look where he was going? A twinge of conscience made her stomach flutter nervously.
“I can always tel when Aaron crosses your mind,” Yuder rumbled soothingly. “I have seen that look in my own eyes too many times in the mirror to mistake it.” Tara caressed his strong jaw. His face was as sharp as a hawk’s, and he was every bit as dangerous as that beautiful bird of prey. But the warrior Kalquorian, his steel-gray hair a result of mutation and not his advanced years, was always tender with her. After many years of danger and turmoil, Yuder made Tara feel safe.
“He would want me happy, as I would have hoped for him had I been the one to die. You make me happy,” she answered.
Yuder smiled at her, an expression he seemed to reserve for Tara alone. She melted to see the defined planes of his face soften.
They reached the bedroom, the bed sized just right for the two of them. Jessica had hired the finest craftsman on Joshada to carve the sleek furnishings from the black wood of one of their native trees.
She’d known Tara had no intention of being clanned, so there was no need for the oversized bed mats preferred by Kalquorians.
No, Tara wanted no clan. Only her Nobek lover.
Yuder laid her on the cloud-soft mattress and bent for a quick kiss before rising and flipping his robe off over his head. Tara felt giddy at the sight of him, as if she hadn’t seen his naked body every day for the last six weeks.
Many Kalquorians were simply too bulky for Tara’s tastes. Not Yuder. His body, while defined with the precision of a master sculptor, was longer and sleeker than the norm. He was a lithe cheetah among a pride of muscled lions. Her mouth went dry as she was confronted by his stark beauty yet again.
His smile returned as he watched her look him over. “I like that you appreciate what you see,” he teased.
“Very much.”
The first time she’d laid eyes on him, she’d been unable to tear her gaze away. Yuder had beguiled immediately, though at the time Tara had only been amused at her reaction to his physical beauty. It was like being a hormone-crazed teenager, not the mother of grown women and grandmother of two. She’d appreciated Yuder’s masculine beauty only aestheticaly for the first few weeks. It was the man’s inteligence, his commitment to justice, and the discovery of the firm but fair persona beneath the surface ferocity that had turned a laughable infatuation into more.
Before landing on Kalquor, had anyone told Tara she’d fal in love with a man other than Aaron, with a warrior Nobek no less, she would have only chuckled at the notion. A devout Buddhist, one who eschewed harming others even at the expense of her own life, Tara couldn’t have imagined herself involved with someone who was almost nonchalant about bloodshed. Yet here they were, embroiled in a passionate affair that would have shocked and probably angered their blended families.
Yuder sat next to her. He was never one to hurry their encounters, making each tryst last as long as possible. It was a measure of his feelings for Tara that he carved out so much time for her. Even though his clan had retired from Kalquor’s thrones, his service to the empire was stil very much in demand. With a rebelion in its beginning stages the current emperors, led by his son Clajak, looked to him for his experience. As former head of Global Security, he was caled on to help with strategic planning. The Royal Guards consulted with him on the best way to keep the Imperial Clan and their extended families safe in this unsettled time.
The elder warrior started their lovemaking as he so often did; by stroking Tara’s chestnut hair while he gazed into her eyes. Despite leaving her forties behind a few years ago, gray had yet to put in an appearance on her shoulder-length tresses. She returned his caress, combing her fingers through his long, steel-sheened hair. She appreciated the Kalquorian fashion of men wearing long hair. She loved the feel of Yuder’s locks against her skin.
He traced her features next, investigating the slight ridge that her brows sat upon, the line of her nose, the smoothness of her cheekbones, the curve of her jaw, the softness of her lips. Her elfin features were as delicate as his hawk face was sharp, an elder version of her youngest daughter Jessica. His fingers were warm on her skin, the heat seeming to start a trail that went from wherever they touched to her nether regions. It was his gaze that made her blaze hottest though. Yuder’s eyes held knowledge she could only guess at, while she fancied he could read al her thoughts.
Tara was forced to admit that discovery of a new love was every bit as heady as the lovemaking itself. She had been comfortable with Aaron, with their deep and abiding love that never duled with time.
Despite that, being with someone new had ignited parts of her she’d forgotten; her sense of adventure, her delight in exploring new vistas. To some it might have seemed bizarre and even disrespectful to her deceased spouse, but she admitted to herself that she felt moments of gratitude to Aaron for giving her the opportunity to know Yuder in such an intimate sense.
Now as the Kalquorian kissed her with gentle passion, his hands sliding down to settle over her breasts, Tara ran her palms over his strong shoulders, beguiled as always by the firm, muscular body. She shivered a little as his thumbs circled lazily, bringing her nipples to peaks blatant against her gown. She wore no undergarments. Had she not worried about Jessica and the grandchildren being the ones to arrive on her doorstep, she’d greet Yuder in the nude.
Stil, he did seem to enjoy undressing her. So though she ached for the moment when his nakedness met hers, perhaps modesty was a gift she should embrace rather than bemoan. The universe had a good reason for everything.
Yuder sat up again and gathered the voluminous skirt of her gown in his fists. He slowly puled it upwards, revealing her calves, her thighs, her sex with its chestnut curls, her bely, her breasts. Tara lifted as he went, alowing him to raise the gown up and finaly off her body. At last she was exposed to him, and his eyes darkened as he looked at her.
“There has never been a more beautiful woman than you,” he breathed, his voice ful of feeling.
Tara had an urge to tease him about his sentimentality, but she instantly squashed it. Yuder did not offer pretty platitudes. If he said something, he meant it.
Instead, she smiled in appreciation. “You make me feel beautiful.”
He touched her al over, his hands and mouth worshipping at the altar of her body. Yuder always did this, as if he was discovering her for the first time or making love for the last. He was not one to take anything for granted, she had discovered. Losing his Matara had made him appreciative of those who mattered to him.
“She was so wonderful, Tara,” he’d told her one afternoon early in their relationship. “You remind me of my Irdis, the way you listen without judging, the way you see the best in people. Your
ability to laugh with our grandchildren, the complete disregard as to whether sitting in the middle of the floor with them and playing like a child yourself is behavior befitting an Imperial relation.”
Yuder’s love for his mate, lost in a long-ago crash that had also crippled his Dramok, was as strong now as it had been when he’d last seen her about fifty years ago. It made Tara warm to him even more, that such a fierce man could feel eternal devotion. He had his Irdis, she had her Aaron.
And now they had each other.
His mouth moved sinuously from her lips down to the holow of her throat, where he paused to taste the pulse that beat there. Then on he traveled, so slowly and carefuly, kissing a moist trail to her breastbone, taking side trips to suck and lick the stark tips of her nipples until they sweled and reddened under his patient attention. Tara was so smal compared to Kalquorian women, as tiny as a fairy next to Amazons. Yet Yuder proclaimed her perfection over and over with words, touches, and moans as he tasted her thoroughly.
Once he had her squirming to his satisfaction, the Kalquorian continued his journey, his mouth leading the way down the indentation of her abdomen, folowing the path to the delicate cup of her navel. Once again he paused, his darting tongue making her giggle breathlessly. He grinned up at her, his expression devilish. “Such a ticklish little girl.”