Alien Romance: RAYER: Space Warrior's Mail Order Bride (Space Beasts Book 2) (10 page)

Zural turned out to be an amber-hued shade of brown.  Cole was glad that she was staying in Rayer’s brightly lit tower instead of the brown rooms.  While they were lovely – the décor was a little too much, which surprised her, considering the elegance of the rest of the compound.

“Why these rooms?”  Lahla, had stayed to help her move some of the larger items before leaving the smaller ones to her to move.

              “What do you mean Princess Coletta?”

              “Why was I supposedly assigned these rooms?  They seem quite different than the rest of the compound – aesthetically speaking.”

              Lahla glanced toward the door before answering quietly, “The High Queen.  She insisted that you would deplore living in the tower and had your things placed in these chambers.  The Zural wing of the compound is her domain.”

              “I see…She isn’t around here right now, is she?”

              “No – she is not.  She spends the days entertaining friends from her Royal clan during the day.  She is doubtless entertaining all of the mates of the Royal House representatives, while the meeting is ongoing.”

              “That is good then.”

              “Why do you say that?”  Lahla asked curiously.

              Cole scrambled for an answer, “I would hate to offend her by going so obviously against her expectations.  I would like for things to go peacefully.”

              Lahla pondered that for a minute but never got the opportunity to respond.

              “What is going on in here?”  Cole saw a nearly imperceptible change cross Lahla’s features.  It was as if a wall of steel had silently slid down.  She turned toward the door, and the male, middle tenor voice that sounded from just outside the room.  Lounging in the doorway was the man that had set her teeth on edge when she saw his face at her arrival. 
Graith
.

              Plastering a smile on her face, Cole faced him fully; “I have been looking for my belongings that were brought with me from Earth.  Lahla was kind enough to show me where they were.”  Cole declined mentioning that she was moving her possessions out from beneath his mother’s thumb to the safety of the tower.  Living beneath the 100
th
floor on Earth for twenty-three years taught a person how to read others.  Everything Cole had learned about reading people was screaming in the back of her mind to watch Graith the way a mini-mart operator watched the boys decked out in the QDC-67s green and black, unless they wanted to be robbed blind.

              “Well, now that you know where everything is, I know that the head grounds-man was looking for Lahla.”  Cole didn’t appreciate Graith’s dismissal of Lahla, but she wasn’t ready to put her foot down.  There were some individuals that you had to get to show their hand before you broke their nose, took the pot off the table, and then filched their wallet – Graith was one of those assholes.

              Cole turned to Lahla and gave him a reassuring smile and a nod since she could tell that he was tempted to buck Rayer’s stepbrother.  She didn’t want him in trouble. 
Lahla
slowly made his way across the room and slipped past Graith in the doorway – in the hallway, he gave her one last searching look before mouthing over Graith’s head.

             
Keep your eyes on him.

              Once Lahla’s footsteps faded down the hallway and she was left alone with him did Graith step into the room – her room for all intents and purposes, though it wouldn’t be by the end of the day. 

              “So,” he let the word stretch out.  Cole figured that there would be women who would find the man, a prince she supposed, to be an attractive specimen.  Cole felt he was washed-out, weak compared to his stepsibling. “How are you enjoying Siiger thus far?  I promise, not all of us are as lacking in conversation as my
brother
.”

             
Could you sneer anymore on the word ‘brother?’

              “High Prince Rayer, has been excellent company – he has been quite solicitous and has shown me many beautiful aspects of the locality.”  Cole watched as Graith’s face tightened when she failed to gripe about her alien.

              “Of course, of course.”

             
Didn’t like me throwing Rayer’s rank in your face, did you?  Oy! Geeze did no one ever teach you about personal space.  What the hell are you doing?  Do NOT touch me, you presumptuous prick!
  As much as she wanted to rave at the man, she kept her façade serene, calm, she didn’t allow the plastered smile to fade, or for the scowl to reach her eyes.  Even when Graith set a hand on her shoulder, and turned it to stroke her neck faintly, she didn’t react.

              “Well, if you would like some personal attention…someone to show you about a little further afield.  Rayer is often busy with Royal business.  Come find me, I promise that you will be more entertained than you ever have been.”  Graith lowered his face toward Cole’s, as if to kiss her.  She waited until the last moment and shifted so that their cheeks merely bussed.

              Stepping away from him, Cole kept her façade intact.  “Thank you, I will be sure to keep that offer in mind.” 
Not in this lifetime.
  “It has been a pleasure to have this opportunity to speak with you”, Cole lied before she stepped around him and strode out of the room.  She kept her pace even, yet strong.   She could feel Graith watching her back as she walked away from the chamber.  As soon as the large door into the Zural wing closed, Cole bolted.  She raced for the stairs that would lead her back to the safety of Rayer’s tower.

*

Needing a break before facing an evening in the presence of Montala, Rayer escaped back to the tower.  He entered the lounging level and saw that it was filled with all manner of new things.

              Coletta must have found where her things had been stowed.  I wonder if that is everything…
  Not that it mattered – if there was more, Rayer would break open another sealed layer of the tower, clean it out and re-do it as he had the two levels that had become the lounging and bathing areas, so that Coletta could have her own space.

             
Maybe I should do that anyways…
Already contemplating the necessary preparations, Rayer walked into an explosion of silks and feminine chaos in the bed room.  He stood agog in the doorway as he watched Glanna and Shali arguing over the best robe for Coletta to wear to the evening meal.  Both women were clutching different robes and the argument was starting to get loud.  Coletta had taken a seat on one of the window benches.  And was she trying to resolve the dispute?  No, she was watching and sipping…Rayer squinted at the crystal cup in her hand – he wasn’t sure of the cup’s contents, but he was certain that it was some form of fermented beverage.

              Wanting some peace and happy to take it with the Earthling sharing his bed, Rayer cleared his throat – loudly.  The two attendants instantly stopped mid screech and turned to look at him.  Before they could begin speaking at once, he quickly interjected.

              “I will handle dressing the Princess from here.  Thank you Glanna, Shali.  As always, your assistance is much appreciated.  When you go down, would you send a notice to the stoneworker, Blad?  Please let him know that I would like to meet with him tomorrow morning, early.  Here in the tower.  Thank you again.”  Rayer finished by stepping away from the doorway and subtly gesturing at it with an outstretched hand.  Both Glanna and Shali laid their respective preferred robes on the bed and slipped past Rayer, out the door, and down the stairs.  Rayer closed and latched the door behind them.

              “Thank you,” Coletta commented.  “I was seriously considering bludgeoning them into unconsciousness, before skipping out of the tower to dinner while naked.”

              Her quip sent a smirk stretching across his lips.  “As much as I would have been amused, I am glad that I came in time to save you from having to go to the effort of such a display.”  Rayer glanced at the options, of which there were many, for the over robe.  “Did you see one that you would prefer?”

              “I was thinking the black and bronze one.  It is underneath the pale blue one,” Coletta said, pointing at one of the robes near the head of the bed.

              Rayer found the desired robe and held it up.  He glanced between it and her, before commenting, “I wouldn’t have put you in black…”

              “Yes, I know – you would rather gold.  However, I want something that will clash with Montala’s favorite color.  Black is the best option.  Not because it conflicts aesthetically, but because it is a more commanding color than her browns.”  Rayer laughed.

              “And what has she done to annoy you so?”

              “Well first, she had all of my things put into some room in her wing.”  Rayer stilled at the news, but said nothing as Coletta continued.  “Then as Lahla and I are trying to move everything out, the egotist that you are forced to claim as a sibling of sorts comes in, dismisses Lahla and then tries to come on to me.  I was forced to bail and not finish collecting everything.  However, I am not going back without help.  Could I handle the rest by myself?  Yes, absolutely.  I am not willing to risk having to deal with him on my own again, if I can help it.”

              His blood was running cold while his heart pumped it angrily – as he stared at Coletta, he could tell that she could see his icy rage.  He looked closer, and could see hers as well.

              “Other than that, I have had a perfectly lovely day.  I very much like Lahla.”  Coletta tossed him a grin.  “How was politics?”

              “Tedious.”  Rayer retorted as he approached Coletta with her desired black robe.  She stood and turned her back to him so that he could slide the heavy silk up her arms.  “I wish that we did not have to spend our evening dealing with more, but I am hoping that by being accommodating, we will be left alone some more.”

              “There’s some legitimate motivation.” 

              “Yes, yes it is,” he agreed.

*

Dinner had passed tolerably.  Cole was prepared to bet money that the High King’s presence had a great deal to do with that.  Rayer was forced to carry her to bed again.  This time, he appeared to be as tired as she.  He stripped them both and climbed beneath the bedclothes and wrapped his large arms around her.  Cole couldn’t even manage to wish him pleasant dreams before sleep took her under.  Rayer was right behind her.

Apparently, Rayer had been correct with his hopes – they were left alone the entire next day.  After meeting with some man, the stonemason he had requested the day before, Rayer elected to take advantage of the opportunity and once asking for some of the compound workers to finish bringing Cole’s affects from the Zural wing, he snuck Cole from the High Royal compound.

              She pestered him as they worked their way through a new area of the grounds with questions, trying to get him to slip-up on the ‘mystery’ location that he wanted to show her.  Rayer dragged her down a narrow path through a thickly wooded area.  He pushed them past some overgrowth that was threatening to swallow the path, into an open field.  Dead center in the field was a small vehicle.  Unlike the one that had brought them from the spaceport, this one could only fit a few people.  Furthermore, it had wings.

              Rayer tugged her forward, but Cole dug her feet into the sort dirt as they got closer to the small transport.  Confused, he turned to look at her.

              “You can fly that thing, yes?”

              “Of course,” he tossed back at her with a grin.  “Now come, so that I can show you.”

*

After he had gotten her into the small flight-craft, Coletta had distracted herself from him piloting the vehicle by staring out the window as he cruised around the floating falls that littered the landscape.  He had directed the craft toward the mountains, and she was now peering down at the stepping levels of the slopes.  She would occasionally comment on the beauty of the occasional small body of water.

              While he knew that each of those pools was lovely, Rayer was determined to show off the most impressive one, in his opinion, on the whole planet – the Mountain Lagoon.  It was a beautiful, magical place.  The water bled from blue to green and every shade in between.  Soft waves lapped the grass covered shores and flowering water plants threw and explosion of color, and perfume over the whole place.

              There were very few who ever got to see the Mountain Lagoon as it was nestled between Royal House territories. The insurmountable mountains that surrounded the lagoon had created a speck of no-man’s land that Rayer had chosen to claim for himself, as he was a skilled-enough pilot to be able to come to the place.  No one had contested his claim.

              Coletta squealed as he set the vehicle into a vertical climb and then swore at him in her native language when he cleared the frozen mountain peak, only to direct the craft into an intimidating dive.  Even after he landed in a field next to the bank, Coletta remained plastered against the back of her seat.  Laughing, Rayer hopped from the small shuttle and strode to drag his Earthling from the cab.

              “Oh – how I hate you right now!”

              “Don’t feel that way.  If I don’t do that, we will overshoot this valley.  And I really wanted to show you this place.”  Rayer placed his hand on Coletta’s shoulders as he turned her away from him so that she could look out over the glimmering lagoon.  When he heard her gasp, he waited.

              “It’s beautiful…”

              “This is my place.  It is a tiny dot on the surface of Siiger, but it is my favorite place.”  He spoke softly.  His words feathered against the sensitive skin of her ear.

              “You wanted to share this place with me?”

              “Very much so.”

              “Why?”

              “Because I knew that you would like it.”

*

Though she was busy relishing in the beauty of the landscape around her, Cole felt Rayer shift behind her.  Suddenly, she found herself stretched out on the soft grass that led up to the bank of the mountain lake.  Rayer levered his body over hers and straddled her hips.

              “Here?”  She asked.

              “I want you.”

              “I want you too,” were the last coherent words she uttered for a long time.

*