Hers to Choose
Authors: Patricia A. Knight
Tags: #Romance, #Science Fiction, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy, #Epic, #Romantic
Hers To
C H O
O S E
By
Patricia A. Knight
Troll River Publications
Los Angeles, CA
Hers
To Choose
Verdantia Series Book 2
Copyright © 2013 Patricia A. Knight
ISBN: 978-1-939564-13-9
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, with the exception of a reviewer who may quote passages in a review, without written prior permission from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. All characters,
names, events, incidents and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.
DISCLAIMER: The author and publisher would solemnly advise you not to attempt any of the sexual or non-sexual actions of any of the characters in this book. Any damage physical, mental or emotional is the sole responsibility of the person/persons attempting such actions. Please be aware that this is a work of fiction and you are responsible for yourself and the consequences caused thereof.
A
cknowledgements
Writing is the product of rich interior life. Imagination fires the mind and fingers capture those elusive wisps of thought and transfer them to paper. But what feeds the fires of imagination? Well, it helps to start by being bat-sh*t crazy. But, in my case, it is an amazing group of authors and critique partners: my sweet “Em” and Travis, lovely Aliya and Stephanie and Kayla. And finally, to my long-suffering lover of many years who lets me sit at the keyboard typing while his dinner burns on the stove. Gotta love a man like that.
Thank you to Skylar Faith at TruenotDreams for the stunning covers and to Troll River Publications for, well, everything. You are beyond awesome.
To Dan,
You are where all my heroes begin.
Nothing makes sense without you.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Isolated, far from the interstellar trade lanes, hundreds of light years from any civilized planet, Verdantia marooned the Earth colonists on her surface—then she spoke to them.
A
fter decades searching the vast Hyperion Galaxy for a home, after the fierce elation of finding the perfect jewel of a planet, the Nuovo Terrans found themselves stranded on Verdantia. To their consternation, the planet itself interacted with them.
A genetically select few were able to connect with the planet’s sentience while having sexual intercourse, and thereby
tap into and manipulate the enormous energy within the planet. These elite became the aristocracy of Verdantia, the
magisters
and
magistras
. Through arduous sexual sacraments known as the
Greater
and
Lesser Rites
, these elite enhanced many facets of everyday life, from encouraging crops to grow to heating homes.
To the space-weary colony settling her surface, the shocking discovery had been their salvation. The energies radiating from Verdantia’s vast underground
diaman pipes
disrupted technology, rendering it so unreliable as to be useless. The superstitious called it
magick
. The well-educated recognized a unique combination of electro-magnetism and harmonics guided by a primitive sentience. The green Eden that was Verdantia lived.
For centuries,
descendants of the original, space-faring colonists studied how to harness the enormous forces produced by this sexual congress between the settlers gifted with this ability.
Of foremost importance to the resource-rich, isolated
planet, their sexual energy powered an impenetrable shield protecting the planet from off-world invasion. The energy wall flowed from soaring towers housing
diamantorre
—highly-charged, crystalline constructs. These strategic stone towers dotted the planet in a grid, their connecting web energized by the
Great Rite
. Only one area on the planet was devoid of the
diaman
pipes and not sheltered by the sigil towers—the desert wasteland of the
Oshtesh
. It was in this isolated pocket of forbidding landscape that the Verdantians built their spaceport.
In the High Enclave, the stone
-walled complex where
docenti
taught the high-level
magicks
, elite geneticists, the
L’anziano
, arranged marriages between highborn houses, to maximize advantageous matings of
magickal
bloodlines. Centuries of strict breeding by the
L’anziano
produced the thirty-two noble houses sitting in Verdantia’s House of Lords.
T
he widespread revelation of the potent aphrodisiac
cinnagin,
the extract of a tree unique to the forests of Verdantia,
transformed the isolated planet's galactic status from quaintly primitive to the prized crown jewel of the interstellar economy. A mere gram of
cinnagin
would purchase an inter-stellar yacht on the pleasure planets of Telleria and Vxloncia.
For a rapacious race of scavengers, slavers and drug runners, Verdantia and
the allure of her priceless
cinnagin
presented an irresistible target. In a well-organized use of vicious, overwhelming force, the Haarb invaded Verdantia through gaps in the energy shield. Brutal torture revealed the secrets powering the
diamantorre
and the Haarb butchery of the aristocratic
magisters
and
magistras
began. At the end of a cruel three years war, the Verdantians re-established the planetary shield and repulsed the Haarb.
The
staggering cost to the Verdantians could be counted in the millions of missing or dead inhabitants. The Haarb had depopulated vast sections of the planet, selling the inhabitants into slavery on the asteroid mines or pleasure planets. The genetic markers, carefully bred into the population for over five hundred years, now resided in only eight bloodlines—and only two women of child-bearing age. The Verdantians stood to lose the only link to their sentient planet.
And the Haarb were back.
Planet Verdantia
Nuovo Terra solar date: 4372
C
ommander of the Queen’s Guard Eric DeStroia tortured the raven–haired courtesan lying beneath him—a surging thrust in, a prolonged, exquisite slide out. With a husky laugh, he hung her on the edge of climax for endless minutes. Eric reveled in her helplessness as he reduced her to abject begging. He enjoyed their “games”. Who would break first?
Her control finally crashed, swept
up by the tsunami of pleasure he created.
"Please,
by all the Gods, Eric, please. Let me come. I can't take any more."
Smiling wickedly, he rolled them over
, letting her ride. "Take your pleasure."
He clasped her hips and
thrust into her deeply. His strong fingers dented her generous buttocks where he held her spiked on his steel-hard cock.
Inhaling deeply with a low groan
, she could not disguise her hunger, her impatience. “Shall I take you with me, lover?”
“Think you can?” He grunted in amusement and shook his head. “You are too greedy
, wench. You can’t wait.”
Grinding her clit along his pubic bone, she managed several long rolls, the inner flesh of her slick vagina massaging his cock
with each undulation. With a groan of effort, he slammed up and held her impaled as his hips circled. Her eyes flared as the surge of pressure against her most sensitive parts swept away her dubious control. Writhing, impaled on his rigid cock, she cried out at the spectacular gratification of a long withheld orgasm. Her inner core contracted violently around him. She came
forever
. He choked on a grunt and finished. She barely noticed.
“Arrogant, hateful man,” she muttered, her face buried
against his chest. “You might at least pretend to let me win.”
“I never pretend.”
Limp, she sprawled across his muscled chest, tracing patterns with a manicured nail. “The rumor is you plan to take a squadron of the Queen’s Guard to bring back DeLorion’s sister from the
Oshtesh
.”
She rolled off his chest, slowly disentangling their sweaty, delicate parts and lay on her back
, trying to regain her breath. She rolled to her side, petting his broad chest. “Perhaps your arranged bride will look the other way if you are discreet.”
“No. When
—
if—
I marry, I will be faithful. I watched my father kill my mother’s soul with his philandering. I respect women too greatly to imitate his ways.” He struggled with his anger. “You are a favorite among the courtesans,” Eric said. “Your bed won’t be cold.”
With a small moue of disappointment
, she reached out a forefinger and ran it gently up his semi-hard length glistening with their combined fluids. While his heart remained indifferent to her charms, she could definitely affect a lower organ. She caught her lip between her teeth, delighted when his cock twitched in response.
“But none like you.”
She flashed him a coquettish look and arranged the sheets to cover her small breasts. “You are an outrageously beautiful man, Commander DeStroia, with an extraordinary talent for sex. My body will miss you.”
Eric
grunted. “I note you don’t mention your heart. Come here to me, hussy.”
He shifted to gather her into his arms, nestling her head across his chest, moving her slen
der thigh to rest between his. His hands wandered down her body, stroking muscles that were tight and firm, skin that felt like satin. The flesh of her small breast filled his hand. He caught the hard bud of her nipple and rolled it between his thumb and middle finger. He laughed softly at her moan of appreciation and moved over her, kneeing her legs apart and entering her already wet pussy with a gentle glide.
“
Please yourself, lover. I don’t think I can come again.”
“
Hmmm, you can’t?” A wicked smile quirked the corner of his mouth. He kissed her lips, nipping gently. “You know ‘can’t’ is not permitted,” he whispered against her mouth. His eyes narrowed. “I give you my promise. You will.”
* * *
The courtesan pulled her elegant silk wrapper close around her. Commander DeStroia had left mere minutes ago and already the door to her sumptuous lodgings swung open. She shrank in apprehensive fear.
In the month
that the Contradina woman had been ‘visiting’ her, she still had not adjusted to the green phosphorescent glow of the woman’s artificial eyes and the hollow, skeletal look of her face. Rumor said Contradina had been a slave to the insectoid Trill—an egg host. The courtesan shuddered at the thought. She knew the freakish creature listened and watched from somewhere close by, but she never knew how much or just what Contradina overheard. It was impossible to lie or deceive her. She bore the bruises from trying.
“He told you nothing of value, whore. If your
sson iss to live, you will have to be more usseful than you’ve been tonight.”
“Please! I can tell you the number
s of the force and route they will take through the wastelands. Commander DeStroia is not my only military client.”
Her spectral visitor sneered.
Hissing through the blackened, gaping holes in her gums formed by missing teeth, she commanded, “Sshow me and perhaps your sson will live another day.”
Shaking uncontrollably,
the lovely prostitute unrolled a large map onto a cluttered table. “They enter the wastelands through the
diaman portal
at Silver Grove and take this route to
Sh’r Un Kree.
DeStroia commands a squadron of thirty-two horse...”