Queen of Starlight (17 page)

She was tempted to tell him to disrobe, if only to see what he would do. But she had not yet reached that age where perverted rudeness could be shellacked as eccentricity, much less wisdom.

Although she had apparently not quite left behind the age where she wondered if that gray robe concealed an outworlder’s hairy chest or one smooth like her own people’s.

She took a sip of her teaweed to cover her inexplicable tension and held the other cup out to him. “Most visitors find this less pungent than some of our more traditional brews. Non-stimulating, so it won’t keep you awake.”

He raised one brow as if questioning the motivation for her gesture. “Thank you, Saya. I want to set myself to island time.” He took the thin-shelled cup but only cradled it in his wide palm.

He was already taller than her son—and Luac was taller than she was—but she suspected this Icere had not quite finished growing into himself. Still, he handled the delicate cup with more assurance even than Kylara who’d spent her girlhood playing with the ridiculously breakable but common shells. Rynn had to admit, he was also more stunning than her lovely daughter, with his lissome body and unlined face. In a few more years, he would be devastating. She realized she was staring too pointedly and dropped her gaze to her beverage. She noted he had big feet too, which were said to indicate largeness in general.

The wayward thought almost made her choke on her drink. And she’d just said teaweed wasn’t stimulating!

She set the cup down with a clunk. Surprisingly, it didn’t shatter, but Icere’s expression turned wary. Most might not have noticed the slight tension at the corners of his mouth, the subtle flare of his nostrils, but most people didn’t spend their days balancing the weight of a world on their shoulders.

Which made her wonder if Icere’s gray robe was padded to give him those broad shoulders. She suspected not.

Her distraction annoyed her. “Why are you here?”

“Ni-Saya-Luac invited me.”

“Give me the courtesy of no stupid answers, and I will assume you are more than a pretty face.”

His jaw tightened, and for an instant, she saw the shape of the man he would become. Devastating indeed.

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About Jessa Slade

Jessa Slade is an unrepentant space captain groupie. Give her a hot ship and a cool stare and she swoons. To this day, say Firefly around her and she cries. She likes to quote Han Solo, giggle at Kirk’s shirts, and harbors a soft spot (in the head) for Buck Rogers. Shameless, I tell you. You can often find her goofing off online.

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Sheerspace Series

Marked Souls Series

Steel Born Series

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Jessa Slade is an unrepentant space captain groupie. Give her a hot ship and a cool stare and she swoons. To this day, say Firefly around her and she cries. She likes to quote Han Solo, giggle at Kirk’s shirts, and harbors a soft spot (in the head) for Buck Rogers. Shameless, I tell you. You can sometimes find her goofing off online. If you see her there, tell her to get back to writing!

Jessa Slade also has a not-so-secret identity writing sexy contemporary romances as
Jenna Dales
. Hey, not all sex can be in space!

Butterfly Girls Series

Hot Rod Series

Acknowledgements

Writers spend a lot of time alone at their computers, but we aren’t really alone. I want to thank my family for cheering enthusiastically, no matter what I do. (Unconditional love is an amazing force.) I also want to thank fellow authors Delilah Marvelle and Cathryn Cade, cool ladies who spiced up my love scenes, and extra huge thanks to authors Erin Kellison and KC Klein whose invitation to be part of an anthology –
HOTTER ON THE EDGE
– made this story jump into my head. Plot bunnies in space!

Queen of Starlight

Sheerspace Book 1

Copyright © 2012 by Jessa Slade

First appeared as “Enslaved by Starlight” in HOTTER ON THE EDGE, February 2012

Cover design © Jessa Slade

Cover image © Igor Kireev

Brushes by Obsidian Dawn

Edited by Patricia Thomas

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as factual. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be scanned, reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the authors.