He paused in surprise. “Um, not usually at the same time. Why?”
“In the Xefar, you are what you were born to be. You cannot be anything else. Warriors guard, drones fuck and then become companions, workers work. The queen lays and controls the others with her scent and ability to birth the next queen, ensuring the continuation of the colony.”
Arnolth rubbed his head. “So, you have not been with men of your own kind?”
“No. Of course not. The only visitors were politicians and traders as well as the occasional ambassador. None were left alone with me, although several brought me gifts and asked my mother for one of my limbs. She thought that was rude and sent them on their way.”
“Your limbs? They wouldn’t have been asking for your hand, would they?”
She smiled and moved closer to the fire, and closer to him. “Yes. Why they had such an interest in it I don’t know.”
He laughed weakly. “It is a request for a mating partner, to use your terms. They were asking on behalf of their own dignitaries and rulers. You are a princess and they must have been trying to cement the treaties with your people.”
“Really?” She laughed. “What would they want with me? I am not completely human.”
“To lock in good relations with the Xefar. They have one of the most prolific geological excavation systems on this planet.” Arnolth shifted. “I believe it is why you are being sent to the capitol.”
“What? Why?” Rapunzel rubbed at her forehead.
“To ensure the gems and minerals will flow. An alliance with you would bring a family a guaranteed status.”
She fussed a little and finally decided to give herself a little peace of mind. “I need to bathe. Do you mind nudity?”
“We don’t have enough water for you to bathe with.”
Rapunzel gave him a curious look and started to undo her braid, “I don’t need water. It is one of the bonuses of this hair of mine.”
She chuckled, loosening her hair before removing her breast band and the skirt. A deep breath and closed eyes later, her hair was glowing and swirling around her, the energy inherent in her body scrubbing her clean.
His astonished gasp caused her to laugh as the energy whirled and arced through the night sky. Her hair lifted and twisted back into its standard braid the moment it was clean. Her body shone a pale gold in the firelight and she smiled at her companion. “See?”
The energy washing through and over her was just what her mind needed to process the new information.
“Princess, what was that?”
“Well, as the story goes, my mother ate the Xefar queen breeding fibres. It contained enough power to create a queen designed to breed thousands of Xefar for the colony. That power was trapped in my body and it is useful at times.”
She went to her pack and pulled out a change of clothing.
“You really have no trouble being nude in front of strangers, do you?”
Rapunzel gave him an astonished look. “Why would I? There is no deformity in my body, no twist in my limbs, no obvious imperfection. I was raised to believe that a whole body is all that one needs to be part of a society.”
“Well, your body is lovely.” He was standing close to her and the heat from his body was warring with the blaze of the fire. “You do not need to cover up on my account.”
“Do we have any food?”
He sighed and took a few steps aside to his own packs. He passed her some bread and dried meat. “I am sorry it is all I have to offer.”
She put her skirt down on the ground and sat on it, curling her legs to one side. She patted the other side of the skirt and he took her invitation in an instant.
“So, tell me more about the softies that we will meet.” She ate the meat between sips of water and tried to make her way to the bread.
“Late tomorrow you will enter the city. We will stop on the edge of town so that you can put on your formal wear. At that point we will ride for the palace.”
“When was the last time you were there?”
“A few years ago. I remember meeting your father and his wife as well as the rest of the royal family.” His face took on a sober sadness. “He was a man who had once had a sense of humour and lost it when his leman died.”
“Did he love her?”
“He did. He married his wife out of family obligation and when they had no children, he publicly was seen with your mother. Her name was Niskala Fannith and she was a second generation colonist.”
Rapunzel looked at him, her eyes wide. “Niskala? No one ever mentioned her name before.”
“Your father refused to have her name spoken at court. He missed her far too much to be reminded day after day.”
She blinked. “It is still bizarre to think that I had a male parent who had a say in the dispensation of his offspring.”
Arnolth moved closer and after a short hesitation, he placed his hand on her shoulder. “Human males have a lot of input in their offspring’s lives. Don’t you think you would want your children to know their father?”
Her skin pebbled at the warmth of his hand. “I have never considered having children. The Xefar live their lives day by day. Our future is undetermined.”
“Humans enjoy planning.” He stroked her skin lightly as if testing her.
Her voice came out with a breathless sigh. “What are you planning now?”
He didn’t tell her, he leaned toward her and pressed his lips to hers.
Surprise warred with a surge of emotion that she couldn’t define. She turned fully toward him and reached for his shoulders. She pulled away for an instant. “You can plan for the future, I am going to live in the moment.”
She returned to the kiss and threaded her fingers in his hair, holding him tightly to her. The intriguing bulge beneath his tunic jerked again as she rocked against him. Her thighs parted as she pressed him to the ground.
He held her off. “A moment. I need to create even footing.”
She sat back in a confusion of weltering hormones and emotions. She watched as his silhouette removed its cloak, spread it next to the fire and kicked his boots free. A moment later, his trousers hit the ground followed by his tunic.
The jutting of his erection surprised her by the angle at which it protruded. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but the hot throbbing girth wasn’t it.
She was so caught up in her examination that when he turned her to her back and came down on top of her, she merely blinked at him in surprise. Her blood sang with anticipation, her mind spinning with eagerness as he fitted himself to her.
The peculiar feeling of his blunt hardness wedging into her opening caught her attention. She bit her lip as he worked himself into her in tiny increments.
The fixed expression on his features delayed her normal questioning. Rapunzel yelped in shock as he rocked his hips against her and a sharp pain ran along her nerves.
Her skin immediately took on its glow of healing as it tried to repair her. “What the hell was that?”
She was pushing against Arnolth’s shoulders with her hands and sweat was pooling on his brow and slicking his skin.
“Take it easy, Princess. You were a virgin and now are not. Your body will adjust to me, I simply have to wait until your glow subsides.”
Rapunzel took internal inventory. The hard length of his cock was still within her, throbbing restlessly. “How do you know you have to wait?”
“The Xefar queen gave me instructions that didn’t make sense until now.” He pressed his forehead against hers and shifted his weight.
The tingle of sensation went from an irritant to enthralling in a moment. She tilted her hips and soon was meeting his slow thrusts with timid forays of her own body.
A twisting power wound through her, causing a frenzy that made her dig her fingers into Arnolth’s backside, pulling him into her with all of her strength. In one surge, her mind broke into bright sparks that sprinkled into the stars before coming back into one large and satisfied gathering.
Arnolth grunted and gave a short flurry of thrusts that culminated in a long low shudder and his collapse on extended arms.
She touched his cheek and smiled. “Softy mating has definite appeal. How many males do I have to take to my bed?”
He gave her a grim look. “Pair bonding is the accepted norm. As a princess, you would not be expected to have more than one mate.”
She could feel him inside her, softer but still there. Her body was still randomly clenching around him and she could tell by the tensing of his muscles that he could feel it, too.
“Do you have a mate?”
He rolled to one side and pulled her against him, his body keeping hers warm as the stars blinked above them.
“No. I do not have a mate. I was asked to accompany you to the city with the hope that I would appeal to your instincts. Your mother’s letter was very specific.”
Rapunzel leaned back and gave him a surprised look. “She orchestrated this?”
“Only if you were receptive. If you had given any signs of distaste or disinterest I would have stopped immediately.”
She stared at his features in the flickering firelight. She found the strong slope of his nose, the hard chin and full lips very pleasing. The column of his neck meeting the muscles leading to his thick shoulders made her heart flutter and the care with which he was holding her made something softer spring to life.
“You have no regrets? I am not quite sure what we were doing.” She bit her lip again.
He leaned forward and drew her lip between his. “No regrets. Are you sore?”
“No. My energy has taken care of the small wound you inflicted. If that kind of pain is normal, I don’t know how humans have kept their population up.”
He chuckled. “It is only the first time. After tonight, you will be able to engage in this kind of activity any time you wish without injury.”
“Oh, excellent. This is the sort of thing that could be a lot of fun.” She sighed and snuggled against him.
“And yet, you can have me for the event any time. I would recommend that you not try this with just any human male.”
Laughter welled within her, but she held it back. “I will take that under advisement. I am rather tired now, can we sleep?”
“Of course. We have quite a ride on our schedule tomorrow.” Arnolth pulled her tightly to him and flipped his cloak over her.
Though he had woken with another erection, Arnolth had not tried to couple with her again. Rapunzel was a little confused, but she ate the food he provided and got back on the horse after it was saddled.
He rode next to her and she found herself intensely curious about him. “Why are you not living in the capitol?”
“I chose to live and manage my family’s concerns outside the city. Life there was too complicated for me and my father was pressuring me to marry.”
“You don’t wish to mate?” She felt slightly unsure. Without her willing it, her mind had begun to spin a future with him at her side.
“Mating for life has never been appealing.” His words came out before he realized what he said. His quick words showed his awareness of his lack of tact. “Until now. Now it is on my mind frequently.”
His glance to his groin invited hers to follow. His erection was visible under his clothing.
She blushed and grinned as memories of the previous night’s encounter filled her mind. “I see. I really do.”
“What about you? Have you never thought of taking a mate and raising a family?”
Rapunzel got a sinking feeling in her belly. “We don’t know if I can have a family. The energy may not be conducive to a human pregnancy.”
“There are off world medical officers at the capitol. They can probably run scans so you would know whether it is possible or not.”
“I suppose that they could. I would rather find a mate who was not fixated on my ability to breed.”
He chuckled. “It isn’t the breeding, it’s the trying that has my attention.”
She smiled and took some water from her bag. Attempting to have offspring was suddenly on her mind as well and it never had been more than a fleeting image in her thoughts before this day.
Their conversation dwindled as both of them were lost in thought. A light snack in the saddle and they were soon approaching the growing capitol with the spaceport in the background.
“I think I should get into my formal wear now.”
“We will head into that copse of trees. It should keep any casual travellers from seeing you before you are dressed.” He led her horse to the gathering of greenery.
She had her clothing out of the pack before they had even drawn to a halt. The glowing red and gold gown was draped over the edge of the saddle as she slid to the ground.
“Do you need help?”
She laughed at the heated eagerness in his tone. “You can hold my hair out of the way while I put the gown on.”
He was at her side in an instant, filling his hands with her gold locks and lifting the heavy braid away from her. His yelp of surprise when it curled around his wrists caused her to laugh out loud once again.
“I am sorry, but it was too funny. The energy holds it together and allows me to manipulate it.” She snaked her braid down the front of his tunic and under the edge to the opening of his trousers.
The golden braid wrapped and writhed against him, tugging his cock out and stroking rapidly against it until he was up on his toes.
When he groaned and his hands clenched against her skull, she moved her hair faster and the arc of semen missed her by an inch.
Gasping and shaking, he got himself under control. “You don’t really need help, do you?”
“No, you can have a seat and watch.”
He stumbled off to one side and she quickly removed her skirt and band, opening her gown and stepping into it. Her hair rolled up her head to form a heavy coronet with her long braid cascading down past her hip on the right side.
“How do I look?”
“Like a princess.”
She was about to get on the horse when she realized something. “Whoops, shoes.”
The jewelled sandals had been crafted by her drone, based on a pattern she had been given by one of the few traders to the colony. They laced into place with delicate ribbons and when she saw Arnolth putting on his own embroidered tunic and vest, she knew she had made the right choice.