Twenty-Nine
“We are going where, husband?” Allara asked, frowning up at the big Kindred.
“To Darden Three, baby. It’s a beautiful planet with a very broad tropical zone. Have you ever been to the beach?”
“The beach?” Allara shook her head. “No, my family lived far inland and the Q’ess do not believe in traveling too far from home.”
“So you never took vacations anywhere?” Brand gave her a disbelieving look. “Not the mountains or the ocean or anywhere?”
Allara shook her head.
“Until I was sent to you, husband, I had never been farther from home than the grass lands that edged our city.”
“Well, you’re in for a treat.” Brand’s golden eyes glowed with excitement. “Darden Three is beautiful. And we’re going to be there during our Tasting Week.”
Allara bit her lip, not sure what to say about this. All during their Bathing Week, Brand had been talking about how he longed to taste her. But to be honest, the idea made her distinctly nervous.
For one thing, it just seemed wrong for a man to want to lower himself to putting his mouth on a woman’s forbidden areas. Allara was certain any man of the Q’ess would have recoiled in horror and revulsion at such an idea.
And for the second thing, the idea of the big Kindred’s mouth between her thighs just made her feel nervous and shy. It seemed so intimate—so forbidden.
So naughty—so dirty—so wrong, whispered a voice in her head.
Though Allara had been trying to rid herself of the nagging little voice in her head that sounded so much like her aunt, she hadn’t been completely successful. It didn’t screech in her head as it had on the day she had accidentally pressed the transmitter’s button, but it still whispered to her of duty unfulfilled and a mission that had been abandoned for her own selfish reasons.
Leave me alone, Allara told it now. I must obey my husband. If he tells me that he wants to press his mouth to my pussy, I must let him.
But the thought still sent an uneasy, forbidden chill down her spine.
“…get Kat to make you some swimsuits for the beach,” Brand said and she realized that she had missed what he was saying due to her own internal conflict.
“What was that, husband?” she asked him. “You say I must have special clothing for this new planet?”
“Absolutely, baby. But don’t worry—I’ll take care of it all. Before you know it, we’ll be on our way to paradise.” Brand leaned down and kissed her, excitement dancing in his golden eyes. “Tonight’s the last night of our Bathing Week and we leave tomorrow morning. So we’ll be spending the first night of our Tasting Week on Darden Three.”
Allara tried to smile but she was pressing her thighs together in deep anxiety. She couldn’t remember feeling this nervous since the day of their wedding.
Thirty
“Well, how did you enjoy our honeymoon?” Brand asked as their ship lifted off from Darden Three.
“Honeymoon?” Allara asked, frowning.
“It’s the term the humans use for the period right after a marriage or a Joining. Generally the new husband and wife take a little trip together and go someplace special. It’s a kind of mini-vacation, so they can relax and enjoy getting to know each other,” Brand explained. He gave her a half-lidded smile. “And I’d have to say that you and I certainly did get to know each other a bit more, wouldn’t you, baby?”
Allara found herself blushing but this time her embarrassment was mixed with pleasure because she knew her husband was making a reference to their Tasting Week, which had turned out must better than she’d ever expected…
Darden Three was everything Brand had promised her and more, she had to admit when she thought back on the past week. The people who lived there were kind and generous with an easy, open hospitality that made her feel at home right away. The beaches were broad swaths of pale pink sand which glittered in the sunlight and the waves were a pale, clear aquamarine which was just beautiful.
They had been fed all kinds of delicious delicacies—tropical fruits and fish with mild, white, flaky flesh, and wonderful pastries shaped liked the fruit they were flavored with. And, aside from a few state dinners with the Prime Minister of the Dardens, they’d had plenty of time to spend together.
Allara had feared she would miss her daily music lessons from Selena but it had turned out that the Dardens also had a musical legacy. In particular, they had a custom of “singing to the sunset,” which Allara and Brand had been introduced to that very first night.
“It’s the custom for all our people to come out and sing during the fading of the sun,” the Darden Prime Minister had told them, during their first state dinner. “So don’t be surprised if you hear voices raised in song, periodically throughout the evening. It is the way we give thanks for the beautiful planet we live on.”