But wait. What? “Until he’s no longer needed?”
I looked at the consort, who was watching me, his gaze roaming my body. The professional interest I’d read in his eyes before had changed to something more. Something I didn’t care for at the moment. Lust. Eagerness. I had become a random piece of ass and it was his job to tap it.
Great. Just great.
“It depends on the female, my lady,” Cassander replied. “Some require two days of my attention. Some as many as four. Only you will know when all your needs have been met. I promise I will meet every one of them.”
Gag. My need was to get away from this guy and fast.
“Jesus, Trin. Four days? We don’t have time for that,” Destiny said, always blunt. Unfortunately, she was right. Or fortunately, because if I had to get it on with this guy, I wanted it to be one and done. Like in one hour. Not four fricking days.
“What happens if I leave after one day, even if I don’t feel—satisfied? What happens?”
He looked shocked, as if he’d never been asked that before. What? Obviously, everyone else wanted to just lounge in bed having sex for days on end. Not me.
Shit. When I thought of it that way, it did sound insane. What woman in their right mind didn’t want to do nothing but fuck… again and again? This consort’s entire job was to make sure I was satisfied in every possible way. That meant this would be me time. Anything and everything I wanted.
I’d just have to keep my eyes closed and pretend I actually wanted him to be… touching me. As if he could read my mind—and was insulted—he straightened and puffed out his chest. Great. Even consorts had easily wounded male egos. “If you leave before you are fully sated, your relief will only be temporary. You will quickly return to your former state,” he said, his voice full of reassurance.
“How quickly?” If I had a few weeks, we could find Mother and move on. Maybe I could even find a man I liked and wanted to get naked with to finish the job.
“Within hours, or so I’ve been told.” He tilted his head and I suddenly felt as if I was being pandered to. Obviously, he’d never left a female unsatisfied. Permanently. “I will take very good care of you. You have my word.”
Damn. I’d just have to hope I was a one-day kind of girl. But I suspected I was more likely the four-day variety. “Let’s go, then.”
I must not have looked overly excited about it—which was pretty much how I felt—because Faith put her hand out to stop me. “Wait.”
“What?” I asked, wanting to get this over with so we could get on with finding Mother.
“You don’t have to go with him. God, this is ridiculous. Why would you go off with a guy you don’t like and have sex? It’s just… weird. Wrong. There’s five other guys. The second one’s cute.”
The guards glanced at each other, most likely trying to figure out which one of them was the ‘second one.’
“She’s right, Trin,” Destiny added. “It’s like getting your v-card punched. Don’t just do it to get it over with.”
I rolled my eyes, then leaned toward Faith. Destiny stepped closer so we were in a huddle. “Imagine using your vibrator and you’re close, really, really, close to coming. Riding the edge… and the batteries die.”
Destiny made a funny whimper sound. We might all still live at home, but we were full-grown adults. We had vibrators and boyfriends and sex and real lives.
“That’s what I feel like. All. The. Time.”
Faith bit her lip and gave me a look of pity. “Then pick one. There are six guys. One of them’s got to be appealing to your hysterical Va-Jay-Jay.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I stroked my hand down Faith’s long hair and we turned as a unit to stare at the men. All six of them. The consort was appealing, but not appealing enough. Destiny was right, the second guard was really hot.
The consort looked irritated now, as if we were not only insulting him, but were idiots as well. “With all due respect, ladies, the guards will not be able to service you as you need. Only a male who has met The One, whose cock has been awakened by his true mate, can be of service to a female. Even then, we consorts have lost our mates. My mate died two years ago in a tragic accident. I am the only one here whose body is awake and fully functional. None of the guards are mated. And Aleran males do not have sex with other females while their mates still live. I will not allow you to ask another male to dishonor his mate in this way. I am but a lowly consort, but my purpose is sacred and valued on all of Alera.”
Great. We’re here for all of two minutes and we already insulted every Aleran we’d met.
“My apologies, Cassander. We did not intend to insult you or the guards. I would never ask a warrior to dishonor his mate. Never.” I glanced at the guards. So did Faith and Destiny. Those big, hot guys, who had to be similar in age to the three of us, hadn’t had sex? Hadn’t had their cock awakened? Mother had mentioned it, explained it, but I hadn’t believed her. I mean, every guy on Earth from like fourteen on was as horny as hell. They thought only of sex, of getting into a girl’s pants from the moment they woke up until going to sleep.
And these five guards had never felt lust? Or had sex? Never had an orgasm?
“Holy shit,” Destiny whispered. “A planet of hot virgin males. Every woman’s fantasy.”
“It’s the consort then, Trin,” Faith whispered. “Just close your eyes and think of Justin Timberlake.”
I laughed. Faith had always been obsessed with the pop star. Determined to make the best of an awkward situation for all of us, I walked toward Cassander, who bowed and kissed my palm. It was warm. Pleasant. No great rush of lust fired me up at the simple touch, but I didn’t need a great lust. Or true love. I just needed to get this alien Ardor taken care of—as quickly as possible—so we could go track down the kidnappers and save Mother.