NATALIE
Once the Emperor decided to do something, he did it fast. Before I knew it, Rylee and I were aboard his royal spaceship, sitting side by side and surrounded by the Emperor’s regular retinue of enormous guards. The chairs were too big for us, of course—since they had been made for people twice our size. So we sat there with our legs dangling like kids waiting for the ship to take off.
At my urging, the Emperor did at least call ahead, and thank goodness the Empress was eager to have the Emperor as a guest. I could only imagine what would have happened if she had refused his request to come for a visit—at the very least Rylee and I would have lost our heads. But luckily, we were soon on the way.
All this time, Rylee was keeping up with her two husbands and letting them know what was going on via their mental link. I was gettingreallyjealous of her Bond with them, I can tell you, and not just for the communication aspect. Rylee told me she felt incredibly close to both of them—she said it was a deeper relationship than she’d ever experienced before.
“It’s like our souls have joined together somehow,” she said, when she was trying to explain. “I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. The three of us are so happy together in our new life at Court.”
She told me all about her other friends, who were also La-ti-zals, including the Goddess Empress herself who had been a medical student back on Earth before she found out she was supposed to rule the galaxy.
“Her name is Charlotte and she Bonded with the Captain of her Royal Guards, Kristoff, even though she wasn’t supposed to,” she elaborated. “And then there’s Leah and her friend, Zoe—they’re also La-ti-zals bonded to alien men.”
“Isn’t Leah the one who’s bonded to a half-Braxian?” I asked with interest.
Rylee nodded.
“Yes—Grav. He’s a really nice guy. He was hired to be her Protector but then they fell in love. You know,” she added thoughtfully. “Leah told me that her Bond with him actually took some time to form. Maybe that’s the case with you and Vik’tor?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t think so. I think I’d have some kind of idea if I was forming an unbreakable mental bond with him by now.”
“Well…maybe you’re right.” Rylee sighed. “But did you do absolutelyeverythingyou could to Bond with him? I mean, with my guys, we did a lot of stuffbeforewe actually Bonded.”
“What stuff?” I asked, frowning.
“Oh, you know…” Rylee was blushing, her pale brown skin getting darker around her high cheekbones. “Just things we had to do in order to advance in our mission. Which at the time was to sever the Bond between the two of them, though of course after we did that, they realized what a mistake it was and came back to find me and Bond all three of us together.”
“But howexactlydid you Bond?” I asked.
Rylee looked around, making sure the guards sitting on either side of us weren’t listening and leaned towards me.
“Well…they both had to…you know, come in me at the same time,” she murmured.
“What? At the same time in the samehole?”I demanded.
“Shhh!” Rylee hushed me, looking at the guards again. “Keep it down, would you? Yes, at the same time and the same…er, place,” she added.
“Buthow?”I asked. “I mean, you’re not some kind of a porn star. How did you, uh,fitboth of them?”
“Never you mind about that,” Rylee said primly. “It’s possible because of their alien biology. But the point is, until we did itthatspecific way, wedidn’tBond.” She shrugged. “So maybe you and Vik’tor need to find a different way to do things. That’s all I’m saying—all right?”
I didn’t know if she was right or not but at that moment, the ship’s captain announced that we were entering what he called “Female Air Space.” Apparently the royal star cruiser was extremely fast.
“All right,” Rylee reported, after another quick mental consultation with her two husbands. “According to Drace and Lucian, our guys will be landing soon and they’ll meet us in the Female Court.” She frowned and concentrated for a moment. “Apparently the Empress was willing to let my guys in because she was really happy withyourguy, Vik’tor for a favor the two of you did for her?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at me.
“Er, yeah.” I cleared my throat. “I guess you could say that.”
“What favor, though?” Rylee wanted to know. “Come on, Cuz—tell me!”
“Well…” It was my turn to look at the guards. (Luckily they were so much taller than us, their heads were high above ours and they didn’t seem to hear anything. It was kind of like being surrounded by giraffes, or some other really tall animal, if that makes any sense.)
“Go on,” Rylee urged me.
“Well, she wanted to know about sex,” I muttered. “Because she’d never been with a guy before. In fact, she pretty muchdemandedthat Vik’tor and Ishowher how to do it.”
Rylee’s eyes widened.