Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
We head down several halls—to my unfamiliar-with-praxiian-architecture-eye, they all look the same—and get on an elevator. When we get out a few floors later, a woman with calico coloring and several jeweled hoops in her triangular ears bows at us.
"My name is Sanassa," she says, and holds an identification chip out to Mrrrkuss. "Lady Leah has sent me to be Lady Maeve's food taster as I am familiar with human palates."
We wait in the hall as my guard checks her credentials, and Sanassa smiles at me. So I get a food taster? This is turning more Game of Thrones by the minute. "I hope you like lizard."
She smiles broadly. "I love it, actually."
Figures.
CHAPTER
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE
MAEVE
The quarters I'm brought to are nice and swanky, with the same incredibly high ceiling and bare walls. Upon closer inspection, the walls are carved in delicate repeating patterns, this one of vines and flowers, only visible up close. On the far end of the room is a lovely reclining couch and there's a narrow window near the lavatory doors. A few statues and vases adorn each corner of the room, and there's one questionable piece of furniture: the bed. It's enormous and takes up the center of the room. It's one big circle of a bed, the size of at least two king-sized mattresses pushed together, and has a nest of pillows in the center. It is also very clearly bigger than just two people will need, and I remember that praxiians like to share a bed and that all the members of the family pile in together.
I really, really hope I'm not going to have to cuddle up with Rem and his lady tonight. I was kinda hoping for a reunion with Zhur, complete with at least one round of sex and some make-up cuddling.
So I manage a smile and turn to Sanassa. "That's an awful big bed. Are Rem and his brother, um, trusting enough to sleep together?"
Her curious gaze brightens, and then her whiskers twitch. "Oh, I've heard humans are quite solitary in their sleeping habits. No need to fear, Heiress. Heir Remrrrtel and Heiress Leah sleep alone. She is quite shy."
Well, thank god for her being “shy.” It was going to be a really awkward evening if everyone piled into bed.
Sanassa brings out a tray of snacks and makes idle chitchat as she tastes everything with tiny bites, and then we sit and wait to see if poison affects her. It's a rather grim but practical sort of thing, and she reassures me that very few praxiians use poison. "No honor in it, and our people are very concerned with honor."
I have to bite my tongue, because I want to say something about Rem and honor and stealing thrones, but I don't. I'm going to be Rem's biggest cheerleader, just as I promised, because once all the dust settles, I just want to go somewhere quiet with Zhur and relax.
The guard, Mrrrkuss, takes his place beside the doors and Sanassa decides that enough time has passed and I'm allowed to eat. This time, the bits of food are benign, cut into decorative little squares topped with the occasional garnish. It's all meat of varying kinds, but nothing has a head or eyeballs, so I count this as a win. I eat, and then I kick off my shoes and relax in the bed as Sanassa takes the tray out of the room. I should ask her more questions, I decide. Get the goss on this place. Maybe Mrrrkuss is a chatty sort. I can use any kind of information I get.
Unfortunately, the moment my head hits the pillows, I fall asleep.
I wake up at some point to Zhur nibbling on my neck, his big, heavy body pressing against mine. The room is dark, the hour late, and my husband has finally come to bed. Mmm. This is the best way to be woken up. I roll towards him instinctively, sliding my hands over him.
"You're wrinkling your gown," he murmurs against my throat, his teeth grazing lightly over my skin in a way that sends a bolt of heat directly between my thighs. "Shall I help you out of it?"
"Just as long as you keep touching me." I slide a hand down the front of his clothes, stroking over the hard length of his cock. He's fully engorged, the large bulge under his clothing filling me with yearning. Yes, please. "Look at how thick your cock is. You missed me, didn't you?"
"You know I did." His whiskers tease along my jaw. Then, louder, he says, "Turn around."
I sink my fingers into the thick fur of his sideburns. "I want to kiss you for a while longer—"
He grabs my hand and kisses my fingertips. "Not you, sweetheart. Our guard."
Our...what?
I bolt upright in the bed, peering into the darkness. Sure enough, I can see the outline of Mrrrkuss by the door to the room, obligingly turning his back toward us. Oh heck no. Getting sexy in front of someone else has to be your choosing, and I am definitely not choosing our praxiian guard to listen in. He needs to focus on protecting us, not on the sex noises we're going to make. I don't want him distracted.