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I take the yellow dress from where it is floating, and at the first pull, whatever was keeping it in the air disappears, and it falls into my hands. I’ve never felt anything so soft, so silky,so alive, the material coming to life under my hands. I pull the dress over my naked body, and it shimmers, a thousand tiny fingers and lips kissing my nipples, teasing and toying between my legs, and I’m slick with need, my nipples hardening under the stimulation.

“So this is what Aurelians put their little harem toys in to torment them endlessly,” I say, my voice soft, submissive. “Turn around, but keep your eyes closed,” I say, and he does as I tell him. I bite my lip, feasting my eyes on him, looking him up and down, every inch of his marble perfection, his engorged manhood throbbing with desire. In the mirror I see how exposed I am, the light-yellow dress so thin you can see every curve of my body, my peaked nipples, and it hugs against my ass, the material driving me wild as it teases my most sensitive spots.

I pull off my watch and drop it. I’m going to be late for my meeting, and right now, I don’t care.

“Open your eyes,” I say, and his lids rise, his gray eyes widening as he takes me in.

“You’re art,” he gasps, and then he’s on me, unable to resist, lifting me up, his hands on my ass as he spreads my legs open, and I look in the mirror, seeing how tiny I am in his arms as he pulls me down against his curved, marble cock, impaling me with the most satisfying, stretching pleasure, and I gasp as the sensation overwhelms me and I lose my mind in the alien prince’s embrace.

24

PRINCE DOMAN

Isit in my throne as the holo-vid appears in front of me.

My mother is in the gardens of the palace, near the pond where I used to wrestle with Bruton, the loser getting a bath. On the outside, she is pristine, not a single hair out of place, in a simple yet elegant brown dress, but she’s sitting on the stone bench, and I can tell she hasn’t slept in a week. It’s such a strange thing, that she looks not much older than me, the Bond slowing the lifespan. Every year, an Aurelian ages slower, and in that endless old age, many old warriors choose the peace of absolution in the cryo-bays, to create the next version of themselves instead of living in an endless twilight. One day, I will look the same age as my own fathers, though the burden of ruling has put lines on their faces, tension in their eyes.

With the Bond, the same process occurs for a human, but my mother was only in her twenties when she was Bonded to my fathers, and thus she has barely lived longer than me.

“My son,” she smiles, her eyes warming.

“Mother. How are you?”

Her eyes close, slowly, then open. “I’m tired, Doman. I’m tired. Obsidian won’t stop. There are no limits to what he willdo to us. His new mastery of the Rift… we can’t waste any more time. Get the final ritual on Frosthold finished and complete the tests.”

I grip the stone armrest of my throne. “The Planet-Killers. Do you plan to use them against Obsidian?”

“It would be like using a sledgehammer against a mosquito. He darts his forces in, then back out before we can strike him. But he is only a mosquito. He can sting us, but he can’t kill us.”

That soothes me. I don’t know if she would be willing to use the Planet-Killers if they would be effective, but they are strategically useless against the style of war Obsidian is raging, guerrilla strikes then vanishing before we can mount a response.

My mother smiles. I am one of the only people alive who has seen Queen Jasmine with any vulnerability or human emotion. “You’re not the first of my sons to ask about the Planet-Killers. Cal has been hard at work, trying to convince me not to even run this test. He and the Princess Evelyn have become fast friends, and both are studying the Rift, though I try to tell her to rest.”

“Are the tests truly necessary? With our new access to Pentaris territory, the Toads will be put on the backfoot. They know we could strike into the heart of their kingdom if they try anything.”

“We will win this war. But we can’t fight on two fronts. These tests alone will chill any Toad ambitions.”

I tap my fingers against the stone of my throne, thinking.

“He’s done a great deal of damage to our Mark-10 factories. The cyborgs are the reason we’re pushing back his advance.”

“Yes. But not all of them. Only the factories on our outer territories. We push him back, deeper and deeper, and he strikes out in desperation. His mastery of the Rift is an annoyance and nothing more. This ends as it was always going to. Obsidian can wait no longer. Fay is near to giving birth to his firstborn, and hewill not let his son be born into captivity. He has no more time. He will come to Colossus, and he will die here.”

The talk of Fay makes my skin crawl. Any hint of hesitation would be disaster. She may be my mother, and she may love me, but if she thought I was going to stand in the way of her victory and peace, she would throw me into a jail cell and release me only when Obsidian was slain.

“He won’t be thinking straight. I have another plan.”

“Go on.”

“Booby trap a Mark-10 factory. One that he can’t resist striking. Fill it with nuclear warheads. He’s been exposing himself to danger on the frontlines.”

My mother’s eyes narrow in thought. “His spy networks are elaborate. But it might work. I’ll speak with Baldur of it.”

My second father always had a cunning I wished to possess. He drubbed me in chess through my childhood, and in my early adulthood as well, and I have still yet to take a game from him. Only Cal was able to compete against him.

“I’m very proud of you, Doman. You’ve grown into a great general. Your play with the Prime Minster was exceptionally well done. She was fiercely anti-Aurelian, and now she has bowed to us. Access to her territories is a key asset. I underestimated your diplomatic skills. You manipulated her effortlessly. You will be a true leader when it is your time to take the throne as emperor.”

I grin, hiding my emotions. “I’ll be an ancient man when it comes time. I’ll leave it for one younger.”