Page 92 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

PORTRAIT

Aleksei

L aura clutched him with everything at her disposal, internally and externally, signaling her climax, telling Aleksei he could finally let go.

Centered on her, breathing for her, existing only because she was his, he buried himself inside his mate and exploded, as always, feeling nothing but her and seeing nothing but stars.

As he came down, he felt her hands moving on the slick skin of his back, her mouth running along the line of his neck, and in his ear she declared, “ Vintage is always the way to roll. No way we could do this in a bathing pod.”

He burst out laughing and took his face out of her neck to look down at her.

Humor.

Beauty.

Love.

The warm water of the shower was beating on his back, and he had her pressed to the marble, his hands to her generous ass, her arms and legs wrapped around him, and he wanted to be nowhere else.

Ever.

But that wasn’t the life they led.

He kissed her and then, unfortunately, since they both had busy days, he had to pull her off his cock.

She made that disappointed mew she always made when she lost him, something that never failed to both tease and torture him, but he had no choice but to set her on her feet.

She didn’t know it yet but soon.

They would have time for just the two of them, very soon.

He held her until he was sure she was steady, then he reached for the soap.

He’d taken care of that part of the shower for her before things got out of hand and he had no choice but to fuck her against the marble. Now he had to see to himself.

Laura tried to take the soap from him, but he pulled it out of her reach.

She pouted up at him, adorably blinking those extraordinary eyes in the spray.

“Darling, we both have busy days. If you lather me, we might never get out of the shower,” he warned.

She appeared to be contemplating that, so he burst out laughing again. Still doing it, he pulled her close, kissed her deeply, then scooted her out of the shower.

He soaped up and watched as she toweled off. And he made quick work of it so he could exit the shower and stand beside her as she cycled through her toilette tech.

In the beginning, his driving need to be with her every second of the day alarmed him greatly. Especially since he’d never experienced anything like it before, and making matters worse, Laura didn’t seem to feel that same need.

This had settled.

It helped when she showed him the article about Aerin and Iphelia .

Aleksei reasoned that his creature understood she was warrior caste before even Laura did, and this led to the intensity of Aleksei’s response to her.

That need still buzzed low, always, but it was something he could control.

Now, he just enjoyed every second he had with her.

Even when she was drooling through a Denti - Clean .

“I could get you a sonic toothbrush,” he offered for the third time, reaching for his own.

She pulled the Denti - Clean out, rinsed, spit and replied, “ It doesn’t do as thorough of a job.”

She was incorrect about that, but considering how cute she was drooling through her Denti - Clean , he didn’t push it.

Laura donned her cosme-mask and mane-mate while he shaved. Then together, they went into the closet.

“You did well yesterday, love,” he said.

She pulled a face.

“Don’t make that face, you did,” he asserted.

She stopped slapping through the hangers (there was no cycling program in their closet at Spikeback , like nearly everything but her toilette tech, they had to go manual), tipped her head to the side and asked, “ Do you really think so?”

“Those young were eating out of your hand.”

“You’re sure?” she pushed.

They’d gone to the drama department of a school in Nocturn . As it was her first official visit, and her first appearance after the horror of the night of the Masque , it had been a mad crush.

Aleksei knew it was nerves and grit that kept her head high, the warm smile on her face, and her focus on the young ones.

And she was amazing with them, attentive, openly interested, seeming to have all the time in the world for each, even if she skillfully made certain to limit that time so she could spend as much with as many as she could.

Laura was a superb princess, and she would make an excellent queen.

More importantly, he’d learned yesterday (not that he didn’t already know it with the way she treated her pets), she would be an amazing mother.

He moved to her, hooked his arm around her waist, dropped a kiss on her nose, and murmured, “ I’m sure, bissi .”

She beamed up at him.

He returned her smile, feeling her pride settle into his bones.

She disliked that part of their lives, but she was in this to win it, because she was in love with him.

She wouldn’t run.

She was here to stay.

He allowed himself a moment to fully feel that feeling, then returned to dressing.

They were eating breakfast at the table in the sunny turret alcove of the solar off their bedroom at Spikeback , where they found they both preferred to breakfast, when Laura’s Palm vibrated.

She took the comm and smiled at the display.

“Hello, Maman ,” she greeted.

Aleksei felt something shift, watching his mate’s face light up when she saw his mother, and hearing the form of address.

He heard his mother’s voice come from her Palm . “ Dearest , yesterday was a triumph .”

“That’s what Aleksei said,” Laura replied.

“Well, he was correct. Your ratings are stratospheric. Germaine is beside herself. Now , obviously, you can’t be visiting every school in Night’s Fall . You’ll need to…”

Aleksei tuned his mother out and his breakfast in.

He didn’t do this because he wasn’t interested. He did it because he knew his fiancée was in hands he could trust, and he’d heard his mother drone on about these things since he could remember.

When they disconnected, he was scrolling through social tapes, seeing proof that he and his mother were right. Their visit yesterday, particularly Laura’s , was a triumph.

He put his Palm down, took a sip of his coffee and noted, “ So , fittings with Mardel today?”

“Yes. I have him for two hours,” she replied, spearing some scrambled eggs.

Aleksei preferred cooking breakfast with her, or for her, rather than having Cook send up what they ordered the night before.

But things had changed for them at Spikeback .

And when they wanted to reminisce their beginnings, they could spend a few days at the penthouse or her loft.

“So I hope I can get it all in,” she continued.

“ Then I’ll program any alterations into the Seam - Stitch .

After that, I have the interviews with the applicants for the costume assistants.

Directly after those are done, Nata and I have a meeting with the curator of MdV .

But Nata will keep all of this on target, and I should be home around five or six. ”

“I’ll aim to be home then too,” he murmured.

“And your day?”

He already knew her schedule before he asked, as she knew his.

There was something that tugged at his heart that she asked anyway, even if, for him, it wasn’t nearly as diverse and exciting as her day always turned out to be.

Nevertheless, she made a point to draw him out, and he knew it was because she worried she didn’t see to him and his interests well enough.

He knew he couldn’t simply tell her to relax and let it go.

He had to let her have time doing these things so he could use them as examples when he eventually told her to relax and let it go.

He was going to give it two weeks.

“They’re close to opening one of the bays on Thoth .

A good deal of my day will be going over those details to make certain we can make the announcement and stick to the date.

And then the director of R and D at Roots Innovation will be demonstrating the new features of a Palm we hope to release in the coming year.

He’s promised the bugs have been dealt with, but that remains to be seen. ”

He had another appointment late that afternoon, but he hadn’t decided if he was going to tell her about that one yet.

“Oo…a new Palm ,” she cooed before she glanced at her own, yelped, took one last hurried sip of coffee then sprang out of her chair, rounding the table, saying, “ Gods , I lost track of the time. Fannon is waiting at the craft. I have to go.”

She gave him a peck on the lips, another one, then she gave up on that and just kissed him.

Deeply.

He chuckled at the end of it and whispered, “ Go , darling. I’ll see you this evening.”

She gave him one more peck before she bid, “ Have a great day, honey.”

“You as well.”

She dashed off.

His creature throbbed at her departure.

Hers pulsed in return.

Aleksei watched her go.

No, he’d never known a female like her.

She loved him. She liked him. She was interested in him. She was attracted to him. He was her mate, her life, her future. She was the same in all to him.

But she was still Laura , with her friends, and her job that was her passion, and her determination to perform her duty as his princess, no matter how it cut across the grain.

He was not a satellite in her life, he was the center star, as she was to him.

But she had a universe to illuminate, and she did that.

It wasn’t the first time he had this thought, but he still thought it…

The Night God certainly knew what he was doing.

* * *

Aleksei landed the JetPanther in the space on the street that had been cleared for him outside the narrow, two-story Pre - Unification brownstone.

He turned his eyes right, and with interest in what he’d see, but none in what he was about to do, he took in the home where Laura grew up.

Considering the beings who had inhabited it for the last twenty-five years, he would have expected it to appear neglected.

Therefore , he was surprised to see the two wide-bowled, squat urns on either side of the front door filled with healthy autumn flowers and the impeccable cast of the shiny barn-red paint on the door.

When Set was standing outside his craft, Aleksei ordered the door to open and climbed out.