Page 24

When I open my door the next morning to head to breakfast, Aura is waiting outside. He greets me with a smile as he leans against my door jamb, dressed in Abr race gear.

“Where’s your armor?” I ask.

“New rule. Males only get to wear their armor or robes for the ceremonial race. This makes us more equal.” He looks me over with an air of concern. “How did you sleep?”

The faint creases around his eyes make me think he didn’t get much rest. “Good enough that I don’t remember the night. I feel like I could death-dive into a smoking thruster and come out making it fart pixie dust.”

“What?” he chuckles. “What’s a pixie?”

“A little magical creature of folklore on Earth. But with all the galaxies out there, I bet one of them has pixies for real.”

“Probably.”

I walk with him to the lunch hall, where we pick up some breakfast burritos and coffees before heading out to the first challenge of the day—the ropes course. “So how long were you standing outside my room?”

Aura waggles his head. “An hour, maybe? Got a lot spinning around in my head with what’s going on.”

“Just don’t forget where you are,” I tell him.

He chuckles. “Don’t worry. My Storm won’t let me. It is barely keeping it together.”

“And what will calm it? Or is that even the goal?” I ask.

Aura finishes his breakfast and tosses the cup and foil wrapper into a nearby bin. “If what the historical records say is true, along with some of the quieter tribal leaders more known to the people, less so to royalty, then I will experience some sort of transmutation after Bonding.”

“If you don’t bond?”

He shrugs. “It is similar to what happens to a dying star.”

This is unnerving. “So you, what, supernova?”

An Abr official starts rounding up the women for the first race. I’m not really interested, but I’d like to give it a shot since I paid for it.

“Basically. Settling for a non-storm match helps, but it has weakened our offspring. Turned them into zur’ionas, glow bugs, compared to the a’kla’ata, the lightning warriors, we used to be.

But that’s what the Royals want, commoners saving them while making stormlessness look like an honorable sacrifice for scraps. ”

“A bit Machiavellian?” I ask. “Manipulative, immoral, egocentric?”

“Sounds about right.” Aura stays close as I snake my way toward the railing.

Abr has changed the ropes course and expanded it massively into a network of bridges, nets, towers, gatehouses, and battlement walls to scale. The bell is now on a flagpole atop a keep. The whole thing looks like a blend of a treehouse and a castle, something I only dreamed of as a kid.

“Will you be upset if I don’t win?” I ask Aura.

“No. Why wouldn’t you want to?”

I shrug. “Other priorities.”

“Like?”

“Exploration. Didn’t you ever just play as a child?”

“Only when I was very young. Before I was taken and thrown into training.”

“That sucks.”

“Just life.”

“Made you into one hell of a hottie,” I remark.

The buzzer goes off. I climb over the rail like the others.

“What did you call me?” Aura asks.

I wink back, enjoying teasing him.

I don’t head for the gates like the others do but instead scale the net up the wall, pull myself over the edge, and put my feet down on the battlement. To either side are rope bridges.

Women climb over the one closest to the keep, so I turn the other way. Cameradrones hum all over the fortress, watching players.

A hand grabs my ankle from below and throws me off balance. “Hey, bitch! Thanks for selling me out!”

I look through the ropes to see Cora glaring up at me from atop another woman’s shoulders. “Wasn’t me. Three of us ended up in the medical wing last night. You never told me about the side effects. I trusted you!”

Cora pulls, and I fall. She lets go and disappears onto the bridge as I snag a foot and swing underneath it. The disorientation makes it difficult to find a handhold, but I scramble for anything so I don’t fall to my death.

A cameradrone zips underneath me as I catch a rope on the underside of the bridge. “Are you good?”

I gasp and nod. “Yeah, thanks.”

Fuck you, Cora!

I crawl to the nearest pocket in the netting as it weaves under the tower above a gate. Women run below me as I shakily make my way through the dark upper story of the fortress toward what I hope is a place where I can set my feet down and steady my shaking body.

The cameradrone buzzes off, leaving me alone somewhere I’m not sure I’m supposed to be. I consider calling Aura to see if he can catch me. I’m too high up to jump down without serious injury.

A metal glint catches my eye. It’s an oblong shape. Curious, I inch my way across the net toward it. Inside the gatehouse tower, as my eyes adjust, I confirm what I’m seeing.

A golden egg?

“Son of a…”

I scramble up, balance as best as I can on the ropes, and assess the pegs on the wall.

It’s a struggle to climb up to the shelf, but I manage to grasp the egg.

It barely fits in one hand. Climbing back down with one arm is not my favorite.

So I stuff the egg in my suit, weave my way down, and crawl over the net toward the gate again.

The ding of a bell sings through the air. Women stop climbing and start back to the waiting area. But I’m still stuck.

Hanging from a rope by my knees, I catch the egg as it slides out of my suit, then call for Aura.

He comes running toward me like a fucking freight train, slams to a stop beneath me, and reaches up. When he sees the egg, his terror shifts to confused delight. “What happened?”

“Cora pulled me over. Then I found this.” I drop the egg into his hands.

Another ding goes off. A cameradrone flashes in white and opens a cargo panel. “The first egg has been found! Please deposit the egg. Congrats, Jovie of Earth. You have won 1,000 credits.”

Aura does as he’s asked, then reaches up for me.

"Whoo!" I grab the rope, swing my legs through so they hang below me, then drop. Aura catches me and hums a grunt in lust as my body slides over his. As he sets my feet on the ground, his rigid cock digs into my belly. The pressure slicks my pussy and makes me weak with need.

“Fucking hell, waiting for the bonding ceremony is going to be so hard.” Aura nuzzles my neck and inhales a deep breath of me. “Was that your plan, my little amamora? To find the egg?”

“Pet name?”

“It means Amphiran love.”

I giggle. “It’s cute coming from such a big brute like you. And no. I didn’t know about it. Just turned a bad situation into a good one.” I slide a glare at Cora as we walk out.

“Foul play, I take it.” Aura notices me looking at her and steps between us. “Hey, Cora.”

Cora waggles her brows. “Yes?”

“You’re from an upper class. I can tell your posture that you’ve never worked a hard day in your life.

” Aura grips my hand. “If you mislead, threaten, or hurt Jovie or anyone else under my watch…let’s just say I might accidentally AED your heart.

” He lifts a finger. “All it takes is one tiny tap. You should mind us lessers . We have skills you can’t even imagine. ”

Cora gapes at us as Aura leads me away.

“Prince Aurelius,” a guard calls to him.

“I am not a prince.” Aura glowers back at the man.

“You cannot threaten others.”

“I threaten only to defend, as it should be.” Aura’s eyes light up a stunning green inside his narrowed gaze.

Aura guides me away from the crowd.

“Don’t you want to race?” I ask him.

Inside the complex, near the planetarium, he draws me against him and sighs. “I want you to be straight with me. I don’t care about the points or a vacation on Pearl de Gaia, or any of the other prizes. I want you. I need to know you are safe. Are there any others who might want to hurt you?”

I shrug. “Kayla works the restaurant by the port. She weaseled into a promotion I was scheduled for and got me fired. Verity and Elwin, you know about. Osacca, maybe because I was always fixing his shit with Talros.”

“Talros. You’ve mentioned him. Your coworker, right?”

“My plus-one. We’ve worked together since space camp in middle school. He’s on Catalyst Five. The only threats from him are his friendly RAMs, which are basically robots made to look like Earth animals. He helped me get here. He can’t be a threat.”

Outside, the males run their ropes race. It’s over far faster than the women’s heat, and everyone files inside the lunch hall not far from us.

Aura looks away. “I’m having Allele pick him up.”

“Why?”

“Just in case. I’d rather him be safe. I can’t make sure of that if he’s on Catalyst Five alone.” Aura smirks. “Besides, I have to make sure he understands who he’s messing with if he does try to take you from me.”

I start to protest, but Aura picks me up and throws me over his shoulder. In my disorientation, only a yelp comes out.

“Come on, my little treasure hunter. It’s lunchtime. And I intend to plump you up a bit.” He pats my ass and zaps me a good one.

“Aura!”

He chuckles. “Come on. I know it doesn’t hurt. Just admit that you like it.”

I fight a smile, but I can’t help it. I’ve never felt so wanted or desired. “Keep it up. One of these days, I’m going to get you back.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” he simpers.