Caeryssa's quest for relaxation spirals into chaos, entwining her destiny with the infuriating playboy prince whose smile conceals a dark vendetta that will shatter any possibility of their soulmate connection.
***
On Oenone, where lush forests meet...
Waking in Zaen's arms was a pleasure Caeryssa was still growing accustomed to, even a week after making love in the lounge and moving into the captain's cabin. She tucked her head into his shoulder and snuggled tight against his warm, powerful body, letting her fingers glide over the ridges of muscle.
He mumbled and wrapped an arm around her, cupping her ass.
Heat rose in her cheeks as she recalled the way he'd fulfilled his promise to explore and lick every centimetre of her, saying he had to know exactly how much of her was blue. All of her, apparently, even there. And they had another three weeks to learn about each other before the outside world intruded again.
The crew were keeping to the lower decks, even Dhevun, except when he was on the bridge or in his cabin. Not that she blamed them for being scarce after she and Zaen had traumatized poor Des when he'd walked in on them in the lounge with her bent over the table as Zaen railed her from behind. And Isaac, when Zaen pinned her to the corridor wall. At least Dhevun had just snorted and left again when he found her riding Zaen on the command chair on the bridge.
A delicious warmth stirred between her thighs recalling the way Zaen had taken her in the shower only a few hours ago. The prince was certainly inventive and didn't much care where they were. All she had to do was give him that look and he was lifting his shirt that she'd taken to wearing as a dress since she only had the one outfit on board.
His scent, that combination of spice and honey, sank into her pores. Something about being surrounded by it settled her, warmed her from the inside. Who would have thought only seventeen days ago when they'd met that this contentment would be the result, despite losing her job and total disruption of her life? She muffled a snort. He'd sexed her into happiness. Those endorphins were powerful, after all.
But it was more than that. He actually listened and cared about what she had to say. Her opinion mattered.
Even when they agreed to disagree.
Maybe it made her too forgiving, but she'd wanted to contact Emmed, concerned about how Zaen's best friend would react to the news that they'd left. He didn't know Sirah was alive, and after Zaen had described his friend's self-destructive behaviour... well, if he thought Zaen was cutting him out of his revenge, not knowing it was actually Xavix behind it all, Emmed could do something rash to put himself in danger.
After all, if she thought someone had killed Zaen—her heart clenched and she pressed the heel of her hand to her chest—she wouldn't be very rational either. She didn't want to be buddies with Emmed. Thorny stems, she wasn't sure she even wanted to be in the same room as the asshole, but she could see how someone could get that twisted up.
Surely there was some way to get a message to Emmed without endangering Sirah or the others her father had saved?
Zaen refused to entertain the idea, insisting Emmed would be fine until Zaen could talk with his mother to find out the details of what she had planned, but his eyes held a starkness it hurt her heart to see. He was worried and the churning in Caeryssa's gut refused to settle whenever she considered how Zaen would deal with the loss of his best friend and telling his sister that her fiancé was dead if this all went badly.
She rubbed her cheek against Zaen's chest, wrapped in his warmth. Yet as much as she wanted to simply enjoy these next three weeks, to put all her worries out of her mind, they kept intruding. What would they find when they reached the Dragon's Eye Nebula? What truths would his mother and sister have to explain what had happened ten cycles ago? Why was Xavix trying to kill them? What would make him target his own family? His own heirs?
Her mother's words echoed, haunting in their implications, but they hadn't had a chance to talk long enough for Caeryssa to get answers to the wider conspiracy. More was going on than simply Xavix's actions against his family and her father saving those innocents who'd been targeted.
Her life had already changed so dramatically—more than she could have imagined when she'd left on her vacation. The answers they sought might free them or entangle them deeper in the Ascendancy's political miasma, but would she know before she was sucked into the black hole's event horizon?
She shivered, despite Zaen's body heat wrapped around her. As she listened to his powerful heart, each beat thundered like a countdown drawing their fate ever closer.
(803 words)
(total words for story: 36,580)
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