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“Your primary task is to protect Empress Consort Louella Cordelia Jefferson and keep her safe from harm.”
“Acknowledged.”
Louella looked at the mechanized spider, then at her mate. “Is this thing going to follow me around?”
“Everywhere you go.”
“Jax …”
“This is not up for discussion. I will see you protected and safe,always.”
Louella’s heart melted at his fierce statement, but still the robot made her nervous, even though she’d just given it a name she remembered from theIronmanmovies.
“Ahn’hudin’s royal court is a place of scheming and even treachery. I cannot remain by your side at all times to ensure your safety,” Jax explained and ran a palm over her fuzzy scalp in a gesture of affection. “But the droid can and will. It is a formidable defender, vigilant, lethal, and unfailing.”
She sighed. “Okay.”
He ran his palm over her scalp again. “Your hair is growing back.”
Louella smiled. “I know. That’s great!”
Jax gave her a close-lipped smile and nodded, not saying anything because he would have preferred her hairless. His preference did not alter his devotion to her, but he would not speak falsely to her either. Instead he said, “You are the most beautiful, courageous, and resourceful female I have ever seen. You are a blessing from Durja.”
Louella considered his words and replied with candor, “And God has blessed me with you, too.”
Chapter22
The first sixty days of the reign of Emperor Yas’kihn mek Kuresh’Zha passed quickly after a long, formal coronation ceremony broadcast across the galaxy. Delegates from myriad planets arrived to pay their respects and either renew or forge new alliances with Ahn’hudin. Louella soon grew accustomed to her metal arachnid shadow mincing behind her, ever vigilant and occasionally moving faster than she could have imagined. That surprising quickness was coupled with pinpoint accuracy, demonstrated when the droid pinned an assassin to the floor. Once guards arrived to search the squat, warthog-looking being, Jarvis returned to protecting Louella, hovering over her and keeping her caged behind its eight articulated legs. When a weapon was found on the being, Jarvis shot a laser between the four guards, killing the assassin instantly.
So much for due process. Louella wrapped her arms around herself and only barely managed not to vomit at the stench of singed flesh.That doesnotsmell like bacon.She inhaled and felt her stomach churn.Come to think of it, I have been a bit queasy. And I’m gaining weight, too. Maybe I really am pregnant!
Only when the carcass had been removed did Jarvis release Louella from the prison of its legs and return to following her. After that, she appreciated the robot much more and no longer resented its constant, hovering presence. She also appreciated the not-always-so-tender loving care visited upon her by her mate, which left her hoarse the next morning and her body pleasantly throbbing from an excess of passion.
Louella met with the Chief Scientist and Yk’sih’s head priests to discuss setting standards for medical care. The priests resisted, but could not deny that some of their practitioners were less capable than they should have been. Keeping a respectful distance from her, they began to draft standards for competence that all apprentice healers would be required to master before being granted the title and status of healer.
“We must receive Yk’sih’s blessing,” one of the priests said, clasping his hands in front of him. “before implementing these standards.”
Louella noticed that his claws had been filed down to dull nubs. Yas’kihn had not blunted his claws, yet he’d never hurt her with those sharp points. She made a mental note to ask him about the practice.
“And how will you know you’ve received that blessing?” she asked.
Without answering her question, the nine priests representing the highest echelons of power and authority under the god Yk’sih gathered in a circle and extended their arms toward the center of the circle. As one, they began to hum. Some of the priests wove a light melody into the harmonic melding of voices. Others punctuated the sound with rhythmic stomps of their feet. Louella found the a capella music strangely compelling. She glanced at the Chief Scientist who was jotting down notes as he watched them, his eyes gleaming with interest.
The music droned on. Louella’s eyelids began to droop.Am I just tired or is it the music putting me to sleep? Jax did keep me up late last night, and he got me up early this morning.She giggled softly to herself and squeezed her thighs together as the memory of recent passion made her core throb and her nipples harden.
She blinked rapidly in an effort to remain awake.
A ball of white light coalesced in the center of the circle then exploded outward in a shower of red sparks. All but one of the healer priests collapsed. The one who remained standing turned toward Louella and bared his teeth. She gasped and shrank backward, her gaze fixing upon the erection tenting the healer’s white cloth kilt.
The Chief Scientist scrambled to his feet and shouted, “Summon Healer Jallisk’s mate!”
“Acknowledged,” Jarvis replied with its usual lack of emotion as it positioned itself over Louella and surrounded her with its articulated legs. Its light panel flashed a quick sequence of colors.
A few seconds later, a hybrid bride entered the room. Louella looked at her and frowned. She looked familiar.
“Mate,” the healer growled.
The hybrid female gasped and swallowed.
