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The comm disconnected without another word said, the view or Caysta on approach once more filling the viewing screen. Varik’s jaw clenched as he stared at the looming planet.
His first officer and longtime friend, Jornesh, cleared his throat at his side. “Sounds like a cushy assignment, captain.”
He grunted, unimpressed. “It is frivolous is what it is.”
Jornesh gave him a speculative look. “But apparently still good enough for your reputation that your mother is being flooded with offers,” he pointed out. “There is no need to guess at the context there.”
Varik groaned inwardly. He had little doubt that the male was right. His mother had been trying to arrange a good match for him for revolutions. He had mercifully been spared because his duty had conveniently taken him far enough away for his potential matches to grow tired of waiting and forget about their intrigue with him. He would have to find a way to avoid it again, but without attracting gossip onboard his ship.
“I will thank you to not address personal matters that concern me on deck,” he replied tightly, and the other male promptly nodded with an apologetic grimace.
“Of course, captain. Apologies.”
Varik inclined his head in acceptance and glanced down at his comm. They were required to dock within three hours to allow the preparation crew on board to clean and decorate the prince’s private deck for the male’s pleasure with his mates.
With Stacey.
His gut clenched. “Make for port,” he growled and spun away from the viewing screen. “I will be in my quarters. Do not disturb me until we have arrived.”
He needed to prepare himself.
ChapterTwo
Stacey Kendricks frowned at the plump berry between her fingers and sighed. The fruit was one of her favorites, but she felt zero enthusiasm for it. How could she really enjoy anything when they were all supposed to be leaving at any moment for a special “Valentine’s cruise?” She just couldn’t rouse any feeling above an uncomfortable dread for it. Not only was the entire wing of humans who occupied the females’ quarters going, while his other mates remained behind—which didn’t go over too well with some of the nonhuman females in residence—but it was Valentine’s Day, which was an even more painful reminder that there was nothing romantic about her life.
In retrospect, she didn’t know how she had allowed herself to be duped into believing that somehow the prince would set eyes on her and fall so deeply in love that he forgot all others and become inseparable from her side. That was the story that had been spun for her by the agent at the Mate Index Distribution offices; that the prince was indulging his culture’s expectation that he have numerous females on hand until he found the one that he would claim as his mate and princess. And that Gaix of Caysta had believed that she was the one. She hadn’t even questioned the presence of the other women on the ship given everything that she had been told. Obviously, he was fulfilling expectations until he had made his decision. And as far as anyone, even the other women were aware, they were all to be his brides as a matter of keeping up public image. It was a clever ruse, but the agent had assured her that all other women and alien females in his keeping would be honorably mated to males who anticipated the pleasure. She merely had to have faith and be patient.
Her mother had certainly been sold on it. A wealthy debutante in her youth, Clarissa Kendricks had wanted the ultimate fairytale for her only daughter. And Stacey had wanted to believe it, too. Despite being born into a life of privilege, Stacey was awkward among her peers, shy and passionate about studying dance. What had started as ballet lessons in her youth to teach her grace and poise became an obsession with all forms of dance—which hadn’t done much for her romantic life. And while Stacey hadn’t been accomplished enough as a ballerina to make it professionally, as not even the best diets could fix the fact that she was unfashionably too curvy to be desirable, she had enjoyed simply following her passion and learning all that she could of various dance forms. She had even performed in several off-Broadway productions in what her mother deemed a useless and impractical hobby. The fairytale seemed to give them both something that they wanted and had been a welcome surprise as it had seemed almost impossible that it would happen toher.
After all, stuff like that never happened toher—and yet she had embraced it enthusiastically with both hands, caught up in the dream of it. She had desperately wanted to be the “it” girl chosen by a handsome prince. And he was handsome—beyond handsome—he was gorgeous in an aethereal way like some fairy prince. She had clung to the fantasy so hard during the journey to Caysta that her every moment had been occupied with daydreaming about their magical meeting. It had occupied her thoughts even when the other women on board had entertained themselves with a Calysii male stationed to their lounge to serve them.
Not that she had paid much attention to their activities. It had been none of her business; had been nothing more than a background buzz of activity as she went about her day. She hadn’t even begrudged them their fun, after all she’d been more than a little attracted, and had felt a compelling draw, to the captain.But she had been chosenand she wouldn’t have dreamed of betraying the handsome prince who had picked her out of all of them. So, she had acted like a brat toward him instead, and had been intentionally cruel within his hearing. All done with a prayer that no one would guess her strange attraction to the male. She had felt shame afterwards, and for what? Gaix?
Boy, what an idiot she turned out to be. She’d been confused at first when the advisor who had met them at the dock had looked right past her even when she’d intentionally stepped forward, separating herself from the other women so that he was sure not to miss her. He had not acknowledged her at all, but had led them all to the to the wing designated human mates. Mates? Her bewilderment had melted into embarrassment as she realized that they’d all been given the same story. Some of the women screamed bloody murder and had been reprimanded for it, others had become competitive in an attempt to win his affections, but Stacey had merely disappeared into her grief. It took a full month for Prince Gaix to get around to visiting her bed and then she’d silently wept beneath him as he took her virginity. She still recalled the look of disgust on his face as he had left her sobbing in her bed. After that, she seldom saw him, once every six months if she was fortunate.
She didn’t know what was worse—the endless monotony of her days in the female’s quarters where she was provided the limited entertainment considered suitable for females of their station, or the knowledge that she had to welcome her “mate” into her bed whenever he wished to join her. And to do so in a pleasing manner, something that she couldn’t forget after her first and only disciplining following her disastrous claiming. At least she had her dancing and was provided with everything that she desired to learn more.
Instructors were hired from Caysta and all over the quadrants to teach her alien dances that caught her attention. She was offered something she would have done anything for in her old life and yet it didn’t take long for her joy and passion for it to wither. She was paraded around like a performing monkey, or some pretty little dancing toy to entertain guests—or more illicit private dances that Gaix frequently demanded—and that slowly corroded everything she loved about it. Especially when the prince found creative ways to use her passion against her as a form of punishment by applying a special grease to her body from a red pot designed to turn her body against her and make her suffer from unsatisfied arousal while he watched in pleasure.
Still, she had thrown herself into it and tried to please Gaix with her performance in the hope of avoiding his attentions as much as possible, without incurring his displeasure. She studied, she performed…she tried to find hobbies to fill her time and otherwise reclined on a richly draped settee in her private quarters. Her life had become an enormous, gilded cage that she wanted to escape more and more with each passing day.
But then, it wasn’t like she hadn’t been warned. There was that one loud woman—the politician’s daughter—what was her name? Nancy? Nadine? No… Nikki. Stacey grimaced at the berry and popped it into her mouth. She should have listened to her. Nikki had vocally tried to pull the wool from over their eyes and not one of them had listened. They’d even pitied her when she was kidnapped by pirates. It was funny how things changed around so quickly and the pitied quickly became the envied. Even after seven years, some of the women still speculated over her fate late in the evening and in low voices, when they were certain no was listening, imagined what adventures she was probably having since escaping their fate.
Stacey sighed heavily and popped another berry into her mouth. She certainly wished that she’d been the one stolen by pirates and enjoying some adventure, likely mated to a dashing male who adored her, rather than having a disaster of a Valentine’s Cruise looming ahead of her. She would give up all the pink dye—her one private luxury—that she had been supplied over the years for that. Immaculately groomed with flawlessly colored pink hair and all the brightly colored dresses and accessories her heart desired—much to Gaix’s disgust, which never failed to feel like some small victory—didn’t compare to a chance at adventure and love.
“Still pouting?” Tahiyina queried quietly, a sympathetic smile on her alien face as she slipped into her suite.
Tall, slender, and almost elvish in appearance, the Calysii female had been an unexpected friend in her early days within their quarters, and the dignity with which she approached her position had been the rock that Stacey had been able to lean on. She never would have made it through the last seven years if it hadn’t been for her. Gaix’s gonsi, the overseer of the females’ quarters, was smart to send her to pry her from her room.
“I’m not pouting. Just delaying the inevitable and hoping for some miracle that they might forget about me,” Stacey muttered as she popped yet another berry into her mouth.
Tahiyina rolled her eyes—a distinctively human expression that betrayed just how much time they’d spent together—and sat beside her, her hand reaching for Stacey, entwining their fingers together.
“You know that will not happen. The prince will never forget his little Bunny.”
Stacey groaned and stuffed two berries in her mouth. She hated that nickname. It had stuck after the prince observed loudly to his entire court, on an occasion that she and several others had accompanied him to the great room, that she was as soft and timid as one of the little Earth creatures. He thought it was cute to refer to her by that terrible nickname and she couldn’t express more how much she hated it. She wanted to be angry at her friend for using it, but she knew that Tahiyina did everything for a reason. She never used the nickname unless it was to prepare her for the prince’s company.
“I wish he would forget me and just leave me alone. It is not like there aren’t a lot of others who are vying for his attentions,” Stacey pointed out.
