Courting Kel Read online

  Jutting her chin, Kel met his stern gray eyes and saw them brighten a heartbeat before he smiled. The smile made him look like an enormous cherub.

  “You chose well, lad,” he said to Aren and sticking out both hands to Kel.

  Laughing, Aren warned, “Don’t crush her, Caton.”

  Aren introduced her to his giant friend. The two men retreated to the enormous freestanding spit. Jocelyn led Kel to a large round table where Drew and the girl she’d seen earlier with the boys set out knives and plates. Laurette, Kel assumed.

  “Aren seems happy,” Jocelyn said with a small smile in his direction.

  “He is usually amiable.”

  “That’s a strange description from a bride.”

  “We are not—” Disclaiming they were married would lead to questions better left unasked. Kel said, “We are not well acquainted.”

  “Then it is good he’s brought you to the country. You’ll have solitude in which to learn about each other.” Motioning Kel to a chair large enough for two, Jocelyn sat.

  Giggling for no apparent reason, Drew and her friend drifted away.

  “Don’t go far. We’ll eat soon,” Jocelyn called to them.

  “Aren has explained how men and women divide their work. I understand Caton cooks and tends to your children.”

  “And you wonder what I do.”

  “Yes. If I’m too nosy or you’d rather—”

  “I don’t mind telling you. I raise sheep and weave their wool. The gown you’re wearing came from a consignment shop in Storr City.”

  “But this material feels like silk—not that I’ve ever worn silk. Books describe it as if it feels exactly like this. Smooth and weightless.”

  “You do wonderful things for its colors.”

  Blushing at the compliment, Kel smiled. “Aren…Aren selected it.”

  “When he described you, I knew it would suit.”

  “D-described me? When? How, when you live so far—?”

  “Linner,” Caton shouted, effectively cutting off Kel’s questions.

  Damn! If Aren could communicate with Jocelyn, perhaps Kel could reach someone who could contact Basalia and have Kel rescued. Someone with a spacecraft had taken her off Amazonia and someone—by all the gods!—could damn well take her back. Her wishful thoughts faded under the boys’ racket as they placed bowls of aromatic foodstuffs in the center of the table. As if programmed, they held up their hands for Jocelyn’s inspection then repeated the ritual for Caton.

  “I hope you like meat,” Caton said, setting a plank of succulent pink meat in front of his wife.

  Aren grinned at Kel as if remembering how he’d introduced her to the delicacy. She felt her face heat and looked away.

  “Yes I do,” she said softly, trying to ignore Aren’s warmth as he settled in the chair alongside her. Under the table, he rubbed his thigh against hers. “Stop it!”

  “Let Kel eat in peace,” Jocelyn commanded, placing small portions of food on a small plate before passing it on.

  Kel followed the plate to Caton who sat with the boy of three or four on his lap.

  “Cut, Papa?”

  “When everyone is served, Storrsix.”

  As plates progressed around the table, Kel discovered the four older boys were named Storrrfive through Storrtwo. The oldest boy took his plate then announced, “I have chosen my name. Henceforth you may call me Erland.”

  Even on her world, names had meaning. Knowing Erland meant “leader”, Kel thought the name fit him like a glove.

  Aren explained. “On Ondrican sons bear their father’s name until their thirteenth season. Then they may select a name they like.” Turning to the lad he asked, “Why that name, Erland?”

  “I am tired of sitting at the back of my classrooms. Now I shall sit at the front.”

  “Where Erland can better claim the attention of his young and very pretty teachers,” Caton said, chuckling.

  “If your grades suffer, Erland,” Jocelyn warned, “you will choose a name that begins with zed. Now, Storrtwo, tell us about your day.”

  As they ate, each boy acknowledged Erland’s new name before regaling the party with his deeds of daring. The process reminded Kel of stories she’d read that involved heroes larger than life. No one took the tales seriously. In truth, they seem more like entertainment—intended to make everyone laugh while still teaching lessons about survival and such.

  Storrsix announced he’d caught a frog.

  “What did you do with it?” Caton asked, ruffling the boy’s dark hair.

  “I put it on a lily pad with its friend.” Storrsix’s chin trembled. “I shoulda kept it ‘cause its friend eated him.”

  Kel wanted to take the boy in her arms and comfort him. Then, with everyone else laughing, she realized the youngest Storr had told the funniest tale.

  Laurette told her own tale. Then she and Drew produced a bundle of wool. It seemed to Kel the girls had serious work. Rather than playing—an activity seemingly reserved for all males regardless of age—they’d created a cloth of shimmering gold.

  “Oh my!” Kel said. “It looks like spun glass.”

  “Softer,” Jocelyn approved, passing the material to Kel. “Closer to fluffy clouds. Take it, Kel. It is a wedding present from us all.”

  Tears welled. Swiping them away, Kel took the delicate fabric from Jocelyn’s hands. Her gaze focused on Drew and Laurette, she said, “Tak,” then fled.

  Aren started after her.

  “Let her go,” Caton advised.

  Jocelyn added, “She doesn’t—”

  “Want to be married,” Aren blurted.

  At some unseen gesture, all the children left the table, Erland with Storrsix in his arms.

  Aren sank into his chair and buried his face in his hands. At last he muttered, “I thought—I prayed that tonight would show her the happiness a family brings.”

  Jocelyn snorted. “With all our boys looking like Storr? Like you?”

  “They don’t look like me.”

  Caton cleared his throat. Aren scowled at him.

  “It is obvious Kel thought them yours. Even after you explained our naming customs, she doubted.”

  “I’ll make her believe me.”

  “How?” Caton challenged.

  “I’ll tell her again and again until she believes. Not that it does any good to tell her anything. Stubborn beyond words.”

  “That should work,” Jocelyn scoffed.

  “What should I do? Take her back to Storr City and force my father to admit he’s ignoring my brothers? Kel already despises Tage for not claiming Drew. Despises me for letting Drew believe I’m her father.”

  He started to look away but caught the glance his friends exchanged. “You told her,” he accused, feeling too weary for righteous anger.

  “Drew is an intelligent young woman,” Caton said cautiously, as if he feared awakening Aren’s rage.

  “Observant as well. Were she ignorant of our naming customs she could still see she resembles Tage more than she resembles any Storr. Or you.”

  “Perhaps Kel and I should avoid the subject of Drew’s and the boys’ parentage completely?”

  His friends shrugged but he knew they preferred discussing differences of opinion. Even if they ended in shouting matches. “What if Kel brings it up?”

  “Answer her questions,” Jocelyn advised.

  “And hang on to your temper,” Caton added.

  “If she’ll let me.” Aren sighed. “Do either of you know how long an Amazonian woman’s menses last?”

  Jocelyn’s growl drew Aren’s attention to her face. “What?” he demanded.

  “Before you start a family, Kel must accept your marriage.”

  Aren folded his arms over his chest. Leaning back in his chair, he said, “If she is pregnant she’ll have to acknowledge our union.”

  Caton and Jocelyn snorted.

  “And that approach is working, is it?” Caton asked.

  “Not— Not very well.”
Aren raked his hair with both hands. “She enjoys what we do to each other, but she won’t fuck.” Shooting a warning glare at his friends not to pursue the subject, he admitted to himself Kel didn’t mind the fucking but seemed to hate the idea of marriage.

  “Because she knows mating leads to pregnancy,” Jocelyn said, sounding less judgmental. “And pregnancy would force her to admit you are married.”

  Aren nodded, disliking Jocelyn’s rationale, but admitting she made sense.

  “You need to court her, lad,” Caton advised.

  “I am courting her!”

  “How?” Jocelyn challenged. “By making her observe others having sex? By reading her pornography?”

  Feeling his face heat, Aren nodded.

  “Arousing her body,” Caton said, “while leaving her heart untouched. In your defense, Aren, it’s the approach we’re taught from puberty onward. Capture her body and her heart will follow.”

  “Which is backwards,” Jocelyn added, twining her fingers with Caton’s.

  “And requires more than pretty words or extravagant gifts like that gown Kel’s wearing tonight.” Caton added his opinion to the ideas boiling in Aren’s mind.

  “How do I win her?” Aren sounded as desperate as he felt.

  “You’ll figure it out, lad.”

  Gods willing, Aren thought, wondering where to begin.

  * * * * *

  Swiping at tears she could not stop, Kel tried to find Aren’s horse. Since Aren and Drew were such good friends with Jocelyn and Caton, Kel reasoned his horse would know its way home.

  Another reason to get off Ondrican. My warrior skills are waning. Soon I’ll grow so content… “No! I won’t let that happen.” she vowed to the darkening sky. To the two moons now visible—one brightening, the other fading. She tried to remember how long each moon was visible from the country.

  “Doesn’t matter,” she said to herself. “I won’t be here long enough to see them all anyway.”

  “Don’t you like us, Kel?”

  Whirling toward Drew’s voice, Kel reached for her dagger—the one she had yet to demand Aren replace for her. Guanshit! She’d become so careless she hadn’t even heard Drew approach.

  “I like you just fine.” Even to herself she sounded sulky. And rude.

  “But you don’t like Erland or Laurette or the Storrs or Jocelyn and Caton?”

  “They seem like very nice people.”

  Drew stayed silent so long, Kel expected she would say nothing more. She paced away, stopping when the girl sobbed.

  “It isn’t our fault our fathers don’t want us.”

  Kel’s heart clenched as if cruelly squeezed. “Oh Drew. Sweeting.” Gathering the girl against her, Kel led her to a nearby boulder and sat with her arms about her. “I know this will seem like excuses but…from what I’ve learned about your father, he must love you very much.”

  “Th-then why does he leave me with Aren?”

  “A spaceship is no place for…young women.”

  “Children, you mean. I’m not a child anymore, Kel. I have what you have now. I mean, I have breasts and hips but I can’t show off like you can. Instead, my clothes are so loose they make me look like a sack.”

  “Probably best for now. Aren still thinks of you as…younger than you are.” Kel squelched the urge to tug her neckline higher to hide her own breasts.

  Drew nodded. “I know Tage cares for me. He always visits when he’s in Storr City and he brings me gifts. Gifts for little girls!”

  Kel squelched a laugh, saying, “Does Aren allow young men to see you?”

  A tremulous sigh preceded, “Only here. I know that Erland—all the Storrs—are forbidden. We are related in some way I don’t understand.”

  Kel could probably figure it out but realized Drew needed comfort more than a family tree. Right now she needed someone to talk to.

  “Kel?”

  “Mmm?”

  “Do you like Aren?”

  Like? If she could separate lust from the myriad emotions Aren aroused in her, she might come to like him. Seeing him, living with him in this milieu, he seemed different. More tolerant of her opinions and moods. More…playful. She liked play, she realized, but since play could easily lead to lust… Kel recognized she liked cuddling with him, more than liked his kisses, liked hearing him laugh.

  “I suppose,” Kel admitted reluctantly. “Is like important?”

  “I think so. Aren is easy to live with because I like him. And I think he likes me too.”

  “He loves you, Drew, as if you are truly his daughter. And sooner or later both he and Tage will realize you’re growing up.”

  * * * * *

  Aren heard them first. Kel and Drew laughing in much the same way Laurette and Drew did. Wondering if this new closeness would create a rift between the young girls, several minutes passed before he realized Drew’s head was level with Kel’s shoulder. His gaze sharpening, he noticed her slender waist and curving hips. Gulping, he risked looking up her body. Guanshit! Drew had breasts. When?

  “H-how?”

  Jocelyn laughed.

  Caton said, “’Bout time you noticed. Both our girls have matured.”

  “Wh-when?”

  “About a year now.”

  Gape-mouthed, Aren stared at Drew as she, Kel and Laurette approached. In the moonlight Drew’s hair looked silver, Kel’s shiny rust with copper streaks. Afraid to look too closely at Drew, he kept his gaze on Kel’s hair.

  “Shortly before Jocelyn told me she was pregnant with Laurette, I thought she’d woven magic into her clothes. Then, after she told me about our baby, I thought she glowed because she was pregnant.” Caton took his wife’s hand. She leaned against him. Glowing. “I finally realize she glowed because she loves me,” he muttered before kissing her hand.

  “Silly man. I glow because you love me.”

  Aren kept staring. Laurette did not seem so bright to him. Maybe because he was simply fond of her. Drew, on the other hand shone like a candle in a dark room. Kel… By all the gods, Kel appeared luminescent. Had Jocelyn the right of it? Did Kel shine brighter than a sun about to go nova because he loved her?

  He drew a deep breath and willed his heart to a slower pace. He knew he desired her. I claimed her for myself because…he wanted her to fuck only him. He coveted her. But love her? Guanshit! Except for Caton, he knew no man who claimed to love his wife.

  “Aren?” Drew’s soft voice forced his gaze from Kel.

  Given Drew’s new status in his mind “Yes?” was all he could manage.

  “May I stay here a few days longer?”

  Aren glanced at Kel. Would she feel more comfortable with Drew underfoot? Or would she prefer they continue in solitude? He could read nothing in her expression.

  “Please, Aren,” Laurette begged, bouncing on her toes.

  “Ask your parents.”

  Jocelyn nodded. Caton said, “Drew is welcome to stay with us for the duration of your visit.”

  Aren thought Kel whispered a protest, but the girls’ delighted squeals made him unsure. In truth, those shrieks pleased him, proving Drew had not grown up completely. He needed more time to adjust.

  Standing, he gave Drew a brief hug. She clung for a moment then rushed away. Aren cleared the lump in his throat. “If you tire of her, send her home.”

  Jocelyn laughed. “We’re accustomed to squabbles. Besides, Drew is becoming a skilled weaver.”

  “And a talented chef,” Caton added, standing and helping Jocelyn to her feet.

  Aren held out his hand. Kel came to him without a word but stopped short of his reach.

  Turning to Jocelyn and Caton, she said, “Tak. I’m glad to have met you and your family.”

  “Tak for sharing our meal,” Caton said with a courtly bow.

  “Come back anytime,” Jocelyn added.

  Erland and Storrtwo appeared at the edge of the stone floor, Erland holding the reins of Aren’s horse.

  “I think we’re being invited to lea
ve, Kel.” He mounted, reaching down and pulling Kel up before him.

  “Oh!” Kel said. “Please thank Laurette and Drew for the beautiful cloth.”

  “Put it under your pillow tonight,” Jocelyn called as Aren urged his horse away. “’Twill help you sleep.”

  * * * * *

  Too many thoughts crowded Kel’s mind. Most centered around Drew, Tage and Aren. Others decried King Storr’s ignoring his sons and made Kel wonder how many other unacknowledged sons were fostered with other families.

  Aren also seemed lost in his own thoughts. Accustomed to her own company, Kel kept quiet. The flutter of wings drew her attention upward. Two shadows flew across the quarter moon, continuing on to cross the half moon.

  Aren’s chuckle vibrated against her back. “Peg is teaching Gryph to fly.”

  “I wish… Never mind.”

  “Would you like to fly, Kel? I can summon Peg if you wish.”

  “Our clothes,” she protested without much conviction.

  “Horse will carry them home.”

  “Our skin.”

  “The hot spring awaits our return.”

  Kel looked back at him. Satisfied he intended bathing only, she nodded. “I would like to fly tonight.”

  Granting her wish, Aren whistled the larger pegagryph to the ground. They mounted and Peg surged airborne.

  A soft breeze ruffled Kel’s hair. Laughing, she pulled it back and felt air flow over her neck. Aren pushed her hair under her gown. The padding shielded her somewhat from the warmth of his chest, but it failed to protect her from her own reactions.

  One more day. Just one more until they could resume courting. She wiggled her bottom and grinned at the moons. Aren’s willpower might be strong, but he was a man. Kel would win his cock to her side. Not that she would allow him to mate with her but if she’d learned anything over the weeks they’d spent together, she’d learned pleasure took many forms. While Aren preferred mating, Kel noticed his gaze sharpened when the princesses sucked or stroked their men to completion. Tomorrow Kel intended to explore those pleasures, pay closer attention to how Aren responded when she sucked him and swallowed his cum.

  Just the thought pearled her nipples and moistened her nether lips. By the gods, she must stop thinking about mating! But Aren’s warmth surrounding her, his skin pressing against hers, his hands cupping her breasts…