Rebel Princess(41)

"We have been singularly fortunate then," she told him, with only a  slight qualm about laying herself at his feet, vulnerable as no princess  should ever be, "for I too have managed to merge fantasy with reality  and know that no other man will do."

Tal continued to frown. "Your sorcerer understands this?"

"He does not like it, but he understands."

After several moments of thoughtful silence, Tal murmured, "Midamara?"

Dear goddess, he was as jealous of Jagan as she was of Tegge. And with  far more reason. "An endearment," she assured him, "nothing more. Like  ‘my dear.'"

"Or ‘my darling'?"

"Somewhere in between," Kass confessed, staring down at her hands. "But  it doesn't mean anything," she added hastily. "It's just Jagan trying to  cause trouble. He enjoys it."

Tal blew out a breath. "And after his heroics today, I can't possibly complain."

Kass looked up, offering a tentative smile. "I told you he would be a  great asset, but our personal connection is severed. Or will be . . ."  She gulped, swallowing the rest of her thought. There were some things a  girl just could not say.         

     



 

But of course she didn't have to. Tal read the unspoken message quite  clearly. She felt his shock as he caught her meaning and, as always,  seized the moment.

"Captain Rigel of Orion wasn't allowed a mate," he returned calmly, as  if he hadn't just had the breath knocked out of him. "But S'sorrokan and  Captain Kane thinks it's a grand idea," he added with the faintest hint  of a smile. "Believe me, Kass, I not only want you as a woman, but I  need a companion-someone I can talk to-"

"Even if we argue?"

"Even then." He took her chin in his hand and tilted her face up until  they were eye to eye. "Stay with me, Kass. I'll send for your things.  From this moment you are mine."

She'd practically thrown herself at him, so why should his sudden declaration take her breath away?

Kass studied him with exaggerated intensity, moving her gaze from his  waves of blond hair to the tips of his boots. Truth was, he'd left a few  things out of his declaration. Including love. Perhaps, after all,  there were certain topics a woman had to take into her own hands.

"I trust you're planning to seal the bargain in time-honored fashion?"  Kass asked. When he frowned, looking puzzled, she added, "My virginity  has become a burden, Captain. Is that clear enough for you?"

In a move so fast she never saw it coming, Tal pulled her close, his  lips hovering just above hers, an odd mix of emotions gleaming from blue  eyes gone stormy. "I ought to spank you instead of kiss you."

"Try it and you'll find yourself pinned to the wall!"

"Like the krall?" he challenged, bending his head until their lips were nearly touching.

Kass blinked at him, her mind gone blank. She couldn't have transported a  dust mote. L'ira didn't exist. Nor K'kadi, Jagan, Astarte, Blue Moon,  Psyclid itself. Anger, fear, country, duty echoed faintly, then fell  away, as if swallowed by a black hole. Tal Rigel filled her world, there  was nothing else. Tal Rigel-the real one-was about to kiss her. Tal  Rigel, soulmate-

Kass gasped. Just as his lips touched hers, she jerked away. "There's something I have to explain-"

"One more word and I swear I'll-" Tal groaned, baring his gleaming white  teeth. "Damn it, Kass, will you shut up? You've been talking us to  death since the day we met!"

"But we're sou-"

He pressed her back into the cushions, silenced her with his lips, his  kiss almost savage, an angry, thirsty man demanding water from a well  only she could provide. A comfort she would never again withhold, Kass  thought. Whatever she could give him, she would. They were soulmates . .  . even if he didn't know it yet.

Never taking his lips from hers, Tal scooped her legs up onto the couch  and settled himself on top of her, his surrender-now kiss gradually  softening into something more tender. Joy surged as Kass felt him harden  against her. Not that she wasn't aware men could get worked up over  just about anything, but this time she knew Tal's driving emotion was  more than lust. She could sense it.

More than sense it. Touching him, kissing him revealed a torrent of  passion that nearly overwhelmed her. She'd had no idea he cared so much.  Needed her so badly.

Kass ran her fingers through his golden hair, pulled him even closer,  answering his moan of pleasure with one of her own. At last . . . at  long last, fantasy was laid to rest. This was real. Any moment now, she  might burst with the wonder of it. If she were K'kadi, she'd cast a  rainbow from wall to wall.

Tal ran a hand down to her waist, tugging at her tightly fitted knit  shirt, fumbling with her belt. With a sharp expletive, he pulled his  lips from hers and braced his hands on either side of her shoulders to  relieve her of his weight. "Obviously," he said, gazing down at her with  chagrin and a hint of amusement, "I am considerably more successful at  maneuvering Astarte than I am at seduction. I can only plead an attack  of overeagerness."

Kass nearly groaned out loud. Fleet Captain Tal Rigel when she wanted  someone a tad less logical. "How did you know," she asked, "that you  were too heavy for me?"

"Hmm?"

"Tal, how did you know I was hurting?"

He frowned. "You said so."

"No, I didn't."

Tal sat up. Perched on the edge of the sofa, he looked down at her. "What are you saying, Kass?"

"Exactly what I was trying to say when you told me to shut up. What I  should have told you before today but it was too . . . well, it sounded  so unlikely, as if I'd made it up."         

     



 

"Ka-ass?"

"You have begun to catch my thoughts from time to time, haven't you,  Tal? And my feelings. As I have yours. It's common on Psyclid between  soulmates, but between a Psyclid and a Regulon, never."

In his eyes she saw denial, followed by reluctant admission of the  truth. "You're saying we have some special kind of bond? Something you  don't even share with K'kadi or Mondragon?"

"I have some empathy with them, yes, but not the flashes of telepathy or soul merger I have with you."

"Soul merger," Tal murmured. "That's scary, Kass, particularly with two people as strong-minded as we are."

Kass allowed heat to fill her eyes, nicely tinged with mischief. "Of  course I have only the last few minutes of personal experience," she  confided, "but Psyclid literature is filled with fascinating tales of  the power of-ah-interaction between soulmates. Supposedly, the  relationship greatly enhances . . . intimacy."

A rare smile spread across Tal's face. "On your feet, Kiolani," he  ordered. "Time for a new training session. You teach me about soulmates,  and I'll teach you . . . other things."

As he pulled her to her feet and lifted her into his arms as if she  weighed no more than one of K'kadi's illusions, Kass wanted to shout  with triumph, but her throat closed up, and no sound came.

Waves of passion, Jagan had said, coming from both. And now she knew  what he meant. Waves of passion that swept them both away the moment Tal  laid her on his bed. Passion that sent hands tearing at clothing, boots  thumping to the floor, flesh to flesh on a bedcover no one took the  time to turn down. No foreplay, just a murmured, "Omni, Kass, forgive  me," as Tal hesitated, panting, the rock hardness of him pressing  against her most private place.

Kass hiccuped a breath. "Do it. I'll be fine."

"This isn't the way to treat a virgin, but . . ."

"Think I'm afraid of you, Captain?" Kass taunted. "Stop being an idiot and do it!"

She tried not to stiffen as he inched inside her, but mind over matter  wasn't working. She whimpered. Passion wavered, and she felt him cringe.  "Kass," he gasped, "I can't stop now, don't ask it."

"I'm not!" she snapped, "but virgins are allowed to be wary. Just get  this over with and-oh!" Kass gulped and swallowed the rest of her pain.  How very strange to feel him inside her, filling the space she could  have sworn would never hold anything swollen to such a size.

"Unfortunately," Tal returned, "this soulmate thing works both ways, so don't try to tell me that didn't hurt. I'm truly sorry."

"Yes, it does work both ways, and you are imagining pain far worse than I experienced. It's already going away."

Tal nuzzled her neck. "Kass Kiolani, sacrificial virgin," he murmured  into her ear. "The Empire doesn't stand a chance against us both." Two  strong thrusts and he spilled himself into her while Kass hung on, hands  tight around his back. And smiled. They'd do better next time.





Chapter 26


Bless the goddess, Zee-Zee was at breakfast when Kass returned to her  quarters the next morning. Though her own stomach was rumbling, not even  a phalanx of Falangi firedragons could get her into the mess hall this  morning, where word was undoubtedly leaping from table to table that  Kass Kiolani had spent the entire night in the captain's quarters.