The Melier (Women of Dor Nye Book 1) (19 page)

Chapter 18

Another week passed and Lucia was getting better. Dr. Trex had begrudgingly let her go home after her sixth day in the hospital. Lucia had been up, walking and regaining some rasp to her voice. Her cheek was healing nicely, the knot completely gone and the bruising a purple collage now instead of nearly black. Her eyes still spooked her every time she looked in a mirror. Bloody and demonic, healing so slowly it didn’t make much difference after one week. She was still limited to soft foods, which was driving her insane with need to eat
meat
.

“But if I don’t have meat, I’m going to
die
,” she moaned dramatically to her family as they sat around the terrace, eating second meal. Her voice was still raspy, due to the damage to her vocal chords, but it was easier to understand her. The nanomeds were still working away, healing, repairing and doing their thing. Without them, Lucia’s voice may be forever damaged. It would’ve been a painful reminder for the rest of her life.

“When you whine like that, dear,” Nova began, sipping her water. “You sound like a Yungi.”

Lucia scowled and blew at a curl that dangled over her forehead. Her mother had just told her she sounded like a
very
annoying bird species. “Rude.” Val’Zun was on fan duty as he sat beside her, much to Soren’s amusement. The hot flashes, as Lucia referred to them, continued to plague her at the most inopportune times. Rafe had finally fixed the cooling system, but it seemed she would freeze everyone out of the house if she messed with the temperature outside of her wing. Thus, she still needed fanning if she ventured from her rooms. The rounder she got, the more she sweat. She almost needed two baths a day if she spent any time outside of her rooms, which was often.

To top it off, two days prior she’d begun emitting an
odor
that made her smell like
rew’san
; a tart fish that was often ground to a paste and served with herbed crackers.
Very
few people actually enjoyed it and even less liked the smell. Soren thought it smelled delicious and both his brothers agreed it was
pleasant
, to their annoyance. Dezzy loved it too. Everyone else kept a ten foot radius. Lucia couldn’t smell it on herself, so she had no idea what was going on.

She’d finally called Dr. Trex and he’d made a house visit. The wrinkle of his nose and the look on his face proved her family hadn’t been fibbing. He’d said it was a pheromone reaction, probably originating from the Melier part of the babe meant to keep the father close to the mother for protection and care during a
‘fragile’
time.
I’m fragile alright,
Lucia had thought,
fragilely holding onto the last shred of my patience.
And of course, there was nothing he could do.
‘Let nature take its course, my dear’
, he’d said, all but clamping a hand on his nose and leaving in a hurry.

“I smell like
fish
, I can’t eat meat, and I can barely rasp my displeasure at either dilemma,” Lucia continued to whine, signalling for Val’Zun to fan faster as she was wont to do. He rolled his eyes in response, but obliged. Lu sucked in her lips to keep her smile from showing, because they were totally picking up some of her families
human
gestures. Over the past week, Gi’Ren and Val’Zun had
tried
to not display their displeasure at everything human. Especially the stuff they found intriguing; like
moco
. Lucia had to roll her eyes at that. What was it with
moco
and Melier’s? Maybe it was the strategy of it all.

“I’d even accept a dish of Poshka tentacles at this point.” Lucia supressed her urge to
‘gag-mmm’
. That sick mixture of revulsion and hunger clenched her gut.

“Well, I’ve lost my appetite.” Frellie pushed away her plate and Lucia eyed it hungrily as strips of some cooked beasty lay upon it, untouched. Soren followed her gaze and pushed Frellie’s plate in the other direction.

“No,” he simply said, lips twitching.

“I could end you right now, I hope you know that,” Lucia narrowed her eyes. Gi’Ren grunted. He grunted at everything and Lucia was still trying to decipher if there was a difference that may indicate if it’s an amused grunt or an angry grunt or a noncommittal grunt.

He really is boorish.

“I thought sitting with
royalty
would be more entertaining,” she hedged, poking a weak spot for Soren’s proud brothers. Lu scooped up a spoonful of some mushy cooked green plant and continued eating as Val’Zun and Gi’Ren glared at her. She wiggled her head side to side as if she was eating a delicious dish and completely unaware of their displeasure at her jab. They still hadn’t caught on to Lucia’s delight in teasing the both of them and Soren. They couldn’t understand how Soren had put up with such an insulting
creature
, which only goaded Lu to be more
insulting
.

Like yesterday, she’d been
talking
to her ever growing belly as they’d all been in the den enjoying the evening after third meal. She cooed at the unborn babe and told her how grumpy
unca GiGi
would love her to pieces and
unca Zunny
would teach her how to write her letters.

They’d nearly lost their heads.

Lucia laughed and laughed, rasping and whispering her glee. Soren had almost been as entertained as she was. GiGi and Zunny is exactly what Lucia had begun to call them when she felt particularly ornery. They always responded too, since they refused to be as
rude
as Lu. Sometimes she
did
feel a little childish about it, but they had to loosen up.
Live a little
, she tried to coax them. It was something akin to speaking to Dezzy; they sat there, blinked at her and then ignored her entirely. It was hopeless, but Lucia was a persistent person. She’d win them over eventually.

“I hope it’s nice and cold on your planet,” she pushed on through the green sludge. “Or at least some kind of cooling system in your residence- castle? Palace? What is it you live in, anyway?”

“The temperature is much higher on Melierun,” Zunny supplied. He was the nicer of the two, but still quite staunch. “Yes, a palace. It has proper cooling technology.”

“Thank goodness,” Lucia sighed. “So
GiGi
,
Zunny
,” she said with a serious face, trying her hardest not to rasp a laugh at their growls. “Are either of you
partnered
?” Her brows waggled.

“Lucia,” her mother warned. In that one tone, she said a lot.
‘That’s rude, Lucia’. ‘Don’t waggle your eyebrows like that, it isn’t proper’.

“I’m curious,” Lucia feigned innocence, taking another goopy mouthful.

“No, we have concubines.” GiGi grunted.

Lucia choked her mush down and then coughed, taking a drink of her water. “
What?
”

“Even if we had mates, we would still have concubines,” Val’Zun said this nonchalantly as if they were still talking about weather. “It is natural among our people.
If
Val’Ja mates you, you will be expected to have lovers and he will have concubines. It is a high honor to be the lover of royalty.”

“The hell I will!” Lucia dropped her spoon in her goop and some sloshed onto the table. “And don’t you even
think
about it Soren, if you
ever
plan to piss straight again.”

“She’s hopeless,” Nova mumbled into her glass, downed it and waved a servant over to refill it.

“That is unrealistic,” Val’Zun said as he stopped fanning. “Princes have always shared their mates and concubines.”

Lucia’s eyes nearly fell from her head as she stood up abruptly. Her chair toppled backward and a servant scrambled to pick it up. She would’ve apologized for being so rude, but she was still trying to gather her wits and stop gaping like a fish. “
Excuse me?
” she exclaimed but it was so high pitched, it simply came out as a strained whistle. Lucia cleared her throat. “Excuse me?” she repeated. Soren just continued to eat his meal, shaking his head.

“That is not to say any of us would want to take pleasure with a
human
, even if your pheromones are enjoyable,” GiGi grunted.

Lucia’s fingers were faster than her good manners as she picked up her drink and doused Gi’Ren’s face with it. He growled, eyes going black as he stood. Soren stood too, growling at Gi’Ren. “I wouldn’t
fuck
either of you if it saved the destruction of Dor Nye!”

“That is hardly a loss,” Val’Zun scoffed. Lucia’s hands reacted again and she dumped her green goop over his head. Val’Zun stood and
really
growled.

There stood a seething Lucia and three angry blue beasts growling, tails whipping and ready to rumble.

“Boys!” Grams stood too. “Sit down!”

All three of them continued to growl, but after a few seconds, they all slowly began to sit back down.

Go Grams!

“You too, Lucia! You have
got
to control your hands.” Grams was pursing her lips after she said this and Lucia knew she was trying to look serious and
not
smile. Lucia slowly obeyed and couldn’t ignore the extreme pleasure she received when she saw Val’Zun flinging the goop from his hands as he continued to wipe it from his bald head.

“Now,” Grams arranged herself comfortably in her chair once more. “Tell me more about these
royal concubines
.”

Gramps shook his head.

****

Later on, once her family had gone to bed and she and the three beasts were relaxing in the den, Lucia was on a couch. Since Soren and Val’Zun took up half the cushions, she was squished between them. They were roasting her and she wasn’t even having a hot flash. Out of frustration, she turned, draping her legs over Val’Zun’s lap and resting her head in Soren’s.

“That feels better.” Lucia stretched and popped her toes, completely invading
the bubble
. Gi’Ren was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, eyes glued to the projector as an evening show played. Her hand slowly reached out and she scratched lightly behind his ear. To her amazement, he began to purr before he realized it was
the human
touching him. He grunted and moved further away, making Lucia rasp with mirth.

“Soren?”

“Loo-Sha?”

Lu’s lips curved as she rubbed her hands over her belly. “What are your parents like?” She couldn’t even picture them in her mind’s eye. What did non-hive female Melier’s look like? Surely they didn’t all look like the bloated
‘breeding’
female Wade had shown her. Her eyes lifted to look up at him from where her head rested. He shared a gaze with Val’Zun and looked back down at her.

“They are… very traditional,” he hedged.

“You mean they don’t like
humans
.” She was expecting that much, if Val’Zun and Gi’Ren were any indication of what
traditional
meant.

“They will like you.”

Val’Zun scoffed at the same time Gi’Ren grunted. “Do not lie, Val’Ja.”

“I do not,” Soren scowled. “They
will
like her, because
I
love her.”

Lucia’s intake of breath caused them to look down. It was the first time she had heard Soren say it aloud. She’d
felt
it in everything he’d done lately, but he still hadn’t said it aloud. Neither had she, except indirectly in the theater lobby, so she couldn’t really blame him. In her attempt to scramble up, the heel of her foot slipped and landed on Val’Zun’s genitals. His bark of surprise and pain made her jump and she tumbled against Soren’s chest.

“I’m so sorry,” Lu rasped, her hand flying to her mouth. Val’Zun cupped a pair of hands between his thighs and slightly bent forward, focusing on breathing. Gi’Ren’s low laughter had Val’Zun saying something to him in their language that didn’t translate.

Lu turned her face to Soren’s and splayed her fingers along his cheeks. “You love me?” She looked into his golden eyes and her heart once again did a flip-flop. When he nodded, his lips tipped up in a half smile and with his big teeth showing through, Lucia couldn’t help but beam, the pain in her cheek be damned. Her lips pressed against his, hard; again and again as she told him she loved him too.

Lucia could feel his hands running over her back and over her thighs. It felt like it had been so long since they’d last been together and the contact mixed with the swell of emotion from his confession had her breath hitching in her throat as her kisses turned slower and more heated. Her hands drifted along his chest,
feeling
him. She felt safe with Soren and his touch made her burn.

“Soren,” she breathed in between another kiss against his firm, warm lips. The world faded away as she let that surge of warmth overtake her. Her skirt was restricting and she swayed her hips side to side, letting the fabric scrunch up around her thighs as she straddled his lap. Lucia could feel her pussy tightening and stinging with arousal as the thin juices coated her and dripped down onto the fabric of Soren’s sleep pants. He groaned against her lips when her hands reached through the top band, wrapping her fingers around his cock and freeing it between them.