Dark Throne, The (13 page)

My real world
.

Heather sat cross-legged on the hallway
floor
. As she stared through
the portal into this peculiar place that was her birthright, a
peculiar swathe of emotions curled throughout her mind.

Mostly, she felt numb
.

Seeing Mearth, seeing that everything that had occurred
between Fade and herself as well as her mother's notes were in fact
real and that this wasn't some lengthy dream, inspired surprisingly
little emotion
.

Heather stared at it, trying to puzzle
it out, but her thoughts were on the man who still lay in her bed,
in the spare room.

After last night's debacle, she'd tried to avoid Fade as
much as was physically possible
. She knew he thought the distance she was trying to place
between them, was down to repulsion. Or revulsion. But it wasn't.
It was humiliation.

She was strong
. Had
had to be strong. New York didn't breed delicate wallflowers,
especially not the neighborhood in which she'd been
raised.

Heather could down a man with a few kicks and a
punch
. She'd even taught
self-defense down the local community hall. She'd dealt with being
an orphan, even if that wasn't the case- she'd had to lead her life
believing her parents to be dead- and then, she'd lost her aunt.
She'd managed. Coped. Regrouped and had moved on.

So why was she turning into some kind
of delicate lily that snapped at every turn?

From his suit of armor alone, she knew Fade was a
warrior
. Warriors needed
strong women. Women who could organize a feast with one hand and
with the other, rule the kingdom. They didn't need fluttering
females, who vomited and fainted at every turn.

It didn't matter that the situation she found herself in
was rather stressful
.
And
unusual
was an understatement. But still.
There were limits.

She'd awoken, perhaps an hour after she'd fainted and her
head had whooshed with the power of the situation, so much so that
she'd felt a little woozy
.
Ashamed at that, she'd taken a moment to analyze the situation like
the calm, rational woman she usually was and had registered that
even the strongest would have felt dazzled by Heather's
position.

Fade had wrapped her in his wings
.

His smell, the pure essence of him had been powerful
before, when there had been a couple of feet between
them
. At that distance, it had
been like being punched in the face. Pheromones. Every single
inhalation had been loaded with them until her pussy had started to
ache with need.

He'd been resting half-on and half-off her
body
. His leg had hooked over
her hip to keep the two of them close together. The gesture of
being wrapped within those great limbs was obviously one of
protection. And the very idea had made her aching pussy start to
quiver hungrily.

In the pitch black, surrounded by his scent, the diaphanous
wash of his breath on her skin and the heat of t
heir two bodies pulsing in the tiny crevice his
wings had carved out for them, her mother's prediction had come to
fruition.

But not on Fade's part
. On her own.

The mating heat had strummed through her blood until she'd
been aware of every nerve ending sizzling and twitching with
it
. It was like a fever, but
not. In fact, it was worse. There was no sweaty skin and pain with
this heat. It was a dry one and it felt as though there was a fire
flowing through her veins. Her flesh prickled and itched. Her pussy
felt unbearably empty, the inner muscles clenching and releasing as
moisture pooled there, waiting for Fade, readying itself for his
invasion. The pace of her breathing had soared and her heart pulsed
as though she'd run a marathon.

In such close confines, it would have been impossible to
ignore such physiological differences
, even asleep. And Fade's groggy muttering of her name, had
Heather tumbling into a panic and her legs and arms had flailed,
seeking release.

He'd yelped but immediately rolled over to free
her
. When she'd switched on
the light, guilt had assailed her as a few feathers fluttered on
the bed. Their onyx shade almost glittering against the crystal
white sheets.

Spying it, feeling a desperate hunger course through her
body as well as feeling ashamed for her melodrama, she'd run
off
.

He'd stayed in the bedroom and feeling agitated, Heather
had continued where he'd left off
. She'd picked up the doorknob and gone to work. Attaching
and detaching, screwing and unscrewing. Until eventually, her body
calmed. It was only now, with the door opening to another universe,
that her body began to pulse again with the mating heat. The subtle
reminder that the consummation of their relationship was the key,
the passport as it were, to crossing the threshold into this new
world.

And what a world
.

Her pulsing pussy took a backstop as her eyes took in this
new universe, which seemed so like Earth and yet,
wasn't
.

The sky was overhead and filled with fluffy
clouds
. But the sky itself was
malachite in color with Russian green clouds floating merrily
overhead. The plants on the ground, where Earth had grass, were
tufted cerulean blue. Rather than stalks, these were fronds. They
didn't grow up, but hung down from a thick white stalk.

In the distance, there were hills
. But these weren't rounded hills. They were similar
to triangular prisms. Like fat versions of the Flatiron building in
NYC. They were fat at the bottom and grew thinner as they reached
the summit of the hill.

Close to her was a market scene
. The people were like Fade but their coloring was
different. Long ears and thin faces, burly bodies thick with
muscle. In the thousand-strong crowd, not one person seemed to be
over or underweight. They were all slim. But with muscles. The hues
of their skin ranged from an almost magenta pink to a faint blue.
There were people with what Heather considered human coloring, but
they possessed peculiarly shaded eyes or hair, which varied insofar
as the rainbow varied. Purple hair with golden eyes. Green
highlighted blond hair with freaky-ass, ruby red eyes.

Everyone's ears were loaded down with the cuffs and Heather
determined to ask Fade if they were an indicator of maturity,
because everyone seemed to have the same age
. The only easily spotted differences were between the
young and the adults and that was down to size. Everyone else
looked to be stuck at thirty-two.

T
heir clothes were a
mixture of old-fashions and completely eye-opening garments. Like
the woman who walked with breeches that bared her behind or the
woman who bared her breasts and yet, had swathes of fabric in a
skirt that dropped to the ground. It was like a porn star's version
of a ball gown. Then there were the others who kept their private
parts covered for the most part, showing just the one leg from toe
to groin with a hint of some multicolored pubic hair or one arm
from finger to shoulder that swept down to show one breast. Every
single female at the market, from stall holder to visitor bared
something. The men displayed nothing. Typical chauvinists. They
wore ancient fashions- breeches and shirts, or long tailored
pantaloons with greatcoat's. Wealth was displayed in the richness
and the cut of the cloth and the females also wore a lot of
jewels.

The stalls weren't tables with plastic-wrap roofs selling
cheap wares
. But small pods
with black tiles on the roof and something she could only liken to
stuccoed walls. There was an oval opening with a surface loaded
down with items. From rolls of fabric to jewels.

It was a scene that could occur in any small town on Earth
and only the colors made the difference
.

In many ways, that calmed her
. Yes, she might have to walk around with her ass hanging
out of her pants or baring a tit, but apart from that, it seemed
relatively normal. It wasn't completely alien. People still bought
stuff. Behind the pods, were houses. Strangely shaped houses, for
sure. But still, people lived in shelters, be they square houses as
she was used to, or the cylindrical dwellings that were
here.

Inhaling deeply, Heather curled upright from her
cross-legged position
. She'd
been seated there for so long that she stumbled a little as her
left foot had decided to go to sleep and her right calf had
cramped. She hobbled about a bit, her feet shuffling against the
carpeted hallway as she tried to improve the circulation in her
lower body. When she ceased walking like an idiot, she closed the
door and quickly opened it again. When the market scene remained
unimpeded, she closed it once more, sure now that it wouldn't
disappear, and moved towards the bedroom.

Her watch indicated the time was still early- almost four
in the morning
. Fade would
undoubtedly be asleep. If that were the case, she'd let him rest
and she'd try to fall asleep too. Her body would need the extra
hours of relaxation, before the mating heat hit her, full blast, in
the face.

It was coming
. She
knew it. Could feel it slide sluggishly through her veins. What was
controlling it, currently, she wasn't entirely sure. Perhaps the
dazed shock at seeing her world, the world she'd always belonged
to, even if it was unknowingly. She'd had to absorb a lot of
information in a minute space of time, in many ways, it was no
wonder her body was moving on auto-pilot.

The bedroom was quiet
.
Outside the window, a street lamp shone its glow into the bedroom
and she could see Fade was turned on his side with his front to the
wall. The only space for her was at his back and knowing that Fade
would probably have viewed her earlier behavior in a negative
light, she moved towards his front and even though it would
undoubtedly disturb him, she prodded and maneuvered until there was
small space for her to lay.

She held her breath as she almost
rolled onto the bed and settled beside him.

"Do you know how many wars I've been
involved in?"

The question jolted her
. Whatever she'd expected him to say, it hadn't been that.
In the quiet of the room, Heather kept her voice down to a whisper.
"I don't know. Two?"

"More like thirty
.
Even asleep, I'm an inch away from wakefulness. So, there's no way
you
couldn't
have awoken me.”

"If that's the case
. .
. .” Heather pushed him back a bit more and snuggled down into the
mattress so that she had more space and was a lot more comfortable.
That the move had her butt laying flush against his groin was an
advantage.

A
silence settled between them and she knew her actions had confused
him
. For whatever reason,
Heather knew it took a lot to confound Fade. She felt rather proud
that within a few hours, she'd completely disturbed
Fade.

"I thought you were revolted
.”

The chill in his words would have
frozen a liquid ice pop solid.

"More like freaked out
.”

"Freaked out?"

"Trust that to be one of the words that doesn't
translate
.” He couldn't see
her, but she rolled her eyes. "Disturbed, I guess is another way of
describing it.” When he stiffened, she tutted. "Not by you. Christ,
you're so touchy.”

"I am not thin-skinned
. Nor am I in anyway delicate.”

She snorted
. "You are
where those wings of yours are concerned. You were asleep, you
didn't know what was happening. I panicked.” His silence indicated
that she was correct. "Your smell. . . . it did something to me,”
Heather admitted gruffly. She reached for his arm and lifted it
over her. When it rested close to her belly, she crossed her
fingers with his.

"And it was my scent that disturbed
you?"

"Not in a you-need-to-shower way
. But in a my-pussy-is-hotter-than-hell kind of
way.”

"Pussy?"

"Oh, for God's sake, does that mean
none of my curses will translate?"

He shrugged
. "We have
our own curses. You will learn them in time.”

The scene she'd just viewed made her think that Mearth was
far more old-fashioned than modern Earth
. It surprised her that he didn't chide or reprimand
her for swearing. "You'll have to teach me them.”

A
slight chuckle whispered across her ear as he finally unbent enough
to relax into her and rest his head beside hers
. "I'll enjoy that. A cursing Queen. Jender won't
know what's hit them. But, you were saying. What is this
pussy?"

Nerves suddenly settled in Heather's belly as the only way
she could explain was to show him
. Not once did it cross her mind that she could describe
what or where a pussy was. Her brain was on one track but what a
way to go.