Oblige (7 page)

Lilia was surprised and then shocked as Briel’s arms went around them both. “Thank you, Lilia. My baby and I are grateful for your efforts on behalf of the Zel family.”

It seemed that she still had a job.

Lilia managed to get the household back into control in less than a day, and she spent half of her time trying not to think about Xeric and the other half trying to forget his touch.

When Madame Zel came in with a serious expression, Lilia was on alert. “Yes, Madame?”

“The Almoss family is coming this afternoon to negotiate the contract for access to the forest. As my heir, you need to be there.”

It was already after lunch, so Lilia asked, “When are they coming?”

“They are in the drive. You might need to change your clothing into something more socially appropriate.” Madame suddenly got an impish expression on her features. “Show a little of that pale skin. I will take any advantage I can get.”

Muttering to herself, Lilia left the office and headed for her quarters. Four minutes later, she was staring at her wardrobe, and she quickly grabbed an afternoon gown that was cut low in front and in back. Xeric had already seen her scars. She didn’t have to hide them from him.

She rushed to the dressing table and pulled her hair back with jewelled combs. The result of the peacock-coloured gown with the gold and blue crystals was rather pretty. She was showing plenty of cleavage and more than enough of her back.

The only thing that diminished the effect of the dress was her wrist terminal, but she needed that for the negotiations.

She stiffened her shoulders, left her quarters and headed to the guest hall. The Almosses were there, and they all smiled at her as she entered the space.

Yeena greeted her first. “Lilia, you look wonderful. The Zel fashions certainly suit you.”

Xarit inclined his head. “I must agree with my wife. You look so much more alive now than you did in our home.”

Xeric was holding a small box. He walked over to her and presented it to her. “Our home is empty without you. I hope this will remind you of us.”

She took the box in two hands and smiled at him. “I don’t need any reminders, but thank you.”

Briel came in and looked over her shoulder, “Open it.”

Lilia smiled and opened the glossy wooden box. Everyone in the room was watching her. A small crystal vial on a long gold chain was nestled inside the soft fabric interior. Lilia walked to the table, set the box down and she looped the chain over her head so that the vial was precisely between her breasts.

Briel was so excited, she was nearly apoplectic. “Open it.”

“Oh. Right.” She pulled the tiny stopper out of the pendant, and she dabbed it behind her ears and her elbows.

The scent she had first experienced in the lab at Xeric’s home spread outward from her body as she replaced the tiny stopper.

Briel inhaled and paused. “Wow. The rumours are true. The Almosses finally have a master perfumer after all these years. It suits you perfectly, Lilia.”

Yeena looked pleased, and Xarit’s chest puffed with pride.

Madame Zel cleared her throat. “Right, well, I believe we have access to negotiate?”

Yeena looked a little perturbed at having her moment of gloating curtailed, but she nodded. “Of course. That is why we are here.”

They sat around the table with the Zels on one side and the Almoss family on the other.

Madame Zel slid the draft of the contract over to Madame Almoss. “I believe this is fair-use fees for what we need from the forest.”

Lilia smiled at Xeric, but he kept his face businesslike.

Madame Almoss shook her head and pushed the contract back. “It is insufficient for what we are giving to you.”

Madame Zel flinched at the bald refusal. “The terms were fair.”

“They
were
fair when I had two sons and a chance of an heir marrying into the family. Now, I have one son and he has fixated on a particular woman. If you can send her to me as my daughter and heir, you can have what you like from the forest.”

Madame Zel looked from Xeric to Lilia and back. “She is my heir.”

“If she becomes my daughter-by-mating, she can still be your heir, but also my heir. We can finally join the families and share the forest under one bloodline.”

Madame Zel cut to the chase. “She may not be able to breed a Wralik child.”

Smugness descended over Madame Almoss. “If Xeric is to be believed, she is already carrying. If intervention in the pregnancy is needed, she will have it.”

Lilia went cold. She casually searched her unit for information, and she found something she should have known. Purples were kept from the general population because they couldn’t take the same physical precautions as the rest of the males. Purples had no birth control available except for timing and luck.

It was possible that she was pregnant, but babies had never been part of her plan. She would need to create a new plan.

Briel squealed. “We can raise them together!”

Lilia was still blinking in surprise. “I don’t know if I am carrying.”

Xeric nodded, “Your scent changed on your third day.”

She rolled her eyes, and Yeena was looking like she was going to burst from excitement.

“So, Madame Zel, as your daughter might be carrying my heir, I urge you to consider an alliance between our two families.”

“I need to think about this. I need to discuss this with Lilia.”

Lilia got to her feet, and she followed Madame Zel out to the back patio.

Madame Zel was pacing. “I was not expecting this.”

“Neither was I, Madame.” Old habits kicked in.

“It would be incredible to work with the Almosses at long last, but would you be able to serve both families equally?”

“I can try. I would like to try. I care for Xeric very much. I have attached to him.”

Madame Zel looked at her and sighed. “I had so many nice young men lined up for you. Ah well. Xeric Almoss is a divine specimen, and any grandchildren that I get from his line will be impressive. You have my blessing.”

Lilia sighed and slumped her shoulders. “Thank you, Madame Zel.”

Lilia hugged her, and they returned to the meeting room.

Madame Zel sat, and when Lilia was settled, she nodded. “I agree. Lilia agrees, but the union must be formalized before she leaves here again. I need the declaration of fatherhood on the record. No one will accuse Lilia of anything but honourable behaviour.”

Briel got him a blank page and a pen, and in curving script, Xeric declared the date and that he was the father of Lilia Zel’s child.

That was it. The contract signed her over as lawful daughter-in-law, and she was now a member of the Almoss family while being the heir of the Zel family. If this child existed, it would have one helluva pedigree.

Two days later, the ceremony of social transfer was simpler than the hunt. An official was called in, the documents were signed to keep Lilia as heir for both families and then there was cake.

In contrast to the hunt, this time, Lilia had her entire wardrobe to take with her. She also got to keep her wrist terminal and that made her feel markedly better.

The Zels gave her a box of formal gowns, and the Almoss family brought in garlands of flowers that were draped around Lilia’s neck and arms, and others were placed on Madame Zel and Briel.

Lilia would attend to the Zel household two days a week, and she would remain with the Almoss family for the rest of it. She had gained a second inheritance and doubled her workload. Lilia was pretty happy with the way things had worked out.

When the gifts were given and Lilia was officially welcomed into the Almoss family, she was finally allowed to touch Xeric.

He extended his hand to her and pulled her in against him, holding her tight and pressing kisses to the crown of her head. When she looked up at him, the kisses were transferred to her lips.

A few minutes of slow kissing later, a nudge at her elbow alerted her to Briel handing her cake.

“Come on, Lilia. Just a little cake and you and Xeric can go off and find privacy.”

Lilia looked at the plate with cake and an eating prong on it. She glanced up at Xeric. “Do they make you eat cake, too?”

He grinned. “I already had some cake while you were speaking with Mother.”

She picked up the prong and stabbed the cake, trying not to gag at the heavy floral taste. “What is in this?”

“It is a hormone trigger that is thought to encourage female children. We used to create something more palatable, but it was discontinued when my grandfather retired.”

She took a deep breath and worked her way through the cake as fast as she could.

A laughing Briel took her plate with a pat on her shoulder. “Well done, Aunty.”

Lilia shuddered and leaned against Xeric again. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. “The formalities are over. We can go to the Almoss home if you like.”

She sighed and looked around. “I suppose so.”

He chuckled. “We will be in a regular transport today. I left the riot runner at the house.”

She looked down at the heavily beaded gown she was wearing. “Good call.”

They took their leave of the Zels, and Lilia promised to return in a few days to see the new fabric samples and do costing estimates on the next line of designs.

Madame Zel smiled. “Relax. If you can’t come to us, we will come to you.”

Briel nodded. “We will. I have always wanted to get a good look at the Almoss gardens.”

Xeric nodded. “As kinswoman of the Almoss heir, you are welcome anytime.”

The bright smiles on the Zels’ faces were a good way to take her leave. Lilia nodded to Yeena and Xarit.

Yeena smiled. “See you at home, daughter.”

Xeric lifted her in his arms. “Not for a day or so, Mother.”

Lilia laughed and held on as she was carried out of the Zel home and settled in a transport. “You don’t have to carry me.”

“I want to. I like to know where you are at any given time.”

He settled behind the controls and keyed in their destination. Once that was done and the vehicle was moving, he pulled her into his lap.

They kissed softly and constantly on the whole trip to the Almoss home. When they arrived, Xeric had to stroke her cheek. “We are home.”

She blinked out of her warm haze and looked up. “Oh my.”

The interior of the courtyard was wearing hundreds of flowers, and when they left the vehicle, the scents assailed her and blended into a copy of her perfume.

She smiled shyly. “You decorated with me.”

He nodded and helped her out of the vehicle. “As the new Almoss heir, it was appropriate. And honestly, it kept me from going over to the Zel house.”

She looked at the walls hung with long strands of woven flowers. “You did all this?”

“I had help. The staff wanted to make sure you knew you were welcome. With Lemko’s trial coming up, they want you where you can defend them.”

“I will. If he comes back here, he will be sent out with all the force I can manage, and that is quite a bit.”

Xeric laughed, “It is. You also have me to call upon. Now, enough idle chatter; I wish to actually have some privacy with you to discuss things.”

She thought she had an idea of the things he wanted to discuss, but after they were in the larger mated quarters, they removed their clothing and he settled her on the petal-strewn bed.

When he settled next to her with his hand on her hip, face to face in the softly perfumed space, he whispered, “Tell me about your life. From your first memory until now.”

Lilia blinked. “That is a little heavy for a mating night.”

“You tell me about your life, I will tell you about mine and we will begin our mating on even footing.”

She nodded and took a deep breath, starting with what she knew about where she had been found, six months old, nearly dead and wrapped in newspaper.

Lilia went through the litany of failed adoptions, the foster mother who used the switch and finally the woman who had offered her education as a way out.

The jobs and folks she had worked for was an easy conversation, and finally, she ended with, “Then, I went to work for the Zels, and here I am.”

He smiled and went through his early schooling being monitored by others of his genetic class. He went through his training and the strained relationship with his family.

When they had both poured their hearts out, Lilia cuddled up to him and wrapped her arm around his back, stroking his skin and holding him close.

The stroking was reciprocated, and soon, the caresses increased into a gentle arousal.

Xeric stroked her clit and slid a finger inside her, working in and out until she twisted against his hand. The sun was setting outside the window, and as the night took over, the bed began to glow.

Her olfactory senses combined with her hormonal triggers, and she felt the surge of liquid around his finger. She wanted to be mad about the flower petals that were setting off her arousal, but she had other things to deal with. He slid two fingers into her, and after she moved against him again, he added a third.

She was rocking her hips against his hand, her skin lit with the soft glow of the flower petals. His features were cast into soft relief by that same glow, and when he lifted her thigh over his hip and pressed his cock into her, he held her to him as he rolled to his back.

She straddled him and braced her hands on his abdomen, rocking slowly and gradually increasing her pace until he cupped her hips with his palms and bucked upward with a groan. His fingers clenched, and she panted as he pulled her tightly to him.

Lilia leaned forward and pressed her forehead to his chest. She was content just to stay here with him, but his hand worked between them and pressed against her clit, circling with firm pressure until she began to jerk and shiver against him.

He grunted and his hips lifted against her again.

Lilia slumped against him, and she caught her breath. Her skin felt tight and her arousal wasn’t dissipating. She groaned and her nipples ached.

Without thinking about it, she sat up, gripped her breasts and tried to relieve the tension with a massage. Xeric’s hands replaced hers, and he massaged her slowly. He was intent on learning her reactions, but as long as those damned flowers were around, she was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to give him an honest answer. It was going to be a long night.