Chapter 13: Fourth Suit Artificial

A Prince of the Nobillo

Chapter 13: Fourth Suit Artificial

She was in a corridor somewhere. It looked like some sort of industrial laboratory with its oddly cold lights shining on walls covered in pipes and panels with screens and buttons. There was a door in front of her with a sign. She wasn't quite sure what it said. Her vision flashed and for a second she thought she read Danger! Project Jericho.

The handle to the door was above her, as if it were either really tall or she was really short. She turned the handle and stepped inside. Her vision blurred. Terror gripped her. Something she had seen, something she couldn't see. Like it had been badly erased.

Voices shouted. "Hey! You can't be in here!"

She felt a hand yank her shoulder hard.

She woke up, her head resting on Rivuk's chest. She leaned forward and kissed him gently. That same dream again. From the height, she guessed it was one of Rivuk's memories from when he was very young, though, for some reason, she could never remember it right in her dream.

The cool light of dawn filled Rivuk's room. It wouldn't be long before Deneta was awake and jumping in bed with them as she did every morning when Lindsay stayed over. She shifted slightly and smiled. They'd fallen asleep with him inside her again; from her wetness she could tell they'd met in their dreams. Sometimes she remembered them, sometimes she didn't, this morning the terror from her other dream was at the forefront of her memories.

She could feel Rivuk's telson hard inside of her. She rose to her knees and gently began grinding her hips against him. He loved when she woke him this way. He'd been the one to suggest it.

It was hard to believe it had been two iuna, almost a third of an Earth year, since they'd consummated their marriage, since they'd become a family. Her bond with Rivuk had only strengthened in that time. They'd become able to talk to each other without even speaking, not a lot, but some. It would grow in time, he said.

They still couldn't keep their hands off each other, even when they couldn't be together. Carak was often annoyed to find Lindsay spaced out during a lesson while her mind was off with Rivuk's on his lunch break, sucking his cock in his camp bed in a world only they knew. In that place, claws couldn't cut but they sure felt good.

She continued her Nobillo language lessons with Carak and was growing much better. She could even read some of Deneta's old books now. She still got a few of the letters mixed up, but Carak was a patient teacher. Deneta was less patient, often taking the book and trying to show her the right word. But it made Lindsay happy to see the girl no longer flinched at her and had grown confident enough to scold her, even if she still didn't call her mommy.

Carak was no longer pretending he wasn't teaching her to fight with a spear, having secret sparring sessions with her. Every time they fought, she gained more of an appreciation for how skilled he really was. His movements were so fluid, it was like watching a lethal dance. She could see in his muscles the strength he was holding back for her and she was glad of it - her hands hurt enough after their fights, anyway, she didn't want to imagine what it would be like to fight him at full strength.

They still enjoyed reading together and playing mancala at least twice a skell. Rivuk had learned early not to interfere with their little traditions. She could tell he felt conflicted about it, that he worried that their "inappropriate closeness" might be discovered and lead to punishment for his hest, but, then, he'd confessed to Lindsay, when had Carak ever been allowed the kindness of having someone close with him? Even he had to maintain a certain distance. He'd never seen happiness in his hest and he was damned sure he wasn't going to be the one to take it from him.

Lindsay screwed his brains out the night he'd said that. She'd needed a roll of dermal bandages afterwards.

It seemed strange to consider the palace her home. In some ways, Sirix's tent still was. But those memories were beginning to fade. She still had moments when thoughts of Donil or Sirix would leave her crouched on the floor, sobbing. But Rivuk was so understanding. He'd take her in his arms and kiss her and let her say everything she needed until she fell asleep. It made her love him more.

She and Rivuk spent the nights divided between his room and her tower, often depending if they took supper with Deneta or not. If they did, she'd stay over with him, if not, he'd stay over with her. She'd been worried how she'd be as a step-parent, but Deneta seemed happy to accept her presence.

She drew little pictures for Deneta of things from Earth. Lindsay was no artist, but they were good enough. Elephants and houses and tigers and cars all enchanted the little girl. But Deneta loved birds the most. Lindsay was really bad at drawing birds, but she got better with Deneta's forced practice.

"What's that one?" Deneta asked as Lindsay inked the black head onto an overly chubby little bird sitting on a snowy branch.

"It's a chickadee. We have thousands of them where I live," Lindsay replied.

"It's so cute! Can I keep it?"

"Sure." Lindsay changed her voice in a bad impression of some old actor she only knew of from cartoon impressions. "Anything for you, my little chickadee."

"I'm a chickadee?" she squealed in her high soprano.

"You're cute like one, so you're my chickadee," Lindsay said, with a smile.

Deneta shrieked with glee and from then on, Lindsay always called her her little chickadee. Lindsay really hadn't considered being a mom, but she loved that little girl with her tawny hair and bright green eyes and adorable little wings. She fought to earn her trust and silently celebrated every cuddle and confidence. They'd become a little family, one she cared for fiercely.

The détente with the Bonat continued into its tenth iuna. Three of those iuna she'd spent away from them. In the time she'd been gone, Donil would have carried two more Bonat babies to term. Lindsay wished she could have seen the births. She wondered if Sirix would have taken advantage of the opportunity to bring many of those golden eggs beside his desk into life or if he was holding back, not ready to concede the possibility of peace. A lot of babies were hard to move and even harder to hide.

But the Nobillo certainly seemed to have soured on the idea of the continued war. The more Lindsay spoke about the Bonat, the more popular they became. More than once she'd seen Nobillo children with their faces painted blue playing as their favorite Bonat from her stories. More and more, Rivuk's dream was looking like a possibility.

The royals had been slower to take to her, which she was fine with - the less time spent with Boz, the better. Still, she was invited to dine with the family on state occasions and managed a cordial, if cool, relationship with the queen and the first prince. The king still refused to even look at her and Boz did nothing but, always ensuring he had an excellent vantage point to leer at her. She wished she could use those spear skills Carak was teaching her on him.

She comforted herself in walking past the empty hallway instead, knowing Boz's victims were safe in their care under Carak's command. Despite Rivuk's best efforts to name her captain, she was still technically a prisoner and, therefore, not allowed to lead a unit, but Carak and Rivuk had her function in a shadow captain role. She called the shots, but they gave the orders. She'd wanted to personally unstitch their mouths, but that to fell to Carak. They would always carry the scars, but they were no longer silenced.

There had been twenty-six of them, all told. They were still a delicate group both mentally and physically. Six of them had been so emaciated they'd only started eating solid food two skell ago. A few of them would never fly again. But, for most, their wings were growing back. So far, five had been declared severely mentally ill from their traumatic experience, and she wouldn't be surprised if a few of the six would fall into that category after they were evaluated. Most of the women, however, seemed to be slowly working through their trauma in counseling. A special wing of the palace near her tower was outfitted for their care.

Two of the women, ones that he'd clearly only recently taken, were pregnant. One swore it wasn't his baby, the other insisted it was. But, when she found out declaring it his would result in him being forced to take her as his concubine, she chose to claim it had no father. The Korsuch doctor who examined the women said sixteen were in the process of or had resorbed their fetuses.

"They can do that?" Lindsay had asked.

"Why wouldn't they be able to?" the doctor, a blonde Korsuch woman who was missing only white wings to make her look more like a painted angel said. "Sexual reproduction is such a disgusting thing. Thank the Immortal we Korsuch moved past that."

"You don't have sex?" Lindsay stared at her.

"We have sex, but it is only for pleasure. We would never use it for reproduction. All female Korsuch have their eggs removed when they reach the age of sexual maturity. If we decide we wish to have a child, it is manufactured in the Temple of the Immortal in Carpathia. Then we have the choice to carry it in the natural way or have it grown there. Not that anyone would choose the natural way, but we do allow for it. That way we can ensure the best possible physical and genetic outcome for our children. It's the only responsible thing." She glanced over at Lindsay's body as if she were looking at a particularly large and disgusting bug.

Of course, she was doing the most irresponsible thing in that doctor's mind, she was having sex with a Nobillo. Often. And they weren't remotely being careful like they'd told Yasolina.

She and Rivuk had talked about it quite a few times, the risk of her becoming pregnant, but the chances were so remote it seemed silly to bother, especially when neither of them minded the idea so much. She was almost twenty-three, now. She still didn't feel quite ready to have a baby, but, when she watched her husband playing with Deneta, she had to admit the idea of having a child with him was growing on her.

She felt Rivuk's hands moving up her thighs. She looked down into his open face with those copper eyes and that warm smile.

"You know I love it when you wake me up like that?" he said.

"I do." She kept sliding her hips forward and back, an impish smile on her face.

He pulled her in and rolled on top of her. "Now it's my turn."

Her body shook as he pushed into her. "Oh God! OH GOD! OH RIVUK!" she screamed. Her whole body arched as her head moved back and forth over the pillow. "OHHHHHH! OH RIVUK! DON'T STOP!" Her body was bouncing as he pounded even harder. She gripped his back, her nails digging in. She felt his tessect elongate inside of her. She screamed as the intense waves of a cervical orgasm crashed through her body. She didn't feel the acid, but she felt the warmth of the felous flow into her. She dropped back onto the bed, looking up into his copper eyes.

"God I love you," she moaned.

He kissed her. "I love you, too, my wilding. Damn those eyes of yours! And those lips. You make it hard to want to get out of bed."

"If we don't, she'll make us," Lindsay said.

"I know."

She felt his tessect slide out of her body.

"Come on," he patted her thigh, "let's get up." He flicked his hand and the news came on.

Lindsay lay in bed, pulling the covers up over her naked body. It was too cool a morning to be naked without a warm blanket or a warm Rivuk covering her. She always half-watched the news and half-watched her husband dress in the morning. She didn't know how he managed to make putting on clothes as sexy as taking them off, but she couldn't help drooling over him when he covered those abs with his blue undershirt.

"Royal Sex Scandal!" the announcer exclaimed.

"Oh, did they finally catch my brother and my first wife? I told them to stop using the garden," Rivuk quipped, pulling down his shirt.

"A sex video of two royals has surfaced and is spreading like wildfire all over Kirith. I warn you, what you are about to see is graphic."

Lindsay would recognize that butt and back anywhere, as well as those long legs around it. "I... I think it's us," she said.

Rivuk sat down beside her just in time for Lindsay to watch herself screaming in ecstasy as he plowed her.

"Over forty-eight hours of footage has been released," the newscaster continued.

Lindsay swore. The band on Rivuk's wrist began chirping loudly.

"Hello?" he said. "No, we aren't doing interviews right now. A statement? My wife and I are deeply upset by this gross violation of our privacy, we ask to be left alone during this difficult time. We encourage all Nobillo citizens to refrain from watching this illegally obtained footage. Hello? No, we'll contact you when we're ready to talk. Hello? No, the palace does not confirm the identities of Third Prince Rivuk and Princess Lindsay in those videos. Eroki!" Rivuk threw the band on the bedside table.

Lindsay didn't know what he'd said, but she guessed it was some sort of Nobillo curse word.

He picked up the band again and pressed it. "Tamaya, give our apologies to my daughter, but something's come up and we won't be able to have breakfast with her today. And keep her away from the news!"

Lindsay quickly pulled on her panties. Rivuk took a moment to tie her bra, ignoring the constant chirping of his wristband. He pulled up her dress from the floor, giving her hip and neck a kiss as he arrived at each.

"What should we do?" Lindsay asked, still in shock. How?! When?!

"The first thing we need to do is find that camera." He pressed the band again. "Carak, meet me in the tower loft."

"Understood, your grace," Carak's voice responded.

They arrived at the balcony moments later. Lindsay smiled as she saw Carak standing there. She always smiled to see him now, even at such an inappropriate time. She thought she saw a flash of one split his cheek as well.

Carak extended his hand and she took it, alighting from her husband's arms before he'd even landed.

"Your grace," Carak said, bowing his head as Rivuk landed. "I'm guessing I owe this visit to the video?"

"So, you already know?" Rivuk said.

"Yes." He held out his large grey hand with three smashed cameras in it. "You may want to check as well to be certain I found them all."

Rivuk sighed. "I wondered what his revenge would be."

"When did he do it?" Lindsay asked, not needing any further clarification of who the culprit was.

"Probably the night he attacked you," Carak said.

"He almost certainly meant to record what he did to you and show it to me," Rivuk said. "But, instead, you gave him quite the unexpected surprise. I suppose he kept recording in the hopes of getting something he could use against us."

"That explains the way he looks at me at family dinners. Eww. I hate to think he saw me naked." She scowled.

The idea Boz had seen her breasts, and probably everything else, made her skin crawl. He probably jacked off to it, too. Actually... maybe not.

She hadn't slept in that bed between the attack and when she'd nailed Rivuk for the first time. He probably didn't enjoy watching his hated brother having vigorous sex with her.

The whole city watching his hated brother having vigorous sex with her.

She felt her breath coming fast, her heart racing. The whole city was watching her in her most private moments! Watching every scream and moan. Watching Rivuk penetrate her over and over and over again. It wasn't even a result of them being careless outside; Boz had come into her room and hidden cameras with the intention of recording her! And the media was all over it!

A million thoughts raced through her head. What was she going to do? What could she do? She felt like she was going to puke. She looked to Rivuk.

She saw the pupils of Rivuk's eyes dilate as he stared at the smashed cameras, his lips were so tight they almost disappeared, a pale rim around them. He was the victim, too. Boz's revenge violated them both. That was him naked on camera with her, him letting her do all sorts of things with his body. He'd grown up under the scorching lens of the public eye and now it was happy to watch him burn as Boz focused its searing light on him.

Don't let them win, her father's voice echoed in her head. Hold your head up high and walk straight ahead. I'll be holding your hand the whole time.

That had been almost seven years ago when she'd been sent home after a video of her and the co-captain of the rival school's wrestling team went viral. She'd been so humiliated she couldn't even look at her dad after her mom drove her through the crowd of reporters at the front door. She just ran up to her room and hugged her pillow and cried for hours as her computer showed articles with titles like State Senator's Slut and State Senator's Daughter Gets Plugged Hard. She heard phones ringing throughout the house.

And on every call she heard her father standing up for her. He stood outside her room at ten o' clock with a cold pizza until she finally came out. After she finished sobbing on his shoulder about how terrible she was and he'd assured her dozens of times that he didn't care about what was on the video and that she wasn't terrible for having sex, the boy was terrible for recording it without her consent and then spreading it around. But that wasn't her fault. She'd done nothing wrong.

She'd just wanted to hide in her room for the rest of her life. Her dad told her she could do that, but if she did, she was letting them win. That next day, he got ready, put on his suit and tie and little American flag pin, and stood at the door with Lindsay to walk her to school through all the press and the stares and the whispers.

As they'd stood at the threshold with a hundred cameras flashing, her dad took her hand and whispered, "Don't let them win. Hold your head up high and walk straight ahead. I'll be holding your hand the whole time."

Now it was her turn to be the strong one. She snaked her arm around Rivuk's, clasping his hand and looking into his raging eyes. "At least it was with you," she said.

The flame in Rivuk's eyes instantly extinguished. "I'd think you'd be more upset," he said, caressing her cheek.

"I am. It's disgusting. He's disgusting. But we haven't exactly been discreet, have we? And you're my husband. It's not like he caught something he can make a real scandal out of. Oh no! Princess Lindsay has sex with her husband! Film at 11. And 12. And, apparently, for the next two days." She gave him a suggestive smile. "We should see if we can get a copy for ourselves, you know, before it gets banned."

A new, low fire burned in his eyes as she said it. "I'll make a note of it. We can watch it after I murder him." The rage flared again. "Putting my wife on display for all of Kirith like that!"

"Rivuk... Rivuk..." Lindsay stroked the arm of his uniform. "It's not worth it. We know it was him. We won't let him get away with it."

"I'll challenge him to a duel."

"To do that to a princess!" Lindsay saw Carak's lips rise in a snarl, his teeth bared. "It is unforgivable."

"Carak!" she cried. She ran to him, covering his mouth with both her hands. "What if we missed one?! If he catches you baring your teeth to a prince, he'll have you killed! You know he will!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. "You can't do that to me! Neither of you! Not over Boz!"

Her tears seemed to bring the two men back. Carak's face softened against her palms. He took her arms in his hands and lowered them.

"I won't fight him," Rivuk said. "But something has to be done."

She took a deep breath. She could be the strong one. She had to be. To hold her head up high. They'd done nothing wrong and they shouldn't feel ashamed. "Let me do an interview with Yasolina. I'll tell her it was no big deal. He wants to hurt us. Let's show him he didn't."