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Aryelle Thrace
I watched him lying there, the darkness leeching all color. Theron was curled up on his stomach, his arms buried under the pillows, and his head turned to one side. One leg was thrown over the blankets leaving him barely covered. I traced the lines of him with my eyes, and my fingers itched to follow, but he’d been working so hard since I took the throne a week ago.
We barely have time to say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’, let alone anything else, I thought to myself. Pulled the night robe tight I turned away from temptation.
“Tasty,” a familiar voice said and I looked around the living room to find Vaylin standing there. She didn’t have the power of her father to stop time. “I’m hurt, though, I thought you were sweet on me.”
“Sorry, Vaylin, it’s never been a contest, and what are you doing here? You’re free.”
“Exactly,” she said in that twistedly happy tone, “which means I can do what I wish.” She looked around the room, and there was something in her eyes I couldn’t quite read. “You said you didn’t want my Empire.”
“I didn’t,” I told her honestly, “but without someone on the Throne, the entire galaxy’s at risk.”
That stopped her, “you’re like Mother… you really do care.” It was the first time I’d ever heard Vaylin say something complementary about Senya.
“She cared about you too,” I told her.
“She cared so much she told Father I was dangerous, that I had to be controlled. She let them take me to Nathema!”
I walked over to Vaylin, wishing I could touch her, that I could make her look me in the eye. “I’ve seen some of the journals from that place, but I won’t say I know what was done to you. Not really.”
“Then save your pity. It’s meaningless.”
I looked at Vaylin even as she turned away from me. “She told me she tried to take you away from your father. All of you, but you chose to stay.”
“And I choose to stay now. Perhaps Mother and I will have some quality time after all,” she said in that same amused tone then looked toward the bedroom, “Quality time all around perhaps?”
I stepped between the doorway and Vaylin gathering the Force as I did so and then pushed, she stumbled back in surprise.
“Just remember my head my rules,” I told her.
“You won’t just destroy me?’
“Unless you become a threat, Vaylin, I’ll put up with you and hope you’ll go away.”
“You don’t understand, do you?” she told me, “you may have freed me but I needed to anchor myself to something to stay, or to someone.”
Oh blast…
“Aryelle?”
I turned to find Theron leaning against the doorway, not bothering with clothing. I found myself flushing as I heard the echoes of Vaylin’s mocking laughter. He walked over to me, one arm slipping around my waist as he traced my jaw with his thumb. “What’s wrong?”
“Vaylin’s decided to stick around.”
“I thought we were past all this,” he sighed, moving up to stroke my cheek.
“I did too, and before you ask, she’s gone for the moment, but she’s in my head.” I stopped then sighed, “I don’t want to think about this anymore tonight. I want to pretend we’re two completely normal people, with normal lives, who do normal things couples do.”
“I can do that,” he said, his fingers tracing back down to my jaw, and his lips following in their wake. “I haven’t had much of a chance to tell you ‘I love you’ lately.”
I moaned as he moved lower, lips following the lines of my neck to my shoulder. I felt the love behind each kiss, but to hear him say it. That was a thrill I’d never tire of.
“No, you haven’t,” I agreed softly as I allowed my robe to drop to the floor before I reached for him. I fitted myself against him as my hands massaged his back, feeling firm muscles beneath smooth skin.
“I love you,” he whispered into my shoulder, and I shivered as his lips brushed against my skin. He looked back up, his eyes smoldering in the semi-darkness of our quarters. “I love you so much.”
I kissed him, gently sucking on that full lower lip of his for a moment before tracing the upper one with the bare tip of my tongue. My left hand slid down along his hip, and back up his inner thigh, causing him to gasp. “I love you too, Theron,” I murmured against his lips. “I so need to show you.”
“You’re doing a damn good job,” he told me as he tried to catch his breath.
I could feel his need, his passion, the way desire made his body ache. It fed my own need as I ignored what I knew to be the imaginings of Vaylin’s amusement. She wasn’t here, wasn’t watching.
Theron pulled back, looking at me in surprise.
“You’re worried about Vaylin.”
“Is it that obvious?”
The smile on his face warmed me. “Like to think I know you pretty well,” he said, “come to bed. We’ll figure this out in the morning.”
We slid under the covers, Theron spooning himself against my back, holding me just tight enough.
“Comfortable?”
“Perfect,” I told him and drifted back to sleep in the safety of his arms.