Read Online Fire's Touch (The Enlightened Species Book Three) by Wendy S. Hales - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Wendy S. Hales
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sympathetic look when he shook his head. “Is the arranged marriage more important than your happiness?”
“Our nuptial contract ended a feud between our two colonies that preceded our species’ enlightening. Neither the princess nor I wish to marry each other or mate …” The thought of bedding Mattie actually made his balls shrink up. “We’re friends, so by mutual agreement we have contrived to delay our nuptial until one or the other of our parent’s forces our hands. As long as her mother and my parents are content in their roles as king and queen, we can wait … and we have. Eventually we will be forced to mate or our colonies will go to war over the territory.”
“If this queen, your betrothed’s mother, rules alone now, why can’t the princess take the throne whether you mate her or not?” Umbrae asked. This was part of the reason Tellus didn’t talk about their political structure—it was confusing to outsiders.
“The people of our colonies won’t follow an infertile leader. They have to be assured their monarchy will reproduce and ensure the integrity of the monarchy structure. The queen rules alone because her mate was killed after she had children to carry the line. Unfortunately she doesn’t have a son, so her mate’s crown will not pass—only hers along with her throne, which means whoever marries her first-born daughter must also be a first-born son. And heir to the crown of his sire king to hold the king’s throne in her colony.”
“You’ve never even kissed the female you love? You’re right, being a royal sucks.” Umbrae shook her head with her comment.
“Oh, it gets worse.” She quirked a brow at him “My intended is Princess Matalina Aleen, first born and heir to both crown and throne of Queen Della Aleen.”
“Mattie? Cassie’s sister? Oh, great Fates, you’re saying that if you mate with Cassie, your colony will declare war.” He nodded, the festering hole in his heart ripped open. “And her colony, without assured continuation of their royal bloodline, would fall to your Alba colony.” Umbrae whistled through her teeth. “Could you … I don’t know … have both sisters? Mate and procreate with Mattie and be with Cassie too?”
Hans gaped at the suggestion. Yes it was possible. His father and mother both had other lovers outside the marriage bed. That wasn’t something he’d ever wanted for himself, to be reproductively connected to someone he didn’t truly desire. Of course, once he mated Mattie that would be his fate, but to ask Cassie to share him with her sister … he could never do that. To have his love for Cassie rubbed into Mattie’s face for all time wouldn’t be fair either. Mattie was his friend. He respected her, cared for her, but he wasn’t in love with her.
“If you ever saw Cassiopeia around young children, you wouldn’t even ask that question. More than anyone besides you … she deserves to have children of her own.” Hans wished he could take back his tone when Umbrae’s hand went to her lips.
“I didn’t think about that. What an impossible situation. Does either of them know how you feel? Does Cassie love you, too?”
“I don’t know. Since the three of us have always been friends, I doubt Mattie has a clue … I hope she doesn’t. Cassie ran away twenty years ago. Mattie and I tried to find her, but she was in the wind and she placed a ‘do not disclose’ on her SOSC file. So no, I don’t thinks she knows how I feel or loves me in return. When she first disappeared I wondered if her mother …” He shrugged. It didn’t matter what he thought, and twenty years had clarified to him that Cassie didn’t want to be found. “I guess I hoped that her leaving wasn’t by choice. That she would come to me and explain. Queen Della is a formidable female, a great queen. Her colony means everything to her.”
“More than her daughter?”
Hans tried to think of a way to make Umbrae, a new mother, understand. “Queen
“Our nuptial contract ended a feud between our two colonies that preceded our species’ enlightening. Neither the princess nor I wish to marry each other or mate …” The thought of bedding Mattie actually made his balls shrink up. “We’re friends, so by mutual agreement we have contrived to delay our nuptial until one or the other of our parent’s forces our hands. As long as her mother and my parents are content in their roles as king and queen, we can wait … and we have. Eventually we will be forced to mate or our colonies will go to war over the territory.”
“If this queen, your betrothed’s mother, rules alone now, why can’t the princess take the throne whether you mate her or not?” Umbrae asked. This was part of the reason Tellus didn’t talk about their political structure—it was confusing to outsiders.
“The people of our colonies won’t follow an infertile leader. They have to be assured their monarchy will reproduce and ensure the integrity of the monarchy structure. The queen rules alone because her mate was killed after she had children to carry the line. Unfortunately she doesn’t have a son, so her mate’s crown will not pass—only hers along with her throne, which means whoever marries her first-born daughter must also be a first-born son. And heir to the crown of his sire king to hold the king’s throne in her colony.”
“You’ve never even kissed the female you love? You’re right, being a royal sucks.” Umbrae shook her head with her comment.
“Oh, it gets worse.” She quirked a brow at him “My intended is Princess Matalina Aleen, first born and heir to both crown and throne of Queen Della Aleen.”
“Mattie? Cassie’s sister? Oh, great Fates, you’re saying that if you mate with Cassie, your colony will declare war.” He nodded, the festering hole in his heart ripped open. “And her colony, without assured continuation of their royal bloodline, would fall to your Alba colony.” Umbrae whistled through her teeth. “Could you … I don’t know … have both sisters? Mate and procreate with Mattie and be with Cassie too?”
Hans gaped at the suggestion. Yes it was possible. His father and mother both had other lovers outside the marriage bed. That wasn’t something he’d ever wanted for himself, to be reproductively connected to someone he didn’t truly desire. Of course, once he mated Mattie that would be his fate, but to ask Cassie to share him with her sister … he could never do that. To have his love for Cassie rubbed into Mattie’s face for all time wouldn’t be fair either. Mattie was his friend. He respected her, cared for her, but he wasn’t in love with her.
“If you ever saw Cassiopeia around young children, you wouldn’t even ask that question. More than anyone besides you … she deserves to have children of her own.” Hans wished he could take back his tone when Umbrae’s hand went to her lips.
“I didn’t think about that. What an impossible situation. Does either of them know how you feel? Does Cassie love you, too?”
“I don’t know. Since the three of us have always been friends, I doubt Mattie has a clue … I hope she doesn’t. Cassie ran away twenty years ago. Mattie and I tried to find her, but she was in the wind and she placed a ‘do not disclose’ on her SOSC file. So no, I don’t thinks she knows how I feel or loves me in return. When she first disappeared I wondered if her mother …” He shrugged. It didn’t matter what he thought, and twenty years had clarified to him that Cassie didn’t want to be found. “I guess I hoped that her leaving wasn’t by choice. That she would come to me and explain. Queen Della is a formidable female, a great queen. Her colony means everything to her.”
“More than her daughter?”
Hans tried to think of a way to make Umbrae, a new mother, understand. “Queen
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