Charming Charly (English Edition) (Lords of Arr'Carthian 3) (6 page)

“Charly, you were with the two of them during the journey, so perhaps you can tell us a little more about the problems between the two of them,” said the king, joining in the conversation.

By now Charly had calmed down a little and was sipping on a
tajaka
. She glanced at Amano and he nodded in agreement.

“Well, it’s constantly up and down with the two of them. Kordan was after her from the beginning, like a predator after its prey. But Lory is a woman who’s used to giving orders, so she and Kordan bickered non- stop with one another. But I can confirm that there’s definitely something going on between the two of them, and that it’s not only one-sided. We once caught them, by chance of course, um …”
 

Charly blushed and looked to Amano for assistance. The very thought of what the two of them had been doing released a bizarre tingling in her body and she suddenly felt far too hot.
 

Amano was grinning, amused, but he did come to her aid by continuing the story: “They were both in the canteen when Charly and I burst in, and they were quite heavily into one another, and I did not get the impression that Lory was needing to be forced into anything.” Winking, he continued: “Even though she was screaming, those were quite definitely not cries for help.”

Prince Berka, who was sitting at the table with them, chuckled and the king hid his amusement behind a little cough. Amber blushed like a tomato. She seemed to be just as embarrassed as Charly.
 

“Perhaps you’d like to freshen up a little, Charly,” said the queen, rising. “I’ll take you to your chambers. Amano will first need to give a report to the king about your rescue, but you look tired. “

Charly got up hesitantly.

 
“Yes, I feel a bit washed out,” she admitted, and was relieved to be able to withdraw, especially if Amano had things to do. It would do her good to be alone for a while and she could think over these strange feelings that she had started having recently whenever she was near him.

She followed the queen through the corridors of the palace. Charly had never before seen such splendor and was a little intimidated.
 

“So, here we are,” said the queen, stopping in front of a large door.
 

Charly looked at the entrance and wondered whether she would be able to find her way from here to the outside again. This palace was so huge and all the doors and corridors look so similar.
 

The queen opened the door and Charly followed her into the room. She stood still, as if rooted to the spot. It was even bigger and more luxurious than the suite that they had stayed in on Xevus3. The room was dominated by a massive bed with a dark blue canopy. To her right was a large area with sofas, armchairs and small tables and in between there were large plants and decorative statues. On the left-hand side there was a bar and more seating. There she could also see two more doors.
 

“Would Your Highness like some refreshment?” a female voice was heard and Charly looked around, but she could see no one apart from the queen.
 

“Yes please, Ceyla. Have tea and perhaps a little pastry served,” said the queen.
 

“Right away, Your Highness,” answered the invisible voice, that seemed to come from everywhere.
 

“Thank you, Ceyla.”

“Who is Ceyla?” asked Charly quietly. “Room service?”

The queen giggled.
 

“Room service? No, Ceyla is much more than that. She is the central computer of the palace. If you need help, would like something or you’ve got lost, then you just need to ask her.”

“O-K,” answered Charly, somewhat hesitantly. She felt overwhelmed by all the luxury here. Her small, shabby apartment would have fitted in here at least six times.
 

“I’ll show you everything. Come, my dear. Here is the bathroom.”

She opened a door on the right and they entered a bathroom that was easily as big as the whole of Charly’s flat. There was a round bath sunk into the floor, a row of washbasins in front of a mirrored wall – the other wall looked as if it was made of rock. There was just no toilet to be seen.
 

“The shower functions by voice command,” explained the queen. “I’ll show you.”

They went a little closer to the rock wall and Charly looked at the queen, confused. What shower?

“Water on – warm –
 
medium pressure.”

Immediately, a waterfall poured from the rock wall and Charly took a step back in shock. She had not expected that.

“With your voice you can make the water hotter or colder and select the pressure from soft, medium or hard.” She smiled at Charly. “Water off,” she commanded, and the water stopped. “Fan warm, highest level.”

Immediately a warm fan started up in the shower area. Charly could not wait to try all of that out for herself. She had never seen anything so practical in her life.
 

“That’s amazing,” she said enthusiastically.

“Yes, it’s very useful,” smiled the queen. “Fan off.” The fan immediately fell silent.
 

“But where is the … the,” stuttered Charly.
 

“The toilet?”

Charly nodded.

“Here,” said the queen, pressing on a button next to the shower, and part of the wall opened to reveal a large toilet area. There were three cubicles altogether and more washbasins.
 

“Highness?” sounded the Ceyla’s voice. “Tea is served.”

“Thank you, Ceyla,” said the queen. “Come, child. I’ll just quickly show you the dressing room before I leave you to your tea.”

She led Charly out of the bathroom and opened a door a few meters away, near the long full-length windows. It led into a large room with cupboards and a huge dressing table.

“There are a few clothes here in this cupboard,” said the queen, opening one of them. “As we did not have your measurements, we’ve only had a few made up. Later we’ll have more fitted for you.”

“Th-thank you,” stuttered Charly, overwhelmed by the sight of the clothing. There must have been at least ten items and the material looked expensive.
 

“Underwear is in this drawer. I’ve had various sizes put in there. I wasn’t sure. Keela mentioned that you were well-built at the top.”

Charly blushed and stared in embarrassment at her quite considerable bust. She hated her large breasts. They had often led to stupid comments and silly advances.

The queen did not appear to take any notice of her embarrassment, or at least, she did not let it show. Charly followed her back into the living area where there was a tray on one of the tables.
 

“I’ll leave you alone now,” said the queen. “Remember that you can always call upon Ceyla.”

“Thank you.”

The queen left the room and Charly stood there indecisively for a while, before moving slowly towards the table with the tray on it. She took a seat in one of the armchairs next to it. Her eyes fell upon the tray. On it was a silver teapot, a delicate porcelain cup and a bowl of pastries that reminded her a little of the baklava that her Turkish-born room-mate at university had always baked. She took one of the little pieces of pastry between her fingers and put it cautiously into her mouth. It tasted a little different to baklava but just as sweet. And it was also just as sticky. Fortunately, there was a folded serviette next to the small bowl. She licked her sticky fingers and wiped them dry with the serviette. Then she poured herself some tea and made herself comfortable.
 

Half an hour later the door was swung open, making Charly jump.
 

It was Amano. He had closed the door behind him and was now standing there, motionless, looking at her from his brown eyes. Her heart beat faster and she searched for words to break this embarrassing silence between them.
 

“Have you rested a little?” he asked, coming towards her slowly.
 

“Yes,” she responded quietly. With every step he took, her heart seemed to beat faster.

He sat down opposite her and took a piece of pastry. She watched him put it into his mouth without taking his eyes off her.
 

“Will … will you perhaps also … in this room …”

“What are your thoughts?” he asked quietly, licking the sugar pleasurably from his fingers.
 

She swallowed hard, as her eyes closely watched a finger disappearing between one of his sensual lips, whilst he gazed at her with his unambiguous look.
This man looked far too good and was much too sexy for her liking. It was all too obvious that he was thinking about sex right now. She began to tingle all over and forced herself to look away.
 

“Am I making you nervous?” he asked with quiet laughter in his voice.

“No!” she said, somewhat too hastily. “Why should you? You flatter yourself too much.”

He laughed and she blushed.
 

‘Stupid cow,’
she silently admonished herself.

“I’d rather have my own room,” she said. ”It’s fine for it to be really small and modest.”

“Are you scared?” he asked, and she raised her eyes tentatively to look at him. She had expected to see mockery in his eyes but instead of that she saw concern.

“I … I don’t feel comfortable in the presence of … of men,” she confessed.
 

‘There, now it was out!’

“I’m guessing that you have a good reason for that?” he replied calmly.

She nodded, bravely fighting back the tears. She did not want to think about the past. She had had it so well buried. Did this man have to be so persistent?
 

‘Damn it!’

“Someone has hurt you.”

“Yes,” she answered simply,
hoping that he would leave it at that.

She did not dare look him in the eyes, so she was staring at his hands that had clenched at her reply.

“I’ll take revenge for you. One day, when we know where your planet is,” he said, and she realized, with amazement, that he meant it seriously. The anger in his voice, that he was finding hard to suppress, was unmistakable.

Against her will, the first tear rolled down her cheek.
 

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. This time his voice was gentle, concerned.

She shook her head.

“I can’t,” she uttered quietly, as the tears began to well up in her eyes like a stream.

He had leapt up and knelt down next to her armchair to hug her, but she pushed him away.
 

“Don’t!” she said, almost panicking, and he moved away from her.
 

“I thought we were over this stage of not touching. I’m sorry. I only wanted to … calm you,” he explained. “Would you talk with a woman? Let yourself be comforted by her?”

She nodded.

“I’ll fetch Moreena. Wait here.”

***

Amano rushed from the room, asking Ceyla where the queen was. She was in her studio, painting, so he went there. It had almost driven him mad, seeing Charly so distraught
and not being able to help her. He desperately wanted to kill the man that had hurt her so much. Whatever had the man done to her?

“Moreena?” he called, as he entered the studio.

“I’m here,” replied the queen.

Amano went into the second room of the large studio and Moreena looked at him, worried. She could clearly see that something was wrong.
 

“What’s happened?” she asked.

“Charly,” he uttered angrily. “She’s crying. In the past some bastard hurt her but she doesn’t want to talk to me about it or let me comfort her. But she’s agreed to speak with you.”

The queen put her paintbrush down and wiped her hands on a cloth.

“I’ll go to her right away.”

“Can I stay here and listen?”

“Of course. You need to know what your mate has experienced. Make yourself comfortable.”

She kissed him on the cheek and smiled at him.

“Don’t worry. We’ll sort this out.”

After the queen had left, Amano sat down in front of the large screen in the corner of the studio.

“Ceyla, get the seating area in my quarters on the screen for me and turn the sound on.”

“With pleasure. One moment,” responded the computer, and soon after he had the desired area on the screen before him.

“Zoom in more on Lady Charly.”

His heart grew heavy as he saw, in enlarged form, his mate’s reddened face.

“Not quite so close.”

The computer zoomed back a little and now he could see the whole of Charly. There was a knock at the door of his quarters and Charly looked up.

“Yes,” he heard her say.

A little later the queen appeared on the screen. She stroked Charly’s head comfortingly and sat down next to her in an armchair.