Vision of Seduction (7 page)

worth the risk.

She stalked forward to tower over his dazed form. "Don't mistake me

enjoying your body for anything more than my right. And you providing

me with information about the Klatch is your duty." She prodded Aedan

with the toe of her sandal. "I'm queen. I'm free to enjoy anyone and

anything I wish. As I quite often do."

The blood drained from Aedan's face, and understanding shone in his eyes.

He pushed up on his elbows and shook his head, trying to throw off the

effects of his impact against the wall. He dipped his chin to his chest.

"Understood ... my queen. What do you wish me to do next?"

Satisfied Aedan once again knew his place, Sela turned and walked to the

built-in bar along the far wall to pour herself a vodka on the rocks. "I want

you to find the Seer and bring her to me. Also, we must find a way to make

sure Queen—" she could hardly say the word without choking—"Alyssa,

miscarries that half-breed fetus that grows inside her. Do those things and

I'll reward you handsomely. Fail me again ..." She let her words trail off,

leaving the details to Aedan's imagination. However, because Sela had

quite a reputation for enjoying her torture sessions immensely, he should

get the idea.

Aedan paled and then nodded.

"Guards, take him out of my sight."

Two muscular Cunt warriors stepped forward and literally dragged Aedan

from the room.

Sela sloshed more vodka into the crystal glass and narrowed her eyes.

She'd worked hard to kidnap Alyssa all those years ago after it was clear

the Cunt rebellion would never succeed. She'd raised the little bitch as part

of her family for twenty-three long years. All so Sela could derail the

ascension ceremony and punish the past queen and king—Annalecia and

Darius—for daring to banish all the Cunts and anyone who fought with

them during the civil war.

Sela flipped her white-blond hair over her shoulder and looked down at

her hands, which still looked like they did when she'd been banished—

smooth and unblemished. She prided herself on appearing much younger

than her forty-four years. Thanks to all the sexual energy freely available

on this backward planet, Cunts could regenerate and minimize the effects

of aging. Although, if Sela were on Tador, there would be no need to

constantly resupply herself for that purpose—anyone living on Tador

enjoyed a significantly slowed aging process.

A low growl escaped from her throat. All her efforts so far to overthrow the

Klatch and rule the planet that was rightfully hers had been thwarted.

Alyssa had escaped Sela's carefully laid trap and had ascended the throne

on Tador, restoring the planet—for now. And Sela's old nemeses, the past

king and queen of the Klatch, had gone off to a comfortable retirement,

while Sela and her people had been relegated to live on Earth with

common humans.

The Klatch were nothing but breeding stock who should serve as a sexual

food supply for the Cunts. Even though, due to their inherent magic, the

Klatch offered more sexual sustenance to their partners than humans.

However, that just made the Klatch more high-powered food for the Cunts.

No more, no less.

Tador was rightfully Sela's, and she intended to have it—no matter what.

She raised the vodka to her lips, anger flowing through her like a swarm of

angry bees. "The Cunts will rule Tador, as it was meant to be. Very soon ..."

She took a sip and then tightened her fingers around the glass until it

shattered in her palm.

***

Grayson lowered himself into a cushioned chair inside the council meeting

chamber, wincing a bit as his back met with the chair. His shoulder had

healed considerably after the dream he'd shared with the Seer this

morning, but it would take either time or more sexual energy to heal it

completely.

He had taken a seat near the raised dais—where the king and queen would

sit once they entered—mainly because the stadium-type seating around the

gallery wasn't as comfortable as the overstuffed chairs here on the main

floor.

Until he'd injured his shoulder, Grayson had never realized how much he

used those specific muscles. Now, nearly every movement speared

shooting pains down his back and side.

The sharp clack of a balda gavel echoed through the chamber, distracting

him from his discomfort as the crowd around him quieted.

King Stone and Queen Alyssandra entered through the same doorway

Grayson had, and both cast him a smile as they stepped past him and onto

the raised dais.

"Thank you, council head." Alyssandra nodded to the woman who had

been in the job less than a month. After the last council head had attempted

to kill the queen right after the ascension, the entire council had been

interviewed and eventually replaced with those who were loyal to the

ruling family. Of course, seeing your predecessor turned into a burned

husk before your eyes could really inspire a desire to do your best.

Stone sat in one of the large thrones gracing the dais while Alyssandra

remained standing and faced the crowd. She brushed her palms over the

front of the gauzy white skirt she wore—an action Grayson had learned

showed how nervous she was.

"As many of you know, the Seer has been found and is recuperating here

on Tador from the Cunt attack."

Murmurs flowed through the crowd and then died away as the queen held

up her hands for silence. "She was hit with a beam of Cunt energy during

the attack, but otherwise appears unharmed."

Gasps of outrage erupted from the crowd until Alyssandra waved for

silence and tucked her hair behind her ear—another nervous gesture. "We

have not yet spoken to her about the triangle, and have decided not to

mention it until she becomes comfortable with the Klatch and Tador. I

would like to ask cooperation from everyone on this matter. It's no easy

task to ask someone to give up their entire life."

Alyssandra's gaze roamed the room as she made eye contact with several

Klatch. "Now I'll open the floor for questions, but please remember, the

decision to move forward with the triangle has already been made, and I

won't waste time rehashing those discussions. The time for everyone to

band together and support the decision of your chosen ruler is at hand."

Here it comes ... The decision to move forward with the triangle had

basically split the populace, and only because Alyssandra was queen did

the people not openly rebel.

Valen, the head royal chef, stood. Alyssandra recognized him and

motioned for him to speak. "My queen, I and many other citizens have

obvious concerns with introducing humans, even gifted humans, into the

Klatch bloodlines. After all, the Cunts are a result of too many generations

of dilution of our line. Might we not, with this decision, be breeding a new

race who will seek to destroy us down the road?"

Grayson shook his head. He would never understand which part of "I

won't waste time rehashing those discussions" these people didn't

understand. He glanced up at Alyssa, whose jaw was clenched.

"Valen, as I've stated before on many occasions, the triangle has been used

at least three times in our history that we know of." Despite Alyssandra's

obvious displeasure, her voice was calm and commanding as it rang out

across the chamber. "We are talking about taking human women with

special gifts— human women who most likely have some Klatch blood in

their distant pasts—and mating them with pureblood Klatch princes. The

worry about diluting our bloodline will be moot if we no longer have a

planet to live on."

"We understand the dire nature of our circumstances, my lady, but we

respectfully disagree with the methods of repair. Surely—"

"Damnit, Valen!" Grayson's patience snapped like a brittle twig in a

windstorm. He pushed to his feet, ignoring the lances of pain that shot

down his back and shoulder. "We have talked this subject to death, and

many of you don't seem to be listening to the answers." He stepped onto

the dais, and Alyssandra squeezed his hand before taking a seat on the

throne chair next to Stone, and yielding him the floor.

"There is no other way to save Tador." Grayson tried to stare Valen down,

but the man refused to look away. "Our best researchers have searched for

a solution since soon after the Cunt revolt, and only through uncovering

the treachery of the past Klatch council and breaking the spells placed on

the journals in the queen's archives did we find out how our ancestors

handled this situation. They persevered, and so shall we, but we must

maintain a united front."

Several members of the crowd nodded in support of his words, but several

more, including Valen, only glared or shook their heads.

"Everyone here was happy to leave the planet in Alyssandra's hands when

Queen Annalecia was deteriorating and nearly at death's door. However,

now that Alyssandra has ascended, you wish to second-guess her at every

turn." Grayson made a sharp, chopping motion with his good arm.

"Enough. Are there any questions about the Seer or the triangle itself? If

not, there is no more business to be discussed today."

He turned and walked off the dais, his anger and frustration burning with

each step. A sea of voices followed him out into the hall until he slammed

the door behind him.

"It's a good thing I won't ever have to rule—diplomacy is definitely not my

strong suit."

***

"Well, if I have to be abducted to another planet, this isn't a bad place to be

taken." Katelyn took a drink of the strange tea and let the odd citrusalmond flavor flow over her tongue. She placed the cup on the table in

front of her, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes as the distant

thump of her previous headache slowly faded.

A light breeze played across the second-story balcony and brought the lush

scents of gardenias and roses that spoke of a garden nearby. The sounds of

running water, the soft chirrup of birds, and the gentle whoosh of the wind

through the trees all lulled her, sending a tendril of peace deep inside her

as though she'd suddenly come home.

The thought startled her.

She was certainly comfortable with her life in Phoenix, but she had never

experienced this deep, intuitive knowing of a place like she did with this

one, as though she was created specifically to exist here. All her internal

alarms told her this place was as real as Earth, and not only that—she knew

she'd been here before, as improbable as it sounded.

The thought irritated her. She had worked her ass off to carve out a life for

herself in Phoenix. She co-owned her own business, she had friends—well,

Rita, at least. She also had several steady customers and money in the bank,

which offered her freedom to make her own choices. After all, that's what

true freedom was.

She looked around, bringing herself back to the present and her

circumstances here, not that she had a clue in hell where "here" happened

to be, other than a planet called Tador. She didn't even know why she'd

been brought here. Holly insisted Grayson had brought her here to save

her from the "Cunts"— whoever happened to be unlucky enough to have

that moniker.

All questions to Holly, the lady's maid, had only gotten Katelyn strange

answers. Katelyn had given up finding out more until she recovered from

her "energy hangover," as she had termed it. This morning she had gladly

followed Holly through the winding halls of what the maid kept referring

to as the "castle," and out to this beautiful balcony for breakfast.

Katelyn's only worries had been her shop and Rita. Her meticulously

organized partner would freak when she saw the destruction of the shop.

But, even worse, she would worry when she found Katelyn's purse, but no

sign of Katelyn.

Hopefully Rita wouldn't panic. For someone who didn't believe in magic,

crystals, Seers or anything "woo-woo," as Rita called it, the woman had

helped Katelyn make her new-age shop a success. After all, what better

place for a Seer to open?

Besides, Holly had insisted that Grayson would be able to get word to Rita

that Katelyn was alive and well and ... hmmm, maybe Katelyn was better

off just sticking to "alive and well" for now. She didn't think telling Rita she

was on another planet hiding from killer Cunts would go over real well.

She opened her eyes and looked out at the panoramic view visible over the

short balcony wall. Thanks to the food and drink Holly had provided,

Katelyn felt almost human again. Which meant her questions had returned,

along with her energy.

She sat in one of the two surprisingly comfortable wooden chairs that

almost seemed to contour to her body. The chairs sat around a small round

table covered with a bright blue tablecloth. More food and drink than

Katelyn could ever eat was spread before her, including tea, several fruits

she recognized (and several she didn't), pastries, eggs, sausages, and some

type of blue pudding that smelled like a vanilla milkshake. Everything was