Ellie was surprised that the slave or servant rather didn’t just burst in as a House Rega slave would have done. Instead Valentin disentangled himself from Ellie with a polite excuse and then went into the other room to the outer door completely naked. Ellie watched his muscular grey bottom as he walked away and thought, But you are all Alliance answering the door in the nude.
Ellie’s translator kicked back on with a small hum and she heard Valentin and another man talking softly. She couldn’t make out much of their conversation though. When Valentin returned, he was frowning.
“What is it? I thought no one was supposed to speak to use during the Marriage Pause?”
“Except when we need to know something urgent,” he said casually getting back into bed and holding her close.
“Are you going to tell me?”
Valentin looked down at her, “One of my ships was destroyed by the Octopods.”
“I’m sorry,” she said feeling a bit responsible as well.
“It’s always a risk. If you don’t mind, I’m just going to hold you for another minute and then I need to go meet Lon. This takes precedence right now.”
“I understand,” Ellie replied. She wanted to tell him that she thought this whole not speaking to them custom was nonsense anyway, but she didn’t know how he felt about it and she knew well enough from living in House Rega what it felt like when someone dismissed your culture because it was different, so she didn’t mention it.
“Thank you,” he stroked her hair one more time then got out of bed. He looked at her naked form, still wearing her jewelry. “I’ll keep this image in my mind all day. You are glorious.” He picked up his clothing from the floor and began putting his uniform back on. “You can stay here, go to your room or get dressed and roam the house. But remember the 800-meter rule. When you start to feel the sting like you did on the boat backtrack towards me. I will be in the main reception room. It’s near the main entrance to the house. This evening, I have arranged a special supper and will come back to your room to collect you if I don’t see you beforehand downstairs, then I promise, I’m all yours.”
Ellie got up from the bed and gave him a chaste kiss naked, “I think I’ll sleep then have a bath. Take care of what you need to.”
Valentin gave her bare bottom a strong squeeze with both hands, “Welcome to One. Make yourself at home.” Then he left.
Ellie watched him go and then went back through the door to her own chambers. Once there she looked over her four-poster bed in silver. She lay down on it, and looked up, “Bed, activate menu.”
Above her a 3D menu appeared with all kinds of services, not just sexual pleasures like Imperial beds, but this one had massage, aromatherapy, comfort animals, and many options she didn’t even know what they meant, but she was too tired to try them all now. For the moment, she pressed the option of comfort animals and chose a furry creature that looked a lot like an extra-large fuzzy beaver to cuddle with. The alien brown beaver appeared and immediately found a comfortable place next to her to snuggle. Once it settled it made a kind of vibration noise that was calming and pleasant. Immediately Ellie felt more settled and drifted into a deep and peaceful sleep.
Valentin knocked on the little door that connected his and Ellie’s room. He heard no answer. He knew from the house’s tracking system that she was in her bed sleeping. He knocked again. No answer. Finally, he opened the door and quietly walked in to find her asleep with a cute bearask. He touched her bare shoulder, the bearask yawned and snuggled closer to her. “Bed, delete bearask,” he commanded.
Ellie was grabbing for the little beaver creature and then opened her eyes to look for it. When she couldn’t find the animal, she sat up and looked around confused, It couldn’t have run off, she thought. Then she saw Valentin and smiled, “Is it time for dinner already?”
“Almost,” he said while he sat down on the bed next to her. He couldn’t help but notice how the blanket fell to partially reveal one of her breasts and she reminded him of a statue of an ancient Greek goddess from Earth.
“I didn’t think I was so tired, but then again it’s been years since I had a day when I didn’t have to get up for something,” she trailed off before she added, ‘and I revel in the idea of my space and not having slaves walking in and out having opinions all the time.’
“Normally, I would say, ‘Then let’s not go out,’ but since we only have two weeks and I want to show you what Reima Two as to offer, I must insist we go out. But it’s no rush. We have a few hours before our reservation.” Valentin ran a finger from her soft cheek down her neck to circle her exposed nipple. He loved the strong intake of breath she had and the way her nipple responded to his touch. “Does that sound good to you?”
“Yes,” she said looking at his handsome face while he touched her. “How are things?” she asked awkwardly.
“Tomorrow I’ll lead a memorial for my lost crew as is my custom and one of Reima Two’s customs as well. I’m sorry, this isn’t how I imagined our Marriage Pause to be.”
“I don’t mind,” she said thinking that there was no better way to get to know him than to see him with his horde, as they called themselves, and during a low point as well.
“You are a generous woman,” he replied thinking an Imperial woman would ask him to postpone the memorial and put her first.
“I have a lot of kindness to give,” she said and then reached up and began taking off his clothing. As she went, she asked him to tell her about every tattoo she passed. Ellie began with a geometrical one on his neck, it looked like a game of tic-tac-toe which never began. She licked the corners and asked, “What’s this one mean?”
Valentin took a deep breath, Elloisa was intoxicating right now and it was just what he needed to get his mind off his lost ship and crew for an hour. “That represents a pact I made with those who are now Three on Reima Two. We work together instead of against one another in certain areas to benefit us both,” she licked again, and he lost his train of thought.
“Yes?”
“We work together in certain areas of the galaxy, but in other areas it’s still a free for all,” he smiled thinking of the pact. “We literally drew a line across the galaxy.”
Ellie smiled thinking of how the Christian pope on ancient Earth had drawn a line across the known lands at the time giving half to Spain and the other half to Portugal, the only problem was that at that time, they didn’t know how big the Earth was so the line wasn’t even. Ellie was aware that not even the Empire knew all the civilizations that existed in their galaxy yet, so she smiled thinking it was a remarkably similar action to that of ancient Earth. She licked his cool skin and was brought back to their moment by his taste. Her mouth moved down to his chest where he had a tattoo that spanned the large breadth of his broad shoulders. The black image was a few strong vertical lines with dots of different sizes above and below. The pattern looked familiar, but she couldn’t place it. She sucked hard on one of his dark grey nipples, enjoying his body’s reaction then ran his finger across one of the lines, “And this?”
“Commander of the Nage Horde.”