Alien Orc’s Prize (Starlight Brides)

13. Luna

CHAPTER 13

LUNA

I woke feeling so cozy it took me a while to even figure out I was awake. This definitely wasn’t the thin shuttle HeatPro blanket I was used to. This one was heavy, luxurious, and soft. I’d somehow managed to get myself all wrapped up in a Luna blankie burrito, and I didn’t have any desire to try to extricate myself just yet.

With my eyes closed, I soaked up the sensations. Warm sunlight hitting my face. The tangly tickle of my hair against my cheeks and neck.

Hold on…

Hair?

When did I take my hair down?

With a strangled gasp, I sat up, the events of last night coming back to me in a dreamy, scene-by-scene rush. Oh, God. There was my dress abandoned in a heap just where I’d left it last night.

Right before…

Right before my gigantic, glowering, prickly prince of a husband gave me the orgasm of my life. The place between my legs gave an achy throb at the memory. Pretty , he’d called me.

And then he’d told me to lock my legs around his head and ride his face.

He’d seemed to enjoy it, too. The man had eaten me out like my pussy was saving his goddamn life.

And then, after, he’d…

He’d what?

My face puckered in confusion, which only deepened when I looked to the side and saw all the hair pins that had been holding up my hairdo tossed willy nilly all over a shiny, carved wooden bedside table. The pins were beautiful, ornate engraved metal. They were probably the most expensive thing that had ever touched my body. No matter how tired or blissed-out I was from Prince Gal’s tongue, I would have placed them down with more care than that.

Prince Gal took them out?

I had absolutely no recollection of that. I couldn’t remember anything beyond the spine-shattering explosion of coming against his vigorous, greedy mouth, and then collapsing boneless back against the bed, and…

Did I fucking fall asleep?!

Every shred of evidence so far seemed to point that way. I groaned, drawing up my blanket-encased knees, putting my elbows atop them, then burying my face in my hands.

Great job, Luna. Primo wife you are. Getting off and then immediately falling asleep before your new partner gets to finish.

It was completely unlike me. I’d been nervous last night and kind of happy for Prince Gal to take the lead, but I’d always prided myself on being a conscientious and generous partner when I did have sex. If anything, I would have bet on Prince Gal as being the selfish one in bed.

Seemed like the total opposite was true.

I raised my face for a moment just to make entirely sure that Prince Gal wasn’t still somewhere in the room. I couldn’t blame him for not being here. His new wife had gotten her jollies off and then promptly checked out of the situation, leaving him hard and hanging. Plus, he was a prince. He probably had royal duties that he had to attend to. It seemed that way to me, at least. He didn’t give me the impression of a playboy prince who swanned around doing nothing all day.

I’d learn more about him soon. I found myself excited at the prospect. I’d come into this situation not knowing what to expect but promising myself I’d make it work, even if things weren’t exactly ideal. But after last night, after experiencing the pure, almost blood-thirsty way Prince Gal seemed to want me already, I felt a ticklish elation rise from my belly to my chest. It was a familiar feeling, though it hadn’t visited in a while. It was the giddy high of having a brand-new crush on somebody.

The feeling in my belly tightened when I acknowledged that the crush might be going both ways. It really didn’t seem like last night had been a chore for Prince Gal to create his heir. The amount of time he spent on me, the way he grunted and groaned in pleasure while he did it, added to that conclusion. He hadn’t even woken me up and insisted I finish out my wifely, high princess duties of the night. No, apparently he’d instead pulled out all my hairpins and wrapped me up in a blanket.

I tried to picture it – his brutal face carved with irritation even as he carefully pulled out every pin. As he took care of me.

Was he hard when he did it? Or did he take care of himself first?

God, I could have kicked myself for falling asleep partway through. Hard. In the shin. Both shins.

I’d find him and apologize and see if we could resume things again today.

I really, really wanted to see what Prince Gal looked like, sounded like, shuddered like when he came. Inside me.

The thought was so stunningly arousing that I would have let my hand slip down between my legs while fleshing it out in my mind if not for a knock at the chamber door. It was Doree.

“Prince Gal has commanded you be fitted for new clothing immediately,” she said as she came into the room. She paused near the side of the bed and raised her thumbs up to touch her tusks. It seemed to be some sort of orc greeting. I raised my own thumbs, but as I had no tusks, I settled on giving her what was probably a slightly manic-looking thumbs-up with my hands on either side of my grinning mouth. She looked startled, but then shyly pleased by the gesture, so I figured I’d done alright.

“I’m kind of, er, in the nude over here,” I said, holding tightly to the edge of the blanket.

Doree didn’t seem bothered. Modesty was apparently more of a human virtue than an orc one.

“That will simply make the measurements more accurate.”

“Well. Okie dokie, then. Guess I can’t argue with that…”

I extricated myself and stood awkwardly before her as she went to work. Luckily it didn’t take long. She had a small, handheld tool that cast a blue light, almost like a scan, across my body. It took a bunch of measurements at once.

“I’m surprised you’re not using something like a tape measure,” I told her as I pulled the blanket off the bed and wrapped myself up in it once more. “Prince Gal seems to favour candles more than powered lights.”

“We all appreciate tradition. But not at the total expense of efficiency,” she said.

“No, actually, I kind of get it,” I replied. “I used to work in the cafeteria of a ship. Most of the job was just heating industrial-sized portions of, like, protein cubes or whatever. But every once in a while, I got to make something by-hand with natural ingredients. Usually when somebody important was on the ship. That was always the most fun.”

Much like the thumbs-up, Doree once again looked startled but pleased by me. Maybe it hadn’t occurred to her that the new high princess had worked, and not just worked but really, seriously busted her human tush before coming here.

Doree offered to re-pin a new dress onto my body while I waited for the new clothing, but I winced at the memory of the poky pins and told her I’d just wear my old clothes for today. Thankfully, it did appear (and smell) like they’d been laundered before being brought to this room. I quickly washed and dressed and put my wet hair into a simple braid.

Urged on by a grumbling stomach and the hope for something good for breakfast, I wandered out of the chambers, heading back the way Prince Gal and I had come last night. As I went, I admired the palace. It had been too dark last night for me to fully appreciate the carved crystal of the windows set into the stone walls of these halls. Even the stone had a quality of light to it, gleefully reflecting back the morning sunshine. It wasn’t blocky or heavy or dark, but pale sandy-white and finely smoothed. Every few paces, there was gleaming, colourful tilework decorating the walls, floor, or edging around the windows, depicting glittering blue waves, impressive arrays of weapons, or ancient water ships complete with oars and sails.

Before I could make it to the hall where we’d eaten last night, I was nearly bowled over by Noona and Neena careening around the corner ahead.

“Luna!” they cried in ecstatic unison.

“Good morning,” I said, giving them a genuine smile. It was nice to have some friends around the place besides my grumpy, horny, and currently nowhere-to-be-found husband. I was also quite pleased to say I was able to tell who was who. Neena’s eyebrows tended to lift a little higher on the right side, and her large red tusks were a bit shinier than Noona’s.

“We were just coming in search of you!” she cried. She hoisted a basket as Noona added, “We’re taking a morning picnic to the beach!”

“That sounds amazing!” I said earnestly. I really wanted to see the beach and I was starving. Win, win.

“Let’s go!” the twins said, turning with identical grace and leading me through more sunlit halls until we were out the big main doors I’d come in through yesterday. Before we could turn ourselves towards the beach, the sound of whirring and a male voice calling out made all three of us pause.

On the wide, natural stone path between lush gardens ahead, a vehicle was approaching. It looked to be some sort of individual hovercraft, with a set of handlebars for steering and a seat in the middle of its narrow, compact body. It landed, sending up a small puff of dust, and a tall orc male leaped down, striding towards us with large, swaggering steps.

“Cousin Althrop!” the twins exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I have heard that my dear cousin Prince Gal has taken a bride. And not just any bride, but a human.”

There was a distinct drip of what sounded a hell of a lot like disdain all over the words “dear” and “human.” I decided immediately I didn’t like this cousin guy one bit. But I plastered a polite smile on my face anyway, because this was obviously an important member of my husband’s family and, damnit, I was going to make a good impression.

“Hello. My name is Luna. I’m Prince Gal’s wife. The high princess,” I said brightly.

His eyes snapped to me, as if he hadn’t even noticed me with the twins before. I watched with a combination of satisfaction and foreboding as his brows climbed higher and higher at the sight of me. His gaze did a none-too-quick survey of my body, too, dragging up and down my form in a way that set my teeth on edge.

“It is my deepest pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lana.”

“Luna,” I corrected through clenched teeth.

“Luna. Quite. Well, am I ever glad I came to see you for myself! I would have arrived last night, but it grew late, and I had to stop and stay at a nearby inn. Alas, I was not invited to attend the royal wedding.”

“None of us were,” Noona lamented.

“Our brother didn’t even attend himself!” Neena added with a scowl. “He sent Padreth to marry Luna as his proxy.”

Althrop looked surprised, and by the venom with which Neena mentioned the proxy thing, I wondered if it was unusual. I hadn’t worried too much about it at the time, and Prince Gal’s obvious enjoyment of having me in his bed had assuaged a lot of doubts, but…

Was that a bad sign after all? That he hadn’t come to collect me himself, and that we hadn’t had a proper wedding with his family here, on his world?

It was too late to worry about it now, I supposed. We were already married and would have to keep working on everything now that we were together.

I tried to put it out of my mind, and did so just in time to hear the twins inviting their cousin on the picnic with us.

“Breakfast with my fair cousins and the luminous new high princess? How could a male refuse such an offer?” he said silkily. He eyed me and smoothed a manicured green hand over his already perfect braid. I resigned myself to spending the morning with this guy, knowing I’d be on my best behaviour even if I hated every moment of it.