Promised Mate: Stargazer Alien Space Cruise Brides #4
Promised Mate
Stargazer Alien Space Cruise Brides #4
Tasha Black
13th Story Press
Copyright © 2022 by 13th Story Press
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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About Promised Mate
Wrecked with love…
Hyacinth of the Seventh House is promised to a prince, but in love with her guardian. Magister Locke traveled to her homeland to teach her how to live in her fiancé’s world, but over time his commanding voice, subtle kindness and dark good looks have worked their way into her dreams. Now touching him is all she can think about. But her wishes won’t matter when it comes to her wedding day. If she doesn’t marry the prince, her planet will be doomed.
Viktor Locke of the Firmament traveled worlds to get to Hyacinth. His sacred duty is to instruct her in the ways of her fiancé’s people, in order to save her own. But, oh, the things he wants to teach her. If only he couldn’t read her emotions, then he wouldn’t know how desperately Hyacinth wants him too. The swift approach of her wedding date is both a torture and a relief.
When the engines fail on the craft carrying them to the wedding, the two take an escape pod and end up on an uncharted planet, far from anything they know. With comms down, danger everywhere, and no one to rely on but each other, Hyacinth and Viktor will have to drop the formalities that have defined their relationship for years.
Alone together, on a lush, unknown planet with wild animals and aggressive plant-life, the most dangerous thing they have to contend with now is their shared desire.
If you like strong women, hunky aliens, wild adventures, steamy sensual scenes, and happily-ever-afters, then you’ll love the world of Stargazer!
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Stargazer Alien Space Cruise Brides:
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Crowned Mate
Cosmic Mate
Conquered Mate
Promised Mate
Counterfeit mate
Contents
Promised Mate
1. Hyacinth
2. Hyacinth
3. Viktor
4. Hyacinth
5. Hyacinth
6. Hyacinth
7. Viktor
8. Hyacinth
9. Viktor
10. Hyacinth
11. Viktor
12. Viktor
13. Hyacinth
14. Viktor
15. Hyacinth
16. Viktor
17. Hyacinth
18. Viktor
19. Hyacinth
20. Viktor
21. Hyacinth
22. Hyacinth
23. Viktor
24. Hyacinth
25. Viktor
26. Hyacinth
27. Hyacinth
Tasha Black Starter Library
About the Author
One Percent Club
Promised Mate
1
Hyacinth
Hyacinth of the Seventh House glanced around the ballroom.
Beautifully dressed Drathians were all around her, their fine suits and gowns nearly as colorful as the people themselves. Some wore jewels around their necks, on dark chains that matched their curved, black horns.
“May I have this dance,” a gentleman asked, bowing to her with a hungry look in his eyes.
She smiled at him, as she had been trained to do.
While he was presumably dazzled by her smile, she took in the blackened silver chain with onyx stones on his chest.
Silver meant he was of the noble class. But onyx meant he had pledged fealty to the Azyrim Party, the one that opposed her intended’s familial line.
“It is an honor,” she said politely. “But my lord awaits.”
“Another time, perhaps,” he said, moving back into the crowd.
“Stop,” her sister’s voice cried out.
Instantly, all movement in the room froze.
The dancing figures faded out partially, revealing Lilac in a scarlet gown, frowning at Hyacinth’s reaction to the hologram simulation.
“What is it, Lilac?” Hyacinth asked as patiently as she could.
Lilac blinked at her once, and ran a hand through the long, auburn mane that perfectly matched Hyacinth’s own long hair.
“I don’t know,” she sighed.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Hyacinth asked. “I spotted the jewels. I used the proper phrasing. I’m fine. I’m not going to ruin everything.”
“Our whole world is at risk,” Lilac said, her fierce facade revealing a rare touch of vulnerability. “You can’t just be fine. You have to be perfect.”
“I know that, Lilac,” Hyacinth said.
She felt a pinch of guilt in her chest. Her sister had sacrificed her own career to accompany her on this journey. Hyacinth should be grateful.
“It’s just that you do it better for him,” Lilac said.
Ah.
Him.
Back on Pacifica, their home world, there were no men. Their leaders had founded the idyllic planet to be a woman’s paradise, with true equality, connection to the Great Mother, and peace at the forefront.
But now that the Armada had targeted their system, things had to change.
Pacifica needed an armed ally quickly, or it would be the first to fall to this new threat. And after that, the rest of the system wouldn’t be far behind.
There was no time for the slow waltz of interplanetary relations, which could take generations.
The fastest way to cement a treaty was with a wedding.
The Drathians had a considerable military, and their own unique need for such a marriage to happen quickly.
Prince Rowan of Drath was next in line for the throne. He was also rumored to be a wild playboy and not considered to be king material. The law stated that if he was wed to a woman not recognized as a full Drathian citizen, he would renounce his claim to the throne, and let his younger brother take his place as the next king.
But of course, he couldn’t marry just anyone. To avoid a complete scandal, the prince’s bride would still need to be of high enough birth to become a member of the royal family.
Hyacinth fit both criteria.
Which was precisely why the High Priestess of Pacifica had sent guards to take her from her home three years ago, when she was a normal, sixteen-year-old girl, studying the Great Mother’s texts, baking bread, and reading stories to her beloved little sisters.
In spite of the tears of her sisters and the pleas of her mother, Hyacinth had been brought to a temple at the top of Mount Serenity and given to a strange teacher brought in from The Firmament to be his ward.
It was an honor to serve the Great Mother by training to be a bride, or so she was told again and again. But she missed her family, and cried for them at night for the first few long months.
For three years now she had studied the etiquette and customs of Drath with Magister Locke. She memorized lists of its notable citizenry, and read endlessly about its warlike history. She mastered the language, including both the tone and accent to be used for any circumstance a princess might find herself in. All of these things she was supposed to do, and she did them with all her heart, for her people.
But for herself, she studied Magister Locke, wondering at the strangeness of his male form and his deep, frightening voice. She had never known a man before. He even smelled strange and foreign. At first, she had been afraid of him.
Yet as time passed, she began to crave his praise, and savor the woodsy scent and heat that radiated from him as he leaned over her texts to point out passages for her to read aloud.
Adolescent Pacifican girls were taught that the urges of the flesh were the dark one’s work, and the cradle of jealousy and war. Resisting men, and the urges they inspired, had been Pacifica’s key to the paradise of Canaan.
But all that had changed once she was chosen to be a bride. The high priestess had come to Hyacinth on her seventeenth birthday, and explained to her what happened in the marriage bed between a man and a woman, recounting all she would need to know in order to marry the Drathian prince. Though where the woman had learned of such things, Hyacinth did not know. There had certainly been no books on the subject in the Great Library of Pacifica.
Hyacinth had listened in shock and wonder as the elderly priestess tried to describe the pain, pleasure, and confusion of physical relations to her. She was meant to experience this coupling with her intended, but throughout the lesson, Hyacinth had only been able to envision her teacher’s hands and body, moving gently against her own.
And since that day, it was her great shame to know that her curiosity about Magister Locke had evolved into a desperate craving that owned her mind and body during their every interaction in the day, and even at night, when she tossed and turned on her cot, t
rying not to dishonor the Great Mother by touching herself.
Just a few more days, Hyacinth, she told herself. Then you’ll be with the prince, and Magister Locke will be back at The Firmament. You’ll never have to see him again.
But the thought, which was meant to be comforting, brought more pain than relief.
Magister Locke was not a bad man. He was kind to her, in spite of his harsh demands. He read to her, and praised her efforts. And though she did not actually believe in any of his science, she liked hearing him talk about it. His eyes would light up as he explained the experiments of The Firmament that had unveiled the mysteries the galaxy.
Of course, the Great Mother was actually responsible for each miracle of science he recounted. But she knew she was supposed to be learning to embrace these strange beliefs in order to secure Pacifica’s alliance with Drath. So she went along with every one.
Besides, she would never want to hurt him by arguing about something he cared about, just as he indulged her prayers of gratitude to the Great Mother when she broke her fast in the mornings. Sometimes she would open her eyes from her meditation to find him gazing at her with the strangest expression.
Heavy footsteps approaching snapped her out of her thoughts.
“What is the meaning of this?” Magister Locke’s thunderous voice echoed in the empty space, as if she had summoned him just by thinking about him.
Her cheeks heated, and she looked to Lilac for an explanation.
“She did very well, Magister Locke,” Lilac said. “You have nothing to worry about.”
“If she was doing well, why did you stop the simulation?” he demanded.
“I’m going to be fine, Magister Locke,” Hyacinth said softly, turning to him. “With the etiquette, at least. But I do need to practice dancing.”
He fixed her with his blue eyes, which were currently pale as ice, but deepened in color as he stared down at her.
She repressed a shiver of lust, begging the Great Mother to stifle her urges. But her eyes drank in his large form, the triangle shape of his wide shoulders narrowing to his waist, and his dark trousers, tailored to accommodate the long black tail unique to The Firmament’s Firor race. She hungered for a breath of his scent, and wondered what it would be like if he took her in his arms.
Aside from his tail, and some of his innate mental gifts, the Magister’s form wasn’t all that different from her own. Her ancestors were Terrans who settled on Pacifica many generations ago. She was smaller and more delicate, but from the way his muscular body seemed to sing to hers, she suspected their races were quite compatible.
“You want to dance?” he asked her, his voice gravelly.
She nodded once, not trusting herself to speak.
His face remained expressionless, but his tail twitched.
“Lilac,” he called her sister over. “Dance with her.”
She was crushed and relieved at once. This was his way. He never danced with her himself. He always called over a serving girl or a droid, or made her dance alone.
Lilac stepped briskly over to her and bowed in the Drathian fashion, then offered her hand.
But before Hyacinth could take it, there was a boom like echoing thunder. The whole room shook violently, throwing her off balance.
Hyacinth stumbled, and Magister Locke caught her by the elbow, holding her upright as a piercing siren began to split the air.
2
Hyacinth
Hyacinth’s heart pounded in her ears, competing with the blare of the siren. From beside her, she could hear her sister and Magister Locke shouting to each other, but they sounded far away.
The hologram simulation had been jostled off center, and the room seemed to be distorted now, with the corners not lined up.
Jonphar, the guard, ran into the room and began gesturing for them to go.
The ship shuddered again, and the hologram blinked out, removing the overlay of the ballroom, and revealing the empty space with the plain composite floor and the portals to the stars, which now seemed to be spinning.
“We have to go,” Magister Locke was murmuring in her ear.
But she was hypnotized by the stars outside.
“Move, Princess,” he shouted.
When she didn’t, she heard him growl.
Then she was being lifted up as if she were light as a feather. The portals disappeared as he turned and ran with her.
Jonphar slammed his hand on the sensor to open the door to the corridor.
As soon as the seal released, she heard the sounds of despair and confusion outside. But Magister Locke didn’t hesitate. He moved quickly but calmly into the press of bodies.
She caught a glimpse of crew members sprinting down the hallway, shouting in languages her translation chip didn’t recognize.
“The pods are this way, Magister Locke,” Jonphar said, jogging ahead.
But the ship listed hard to the side before they could follow.
Magister Locke’s wide stance allowed him to stay on his feet while the guard was thrown and hit his shoulder hard on a concrete column. He screamed in pain, his arm hanging at an odd angle.
Lilac must have fallen, too. She crawled to him, pulling herself up and wrenching at his shoulder.
But Magister Locke kept moving and Hyacinth wasn’t able to see what happened.
“W-wait for my sister,” she whispered.
“We can’t wait, Princess,” he told her firmly. “The fate of your people rests on your life.”
“Lilac,” she screamed, trying to fight her way out of his arms.
But it was like trying to break out of a prison cell. The muscular arms that cradled her so gently were like mithranium bands.
He carried her past the small dining car, where the hold must have shattered. Colorful beverage cells from the display machine rolled around the floor, exploding as people stepped on them while running to get to the escape pods. Their cloyingly sweet scent hung in the air, turning her stomach.
Fear threatened to overwhelm her, and she wondered how they would ever get into a pod when so many others were running ahead of them, and Magister Locke had to carry her.
“Some of the pods are assigned,” he murmured, as if reading her mind. “No one will be able to access ours but the two of us.”
But when she glanced up at him, his jaw was set and his eyes were far away, as if he had other worries he wasn’t voicing.
The woman who made the beds in the morning staggered past, holding her arm, her sleeve soaked in blood.
Hyacinth felt her heart pinch with sorrow.
“Close your eyes, Princess,” Magister Locke said gruffly. “It’s easier that way.”
She obeyed him immediately, trying to focus on the warmth of his chest and the steady, comforting beat of his heart.
The scholars of The Firmament were trained in military exercises as well as intellectual pursuits. He would not allow harm to come to her.
And Lilac was a skilled healer. Surely, she had fixed Jonphar’s shoulder, and the two were on their way to the pods now as well.
Everything will be okay. It has to be.
“Out of the way,” Magister Locke shouted calmly, slowing his pace.
She snuck a look at the crowd around the pods and closed her eyes again as it surged back against them.
From somewhere, a tentacle slid around her ankle, and she moaned in fear. Some desperate being was clinging to them, as its only hope of escape.
“Hold on,” Magister Locke murmured, releasing his right arm from around her.