“Yes, that’s fine. Will you sit and talk with me, Prince?”
Varan set up another chair and tried to ignore how pleased he was with the request. He sat across from the Sealer and watched as the gold turned molten. What she endured was more than he could fathom. Adelina grasped his hand and he squeezed in reassurance.
“It’s really lovely,” he said. “What is the mark for?”
Those purple eyes of hers stared into his. “A vine of jasmine,” she told him. “With the goddess’s marks for strength and wisdom.”
“You are strong,” he told her, leaning in close to keep the words private. “Don’t let anyone else convince you otherwise.” He was so close to her bare skin, but Varan held back his desire. She needed his strength not his lust.
“You are the only one who has thought so since the first day we met,” she admitted.
He supposed that was true. Varan never once doubted Lina’s strength and ability despite her submissive scent.
“There are days when I hate being a submissive,” Adelina confessed.
“You are what you are,” Varan said, knowing she would understand his intended meaning. With her genetics she could be whatever she needed to be, whatever she wanted to be.
The Sealer worked up into the space between Adelina’s breasts and Varan couldn’t help but look. The work was perfect. The gold glittered into a point on her breastbone, framing the curve of each breast. Each jasmine was created with purple gold, twining with the yellow gold in a way he’d never seen before. Varan wanted to lick the pattern, following the curlicues and whorls with his tongue.
“Thank you Varan, for everything,” Adelina said, squeezing his hand tight as the Sealer made a curve into her skin.
“Anything for you, Lina darling.” As he stared into her eyes he hoped she understood the extent of his words, the utter truth of them. “I am yours.” And always would be.
Chapter Twenty-One
Adelina
Varan’s Warehouse
Stella di Draga
Planet Draga Terra
The second gold mark didn’t hurt as much as the one on her palm, but it still made Adelina sweat as she gritted her teeth. The Master Sealer tapped her arm when he finished, and had her sit on a chair with her bare back facing him.
The mark on her back would be similar to Asher’s – the same symbol from their signet, with the sacred wolf and the rosanera. She had added a small ragna queen and the three moons to personalize the design. It would match the curve of her back like an hourglass instead of a shield across the shoulders as Asher had.
“You know, I was thinking,” Varan said. He showed no signs she caused him pain when Adelina had to squeeze his hand hard enough to break bones during a particularly nasty carving. “The pirates will have a field day with the evacuation.”
“I realize,” Adelina said in annoyance. She focused on the design of the ring before her. The diamonds helped distract her while the Master Sealer worked in silence.
Nadyah hovered nearby, but she rose and disappeared from time to time to accept shipments as they came and then redirected them to the starships.
“What if you were to send out a wide cast, a transmission that covered the entire Draga galaxy – asking for the pirates to legitimize themselves as privateers? They could hunt the Neprijat, fight them when need be, loot what they can from our enemies, and protect the evacuees.” Varan tapped his chin in thought and then bent to watch the Sealer work.
“You believe that would work?” she asked. It was a fabulous plan, and Adelina never would have thought of it on her own. The pirates would have to agree of course.
Varan shrugged, careful not to jostle her. “Any pirates that find the offer appealing will fly your flag; any that don’t are free to be pillaged along with the Neprijat.”
Adelina glanced at the prince. His mind was a beautiful, cunning, vicious thing and she admired how he used it. “Has this been done before?”
“Long ago,” he admitted. Then Varan blushed and fidgeted. “I ah, used to be obsessed with pirates as a boy.”
“Then became a thief instead?” she teased.
Varan grinned. “I couldn’t afford to leave Draga Terra, so I made do.”
Adelina felt a pang of sadness for the boy he’d been, even if she was grateful it allowed their paths to cross. Her relationship with Varan had changed. Adelina enjoyed the new closeness between them, the obvious feelings they both had though the depth was still to be realized. His attention to detail and complete support was more than she deserved.
“We can send it out after the marks are done,” Adelina decided.
A quick recording and a massive cast out to the pirates and rogues of her galaxy would help. It was something she probably should have asked Raena about, but it was for the Crown and in their best interest.
After all her sister was busy preparing for the coronation tomorrow.
Nadyah rushed up and Adelina felt the muscles in her back tighten with the beginnings of anxiety. “Princess, the Countess is here with Lord Sirus.”
The Sealer tapped her back in annoyance. She was ruining his canvas. Adelina breathed, relaxing each muscle. “Bring them in, and don’t bother hiding anything.”
Nadyah nodded and went to fetch the two.
If her gamble was right then the countess and Sirus would be good allies, people she could trust in case things went awry while she was gone. Roxy threw her a look as though Adelina were purposefully torturing her with all this noble blood.
“They won’t touch your work, or be informed of the tech outside our ability to reach the border in a timely manner,” she promised the fiery redhead.
Adelina breathed again and put the final touches on the ring she’d been working on for the last week. The wedding band was simple enough, encrusted with diamonds, emeralds, and peridots. The engagement ring was massive, a pear-shaped diamond with emeralds and peridots in a halo around it, and diamonds along the top of the band.
It was some of her best work, if she did say so herself. The carvings in the gold were done by hand, and the curlicues had been particularly trying. Both rings went into the box with the romantic little note Sirus had written. Joslynn deserved to read what he’d written about her: ‘A ring to match her eyes, and to match her soul – more beautiful even than Pedranus itself.’
She’d cried the first time she’d read it like some emotional female reading a fictional romance story, though Adelina had always loved such things.
Joslynn’s fear had strained their friendship and Adelina hoped they could repair what had been broken. She knew it was the wolf inside that scared Joslynn. The countess had never seen a true Draga in the flesh before and everything she’d seen and read said it could be disturbing for those who had never been exposed.