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  An Unexpected Return

  Copyright © 2012 by Jessica E. Subject

  ISBN: 978-1-61333-299-3

  Cover art by Fantasia Frog Designs

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

  Look for us online at:

  www.decadentpublishing.com

  Decadent Publishing Sci-Fi Romance

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  Kybernatia by Clare Dargin

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  The Ship’s Mistress by Maureen O. Betita

  This Endris Night by D.L. Jackson

  Forever Across the Stars by Azura Ice

  Also by Jessica E. Subject

  Never Gonna Let You Go

  1Night Stand Stories

  Celestial Seduction

  Beneath the Starry Sky

  Unknown Futures

  Satin Sheets in Space

  An Unexpected Return

  Elatia Series

  by

  Jessica E. Subject

  ~DEDICATION~

  To Dawn, for all of your support during the writing of this story

  Glossary

  Claustrum – a planet containing only a prison colony. It is often used as a threat to misbehaving children.

  denotatio – marking. In An Unexpected Return, denotation refers to the facial markings used to distinguish an echelon four Adamo from those still in training.

  domus – house

  farite – a precious metal mined from the rock of Tyto, and used for exquisite pieces of jewelry and in trade.

  hospes – hospital

  Mikashe – a transient race. They are peaceful, and travel across the universe. Their bodies are covered in scales, much like a snake.

  nutrix – nurse

  Otaria – a planet in the Petrogeous Galaxy. The inhabitants are humanoid with blue skin. Hair color ranges from gold to dark brown.

  Star cycle – approximately one Earth year

  stellae – star

  Tyto – Otaria’s moon. Inhabitants, originally from Otaria, live underground.

  Chapter One

  Benignus eyed him, as if confident he would change his mind. “Aristides, are you certain you want to go through with this?”

  Grinning at his fair-haired friend, Aristides had no doubt. He’d made his decision long ago. “Yes, go in there and enjoy the woman you have craved for more than two star cycles. I have no use for her.”

  “And when the king comes in?” Benignus scanned the tapestry-rich corridors of the castle’s west wing. “I know he’s going to send me to Claustrum.”

  “He’s not going to send you to the prison colony.” No one had been sent there from Tyto, ever. The planet was simply used as an idle threat to misbehaving children. Aristides placed his hands on his friend’s shoulders. “I give you permission to deflower my betrothed. She will be yours, as it should have always been. Just be sure she is on top when we come into the room.”

  He slid open the door to his grand suite, a place he would not return to any time soon, not before experiencing what the universe had to offer. “She waits for you. Now, go in there and take her.”

  His friend and gentleman of the bedchamber patted him on the back. “Thank you, Aris, and star’s speed.”

  After shoving Benignus through the door, Aristides waited in the hollow silence—usual for this part of the castle—for some indication his plan had worked before leaving to search for his father. Through the darkness engulfing his room, he couldn’t see a thing, but the sounds of wet lips in action caught his attention.

  His cock stirred. Almost there.

  Rubbing his hands down his arms, he tried to escape the chill common to the kingdom. The sun didn’t shine underground and fires only burned in the kitchen and the north wing, where his parents slept.

  “Oh, Aristides, I’m so glad you decided to deflower me before our wedding night. Take me this instant.”

  Don’t fail me now, Ben.

  “No, Madelia. It’s me, Ben. Don’t worry. No one will know.”

  “Oh, even better. Will Aris be joining us?”

  A threesome? Oh, gods. Could he get any harder? He and Ben often discussed sex, what their first time would be like, and whom they wanted to lose their virginity to. Sure, they’d had their rods sucked by the mouths of many fair maidens, touched the girls in their most intimate places, everything but the final penetration. They’d each been told to save themselves for their one true love, the woman they wanted to marry. Oh, he’d had plenty of offers, but sure as Terrans hated Otarians, the woman would babble about having her cherry popped by the prince, and he’d find himself chained to a female he’d only used to get off.

  Ben, though, had always been fond of Madelia. Yet she had never shown any interest in him before tonight. And once she’d been betrothed to Aris, she’d become a constant thorn in his side. He refused to betray his best friend.

  He’d plotted this night ever since his wedding date had been set, for no matter how hard he tried, he could never care for Madelia. Watching his parents pretending to love each other over the years had been enough for him. No way in Claustrum did he want the same thing for himself. And then, he’d heard rumors of how they spent their holidays on the planet Elatia, in the Belverian system, receiving sexual pleasure from the revered Adamos. That was where he planned to travel. He wanted to experience every sensation before he settled down with anyone, if, of course, he found someone he could love.

  No one on Tyto appealed to him. They were all too needy, not willing to get their hands dirty with work until forced to upon their twentieth birthdays. Then they became bitter with him because of his father’s decree, and invariably left him to search for an older man wanting to make a family. He could care less what they did with their lives. Once his marriage was called off, he planned to sneak away from Tyto and get busy living.

  A whimper broke the silence. “Oh, Benignus, how you fill me so.”

  His cock jumped, demanding attention. He’d love no more than to watch them fuck, stroking himself, but then he’d never get a chance to leave. Time for the next phase.

  Rushing down the corridor, he ignored the lavish silks of purple and gold hanging on the walls, for the extravagance did not suit him. He wanted to rule his father’s kingdom on Tyto, the moon of Otaria, no more than he wanted Madelia as his queen. Not until he was ready to settle down. The excessiveness of this lifestyle had never held any appeal to him anyway. Even as a child, he’d preferred to explore the caves of Tyto with the common children, or stow away on a supply ship to visit other planets, only to be dragged back home by his guard.

  Reaching his father’s study, he burst through the door. The warmth hit him like a brick wall. He drew in a quick breath. “Fat
her, I need your help. Benignus is very ill. He’s been in the lavatory with the sickness. I believe he ate some tainted food.”

  The king peered up, examining him. “No one else has shown any signs of the sickness. Seriously, at twenty-one star cycles, I would expect the two of you to have outgrown your antics. What kind of trouble have you gotten into this time?”

  “No trouble at all, sir. Please help him. I have him resting in my bed now, but he is too ill to move to his own quarters.”

  “Thornton!”

  The stout man—and the only Terran friendly with his father—entered the room as soon as the king beckoned. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

  “Fetch the doctor and bring him up to the prince’s quarters.” The king stood up, his purple robe billowing behind him. “Let’s go.”

  Aristides hurried to follow his father, hoping Benignus had stuck to the plan and would last long enough to get caught.

  “Were you in those caves again? You know the black magic there causes the sickness.”

  He sighed. The humid caves were filled with bacteria, occasionally causing visitors to become sick if they didn’t wash after returning from them. His father, though, preferred to live in his fantasy world. “No, Father, we went directly to my quarters after dinner.”

  “Honestly, you two cause more trouble than any common child.”

  His father reached his suite first. The lights flashed on and in an instant, they were treated to a view of Madelia, who sat on top of Benignus, speared by his cock.

  “What is the meaning of this?” The king’s face turned from its usual shade of blue to bright red, heat radiating from his body even in the cooler part of the castle.

  Benignus scrambled out from under Madelia. He held his stomach. “I was there lying on the bed and she climbed on top of me. I was too weak to push her off.”

  Smirking behind his father, Aristides winked at his friend.

  Madelia chose that moment to turn around and glare at him.

  “And you, woman?” the king asked.

  She cowered under his father’s glare. “I thought he was…. Oh, fuck. I was set up.”

  “No one talks like that to me or anyone while on my land.”

  Everyone cringed. His father hadn’t been born into a kingdom, but had given himself the title after settling on Tyto. He’d been the president of Otaria, and when he and his followers left for the moon, he’d changed his title to king, and declared the state a monarchy. Though Aris had never understood why his father left in the first place. Every picture he’d seen of his birth planet, the luscious forests and open sky, had left him with an ache to flee from Tyto.

  But oh gods, his childhood had been hell, growing up in the cold-climate underworld. He’d been a toddler when his father moved him there. He grew up speaking in the “proper manner,” yet his schoolmates spoke in the old world way. He’d learned the rough dialect and every curse word, yet he took care to revert back to the royal tongue when at home in the castle. He couldn’t wait to leave.

  “Aristides.” His father pulled him forward. “Since she is your betrothed, you must decide her fate.”

  Just as he’d hoped.

  He stuck out his chest, attempting to appear noble while his insides jumped for joy. “Since Madelia deflowered herself with my gentleman of the bedchamber, she shall be bound to him for the rest of her life.”

  “Then let it be so,” the king proclaimed.

  Benignus grinned. He finally had the woman he’d always wanted. Aris yearned to find an ounce of his friend’s happiness.

  “Gentleman of the bedchamber, my ass. More like jack-off partner,” Madelia muttered. “At least he knows how to fuck,” she said, tossing her comment in Aristides’ direction.

  Thornton and the doctor appeared at the door, panting like Terran dogs. “Is everything all right, Your Majesty?”

  Time to go. He refused to stick around for Ben’s betrothal ceremony, for surely they would have another woman for him by then, too.

  “Prince Aristides, where are you going?”

  Shit! He refused to turn around and acknowledge his father’s question, for the man would never chase after him. And the two men who would still had to catch their breath.

  Aristides rushed to the south wing and down a flight of stairs, toward his waiting Personal Space Transport Vehicle. He’d already packed clothing appropriate for Elatia’s warmer climate and enough nourishment to last his entire journey inside the PSTV.

  He climbed in. After starting the engines, Aristides steered the ship up the narrow rock tunnel and out into space. The fold that would take him to the Belverian system lay straight ahead.

  So long, Tyto. I’m off to the Emerald planet.

  Chapter Two

  Xia trailed her hand down the Mikashe mannequin’s scaly thigh.

  Twenty minutes. Far less than the allotted time. If she could maintain the same speed with live clients, perhaps life as an Adamo wouldn’t be so bad.

  She slid off the bed. All she wanted was to leave the Schola Calei and go home to rest. The practice session had followed hours of theory on the erogenous zones of all of the species permitted on Elatia. Applying the lessons to a pretend client had at least gotten her off her ass, but she could no longer think straight, her mind too numb to do anything but sleep.

  “Done already, Xia?”

  Spinning on her heels, she faced Jacobus, the muscular Elatian man—an Echelon Four Adamo—who trained her and several other Echelon Ones in the art of erotic massage. If he hadn’t been like a father figure to her, she’d swoon over him like the rest of her classmates did. During their lessons, he wore only loose-fitting pants made of filmy veech, which exposed his golden, god-like body to his students. Sometimes, to illustrate his lessons of a male’s erogenous zones, he’d strip down to nothing. On those days, she tried to listen more than look. Creaming her panties over her instructor was not all right. What would Kalara say?

  Xia knew there was something going on between the two of them. He spent a lot of time at the house of her guardian and mentor. But she’d never seen them touch each other intimately, and he stayed away when Kalara entertained clients. If only she could figure out their relationship.

  “Yes, I completed every step.” Even swallowing the warm, briny, fake ejaculation. Although she’d heard the real thing tasted worse.

  Grabbing her tubes and bottles of eletin massage oils and creams, she packed them away in her appointment bag. Her own bed called to her.

  With an intense stare, Jacobus set his hand on her shoulder. “There is never a need to rush with clients. You’re more likely to gain repeat customers if you take your time and prolong their pleasure.”

  She nodded. “I’ll make note of that. Thank you.” Yeah, slow down. How could she be a proper Adamo if she always tried to finish as soon as possible? Quick Xia—that was her. But she wouldn’t bring any honor to Kalara and Jacobus if she maintained that mindset.

  “Great.” He smiled, creases forming in the corners of his mouth. “Because you have your first appointment tonight.”

  What? “But I’m only Echelon One. I can’t take clients yet.”

  He stepped back and turned to the entire class. “This practical exam was your final test. You’re all now Echelon Two. There’s more to learn, but it’s about time you put your lessons into practice. You’ll all have appointments soon.”

  Yes, but why do I have to be the first one? She gulped. “Um, what am I supposed to bring? Where do I go?”

  Jacobus turned his attention back to her, as the rest of the class squealed with excitement.

  Am I the only one who isn’t feeling it? They all want to be Adamos more than I do. No, she did. Or thought she did. Kalara had always made pleasuring clients seem like the best profession in the universe.

  Before she’d started at the Elatian Schola Calei, her friends had all been jealous, knowing if she followed in her adoptive mother’s footsteps, she would one day be a trained Adamo. They’d come over and dress
in Kalara’s scarves and gowns, pretending to service their clients. But as they grew up, Xia lost contact with them, most of her friends moving out of the city or off-planet to raise their families, something she now longed for. How could she tell Kalara her dreams had changed? The only man she wanted to pleasure was her future husband, if anyone even wanted a Terran Adamo for a wife.

  “Your appointment will be at the Delectacio Hotel,” Jacobus said, snapping her back to the moment. “All you need is your appointment bag. Everything else will be provided in the room.”

  “All right.” The words came out as a squeak. “Am I, um…? Do I have to sleep with him?”

  He snorted in amusement. “Do you mean have sex with him, or literally sleep beside him in the bed?”

  “Both.” The class stared at her. Gods, she felt like such an idiot. Could she be the only one who hadn’t been with a man yet?

  “It’s your decision for both questions. But let me tell you, Xia, in this profession, you won’t remain a virgin for long. Once the eletin is absorbed into your skin, you’ll feel the same need for pleasure as your clients.”

  Oh, she’d felt the longing all right, but it had been accompanied by the horror of thinking of Jacobus in all the wrong ways, and the anger at the idea of her classmates having the same thoughts. Could it really be different with someone else? She always avoided boys her own age, too afraid to find out.

  “I…I should go and get some rest then.”

  He raised his hand in a gesture to excuse her. “By all means. See you at the hotel in four hours.”

  That’s it? How am I supposed to get enough rest in such a short amount of time? Leaving the schola, she rushed past the denotatio room, but stopped when she spotted Talia receiving her intravenous shot of eletin. The woman had trained under Kalara, and even shared a few of her clients. She’d reached the highest level of training and would now be Mistress Talia. The orange leaves the former Echelon Three Adamo had always desired already adorned her temples, making it clear to everyone her new status. Xia would one day have red stellae on the sides of her face; Kalara bore the same markings. With her new title would come a higher income and Xia could afford to move out of Kalara’s domus to her own home, if she decided to continue with her training.