Page 43 of Crown of Draga

Chapter Thirteen

Nadyah

Adelina’s rooms

Draga Royal Palace

Planet Draga Terra

Nadyah was heartbrokenthat Adelina wasn’t her mate, but a part of her was relieved. It would have been complicated and Adelina could never have been completely dedicated to her. A marriage to a male and a husband would have been required. Nadyah would have ended up as the consort and not the wife; although there was a part of her that would have burned for a polyamorous relationship with Adelina at the center.

They both stood silently in Adelina’s sitting room. Nadyah had sent a cast for something they could both eat and drink. “How do you feel about the results?” Nadyah asked carefully, clearing the small dining table.

Adelina shook her head. “I’m glad to know the answers, but I’m overwhelmed.” She sat at the table and threw a grateful look at Nadyah. “I’m starving.”

There was a chime from the door and she went to answer it. A submissive servant handed her the requested tray and Nadyah thanked them before closing and locking the door. If they were going to start the camerraleto she wanted to take precautions. Another command into the wall panel and the rooms were sealed against spy tech and sound-proofed.

“Do you plan to speak with Elara concerning the matter?” Nadyah asked carefully, setting the tray down on the dining table. She set up two plates and then poured the chilled tea. A dash of milk for both and the orange swirled around the white.

Neither said a word as Nadyah sat and they both dug in to the food. It had been a trying day already. They should rest, but stomachs needed to be full for the camerraleto. They would burn a lot of energy.

“I will speak with Elara,” Adelina said around a mouthful. She looked thoughtful rather than panicked. “We’ve always been rather close until recently when I grew so busy with all these events. Still…” she trailed off and took a sip of the sweet tea. “I think I will wait to bring up the matter. I’m not quite ready to ask her about her relationship with my mother – or the queen,” she sighed. “She’s still my mother I suppose, but it feels different somehow.”

Nadyah could understand. Courtesans didn’t know their parents. The babies were bred for the most part in the House program and then were raised communally. There were nurses who took care of the infants, and then those who taught basic school and the theory of the bedroom arts until their physical training could begin. She supposed if she suddenly found out who her dam and sire were her entire worldview would be slightly shifted.

It wasn’t something she’d ever thought to seek out, but Nadyah understood the desire to find out where one came from. Occasionally she wondered if it had been her dam that had eyes the same color as hers, or was it her sire.

Nadyah tilted her head and studied the princess. “You’re truly happy to have the mate bond deactivated?” That was the one thing she truly regretted for her princess.

When a mate bond fell into place after the sex, the connection was deeper than anything that could be described. If true, lasting love in fairytales were real – it was the mate bond. The courtesans who’d been lucky enough to find their mate and end up with them always had stars in their eyes when they spoke of their new life.

One day Nadyah wanted that for herself.

Adelina nodded in response to her question. “I’m relieved,” she said. The princess pushed her empty plate away and sipped at her tea. “I know you and Ian think I’ll be missing out on something, but my life is not my own Nadyah. If I can be spared any more heartbreak, I’ll take it.”

The words were so similar to the ones she’d told Varan once. Nadyah almost flinched at the reminder, but she understood. Adelina’s rights were minimal at the moment, and there was nothing she could do even if she did find her mate. The sadness lingered. Nadyah wished for her princess’s sake that she had been her mate. It would have given her the love she deserved even in a loveless marriage.

At least they had this time together, they had the camerraleto. “Are you ready to begin?” she asked Adelina.

Adelina stood and nodded, clasping her hands before her.

Nadyah gently directed the princess to her bedroom and her bed. Adelina trembled under her fingertips, but Nadyah didn’t think it was fear, not anymore. It was anticipation. She could smell the arousal in the air and she smiled.

She could still have Adelina for a little while longer.

“Sit here, Princess,” Nadyah murmured, eyeing the space. “We’re going to begin the official training of the camerraleto. As you’ve studied all the material I’ve given you and more we can move onto the physical aspect. You’ve done amazingly well with the seduction techniques I’ve taught you.”

Adelina stared at Nadyah with her lips slightly parted. She licked her own as her gaze traced those full lips, waiting to hear what she was supposed to do with them.

“Now, the camerraleto isn’t required and it isn’t necessary to have pleasant, satisfying sex,” Nadyah explained as she took out the pins in Adelina’s hair. “It is so that your value increases just like with anything else. It is the same with knowledge. You’ve learned foreign languages to be able to communicate properly with possible allies. You’ve studied state policies, history, current events, and different cultures – all to aid in your position as princess.”

Nadyah took a step back. “The camerraleto isn’t only for the satisfaction of your future spouse. It is to be used in state affairs. It will train you to see what a person desires and to use that to your advantage. You can seduce a person and take them to bed, learning what you need from them. Or…” she trailed off as she wondered who Adelina would one day marry.

“Or you could use it to build a stronger relationship with your spouse.” Nadyah shrugged and turned to the door that connected her room to the princess’s. “Now strip and kneel. We will begin when I return.”

Once in her own rooms Nadyah took a deep breath. She was now the mistress and not a lady-in-waiting. No, she would have to teach Adelina everything no matter how much it would turn her on, and how much she wanted to give in to please the princess sexually.

Nadyah slipped off her dress until she was stark naked. If she was lucky Adelina would be willing to use her instead of another female to learn how to please a woman. She shuddered as she slipped on her see-through spidersilk robe. Already she was wet with anticipation.

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