Page 24 of Star Prince

He bent over to scoop up more pebbles. As she stared at his strong back and tight backside, outrageously wanton and explicit thoughts overtook her.When I want sex, I don’t have to buy it.

“Well”—she blushed hard— “I am open to sampling new and varied methods of enjoyment.”

But how new and how varied? She wasn’t sure. She was a virgin, yes, but she had received instruction in the art of lovemaking from her toddler years. As a femaleVashshe had listened to lectures, done reading, committed to memory the comparisons of techniques by experienced teachers. All her questions had been answered honestly and completely, or she had been given the appropriate literature. Her brothers, on the other hand, had accumulated actual physical experience as teenagers with the palace pleasure servers. They had been taught skills designed to bring their future mates pleasure, and to ultimately strengthen each of their marriages.

The foundation of society is family. Sexuality enhances spirituality,said the Treatise of Trade. It was an integral part of her culture and her faith. Tee’ah had expected to be a virgin on her wedding day, now that the marriage was off, there was no requirement to remain untouched. Was there?

Oblivious to her speculation, Ian shrugged off his black leather outer garment and anchored it over one shoulder with his index finger. The short-sleeved shirt he wore beneath was tight enough toglimpse the flexing of his stomach muscles as he strode beside her. The end of a thin gold chain disappeared into his shirt. Otherwise, he wore no skin jewelry, which was so fashionable of late, and no other adornment. And noVashsignet ring, she noted—another sign that she wasn’t keeping company with the one Earth-dweller she needed to avoid at all cost. She couldn’t imagine the crown prince being without the trappings of his rank.

She steered the conversation back toward safer ground. “What will we find at the marketplace?”

“Just about anything you’d want—most of it illegal as heck.” He acted as if he assumed she had seen the like before. Perhaps she hadn’t yet, but in a month or two, she would undoubtedly be a veteran of such emporiums of unauthorized merchandise.

“Are the goods dangerous, then?”

He smiled. “No. Only hard to come by. Especially Earth beer, salt, coffee”—he rubbed his faded indigo pants— “and blue jeans.”

“I would think, since Grüma is so close to Earth, that those products would be easy to find.”

“Not when the Trade Federation ships them directly from Earth to the central galaxy, bypassing the frontier. By the time the products are transported back here and offered for sale—if they ever are—the price is beyond the average person’s reach.”

He didn’t sound enamored of the Federation. She wondered what he would think if he knew who he hadhired—one of the daughters of its heads.

The path toward Grüma’s largest city took them into a thick grove of trees. A cool, damp hush enveloped them, the air soaked with the scent of ferns and pine.

“We’re almost there,” Ian said. She could hear the sounds of urban life ahead, though she could still see no signs of it. “Stay close in case your Dar friends show up. I’ve got pressing business to take care of later; it wouldn’t do to lose you now.”

She focused her eyes on the sun-dappled path before them. Ian might not want to lose her, but if her father committed fully to bringing her home, Tee’ah wondered if there would be anything Ian could do to stop him.

Chapter Eight

The streetsof downtown Grüma radiated outward from a central plaza teeming with people— men, women, and even a few children. All had lighter complexions than Tee’ah, as well as the pale blond hair and brown eyes common to the merchant class. Tee’ah hoped her Earth-dweller façade was convincing enough. There wasn’t much she could do about her golden skin, but eyeshaders hid her pale irises, and only a few bits of her trademarkVashcoppery dark-blond hair stuck out from under her cap.

As she walked across the plaza with Ian, no one gave them more than a glance. Anticipation quickened her steps. She had never had the opportunity to be anonymous, to bargain with a vendor who wasn’t fearful about insulting a princess by asking too high a price for inferior merchandise. When she visited the market outside the palace gates on Mistraal, it wasalways in the protective company of her handmaidens or her parents and their usual entourage. Here, someone might actually attempt to cheat her. Her spirits soared. Let them try!

In a move that would have been completely out of character for her in her days as royalty, she grabbed Ian’s arm, just above the elbow, and tugged him forward. “Come, Earth-dweller. Let us see what bargains await.”

He laughed, his boots crunching heavily on the gravel.

The merchants carried the usual items— produce, roasting meats, sundries. The spicy-sweet scent of countless unidentified products filled the air. As she browsed, he examined the crowd and shops, as if he were doing a little window-shopping of his own—though for people, she suspected, not merchandise.

The crowd surged toward a street show just getting under way. Onlookers clucked their tongues appreciatively as an artisan released a flock of rainbow-colored bubble-bots into the air. With a wand-like controller, he sent commands to microscopic computers contained in the bubbles’ liquid skin, changing the diaphanous, iridescent orbs into different creatures and flowers and a variety of floating figures, from entwined lovers to children playing.

Ian admired the show unfolding above their heads. “We don’t have anything like this on Earth. Not yet, anyway.”

“I’ve seen similar demonstrations”—at the palace,she almost said— “but none performed with such skill and creativity.”

One by one the bubbles coalesced into nano-computer-rich droplets and fell into a wide-mouthed beaker the man held on his head. All around them shoppers applauded and clicked their tongues appreciatively.

Ian’s comm beeped. He took it out of his pocket and brought the mouthpiece to his lips. “Stone here.”

“Look left.”

Ian’s head turned, and she followed his gaze to where Muffin towered above the crowd. The big man grinned, stowing his comm as he strode toward them. When he caught up to them, he jerked his thumb toward a group of starships docked in a clearing. “The crew of that cargo-runner told me they saw Randall and his men in a pub the night before last.”

Ian looked interested. “What did they say?”

“That Randall’s looking forward to doing business.”

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