And boy did he succeed.
Every night was a marathon of lovemaking. He surprised me with a new position, a new style, and exerted his full towering endurance upon me every chance he got.
It was all I could do to hold on.
Other times, I took the initiative and rode him, sending him wild.
Our experiences always left me satisfied.
Not once had I been disappointed by our nightly Olympics. Even now, as he pressed his lips to me, I felt myself give in to him.
Would it be like this forever? I wondered. Would the magic lose its sparkle over time?
I hoped not.
I would do everything I could to ensure he always found me attractive and never had reason to look elsewhere for what he needed.
Not that I needed to worry about that. He didn’t even notice there were other females in the galaxy.
The first ship appeared on the horizon and I could hardly stand still.
“They’re coming!” I said. “Look!”
“I see them,” Fiath said with a beaming grin.
“What do you mean ‘them’?”
He pointed out the second and third ships as they eased into position.
I squealed and clapped my hands.
Soon, all five ships appeared, forming a single arch as they approached the palace slowly and carefully. No one wanted to damage the emperor’s palace.
My mouth turned dry. I was suddenly twelve years old again. I sat on my own at the lunch table and the others came to join me. The other seats were full and there was nowhere else they could sit.
We were shy and it was difficult to make conversation, but thankfully Sirena had always been chatty. She kicked off the conversation.
It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
Who would have thought it would lead to this moment now?
The ships kicked up a little dust as they sat down. Their ramps groaned as they lowered and kissed the balcony.
The figures inside strutted down their walkways.
It was them. It was really them!
I couldn’t believe it.
I couldn’t bring myself to believe they were all still alive and well.
I assumed there would have been a mix-up or some kind of confusion and they wouldn’t be my friends. They would be someone else, I told myself.
But here they were.
They looked different somehow, more mature, and grown-up. I guess that happened when you found your fated mate.
It was all I could do not to run to them. I needed to act like an empress. I needed to be in control of my emotions.
Fiath leaned forward and whispered in my ear.
“Go to them,” he said.
I turned to him and grinned like a little girl. The tears shimmered in my eyes but I no longer cared. Fiath didn’t care either. He’d fallen in love with me, not with some snooty Titan lady type.
With me.
And that meant he had to put up with the way I was, with how I did things. My emotional outbursts, my raucous sense of humor.
I wasn’t the first to bolt forward.
Maddy broke first, which was no surprise. She’d always been the best athlete.
Vicky was just as quick off the mark.
Closely followed by Bianca and Alice.
We hurtled toward one another. None of us stopped as we threw our arms around each other and hugged and kissed and cried and we all spoke at once, talking over each other and unable to understand a thing we were each saying.
It was like the Titan songs of emotion. We didn’t need real words to be understood because we already understood how we all felt.
We cried and wiped the tears from each other’s eyes, smearing our makeup.
It didn’t matter.
Then we turned quiet and just hugged.
Off to one side, Fiath met the other Titans.
My friends’ fated mates immediately dropped to their knees at his approach. Fiath waved his hand for them to rise.
The Titan males shared uncertain looks before doing as he asked.
“You are the fated mates of my true love,” he said. “That makes us brothers.”
They performed the fist salute and Fiath performed it back to them.
He knew one of the Titans already, Lord Taw. Apparently, they’d spent some of their childhood together. He introduced himself to the others and they engaged in conversation. But it was clear the others were struck with awe, their eyes turning glassy with disbelief that they were in the emperor’s presence.
I breathed my friends in, happy to be with them, and excited about the wedding in the morning.
“What is it with you and weddings?” Maddy said. “You’re engaged to one guy and now you’re marrying another!”
I shrugged.
“What can I say?” I said. “I get bored easily.”
Vicky nudged my elbow and gave me a wink.
“I know what you’re saying there,” she said.
We were in the Eastern Empire drawing room. It was decorated with artwork and tapestries from the mining quadrant of the empire. Crazy to think I hadn’t been in this particular drawing room before.
“Seriously though,” Maddy said. “How did you get your guy to marry you? I keep mentioning it to Chax but he never seems very interested in the idea.”
“I guess he’s in love with you and doesn’t see the point of it,” Maddy said.
Maddy tapped her nose. On the button.
“Are your guys like that?” she said.
“Mine isn’t,” Bianca said. “We’ll get married when we’re ready. It’s just a matter of time. I don’t even really care when it happens, so long as it does.”
The hen night was nothing like the one we enjoyed back on Earth before my other wedding—that never happened. It was more refined, elegant, and there was no chance we’d get abducted by Changelings this time around.
The servants refilled our glasses with Titan wine and returned to their respective positions along the walls.
“What’s it like having so many servants?” Alice said. “We’ve got a cook and he’s awesome but to have all these people doing things for you… And an entire empire to run! What’s that like?”
“Terrifying,” I admitted. “I didn’t even know Fiath was the Titan emperor when I met him. It came as quite
