Zaen awoke to the provocative scent of woman and sex, except his bed was empty and he wore his briefs. He inhaled again, deeper. Caeryssa had definitely been here. Her hotly feminine lavender scent lingered in the air. He lifted his hands to his face, then brought the bedding to his nose. Not just in here—she'd been in his bed. The distinct aroma was unmistakable.

They'd had sex.

Finally.

And he didn't remember.

He sucked a finger into his mouth. Stars, she not only smelled delicious, she tasted fantastic, too. Damn it. How could he not remember? All he had was an impression of wet heat surrounding his cock and that little sound she made when she gasped. Fuck, if only he could recall what other sounds his little pixie had made.

Zaen groaned and thumped his head into the pillow. Seriously? Had he even pleased her? Fuck, he'd better have not left her wanting. It was a miracle she'd come to his bed in the first place, what with the shitstorm surrounding them.

Something nagged at him. Basilisk. Why was it so important? Who or what was... He shot up in bed, tapping his wrist com.

A planetary guardsman answered, "Yes, Sarru Zaen? How may I assist you?"

"Karzen Hawke's ship is the Basilisk. Search the registry and find the craft's type. I want any spacecraft of that type on-planet or at the space station impounded under royal decree. No one in or out until I get a chance to see who's inside. Ping me with the data when you get it."

"Yes, my sarru."

Zaen flicked off his comm and threw back the covers while smacking his lips. Gah, his mouth was like ass. Hope he hadn't kissed Caeryssa with that foul breath. What in the black void had he eaten? He froze as memory of that suffocating heaviness and sharp pain in his chest returned.

Poison.

Someone in the palace wanted him dead. Fists clenched, he rose and stalked to the bathroom. As he showered and brushed his teeth, he considered potential suspects.

One of his father's detractors? The king was only in his first century. He could remarry and have more kids. Kinda surprising he hadn't in the ten cycles since Zaen's mother's death. Not that the king didn't have women around him constantly. Was his father looking for a political alliance like he had with Zaen's mother? Or was he searching for his soulmate? Either way, it would be smarter for his opponents to kill the king first. Zaen was replaceable, after all.

More likely that someone targeted Zaen and not his role as crown prince. This probably wasn't aimed at the crown. Karzen? Caeryssa's father would want him dead, but would he subject his own daughter to the agony of bond separation and uncertainty of survival? After all, Zaen was half-dragon and would more than likely take Karzen's precious daughter with him to the grave.

A woman scorned? He snorted. Yeah, there were a lot who were probably pissed that he had a soulmate, but he would have expected them to go after her. Still, he couldn't rule that out and wouldn't that make Dhevun's day? With a grin at the sour expression he anticipated from his bodyguard when he told him to interview the palace elite-chasers, he dried himself off and dressed in leather pants.

He reached for a tunic, then a wicked idea had him lowering his arm. Let his little hellion deal with him bare-chested after running away from their bed with his seed on her thighs. Maybe if he flustered her enough, he'd get her back into his bed sooner.

His cock jerked. Yeah, he was not pleased she wasn't still naked in his bed. A memory of her silky blue skin and those storm-grey eyes half-lidded with desire flashed behind his eyes like the afterimage of a lightning strike and her voice shivered through his mind. A name...

Rain.

His fists clenched. Who the fuck was Rain? Jealousy rose, thick enough to suffocate. A lover on her expedition team? Someone on Alycone or Ankion? Whoever he was, the fucker was never touching her again. Caeryssa was Zaen's soulmate, damn it, and it would be his name she moaned next time.

Jaw flexing, Zaen stalked into the central living area of the suite to find a scowling Dhevun with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall adjacent to the kitchen. His bodyguard straightened, glanced over his shoulder into the kitchen, then crossed the room to meet Zaen.

"You look recovered, my sarru," Dhevun said. "No lingering symptoms I should know about?"

Zaen cocked an eyebrow. "I assume Doctor Julyen wouldn't have left if his treatment wasn't successful. Who do you suspect?"

Dhevun blinked. "Uhhh... Doc didn't fix you. Your soulmate is a hell of a woman. I might be in love with her." An unexpected grin stretched his usually dour face. "While Doc and I fumbled about, she'd identified the poison, climbed down those treacherous vines, harvested the ingredients for a treatment, climbed back, prepared it, and handed it to us... all while suffering symptoms herself." He shook his head, that odd admiring grin still on his lips. "She held on long enough to save you, then collapsed seconds after."

Zaen froze at his bodyguard's words, torn between wanting to yell at her for risking herself, wanting to kiss the stardust out of her, and a sudden desire to punch Dhevun in the face for daring to be infatuated with her. For fuck's sake, he already had sharding Rain to compete with. Did he have to warn his bodyguard off, too? With emotion swelling and rising in his chest, he snarled, "Where is she?"

Alarm flashed in Dhevun's dark eyes, and he held out his hands. "Now, Sarru, she didn't have anything to do with poisoning you."

What in the starless void? Obviously, she didn't. She was his sharding soulmate, after all. Did Dhevun think he was an o-depped spacer? Seriously. 

"Where. Is. She?" the prince bit out. He needed to see her. Now. Almost shaking with the intensity of it.

"In the kitchen. She didn't trust the palace staff to prepare any food and had me send two of the men to get fresh provisions."

Zaen took a few steps, Dhevun beside him, but halted and frowned. "Two?"

"In case one was in on it, she wanted the other to watch and report back."

His bodyguard almost sounded proud of her for taking such precautions, and Zaen ground his teeth together. "Did it occur to you that I'd be just as dead if she fell from those vines?"

Dhevun's grin faded into his usual scowl. At the entrance to the kitchen, he quietly dropped his next bomb. "You had multiple seizures, each worse than the last. You'd stopped breathing twice. If she hadn't done what she did, you would be dead."

Zaen's heart clenched, and he gave Dhevun a single nod, unable to speak through the lump in his throat. She would have died along with him, that light in her gorgeous eyes gone forever. Whoever had been behind the poisoning was going to wish they'd never heard of Zaen when he was through with them.

Stepping into the kitchen, he drew in the scents of frying meat, the richness of butter, the tang of citrus, and that elusive lavender. His beautiful little sprite had a hip leaning against a counter, eating a cube of moon melon. The cooker that had never been used in the entirety of his adult life, some fourteen cycles since he'd moved out of the family quarters and into his private suite, sizzled and popped with a vidnut steak, four eggs, and thick slices of bread.

As much as he wanted, no needed, to approach and kiss that slender blue neck revealed with her white-blond hair tied up on her head—had he done so in bed?—he had to coax her back into his arms, not scare her away. Be smart and patient, Zaen.

Still, seeing her alive and well settled the white-hot tension that had been building since Dhevun had told him the risk she'd taken. He exhaled and rolled his shoulders.

Now, if only he could dispel her former lover as easily. Whoever that fucker Rain was, he wasn't getting his hands on her again. Zaen was not about to share his soulmate. He almost snorted. After as many women as he'd gone through, their names and faces a blur over the years, who knew he'd turn into such a possessive bastard? Emmed would laugh... and maybe he'd tell him when this was all settled and Zaen trusted Emmed around his soulmate again.

A minute passed as he drank in the sight of her nibbling little bites from the melon, absorbed in her cooking.

"So I understand I have you to thank for saving me," he said when she still hadn't noticed him enter.

Storm-grey eyes widened and the cube of melon slipped from her fingers. He darted to catch it, then popped it into his own mouth. He almost groaned when her mouth dropped open. What he would give to kiss her, to taste her not secondhand through a piece of fruit.

"I—I—yes," she finally managed, blinking.

"Is this breakfast for both of us or are you just really hungry after yesterday's activities?"

Would she admit they'd had sex? Stars, his fingers itched to touch her soft skin revealed by the sleeveless silvery pale blue dress that clung to her curves in a halter style and floated around her thighs to leave her legs bare. And damned if there wasn't something so innocently sexy about her bare feet on the slate floor.

She flushed, reddish-purple staining her blue complexion. He'd miss that shade if her skin ever returned to its previous pale tone. Her gaze roved over his chest and down to his cock, before she jerked her eyes back up. Yeah, she might have moaned another's name, but it had been him between those slender thighs and she knew it.

"It's for both of us. Healing takes lots of energy." She turned away to plate the food, putting the steak, two eggs, and toast on one, but only eggs and toast on the other.

Trying to pretend they hadn't had sex, was she? Zaen smirked. No way, little pixie. "Indeed. Especially with a sex chaser. I do hope in my incapacitated state that I still ensured you enjoyed yourself. Obviously, I wasn't at my best."

A tremor shook her little body, and she gripped the counter so tightly, her fingers turned a paler blue. He couldn't help but notice she pressed those sexy thighs together and his cock hardened. Fuck, he could lift her and bend her over that counter, taking her from behind if she was willing.

"If you don't recall, then I apologize for taking advantage of you," she whispered.

"Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you with your back turned." Damn, he was an asshole, but fuck if he was going to let her deny how good they were together, even if he only had the briefest flashes of memory.

She turned, head bowed and eyes down. "I apologize for taking advantage of you."

A lightness bubbled up in his chest and with a smile, he stepped closer and lifted her chin, waiting until those gorgeous grey eyes met his. "Little soulmate, you can take advantage of me like that anytime." He leaned down to kiss her, and she stepped out of his grasp.

Damn it.

She turned, picked up the plates and marched into the other room with the dining table.

"Fuuuck," he cursed under his breath, adjusting his rigid cock into a less awkward position. 

(1933 words)