have one or thirty. They all stay with us until they get old and gray."
I am shocked she must ask. "Kim, I know what it is like to be a slave. Of course we would not sell our children. I do not care if it is praxiian custom—I learned the hard way that that particular praxiian custom is easy for everyone except for the one sold." I pull her hands to my mouth and kiss her skin. "We sell no one. Ever."
"Good." Her gaze roams over me again. "I'm so mad at them. You spent forever brushing your tail this morning. That's a peacock thing, right? The fussing with the tails?"
I do not know what a pee-cock is. "A glorious tail is a sign of pride."
"I hope they were proud of yours, then. It's beautiful."
I think of my father's trinket-encrusted tail, so heavy it dragged on the ground, and I suspect they were not. "You noticed my tail?"
Her cheeks grow pink. "I always notice your tail."
My cock twitches in my trou, and I grow hungry to claim my mate. "Is that so?" I grab her hand and tug her toward me. "Tell me more about my tail and how it arouses you."
"I didn't say that." She lets me pull her into my lap, and then my Kim's plush bottom is seated upon my thigh, and I nuzzle at her ear. "You're distracting me. I want to be angry at your parents for a little longer."
"I do not want to think about them right now. I want to think about licking you all over."
Kim pushes against my chest, frowning up at me. "We have to think about them. What are you going to do? Do you want to go back to Praxii Minor with them and be the heir?"
"I do not know," I admit. "Part of me wants it because it would make me a powerful man, and they would be forced to pay allegiance to me. They would have to bow and scrape to me. My wounded pride likes that idea very much." I stroke her hair, studying her absently. "But it would be a miserable existence for you. There would be no quiet in our lives. Our children would be considered abominations. My people would not respect you or our relationship. So no, I will not trade what we have for petty revenge." I lean in and nuzzle at her ear again. "I would not trade your happiness for mine."
Kim slides out of my grasp. "But you're giving up so much, Nassakth. I don't want you to give up your future for me." She gives me a worried look. "You said yourself you weren't meant to be a farmer. This is an opportunity to be a great man, no matter how I feel about it. I don't want you to give up wealth and prestige just because of a relationship with me. It's only been, what, a month?" She bites her lip. "Maybe we should let this thing between us go."
Let this thing between us go?
"You think I am that selfish of a male?" I shake my head at her. "You think I would trade all the wealth in the world for a good, kind mate?"
"No, I don't think that at all," Kim says softly. "I think you're too good of a man to make such a trade…which is why I'm suggesting it. I think you're kind and generous and I think you'd be a wonderful house head or whatever it is they call it on Praxii Minor. And I don't want to weigh you down. If I wasn't your mate, would you take it?"
I am silent, because I know my answer is damning.
"See?" she says gently. "Having a human mate is only going to slow you down, Nassakth. I love you, but maybe there's no place for love in our future. Maybe you're meant to do greater things and I'm holding you back." She strokes my cheek. "I think you should contact them in the morning and take the offer. Be the heir. Be the man you were meant to be. And don't think about me at all." Her smile is achingly sweet. "I'll be fine. I'll manage. And maybe from time to time you can come visit your human concubine on a remote farm planet. Surely that'll be allowed."
"My sweet Kim," I murmur. "No."
"At least think about it tonight," she says again, and then gets up. She scoops up her datapad and heads to the door, then