Disclaimer: The only thing about this story that I own is anything you haven't already seen or read. The rest is all mine. Enjoy.
He couldn't believe he was going through with this. It wasn't like him; none of what he had agreed to was even remotely within is character.
For starters, he had agreed to leave Xion and Serna System for another year, and to have no contact with Zoë at all. You would think that would be enough of a test for Riddick. Stay away from his woman for an entire year while meaning to stay away. Sure he'd done things like that when the circumstances rendered him incapable of getting to the people he wanted to be around, but he'd never intentionally stayed away from someone he'd fallen in love with before.
While Riddick had to stay away he had a supplementary task to perform. The idea of a task within a task was against the rules to begin with, however, given that just staying away wouldn't be proof enough of his love and loyalty to Zoë, supplementary tasks were allowed.
During his year separated from Zoë, Riddick agreed to a bodyguard/delivery boy position of sorts. Lucian told Riddick that he was to deliver a young princess back to her home world across the galaxy, a year round trip, safely return within one year from when they started. Should she become injured, through battles or fights on planet surfaces, than his mission would be considered a failure and he would lose Zoë to Jaden. However, if he returned within the year, she was delivered home without incident, and Riddick did nothing to jeopardize his relationship with Zoë, then the wedding would be held the next day.
Riddick agreed to all of his terms, fully believing that this would be nothing and that he wouldn't even need the entire year, and set out immediately with the young girl in tow.
But what he didn't know was what Lucian had in store for him.
The young princess, really just a concubine of his who was very good with her hands, would be there to attempt to seduce him into bed with her so she could report back that he couldn't be faithful to Zoë. If attempts to seduce him failed, then she was to get herself into serious trouble and either find a way to get hurt on the surface in a fight, or piss him off enough so he would lose his temper and show that he would be a liability to both her and any children they may have.
Lucian really wanted him out of the picture one way or another. And should his servant fail him, for some reason he had a feeling she would, Lucian had another plan.
Riddick had been told in secret that he was not to have any contact with Zoë while on his mission and that Zoë would be told and any questions she had Lucian would explain to her. However, Lucian had said that Riddick had promised her that he would contact her at least once a week while he was away, if only to hear her voice for a short time. Zoë asked why Riddick hadn't said this to her himself, but Lucian blew it off saying that he had left already and would contact her as soon as everything was settled.
That had never happened.
Things had started off simple enough, the journey was to be taken through relatively safe territory, with minor stops in a few of the more seedy planets for refuels and supply stock ups. The young girl, Roxanna, privately called Roxy, kept to herself as she was told in order to keep her safe, and when on route she kept to her quarters and out of the way.
But that all quickly changed after about three months in.
After Roxy finally began to feel more comfortable around Riddick and his ship, she began to explore and make her presence known just a little more. Riddick hadn't minded since it meant having something else to look at than just the empty corridors and blank bulkheads, until the seducing began.
She began to parade around in nothing more than halter tops and skimpy shorts that barely covered everything she had. When she claimed that she wanted to be of assistance around the ship, she always seemed to volunteer for the jobs that would either send her up a ladder so she'd end up falling down into his arms and claim dizzy spells, or have her bending over to reveal more of her ass. And every time Riddick caught her he could feel just how warm her body was, how soft her skin felt against his, and how endowed she really was.
It took everything Riddick had not to take her into his room and fuck her senseless. The only real saving grace he had was the memory of Zoë imbedded in the back of his mind where his dreams came from. Even after being away from her for so long, Riddick could still feel the way she felt beneath him in their dream world, still smell her very essence coating his skin from the afterglow of their first mating, and still see her as she cried out his name in pleasure.
He had no idea how much longer he would be able to hold off his urges.
"Why hasn't Riddick contacted me yet? It's been six months already and I haven't heard a single word from him. Now fathers taken ill and none of you will come to pay your respects before he passes to the next world. I would have thought at least you would come Aragorn." Zoë was beside herself with worry; both for Riddick and her father.
"I'm sure he will, he's probably just very busy taking that young Princess back to her home world. Father told me her planet had been under attack for some time now, and things were just beginning to settle down, but it was still dangerous. Have faith that everything will work out in the end the way its supposed to Zoë.
"By the way, how have you been feeling lately? Last time you said you'd been a little under the weather."
"Oh, I'm fine now. Must have been something I ate at the time. The nausea passed a couple of days after my transmission and hasn't returned since."
"Good to hear. You know I'd come, but Naomi is with child, and I can't leave and get back before she's expected to deliver. It's our first you know."
"I know. Congratulations. Send my love to Naomi, and kiss that baby when it comes. I promise to be over there just as soon as everything over here clears up. Love you, bye."
"Love you too, bye." Both kissed two fingers and placed them on each other's face on the monitor before signing off.
The next week was pure torture for Zoë. Not only did she not know when Riddick might contact her, but in both ears she had her father's frail voice and Jaden's telling her that Riddick never really loved her, that he'd run off with that other princess, and that everything he had ever told her was a lie. Zoë was so afraid anyways that Riddick had yet to even send her a transmission that she began to believe their lies more and more with each passing day.
Then it happened. Lucian called Zoë into his chambers for his final farewell to his daughter, and sole heir to the throne.
"Zoë, my beautiful Zoë, how like your mother you truly are. After her death I had blinded myself to the very idea that you were in fact your mother's daughter as a way to shield my own heart from being broken from her absence. I am truly sorry for the way I've treated you throughout your life, and hope in return you can forgive me of all of my transgressions upon you." His voice was very frail, and Zoë knew he didn't have much longer to live.
"Of course I forgive you father. I can see know that you were only hoping to do what you thought was best for me, and the Kingdom." Tears threatened to fall at every word that escaped her lips.
"There is something that, know, I believe you should be told. The task I arranged for Riddick was all a rouse to find a way to break you two apart. He was never one I had hoped you would fall for, but the heart is a very tricky thing. Your mother was the same way. Her family believed that I too was a bad match for her and tried everything in their power to break us up. But to no avail.
"I too am guilty of this with you. The girl I sent with Riddick was not in fact a princess he was returning to her home planet; she was a concubine in my service. In fact, she was the head concubine.
"Her sole purpose is to seduce Riddick into bed with her in order to prove he can't be faithful to you. And I imagine, if he's not contacted you yet, then she's probably already doing her job and keeping him very busy.
"Please forgive me? And I know it's not much in way of compensation, but I've named you my heir to the throne, as Matriarch. You can either chose to take a husband, or you have full rights to rule alone. And, because your brothers and sisters are all married off to other Kingdoms, you have a very well defined alliance base of at least five other systems.
"It may not be what you were hoping for, but at least you'll have Jaden and your brothers for support and guidance once I'm gone." His words were barely coming out as whispers by the end, and Zoë couldn't stop the torrent of tears even had she wanted to. Not only was her husband, the only man she'd ever loved, with another woman, who would be able to give him all the pleasures he'd ever wanted, on some fake marital task, but her father, while on his deathbed, had finally shown her the kind of love she'd always hoped he'd had for her, and told her the truth about a few things. It was both the happiest and worst day of her life.
As the tears finally began to dry up, Zoë looked upon the face of her father and wept again. A relaxed smile lay across his lips as his head lay at an uncomfortable angle, a sure sign that he was dead.
A/N: I know it's kind of short, but the main things were visited, and the next chapter had even more in store. I'm hoping to give this one a happy ending, but that really just depends on my mood when it draws nearer.