Chapter 35. Princess

Akane had been outraged when her men started calling her Princess all of the sudden and not only because she absolutely dreaded that title. She had specifically told Vegeta he was not to make an official announcement of their union until they made their wish and were back on Vegetasei. Nobody should have known that the tilte was hers now.

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"No way. I will not have my men calling me Princess."

The look on Vegeta's face was more ribbing than she fancied. "You are the Princess. There is no sense in denying it. I need them to know, Akane, I can't be arsed with all the glad-eyes these women are giving me anymore. One flashed me her tits yesterday. They should know you are my mate. What is so horrible about your title anyway? I am beginning to wonder if I should feel offended."

Akane snarled at his jolliness. "What a pisser. As if you mind having them crawl for you. It would hurt my position as their Captain when they accept me as their Princess. I put effort into gaining the allegiance of my men and I will not throw it in the wind for this title. I have no use for it. They will get all scrapy and bowy and grovelly like they are with you!"

Vegeta was still addressing the subject with nothing but amusement. "You can't stay a Captain forever. I will make you my Queen one day."

Akane couldn't help feel disgusted. "You would have me idling away my time on a throne. You told me you would never do that to me."

Vegeta pulled her in his arms. "It's a title, not a job description. You can be Queen in any way you want. Provided that you let me have my leg over whenever I feel like it."

In spite of herself Akane yielded to his jokes and envisioned: "I will be a warrior Queen. They will hold tourneys in my name and vie for my favour. Yes, and I want command of the Royal Fleet."

"What humble aspirations." Vegeta said sarcastically, He kissed her sensually and whispered in agreement: "You aim for the stars, little one. When you are my Queen, you can have it all."

"I am going to give you another son."Akane decided. "Maybe two. They will be ugly like you, and I will love them as much. I will raise all our children to be legendary warriors." She kissed him back leisurely. "And you can have your way with me all the days of your long reign."

Vegeta smirked. "Well no worries then. You will make an excellent Queen."

"But I am not your Queen yet and until we're back on Vegetasei, I will remain Captain." Akane said becoming serious again.

"Fine, no official announcements." Vegeta obliged. "You better get used to the idea, though. Your men are bound to find out eventually. Princess."

Akane punched him rather hard in the gut with a gruff: "Shut up."

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That bleeding liar. Akane knew very well that even if he made her the promise that night, Vegeta had been the one behind the publication of their bond and after a quick investigation she learned that the Prince had an 'accidental' slip of the tongue while talking to one of her Platoon Ardians. Of course after that the news spread amongst her men like crotch rot until even the rats in the darkest corners of the Marauder's basement knew that the Prince had chosen her for his mate.

It had taken her a lot of persuasion to stop her men from saluting her as their Princess. Eventually most of them went back to calling her Captain, yet she felt that things had changed. Her men approached her as if she was some frail wench that should be treated with the highest care and it became clear to her that she wasn't the same Captain she used to be to them.

And then there was the pregnancy that was beginning to grow obvious. Her belly had become too big for her to longer hide it by cleverly positioning her chest-plates. She refused to let this keep her from proceeding with her duties as Captain and she continued hounding her men without mercy as always.

Even so, her kitten demanded attention right now. Her belly was rumbling like crazy. Fortunately it was chow time on the Marauder so she could go satisfy the kitten's unremitting appetite.

Her mate had finally let up on having her Royal Guard tail her everywhere she went. Once he became aware through their bond how wretched it made her and he also came to see that there was no threat to either her or their kitten, the whole of the Marauder having taken it on them to serve as the protector of their unborn Princess, he had given in. Ringo and Turles would return to guard duty after their kitten was born.

Akane followed a small group of soldiers down to the mess hall even if she could have just as easily ordered someone to bring her food up to her own quarters. In her years as Captain she made a habit out of eating with her men because it helped establish a sense of trust and fellowship, two things of which she had learned that they were very valuable on the battlefield. Men that felt companionship towards their leader would follow her to their own deaths without second thought. And that was exactly the kind of loyalty she needed if she wanted to stop them from thinking of her as some frail Princess.

Her two superiors considered this eating with her men a quirk and used to scorn her for it, but what did they know about leadership? As Akane recalled it the old Air Marshal was only dragged out of the office where he had been stowed away to handle furglough requests because all other Air Marshalls had been sent of with another company and never returned. The Marauder's Air Marshal was only given command because there had been no one left to go in his stead.

As for Ruirdo, she was just a snob. It was therefore highly unexpected to find her in the mess hall that day. Akane knew this could only mean one thing. The Ardian had her eyes on another subordinate that she planned to ensnare while he, or she, was unwarily enjoying supper.

Smirking to herself and deciding she could use a little verbal sparring Akane made her way over and fell down loosely in the chair next to the Ardian. Within seconds over fifty pairs of eyes were curiously fixed to their table. Soon as Akane started to return stares however, glances were quickly downcast or darting to anything but her immediate direction. At least their respect for her was still unwavering.

"Who is it?" Akane demanded.

Ruirdo widened her brown eyes and unsuccessfully tried to take on the appearance of an innocent little girl. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

Akane looked at her unimpressed. "You're in the mess hall, Ruirdo."

Ruirdo abandoned the little girl act and returned to her beautiful, sultry self. She furrowed her brows in irritation while motioning her head to an extremely hefty looking young man standing in the chow line.

"That's a mighty big one." Akane remarked. "You have your abilities back then."

"Stop being cute, Akane." Ruirdo sighed. "Sweet Victory, will you look at those shoulders… I think I'm obsessed."

Akane snickered. "Have you reeled him in yet?"

Ruirdo failed to tear her attention away from extremely-tall-and-hefty. "He took me over last night. And I want him to do it again, but you're in his seat."

"I am? Well he is free to join us." Akane said.

Ruirdo dismissed Akane's comment with a quick wave of the hand. "He wouldn't come now. Probably fears he will be intruding. He is the third son of some lesser lord up in the West. A very refined young man. Excellent manners outside of the bed."

Akane couldn't imagine someone that huge being refined. Even if he tried entering a room elegantly he would probably knock over half the furniture on his way. No Akane didn't fancy big and strapping. She was hung up on princely and elegant and nimble... And fierce and deadly.

At last Ruirdo looked at her. "The smell of sex on you is outrageous. I'm regretting that I abandoned my seduction of our Prince so quickly."

Akane pushed her away as the Ardian continued smelling her out. "I'm going to get some grub." She rose and headed for the chow line.

When she returned, Ruirdo was back to moonily staring at extremely-tall-and-hefty who had taken a seat at the table adjacent to theirs and was giving the Ardian looks that left nothing to guess at. Ruirdo had made him forget his excellent manners, it seemed. Akane dropped the four trays of food and took her seat at the table again.

"You're not in love, are you?"

"That's sickening." Ruirdo looked at the heaps of food with wrinkled nose and Akane mentioned casually that she was eating for two.

"I never fall in love." Ruirdo answered the previous question. "How is being bonded working for you?"

Akane couldn't stop the growl that left her throat. How was it working for her? Not in the way she had hoped in any case. "Fucking ace." Another rough snarl. "Fucking exhausting. I hadn't expected it to be this intense. His thoughts and feelings are always with me and it's driving me howling mad. I don't know how to shut it off. You don't happen to know anything about blood bonds, do you?"

Ruirdo looked appalled by the mere suggestion. "Me? I want absolutely nothing to do with bonding. To tie yourself to another like that is sick. No wonder you look so dreadful. Ugh! I certainly couldn't be satisfied with just one lover. Having to miss out on all the wonderful variety our world has to offer? I would simply die. To think that I would never again be allowed to submit to the wants of a random passer-by, especially one that has massive shoulders and iron thighs. And hands strong enough to snap my spine with a single twist." Ruirdo completely lost herself in her lewd speech and her eyes soon found extremely-tall-and-hefty again.

Akane left the Ardian to it and dug into her food in silence. She was surprised to notice how she was enjoying the company of Vegeta meandering inside her. Instead of tiring her out, his presence within her at this moment gave off a pleasant sense of security. She felt that he was more at ease since they had that row about how draining their bond really was. Now that it was all out in the open he likely didn't feel the urge to worry about it so much anymore and that made him a much nicer companion. Maybe with a little patience the problem would eventually solve itself.

And perhaps if she managed to tough it out until then, her men would treat her normally again after she had given birth to her kitten. She was still the same Akane, right? No matter what her title? Vegeta said so too.

Ruirdo at long last broke eye contact with extremely-tall-and-hefty short of breath and waving a hand in her face to fan herself. "Oh the humidity in this place is murder. Sorry, what were we talking about?"

Akane laughed. The Ardian was one of a kind alright. "Bonding."

"Oh right. Mad business, bonding. Wouldn't work for me. Can't help you out there. I know nothing of the matter."

Akane suddenly remembered something the Ardian had said to her before. "But you did know this would happen, didn't you? You knew the Prince and I would bond. That's why you said our game would end definitively."

Ruirdo stared at her as if Akane had just told a fish that it was capable of swimming. "Of course I knew. Why, it was practically written all over your face. And he, well he turned me down and at first I thought there was something wrong with him, like I told you. But then I started thinking: our future King can't be that off, it just doesn't make sense He seems very together. So there was only one other explanation why he wouldn't want me and that was because he wanted only you."

Akane was absolutely baffled. "The paths your mind takes are very disturbing and the scariest thing is that you somehow in the end manage to get right to the truth. Just amazing."

Ruirdo gave her a dirty look. "Well anyway, you win. You're the Princess. There is no way for me to rise above you now."

"Don't call me that. I can't take any more of it."

But Ruirdo had already switched to another topic and she jabbed a long slender finger into the direction of Akane's protruding belly. "You're beginning to get really fat, Akane. Pray that your kitten doesn't put on too much weight and maul your cunny on the way out. Judging from that smell you carry around it will make our Prince very unhappy."

Akane laughed, enjoying herself more than she had in days. At least Ruirdo didn't shy away from bashing her as usual.

"Your kitten's strength already surpasses that of most your men." Ruirdo said, evidently having scanned her daughter's battle power. She drew her brows together in concern. "I do hope she's not some kind of mutant."

"A mere five hundred points more and she'll even surpass you, Ruirdo. Let's see, another two turns of the moon before lying in and her strength now builds at a rate of eight points per minute, give or take." Akane pretended to be fiercely adding up numbers in her head before throwing Ruirdo her most wicked smile. "I think she'll manage to surpass you even before leaving the belly. Why, she'll probably manage before another hour has passed!"

"She gains eight points per minute? Akane, that is insane! Her base power will be nearly twice that of yours when she comes out!" Ruirdo cried out completely forgetting their verbal tug-of-war. "Have you any idea how dangerous that is? I have seen that in my tribe. You could die giving birth to her."

Akane's heart sank. Was Ruirdo going to treat her like some frail wench now too? She was really getting sick of this. "I'll be fine. I have given birth to whelps that were stronger than I am before. I admit that they weren't half as strong as this one here, but they were two, whereas she is only one. I see no reason to worry. The more power a whelp possesses, the more there is to tap into."

"I think you're taking this way too lightly. Tapping into such an amount of power isn't without danger either." Ruirdo sounded uncharacteristically troubled.

Akane was getting angrier with the second. She wanted to tell Ruirdo that if a weak Earthling cunt could give birth to the Prince's heir without kicking the bucket, she, the strongest female Saiyajin alive, certainly would have no trouble whatsoever giving birth to his daughter. She wanted to yell this to every person in the mess hall and scream that she wasn't a frail Princess they needed to handle with care.

No matter what Vegeta might have said, she was not the same Akane anymore and she never would be again. Her days as Wing Ardian of the Marauder were over. She rose and walked out of the mess hall with the intention never to return there and in silence she finally accepted her position as their Princess.