Chapter 48. Misgivings

Vegeta crossed the deserted halls of the palace in the still period before dawn. The hour that belonged to neither the day that had passed nor the one that was to come. The palace was silent but for his footsteps. Sleep was what most did at this hour. Most. Not his father's guardsmen, nor Ringo standing sentry at the doors to the solar, not the dry nurse watching over Aina, not Vegeta. He had slumbered until his daughter threw a fit that woke him some time earlier.

Aina's teething wasn't so bad anymore. She had slipped back to dreams shortly after he helped her through her pain. It was good that she hadn't been hungry as well because Akane did not return from her bower. For the first time since he decided that he wanted to wake up to the gorgeous sight of her every day, to the sound of some hoarse and unpleasant remark and the drool dripping from her little mouth, he had not found her by his side.

Akane had required time away from her responsibilities as much as he did. Now that she had taken it, she needed something else and that was for him to drag her out of her mind, out of denial and back to reality where her concerns lay. He had learned, through shame and detriment, the way his little mate worked. She was running away from him and that meant something was bothering her. The harder Akane ran, the closer she needed him to be. The downside to independence, to having been forced to take on the universe alone. He knew it because he had been like that himself.

Vegeta had never accepted help from anyone, but he had been given it anyway. And he had needed it. Another thing he had learned through shame and detriment. Through the mercy of Kakarot. That bleeding Kakarot. The truth was that Vegeta would not have been here right now if it hadn't been for the gormless bastard who spared him during their first encounter on Earth, saying it would be a waste should a warrior with Vegeta's strength croak. The one who had given him a sensu bean on Namek, replenished him after he had been trashed by Recoome despite the fact that their plans on that planet conflicted, the fact that Vegeta would have ended Kakarot's sorry existence without hesitation had he achieved immortality then.

He was not so cold blooded anymore, not the merciless executioner Frieza had changed him into. His freedom from the tyrant had given him the chance to shake that side off, bring himself back closer to what he had been before the WTO took him away. It had taken him years, many years on Earth to do that and the woman's mistrust towards him hadn't help make that any easier. It was there that he came to understand that no one could go it alone, although he had accepted none of them to go it with him. Not Kakarot, not any one of Kakarot's weakling friends, not the woman. The only ones he had allowed in were his children. He had been alone really. On his own until that little Captain stormed into his life. He had chosen her as his companion, the one to have his back. And she had chosen him to have hers, even if she hadn't accepted that she needed him for that yet.

Vegeta slipped into the bower of his very soon to be Queen. There were no guards at the doors here. His little mate didn't need them. Didn't want them either. A few more hours and he would officially make her the most influential woman on Vegetasei. Her private apartments were nice. They were smaller than his own yet very luxurious, the theme and colours in the adornments a sweltering umber streaked with gold. So she did take some pleasure in worldly possessions and comfort. When the bower was his mother's, the furnishing had been different. Light and breezy. Akane had built herself a dark, little lair to retreat in. She had taste. The air of sensuality in these rooms bore her signature. Her bower was as intoxicating to the senses as she was.

The evidence of her overindulgence was scattered on the table in the small humid front room. Plates and salvers with leftovers, turned over cups, a positively alarming amount of empty pitchers, heaps of ashes from pipes. A wooden chair lay on its back on the marble floor. A piss up indeed. The fire in the hearth was reduced to glowing cinders that gave off a soft reddish light, the only source in the room as the candles on the table had long since burned out.

His addiction lay royaly draped amidst a heap of cushions, spread eagled on her back and looking like she had simply stretched and passed out there after gassing up, her head lolling over a fat, tassled pillow. She was wearing one boot and the other lay beside her opened hand. The place under her eye where her mark used to be was now occupied by a single red streak that would become pink like the scars at her mouth and temple once it was healed. The latest addition suited her savage disposition as much.

His eyes roved her and he found her tight green shirt had rode up to reveal his thumbprints and the vertical ellipse that was her navel. The erotic sight of it impelled him to kneel at her side and trace his finger along the gentle hollow. He dipped in to lap at it with his tongue until she stirred with a growl and he pulled her closer by her waist to kiss her before she could open her eyes. The taste of wine and pipe smoke were clear on her lips. He had no idea she smoked. He felt some decline towards this. Even so it wasn't unattractive. The smell and taste of her was all wild and exciting. It was all he needed to get a lob on.

He broke the lazy kiss to speak softly. "You have some disgusting habits."

"Sod off." his little mate grated in her hoarse voice.

She arched away from him and made a whining sound, her fierce little hands going for her head while she squeezed her eyes shut. Apparently the wine wasn't so good to her anymore.

Vegeta slipped his hand under her shirt to rub the hot skin of her abdomen. "You never told me you smoke."

"I don't smoke." Akane snarled in a very raw and smoky voice that proved her guilt. "Only when I am on the piss. Go complain to your father about it. He taught me both."

"I am not complaining." Vegeta assured her with a snicker. "Were you too gatted to make your way back to me?"

"If I had been I would still be half-pissed right now."

"You're not?" Vegeta teased.

The hands fell away from her head and she loured at him. "You are harrassing me."

"I am." Vegeta admitted. "Did you have fun, little one?"

Akane made a rough noise in her throat that could mean anything. Satisfaction or displeasure, she gave no indication either way. She had fun. The way he found her passed out with only one boot on was proof enough. He slipped his hand down her smooth calf and pulled it off for her, for a moment captured by the sight of the small and very sexy foot he revealed.

"Who is watching Aina?" Akane demanded gruffly.

"The nurse. Ringo is on guard." Vegeta held up the scouter he had placed on the ground at his side.

"Sad bastard." Akane grouched. "If my head feels this bad, his should be falling off his bleeding neck. He was poleaxed."

"He didn't look all that happy." Vegeta agreed and this had her smile at last. "That my lady likes."

"Don't call me that!" Akane snapped with sudden aggression. "If you or any of those overblown bastards think for a second that I am going to act like one, you can all just go fuck yourselves."

Vegeta pushed her back down by the shoulder when she made to sit up. He rather liked keeping her amidst the heep of cushions because he had a mind to join her there soon as whatever was bothering her was cleared up.

"Is that what you're concerned about? Having to act like a lady?"

No answer. Her hard eyes turned to the ceiling where she shut him out both in the physical and mental sense. He couldn't get into her mind if she didn't want him to anymore. She had become far too skilled at repelling him.

"I thought we were past this." Vegeta said with a vexed sigh. "Don't shut me out. Tell me what is bothering you."

Nothing. Nothing but her baring her teeth viciously at the ceiling.

Vegeta pulled her face towards him. "Akane, I mean it. I am of no mind to play this game with you again. You have to let me in."

"I am not a lady." Akane hissed up at him.

"You already made that clear. It is hardly a revelation. You remind me of it every day with your revolting behaviour." Vegeta jogged her teasingly. "You are forgiven. I learned to live with you in spite of it. You can become my Queen without becoming my lady. I don't like ladies. I like mean little warriors like yourself."

Akane slapped away the hand that had returned to rub her abdomen. "That's a problem."

Vegeta seized that small, violent hand so that it wouldn't end up thumping him in his face. He could never be too careful with his little mate. Not with those hard eyes narrowed like they were now. She was poised to strike.

"Is it?"

"Don't." Akane snarled when he bit one of the fingers he had captured in his hand. "I will bring shame to your title."

Vegeta lowered their hands, taken aback by what she said. "Shame? This is not like you, little one. You love yourself more than I do."

"That's right. Take the piss out of me." Akane complained. "What if the lords will not respect you because of me? With my revolting behaviour? Those chinless wonders take offense at everything. I trust you can win them over, Vegeta, even if you refuse to comply to the rules of court. You are made to be King, but I am…"

"You are made to be my Queen." Vegeta finished for her. He grinned. "I like you just the way you are. Every filthy inch of you. And I love every disagreeable word that comes out of your foul little mouth. You are second to no one. They should be honoured to have you as their Queen. You will remind them of what is in their blood. That Saiyajins should live by the ways of a warrior, not those of idle lords. They bring shame to my title. They bring shame to our whole race. You pay your blood homage. You are achieved as a warrior and you have proven to be a sound leader. It has to be you. Akane, you brought forth a true Super Saiyajin. The first in thousands of years. There is no one more fit to be Queen."

He rubbed her abdomen again and she surrendered to it this time around, her eyes returning to the ceiling. She was not reassured by his words.

"What then, Akane? Not become my Queen? You accepted me as your mate. You knew this would be your place one day."

Akane faced him and spat: "Of course I knew." Then the scowl left her. She sighed. "I just worry. I want this to go smoothly for you. You are not like them. You will change the rules of this game and the lords will not appreciate you for it. I would hate myself if I did anything to make your reign even harder on you."

"You sound like my father." Vegeta said displeased. "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't play games? The leaders either follow me or they don't. This planet is in shambles. I have more important things to occupy me than seeking ways to keep the lords contented. If they have a problem with that, or with you, I will replace every last one of them for men that do wish to serve me. They might think I need them to support my reign, they need me to support theirs more. I have overthrown my own father. Do you really think I give a fuck about the title of some lesser lord?"

"Those smarmy gits are in for an unpleasant surprise with you." Akane decided, more at ease now. Her hand slipped to his beneath her shirt and she threw him a tempting smile. "It gets me hot when you talk so regal."

Vegeta was rather hot himself. That wild taste of her kept reoccuring to him. And she shouldn't worry. She was fit to be Queen. A wild Queen. His very own warrior goddess. He set his teeth in the lovely soft flesh of her belly, gently for once, just atop the imprint of his thumb aside her arousing little navel. Then he slipped his tongue in again and had her shivering by doing so.