Thrax

 Perhaps he would be fortunate.  Perhaps he would be called upon to lie with some female in the hopes of conceiving and it would not happen.  If, after a requisite period of time, no conception took place, both partners would be released from their obligation.  In that event, Thrax would return to his right and proper life with no harm done, and he would never be called upon to serve himself up as a dragon stud again. 

But the odds were against it. 

Thrax’s heart was heavy.  In all his life, the only thing he had ever loved as much as Knighthood was s*x.  Now, for the first time, the prospect of s*x lay before him, and he did not necessarily welcome it.  S*x was the only pleasure in his life that was not also a duty—until now. 

In the seating box, Agena Morrow looked out across the bridge to the stage at the Knights and Corps members standing there, and she wondered which of the males would be chosen to be hers.  Of the Knights before her, none wore fewer than two colors, and she spotted some wearing three.  There was some prime material over there.  As soon as that thought entered her mind, she frowned a little bit.

 As excited as she was at the prospect of lying with one of those males and trying to become pregnant with him, she reminded herself that they were not, after all, just prize bulls and stallions.  They were people.  They were men.

Yes—men.  Some of the most gorgeous men that the Milky Way had to offer, with faces and bodies in which she could lose herself in rapture and bliss.  It would be a rapture and bliss with a purpose other than pleasure, but then the pleasure would be beyond compare.  As a champion Sphereball player and a celebrity who was considered one of the galaxy’s most attractive women, Agena was accustomed to having her pick of eminently desirable men with whom to bed down.

She  had actually slept with a few Lacertan Knights in her travels.  They had come directly to her, or she directly to them, and the s*x was magnificent but otherwise unproductive: for a Knight of Lacerta was so bound to duty that upon assuming the Knighthood, he or she swore an oath of non-matrimony and underwent a reversible sterilization. 

After being paired in the Lottery, the Knight with whom she was matched would be released from his vow and have his sperm production resumed.  Then it would be only a matter of time, or so she hoped.  In the meantime, she would offer him the shagging of his life as much as he wanted, for as long as it took to produce a new little athlete, or a new little defender of the colony, or whatever else their child turned out to be. 

And to get it, all she had to do was get through this most public exhibition of what should be the most private matter in her life.

Agena had never been shy or timid, qualities that did not lend themselves to the career and life that she wanted.  She had always been confident, competitive, and assertive — the proverbial “go-getter.”  When she saw things that she wanted, she went after them.  That was her way, and it had served her well.  And yet, she did believe that there were spaces in a woman’s life—in anyone’s life—that ought to be for her alone.  Choosing a lover, a mate, and a spouse; becoming a mother; and raising a family: those were not things that one did in an arena with thousands of people watching and shouting.  Those were not things that one did with the entire galaxy watching.  Those were private things.

When this whole loud, voyeuristic display was over, she looked forward to pulling down a curtain over her life and then doing with the Lacertan who was chosen for her what she always did.  She would go and get him and let him know in no uncertain terms that she wanted him and wanted his child.  And when she got him into bed, she would make it very worth his while.  Who knew—perhaps they would even fall in love.  It was a big galaxy.  Stranger things had happened. 

From out of one of the competitors’ entrances to the playing field, a bowl-shaped floating carriage appeared and maneuvered itself over the turf toward the bridge between the stage and the platform, where it settled into a hover.  In the hollow of the bowl stood a male Lacertan in dragon form, his green scales turned grayish and dull and his spines turned a golden brown, signifying his elder status.

 In their reptilian bodies, their bipedal, upright body carriage was the only indicator of their human selves.  The elder, a Lottery Master, carried a glowing, two-pronged staff that symbolized his office.  He surveyed the crowd, the suitors and suitresses, and the aspirants before he spoke, an audio unit in his garment amplifying his voice so that it carried out loudly over the entire arena: “Welcome, one and all, of all genders, species, and planets of origin, to the Silverwing Stadium!  The week’s first Courting Lottery of the Knights and Dragon Corps of Lacerta will now begin!” 

And a raucous, shrill, and ringing cheer welled up from every direction, with a mighty stamping of thousands of feet and pedal appendages, and a clapping and waving and clicking of thousands of hands, tendrils, claws, and manual extremities.  The crowd was clearly ready for the sport of couples coming together for the first time. 

Some of the aspirants had already signed contracts to allow their entire courtship to be transmitted to curious onlookers all over known space.  Even edited portions of their actual coupling would be made available for viewing.  Agena had not signed any such agreement — the thought of it made her blood run cold and made her want to hurt someone.  As long as one member of the couple did not give his or her consent, their courtship would be kept completely private.