The princess decision

The following morning, the entire harem awoke in a loose circle on the soft mattress floor of the ambassadorial bedchamber. Dustin struggled upright and sat with his back to one of the raised plinths, the sleep barely rubbed from his eyes as Emely poked her head out of her nest. The Feliax woman’s increasing desire to just stay in her fort of blankets and cushions vaguely worried him, but Bleu had checked the previous night and said she was fine; as long as the medic gave it the all-clear he was happy to work around his submissive’s latest fascination.

The plan that morning was to finally have the vote on Jaisyl joining them, although Emely’s nesting did cause a few issues as they shifted from the bed to the ready room. The first, hunger, was one Naera neatly solved by darting back into the kitchen and returning with a basket of the previous night’s leftover pastries. The second, distraction, was far harder to resolve. Having multiple attractive women in a naked or near-naked state did not help Dustin retain his concentration on the matter at hand, doubly so whenever one leaned in to whisper in the ear of another, their breasts pressing enticingly against their lovers’ arms.

Coughing, more to distract himself from an erection that owed surprisingly little to Rabyth enzyme and rather a lot to being surrounded by beauty, Dustin addressed the gathering. “Alright, ladies. Jaisyl has now completed her dates with all of us. What’s our verdict? Naera and Rye, do you want to go first as you were neutral on her when she first joined?”

The engineer and chef looked at each other, then shrugged. “She’s fine?” Rye began, adding “didn’t freak out when I got us making… umm…” the bunny girl blushed furiously as she trailed off.

Meli rolled her eyes, ears flickering into amused annoyance. Before the Velcan could say anything however, Naera cut in. “She liked cooking. And when she’s not being quite so far up her own backside with all the pomposity she learned growing up, she’s actually fun to be around. I vote we let her in.” Rye hastily nodded in agreement, so Dustin turned to the next in line.

Sammie gave a quick thumbs up. “She likes grav-ball. And she’s cute, you gotta admit it. I’m down.”

Bleu lounged back in her seat at the pilot’s words. “As am I. Honestly, she is very attractive and clearly trying to learn to be better than she is. Is that not exactly what we’d want in a partner? Plus, she’s trying to find her own place in the galaxy, not just our bed, and that to me at least is what Dustin is looking for for everyone.”

As the medic slid out of her chair in search of a top-up for her drink, vote cast, Defia leaned forward. “Statement. I believe she tried hard to impress us all. At first I thought this to be due to her wanting to become intimate with the prime unit, but following a discussion during my date I can confirm she is actively attracted to several of us and willing to experiment with the remainder. Addendum. She said several complimentary things about Yaerwen that I analysed to be nine-nine-point-eight-three percent likely to be truth. I vote to accept.”

The Hoxx woman half-choked on her glass of juice, setting it back down as Aricia patted her on the back. “She said nice things about me? You gotta tell me what they were later on, Fi-oh. But yea, she was fine on our date too. Not saying she’s not a Tho’unn and stuck up because of it, but she’s been trying hard since before we spent the evening together to be nice and not let our species’ past get in the way of our potential friendship. I say yes too.”

Trea’k tapped her chin thoughtfully. “She cared for my offspring more than she cared for making a good impression on our date, rushing to prevent C’harl’ette from harm even if it appeared rude and untrusting of my ability as a mother. The fact that her instincts were to protect the young regardless of the cost to herself says a lot about her character. I concur with the others.”

At that, Aricia shrugged. “Yes. We had a lot of fun on our date, and I’m probably gonna have another evening like that with her even if we vote no. Only difference this vote will make is if we end up in one bed or two at the end of the night.”

All eyes turned to Emely. The pregnant fox girl was barely visible in her nest of blankets, Rye and Yaerwen having moved her into the ready room by the simple method of sliding a metal tray under the nest and carrying the entire thing through before depositing it on one of the larger seats. “You all know I don’t like how she spoke about sir when we first got together,” the Feliax mumbled, an arm emerging to snag a biscuit from a passing tray as Naera topped up the snacks.

“But,” Emely continued “she’s tried hard since then. I still think she’s an ass, and I’m gonna make sure she works doubly hard if we let her in… but I’m not gonna say no to someone that’s clearly head over heels for sir.”

Meli smiled at that. “Well then, husband. If we take that as a yes, or at least a positive-leaning neutral vote from Emely, then you have either a complete or near complete sweep suggesting we accept her request to join. For my part, she thought about a date that would be both engaging for me and useful for her in the future which illustrates a keener mind than she normally appears willing to demonstrate. I am thus in agreement with the others. Therefore, the final decision is yours.”

Looking around at all his assembled lovers, Dustin nodded thoughtfully. “She has been a complete tsundere. To the point of even claiming to not like me much while asking for a date. That’s refreshingly different, as long as it ends with her being confident in her feelings moving forward. I don’t want to have someone in our relationship that’s constantly acting like she doesn’t care about it at all… which was my concern with these dates. Judging by what you’ve all said however, and my own experiences with her, I think we can safely say that she won’t be continuing with her previous behaviour if we let her join.”

Pausing, he took a moment to drink some of his mocha, the caffeine helping wash away any remaining sleepiness before he continued. “That said, there is another matter that is not normally one we need to consider in these votes. If I… well, you know, with her, that will consummate our marriage. Meli, Sammie, Rye, Emely, Trea’k - out of everyone here, you’re the ones that are already either my wives or your species’ equivalent. Does the fact you’d be getting another bride joining you change anything?”

The five women glanced around at each other, Emely’s face even appearing through a hole in her blanket nest before at last they all nodded. “Husband,” Meli began, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we don’t exactly lose members of this relationship once we’ve gained them. I believe I speak for all of us when I say that we are fine with that fact and took it into consideration when making our initial vote.”

Rye nodded. “Ya paired with me, Dusty. That’s what matters, not how many other people get a formal link with ya. I know we ain’t ever going to lose each other, no matter how many people we’re banging. Besides, I’m pretty sure we’d be getting more brides sooner or later anyhow. There’s no way Naera’s gonna refuse to let us see her in what her people consider a wedding outfit, and I have it on good authority that Hoxx formalize that sort of long term partnership via a fully nude ceremony… I already got a bet with Sammie going on what shade of red you’ll go during that one.”

As Yaerwen slowly blushed herself, Sammie leaned forward. “The thing is, we married you first, doofus. Hell, everyone after Meli is technically already playing second fiddle; do you think that matters with our lifestyle? We’re together, you care for all of us, if we’re all banging the princess it doesn’t really make any difference if she’s your betrothed, wife or just another woman we’ve all agreed to let join our bed. What matters is that we all care for each other and look out for each other. Stop overthinking things, husband.”

Dustin smiled at the three of them - and Emely and Trea’k, the other two giving thumbs up gestures as he took in all that had been said. “Well then… I guess we’d better get her in here to give our princess the good news… but perhaps we should wait until this evening? There’s a chance she’ll want to jump in the deep end, and I really shouldn’t go back to bed so soon after waking up.”