Happily Harem After

by Amy Sumida

  I was sitting at the high table, surrounded by my fiances, when my father had informed us about the date of our own nuptials. He had already spoken to the priest, who may have been shocked, but was willing to do anything to pacify his king. My mother had pulled some of her treasured silks out of storage, and my wedding dress would be started the very next day. My grooms would have to go through a similar torture of being measured, not only for their wedding clothes, but for a whole new wardrobe befitting princes. Bayard started laughing at the faces his sons were making until he was informed that he too, would have to submit to this process. He needed to look the part of a baron. Bayard grimaced, muttering something about a mermaid and a simple life.

  I had been escorted down to dinner by all four of the brothers. They had been waiting patiently outside of my room when I opened my door. I had smiled at them all, but could barely look at Robyn without blushing. What had he done to take care of the ache I'd left him with? The images I kept coming up with made my legs clench.

  “Are you alright?” Arnet asked me. He was seated to my left, with Barret on my right. A perk for having received the lower bedrooms.

  “I'm fine,” I gave him a shaky smile.

  “You look beautiful tonight,” he took my hand and kissed the top of it. Arnet's lips lingered on my skin, and his eyes sought mine. As hard as the rest of him was, Arnet's eyes were a contrast. A soft shade of green, like moss on the forest floor. “Your face is flushed a pretty shade of pink,” he observed wryly.

  “Oh,” I cleared my throat and looked away.

  “Here,” Arnet poured me some wine. “Maybe this will help.”

  I thanked him and drank it down quickly, then cursed. My head spun, and I closed my eyes. Alcohol, nerves, and sexual frustration didn't mix well. Barret steadied me, his warm hands going to my upper and lower arm simultaneously. I felt a shock from his touch that set my legs to trembling. Now that Robyn had opened the door to these tremulous sensations, it seemed that none of the brothers could touch me without making me feel desire. What was I turning into?

  I stood abruptly, and the men all followed suit.

  “I'm sorry, it's a little too warm in here for me,” I waved them off. “I just need some air.”

  “Allow at least one of us to accompany you,” Barret said in concern.

  “Would you care to do some stargazing, Princess,” Hugin offered.

  I looked over his earnest expression and nodded. Here was a nice, non-threatening, non-sexual diversion. It was exactly what I needed.

  I took Hugin down one of the passages which led to the inner gardens. This particular garden was one of my favorite places, and was often empty. That night was no exception; we had the entire enclosure to ourselves. I breathed deep of the clean air, scented lightly with the perfume of night-blooming flowers, and leaned my head back. The moon was high above the little sanctuary. It cast silver light over sleeping flowers and made the surface of the gazing pool into a mirror. Hugin trailed his fingers through the water, making our reflections waver. I looked up at him, and he smiled.

  “Why don't we sit down?” Hugin gestured to a little stone bench. I took a seat, and he joined me. “Do you want to tell me what's wrong?”

  “It's...” I shook my head and started again. “I'm feeling a bit...”

  “Overwhelmed?” Hugin asked softly. “All of this, it's happening so fast, isn't it? Do you want me to speak to your father about postponing the wedding?”

  “No,” I answered quickly, and he smiled. I flushed and looked away. “I mean, it's just nervousness. I suppose any bride would be nervous.”

  “So it has nothing to do with your bathing Robyn?”

  I jerked back around to face him, my mouth falling open, and my face flushing as he chuckled.

  “We're brothers,” Hugin shrugged, “and we're close. We don't have secrets between us, and we weren't going to start with you.” He laughed again, “You got him quite worked up. Robyn said he hadn't felt so desperate for a woman since he'd first reached manhood. Honestly, I wish my manservant had thought of it first.”

  “I can bathe you tomorrow,” I offered without thinking.

  Hugin's lips parted on a sharp exhale, and his eyes went hot.

  “I can't believe I just said that,” I put my fingers to my lips in shock. “I'm shameless.”

  “I wish you would say it again,” Hugin's arm slid around my waist. “Do you think I'm as attractive as Robyn?”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  “So you don't prefer him over me?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then, I'll look forward to tomorrow,” he leaned in closer, but all he did was kiss my cheek. Then Hugin pulled away a mere inch and took his telescope out of a pouch at his waist. “Would you like to see Heaven now?”

  The words turned my throat dry, but the vision of him bathed in moonlight made me salivate. I swallowed past the dryness as I took the time to appreciate his perfect masculinity. Hugin looked like one of the marble statues strewn about the garden, come to life to taunt us poor women with his sculpted features and smooth skin. Or maybe he was an angel with golden locks, come down from Heaven to test me. Heaven... hadn't he said something about Heaven? Yes, he could take me there. No! I mean, he could show it to me. Oh God that sounded scandalous too, didn't it? I couldn't think straight with his soft lips so close.

  Hugin leaned back to show me the telescope, oblivious to my agitation. The telescope shone beneath the moon, just a small cylinder of silver. But then he extended it into a long tube. Hugin held it up to his eye and peered briefly through it at the sky. Then he smiled and handed it to me.

  “The sky is clear tonight,” Hugin said, “perfect for stargazing. Go ahead, Adelysia. The heavens await you.”

  Heavens, plural. Right. As in the sky. Was that what he'd said earlier? Was I hearing things now? Hearing what I wanted to? I could have sworn Hugin had implied something else. Something much more erotic than stargazing. But I could have misunderstood. Was I was a licentious woman at heart? Was one sensual interlude all it had taken for my lusts to rise and consume me? Dear God, I was an immoral woman!

  “Adelysia?” Hugin cocked his head at me. “If you're not interested in looking at the sky, I understand.”

  “No,” I protested, blushing to be caught in contemplation of such carnal things. “I do, I just...”

  I gave up trying to explain my behavior and simply held the telescope up to my eye. And gave a sharp gasp. I had looked through such tools before, seen straight across the land and peered at the little sparkling dots in the sky, but this was far different. There were colors out there. Swirling, sparkling, glowing mists of pink, orange, and white. I spanned the firmament, releasing awed breaths as I spotted one magnificent conglomeration after another.

  “These are not simply stars,” I whispered.

  “No, you are looking beyond them,” Hugin said.

  “But how?” I asked without removing my eye from the cool metal.

  “I did mention that it's a magic telescope, did I not?” he teased, and I blindly slapped at him.

  “Here,” Hugin whispered in my ear, sliding his arm further around me as he used his other hand to adjust the telescope. The view changed again. I saw a large ball encircled by misty debris. “Let me see,” I eased aside, doing my best to hold the scope steady, and he took a brief glimpse. “That's Jupiter; it's a planet like this one.”

  “A what?” I gaped at him, lowering the telescope in my confusion.

  “Earth is a planet, a great big sphere like that,” he waved to the sky. “Though I'm sure we look much different from afar. My old master taught me a lot of things. He had a telescope like mine, but it was far larger. Through it, he showed me things I never knew existed and told me all about them. No one else on Earth knows these secrets, but I will share them with you, Princess.”

  “You will?”

  “If you'd like,” he smiled gently.

  I nodded, and he smiled brighter.
<
br />   “There is so much I can show you,” Hugin said excitedly. “Out there, in our Universe, there are more planets. And beyond our Universe are galaxies, entirely different star systems. There are things called black holes, which seem to be made of nothing but darkness, and asteroids, which hurtle through space like fiery arrows. And of course there are the stars, millions of them. I've seen heavenly bodies so beautiful, nothing on Earth can compare to them. Except for you.”

  I felt my cheeks heat at his flattery but then frowned in confusion. Similar words had been spoken to me before, by countless men. But this was the first time Hugin had said them, and that made them special. I tucked them away in my mind so that I could recall them over and over. Perhaps I wasn't an indecent woman after all. It was the brothers. They affected me in this way. Only them.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, but I wasn't just thanking him for his flattery. I was grateful for Hugin himself.

  “This little piece of metal is useless to me now,” he tucked the telescope away. “Why stare at the sky, when a goddess sits beside me? Why search the earth, when I could worship at your feet?”

  My breath caught, and I found myself staring at the full lips which had uttered such beautiful words. I'd expected Barret to be the one to spout poetry to me. But the brothers continued to surprise me. Hugin, with his stars and longing stares, was the romantic, not Barret. Which made me wonder, for just a moment, what Barret's shy gaze hid. How would Barret behave when he was alone with me? Then Hugin leaned slowly towards me and reclaimed my full attention.

  He gave me every chance to object, but I just waited, a little impatiently, for his kiss. Hugin's lips brushed mine, just the barest graze, and my thighs jerked together. I felt him smile against my mouth, then the pressure increased, and his arms pulled me tight to his chest. I could feel the pounding of Hugin's heart as his tongue licked at me gently. I opened on a sigh, and he swooped in, gently sweeping his tongue over mine. Shivers coursed through me and I slid one arm around his waist to pull him even closer, my other hand going to his face. Hugin moaned as I slid my palm up his cheek and eased my fingers through his silky hair.

  I stroked his long locks, then pulled at them, urging him to deepen the kiss. But Hugin refused to rush, taking his time to pull back and nibble at the corners of my mouth. I squirmed and tried to take more from him. He just eased around my efforts expertly. Hugin's kisses went up the sides of my face, to my ear, where he licked and nibbled until I was breathing as if I'd been running for miles.

  “We have as much time together as we wish, Addy,” Hugin whispered in my ear. “Let me love you slowly.”

  I shivered again, his words bringing to mind images of long nights spent naked, pressed skin to skin, with Hugin. I sighed and relaxed into him. He was right; we couldn't consummate our marriage tonight. Why hurry to the edge of ecstasy only to stop cold? So I began to gently explore him as well, with fluttering fingertips and light kisses. Hugin inhaled sharply as I took his lesson and expanded on it.

  I learned the angle of his jaw, the sharp bend of it just before his chin, all through the sensitive skin of my lips. I gauged the softness of the flesh just below his ear, with a stroke of my finger. I discovered how sensitive Hugin was at the hollow of his throat, by rubbing my cheek there. I loved this, this slow slide of skin without the rush of lust. I covered his whole face, memorizing every dip and plane as a blind woman might, before returning to his lips and flicking the tip of my tongue over their full center.

  “Dear God,” Hugin groaned and pulled me into a much more demanding kiss.

  His hands went into my hair, then down my shoulders, and finally over my back. I gasped as he pulled me into his lap, thinking he would surely lose control. But Hugin took a deep, calming breath, and laid me across his arm so that I was staring up at him. My angel against the backdrop of his heavens. Hugin's lips were parted, his eyes dark with shadows, and he suddenly looked more devil than angel. But when he touched me again, it was with tenderness.

  Hugin eased his palm over my face, then ran a fingertip down my cheekbones. A kiss followed, then he rubbed his cheek against mine, dragging his chin down the line of my throat and laying a final kiss on the cleft of my cleavage. Hugin lifted his face and trailed his hand over the top of my breasts, just visible over my bodice. I closed my eyes against the pleasure.

  “No,” Hugin's hand went back to my cheek. “Don't close your eyes. Watch me as I watch you. See the way my eyes consume the trembling of your lips. Look on me and savor the beating pulse in my neck, and how your hand appears fragile against my face,” he brought my hand to his cheek, then turned his head into it and kissed my palm. “Take in everything with me, Addy.”

  “I will gladly look upon you till my very last breath,” I whispered.

  Hugin's face lit with joy, and his mouth descended to mine again. We didn't linger till my last breath, but we did stay quite awhile in the garden, discovering each other with open eyes and languid hands.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next day was filled with activity. Women fluttered around me like birds, squawking about fabric and flowers and jewelry. My mother serenely directed it all as I stood in the eye of the flock. I just held my arms out and let them do as they pleased.

  By the time they all finally left, it was time for me to start getting ready for dinner. But first, I had to bathe Hugin. I headed to the door set within the right wall. But before I even touched the handle, there was a knock on the door set into the back wall, on the right. It was only a few feet away, so it took me mere seconds to reach it. I opened it to find Arnet standing there.

  “Hugin traded places with me,” Arnet gave me a hesitant smile.

  “What?” I felt my stomach drop. Did Hugin decide he didn't want me anymore? After the romantic night we'd spent together?

  “Stop that,” Arnet took my hand. “Hugin told us what happened with you in the garden, and what you promised him. He felt it wasn't fair for him to take any more from you when there were two of us who had yet to have the... uh... opportunity to be alone with you.”

  I just stared at him.

  “If you'd rather go to Hugin, I understand,” Arnet said stiffly and dropped his hand.

  “No,” I reached for him. “I'm sorry. You just surprised me. Of course I'd be happy to see to your...” the breath hitched in my throat as I imagined Arnet getting into the tub. He was still clothed, which meant I would have to undress him.

  “Bath,” he finished my sentence with a smile and a whisper. “Then come down with me, Adelysia.”

  Arnet took my hand and helped me down the stairs, then into his room, shutting the door firmly behind us. There was a wood tub waiting before the fireplace, full of steaming water. Towels and soap were laid on a stool beside it, a discarded bucket at one end, and yet another wood stool had a crystal bottle placed upon it. Something which looked much too feminine to be in Arnet's room. I frowned at the bottle, but then forgot about it completely as Arnet led me forward towards the tub. Suddenly, he stopped and started stroking my hair. He must have noticed my hesitation.

  “Why don't we try something different?” Arnet asked.

  “What?” my breath was already ragged, my mind focused on what it would be like to undress him. I was afraid I would disgrace myself and touch him inappropriately. I couldn't behave like this; they would think I wasn't a maiden.

  “Will you allow me to wash your hair?”

  “My hair?” I hesitantly touched the braids of my elaborate coiffure.

  “Yes,” Arnet grinned. “May I?”

  “Uh... yes, I suppose,” I swallowed with a mixture of relief and disappointment. I had expected Arnet to be more aggressive, as his personality had hinted. I had expected him to-

  “Come here,” the words were said with just the hint of command, and I felt myself smile. Now that was the man I'd come to know. Arnet led me to the bed and eased me down, to lie on the mattress. I felt my eyes widen with worry, but he only placed a chaste kiss to my lips as h
e angled me so that my head was hanging at the edge, facing up. “Relax, Adelysia.”

  “You can call me Addy, you know,” I whispered.

  “Addy,” Arnet smiled and went to fetch a stool, the crystal bottle, and a comb.

  He placed the bottle on the floor, then set the stool before me and sat, so that my head was practically in his lap. Then he began to carefully undo my braids. Arnet sighed as he ran his thick fingers through the long lengths of my hair, smoothing out the ripples the braids had left. I was shocked at how gentle he could be.

  When he had all of my braids undone, I began to sigh too. The weight of my hair was held in Arnet's lap, and his expert fingers began to rub over my scalp. He had large, strong, calloused hands, and they gave the best massage, firmly kneading away the tension I didn't even know was there. Then he started to comb my hair. I barely felt a single pull; he was so careful. I found myself closing my eyes to enjoy the sensations better.

  When Arnet stood, he placed another sweet kiss on my lips, and my eyes flashed open to watch him. He went to the tub and filled the abandoned bucket with warm water. Arnet brought the bucket of water to the bed, placed it beneath my head, and draped my hair into the water. Then he went to gather soap and a cup. He brought them back and settled onto the stool once more.

  And then Arnet washed my hair.

  I can't tell you how blissful it was, draped over the bed fully dressed, while Arnet poured warm water through my hair. He massaged in the soap and then rinsed. Over and over, he worked the water through my locks until my hair was as clean as possible. He wrung the water from my hair, and put the bucket aside so that he could grab a towel. Arnet gently toweled my hair dry, finally placing the cloth on the floor, for my hair to rest on. Then he picked up the crystal bottle.

  I eyed it. There was a pale gold liquid inside.

  “What's that?”