by Jean Johnson
“She’s that strong? Oh, right. The Fountain,” his mother corrected herself. “Well . . . good for her. Make sure you reward her appropriately. She’s a Disciplinarian, so don’t forget to ask her if she likes to top or bottom in her personal time.”
“Mother!” Krais spluttered, blushing hotly enough under his tattooed hide, it felt like his whole body had flushed red.
“ . . . What? I may be your mother, but you’re a grown man, she’s a grown woman, and you’ll both have plenty of needs,” his mother told him pragmatically. “Your father absolutely hates submitting to anyone else, but he loves being subservient in bed with me. It’s one of the best ways I know of to get him to relax. I know he’s still upset with you right now, but I’ll try to get him into a much better mood overnight so he’ll be feeling more charitable tomorrow.”
Krais clutched his head in his hands. “Mother, please! Stop mentioning you, and sex, and with Father all at the same time! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I do need to get all of this moving finished before I need to tidy up to go meet the Naranna family in a few more hours,” he added, struggling to clear his mind and regain some adult dignity after that assault on his thoughts.
She reared back a little and frowned up at him. “You’ve never been this prudish about sex before now. Are you sure you don’t need to go see a mind-specializing Healer?”
“It’s not that! It’s the fact that I only just recently discovered I like sensation play—and I don’t want to associate any of that with my parents,” Krais stressed. “That sort of thing may be popular in all the erotic literature coming out of Senod-Gra, but I’m not into it, and I intend to live right here in Mendham. Where I’ll be seeing both of you nearly every single day?”
“Oh. I suppose you have a point. I apologize, my son,” she told him. Looking around, she paused, twisted to look in the direction of his brothers’ rooms, and said, “Have you been taking their things out of the house, too?”
Krais blushed. “Just the things I know they’d consider important.”
“Oh. . . . Would you consider leaving just a few things? The little blue warrior of Gayn’s? I stitched that one out of my old apprentice librarian dress. And the cat that Foren had, made out of stuffed rabbit fur . . . ?” she asked tentatively. “I know I was so enraged earlier, but . . . my temper has cooled, and they were my sons . . .”
“I already moved them to the Elder Mage’s residence. I . . . wanted them on hand in case I ever needed to hug one of my brothers by proxy,” Krais confessed.
“Oh. I see.”
“You’re welcome to visit and hug them, too,” he offered gently, touching her arm. “It might be safer to do that there, where Father cannot stumble across them and be angered by the memories.”
She hugged him at that. “Thank you, Krais. You’re a good son to me. You always have been, even when you annoyed me to no end.”
He hugged her back, wishing his father was able to be this kind and forgiving. Sort of kind and forgiving. His parents were never going to be soft toward him. Still, she was his mother, and she could bend in her own way, he acknowledged. “Thank you, Mother.”
* * *
* * *
“So,” Pelai stated, settlling on her bed next to him, wearing nothing but a lightweight cotton taga, a fresh fundo for sleeping, and her cat Purrsus, who promptly abandoned snuggling Krais’ soles in favor of huffing and nuzzling against her recently boot-covered feet. He did so by climbing over her lap and balancing on one of her shins.
“So?” Krais asked, raising his brows. He tucked a scrap of paper for a bookmark between the pages of the adventure tome he had been reading, trying to relax at the end of this long, stressful day.
“So . . . now that everyone knows you’re nobody’s penitent anymore—at least, those who count—and the ex-Mekhanan idiots have been rounded up and shipped off to other hands so they’ll now be a headache for some other Guardian to manage . . . what do you want to do for lovemaking tonight?” she asked. Then she tilted her head. “Or did meeting my family for Family Day supper scare you off the idea of still being mine?”
That made him arch a single eyebrow at her. “Did meeting and working with my family scare you away?”
“Hardly,” she scoffed.
“Then I’m not scared by yours in any way.” Krais started to say more, but hesitated. That made her quirk her own brows, silently urging him to speak. She also looked like she was holding her breath, anxiously awaiting whatever it was he said next. To relieve her of the wait . . . he said it.. “Pelai . . . I love, um . . . sensation play. With you. But . . . as much as I love it, as much as I want to keep exploring it . . . For tonight . . . ?”
“Oh, thank the Goddess!” she exclaimed softly, and rolled up against him, snuggling into his side.
The air cooling spells here in the Elder Mage’s residence were much better and fresher than the ones in her old tenement off by one of the lakes, so he didn’t feel sweaty or sticky wherever their flesh met. Krais shifted to tuck his left arm under her neck, hugging her to his chest by her shoulders. The implications in her relief were interesting. “You didn’t want any sensation-based Disciplinarian games, tonight?”
“I love it, I enjoy it, and I can’t wait to introduce you to more of it,” she nearly parroted right back, echoing his own statements. “But it has been such a stressful day . . . I do want to make love with you, but . . . I want to do it the plain way. Not the Disciplinarian way. I want lovemaking that’s . . . that’s like aftercare, after all the abuses of today. I don’t want to think about your brothers, or those Mekhanans, or anything but being gentle and sweet and comforting each other. If that’s alright with you?”
“Thank Menda, because that sounds perfect, Pelai. I am quite happy to do it the regular way, just for comfort,” he reassured her. Then . . . because he could not pass up the opportunity to tease her, asked, “So what is the plain and ordinary way? It’s been so long, my memory is so very hazy . . . Perhaps you could show me whatever we’ll need to do? Does it require hot wax, or clothespins, or . . . ?”
Laughing, she whapped his chest lightly . . . and then plucked at one of his chest hairs, making him jump and grunt. At least, one of the remaining hairs, after they had experimented with all of that wax over the last week. “Be careful in how you tease me, Krais; I’ll still torment you for it, even if I do love you.”
Happiness washed over him. Twisting to hug her more fully, lying on his side with her, he kissed Pelai on her brow and murmured, “That’s good. That is perfect, because I love you, too. Tomorrow, we can think about hot wax and clothespins, and those metal nail-things you showed me being raked down my back. Tonight, let’s just make love the regular way.”
“You are such a sweet-talking tease,” she quipped, and sealed her approval of his ideas with a very thorough kiss. One that only a Disciplinarian could possibly consider plain.
Song of the Guardians of Destiny
When serpent crept into their hall:
Danger waits for all who board,
Trying to steal that hidden tone.
Painted Lady saves the lord;
Tower’s master’s not alone.
Calm the magics caught in thrall:
Put your faith in strangers’ pleas,
Keeper, Witch, and treasure trove;
Ride the wave to calm the trees,
Servant saves the sacred Grove.
Cult’s awareness, it shall rise:
Hidden people, gather now;
Fight the demons, fight your doubt.
Gearman’s strength shall then endow,
When Guild’s defender casts them out.
Synod gathers, tell them lies:
Efforts gathered in your pride
Lost beneath the granite face.
Painted Lord, stand by her side;
Repentance is the Temple’s
grace.
Brave the dangers once again:
Quarrels lost to time’s own pace
Set aside in danger’s face.
Save your state; go make your choice
When Dragon bows unto the Voice.
Sybaritic good shall reign:
Island city, all alone
Set your leader on his throne
Virtue’s knowledge gives the most,
Aiding sanctions by the Host.
Faith shall now be mended whole:
Soothing songs kept beasts at bay
But sorrow’s song led King astray.
Demon’s songs shall bring out worse
Until the Harper ends your curse.
Save the world is Guardians’ goal:
Groom’s mistake and bride’s setback
Aids the foe in its attack.
Save the day is Jinx’s task,
Hidden in the royal Masque.
By Seer Haupanea
Jean Johnson is the national bestselling author of both military science fiction and fantasy romance, including various series, such as the Flame Sea novels, Theirs Not to Reason Why, Sons of Destiny, and Guardians of Destiny. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.
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