Bekion and Minari sat on a picnic blanket under a shade tree. Other monarchs and nobles enjoyed private picnics in the area as well. Starling had been sitting with them until a few minutes ago. Their flirting looks and little intimate jokes started grating on her nerves so she left. Not far though, since Nausic and Webber weren’t there and only Rois guarded the area.
Udo allowed one personal guard per patron in his garden. Starling didn’t count as a patron. Any more than the one guard was an insult to the safety of his house. Starling didn’t care how safe his house was. She wouldn’t go wandering around without a proper guard. She stayed near Rois’ side and glared at Bekion.
She had thought, after Udo’s little attempt to separate them, her relationship with Bekion was deeper. Instead it seemed he wanted the continued presence of his beloved pet while he had relations with another woman.
Minari placed her hand on Bekion’s upper thigh. Starling’s urge to throw things at Minari’s head in the hopes of killing her grew in leaps and bounds. The woman even leaned into him and whispered in his ear. Whatever she said made Bekion laugh and cover her hand with his own.
Rois leaned down and whispered to her, **You seem angry, Starling.**
She looked up at him. She had almost forgotten he knew English now too.
**Is something amiss?**
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him. She stopped herself. After one last glance at Bekion with Minari, she turned away. **I’m just homesick.**
**Earth or Panagiota? Or do you consider Panagiota home?**
**I’m sure Bekion told you what the emperor tried to do.**
**He did.**
**Then you already know the answer to that question.** She tapped her cuff and then scrawled out a quick message to Nausic, calling him to get her.
Rois asked, “Leaving?”
“If Bekion asks, tell him I went back to the room.”
“You know he will ask.”
She looked over at Bekion and Minari. They had leaned even closer as they spoke, so much so that their cheeks touched. Their distraction with one another left no room for anyone else, least of all her.
She said, “I seriously doubt that.”
“Lady Starling,” Nausic called from the entrance of the private garden.
Starling gave Rois a half-wave and walked away.
She asked Nausic once she reached his side, “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”
Nausic blushed before clearing his throat. **As you abstain, so too do I.** His voice sounded strained.
Starling patted his leg. **It’s almost over.**
The month had passed slowly but it passed. They would return home soon, leaving Minari far behind. That thought appealed to Starling. She wasn’t one to wish away her time but she wanted this visit to hurry and end.
Nausic held open the door to his room so Starling could enter.
Webber called, “Yo. Thought you would be enjoying family bonding with Minari.” He jumped back when she glared at him. “Whoa. What’s that look for?”
Hearing the woman’s name made Starling want to hit something. Preferably Bekion with a large blunt object.
Starling stalked over to Nausic’s bed and climbed onto it without permission. “I’m sleeping here tonight.”
“The hell, you say!” Webber tugged on her ankle.
Nausic stopped Webber before he pulled Starling to the floor. “Stop.”
Webber said, “She can’t stay.”
Starling crossed her arms and presented the men with an unmovable object. “I’m not going back to that room.”
Nausic asked, “Why, Lady Starling? Is something wrong?”
“All Bekion does is talk about her. It’s driving me nuts.”
Webber made a sound of understanding and gave her a superior look. **Your man has found someone his own size to play with.**
Starling flipped him off.
“I told you, whenever you want to, just let me know.”
Nausic rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Starling. “I thought you liked Countess Minari. You spoke of their union with happiness and hope when you first met her.”
“Yeah, but I thought…” She trailed off.
What? What had she thought?
Bekion would marry Minari and then Bekion and Starling would continue with their illegal love affair?
Hah!
Minari had beauty and wit and, most of all, she was jattikan. Not only that but her head reached Bekion’s shoulders exactly. Starling hadn’t forgotten what Furielle told her all those months ago. It was true after all. Women taller than his shoulders didn’t hold his interest for long.
Minari definitely had his interest. He always hurried to see her. It was maddening.
She whispered, “Just…let me stay here, please. It’s only a few nights until we go back home.”
Webber crossed his arms. **And what—you go back to sleeping in Bekion’s closet? You just love rolling over for that man, don’t you?**
**It’s not like I can tell him not to marry her, Webber. If not Minari, he’ll marry someone else. He needs a proper wife and an heir. Those are things I can’t be and can’t give.**
Maybe Furielle had been right all along. Starling had been a curiosity to Bekion, exotic. He may have professed to love her but that was lack of options speaking. Now someone more familiar had presented herself so he wanted to be with Minari.
Starling would do the adult thing and stand aside. Even if doing so made her feel as though she was dying inside.
“Please.” The sound of tears in her voice disgusted her. She held them back but it was a near thing.
Webber sighed. He climbed onto the bed and hugged her close. “You know I’m just giving you a hard time. Sure, you can stay here.”
Starling hugged him.
Nausic rubbed her back.
All their attention almost made her lose control over her tears. She refused to cry. Not over something like this.
She took a deep breath and shook herself. “Distract me. There has to be a game we can play or something.”
Webber and Nausic exchanged a look.
Starling added quickly, “A nonsexual game.”
Both men laughed.
* * * * *
Bekion helped Minari stand and then bowed over her hand. “Your company enchants me as always, Countess Minari. I look forward to dinner tonight so we can see each other again.”
She giggled up at him. “I look forward to it as well, King Bekion.”
He watched her walk away. The movements of her body were distracting, after all. Also, people expected it of him. Some of the nearby couples winked at him when he looked around. He grinned at them as he departed.
He left the private garden, heading for his room. Rois fell into step behind him. Once they had passed the majority of the people milling around the halls, Bekion asked, “Where is Starling?”
“She said she would return to your room.”
“Good. She must have become tired.”
Rois coughed a little.
That reaction made Bekion stop. “What?”
“You could say she is tired, Bekion, but fatigue isn’t the cause.”
“Meaning?”
“She seemed more than a little upset about the time you are spending with Countess Minari.”
Bekion started walking again. “That is necessary. Minari is a good woman. She will make Panagiota a worthy queen. I must court her properly. Starling knows that.”
“What a woman knows and what a woman feels are two different things, Bekion.”
Such sage advice didn’t fit, coming from Rois’ mouth. That didn’t change the meaning of the words.
Bekion agreed. Starling may know his duty but that didn’t mean seeing it through wouldn’t hurt her. He needed to make it up to her.
Rois bowed to him once they reached Bekion’s chamber. Bekion entered, ready to face Starling’s wrath. She wasn’t there.
A scene like this had played ou
t once before. Remembering it made his blood freeze. He tried to stay calm as he opened the door and confronted Rois. “Where is she?”
Rois frowned. “She isn’t here?”
Bekion growled at his answer.
“Nausic escorted her, Bekion. Perhaps she went to his room.” Rois jumped out of the way in time to miss being mowed down.
Bekion ran the distance to Nausic’s quarters at the end of the building. He pounded on the door.
Nausic opened it with a surprised expression. He bowed quickly. “King Bekion.”
“Where is Starling?” Bekion rushed through the door, making Nausic jump back much as Rois had.
“She is here, of course, Your Majesty.” Nausic gestured across the room.
Starling and Webber sat at a human-sized table playing cards. They didn’t acknowledge his entrance.
Bekion relaxed and let himself breathe normally. She was safe. This wasn’t a repeat of the kidnapping incident. He had overreacted.
After a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart, he walked over to the table. “Starling, there you are. I thought something happened to you.”
She stiffened but didn’t look up at him or give him the smile he expected.
“Starling?”
She said in a cold voice, “I thought you would be with Minari tonight.”
“I do have a meeting with her later this evening.”
“Well, have fun and don’t worry about me. I’ll be sleeping here tonight.”
**Like hell.** Bekion reverted to an English curse he’d heard Starling utter many times, because it was the only appropriate response. He stalked over and grabbed her around the waist. She didn’t fight him. That was a good sign at least.
He walked out the door with her tucked under his arm rather than in her usual position. He carried her like that all the way to his room. Many servants gave him perplexed looks. He greeted them and exchanged a few pleasantries but didn’t slow his pace.
Once in his room, he slammed the door shut and then dumped Starling on his bed. “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Tell me.”
Starling tried to get off the bed but Bekion got in her way. He planted his hands on either side of her legs and leaned into her. She shied away from him and turned her head.
He asked, “What is this? Why are you acting distant from me, Starling? Have I done something to upset you?”
“That you don’t know pisses me off even more. Just move so I can go back to Nausic’s room.”
“No.”
She pushed at him. He grabbed her hands and held her as he kissed her lips. She turned from his kiss, so he held her chin in place and tried again.
“Bekion, stop it. Just stop.”
He pulled back so he could meet her gaze. “Why are you denying me, Starling?”
“You have Minari now. What do you need me for?”
He released her and straightened. “You’re jealous.”
Starling jumped from the bed and ran to the door.
Bekion followed her. He held it closed with little effort though Starling still struggled to get it open. With his free hand, he caressed Starling’s side.
She froze.
He moved his hand forward, under her shirt. Her heart beat rapidly beneath his touch.
“Stop it,” she whispered even as she pressed against him and arched into him.
He moved his hand lower until he felt the moisture between her thighs. He stroked her lower lips several times, enjoying the feel of her hips moving to make the contact more intimate. He denied her that fulfillment.
She clutched at his wrist and urged him to touch her the way she wanted.
Bekion continued teasing her. He bent over her and whispered in her ear, “Even when I marry Minari, I will still want you, Starling.”
He sucked her earlobe between his lips and drove his fingers deep inside her at the same time. Starling slapped her hands over her mouth but he heard the muffled moan of satisfaction.
His reaction almost equaled hers. They had abstained for almost a month. He ached to be inside her.
That single thought took hold and all else no longer mattered. He pulled the clothing from Starling, turning her so she faced him as he went. She hugged his shoulders and kissed him.
He continued moving his fingers inside her. “I have missed you all these days, my pretty pet. Even as I courted Minari, I thought of all the things I wanted to do to you once we had returned to Panagiota.”
“Lock the door.”
Bekion had expected Starling to say something else. Words that mirrored his own, for instance. He thought perhaps he heard her wrong. “What?”
She framed his head with her hands. “Lock. The. Door.” Each word was punctuated with a kiss.
Bekion smiled at how she delivered her command. He flipped the lock and tested the knob to make sure the door was truly latched. “What would you command of me next, my Starling?”
“Take me to bed.”
He lifted her and carried her to the bed. Once he laid her against the cushions, he asked, “And now?”
“Make love to me.”
“With pleasure.”
He removed her panties. The sight of her intimate flesh glistening with the moisture of her passion for him tempted him forward. He spread her legs wide. When he touched his mouth to her lower lips in a deep kiss, Starling pressed her hips upward as she cried out her pleasure.
Bekion savored every bit of her, paying close attention to her hard nub. It twitched against his tongue, begging to be sucked. He obliged.
Starling sat up quickly and hugged his head with her whole body as she climaxed.
The sounds of her satisfaction made his arousal throb and jump. He needed to be inside her. His patience had ended. Pulling free of her arms, Bekion surged forward. He drove his hard flesh home in one stroke.
That single action almost undid him. He held back his release, barely. He didn’t want the encounter to end. Not yet. Not for a long while.
After getting his breathing under control, he gathered Starling close. She giggled as Bekion rolled so she sat astride him. He would have more control over himself if he wasn’t in control of this encounter.
He said, “I want to see your beautiful body moving for me and me alone, Starling.”
She raised her hands up to the back of her head and shimmied her body, stirring her hips around and around.
Bekion rested his hands on her thighs as he bucked beneath her. Their combined movements were beautiful torture. He still held back his release. This might be the only intimacy they shared until they returned to Panagiota. He wanted it to last.
Nothing else mattered except Starling.
The door clicked and then opened.
Bekion said with a grunt, “Go away, Rois.”
“I had thought to continue our earlier conversation now rather than wait for dinner, King Bekion.”
He froze at the sound of Minari’s voice. His gaze flew to her, not believing she was there.
She was.
Behind her, Rois wore an apologetic expression as he shook his head. When he put his hand on Minari’s shoulder, probably to usher her away, she shrugged him off. Rois took a breath to speak but his words couldn’t be heard because Minari entered the room and slammed the door shut, all without taking her gaze from the sight before her.
Minari stared at Bekion and Starling. They stared back at her.
Starling fell off Bekion, clutching the blanket to her chest. She mumbled, “Oh no, oh no.”
Bekion touched her back, thinking to soothe her. She half screamed and pulled away. He sighed. This was a problem he’d known would be confronted sooner rather than later. He sat up on the bed and faced Minari. “What will you do with this information?”
Minari’s gaze lowered.
Bekion didn’t have to look down to know what held her attention. The low light of the room glistened off the moisture coating Bekion’s hard arous
al. Minari’s gaze moved to Starling, the source of the moisture.
“Don’t look at her,” Bekion snapped. He moved sideways on the bed, hiding Starling. “This is between us, Minari. What will you do with this information?”
“That depends,” Minari said in a hesitant voice.
“On?”
“I want this marriage, Bekion.”
“Still?” He blinked a few times in confusion.
Minari snorted at his question. “I don’t care if you’re a pet-lover. Many who own humans are. At least your human is from Earth and looks somewhat like a young jattikan. She is not as repulsive as those bred in the empire’s veterinary clinics. Your dalliance with her could be seen more as pedophilia rather than bestiality.”
Bekion surged to his feet and advanced on Minari. She dodged to the side when he reached for her but not fast enough. He grabbed her arm in a hard grip and said, “You will watch your words when speaking of the woman I love, Minari.”
“So, you love her then?”
“Yes.”
Minari eased her arm out of Bekion’s grip. “I will let you have your lover, Bekion, so long as you let me have mine.”
That surprised him. “You have a lover?”
“I do.”
“You are willing to cast him aside to have a crown?”
“I cannot marry my lover because she is my head maid. My relationship with her is seen almost in the same light as your relationship with Starling. If not for the supreme emperor’s law against same-sex pairings, I would have taken her as my wife.” She smiled up at Bekion. “I’m sure the same would be true for you if the supreme emperor had granted the Earth humans citizenship.”
“You’re right.” He glanced back at Starling. She had a look of relief on her face. That made up his mind. He turned back to Minari. “We are expected to have heirs of each other.”
“I am prepared to do that. The child would take hold quicker if I enjoyed the coupling. I had feared asking you to allow the addition of my maid to our marriage bed. I don’t have that fear any longer.”
Bekion nodded. “She may join us, so long as you don’t mind Starling’s presence as well.”
“Done.”
Pet's Pleasure Page 32
