I explained, “What happened to me has happened to a lot of the wizards I know. It was just a matter of wanting to do too much for too many at one time. I’m sure that Tabitha and Anne will keep a closer eye on me and make sure that I don’t do this again.”
Emory nodded. “Seth, I know you couldn’t know in your state, but Lady Tabitha had to be pried away from your bedside for meals. I also think that the Lady Anne is a very good choice for your first concubine.”
The last comment startled me. “Did you say, ‘my first concubine’?”
Emory chuckled softly. “It seems that Anne went to your wife and requested the position. Your wife has been doing a lot of research on the subject and deduced that the concubines of our country are almost exactly the same as… I forget.”
“Consorts?”
“Yes sir, that’s what she called them. Most of the Nobles here have at least three concubines, but some more or less. Judging from your popularity with the people of the district, I can see you having as many as you felt you could care for.”
I laughed and held my head. “I didn’t even know I wanted one. I suppose that’s why I married. This way I don’t have to know what I want and someone will be there to tell me. Now, this is my reason for bothering you. I’d like to have a room assigned to Noam and have him put on the payroll as my Valet.”
“It’s already been done as of this morning. I expected it, since he insisted that he was going to attend to you, regardless of pay or housing.” He addressed Noam, “Your room will be on the second floor, the far room to the left.”
We both nodded and I bid him a good morning. As we were walking to the foyer, Noam spoke just above a whisper, “I know that your head is still bothering you, but there are rumors of your death. It’s cloudy this morning, so the sun wouldn’t hurt your eyes, if you could step outside. I’d go to the road to make sure that everyone was quiet and there were no cheers.”
I shook my head and sighed. “I’ll step out, but I find it strange that people would cheer just because I was all right.”
Noam grinned and rushed out the front door. I watched him go to the gate and the house guards started moving through the crowd. He turned back toward the house and signaled me. I walked out onto the front porch and waved to the crowd. The hush over the area was eerie. I’d never seen that many people gathered in silence in my life. When they saw me, the gathered throng all bowed or curtsied. I saw that the entire length of the fence in front of the estate was lined with bouquets of flowers and there were even some wreaths hanging from it. There was a worshipful reverence in the air, and why not? I was giving these people everything I could give and more. I’d been suffering for the last few days because I wanted to help too much. It was nice to be recognized for what I did. Back home I’d been up at dawn helping people all day and rarely got a thank you out of it. Finally I’d found people who were grateful for the things I did for them.
I’d been up for long enough, so I signaled Noam and he came back inside. As we climbed the first flight of stairs, my head started swimming, and I almost lost my balance. Noam scooped me up as one would lift a small child and effortlessly climbed the second flight of stairs. He set me down gently at the top and I tapped softly on the door before opening it. Noam returned to the position I’d first found him in, beside the door, and I went inside. Anne rushed across the room and pulled me into a tight hug. When you’re four and a half feet tall, being pulled up against a pretty, young lady is quite an enjoyable experience.
She held me at arm’s length and spoke softly, “Please don’ go wanderin off like that. ‘Specially when ya ain’t been able to move for so long. If Tab had woke up with ya gone she woulda been frantic.” She leaned down and kissed me so passionately that my already spinning head spun faster. “I reckon I shoulda let Tab talk to ya first before I done that. She’s accepted me as a family concubine, but I’m s’pose ta wait to see if you wanna have me, too.”
She noticed that I was a bit unsteady on my feet and helped me to the bed. I smiled at her. “From what I’ve heard, concubines are like the consorts that Nobles of Eredwynn sometimes take. If that’s the case, I’d be honored to have someone as beautiful and giving as you in my family.”
She blushed deeply, then leaned over and kissed me more tenderly. “Ya know, I was at that camp for two years but I dinna give up the flower like mos’ girls did. Some of them boys tried to talk me in ta it, but a smack to the head would change their minds.”
I smiled. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it and I promise to be gentle with you. You’re a very special person, Anne, and I’ve cared a great deal about you for quite some time. I’m very happy that you’ve joined the family.”
Tabitha rolled over. “I’m very glad to hear you say that, Seth. When she came to me and asked to be a concubine, I wasn’t sure exactly what she meant. I went to Emory and he gave me all the details. I’m glad, too, because it wasn’t two days later that Diana, the girl you healed with the broken arm, asked if you’d take her, too. I didn’t give her a yes or no, because I wasn’t sure how you felt about her. I knew you loved Anne; I could see it in your eyes. I’m glad you’ve accepted her because, now that you’re up and around again, she can help with the spirit building exercises. I’m not complaining, but last week did get me a bit sore.”
“I’m sorry that I hurt you, my love. We didn’t have to make love that often, but I do enjoy it with you. Please, always tell me if I do something that hurts you or makes you uncomfortable.”
Tabitha nodded and smiled. “It wasn’t so bad that it interfered with anything, but I promise to tell you in the future. With Anne to help, we shouldn’t have that problem again. And there’s Diana who may want to be with you, should you decide that you wanted her in the family, too. Since you look as though you can barely keep your eyes open, we’ll let you rest.”
I chuckled softly. “You’d think that I’d had enough rest, but you’re right. I’ll be taking off my clothes now, so if anyone will be embarrassed, they should look away.” I kicked off my shoes, pulled my tunic over my head and slipped out of my trousers.
Anne looked at Tabitha and whispered, not quietly enough, “You was right! He might be a small man in stature, but some parts are at least human size. Now I understand how a lil’ lady like yourself could get kinda sore! That sorta even worries me!”
I tried to ignore the comment, but I could feel my face turning red. It turned out that the one who was embarrassed by my nudity was me.
I crawled into bed, the lights were dimmed and Tamia was rounded up for breakfast in the kitchen.
I woke and realized that I’d slept another day away. Soft kisses on my neck had been the trigger for my awakening. With my eyes closed, I smiled, enjoying being kissed good night. The kisses moved past my collarbone and to my chest and I was surprised that Tabitha was feeling particularly loving this evening. When the row of kisses moved to my belly, I opened my eyes and saw Tabitha smiling. She was watching as Anne moved down my body. I had no idea of her intentions, but my manhood started waking up to find out. When her tongue flicked along the shaft, my member became fully erect. Suddenly I found myself engulfed in hot wetness, with her tongue swirling around me. My eyes rolled, as I’d never experienced anything like that before. I felt that if she could make me feel that way, perhaps I could return the favor. I pulled her leg over me so she was straddling my chest and pulled her down on me. I let my tongue and lips explore until I heard her gasp. Then I knew where she liked to be touched the most. I worked on that spot until her whole body stiffened and shook. When she relaxed, she turned herself around and positioned my member between her legs. She gave me an adoring look and spoke softly, “I love you, Seth, and always will.” She lowered herself onto my engorged member. She gasped as ‘the flower’ she’d saved in the farms was taken, but continued until she could go no farther. She moved up and down, rotating her hips as the passion grew, until she leaned forward and grabbed a pillow. She buried her face in the pillo
w on my chest and muffled her cries of ecstasy. I put my mouth in the crook of my elbow to muffle myself as I exploded. I wrapped my arms around her and held her to me as the passion faded.
Tabitha handed Anne a towel as she rolled to the side and grinned at me. “I believe that you enjoyed that! It might be strange, but I found it quite exciting myself.”
I kissed Tabitha. “I have a feeling that you were behind that sneak attack. I’m not complaining at all and feel a lot better suddenly. I hope you learned that thing she was doing that got me so worked up. It was amazing, but I want you to know that this doesn’t make me love you any less.”
She smiled. “Like I’ve told you time after time, I stayed with James and his family and know the relationship between a wife and the consorts. Now you should get some rest and hopefully be able to function like the man I’ve been missing these last few days.”
I lay back on my pillow and sighed as Tabitha and Anne cuddled against me. Their warm, naked bodies soothed me back to sleep.
Chapter Ten
The next morning I woke to voices outside our door. Noam’s voice actually was all I could make out. “Excuse me, little girl, but you can’t be up here… OK! You must know His Honor; please, just put me down!’
Suddenly my door burst open. I heard, “Seth Stephenson, what is this I hear about you traveling with a young lady and rumors of marriage. Oh, my stars! Forgive me, ladies; I had no idea my son had company.”
I raised up. “Good morning, mother. If you don’t mind waiting in the other room, I’ll get dressed and you can yell at me while my ladies dress.” She nodded rapidly and retreated through the door I indicated to Anne’s room, shutting it behind her. The girls were both laughing so hard they could hardly breathe.
I smiled. “Why don’t you two get up so I can have my mother talk to us in here?” That toned down the laughter a bit. We dressed and I asked my mother if she’d be willing to join us.
A bit subdued, she came back to our bedroom. “Well, son, it would seem that at least some of what I’ve heard is true. Are you going to introduce me to these lovely ladies?”
“Mother, this lovely little thing is my wife, Tabitha; I met her when I went to visit James before I left. And this beautiful lady is Anne. Tabitha and I ran into a situation when we first came to Gormesol and Anne helped us out. She is our concubine, Gormesol’s consort. ”
Mother curtsied. “It is very nice to meet you, ladies. I hope that we become good friends. Anne, I’m glad that you chose to join the family last night. The towel by the bed says that you’re a very new consort indeed.”
Anne blushed and picked up the towel. She quickly took it to her room where it would be out of sight. There was a light knock on the door as Anne returned and she happily went to answer it. Karly came in and I smiled at her.
“Karly, would you mind getting her up and bringing her in here? There is someone that I’d like for her to meet.”
Karly nodded and I turned to my mother. “How did you even know where to find us?”
“It took some coaxing to get Lia to tell me where you were, but when she saw how worried I was, she cracked. We went to Omedo and the nice young man who is the king there told us that you were here. Lia had to really work with her remote viewing, but finally found this place. The gentleman at your door was quite agreeable when I floated him off the floor. Lia is downstairs visiting with your steward and the maid staff.”
I started to respond when I heard the squeal of an impending attack. I turned toward the noise and took a knee just in time to avoid being bowled over. I was caught in a six-year-old bear hug and got a kiss on the cheek. Tamia turned to my mother, stared and looked back at me for reassurance. “Dad, I don’t know her. Is she our friend too?”
Mother’s eyes went wide with surprise and I answered, “She is more than a friend, my big girl. This is my mother and that would make her your grandmother.” I turned to my still stunned mother. “Mother, this pretty lady is Tamia Stephenson. Tabitha and I adopted her a few weeks ago and she’s been growing ever since. I hope you can stay long enough to visit with her for a while, but right now she needs her breakfast.” I signaled Karly, who rounded up Tamia and ushered her out the door. My mother stared at her until the door closed, then she turned to me with tears streaming.
“I can’t believe I have a granddaughter! You never were one to waste time when you wanted something. What happened to the girl’s family?”
“You met Aaron and might have heard about his uncle. His uncle had the girl’s family killed in front of her. She was climbing out of a dungeon the first time we saw her. My big-hearted wife couldn’t leave her to whatever fate threw her way and Aaron signed the adoption papers.”
My mother sniffled then cocked her head. “Do you think you can explain why it looks like you’ve just barely recovered from a total magical blackout?”
Tabitha spoke up, “I believe that I can explain that. It seems that your son is so hard-headed that he’ll take care of others rather than himself. He’s been healing the sick and injured of the district, and a badly mangled man came in. He put everything he had into healing the man, and then dropped like a stone. He scared Anne and me so badly that all we could do was just sit and cry for two days. Part of last night’s… umm… exercises were an attempt to help him recover.”
Mother smiled and shook her head. “He always did put others first and I can tell that last night’s games did help. I know he can be hard-headed, but any… treatments you can talk him into will help him recover faster.”
Anne grinned. “I don’ think that’s gonna be a problem. Lady Tabitha and me learned somethin’ that he ain’t gonna say no to.”
I could feel myself turning scarlet. “Please, I don’t think that my mother really needs any details about what goes on in here. She sees chairs and a desk and couches. Let her believe that we just sit around and talk.”
Mother giggled. “I wasn’t born yesterday, my son. Now, how can I locate Lia and bring her up here. I had a thought that might just keep you from wearing yourself out so badly.”
I walked to the door. “Noam, would mind locating a lady named Lia. Last I heard, she was talking to Emory. I’m also sorry for my mother’s behavior. She’s used to getting her way and can be quite convincing when she doesn’t.”
Noam nodded. “So I’ve learned, sir. I’ll locate the lady for you and ask her to come up.” And he sped away on the long legs I’d restored for him.
I went back inside and joined the family while we waited on my sister. It wasn’t long before there was a tap on the door and she walked in. I jumped up to hug her. “Lovely sister of mine! It seems like ages since we were at the range and I was getting attacked by novices.”
Lia grinned. “And if I remember right, you were lamenting the fact that no girl wanted to have anything to do with you. After talking to Emory, I learned that you have at least one consort and a wife, to boot. You didn’t even give me a chance to run them off. Your appearance tells me that we need to talk.”
I playfully hung my head. “Yes, my dear sister, whatever you say.” I looked over at Tabitha. “Would you mind entertaining my mother while I show Lia around?”
Mother grinned, clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “You two go have fun. I’m sure the girls and I can find plenty to talk about.”
I rolled my eyes so Lia could see. “We’d better not be too long. She’ll have told them both enough about me to run them off.”
We walked out of the room and with Noam on our heels, I showed Lia around. We chatted about this and that until Lia finally spoke what was on her mind. “Are you going to tell me how you ended up finding love and getting married? And you have to explain your consort, or concubine. You were very worried about that only a month ago.”
I told her about meeting Tabitha and the slave camp where we met Anne. As we started for the front door, Noam stopped us.
“Seth, is your head feeling better? I could go request silence again if you need it.”
I smiled. “Thank you for your concern. I’m feeling much better today.”
He nodded happily and opened the door for us. As we walked out, there was a hushed murmur from the crowd. I turned to face Lia. “Do you want to see something odd? All I’ve been doing is healing people since I got here, and they love me; watch this.” We walked to the edge of the steps and I held up my hand and waved to the gathered throng. On cue, they all bowed and I turned back to Lia. “See, they all love me. I bet I wouldn’t even have to worry about finding a woman now. Let’s go see.”
Lia cocked her head to the side, gazing at me with concern. “Seth, are you all right? You’re not letting all of this get to you, are you? Knowing what your life at Wizard’s was like, I could see how this could go to your head.”
I chuckled and started walking toward the gate. “No… well, maybe a little. But I helped a lot of people in two sessions and they’re just grateful. Considering how much suffering I got rid of, I guess they should be thankful. I want to test a theory and see if the woman problems that I had in Eredwynn are over.”
We got to the gate and using as little magic as possible, I floated myself up to where I could be seen. I spoke with my voice amplified, “Good people, I’ve considered taking another concubine. By a show hands, would there be any ladies here that would be willing to take that position?”
At least a hundred hands shot into the air. I saw hands from women age fiftyish on down. I smiled and felt that I was loved. “I’ll need time to decide, but I thank you for caring about me. I should be recovered from my illness in a few days and will announce another healing session. Please, don’t neglect yourselves or your families to keep vigil here. I am recovering, thanks to the love you good people have shown. Be good to one another and I’ll see you again soon.”
I floated to the ground and Lia grabbed my arm to steer me away from the gate and the people. Noam made a growling noise in his throat and stepped forward. I shook my head. “She’s my sister and is like my mother and me. Trying to make her let go of me would be a very bad idea.”
Seth, A Naiad's Son (Generations of Eredwynn Book 3) Page 9
