She had tried to keep her anger tamped down, but she felt it erupt inside of her like a molten volcano. “Knock the rock out? You sonofabitch! I don’t need any man to knock anything out for me. Get the hell out of my shop!”
He was supposed to leave. She thought he would give her one of his sneers with his full lips—that she hadn’t noticed he had at all—and leave. That’s what he was supposed to do. But in the next second, he’d pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Not some peck on the lips, like she’d kissed Cliboaris, clan of Obnis, in middle school. His kiss was deep and thorough, as she felt his tongue part her lips and delve into her mouth with its warmth. She heard herself moan before he released her from his embrace. She could only stand stunned into silence, blinking in disbelief. The heat of anger she’d felt seconds before was replaced with another kind of heat. A heat that threatened to consume her in an unexpected desire.
He smiled slyly. “Don’t worry. I know how you don’t like to thank anyone unless you’ve asked for their help. That one is free. But you’ll have to ask for anything more.”
He turned and left the shop, letting the small bell above the door jingle in his wake. It was only then that she let out the breath she’d been holding. She quickly put the closed sign on the door, locked it, and after waiting a specific amount of time for him to be out of the vicinity, ran as fast as she could to Kinsbithu’s.
Chapter Five
“You didn’t stop him from kissing you,” Kinsbithu said to her once again, as they sat on the bed in her bedroom.
“I was in shock, Bithy. So, no. I didn’t stop him.” Eielawyn said less than convincingly to even herself.
“And he said you’ll have to ask for anything more?” Kinsbithu said with a smile. “Damn. I mean…by the goddesses, Eielawyn…ask!”
“Bithy! No. He’s a royal guard and he’s crass, and he’s…he’s…well…he’s too perfect, if you must know.”
Kinsbithu nodded. “Oh, that makes perfect sense. But I agree with him.”
Eielawyn gave her friend an incredulous glare. “You agree with him how?”
“I agree with him that you need the rock knocked out between those big thighs of yours. Your pussy needs cock, and I mean now. It is an emergency cock alert.”
“Kinsbithu, daughter of Crim. You’re supposed to be my friend.”
“And…” Kinsbithu stood and walked over to look out the window out at the ocean beyond. “As your friend, Eielawyn, I have the right to tell you when to not fuck something up. He’s into you. You’ve got to get back on the horse. And if there were ever a horse to get on…shit. I’d say you need to find a fuckin’ saddle and tell that man that you want to ride him all night long.”
“I’m not desperate, Bithy. And I’m not about to jump on some man just because he’s attractive, muscled, and sexy.”
“Well, it’s good to know that you aren’t completely blind and dumb. But enough of this. We have bigger problems.”
Eielawyn stared at Kinsbithu, as she made her way back to sit on the bed. “I knew something was bothering you. Is it Praedis?”
“No, no, no. Praedis is fine. His mother just feigned sickness to keep her baby boy as close as she could, and away from me. I should just head into Yaeltaran to Corbeahth and surprise them both. He’s supposed to be back next week, and then he’s off again for business. Maybe he’s trying to avoid me. I thought that by now we would have pledged our essence to each other. I’ve been with him for almost seven months, but I’m starting to think that maybe this relationship has run its course. But enough about my love life. It’s…um…it’s Filkothinor. He’s really sick, Eielawyn.”
“Shit. How sick?”
“Sick mentally and physically. We have to get him out of that fuckin’ cave. Ever since I told him about his wife, he’s been going downhill.”
“What about his daughter? Can we get him to her?”
“He can get an air transport in Yaeltaran to Jahlmerikahl, but he has to get to Yaeltaran first.”
It was Eielawyn that stood then and started to pace back in forth in front of the bed. “Does he have the strength for the trip to Yaeltaran?”
“I don’t know. I have to help him, Eielawyn. He and Lordesnoar were the ones that took me in after my parents died. They raised me from the time I was sixteen. I mean, I know I was basically grown by then, but they were kind to me. I have to do something. He’s going to die in that cave if he doesn’t get out of there. Alone.”
“What about some of those in the rebellion. Can they help?”
“They were told to lay low until things cooled down with the guards. Word is, some of the troops will be leaving Yaesdrah by one Guimith. It’s four Djee. It’s still nice out, but Talal is coming, Eielawyn. That cave is going to be freezing.”
She knew it was true. Even though Yaesdrah was on the coast, it could be freezing cold in Talal. In hard years, there was even snow on the ground. She and Kinsbithu had put Filkothinor in a cave on the other side of the bay. Technically it was still Teveoch soil, but they were sure the guards would never think to look for an old man in one of the hardest caves to find abutting the Yaesdrah coastline. They hoped.
But as old as Filkothinor was, he was also instrumental in the rebellion against Balaedras, working closely with key officials connected to some of the kingdoms. Important officials, Eielawyn thought.
“Prince Laeros is in Yaesdrah,” she said.
Kinsbithu’s eyes pinpointed her. “He’s here? How do you know that?”
“I kind of ran into him and Raenos on the beach not too long ago. He didn’t let on that he knew me, if that’s what you’re fearing. I just don’t know why he’s here. But if he’s still here, maybe I can get word to him, and he can help us out.”
“Oh! Oh!” Kinsbithu stood, and started to stamp her feet on the floor like a three-year-old with a tantrum. “I just thought of something. Yay for Yaesdrah! The festival. The dance. It’s next week, Eielawyn. The guards will be busy guarding the festivities and we can move Filkothinor.”
“Kinsbithu, I don’t think we’re still having Yay for Yaesdrah this year. Not with this shitty embargo Balaedras has on any goods coming into Yaesdrah. We don’t have the tourist population. There isn’t much in the way of food, except for seafood, and I’ve eaten enough fish to last a lifetime.”
“We’re having it. I’ve spoken with the mayor and several on the town council. They feel it’ll do the people here good to have the festival, and I agree. So, we can have the guards busy with all of that shit, and I can move Filkothinor.”
“We—We can move Filkothinor.”
“No. I need you here to keep an eye out on things. I’ll take Lordesnoar’s old TCD. You use the one Gardrahsis left. If anything looks like it’s about to go three sheets to the wind, contact me, and use your powers to start shit. I don’t even care if it all goes batty. Batty will be good in that situation.”
Eielawyn nodded. “Okay. And Prince Laeros?”
“We need him to arrange transport to Yaeltaran. Do you think he’ll do it?”
“Yes. He’s a good man, Kinsbithu. I wouldn’t be here unless he hadn’t taken pity on a young woman trying to get away from the registration.”
“Okay. Okay,” Kinsbithu said, nodding confidently. “See if you can meet with him or maybe talk with him casually on the street. Or maybe—”
“I’ll handle it,” Eielawyn said reassuringly. “You just be prepared to move Filkothinor next week. Say, on Sixth day? The day of the festival and dance?”
“Yes,” Kinsbithu said, as the stress seemed to visibly leave her body. “I’m going to go out for a boat ride,” she said to Eielawyn. It was their code for checking on Filkothinor.
Eielawyn left Kinsbithu’s inn, making her way back along the dunes and toward town feeling more confident in the well-being of Filkothinor, if not in the well-being of her heart.
* * * *
Raenos sat silently in front of the image screen. The 3D projection hovered in front of him as
if it were reality instead of technology. Balaedras smiled softly at him, but he was still at a loss for words.
“Surely you must know how I feel about you, Raenos,” said Balaedras. “After your inability—shall we call it—for acting on my orders as I dictated them in the case of Filkothinor, I should have brought you in. Execution is the punishment for disobeying your queen, but I didn’t, did I? So, you must have wondered why?”
“I-I-I had no idea, your highness.”
“And you have no feelings for me? We were close at one time, Raenos. During Gaeldos’ reign. We shared an intimacy, so to speak. Looks, I suppose. I felt more. I…I wanted more. You know I’ve always wanted more. I offer that to you now.”
What the fuck, he thought. He’d been called into the conference room to take a very important call from the queen. Everyone had been ordered out of the room, which he assumed was because she was about to hand him his ass on a platter for not acting on the information they had on Filkothinor. He hadn’t expected her—the queen of Teveoch—the ruler of the kingdom—to offer him a place in her bed. To some, it would be a step up from being a royal guard. Not to him. She repulsed him. Not only physically, but in the person she was. He would take the execution if it meant he wouldn’t have to debase his morals and fuck the queen.
“Um…I understand.” Tread carefully, he told himself. “In any other instance I would be honored, your highness, but I took an oath. I value that oath, my queen.”
“And as queen, I can excuse your oath, Raenos.”
He swallowed hard. “Yes. I-I-I understand. May I ask the queen for her patience? I would like to fulfill my obligation to the guard. I have until One Talal here in Yaesdrah. I ask for that time until I give my answer, my queen.”
“Very well. But you won’t need to wait until talal. I’ll be reassigning the guard to the Fifth Regiment along the Balknae border by Three Guimith. I’ll await your answer then.”
In the next instant, the communication was gone. He was left alone in the communications room blinking in disbelief at what had happened. He eventually stood up from his chair and slowly left the transmission transport.
“Did you just kill someone in there? What’s up with you, man?” Laeros asked as he walked up to him with another man following close. “Oh yeah. Raenos, this is my man—”
“I’m Gildahlinaer. I’m Prince Laeros’ friend, confidante, and personal council.”
Raenos saw the glance Laeros gave to Gildahlinaer even if Gildahlinaer hadn’t. The look said he was his mother’s spy into Laeros’ comings and goings. He’d always had a ghost to trail him around. It came with being a prince.
Gildahlinaer was a short man, standing more than a foot shorter than either him or Laeros. But he was more than short. He was thin, with a thin, turned-up nose, as if he were perpetually looking down on others. His long, blond, hair hung limply around his shoulders with a center part, leaving the sides to be tucked behind his enormous ears. He actually wore a center part, Raenos noticed distractingly. No one he knew—no man he knew—wore a center part, and tucked his hair behind his ears. Gildahlinaer smiled at Raenos with superiority, his thin lips stretched to what was trying to be a smile, but only came off as a smirk.
“Um…nothing,” Raenos said to Laeros. “It’s nothing. Gildahlinaer,” he said with a curt bow of his head.
Laeros turned to Gildahlinaer. “Leave us. I’ll contact you if I need you.”
“Leave you? I won’t leave you unguarded,” said Gildahlinaer haughtily.
Raenos couldn’t help but laugh. “I assure you, if he seems in danger—” He eyed Gildahlinaer up and down. “—I can protect him. You have my word.”
Raenos waited for Gildahlinaer to leave before staring back at Laeros. “You feel like taking a drive?”
“You’re going to drive? You? You drive? When in the hell have you ever driven a mover? Excuse me. Car.”
Laeros followed Raenos over to a square-looking transport, with short, over-sized tires and an open-air top. The dark black of the transport’s exterior showed that it was a military issue, even if it looked a little racy for the atmosphere surrounding it.
“Just get in. Shit has just gone crazy,” Raenos said, as he started the car, and headed for the beach.
Twenty minutes later, Laeros stood silently in the sand staring in disbelief at Raenos. “Please tell me you aren’t considering it.”
“Fuck no! No! Balaedras? Even if I meant it about taking the vow—”
“You don’t mean it?”
“I’m not sure…there’s someone…the point is—”
“The point is,” Laeros said with a smile. “The point is someone has awakened the beast. The beast that swore to never be awakened. Am I right?”
Raenos thought about Eielawyn. She was all he’d been able to think about, as he lay awake at night. “There is a woman in town. She’s frustrating, and bitchy, and has an attitude that makes me want to just…but I kissed her.” He looked at Laeros warily.
“Okay. And?”
Raenos smiled without meaning to. He composed his expression. “And nothing. She hates the royal guard. There’s nothing there for me to pursue.”
“You’re talking about the woman we met on the beach last week, aren’t you? The one with the all of the curves, and the reddish-brown hair?”
“Eielawyn. She’s Mocmoran.” Raenos took a few steps toward the water. “If I were the same man that I was several months ago, I would have her arrested and taken to the queen. But now? I have this strange need to protect her. There’s a guard. Zhoardaeash. He’s more than just an asshole. He’s dangerous.”
“Has he threatened the woman? Eielawyn?”
Raenos walked back to Laeros. “No. Not that I know. But that’s just it. He’s already spoken to her in her shop. The look on his face told me he would’ve threatened her or worse if I hadn’t walked in. But I don’t know why I feel this way for a woman that hates what I am, and that I don’t know.”
“Do you want to get to know her?”
Raenos let out a soft laugh. “Do I want to get to know her? Laeros, if you knew what I’ve been dreaming of doing to her. Shit. Every time I’m near her, I purposefully rile her just to see the glint in her eyes. Those eyes…damn. And the way her cheeks flush when she’s angry. It doesn’t take much, and I feel myself wanting her. What the fuck is wrong with me?”
“Why were you assigned to Yaesdrah?” asked Laeros.
Raenos frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Why were you assigned here? You’re a lieutenant in the fuckin’ royal guard. Yet, Balaedras sends you here? Why?”
“It’s punishment. I was part of her personal guard when Gaeldos was in power. I suppose I was the one guard she trusted over others. But I was put into a position of either obeying the king’s orders, or hers. He was the king. The last thing I wanted was for Gaeldos to send me to the tombs. She couldn’t do much, since technically I was still a royal guard of Teveoch under Gaeldos’ rule. But because I disobeyed her, I was first sent to Jruindars.”
“Brother.”
“Yeah. It’s as frozen and desolate as they say. But I should’ve known Balaedras had set her eyes on me. She had my three-year duty cut down to a year and a half with approval, I think, and I was sent back to the palace. She was always finding some way to touch me or be alone with me. Then Gaeldos called me into his apartment once—not the counsel room—his apartment. He told me that I had two choices. He knew of Balaedras’ interest in me. You know how fucked in the head Gaeldos was. He could fuck every woman he could find in the kingdom, but he didn’t want his wife’s dalliances made public. So, I could either be assigned to guard the tombs indefinitely, or I could voluntarily come to Yaesdrah and set my own terms of duty. So, here I am.”
“And Balaedras can’t call you back to Morhais whenever she wants?”
“According to Teveoch law, since I set my own terms she can only end my term of duty if I agree, and if she gets approval of the seven seats. So, her a
pproaching me to be her…um…her—”
“Fuck buddy?” Laeros said with a cynical smile.
“Yeah. That. That’s not going to happen. The seven seats only approve extreme instances. Not because the queen wants me as a fuck buddy.”
“And Eielawyn? Is that going to happen?”
Raenos sighed heavily, towing the sand with the tip of his boot. “From the first time I saw her, she seeped into my pores. She’s so fuckin’ aggravating, though. In one instant, I want to slap that smart-mouthed smile off of her face, and in the next instant I want to do nothing more than kiss those lips raw.”
“Whoa, ho! You, my brother, have got a serious conundrum on your hands. So, what do you plan on doing about it?”
“What do you suggest?”
“Oh no, you’re not pulling me into this. I give you my opinion and it backfires, then you’ll be blaming me for the rest of my life for the one that got away.”
“No. I promise. I need another point of view, because I know what I want to do.”
Laeros glanced around the beach as if he were only waiting to hear what he already knew. “I’m going to give you my two daenirs’ worth, and you can take it or leave it. Then you tell me what you’ve already decided, because I can see it on your face. Go after her. Don’t take no for an answer. She’s already showed you she was interested. You kissed her, and she didn’t slap you or pull away, right? So show her that you’re a man that knows what he wants. She’ll resist at first, but nothing worthwhile in life comes easy. So…?”
Raenos laughed, peering at Laeros from the corner of his eye. “I’ve been with women. I haven’t made a career out of bedding and booting women from my bed, but I’m far from the royal guard poster boy. I always thought being a royal guard was the only thing I wanted in my life, so I followed the creed. No girlfriends. No wives. No family. Release my tension, fill a need, and leave them out of my life. But Eielawyn…I see her, and I want to pull her close. I look into her eyes, and I can’t imagine never seeing them again. As I said, she’s bitchy, and aggravating, and frustrating. But she’s also a woman I can’t imagine living without. She’s worthwhile, Laeros. She might very well kill me, but I’ll die happy.”
Eielawyn [The Maidens of Mocmoran 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 6
