by Megan Derr
"As my High King commands," Chass replied with another bow, shock filling his face briefly before he managed to school his expression.
"I mean it, Highness. Your parents and Allen have suffered enough. There's good reason for the tense relationship between us, reasons I've not forgotten, but I cannot overlook that you have always been unfailingly loyal—especially to Allen. I expect you to continue that loyalty by keeping yourself alive.
Chass saluted. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Jac, coordinate with Penance Gate on anything they need regarding their departure that we haven't thought of."
"Yes, Majesty."
"Then if the rest of you will all leave us, I would like a private word with His Highness and Lieutenant Charlaine."
Lesto gave Sarrica a look but said nothing, only led the way out of the office and closed the doors and locked them once everybody was out.
Sarrica said, "Sit, both of you."
They obeyed, and Charlaine didn't think he was imagining that Chass felt as leery as he did. No good ever came from a private audience with the High King.
Sarrica finished his wine, then set the cup aside, settled back in his seat, and said, "Lieutenant, effective immediately you are promoted to Captain."
Charlaine choked on the tea he'd swiped from Myra's desk. "I'm what."
"Should the need arise, you will take over as Acting Captain of Penance Gate."
Chass's face turned into a thundercloud. "I have never acted outside the purview of my position."
"But you have certainly lashed out in the past, against those you thought deserved it," Sarrica said coolly. "I am sending you into a situation where that would be far too easy to do, against my better judgement, because Allen specifically asked for you, and he has good reason for doing so. There are about a hundred things that could go wrong in Benta, up to and including your demise, and I need to know that Penance Gate will be under control should that happen—and no, I do not trust your lover or her bloodthirsty protégé to ensure that, whatever you say otherwise."
"Majesty," Chass bit out.
Charlaine was absolutely certain he'd rather go back to being staked in a field than stay in that room one second longer. It had been clear from what Jac had said, along with other comments, that Chass had once hurt Allen—abused him, likely. Whatever he'd done, Sarrica feared he'd relapse to that behavior somehow.
And Charlaine was supposed to ensure he didn't, or deal with the fallout if and when he did. Marvelous. Damn it, he just wanted to go home and resume protecting Kamir.
"I know you think I'm punishing you, Highness, but I promise I am only trying to ensure that you and your people survive and minimize the possible fallout of sending you to get directly involved with Benta's internal strife. We cannot afford to lose King Desmond, and you're our best chance at keeping him alive—and Charlaine will ensure you don't die doing it."
"As my High King commands," Chass replied. "Might I know why His Majesty specifically requested Penance Gate?"
"Because if his suppositions are right, you will be walking into a brutal, ugly mess as rebels attempt to take the throne. Takeovers by necessity entail murdering the current monarch. There were other groups we could have sent, but you're the closest and quite frankly the best. So stop being mad at me for ensuring your protection and go do what you do best, Highness."
Chass rose and gave another of his beautiful bows. "An honor to serve." He turned to Charlaine. "I'll see you at the harbor at first light, Captain." He gave the barest smirk, then swept off with the menacing grace of a blade being wiped clean and slid back into its sheath.
"Nice black eye, by the way. Who in Penance Gate gave you that?"
"Chass, actually," Charlaine said, and at Sarrica's angry expression explained yet again how it had happened.
"You certainly are going to have a difficult time of it," Sarrica said. "Dismissed, Captain. Tell Lesto to get back in here. You have the rest of the day to yourself. Take your lovers with you."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Charlaine replied, and with a fleeting smile, departed.
When Lesto had returned to the office, and Charlaine was alone in a side hallway with Jac and Myra, he explained all that had transpired. "I was hoping we'd have a bit more time together before something like this happened, but I should have known better. Still, I am sorry to be leaving so soon after we escaped one disaster."
Jac shrugged. "We knew what we were in for. We all have busy lives. This was going to happen eventually, and it will happen again. No apologies necessary. Just come back alive and well, Captain. In the meantime, I'll send you plenty of red wax letters."
Charlaine groaned. "Don't you dare! Penance Gate will never let me hear the end of it."
Jac laughed and kissed him.
"How about we move this to more private quarters?" Myra led the way upstairs to their room and locked the door once they were all inside. "So what did you whisper in Charlaine's ear, brat?"
Snickering, Jac pushed into his arms, twined her own around his neck, and kissed him soundly before pulling slowly away and replying, "That I'm going to fuck him senseless, more or less. I found time to go shopping."
"Only you would find the time to traipse about a country that doesn't like us, whose language you can't speak, to obtain sex toys," Myra said with a laugh, sliding his hands idly down her body, teasingly pinching her ass when he reached it, and laughing louder at the squeak and affronted look that got him. "How did you manage to accomplish your mission?"
Jac bit his lips in retaliation. "Lady Mark was delighted to help when I asked."
Behind her, Charlaine groaned. "I'm moving as far from Harken as I can possibly get. I like my life private. Why does everyone seem to know every little detail?"
"It's like you've not a Harken citizen," Myra replied, letting go of Jac to cross over to Charlaine and steal a few kisses, grinding a knee against his already hardening cock. "Or did you miss it every single time we've been called birds since arriving here?"
Charlaine dragged his tongue across Myra's lips. "Let's see how funny you find it when everyone is discussing the High Secretary and what he's doing with two imperial bodyguards."
"Less talking, more gossip fodder," Myra said, and pushed him along until Charlaine hit the bed.
Then he set to work on their clothes, dropping and tossing haphazardly until they were naked. Charlaine looked around for Jac and stared helplessly at the lovely sight of her walking toward them, naked and bathed in sunlight from the bank of windows on the far side of the room, turning her dark skin gold. Her body was riddled with scars old and new, muscles trim and lithe, and she moved with the easy grace of a seasoned soldier.
In one hand she carried a bundle of leather straps, in the other a small glass bottle and a not-so-small artificial phallus. Myra reached out to take it as she reached them, running his fingers over the smooth jade. "Lovely. You have excellent taste in toys."
"Don't ask how much it cost," Jac said. "I don't want to be forced to remember."
Charlaine rolled his eye but dragged Jac close and trailed a line of wet kisses from her mouth down to the valley between her breasts. Myra slid behind her, teasing at a mark low on her throat, right where it started to curve into her shoulder, and reached around to cup and tease her breasts with his fingers while Charlaine tormented with his mouth.
Jac dropped the harness and bottle on the bed, reaching one hand back to grab Myra, the other digging into Charlaine's shoulder. "I really hope I'm not called away for some emergency, or I might finally start killing people." The words ended on a moan as Charlaine's fingers dipped low to tease her clit and along the already damp folds hidden by dark curls.
"I suggest we get to work then," Charlaine said as he abruptly grabbed her around the waist, twisted, and dropped her on the bed.
Laughing, Jac pulled herself farther up so there was room for all of them. Her eyes blazed as she watched Charlaine crawl toward her, spreading her thighs so he could settle between them. Charlain
e dove into a kiss, and Jac's hands slid along his broad shoulders and down his back, her nails digging in delightfully and leaving a trail of red marks that stung just the right amount to make him shiver instead of wince.
Nearby, Myra gathered the dropped items, tossing the harness where it would be easy for Jac to grab. The bed shifted as his weight joined theirs, and he crowded in close to press hot, wet kisses down Charlaine's spine and along the crack of his ass.
Charlaine shuddered, and Jac's eyes gleamed with anticipation and approval as she met Myra's gaze. Charlaine didn't have to look to know Myra was smiling back, and a moment later all thoughts fled his mind as slick, teasing fingers circled and nudged at his hole.
"Bastard," Charlaine gasped out. He pushed and shifted back, turning briefly to give Myra a long, wet, and filthy kiss. Once he was breathless, Charlaine turned back to Jac and shifted to put his mouth where he liked it best. He savored the slickness that said she wanted badly, the way her thighs occasionally tightened as if wanted to clamp down on his head, the fingers that ran through his hair, all the hitched breaths and ragged moans as he tongue-fucked her.
He was so lost in tasting her, making her scream, that he jumped slightly when Myra's fingers returned. They were infuriatingly teasing at first, circling and pressing but never pushing. Before Charlaine could kill him, however, Myra finally pushed one slick finger inside.
Charlaine moaned as he continued to feast on Jac, which just made her whimper and pull his hair more.
A few minutes later, as one finger became two and threatened to distract Charlaine completely, Jac screamed as she came and went limp on the bedding, panting softly. Charlaine could stare at a well-fucked Jac the rest of his life and never for a single moment grow bored. "You are magnificently, horribly good at that."
"Horribly?" Charlaine asked, mouth ticking up. "I can stop—"
"I will kill you."
Charlaine laughed and kissed her, loving the way she didn't insist he go clean up first, simply fed at his mouth like he was the treat she'd waited all day to enjoy.
Myra withdrew his fingers as Charlaine rose, laughing breathlessly when Charlaine grabbed him and put him in the place that Jac rolled out of. He shivered as he met Charlaine's gaze, and Pantheon, Charlaine was completely, utterly, totally drunk on his best friend—one of his two best friends now—looking at him with such open, fervent desire. Myra curling his hands around Charlaine's hips and urging him down for a long, slow, and utterly filthy kiss. "I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I didn't know until recently just how excellent a kisser you are."
"Probably a good thing. We might never have had the sense to trick Jac into joining us," Charlaine said.
"Trick, says the man with a Pantheon-blessed tongue," Jac says. "Please, keep tricking me."
They both turned to watch and thoroughly admire as Jac finished securing the harness for the dildo. She looked better than every illicit thought and filthy dream he'd ever had combined. To judge by the way Myra shivered beneath him, they were in agreement. She looked decadent—naughty, beautifully mussed and utterly decadent.
"I'm glad we have the rest of the day off," Charlaine said, eyes locked on Jac. "Because after staring at you looking like that, I'm not going to be able to think of anything else."
Jac flushed, smiling as she fussed with the straps and adjusted the dildo slightly. "Thanks. I've never had complaints, but uh—" She touched her tongue to her upper lip as she idly stroked the dildo. "I don't think I've ever gotten such enthusiastic approval."
"Halfwits all of them." Myra reached out one hand and tugged on the dildo, accidentally toppling Jac to all fours, nearly bringing her crashing down on them. Jac swore as she knocked heads with Charlaine and glared at Myra. "Sorry," Myra murmured, and leaned up to kiss her in apology.
When Jac finally pulled back, she looked to be in a forgiving mood. She licked her lips, then kissed Myra, and Charlaine would never grow tired of that lovely, lovely sight.
"So are you going to fuck Charlaine while he fucks me?" Myra asked.
"Yes," Jac said, the word coming out somewhere between a hiss and a whimper.
Charlaine smiled faintly, shaking his head. "I know an order when I hear one. I wish all my orders were so pleasant." He shifted and settled, pulling Myra to just the right angle and teasingly rubbing his cock against Myra's entrance.
Jac moved behind them, and Myra's breath hitched as he stared at Charlaine. Before Charlaine could ask why, not that he was certain he could have formed the words with the way Jac worked her fingers inside him, Myra said, "Pantheon. Did he make that face before?"
"Yeah," Jac said, voice ragged. "I don't think using his mouth is the only thing Charlaine really likes."
"Oh, be quiet," Charlaine muttered, face going pink. He shifted his hips and before Myra could retort, was sliding inside him.
Myra keened, rolling his own hips to take Charlaine deeper. "Jac. Now. I can't wait any longer."
Jac pressed a soft kiss to Charlaine's shoulder, and then she was sliding into him slowly, working the heavy phallus with care.
Charlaine groaned, moving between them, overwhelmed by the feeling of the hard dildo filling him and Myra's slick heat wrapped around him. He pushed back, taking the jade cock deeper, then thrust harder into Myra, moaning for more but not quite able to get the words out.
"I like you this way, Laine," Myra said huskily, and licked his throat, lingering on a mark left by Jac the previous day. "I think our good captain is trying to say harder and faster, Jac."
Laughing, Jac obeyed, eliciting another groan that Charlaine was happy to surrender if it got him more of the same. Jac fucked him hard, her hands on his hips, motions driving Charlaine deep into Myra, who met and matched every thrust, clinging to Charlaine's sweaty back.
They fell into a rhythm after that, spurring each other on with breathy pleas and desperate gasps, raking nails and too-tight grips, lost in heat and sweat and need.
Charlaine gave Myra a quick, hard kiss, and with a few more thrusts Myra came, clinging tighter than ever as his release shuddered through him. A moment later, Charlaine followed, spilling over Myra with a hoarse cry as Jac drove into him one last time.
After a moment, Jac carefully pulled out, making Charlaine shiver anew, and quickly unbuckled the leather straps, tossing everything aside before pushing two fingers into her own body and coming hard only moments later.
She crawled up to join them as Charlaine gently withdrew from Myra and flopped down next to him.
Jac gave them both lazy kisses. "I hope we can do that a few more times before you have to leave."
"I'm sure you'll make certain we do," Charlaine replied dryly. "Even though I leave in roughly fifteen hours."
Myra squirmed free of them, pulled on a dressing robe, and went to pull the bell rope to summon staff. When a woman arrived, he requested an early dinner for three and food that would keep so they could eat it later instead of having to call for it again.
"Ah, the joys of being in a relationship with the most efficient man in the empire," Jac said with a happy sigh as they sat down to eat. "I wouldn't have thought of getting food for later so we don't have to worry about further interruptions."
"I'm glad I can be of use," Myra replied, mouth quirking as he took a sip of wine.
Jac's eyes glittered. "Oh, you're of use all right."
Charlaine shook his head. "I'm not sure I'll survive this relationship, at the rate Jac wants us going. We're not as young as you, remember."
"Oh, please," Jac said. "Don't start with that. If anything, you two could do better than—"
"No, we couldn't." Myra covered her hand with one of his. "I agree: let's not start with any of that. After all we've been through together, age is so trivial it doesn't deserve further comment."
Charlaine gave a slight nod, then said with a sigh, "I'm sure the gossips will discuss it plenty enough for us."
"Speaking of gossip, I bought something else while I was o
ut," Jac said, abruptly looking nervous. "Lord Lesto made me think of it."
"Should I be afraid?" Charlaine asked. "If you bought a flogger or something, I will strangle you with it."
Jac dissolved into giggles. "No! I did consider it just for the look on your face, but my funds wouldn't allow it. Um, just a second." She pushed away from the table and went to the small chest where she kept personal possessions, coming back with a wide, flat wooden box. "They're not much. I'm no Allen or Sarrica or anything…"
"Jac," Charlaine said, pulling her close and sliding an arm around her waist. "If someone handed me the kind of clothes and jewels they wear, I'd be terrified. I have no desire to wear something that costs twenty times my yearly income."
Myra's mouth tipped up at one corner. "I admit I spend a good deal of money on my clothes, but that's largely because of my position."
Jac let out a breath and set the box on the table. Charlaine opened it and turned so Myra could see, both of them smiling. Charlaine pulled Jac into his lap as Myra lifted the necklaces from the box.
"It might be too soon," Jac murmured, "but after all we've been through together, I felt like we should have something."
"I agree," Myra said as he fastened one of the necklaces around his own throat.
Charlaine traced the lines of one. They were handsome pieces, made of braided black leather with three long silver beads interspersed with smaller round ones. One long bead was carved with a dragon, another with swirls that resembled rolling waves. Between them, the last bead had narrow bands on either end. In the middle was a crescent moon made of some pale, glittering blue stone.
"I wasn't sure you'd like the moon, but it seems to suit you, even if Iron Moon doesn't. The woman said she made it for the legend, and it's one of her most popular beads for the same reason. I didn't know what she was talking about, but Lady Mark told me on our way home."
