“Yes, by right and tradition, the king, though not above the law, has the power to alter the laws.” Darien’s face darkened. “He is a good man, the king. He was the one who offered peace to the Vadal.”
“Offered?”
“They were losing – losing battles, losing men, losing the war. And His Grace named them worthy foes and offered them peace. It was for our good, too, of course. Why fight a war if we could have honorable peace?” Saerileth admired the curve of Darien’s lips as he spoke, and her love burned in her.
“How did the Vadal respond? Was the peace popular here?”
“The Vadal were overjoyed.” Darien paused, tracing the shape of her brows. “His Grace offered them an honorable end to a war they should never have begun. They were, after all, the aggressors.”
“And the Sunjaa did not forget it.” Saerileth closed her eyes, thinking. “But they were at least willing to accept the peace?”
“Yes, but the Vadal king was not certain how long it would last without some more permanent alliance. He offered his only daughter as a wife to our king.”
“But he could not wed her.” Saerileth understood the implications. The peace was acceptable to the Sunjaa, but it was not necessary to them as it was to the Vadal. The Sunjaa would not be willing to make many concessions. “How did he get around that?”
“He made a law recognizing the offspring of concubines as legitimate heirs. It was a wildly popular law, moreso than the peace itself. His Grace has not taken another concubine, though, nor a wife. I don’t think he ever will.”
Saerileth heard the slight difference in Darien’s voice, the faint hint of disappointment or even shame that colored his words. Why should he be sorrowful?
“What is wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing.” Darien shook his head, as though to clear away unpleasant thoughts, and when he fixed his dark eyes on her, her insides melted. “So you must instruct me on how to greet the king and Princess Royal.”
“You know how to dance?” asked Saerileth. “For there will be dancing tomorrow. I have already ordered the clothes we are to wear—”
“And what are you to wear, my Saeri?” Darien pinched her nipples again. “Something that shows off your lovely flesh?”
Saerileth knew that Darien was not jealous of others seeing her; he was proud of her appearance. As he often told her, they could look, but not touch. She smiled. “Yes and no. I am to wear Zenji fashions, as it is part of the mystique of a Lotus, but you, my love, should wear the garments of a rich Sunjaa.” She dropped her gaze to where the shaft of his phallus jutted from beneath his loincloth. His cock, even soft, hung nearly halfway down his thigh, and now, from their amorous play and their strawberries, it was half hard already. She smiled, dropped one burning kiss on Darien’s lips, and fled into the house. She heard his loud laughter behind her, but she knew she would have enough time to remove her anal plug before he caught her. That was all the time she needed.
****
The red light of late afternoon was over all of Arinport, and Saerileth smiled as Darien lifted her down from the litter. The royal palace rose high behind him, and she thought how perfectly the smooth, straight lines of the Sunjaa architecture seemed to suit Darien’s own large beauty. He took her hand and raised it to his lips as they entered the palace. Pages and footmen ran ahead of them, and Saerileth saw the royal chamberlain whom she had invited to Darien’s own retirement party. She nodded gracefully, and she laughed at how his eyes darted from her to Darien and back again. He could not decide whom he thought lovelier.
Saerileth walked through the palace on Darien’s arm, and she heard the rumor of her own arrival even before they entered the king’s great hall.
“They are anxious to meet you, my love.” Darien must have heard the murmurs, too.
“I am here for you, Master.” Saerileth did not ever refer to Darien by his name when anyone could hear, even if it were only the slaves in the king’s house. “This is the next stage of your campaign to conquer the high society of Arinport.” She used the military phrases she knew he liked, and she was rewarded with a dazzling smile.
“A full frontal assault, Saerileth.” He pressed her hand as it lay on his arm. “But I have no doubts of emerging from the engagement victorious.”
Saerileth paused in their walk and turned toward him. She reached up, putting her arms around his neck and pulling him down to meet her, as even on her toes she could not reach his lips. She kissed him then, enjoying the sweetness of his mouth.
“What was that for?” asked Darien when she at last released his lips.
“A foretaste of the victor’s spoils,” she said. She did not speak aloud the pleasure she had in his social confidence. His earlier anxiety at his own party had vanished, despite this being a royal function. He trusted her to lead him aright, and she would not fail him.
They reached the entryway to the king’s primary hall, and as their names were announced by the herald, Saerileth took the opportunity to survey the guests. This was a large affair, with perhaps four hundred guests. Saerileth saw at once that their own arrival had been anticipated both by the king and Princess Royal, as well as by the guests, for the royal chamberlain was bearing down on them.
Darien did not let go of her arm as he followed the chamberlain toward the high seat where the king awaited them.
“Your Grace.” Darien bowed, and Saerileth bowed with him. But she looked at the king through her lashes, appraising his movements.
“Welcome, Darien, late of my navy.” The king’s dark face was lit with a smile then, and Saerileth knew that he was genuinely pleased to see Darien.
“We are honored to see so loyal a subject, with so lovely and precious a companion.” The voice belonged to the Princess Royal, and Saerileth noted that the girl spoke Sunjaa, albeit with a heavy accent.
Saerileth kept her eyes demurely lowered, not looking directly at the king, but she noticed the king’s slight stiffening, his concern over Darien’s and Saerileth’s reactions.
“The honor is ours, Your Grace. Highness.” Darien bowed slightly again to the pair, and then, with Saerileth still on his arm, he moved away.
“That wasn’t hard,” Darien murmured in Saerileth’s ear as he pulled her out into the middle of the hall. There many couples already moved in the intricate patterns of traditional Sunjaa dance.
Saerileth smiled at the realization that Darien had not asked if she, a Zenji, knew the steps; he had simply assumed that, as a Lotus, she knew how to do everything. She and Darien took their places at the end of the long line, stepped toward each other, touched palms and backed away again.
“You pleased His Grace,” said Saerileth.
“Nonsense.” Darien’s hands lingered on hers for a moment longer than the dance required.
“Yes,” said Saerileth. “You did not turn away from the Princess Royal, nor did you show any disdain for her, nor did you forget to address her.”
“You told me how to address her,” said Darien. “And why shouldn’t I like her?”
“She is not Sunjaa.” Saerileth deftly avoided Darien’s stepping on her foot as he missed the next cross-under. “I would say perhaps a third of the guests here despise the Princess Royal.”
“You’ve been here less than ten minutes.” Darien narrowed his eyes. “You’re just teasing me.”
“No, Master.” Saerileth moved behind Darien and stood back to back with him, taking three steps to the left. “Not at all. I have been watching everyone. Their tones are not lost on me, nor did I fail to see the anxiety in His Grace’s face as he waited to see how you would address the Princess Royal.”
“You, Saeri, are a witch.” Darien pressed her hands as they touched palms once more.
“Not a witch, only a Lotus.” She glanced up at him through the veil of her lashes, and she was pleased to see his shaft begin to harden in response.
By the time they had danced the length of the hall, Saerileth was herself as anxious for Darien as he w
as for her. The constant stimulation of the anal plug she wore – which she still kept secret from Darien – added to the sight of his broad, dark chest, contrasting with the wide gold necklace he wore, made her wet as spring.
“I had not known that His Grace’s taking of the Princess Royal was so controversial.” Saerileth took the goblet of wine that Darien offered her.
“It was.” Darien sipped his own wine and watched her.
“Why?”
Darien laughed. “Is there really something I can teach you, my Lotus? We Sunjaa have never been at complete peace with the Vadal since they first came to the lands on the far side of the desert around the River.”
Saerileth knew well that the river to which Darien referred was the Sweetwater, but she knew equally that to a Sunjaa, it was the River, as far as they were concerned the only river that Abrexa River-goddess had ever given to men. “I know that, Master. You told me so much yesterday. But you did not tell me that they disliked the Princess Royal now, three years after the fact.”
“She has given the king an heir,” said Darien, and that strange disappointment flickered across his face once more. “The Crown Prince Jahen is not pure-blooded Sunjaa.”
Saerileth nodded. “And for this reason many dislike both the king and the Princess Royal.” She sipped her wine then and slipped around to stand on the far side of Darien, with him between her and the rest of the gathered guests. She knew that many watched her, but she wished to make certain that all who saw her knew that she was here to please Darien and not anyone else. But then Saerileth smiled.
“Would you do me the honor, Lotus, of sitting out the next set with me?”
Saerileth was not surprised to hear the Princess Royal’s voice; she had been expecting the invitation. She smiled up at Darien. “If it please you, Master?”
Darien laughed. “Go, Saerileth.” His pleasure warmed her as Saerileth bowed graciously to the Princess Royal.
“I am at your service, Highness.” Saerileth glided after the Princess Royal, watching her closely. The Princess Royal’s breath was high, higher than could be comfortable. Seeing her up close now, Saerileth could see the curve of the Princess Royal’s waist. Saerileth judged the other woman to be perhaps five months gone with child.
“How are you enjoying Arinport, Lotus?” asked the Princess Royal, taking a seat near one of the large windows overlooking the royal gardens.
“I am overjoyed to live here.” Saerileth saw the Princess Royal’s unhappiness and resolved to learn the reason for it. She switched to the Vadal tongue and began the process of influencing the Princess Royal. Over the next minutes, as they conversed of the meaningless nothings of court chatter, Saerileth wove into her speech words of influence. They were not, as some had on occasion claimed, Lorin enchantments. Rather, they were simply words that by repetition and association gained ascendancy over the minds of the hearers. Saerileth did not have any ill intent toward the Princess Royal. It was pity for this lovely and noble Vadal lady, dwelling in the midst of a strange people, that moved Saerileth to action.
“Please, Saerileth.” After a quarter of an hour, the Princess Royal was using Saerileth’s name. “Will you come to visit me? Perhaps the day after tomorrow? His Grace has to view the city guards that day – I think it is some sort of anniversary – and I will be alone in the palace. Please, say you will come. I want to talk to you, talk when we can be private.”
“If my master does not require me, Highness, I will come.” The simple way the Vadal princess had said “His Grace” had told Saerileth much. The Princess Royal adored her master, and she was unsure of his affections. Saerileth glanced across the room to see Darien, standing head and shoulders above every other man, and he caught her look. He smiled at her, smiled as though she alone existed, and Saerileth felt the blood burning in her cheeks at her love for him. “Highness, His Grace loves you.”
“What?” The Princess Royal half started from her chair. “Why do you – oh, I don’t care why! How do you know?”
“He knows where you are,” said Saerileth. “He is not looking at you, but he knows where you are. My master knows where I am; I know where he is. I always know because my heart is there, in his breast.” She smiled at the rosy-cheeked Princess Royal. “We can talk more of it when I come to see you, Highness.” Saerileth bowed gracefully and began to glide back toward Darien. She was careful to pretend she did not see the Princess Royal’s sudden discomposure.
She was half-way back to Darien, having greeted three lords and one general, when she saw a face more familiar to her than any save Darien’s.
“Lotus!” Kamen’s shock was palpable, and Saerileth had to swallow her own surprise. Why should he not expect to see her?
“Lord Itenu.” Saerileth nodded to him, but before she could pass him by, he held out his hand to her.
“Stay – why are you not upriver? Darien told me that his concubines were going upriver, that you were arranging it. How can you be here?”
Saerileth smiled. “I arranged it, yes, but I did not think it necessary to accompany them. They can arrange my master’s country house to their own tastes. They can bring him no discredit there.” She lowered her gaze, letting Kamen think he had the upper hand of her, but she knew that he had hoped to have some time alone with Darien.
“How long has he been training you?” Kamen tugged on her arm, and Saerileth allowed herself to be led near to the window where none could overhear. “How long has he been … dominating you?”
“Lord Itenu.” Saerileth disengaged her arm from him. “My master’s tastes do not run in that channel.”
“But he has you...” Kamen trailed off and gestured to her curving buttocks.
“You have the eye of a dominant,” said Saerileth coolly. “But you do not know how to observe him.” There was no need to use Darien’s name; for both Saerileth and Kamen there was only one “he”. “He does not think of me so, and if he is not a dominant, there is no hope of his ever switching with you.”
Kamen stared at her. “Witch.”
“Lotus.” Saerileth turned her back on Kamen, only to see Darien coming up through a press of guests. His eyes flashed, and Saerileth rejoiced to think he might be jealous. She fairly skipped to him, ignoring the jostling of the plug as he crushed her against him.
“And how fares my Saeri?” asked Darien, but he was not looking at her. He was glaring at Kamen.
Joy filled Saerileth, and she leaned against Darien. “I have been invited to visit the Princess Royal the day after tomorrow. She wishes to entertain me privately.”
“How—”
Saerileth laughed. “Do you think that she would not enjoy my company?”
“I didn’t mean that.” Darien’s clasp on her was still tight.
“I know. I did, I admit, influence her slightly, but only to get her to open up to me. She needs someone to confide in, and she does not know whom to trust.”
“You can do that?” Darien traced the curve of her cheek. “And have you influenced me? Is that why I love you so?”
“Never!” Saerileth knew that he was only teasing her, but she wanted to make sure he understood. Despite the guests, despite the king himself, Saerileth stood on tip-toe and pulled Darien down to whisper in his ear. “When I am with you, my love, I can hardly remember how to breathe, let alone how to influence someone. Your eyes undo me.”
“Then I think we should go home as soon as possible.” Darien leaned against her, and she felt his rising phallus. “I wouldn’t want you to be overthrown here in the king’s hall – and I don’t know how long I can restrain myself.”
Chapter Ten
Darien adjusted the hard leather guard on his forearm and peered across the garden and beyond the pool to where his target stood. His left hand gripped the body of the bow, while the fingers on his right hand wrapped around the string and pinched the arrow’s end. Aben had set up a large brass disc near the grove of trees at the wall. Darien took aim, pulling the arrow back past his ear, bu
t he did not direct his full attention to the target. Instead, he glanced at Saerileth out of the corner of his eye. She stood some distance off, near the pool’s north edge, her bow’s end planted in the grass before her. She leaned on her weapon and watched Darien, and Darien could not help but watch her and the way her thin, white Sunjaa gown clung to her wet body. The day was hot, but Saerileth was more scorching than any desert heat. Without shifting her gaze away from Darien’s face, Saerileth nodded at the far target. Darien focused on the shining brass disc and let his arrow fly.
It struck dead center. Darien was used to firing his bow from the rolling deck of a ship at sea, so standing on solid ground was to him child’s play. Saerileth, too, had already taken her shot, and she, too, had hit the target’s center.
“The Red Lotus Guild might consider training warriors, as well,” Darien said, praising Saerileth for her equally proficient shot. He walked over to her and grabbed her around her waist, pulling her small, lithe body against his large, muscular one. He could steal a kiss while Aben retrieved the arrows and reset the target.
“That is precisely what the guild does.” Saerileth stood on her tip-toes and kissed Darien lightly on the lips. “After all, a Lotus is a valuable asset, and the guild must ensure its investment. A Lotus who cannot defend herself is a liability.”
Darien remembered the paralyzing touch she had tried on him, and he knew it would have worked, had it not been for the permanent injury dealt him by Ulen’s flogging. As if reading his mind, Saerileth ran her hands down his back, her fingers brushing against the rough, scarred flesh.
“Warriors of the sexy variety,” Darien said, trailing kisses across her jaw and down her neck. His cock rose at the thought of penetrating her.
“The guild is not the only place that breeds sexy warriors, though.” Saerileth reached down and grabbed Darien’s phallus through the thin fabric of his skirt. She turned her face skyward, giving Darien more neck to kiss.
And he took it, licking at one spot and nibbling it before moving onto another, biting there, and continuing on closer to her shoulder. They had fucked just hours before by the mingled moonslight, but Saerileth always left him unsatisfied in that he always wanted more of her. What she gave to Darien was as boundless as the sea; the more he took from her, the more she had, and the more he gave to her in return. That she was a Lotus was incidental; Saerileth would have been the woman for him no matter what, and he wanted her to know that. Truly, in his heart, he was convinced that the gods themselves had directed him to save that little girl on the Dimadan all those years ago.
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