“We’ll wait,” she agreed.
She didn’t need to worry about the men hearing the sound. The Raj and his partner were caught up in their own world of delight. Her betrothed’s fingers slithered between the magician’s thighs and curled around his cock. In the faint light, Shahrazad could see a glistening around the tip.
“Harder,” the magician directed. “Slower.”
And Shahrazad was surprised to see her betrothed obey. His thick fingers traveled up the magician’s shaft more deliberately, and the slender man groaned his appreciation. In her world, the Raj was the man giving the orders, not taking them. What spell had Badra used?
Whatever it was, the Raj was enthralled. Between his teeth, he tugged the magician’s nipple. The slender man arched into the bite, pulling the Raj’s head closer. The Raj stretched the magician’s cock back, and Shahrazad saw her betrothed tremble with desire in exactly the same way the Flower Taker had made her tremble.
“God’s eyes, I love you,” the Raj said, flicking his tongue over the magician’s nipple. His hand was working the other man’s cock more vigorously now. “You’re magic, you know. You’ve ensorcelled me.”
“This is a natural magic, my love,” the magician answered. “Though my cock doesn’t believe it for the way it aches for you.”
“Let it ache no more,” the Raj said, trailing his tongue across the magician’s chest, over his stomach and lower. The magician wore a gold stud in the foreskin of his cock, and it glittered in the torchlight. The Raj ran his tongue around it, making the other man lift his hips in pleasure. Then her betrothed inhaled the magician’s cock, sucking until his cheeks were hollowed.
The magician moaned now, and his cries sounded so much like the Flower Taker’s, Shahrazad found herself wet with a need of her own. Oh, what had that woman wakened in her? The untroubled bliss of her childhood seemed as distant as a faded dream.
Suddenly aware of Prince Tahir’s sweet breath over her shoulder, her desire blossomed. No, it expanded like some monster from a storybook. Longing started to grow, and it wouldn’t stop, no matter how she bade it to leave. Yearning saturated her heart, her veins, her blood. It pulsed through her like it had a life of its own.
Helpless, she leaned back; she leaned into him, once again breaking the rules of her land, shredding them like an unwanted note and throwing them into the east winds. Her desire left her weak, besotted, and no amount of shame could strengthen her resolve to behave in a manner befitting a good woman of her land.
Tahir didn’t appear to care. Like the men tumbling in the bed before her, his cock was hard, throbbing against her ass. Gentle fingertips caressed her neck and teased her shoulders.
She couldn’t squander this gift. She couldn’t swim in this desire and fail to acknowledge it.
Snaking her arm behind her, she took Tahir’s cock in her palm, marveling at her boldness. She—who’d never broken a single rule before her wedding day—grabbed the cock of a man not her husband, of a man who could never be her husband. And the single thought rolling through her mind revolved around how solid such a cock could be, how very solid and how very hot.
Behind her, Tahir slowly shifted her oraz from her shoulder. The slide of it over her bare collarbone was sensual, delicious, and a shiver of delight ran through her. She leaned her head against his shoulder. Tahir ran his teeth over the line of Shahrazad’s shoulder. The tip of his tongue teased her skin.
In the bed before them, the magician gave himself to the Way of Pleasure, arching toward his lover as the Raj ran his mouth up and over the magician’s cock. Knowing Tahir’s eyes were locked on the men, she ran her hand up and over Tahir’s cock, the material of the cavalry trousers feeling suddenly very rough beneath her fingers.
Behind her, Tahir reached beneath her silk and ran his hand possessively around her bared stomach. His fingers danced over the curves of her waist, along the plain of her midriff. He didn’t touch her breasts, but oh, she wanted him to. She wanted him to bury his face there and bite and suck. She wanted to feel nothing but him, think of nothing but pleasure.
Her betrothed could open his eyes and see them. He’d see her eyes half closed in pleasure as her lover’s hands skated over her like he owned her. Her betrothed could open his eyes and see her watching, and she would die, her head festooning Pike Wall like any common criminal.
But Tahir’s touch felt so good, and she wasn’t doing anything now she hadn’t done in the Flower Taker’s chambers.
When his fingers looped through her pubic hair, she didn’t stop him. She couldn’t. Instead she shifted her stance, opening her thighs.
In the bed, the magician rocked his hips in tandem with the Raj’s mouth. The magician’s fingers were wrapped in the silk sheets so tightly that his knuckles were white. The desperation in his grasp made Shahrazad see how close he was to losing control.
As Tahir’s fingers slid over her nub and edged inside her, she thought she knew something about control. One more glide and she’d lose it.
Through the trouser linen, Tahir’s cock felt so hot. His moisture dampened her fingers despite the fabric’s weight, but her fingers couldn’t be as wet as his as he glided over her nub. She soaked him. As he dipped inside, she gasped with the pleasure of it.
“Yes,” she breathed, not caring one bit if her betrothed and his lover heard. Let them hear.
Wanting to awaken the same desire in him as he had in her, Shahrazad slid her hand inside Tahir’s trousers and felt the velvet of his cock for the first time. His muffled groan filled her ear, and his teeth bit more insistently at her neck.
In the bed before them, the Raj quit sucking. He lay atop the magician and slithered up toward his face. As Tahir slid his fingertip just barely inside her, she saw the Raj’s cock press hard against the magician’s. Her betrothed wrapped his hands through his lover’s short hair, and his thumbs caressed the magician’s face.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again,” the Raj said, his voice throaty with desire. His gaze was locked on the magician’s, their lips so close that they almost touched. “I love you more than life itself.”
“Raj,” the magician chided. “Don’t say such things.”
“But my words are true,” the Raj said, running his lips over the magician’s. “I’ve never been so fervent in my desire, and I plan to prove it.”
“Would you give up your land for me?” the magician asked. “For this fleeting moment of pleasure would you risk your life, even if you never saw me again? Even if you never fucked me again?”
“You know the answer to that.” The Raj kissed the magician then, their tongues tangling as their cocks rubbed against each other.
Even as she wondered how the magician was maneuvering the Raj, and her, and Tahir, Shahrazad leaned against the strength of Tahir’s shoulder, trusting him to support her knees, which grew ever weaker beneath his touch. She still had the strength to slide her thumb over the wet tip of Tahir’s cock.
The caress seemed to undo something in Tahir. He buried a finger deep inside her core, making her gasp in surprised delight. He caressed her nub with his thumb. The Flower Takers in his land must be very talented to teach their men such tricks.
A slow, intense shudder was building in her blood, in her core—and she knew nothing could stop it. Her hand embracing Tahir’s cock froze with the impending pleasure, but he didn’t seem to mind. His finger slid deeper; his thumb pressed harder. He kissed her neck more deliberately, sucking and biting until she couldn’t tell where her skin ended and his mouth began.
And as the Raj abandoned the magician’s mouth in favor of his cock, the magician’s cries grew louder. His hands were wrapped around the Raj’s long braid, and he held it as if it tied them together.
Tahir pulled her more tightly against him, and his cock pressed against her ass. Her fingers—frozen with pleasure—woke now, sliding over his shaft. Following the Raj’s lead, she quickened her caress, and another groan escaped Tahir.
Suddenl
y, stars exploded behind her eyes. She was coming with an intensity she hadn’t believed possible. With her free hand, she pushed Tahir’s hand against her nub, making his fingers plumb deeper, making his thumb press harder. Her body quivered in delight, then buckled. The sensation became too much. Every nerve screamed in pleasure. She pulled his hand away and trembled in his embrace.
In the bed before them, the magician locked his legs around the Raj’s neck, and the Raj sucked his cock as if enough suction would prove his intentions to the magician.
And perhaps it did.
Shahrazad moved her fingers harder and faster over Tahir’s cock, and in the bed the magician shivered and came, his bellow of delight filling the chamber—and perhaps the palace hall.
The Raj’s big hand went to the slim man’s stomach and gently stroked, but he didn’t remove his mouth. Instead, he stilled himself and rested his head against his lover’s hip. To Shahrazad they looked like perfect lovers, content with their world, with their lives.
Neither looked afraid of the Pike Wall. Neither looked like the most evil being alive.
Behind her, pressing hard against her ass and hand, Tahir himself came. He came hard, bucking against her and gasping. His fingers possessively grasped her nub, and as he came, he brought her with him, caressing her nub with competent insistence. His orgasm continued as hers started.
And this time, their cries of pleasure weren’t masked by those of the other men.
“Who’s there?” the Raj ir Adham called, apparently surprising the enthralled Prince Tahir.
His fingers gripped her stomach almost painfully, but the demon in his other hand leaped forward with a cackle of glee. It landed on the bed with a crazed laugh, and it launched itself toward the magician with its razor-sharp teeth bared.
Shahrazad shouted a warning, but the magician’s hand shot out and grabbed it—just as the creature ran an adoring tongue over the magician’s cheek. It reminded her of a lost dog happy to see its master.
The magician didn’t seem to care. His arm snapped up with the speed of a snake, and before Shahrazad could step forward, the shitani dangled by its back leg from the slim man’s hand. It hissed, almost sadly, then whined like a puppy, its eyes locked on the magician with what looked like adoration.
“I think this belongs to you,” Shahrazad heard the Flower Taker say as she—no, he—held out the demon toward Tahir. The magician was almost laughing, but the shitani’s orange eyes seemed to reflect resignation at the handoff. “Thank you for coming.”
“Is that a pun?” Tahir asked, not sounding particularly amused.
Badra had changed much since Shahrazad had last seen her. Lightly muscled chest muscles had replaced her small breasts, and the luxurious mane of blond hair was gone, replaced by close-cropped stubble. The voice was the only thing the man in front of her shared with the Flower Taker. That, and the purple eyes.
“I think this one likes you,” the magician said to Tahir. “Would you like your pet back?”
“I’ve not come to replace you, if that’s your true question,” Tahir said, stepping forward as if nothing were amiss.
“Then perhaps the Raj will,” the magician said as Tahir made to retrieve the demon. The Raj stopped him, knocking his hand aside with a snarl.
“What’s going on here?” the Raj demanded, making Shahrazad cringe as the demon cackled and gnashed its teeth. It snapped at the Raj, although it couldn’t get near her husband-to-be.
Shame washed over her. She shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t see the Raj like this, naked and in the arms of a man. If her father knew…
But it wasn’t his love for Badr that shocked her; it was the fact that he placed this love higher than his need to keep his land safe. He said he’d give up everything for the magician, and he proved it with his reckless affections. She shouldn’t know how little he cared for everything she held dear. She didn’t want to know.
A small voice in her mind called her a hypocrite. If she herself cared so much for her land, why had she let Tahir touch her? Being a pawn in this game didn’t excuse her.
“I’m sorry, Raj ir Adham,” she said quietly. “We shouldn’t have intruded.”
“You,” the Raj said, perhaps only now recognizing his betrothed. “I’ll have your head on a pike. What are you doing here?”
Before Shahrazad could answer, Tahir stepped closer, shielding her with his body. “Why, we’re here at the behest of your true love,” Tahir said in a cocky tone Shahrazad had never heard. “And we’ll see whose head ends up on a pike.”
With those words, the Raj roared and leaped off the bed, directly toward Prince Tahir.
13
“Stop!” Shahrazad called, but her words had no effect. “Stop, now!”
“I’ll kill him,” the Raj ir Adham roared as he flew across the bed clothed only in his rage. “And I’ll kill you. Your father will kill you.”
Prince Tahir stood unflinching, legs spread, an expression of defiance on his face. His arms remained at his side. “He’ll need to get through me before he can touch her.”
The Raj landed in front of Tahir, but still Tahir remained unruffled, despite the fact the other man’s nose was so close to his.
“Men like you are the reason we castrate,” Tahir said.
“Men like me,” the Raj scoffed, grabbing Tahir’s throat. “You know nothing of men like me.”
That Tahir still didn’t fight amazed Shahrazad. Instead he said to the Raj, “You’re violent. That I know.” She could see the Raj’s fingers tightening inexorably around Tahir’s throat.
“Stop!” Shahrazad called again. She didn’t want anyone to die, not for this. Everyone needed to work together if they were to have any hope of defeating the shitani. “Stop!”
“Be quiet, wife-to-be,” he snarled, his knuckles white with effort. “You’ll learn your place soon enough.”
“Raj, stop,” a calm voice said. The magician. “A man should always treat his wife-to-be with respect, and the man you seem intent on strangling is Prince Tahir.”
“I’ve no interest in his name.”
“But I did invite him to our chamber.”
“You knew what he’d find?”
“Oh yes.”
The Raj’s thick blond braid flew as he turned to look at his lover. “Why? You heard him—he hates men like us. Why would you invite him?” Which was the exact question Shahrazad was wondering.
Because he might make a good demon king, a voice said in her head, a shitani voice. She’s testing him…and you.
Tahir took advantage of the Raj’s inattention, calmly extricating himself from the man’s grasp. “You know nothing, Raj ir Adham.” Prince Tahir took the shitani from the magician, grabbing its neck again.
“I’m going to stran—” the Raj began, stepping toward Tahir again.
“Raj, please stop this,” the magician said.
“Why? Because you ask it?”
“I believe,” the magician said, standing from the bed, “that you misunderstood Prince Tahir.” The magician took a crimson robe from the floor and belted it around his slim waist. “If your people weren’t so insular, you’d know that his people don’t loathe love between men. It falls beneath the notice of the ruling queens to care what men do amongst themselves. What he loathes is violence.”
Shahrazad looked at the Raj to see what he thought of this, but the man just seemed confused. Shahrazad saw now that her betrothed was handsome in his own way, with green eyes and a strong jaw. Her sisters would have found him very attractive—at least before they’d married.
“What man loathes violence?” the Raj finally asked. He scratched his head with his brawny hand. “That’s unnatural.”
“He’s from the Land of the Sun,” the magician said, his voice taking on a strange tenor. Then the air around him seemed to flicker, bending the pale torchlight in a strange way. His hair glowed metallic red, then blond, then sorrel, then black as night. “Capture him. Give him to the Sultan for the Pike Wa
ll. You will have the Sultan’s alliance in hand then, even if he decapitates his daughter…. And he can grant your heart’s desire.”
There’s no need to test anyone, she wanted to say, wanted to shout. But the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as he spoke, as she watched the strange glittering transformation.
The shitani in Tahir’s hand broke the silence, cackling. The effervescent light around the magician’s face vanished, and Shahrazad wondered if she’d imagined it.
Finally the Raj said, “But you’re my heart’s desire.” He tried to run his hand through his braided hair. “I never knew my true nature. Until I met you, I didn’t know why women…” He pointed toward his cock with a helpless gesture. “Why women…”
Shahrazad understood then just how profoundly his state of rakeb affected him. She longed to console him, to forgive him, to tell him that his secret was safe with her.
“You could turn him over to the Sultan,” the magician said. “He has no right to be in this palace. He is a trespasser here—in many ways. Of course if you choose this path, he will die and so will she.”
Again, that wave of strange magic washed over her, and she knew the magician used more than simple words to convince her betrothed. “The magician tests you,” Shahrazad said to her husband-to-be, pleading with him to listen.
The Raj said nothing, gaping at his true love instead.
“Raj!” she said, “Listen to me.”
“She speaks the truth,” Tahir added.
The Raj’s gaze shifted from the magician’s to Tahir’s face, a considering expression on his broad face. “He seeks to discover if you would make an adequate replacement,” Shahrazad said. “Then he’ll give you no choice but to accept his mantle.”
The Raj looked at her finally, ignoring Tahir—and the magician. “What mantle?”
“The magician’s mantle. He rules all the shitani. He keeps them from attacking cities and people.”
Running Wild Page 16
