Adrienne (21 page)

Pain shone in his eyes. “I wish my father to be proud of me but I do not wish that praise to come from a lie.”

“I understand. I’m glad you feel you can tell me these things, Khursid.”

He blurted out, “I should have told you of the harem, Majesty. I wanted to tell you a great many things, but Mushira said I would scare you needlessly. Forgive me—forgive us. We meant no harm.”

“It’s okay, Khursid.”

“You forgive too easily, Majesty,” he urged, contradicting his earlier plea.

Adrienne shook her head. “It’s true I was mad at all of you for not telling me, but the blame falls solely on Malik. I see that now. It was his secret and he should have imparted it.” He probably didn’t volunteer the information because the women were still in his employ, as Adrienne witnessed the other day.

She held up her hand when Khursid would have argued the matter. “Tell me about you and Bayard. When did you meet? In Kakra while you trained?”

“We met in Kakra. Bayard instructed me in close combat.”

She couldn’t help herself; she started laughing. The irony of that statement was too rich. She giggled out, “Close combat? Is that what they’re calling it nowadays?” Her statement made her laugh harder.

“That was not what I meant, Majesty,” Khursid said stiffly.

“I know, I know,” she admitted. “I can’t help teasing you, though. Please go on. So Bayard was a teacher? How did he end up coming to Ulan?”

“No, Bayard was a student like me. Students close to graduation, like Bayard at the time, help the instructors as part of their training. It teaches them how to interact with a subordinate.”

“That makes sense. Did you figure out you were gay then, or did you know before your close combat training with Bayard?” She tried to keep a straight face and failed miserably.

“Gay?”

“Homosexual. We call it ‘gay’ where I’m from—among other things.”

Khursid nodded. “I like that title better. And no. I knew of my preference for men before I went to Kakra. I wish I hadn’t found out until after though, because I had to keep it a secret and act contrary to my desires. If a woman is treated roughly for being female, men such as me are treated worse.”

“Hollace doesn’t like homosexuals, then?”

“No. Most who find themselves attracted to the same gender immediately move away from Kakra in order to escape punishment.”

“Punishment? It’s that bad?” she asked in disbelief. Adrienne didn’t know why it surprised her. As soon as she asked the question, it jogged a “memory”—by Hollace’s decree, all homosexuals, whether male or female, would be punished for their crime against nature and the natural order of male and female relations. Punishments were severe enough to cause people to uproot and leave their entire way of life to avoid persecution.

Not knowing Adrienne had already received the answer, Khursid responded, “Yes. Some are tortured until they renounce themselves to live a lie, only to be put to death when they lapse. Others are put to death immediately. It is yet another sore point between Ulan and Kakra.”

“Malik has laws that protect same-gender relations, and they can marry and live like any other married couple. He even punishes those who would see them harmed, but those laws didn’t come about until six years ago. What changed?” she asked, not truly seeing the answer.

“Sondo and Iniko.”

Adrienne closed her eyes. Her reference map popped up so she could see the countries Khursid had named. North of Ulan were the Ashon Mountains and Kontar, to the west was the Tano River and Kakra, and Iniko resided on the other side of Kakra. Sondo, the kingdom to the northwest, shared approximately three hundred miles of border with Ulan. Malik had made allies six years ago.

Khursid explained, “King Malik entered into a treaty with Iniko and Sondo six years ago. Part of the treaty called for Ulan’s dismissal of any and all laws against same-gender relations. Sondo is the kingdom of carnality: they feel all forms of sexual pleasure are acceptable, and they explore them in depth. And though they would never force such compliance onto another kingdom, for they are wholly unique on this world, they do ask their allies to revoke laws that would seem unjustly harsh towards those wishing to participate in same-sex relations.”

Fact after fact about Sondo bombarded Adrienne. Every fact spawned another question, which spawned another fact. She could barely keep up. What she saw almost turned her stomach.

She cried in a high voice, “They condone incest and sex with children and…rape.”

Khursid steadied his queen when she swayed. He looked around for a place to sit. The bushes parted to show a hidden bench. He guided her to sit and knelt before her.

“Majesty?” he asked in concern.

“Why? How could Malik want to have any type of treaty with those people?” She didn’t understand. The answer didn’t come to her and that scared her. In all other things, the answers came if she simply thought of the question.

She saw part of the treaty Malik had signed with Iniko and Sondo, but not all of it. She saw Ulan’s concessions to accommodate Sondo: full acceptance of same-sex relations and couplings, as well as punishments to those who would persecute them. She saw Ulan’s concessions to Iniko: the presence of one their ambassadors in all negotiations, as Iniko was the land of mediators.

But she stared at a page with words blacked out—parts of the treaty were missing. The information was there, but her brain wouldn’t access it.

“Sondo’s views are their own. Ulan’s power is its magicks, Iniko’s is its mediators, Kakra’s is its soldiers and Sondo’s is its knowledge of sex and what it can do to people. There are strict rules concerning Sondo’s citizens and those of visiting kingdoms,” Khursid said in a worried voice. “Citizens of Sondo must have the consent of the visitor before they can do anything to them. And Sondo’s people live with the knowledge of what their kingdom is and how it functions. If they didn’t like it, they would leave.”

Adrienne looked at Khursid with hopeful eyes. “I wouldn’t be in danger of being attacked if I visited Sondo?” she asked softly.

Khursid shook his head. “No one in
any
kingdom would be stupid enough to attack you, Queen Adrienne. Most fear King Malik, and those who don’t are fools. Any citizen of Sondo who even suggests the idea would meet a horrible death when King Malik found out.” He patted her hand in reassurance. “Our king will let nothing happen to you.”

Adrienne hoped he was right. With a calm she didn’t feel, she stood and smoothed her dress. Everything had happened too much, too fast.

“I’m tired. I think I’ll go take a nap before lunch.” She didn’t wait for Khursid to agree before starting away.

She didn’t remember the walk back to her room, because she was in too much of a daze. How could a kingdom like Sondo exist? Khursid said its citizens were there willingly, but children didn’t have the power or means to leave. She wanted nothing to do with a kingdom who abused children in such a way.

It took her a moment to realize Malik stood in the room waiting for her. She blinked at him several times, forgetting her anger at him to ask what possessed him to sign a treaty with Sondo—any treaty. The words didn’t get past her lips.

Suddenly she saw the treaty in all of its glory and knew exactly why she hadn’t before. Adrienne could only view the complete treaty when she and Malik were in a secured room together. Before they were wed, Malik only had to be alone to read the treaty. Getting married changed the terms of the spell that bound it in secrecy.

Adrienne considered the information before her and knew it should be forgotten until the time came to use it, as lives were at stake.

“You are confused,” Malik said, breaking the silence. He kept his voice soft because he didn’t know how Adrienne would react. He had wanted her to speak to him first—to forgive him.

“I’m tired.” She didn’t mean from her walk, but from everything. It was one stress after another.

Malik ushered her to the bed. Once he had her settled beneath the covers, he sat by her side and held her hand. She didn’t pull away from him and that gave him hope.

“You have nothing to fear from Sondo.”

“How did you know I was thinking of Sondo?”

He moved her hand to caress his temple. “I felt your laughter and knew happiness. Then I felt your horror and I came here to meet you. As soon as you entered the room and shut the door, the treaty appeared in my mind. Specifically the parts about Sondo.” He smiled at her. “I took an educated guess.”

“They force children to—”

“No, they do not,” Malik interrupted. He smoothed a hand over her forehead in a soothing manner. “Sondo’s laws are strict because of the freedoms its people are allowed to take. Children under the age of ten are not to be touched.”

“They’re still children.”

“I agree—they are still children. However, at the age of ten, the children are given the choice to stay or to leave. They are not forced or swayed in any way. Those who choose to leave become wards of Iniko or Ulan, their choice. That is what our treaty states.”

Adrienne closed her eyes to digest all of this info. It was wrong and went against everything she believed. She didn’t know how to deal with a country whose policies raised strong moral objections within her. Malik seemed to see nothing wrong.

“Why your sudden interest in Sondo, my lady?”

“Rena told me Khursid is gay. It kind of snowballed.”

Malik chuckled. “I take your meaning and I am as yet still confused, my lady. Please elaborate.”

Adrienne repeated everything Khursid had told her. She sat up during the middle of the telling so she could judge his reaction better.

He nodded and said, “I knew Travers had issues with Khursid. I did not think Khursid’s sexual preference was it.”

“Travers? What does High Chancellor Travers have to do with this?”

“Travers is Khursid’s father.”

Adrienne fell over, the bed cushioning her short fall. Malik couldn’t have surprised her more if he had said Saj was Khursid’s father.

He laughed at her reaction. “Is their relationship so surprising?”

She righted herself, then answered, “Yes! They look nothing alike. They act nothing alike. Are you sure it’s Travers?”

“Positive, my lady. Khursid takes more after his mother—Travers’s wife—than his father.”

Without thinking, Malik leaned forward and placed his lips against Adrienne’s. He couldn’t help it, her cute antics overwhelmed his sense. He’d held her hand throughout their conversation and she hadn’t pulled away from him. They hadn’t been this close in weeks.

He didn’t come back to himself until Adrienne pulled away from him.

“Malik, I think—”

“Forgive me, my lady. I did not mean to take advantage of this moment,” he whispered. He searched her eyes to discern her emotions. He felt nothing from her. Not anger or upset, but not lust either. “I understand I betrayed your trust, but know I did not mean to.”

“You should have told me about the harem,” she whispered.

“Yes, I should have. You must believe I would have told you, if I had but remembered.”

“How do you forget an entire harem consisting of nearly one hundred women?” she asked incredulously. “You obviously remembered them long enough to bar them from the wedding.” She tried to retrieve her hand from Malik but he wouldn’t let her go.

“I did not bar them from the wedding, Adrienne.”

“You wanted them to come?” she yelled.

Malik shouted, “No.” He lowered his voice to a normal tone. “The moment Travers announced he had found you, all thoughts of any other women fled my mind.”

“What about that other woman? She looked like she was on more than your mind.”

“I will not discuss Kerest with you. She is a part of my past that I am ashamed of.”

“You didn’t look—”

Malik interrupted in a ragged tone, “You walked in on a one-sided kiss, Adrienne. Kerest was my first, and she used that designation to take liberties. I neither encouraged nor wanted her to touch me. I have asked her never to return to Ulan, because I do not wish to hurt you again.” He touched her cheek and whispered, “I want only you, Adrienne. I have wanted you since the blood spell found you.”

She pulled away from him. “You didn’t know me then.”

“That did not matter, Adrienne. You are mine. The blood spell said as much.”

“So it didn’t matter who, so long as the blood spell chose her, then, huh?”

“You twist my words.”

“I’m calling it like I see it, Malik. You would be having this conversation with some other woman if the blood spell hadn’t chosen me.”

Malik nodded in agreement, though he hated to concede to Adrienne’s point. “You are soul of my soul, Adrienne. We were meant to be together. Dimensional space could not separate us.”

“‘Soul of my soul’? What does that mean?”

Malik searched for a term or phrase Adrienne would understand. He answered, “Your people would call us soul mates.”

“Wait. What?”

“That is what that particular blood spell does. It searches for the one woman who is my soul mate. She alone is my equal, and worthy of being my queen. For me there is no other but you, my Adrienne.”

Adrienne’s marriage to Malik didn’t happen randomly. The spell picked her because she was his soul mate. This news made all her tension disappear. All this time she’d thought any woman from Earth could rule with Malik, and the blood spell had clued in on her first. But if she was Malik’s soul mate, there could be no other.

That news made her happy, but there was still the matter of the harem with which to contend.

“Why didn’t you disband the harem, if I’m the only one for you?”

“I told you, I forgot their presence. I ceased caring for them—I did not care for those women to begin with. I retrieved you and never gave them another thought, not until I saw the Keeper in the throne room.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“It is the truth. I would have told you and I would have disbanded them had I but remembered. You drove thoughts of any other woman from my mind. My attention, my entire being, is focused solely on you.”

A knock at the door interrupted whatever Adrienne would have said.