The Soldier's Lotus (19 page)

“
I’ve been secretly
practicing with a plug,” she said, giving her pelvis a little wiggle that sent
more blood rushing into his phallus. He was fully hard.

Kamen leaped into Darien’s thoughts, but only for a moment.
He was relieved to know that it was not Kamen who had had to break her in.
Saerileth took control, and Darien did not impede her, for he was too afraid to
move lest he injure her. He let her take him at her own pace, and that pace
quickened as she fucked his cock with mounting passion. She moaned and turned
her face to the ceiling, her eyes fluttering closed. Saerileth’s long black
hair falling down her back, her slim, white neck, her perfect, full breasts,
her slim waist – Darien could not take it any more.

He pulled his knees in and sat up, spun Saerileth around so
she was on her knees, and slammed her face down into the mattress. Her ass was
the highest point on her body, exposed and ready. Darien drove into her, and
Saerileth reached back, clawing at his legs as he did so. He fucked her until
she howled, and as she announced her coming orgasm, Darien, too, felt his about
to erupt. A few more pumps, and he could wait no longer. He thrust forward one final
time and released his seed into her. This caused Saerileth to buck against him
quickly two or three times until she came.

Darien eased Saerileth forward until she lay flat on the
bed, and then he collapsed on top of her, wrapping her up in his arms. Even
though Ulen had tried to ruin his life and separate them, Darien had Saerileth,
and nothing would separate them.
Ever.

Chapter Eleven

“
If you are not
certain, Darien, then I will stay here.” Saerileth lay beside him, still
entwined in his arms. They had kissed and loved and fucked all through the
night, and the sight of even the slightest pain in Darien’s eyes was more than
she could endure.

“
And insult the
Princess Royal?” Darien smiled slightly, and Saerileth kissed his curving lips.
“How would that affect my conquest of
Sunjaa
society?”

“
My love, I am not
merely your Lotus. I am your concubine, too. Your social position is less to me
than your happiness.”

“
You are more than my
concubine, more than my Lotus, more than my life.” Darien cradled her against
his chest, and Saerileth listened to the evenness of his heart. “I am sorry for
the deaths of the others, and I
shall
prove Ulen’s involvement. But you,
Saeri
, are everything. So long as I have you, no
sorrow can break me.”

Saerileth kissed the head of the water-serpent tattoo on
Darien’s chest. “I love you, Darien.”

“
And I love you.”
Darien kissed her brow. “But I am not yet so paranoid that I cannot let you out
of my sight for some three hours.” He smiled again, a stronger smile this time.
“So get you to the Princess Royal. I will wait here for you, and when you
return this afternoon, we will go together to the Royal Hall of Records.
Perhaps we can learn more of Ulen’s activities through his tax records.”

Saerileth knew that Darien meant this to be as much for her
own vengeance as his, and she leaned up and kissed his chin. “We shall have
him, Darien. I swear to you by your own eyes that he shall die for what he has
done to you.”

Darien pressed her against himself for a brief moment, but
then, with a quick slap to her buttock, he said, “Then
go
,
so that you may soon come back!”

Saerileth
obeyed,
bathing and
dressing quickly. She set out in a litter for the palace, and she saw Darien
watching from the window until she was out of sight. Only when the house was
hidden around the corner did Saerileth allow the litter curtains to fall back.
Alone in the cool dimness of the litter, she smoothed down her
pallav
. Her ass was sore beyond words, but she was not
wearing a plug. Those would no longer be necessary. She reached into the pocket
of her
pallav
and pulled out her herbs. Though she
had already drunk the necessary contraceptive herbs, she still needed the case,
for it was in there that she kept the powder she used to cover the more obvious
of the bruises Darien’s rough love-making left on her skin. The opacity of her
Zenji skirt, coupled with careful draping of her
pallav
,
would serve to conceal the hand-shaped bruises on her hips, but the bruise on
her throat would require powder.

By the time the litter stopped in front of the palace,
Saerileth was confident no one would know the extent of the violence with which
she and Darien enjoyed each other. She stepped daintily out of the litter,
dismissing the bearers to loiter about the royal courtyard. Two pages led her
through the wide, spacious corridors of the palace to the private apartments of
the Princess Royal. These rooms were on the third floor, and they overlooked
the royal gardens. Saerileth noticed, as a herald announced her presence, that
these chambers bore the royal insignia. They were, clearly, the queen’s
apartments, and Saerileth smiled inwardly. It was yet further proof of the
king’s affection for his concubine.

“
Saerileth.”
The Princess Royal rose from her seat and held
out her hands to Saerileth. Beyond the Princess Royal Saerileth saw the Crown
Prince
Jahen
playing.

“
Highness.”
Saerileth bowed as she took the other woman’s
hands.

“
No, we have gone
beyond that, or else I should call you ‘Lotus’.” The Princess Royal pressed
Saerileth’s hands. “Call me ‘
Aramina
’.”

Saerileth nodded. She knew that no one in
all of the
Sunjaa
nation would
call the Princess Royal by her name, excepting only His Grace the king.
“Yes,
Aramina
.”

The Princess Royal smiled. “You said that without
hesitation! How quickly you know how to lay aside troublesome protocol.”

Saerileth returned the smile, but she did not speak her
thought. It was only natural for Saerileth, trained as a Lotus, to be able to
put people at ease. “How may I serve you?” she asked.

“
Just come, sit with
me.”

Saerileth sat in a soft chair next to
Aramina’s
,
and the Princess Royal looked at Saerileth with wide, blue eyes full of unshed
tears.

“
Please, Saerileth,
tell me why you think His Grace loves me.”

Finding such directness both refreshing and a sign of
Aramina’s
desperation, Saerileth reached out and patted the
Princess Royal’s hand. “I told you part of it while we were yet celebrating
your new child.” She glanced down at
Aramina’s
rounding belly. “You love His Grace. That is clear. And you know, always, where
he is in the room with you, even when you are not looking at him.”

“
Yes.”
Aramina
clutched at Saerileth’s retreating hand. “That is
so.” Roses bloomed in the Princess Royal’s cheeks. “I did not expect to love
him, but nor did I expect to be a mere concubine.”

“
That is another
similarity between us.” Saerileth allowed
Aramina
to
keep hold of her hand. “I was raised a Lotus, and we are not usually
concubines, either.”

“
How did you bear it?”
Aramina’s
anguished pride was evident to Saerileth in
the flash of
Aramina’s
eye and in the hitch in her
breath.

“
For me,” said
Saerileth, “it was not difficult. My heart flew to my master the moment I saw
him. I cannot be his wife; he is
Sunjaa
. But I can be
his concubine, and when love is
so
great as my
master’s is, what wife could be dearer?”

“
So
your master – that large, handsome captain, yes?
– has taken no wife then? Do you think that he will in
future?”
Aramina’s
words seemed to carry an old fear.

“
No, I do not fear
it.” Saerileth did not allow her breath to speed up. “He loves me. Do you fear
it for yourself?”

“
Not really.”
Aramina
caressed her belly. “In fact, it was in the peace
treaty with my father that His Grace not
take
any
other concubines, nor take any woman to wife.”

“
You do not fear that
His Grace would break his written oath surely?” To break a written oath was the
last thing any
Sunjaa
would do, let alone the king
himself. Even the first
Sunjaa
captain who had helped
Saerileth escape Ulen’s ship had done so only under the influence of a Lotus.

“
No, but I fear that
he will
wish
to do so. He is the king. Surely he will wish to have a
queen to share his throne?”

Saerileth smiled gently. “You love him very much. His Grace
wants no other.”

Aramina’s
pale blue eyes filled with tears. “I want to believe, but love
is not for concubines, only for wives.”

“
Does His Grace ever
say or do anything that might make you think he considers you … less than a
wife?” Saerileth was confident, based on her observations of the king, that the
answer would be negative, for she had seen strong marks of love in the king’s
eyes.

“
No, though I doubt
that, were I his wife, he would couple with quite so much force.”
Aramina’s
cheeks were
flaming
now.

Saerileth laughed. “That might simply be his predilection.”

“
Perhaps, but
Sunjaa
wives have certain rights of refusal,” said
Aramina
. She dropped her eyes. “Not that I would dream of
refusing him.”

“
Then why would you
doubt his love,
Aramina
?” Saerileth disengaged her
hand to lift the Crown Prince onto her lap. Crown Prince
Jahen
babbled in a mixture of
Sunjaa
and
Vadal
, chattering to the pretty stranger who understood him
in whatever tongue he spoke.

“
Because
his people hate me.”
Aramina
began to cry. “Four years I have been here. I have
lived in his castle, learned his tongue – when I came here I could not speak
three words of
Sunjaa
! –
given
him a son, and still they hate me. I am not
Sunjaa
,
and I never can be. The king’s sons have
Vadal
blood,
and the next king of the
Sunjaa
will not be
pure-blooded.” The Princess Royal’s weeping escalated into harsh, racking sobs.
“And I wish that I were
Sunjaa
so that he could have
sons to be proud of!”

“
He is proud of his
son.” Saerileth bounced the boy on her knee, trying to keep him from noticing
his mother’s tears. “Surely you see this.” But even as she said the words, she
knew that the Princess Royal would not believe her.
Aramina
had been born a princess, had expected to be wedded to one like herself, if not
a
Vadal
then the ruler of some other young nation.
The
Sunjaa
were the oldest nation of men, with a
history longer than most other nations combined, with pride to match their
national glories. They had never, in all their long history, been conquered,
and yet they rarely made any attempt to conquer.
Aramina
felt inferior to her master, and no matter how he loved her, she would always
doubt his affection. Pity moved Saerileth, pity for this woman who, no matter
her love for her master, would never know the perfect trust that she had for
Darien.

“
You are kind to speak
so, you who are honored by the
Sunjaa
yourself.”
Aramina
wiped her eyes. “Lord Ulen
Ahnok
himself wanted you, and he is the one who hates me most. He told my master to
throw me over!”

“
Perhaps you should go
refresh yourself,
Aramina
.” Saerileth kept her arms
around the Crown Prince. “I will comfort the boy.”

The Princess Royal suddenly seemed aware of her lapse
before her son. She pasted on a smile and rose. “I will return shortly,
Saerileth, and we can drink milk together.”

Saerileth nodded and continued to play with the child. She
listened as the Princess Royal’s footsteps slowly left the room. But at the
door the footsteps stopped with a suddenness that frightened Saerileth. She
glanced up and saw the Princess Royal falling to the floor. Blood poured from
the princess’s body, and Saerileth saw the two masked assassins behind her.

The Lotus did not hesitate. With a few quick jabs she
rendered the boy in her lap unconscious. She wrapped him three times in her
pallav
and bound him to her back. Still without speaking
she slipped off the edge of the balcony. She clung to the underside of the
stone, grateful that Darien spared no expense when it came to her. Her
pallav
was pure silk, and the weight of the boy would not
rip the fabric. She held her breath, listening to the footsteps of the assassins.