The Champion's Ruin

by Kristen Banet

Rainev

  Rain swallowed a hard lump in his throat. Like every Andinna in the vicinity, he had recognized Lilliana for what she was the moment he’d laid eyes on her.

  Leria has sent a skies damn ahren.

  Rain only hoped Alchan didn’t kill Seanev over the obvious meddling. The general had been uncomfortable with it, so this was definitely the meddling of a mativa who thought she knew better than everyone.

  He knew he had to rescue the female from the crowd before it got out of hand, so he had stepped forward. Not just for her, but himself. He had to evaluate the threat, and Lilliana, a tiny submissive female, was a threat. Not to him or his safety but to his happiness.

  She was the one thing in the world he believed could tear him and Alchan apart—the only thing.

  “You’re the king’s Consort,” she said softly as they walked. Rain didn’t waste any time in getting her out of the village and onto the dirt trail toward the cliffside he called home. Once there, he let go of her hand, knowing there was no longer a crowd to separate them.

  “Yes,” Rain answered, looking back at her.

  “I am so sorry about this.” Her voice was sultry and scared. She probably didn’t even mean for it to be, but there was a huskiness that begged even him to get hard. If he closed his eyes, he could probably ignore that she was female and just drown in her voice.

  That scared him.

  But he had to see her, so he forced himself to do just that. Her words were shaky and fearful. She was probably terrified of retribution, and Rain couldn’t blame her, but he knew there was no reason for her to fear.

  She didn’t ask for this. It’s written all over her, her embarrassment, her fear. She didn’t want to do this.

  “I know this isn’t your fault,” Rain said softly. “We’re going to work this out and make sure no one gets hurt.” Now, he offered an arm to her. “Let me escort you properly, and we’ll get to the bottom of this. I’m going to ask some uncomfortable questions, but it’s better I ask instead of Alchan.”

  “Of course. I know what you must be thinking.” She seemed ashamed. It burned him to think Leria had placed this female in a position where she had to feel that way.

  “How did you end up coming down here? We’re the center of the rebellion. It’s not a good place for someone like you.” A submissive female who couldn’t even look him in the eye. He only knew she had pretty amethyst eyes because he’d caught a glimpse of them before she had bowed before Alchan.

  “Leria came to me and said she finally had a way for me to help the rebellion. I’m good at organizing and thought she would use those skills. I don’t…I don’t disobey orders, though, so when she said she was going to send me down here, I didn’t argue. I couldn’t argue.” She looked up for a second, something pleading in her expression.

  “You don’t have the dominance to argue with someone like Leria. I understand. I don’t either. I might hate the decisions made by some of the more dominant Andinna, but I don’t have the dominance to really fight with them over it,” he said gently, slowly walking toward his shared home with Alchan. He didn’t know where else to take her. The war room wasn’t appropriate, and people would be there. Alchan’s home and their privacy were strictly enforced. No one would find her there. The rumors were probably already starting. He could think of a few ways a female like herself could get into trouble.

  “Is he going to be angry with me?” she asked, swallowing. “I don’t…I don’t want to do what I think she wants me to do. Is he going to want that? From the news, he’s…very happy with you.”

  “So, we’re on the same page, then,” Rain said, trying to keep it light and take it as a bad joke. “Alchan and I are very happy, thank you. No one here is going to force you to do anything, Leria and Alchan won’t be angry with you. Do you mind if I call you Lily? Your name reminds me—”

  “Of the flower. Yes, it’s fine.” She nodded, her black hair falling over her face and hiding it.

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to call you something you don’t want to be called. If there’s anything I’ve learned as a submissive male, there is power in it, and sometimes, that power is just holding a boundary, a line you don’t want crossed. If someone cares about you, they won’t cross it, even if they want to. If they do, you know they don’t respect or care about you.”

  “I like it,” she said, looking up with a small smile, her amethyst eyes glittering with a moment of happiness. “Lily is nice.”

  “Wonderful.” Rain wanted to build a rapport with this female. His immediate instinct was that she was a threat faded as his mind caught up to his heart. He almost felt sorry for her, but not in a pitiful way. He related. Being a submissive Andinna meant having to trust the more dominant ones. She had trusted Leria to do what was in the best interest of the probably only living ahren in the world. Leria had proven herself unworthy of that trust in Rain’s mind. Leria had offered her up on a platter.

  That was what made him feel bad.

  It also pissed him off.

  Rain didn’t question her more. Her body language told him everything he needed to know and probably more than she would have liked. The way she clung to his arm. The way she looked down at her feet as they walked. The way she shook when she heard noise back in the village.

  “I’m sorry this happened,” he whispered, finally knowing something needed to be said as his home came into view.

  “Me too,” she replied, not looking up this time. “Seanev didn’t even tell me he was going to introduce me to…His Majesty. I was hoping I could just find work when I got here and ignore the situation completely. I should have known Seanev would do what Leria asked him to do, and she thinks ahead. She would have known I would try to hide from it.”

  “She’s a mativa. She’s supposed to be smart,” Rain said, trying to hide the acid he wanted to spit in that fucking bitch’s face. “This is my home…with Alchan. You can call him Alchan, by the way, and I’m Rain.”

  “I know your name,” she said softly. “It was in the proclamation.”

  “Of course, it was,” Rain mumbled, groaning. “You know, I fell for this idiot male, and I knew it was going to be a lot to become his Consort, but I didn’t really grasp the entirety of it.”

  She laughed softly. “Then you didn’t think things through very well.”

  “I know,” he said, giving an exaggerated sigh. “Come inside. I’ll sit you down with a cool drink, and you can have a moment of quiet before Alchan descends on us in a tornado of fury.”

  “He is going to be mad?” Her eyes went big and the fear…Rain could have choked on the fear.

  “Not at you. He might show you he is angry, but Alchan doesn’t take his fury out on those weaker than him.” Not often, anyway. I’ll stop him from doing anything stupid. He’s going to be so fucking pissed.

  She didn’t seem to believe Rain, but he was able to get her settled with a drink at the dining table. He threw a log onto the fire to keep the home comfortable, then went back outside, waiting for his lover.

  It was a long wait, but when Alchan arrived, his amber eyes blazed with fury.

  “I would have caught up sooner, but I had to deal with Mave and Seanev getting pissy with each other. I’ll probably need to deal with them again before the day is out,” he snapped, heading for the door. Rain stepped in the way, keeping his lover outside. He watched Alchan work through what he had done, looking over him at the door. “She’s in there, isn’t she?”

  “She’s enjoying a quiet moment after a stressful event,” Rain explained. “And we’re going to talk before you really meet her.”

  “You’ve spoken to her already,” Alchan said, a statement of truth. “What did she have to say?”

  “Leria sent her here, but she doesn’t want to be here. She doesn’t like what Leria has done, but she has absolutely no backbone to really do anything about it. She was hoping to hide in the village and work, but then Seanev outed her in the middle of the village with the entire community watching.”<
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  “Fuck,” Alchan snapped, turning away. “I can’t believe Leria did this. No warning, not even a hint. Just send the bedru king an ahren and let the pieces fall as they may. Stupid and dangerous.”

  “I agree. I think we should put her under Mave’s or Allaina’s protection. I would say Senri, but she’s—”

  “She can’t go to any of them,” Alchan said softly, his shoulders slumping. “It would be unfair to whoever we pick and to her.”

  “Why? Mave would die for someone—”

  “Did you hear Mave’s reaction when she saw Lilliana? That first moment when she bowed to me, did you hear it?” Alchan turned back on him, pain in his eyes. “It’s the same reaction a female normally gives me, realizing how dominant I am.”

  Rain tried to think back and remembered hearing a few growls as Lily had bowed before Alchan, her face flushed. He hadn’t been paying attention to who did it because he had been in shock about who was standing in front of him. He’d been too consumed by the fact an ahren was in Anden and was suddenly in front of them.

  “Why did she growl?” Rain asked softly, obviously missing something important.

  “Andinna have a lot of instincts. A dominant female sees a bedru and sees something out of place, a threat that needs to be crushed, an aberration that doesn’t belong, a male who is beyond the place allowed to him. In the same vein, females like Mave, Allaina, Senri, and Leria, the dominant ones with very little challenging them, will see an ahren and think…she’s a weakness that needs to be purged from our people. Only the worst of females act on that impulse. Murder is murder. I never met an ahren before, but my grandmother made sure I was educated on them. She met one long before I was born and had to fight the urge to crush the poor female. Normally, ahren are kept…out of society. The same way bedrus try to stay out of it.” Alchan leaned on the stone cliffside next to the door, sighing. “So, I can’t send her to Mave or Allaina or back to Leria.”

  “I didn’t say send her back to Leria. That bitch needs to be taught a lesson,” Rain muttered, shaking his head. “I think she needs to stay with us if she can’t go anywhere else. At least we’ll respect her and what she wants more than Leria obviously did.” He hated it. He hated how Leria had abused Lilliana’s submissiveness to do this. It reeked of disrespect and now that he knew more, contempt.

  “Agreed.”

  Rain’s eyebrows went up. He hadn’t expected Alchan to agree with him.

  “Leria used this poor female to play a game with me, and she will pay for that in due time,” Alchan explained, giving a dangerous smile. “She’s backed us into a corner, Rain. She’s not allowed to do that to her king, and she would have never tried if I were her queen. Lilliana will have to stay with us because we’re probably the best suited to keeping her safe and happy.”

  “You hate this, don’t you?” Rain asked, seeing the frustration in his lover’s face. “Alchan…”

  “Leria sent me a female who will never tell me no,” Alchan said, his voice straining. “Think about that, Rain. She set me up to…”

  “Oh, my love,” Rain said, reaching out to touch Alchan’s face, holding it in both his hands. He didn’t want to lose the precious eye contact they had in that moment. “You would never do something like that.”

  “Rain…What I want and what I will do are sometimes two very different things,” Alchan said, his eyes haunted by troubles, Rain knew he struggled with every day—the need to possess, to dominate, to control. The tight leash his lover held only loosened when Rain was in his bed at night, and it had begun slipping more and more each day. Alchan was probably scared he would snap that leash and lose himself.

  “You are thinking of all the bad things about yourself, Alchan. You’re also loving, protective, and—”

  “Because you’re mine,” Alchan growled, that possessive bedru nature flashing in his eyes. “Don’t think I’m like that with everyone.”

  “What if…” Rain bit his lip, leaning in as a radical thought entered his mind. It was crazy and stupid, but it was an idea. It was playing with a fire he wasn’t sure he wanted to play with, but it had to be said. “We give her a chance.”

  “Excuse me?” Alchan looked at him as though he was insane.

  “You heard me. Let’s just live with her and see how things play out. Don’t close your mind to the possibility that—”

  Alchan pulled away snarling. “Don’t finish that.”

  “You were angry at Seanev for bringing her, and you’re rightfully angry at Leria for sending her, but how did you feel the moment you saw her? Alchan, I’m not stupid.” Rain wanted his lover to listen—needed it. This was going to come for them eventually, and Rain had always known Alchan could never be only his. No male could ever expect that. “You love submissive lovers, and she’s pretty. Leria is a bitch, but she’s a smart one. She wouldn’t have sent Lilliana if she was going to be in danger or was a terrible fit.”

  “Leria sent her like a sacrificial lamb!” Alchan roared. “Without any thought to what she might want!” He pointed at his door. “I could have bred centuries ago, Rain. I could have had children before you were even born. You know why I didn’t. I am not going to use my title to force a female to spread her legs and give me that. I refuse! I won’t do that to her! She’s an ahren who needs someone to protect her interests, not abuse her nature!”

  Rain backed up a step, his mind screaming for him to be submissive and unobtrusive.

  The movement made Alchan bow his head in shame.

  I shouldn’t have said anything. He’s right. Lilliana is obviously against this.

  “Okay,” Rain said softly. “Okay, forget I said anything.”

  “I want to have children with someone who loves me,” Alchan whispered.

  “Sadly, I’m not built that way, or I would. I would love to have children with you, Alchan.” Rain leaned in to kiss his king’s shoulder, finding his courage again. They had never talked about it before, but the words came easy. Rain had never considered having children because of his own nature, but if he ever had a chance with Alchan, he would take it. Alchan turned back to him and pulled him into an embrace.

  “Would you like to go meet her, or do you need time to calm down?”

  “I’ll meet her,” Alchan said in defeat. “Thank you for keeping me out here. I needed a moment to put the anger aside.”

  Rain nodded, kissing his king’s cheek, then reached back to open the door. Alchan walked in first, and he followed, locking them in with the ahren.

  Lilliana was sitting quietly where Rain had left her, her eyes going wide as he and Alchan entered her view.

  “I hope you can forgive the numerous failings of your leaders that led to this point,” Alchan said softly, sitting across the table from her. Lilliana’s head dropped, her hair blocking her face. “Maybe if we could have met under different circumstances, there wouldn’t be so much…wrong with this.”

  “You can talk to him,” Rain said, finding a seat at the end of the table. It gave him a good position to throw himself between them, a standard safety precaution on most days, although he didn’t really think anything would happen to them. “He’s really not all that scary.”

  “I know this puts everyone here in an uncomfortable position. If you want to send me back, I’ll go,” Lilliana rambled, talking quickly, looking between them, her anxiety rising with each word. “I’ll live where you want me to live and do what you want me to do—”

  “I’m not sending you back to Leria. I’m not going to put you in the position of answering to any dominant female. It’s not good for either of you, and you know why. I highly doubt a visit from Leria was ever a pleasant experience.” Alchan put his hands on the table. “What do you want?” he asked gently.

  “I…I wanted to leave the temple I’ve lived in for nine hundred years. I only ever got to leave when someone needed a hand, and that was monitored.” She explained her life in a timid way, telling Rain she felt like she didn’t have the right to complain. “
When Leria told everyone about you, I asked how I could help the rebellion, and she said I couldn’t. Until now. She sent me here and…”

  “You don’t want to be here,” Alchan finished, his voice echoing Rain’s own sadness for her.

  “That’s not it!” she said quickly. “I want to help the rebellion, but I don’t want…” She swallowed, looking up for a moment, pleading and desperation in her eyes. “I grew up in a temple of Amonora. Those…things never…”

  “I understand,” Alchan said before she could continue. “I will allow you free movement around this valley. You can go to the market, you can see the warriors trained, I don’t care. You can even be trained if that’s your wish. I would recommend you have my Consort, Rainev, with you.” He gestured to Rain, and Rain didn’t contradict him.

  I can be her escort. That’s fine. She needs to have her own life, and she’s never had one. Maybe I can teach her how to do that, so she won’t always need someone to take care of her.

  “I would also like you to live here,” Alchan continued. The way her face paled made Rain sick, and he knew Alchan would hate it. “Not to be my lover against your will, female.” That growled sentence made Lilliana hunch. “I want you to live here so we can protect you from the stronger personalities in the valley. Over half of those living in this valley are warriors. We have a handful of very dominant females. I don’t believe you’re in danger, but it would be easier on me if you agreed to live here, where I can keep an eye on everyone. Leria didn’t look out for you. Seanev, that fucking prick, didn’t look out for you. They’ve handed you off to me, and I would never take you to bed without your express permission to do so, so banish that thought. Instead, I will do something they should have—give you what you want. So, tell me, Lady Lilliana, what do you want?”

  Rain smiled to himself, proud of his lover and king.

  “I’m not a noble,” she whispered, making herself smaller with every word.

  “I’m King Alchan Andini of the Andinna, ruler of Anden, and a son of Lariana, the White Dragon. It’s my duty, my honor, and my privilege to give nobility to whoever I damn well please. You have found yourself at the bottom for too long. While you’ll never be dominant in the same way I will never be submissive, I will give you what power I can. So, you are now Lady Lilliana, a noble of the Andinna. Now, please tell me what you want.”