The Enemy's Triumph

by Kristen Banet

  “I know.” Luykas reached out and thumped his shoulder. “And because of that and seeing you like this, I’ll keep this a secret. As long as Rain is also happy, I’m going to stay out of it. But if he wants to leave, I’m going to help him. Even though it would put us on opposite sides.”

  “If Rain wanted to leave and needed to ask others for help to do that, fuck my title, just kill me. I don’t want to be him,” Alchan replied, swallowing. He hadn’t been vulnerable like this in centuries. When he was a young male who had friends, a young male that tried to fit in. Since the end of the War, he’d become hard, but Rain was opening him up more effectively than any sword could.

  “You aren’t him,” Luykas snapped. “Even having rules and trying to have boundaries already makes you the better male by far. He was never so considerate. Ever.” Luykas grabbed both of his shoulders. “Do you love him?”

  “I…” Alchan didn’t know if that was the exact word he wanted to use yet. “He’s mine, and he means something to me, but I’m not sure it’s there yet.”

  “Yet,” Luykas snorted. “Now that I’m past the initial anger, I can see how this happened. Oh, I should have fucking thought about it when we discussed him being your nemari. I should have had some inkling this could happen. He’s exactly the type of Andinna you like, isn’t he?”

  “He is,” Alchan confirmed. “He’s submissive but not a total pushover. He can bend, but he knows I like a little fire. He talks back. He pushes the boundaries and tries to break the rules and…”

  “Ah. Yeah, I don’t need any details, brother.” Luykas chuckled humorlessly. “He’s Rain, and I always heard rumors about his sex life, but I don’t need to hear details from you.”

  Alchan growled with a satisfied smile, his mind still considering all the ways Rain made him happy, both in and out of bed.

  “Please don’t ever do that near me ever again,” Luykas said, laughing. He sobered up quickly and sighed. “Well, as long as it’s consensual and you’re both happy, I’ll keep this secret. I’m going home now.”

  “Why did you even come by?” Alchan asked before his brother could escape.

  “I wanted to help with everything. I thought you two would be up late, and once Mat and Bryn were home, I could trust them to look after Mave. I’m still your best advisor and general. I have split loyalties I’m trying to focus on.”

  “Ah. Thank you for the offer. Tomorrow, Rain and I will need your help with everything.” Alchan reached out and thumped his brother on the shoulder. “I’m going to bed.”

  “And I’m leaving right now.” Luykas half ran out of his house. Alchan couldn’t blame him for it. To him, Rain was an adult male who suited all of his needs. To Luykas, he was probably still somewhat the boy the Company had helped raise. If Alchan had been involved with that, he probably wouldn’t have fallen for Rain’s charm, but he’d done this to himself. He’d never spent time with the younger male until he was an adult, making his perception of Rain different.

  He made his way up to his room and saw Rain already laying out on his black wolf pelt, ready to get some sleep.

  Alchan slowly stripped, eyeing the male who opened one worried eye.

  “Is everything going to be okay?” he asked softly.

  “He understands. He’s going to keep it to himself.” Alchan swallowed. Now that his brother knew, as well as Varon and Nevyn, he finally considered the idea of telling everyone. The ability to pull Rain in for a kiss with everyone watching, no one able to tell him he couldn’t shower someone he wanted in affection, someone who wanted to be with him in the public eye, was a far-off dream he didn’t want to put on Rain…not yet.

  “Is that all?”

  “What do you want me to say? He wanted to kill me when he caught us there. He took a chance to listen to us, and he’s okay with it.” Alchan frowned at the blue-eyed mutt. They were bright, even in the dark.

  “I just…”

  “I’ll say one thing, only one. The rules must be followed. Who knows what could happen next time someone walks in on us, Rain. It could be Mave. She has as little respect for my door as Luykas. She might not give me or you the chance to explain. I don’t want a sword through my back while my cock is out and I’m distracted trying to put it away.”

  “Luykas had to know details because you need a female, right?”

  Alchan jerked back, unsure where that idea came from.

  “No. He had to know because it changes our entire protection plan for you and me. Rain, you might be my nemari, but as my lover, you can’t take those risks for me. I would go mad on the battlefield if you die. I would take everyone down with me. He needed to know just how attached I am to you to properly plan for the inevitable.” Something Alchan should have already talked to Nevyn and Varon about since they knew of the relationship. They would have secretly covered both the protection issue and the relationship. Alchan, so distracted by the idea of having Rain, had been neglecting some needed security adjustments.

  “Can he fix the security without everyone finding out?”

  “He’s smart. He’ll be able to do it,” Alchan promised, kicking off his breeches finally. He went to his knees at Rain’s feet then stretched himself out over his new cherished lover.

  “Are you ready and willing now?” Rain asked, moaning as Alchan kissed his body.

  Alchan could only smile to himself as he sent Rain to the Skies and back.

  9

  Mave

  Mave woke up to an empty bedroom and sighed.

  They must have wanted to get an early start.

  It wasn’t the first time one or all of her males got up without waking her. Sometimes, she was up before them. It was so rare for all of them to get up at once unless they were on the road, something Mave knew was for logistical reasons.

  She rose slowly, stretching as she did, a yawn making her realize she didn’t get as much sleep as she thought she did. She pulled on pants and a wrap for her chest, then walked out, checking the dark hall for any of her males. None were there, so she ducked back into her room and went into the attached bathing room.

  Cleaning up fast, Mave hoped there was something for breakfast downstairs. She tried her best not to think of the day before as she entered the dining area and kitchen, seeing none of them, not even Zayden, though there was a chance he wasn’t up yet because it was early. The sun wasn’t even up.

  She started looking through the icebox and found enough to start a quick breakfast for herself that involved no cooking. She had no idea how to cook, hadn’t yet bothered to learn, and probably never would. Keeping cooking fires hot enough, knowing when something was done, how to season—she was bad at all of it.

  She heard footsteps behind her and a small growl.

  “What are you doing?” Zayden asked, gruff and tired.

  “Making myself some breakfast. Do we have that oat stuff?”

  “No. I took it off the shopping list after talking to Mat and Bryn about it. None of us ate it, and we were beginning to hoard it when others could have used it.”

  “Ah.” She closed the icebox and turned to him. “I was thinking of trying it this morning since all my males are gone, and there’s no food prepared.”

  “Sit down,” he mumbled. “I can whip something up for both of us.”

  “Why are you even awake?”

  “I have the room right above this, and the floors are thin. I could hear you rummaging around,” he explained, yawning as he walked closer. He stopped near the icebox and waited on her to get out of his way.

  Mave didn’t move, a little annoyed. He was just going to walk into her kitchen and declare he could do it for her? As he constantly reminded her, he wasn’t one of her males. He didn’t have to cook for her. He didn’t have to do anything except handle himself and be a guest in her house.

  “Why do you do this?” she asked, realizing she needed an explanation. “I understood it while you were helping us when Bryn was gone, but I just don’t understand why you keep doing it.
You don’t have to wait on any of us. If I can’t scrounge my own breakfast together, I’ll find something later, then give my males an earful because they shouldn’t be relying on you to cover for them.”

  He narrowed his eyes. It probably wasn’t the best way to start the morning, calling him out for behaving as if he was one of her males, then he would then argue that he wasn’t. The mixed signals were pissing her off, though, and this morning seemed as good a morning as any to ask about it.

  “I like it,” he said with a growl. “I like taking care of a household. I liked helping with Matesh until he was an adult. I loved having a family to dote on. Living with you has given me back something I lost over two centuries ago. Now, move, so I can make breakfast.”

  Raising an eyebrow, she stepped to the side.

  “Then why don’t you find a new female to settle down with? I’m certain most females would fall over themselves for a male who loves the household duties of the mayara the way you do.”

  “That’s my business, not yours.” He didn’t look at her as he opened the icebox. She knew he was purposefully ignoring her as he pulled out eggs and bacon and had to walk around her to put them on the counter.

  “Fine.” She crossed her arms and leaned on the counter, taking it as a chance to see how he was moving today. His bruises were a little ugly, but rapid Andinna healing meant they wouldn’t be there another night. The abrasions from his landing would take a couple more days, and some might scar, adding to others he had from his life.

  “Do you think you could just appreciate it?” he asked, motioning to the food he was setting out. “Or is this a case of a male never winning?”

  “I do appreciate it, but you’re the one who acts like a male in my household, then disregards me because you aren’t,” she snapped. “If you had listened yesterday, you wouldn’t look like this.” With one hand, she gestured at the sorry state of his body, cuts and bruises marking an entire side of him. “But no, you’re not my male. Can’t listen to anything I say.” Rolling her eyes, she finally gave him the space he needed to work. “After breakfast, we’re sparring. Healer’s orders. If you try to argue, I’ll just take it to Alchan and have him lay it down as the law.”

  “So, now you’re talking as a commanding officer?” He snorted, shaking his head as he cracked eggs into a bowl.

  “If I have to.”

  The sun was starting to come up by the time Zayden was done preparing breakfast. Mave looked down at the plate he made up for her, frowning, still annoyed by the situation. She wanted to ignore it out of principle. He sat on the other side of the table, pushing his eggs around with a fork but not eating. She knew he was waiting on her as he seemed to do whenever he got the chance.

  “Please eat,” he asked softly. “I’m just trying to…”

  “Zayden, you need to…” She stabbed her eggs with her fork. “I don’t know what you need to do.” She was going to talk to Matesh about it later. This weird situation had to stop.

  We told him he could stay last night, but maybe that isn’t for the best.

  She started eating as someone knocked on the front door. Groaning, she got up to answer it, finding Dave on the other side, smiling brightly.

  “Good morning…Champion,” he greeted. She looked over the clothing he was wearing, none of it properly fit him, but it was his style of clothing. Had he washed last night? Anything that had just gone on the voyage he had to take should have been dirty and covered in sea salt.

  “Just call me Mave,” she told him with a smile. “You only got here yesterday. Why are you here?”

  “I’m here to start working,” he explained. He lifted a book. “And I need to give this to someone. It’s…it’s the Elliar spy book, I think.”

  Mave slowly took it from him, frowning. “Why do you have it?”

  “After the breakout, I think…she, the Elvasi noblewoman who orchestrated it, thought it was too dangerous to keep,” Dave said, sighing. “And I completely forgot about it yesterday—”

  “I’ll take care of it,” she promised. “Come in. You can tell me over breakfast how you want to do this. I’ve never had a real assistant, as you probably know.”

  “No one took the job once you were free?”

  “I haven’t been in an official title very long, and I have males and friends who help me.” She waved him inside and closed the door behind them. Leading him to the kitchen, she watched Zayden make a wide-eyed stare. She dropped the book on the table as the Andinna and human both looked like they had seen old friends or ghosts. She couldn’t tell the difference anymore. Most of her ‘old friends’ were ghosts, as she had learned on Al Moro Nat.

  “You!” he said loudly. “I was told you made it, but I never thought I’d see you again!”

  “Are you one of Mave’s…males now?” Dave asked. Mave could hear how uncomfortable he was, out of place in the world around him now. Dave was once the epitome of human in Elliar—in a good-paying position, well-dressed, could rub elbows with Elvasi, not that he was thrown into Andinna culture and probably didn’t know exactly how to act at all times.

  “No,” Zayden said, stretching it out. “I was injured in the battle for Kerit, and they’ve been kind enough to allow me to stay here.”

  “He’s been living with us since last fall,” Mave added. “Living arrangements needed to change, and he was going to be the only member of the Company required to live by himself or in the communal barracks. We weren’t okay with it, so he moved into a spare bedroom.” She still wasn’t. She would force him to live alone in his own house before she let him go live in barracks with males she didn’t know or trust. That need to protect was only more vicious today than it had been months ago, thanks to the arrival of the gladiators.

  Dave just watched her as he took a seat at the table, his face hovering somewhere between awed and confused.

  “What?” she said, confused by the expression.

  “You’re so different,” he said softly. “Mave, I worked around you for ten years, and I never…heard you talk this much in a month, much less over breakfast.”

  Her face turned warm. “A lot has changed since you helped me escape. I’m not the female you knew. I’m not the gladiator or the slave anymore.”

  “It’s…it’s good,” he said, a smile forming.

  “So, how do you want to do this assistant thing?” she asked, wanting to change the subject. “Obviously, we still might need to get you an Andinna helper for message running, but normally, I can just point to someone, and they’ll send any messages I need sent around. Comes from my rank, I guess.”

  “Then we can keep doing that. It should be passed along. I'm going to be helping manage your schedule and keeping you clear for any personal time you might need, and I can probably handle official correspondence for you as well.”

  “I’m not all that busy,” Mave pointed out. “Most days, I’m left to my own devices.”

  “But the rebellion is only going to get bigger,” Dave pointed out. “And…you need someone who is going to try to stop others from pulling you into situations you don’t need to be in.”

  “He’s here less than a day, and he’s telling you how to live your life. Growl at him,” Zayden said, pointing at the human. Dave’s face turned red. Zayden chuckled. “He’s right, though. This is only going to get bigger and more time-consuming. As there gets to be too many Andinna for Alchan to personally deal with, he’s going to rely on you and Luykas to field things. And someone needs to hold the line to make sure things aren’t brought to you that don’t need to be. Things you’re above.”

  “And suddenly, I remember why we keep you.” She threw Zayden a taunting smile. “You do have something between your ears.”

  “Ha. Funny. Finish your breakfast. I’ll wait in the courtyard between the houses.” He got up and took his plate away. Mave watched him leave, then turned back to Dave.

  “Why don’t you just follow me for a few days? You can get an eye on what I do, what people expect from m
e. There’s a problem with me being able to fly, and you can’t, but we’ll figure something out. Even if it’s…” She waved a hand around. “I don’t know yet. Let me finish breakfast, then I have to deal with Zayden.”

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “You haven’t noticed? He lost about a third of his tail. For an Andinna, if it’s not fatal, it can be debilitating. So, he and I will be sparring every morning to work on his balance. Put that on my schedule. Breakfast, then sparring. Every day. He’s not allowed to get out of it, and I don’t plan on missing it.”

  Dave nodded quickly. “Of course!”

  Not long after, she led Dave out to the courtyard. If Zayden had fallen toward the back of her building, he could have maybe hit some bushes or landed in the small pond, but he didn’t. He hit the streets. The courtyard was pretty, and someone was still maintaining it in their free time, though Mave didn’t know who. It laid between two rows of buildings, and every building had a backdoor to reach it, with no dividers. This was a place for everyone in the community to share. Mave didn’t spend much time in it.

  Zayden was ready to go by the time she approached. She only brought out one of her blades, planning on taking this easy. Zayden readied in front of her, lifting his sword and shifting his feet. So far, all of his movements seemed clean, unhampered by his lack of balance, but she knew that wouldn’t last.

  “Do you want to stretch?” he asked.

  “Nope.” She casually swung her sword in her hand and launched her attack. Steel clashed as she pressed his defenses, trying to get his feet moving and force him to adjust.

  It took him three steps to under compensate, and his tail failed to give the natural balancing it normally did. He stumbled over his own feet while Mave jumped back.

  “Shit,” he snarled, looking at the ground. “This is what I didn’t want.”