by Suz deMello
He had his hands on my naked body, exploring my breasts and belly, and as he’d promised, my pussy. Desire conquered me and I reached for his cod, but before I could attain the prize, he pulled away, his breath heavy.
“I have another gift for you, one that I want you to wear tonight.”
“All right,” I said, thrilled and delighted. Another gift. How could he top last night’s present?
He took out a very long golden chain with an unusual pendant. Similar to the nipple clamps, it was a little larger, about the length of Storne’s thumbnail and shaped similarly. It looked like the work of the same artisan, with the same curves of gold lined with tiny pearls and a cunning spring mechanism at one end, the curlicues at the other.
I raised it high to take a good look. “What…where does this, um…go?”
“I think you can guess. Stand and I’ll put it on you.”
I stood and stretched, turning my body from one side to the other. I glanced out the window and saw that the third moon had risen. “We are going to be late.”
He grinned. Again his smile transformed his face, and I was struck by his utterly male beauty. “I’m sure they won’t start dinner without us.”
“It’s rude to make them wait. My servants work long hours.”
“This won’t take long, and then we can call Maia in to dress you.” He kneeled in front of me and set his lips on my clitoris, sucking hard. Ecstasy stabbed, raw and savage. I cried out, my knees weakening, and I grabbed his shoulder. My clit popped out from between the soft folds of flesh into his mouth. He rocked back onto his booted heels. “Beautiful,” he said.
I looked down. Red and swollen, my clitoris stood out from my newly bared labia. Storne took the pendant, opened the spring and set it round my clit, clipping the curlicues together at the far end.
A primal hunger again tore through me and I gasped. The seed pearls hugged my aroused flesh, taking me higher. My body seemed boneless with rapture and I tightened my grip on Storne’s shoulder for support.
He stood and flung the other end of the long chain over my neck. It jerked on the clip, and I bucked against him. He dug his hands into my buttocks and pulled me closer so I could feel his embroidered codpiece against my naked pussy. I moaned and scrabbled at his shoulders. “Please…”
“No.” His voice was soft but stern. ”We’re late, remember?”
Chapter Seven
I saw that Storne wished to drive me into a frenzy of longing for him, perhaps hoping to force a hasty decision in his favor regarding marriage. I would not be manipulated, and so I arranged to tryst later that night with Frayn and Kaldir. Trysting with them would slake my needs, at least temporarily, put Storne in his place, at least inside my mind, and keep two suitors’ interest alive, at least for the nonce.
Because either Frayn or Kaldir might attempt to impregnate me, I prepared for the dalliance with my taqqa rod. I took off Storne’s gift and strapped my protection into place, then dressed in a simple gray gown without a corset and slipped out of my suite after third moonset.
The castle was silent and very dark, for most of the torches had flamed out after the servants retired. Here and there along the halls, sleepy guards nodded at their posts. In soft slippers, quiet as a wraith, I sneaked past them, delighting in the forbidden nature of my nighttime exploit. Maia and Parlous, Parron and Rall might all prate of security risks and dangerous schemes, but still I was queen, and ’twas good to remind them occasionally that I was free and they were my subjects.
Before I left the castle by way of the kitchen, I took a candle to light my way through the gardens. I trod tranquil, graveled paths past a fountain to a whitewashed gazebo dripping with fragrant flowered vines that twined up and through its wooden latticework. Water from the mouth of the fountain’s marble fish tinkled into its round basin.
I set the candle on a table, using drops of molten wax to hold it steady while I sat on a bench and waited for my lovers.
I was alone and treasured these few, rare moments of solitude. The moonless night’s darkness was not absolute but tinctured by the far-off blaze of Janus’ sun. Pure shadow, my realm in its truest form. I breathed deeply, letting the midnight air, cool and a little damp, freshened by the scents of the garden, renew me.
I loved Shadow. Our flowing waters. Our forests and our grasslands, our tilled fields and our gardens. The mists, so calming, so serene. The Shadowlanders, my people, allowed themselves to be affected by the air, the water, the land, and so we were a peaceful yet cheery lot, happy in work, joyous in play.
I loved my realm and gladly gave my life to it and to its dear folk. That my sacrifice was unplanned mattered not.
Kaldir arrived first, his white robes flowing as he strode toward me and sat. “I wasn’t sure of the place,” he whispered, bringing his lips close and kissing the sensitive flesh beneath my ear.
“But you found me.” I shivered happily and leaned into his warmth. He continued to kiss my throat, my face, while caressing my body, stroking my sides and cupping my breasts. At last his lovely cloudlike lips reached mine, and I turned so we could kiss more fully.
My hair was unbound and he slid his hands into it, fingering its length as he kissed me. The gentle tugs on my scalp, the tender fondling along with the dance of his tongue with mine sent me into heavenly heights of arousal. I wondered if Kaldir had made love since we’d come together in the wood, for his hands roamed me eagerly while his mouth devoured mine. My pussy clenched pleasurably around the taqqa rod, and moisture gathered in my folds.
I found his magnificent cock. Impossible to miss that thick, hard, hungry pole as it tented the soft fabric of his trousers. I reached beneath his robe, planning to untie his pants and free his rod, for I was impatient to take him again in my mouth. I craved the spicy taste of his jism, so special, so unique.
In his robes, I felt something hard that wasn’t his cock. It had corners… “What is this?”
He smiled and took a small beribboned box out of his pocket. A gift. I wondered if his spies had told him that Storne had brought me presents. “For you.”
Grinning, I tore the red ribbon off the box and opened it. Kaldir reached inside and removed a gem.
But not just any gem. The ruby was the size and shape of a quail’s egg, but with tiny points at each end. He lifted it high by a golden chain, and its many facets—it looked as though there were a hundred—caught the candlelight and glowed redder than embers and brighter than fire.
“As hotly as this jewel burns,” he said, “my heart burns hotter for you, Audryn.”
“Kaldir, it’s magnificent.” I touched it with a reverent finger as it dangled before me.
He puffed up with pride, more than the norm, I thought. He would not preen so had he merely purchased the ruby from a Darkside merchant. “Where did you get it?” I asked.
“We made it.”
My mouth dropped open. “You m-made it?”
“In the laboratory.”
“This is beyond marvelous. But I thought your work had to do with cells and such.” I touched the gem again and he put it around my neck. It lay on my breast, gleaming in the soft candlelight.
“I was part of a team making rubies in the laboratory. They have many applications, among which is the seduction of women.” He smiled at me, and we cuddled together on the bench.
“’Twill work tonight, though you really didn’t need to.” I again touched the ruby. It was glorious. “But I’m glad you did. It will be one of the treasures of my realm.”
He stroked my cheek. “Our realm, I hope.”
“Perhaps.” I hesitated, then said, “You understand that this decision cannot be made solely upon the leanings of my heart or the yearning of my body.”
“Are you telling me ‘no’ already?”
I shook my head. “I have not made a decision.”
“Good.” He sounded relaxed, accepting. “Whatever your decision, I hope we can reach an accommodation.”
“An accommodatio
n? New trade agreements with Darkside and Shadow? We have plenty of opportunities to work those out, the three of us.”
He said, “But how long can these agreements last? Storne’s clan may not long hold the throne.”
I was about to respond when a voice sounded out of the shadows. “I would not bet against Storne.”
Frayn emerged from around the curve of a graveled path. I wondered how long he had been listening.
“What do you know of this matter?” Kaldir asked him.
He shrugged. “His clan is rumored to be exceptionally well-armed and well-trained.” His glance strayed to my breast, upon which the ruby lay. He raised his brows.
“That is my information also.” Kaldir rose to pace. “He troubles me.”
“Why so?” I asked. I could see that the amorous dalliance I had planned had become a meeting, and accepted it. I shifted so the taqqa rod sat more comfortably within me.
“Darkness could easily overtake both Shadow and Light,” Kaldir said.
My glance caught Frayn’s. I sensed we shared the same thought, that perhaps the DesertDwellers possessed no special weapons. However, Kaldir could be testing us to find out whether we had secret military might. I said, “Taking is not holding. Our territory is not vast, but unless biology has changed, Darkside’s population is not large enough to conquer and hold even the Shadowlands, to say nothing of the Desert.”
“You are right.” He sighed, and his shoulders drooped just a bit. “Power sits uneasily upon me, I fear. Most of the time I would prefer to be in the laboratory. Matters of state elude me while I invent troubles that don’t exist.”
I rose and touched his arm. “All of us charged with responsibility for others worry. You are not alone.”
“Definitely not.” Frayn had a new wrinkle between his brows.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Working late. I ask your pardon for my tardiness.” Frayn kneeled at my feet.
“Granted.”
Frayn reached for the hem of my gown. He and Kaldir lifted the dress over my head. Both men gasped as they bared my body. I looked down. Shadow veiled the curve of my breast, the dip of my waist, while my secrets were hidden by the darkness. I sat on the bench. Frayn tugged my right slipper off and kissed the arch of my foot.
I heard a startled grunt. Kaldir…I guessed he had never thought of a woman’s arch as a sexual area. But it was, at least on me.
Frayn lifted my foot, continuing to feather his lips along my arch, and slid a finger between my largest toe and its neighbor. The sense of being parted there, opened, sent a wave of need through me. I leaned against Kaldir, who now sat beside me, watching. He wrapped his arms around my torso and cupped my breasts with gentle palms. I untied his trousers and reached for his cock, sliding my hand along its length.
Frayn continued to massage the sensitive spot between my toes, and ’twas as though he were massaging my pussy. With each rub of his finger, my clit tingled as though he were touching it also. He bit my big toe at the same moment Kaldir pinched my nipples, and I cried out with joy, a cry that softened into a happy moan.
My pussy clamped around the rod. Moisture slicked it, oozing out of my slit to dampen my sex flesh. I wriggled to heighten my pleasure, finding that my shaved mound was exquisitely sensitive. Still holding my foot, Frayn slid his lips up my calf, kissed the skin behind my knee and feathered my inner thigh. I extended my bare foot toward his codpiece and fumbled at its fastenings with my toes. Frayn detached the curved leather and I tickled his expanding member with my toes. He groaned.
Kaldir drew a surprised breath. “This is different,” he murmured in my ear.
I chuckled softly. “Watch and enjoy.” I stroked his rod.
He nipped my lobe, then gripped my breasts. He rubbed the tip of the ruby he had given me over a nipple, and its chill point puckered the sensitive nub. I kicked off my other slipper so I could take Frayn’s expanding member between both arches, now naked. He hissed in a breath and I felt his penis thicken.
As Kaldir kissed my neck and kneaded my nipples, I began to sweat with need, my body vibrating with the intensity of my craving. The taqqa rod moved inside me and my muscles convulsed around it. He pulled me onto his lap and his cock pressed lengthwise into the crack between my buttocks. I could feel the heat of his fine thick shaft directly on my sensitive back entrance.
A shining, sticky droplet oozed from Frayn’s slit. I spread it over him with my toes and cradled his length between my arches. He buried his face in my crotch, pushing the leather strap aside so he could reach my clit with his tongue. I ran my fingers through his thick red hair and clasped his head, holding him close. Kaldir’s cock fitted more securely in my crack, and he dotted delicate kisses over the tender skin of my neck.
Frayn sucked my clit fully into his mouth, forcing me toward ecstasy. My hips jerked, and Kaldir’s shaft slid up and down my crack, lubricated by our juices. His big hands clenched convulsively around my breasts, and his breath sounded ragged in my ears. His member pulsed and he came, hot jism spurting over my butt. As he shrank, my pleasure continued to build. Frayn did not stop kissing me, and his tongue on my clit took me to ecstasy. My orgasm roared through me like a WestMarch cyclone.
My feet rubbed up and down Frayn’s engorged cock, and he tore his mouth away from my cunt to grunt in orgasm, spraying my feet. Eyes closed, he collapsed against my legs, and I continued to caress his head, his hair. Limp and relaxed, I leaned against Kaldir, who still had his arms around me. He stroked my breasts with a tender hand.
We were quiet for many long moments. Finally Kaldir said, “I have never done anything remotely like that.”
Frayn and I chuckled in unison and he stretched his arms over his head. “Stick with us. We’ll introduce you to all kinds of perversions.” He stood and took my hand, helping me to my feet.
“It’s because of my limitations, you see.” I went to the fountain. Before I stepped into the basin, I unbuckled the taqqa rod and dropped it onto the lawn. Then I bathed, the cool water rinsing off sweat and sex most pleasurably.
I looked back at the gazebo. Both men were staring. I tried not to smirk. “Join me?” I asked. I sat down in the water and leaned against the basin’s curved side.
They did, Frayn thoughtfully bringing my gown.
Your limitations?” Kaldir asked.
“No straight sex until she marries,” Frayn said. “It makes a man…creative.”
Kaldir eyed him. “You put up with a lot.” He sat across from me.
“For Audryn, anything,” Frayn splashed me and the water hit my breasts, handily rinsing the ruby Kaldir had given me.
“You’re one of my rivals.” Kaldir sounded surprised.
Frayn smiled. “A friendly one, of course.”
“Of course.” Kaldir continued to wear an astonished expression, and I grinned. He had evidently failed to consider the Shadowland nobles as suitors for my hand.
“Frayn is also coming on the Royal Progress,” I said.
“Really?” Kaldir tried to look pleased.
“Really.” I smiled at them both. They were sitting close enough to touch each other…or to kill each other. Which they would choose? I continued, “I could not do without my Minister for the Exchequer.”
Kaldir cleared his throat. “Has Your Majesty considered what route we should travel?”
He did not want Frayn around, and didn’t know what to do or say about it, so he chose to change the subject. I said, “We are in the north, and I should like to go south through my realm.”
“The closer we are to one of the poles, the cooler is our desert. It’s almost tolerable in the far south, and that’s where the majority of our people live.”
“Then that is where we should go.” I smiled at Kaldir. “I am glad our plans mesh so well. South through the Shadowlands, to the desert, then back through the WestMarch. Then it will be Storne’s turn to show me the Darkside.”
Both men frowned.
“Then I’
ll choose my mate.”
Chapter Eight
Once the major decisions had been made, planning the Royal Progress moved swiftly. We set out before second moonrise two weeks later, Lady Mercourie having handled arrangements with admirable efficiency. The Royal Progress consisted of the three retinues, with the horses of Shadow leading the procession. My soldiers were dressed in our bright livery, red with black trim, and my retinue in vivid colors that defied the constant gray of my lands.
At the head of the Progress, I rode my favorite palomino mare, her mane woven with red-and-black streamers, her tail braided also. To honor Mercourie and her efforts, she rode by my side, and I welcomed the opportunity to deepen my relationship with this clever, talented woman. Watching her manage the myriad details of the Progress, sending messengers hither and yon, had been a lesson in organization.
The graceful horses ridden by the DesertDwellers followed us, with the Children of Light, arrayed in their white, flowing robes making a grand display as they rode their prancing steeds. Darkness’ taqqa formed our rearguard. Depending upon the weather, the beasts’ ponderous hooves and great weight kicked up clods of mud or clouds of dust, and no one wished to ride behind them despite the magnificence of Storne’s knights, clad in polished armor. The somber standards bearing the silver sigil of oak and firemountain floated above their part of the procession.
Parlous, seemingly invigorated by the Progress, rode up and down the procession accompanied by outriders. Coaches, Storne’s taqqa, and carts carried tents and provisions, for although the Shadowlands were the most populous area of Janus, that term was still relative. In comparison to Old Terra, our realm is empty, with many leagues separating villages, towns and castles. We could not depend upon reaching a convenient inn or mansion every nightfall. Moreover, our numbers were too great to be accommodated in the average manor.