by Nhys Glover
“This one?” Airsha snapped, flaring instantly into fury in a way that shocked me. Though of course I had seen her do just this in visions at different times. “This one has a name and a rank. She is a noblewoman, which is something you seem to value so highly. She is Lady Shardra of Eastairshan and you will speak of her and to her with the respect she is due.”
The Chancellor’s nostrils flared and she puffed up like an angry henling. “You do not tell me how I will speak. I am Chancellor! I was elected by the people.” The implication that being elected made her superior to Airsha, who was not, was clear.
The four big men that were her husbands, stiffened at the insult, but Airsha stilled them with a glance. Then she turned back to the Chancellor amiably.
Airsha flicked her fingers together and a spark of lightning shot between those fingers. She studied the dancing bolts for a moment before looking again at the older woman. “I do not pull rank often, Moyna, as you know. Which is probably a mistake, as it allows people like you to believe, quite mistakenly, that you hold power independent of the Goddess. You don’t. You have only what she chooses to give you, as is the case for all of us. And, as her Chosen One, as her human incarnation, I am her voice in all matters. The Goddess requires that all her creations be treated with respect, especially those gifted with magic. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who cannot do that will be removed from positions of governance. Voted in or not. Do I make myself clear?”
Throughout Airsha’s quiet speech, the older woman had begun to wilt. It was like watching the Devourers dissolve. I found it hard to believe that this was the woman I had seen as unyieldingly confident. In this moment, she had all the substance of melting snow. Whether she feared Airsha would use the lightning on her was unclear. What was clear, even to me, was that this Moyna would not be disrespecting me again, no matter how mad she took me to be.
“Very,” Moyna said stiffly.
“Very well then. We must find someone with the ability to walk the Nether Plane and has power there. Find that person, Moyna, and find us a mage who knows where the ring is to be found. A Finder... Is that even a form of magic?” Airsha looked confused, as if she was not clear about the information she was receiving. “Aye, that’s what we need. Someone who specialises in finding what is lost. People, things... whatever.”
The little man who had sat quietly in Moyna’s shadow suddenly spoke up. “I know of just the person. He is not one of ours. By that I mean he does not work for the government. He has a business here in the capital, though he will go anywhere in the kinglunds for a price. My wife lost her wedding band and... well, I will not bore you with the details. Suffice to say the man found her ring for her and we were well satisfied with his service, for all his huge charge.”
Could such a man be capable of finding the elusive ring for which the hag and the Devourers had searched so long?
“I have only one more question for you, Lady Shardra. Do you know the way into the cave where the Godling is to be found?” The question came from an unexpected source.
I stared at the scar-faced man who had stood silently behind Airsha during the whole preceding. His face was frightening, as was his demeanour, yet I sensed that he was no threat to me. Moyna, on the other hand, should be afraid of him.
Disrespecting the Goddess Incarnate was unacceptable to him. Although I had seen him rage at the Goddess in private. In that vision she had not backed down, and it had been amusing to see such a small person stand up to someone so big and fierce. It had blown over, whatever the argument had been about, but I remember thinking that he had never made a move to hurt the little woman, no matter how furious he became. In my world—or that of the hag, because hers was really all I knew beyond my cave and my comforter—a man’s anger always meant violence.
Not here though. Not with these people. In that moment I craved a place with them more than almost anything else. If I lived long enough, mayhap I might find it.
“Lady?” the scarred man addressed me again, a little less sternly, as if he realised he could be daunting at times.
Drawing myself back to the present I shook my head. “She is blind. When she goes to the core to attempt the release she is led there. All I know is that it is not far from their temple. And I saw the map of the tunnels when I was with her one time. I may be able to draw it from memory. I can only try.”
“I’m not sure I understand... if she’s blind–”
“When she draws me in I can see not only what is in the scrying pool, which is all she can see, but what is in the room she is in. One time an idiot priest thrust the map in front of her, pointing at the centre emphatically, expecting her to see it. She had the man whipped for it. She feels the vulnerability of her blindness deeply. And though she may not have seen that map, I did.”
The man’s features changed dramatically as he smiled at me in gratitude and hope. “Thank you. That will be very useful. Maybe with that information we can stop the killing of innocents.”
I did not know what he was referring to, but from the soft glance Airsha sent his way, she did, and agreed wholeheartedly.
Chapter Twelve
Shardra shared her intimate and frightening knowledge of the Devourers with us for several more turns, stopping only to eat and drink when urged to do so. By evening we were all exhausted and on edge.
Shardra was assigned a tower room that was ‘impregnable’, so we were all informed. Around the entrance to the stairs that led to the room a squad of fighting mages were assigned, with several more at the door to the room itself. No one was safer in the old palace than she was. And by the time she was taken there, she seemed content. Although resigned might be a better word. She didn’t believe it would be enough, I realised, but she was content that she had done what she could to aid our cause. Her own safety seemed irrelevant to her.
Once the interview was over, my mind was able to return to my own worries. Prior was one of those worries, though Zem was a more pressing concern. When I returned, he seemed better, but wouldn’t meet my gaze no matter how often I tried to make the connection.
It felt like forever since I’d lain in a bed with Zem. But I was glad of Landor’s presence as a buffer between us. It was unusual for him to stay angry with me like this, and I felt hurt and confused by it. Had I truly hurt him that much by my insensitive question?
The three of us peeled off our outer garments and slid into bed in our smalls. I was becoming used to Landor’s presence beside me when I slept. He comforted me in a way Zem couldn’t. But even he couldn’t ease the tension in the air as we lay there staring up at the ceiling.
“You think I’m a monster,” Zem said into the darkness some time later.
I’d been waiting for him to speak his mind, as Landor had, I think. I felt Landor’s hand cover mine, as if to give me courage.
“You know that isn’t true,” I answered levelly. “You mistook me. Nothing unusual there. I’m always saying the wrong thing. I just thought that you and Rama ... well, the Clifflings have damaged you both so much. The desire for revenge is natural. Yet you both seemed the most upset by the massacre.”
For a long time there was silence. So long I started to think he might have fallen asleep. Then he answered me, his voice thick with unshed tears.
“I do not know how many times I have imagined killing the men who attacked our wagons. Night after night, I went to sleep with images of the blood and terror I would deal out to those murdering fiends. But I never expected to do it. Not really. But I have to wonder if I might have... had I been with those soldiers. When my magic takes over I become... someone different. I don’t know what that someone is capable of doing. How far he is willing to go. Could he... could I kill childlings in the heat of bloodlust?”
I turned onto my side and ran my hand over Zem’s bare chest. For a moment he seemed ready to draw back, but then he gave in to my touch. To the comfort I offered.
“No one knows what they will do in situations like that. We all think we’d be civil
ized... humane. All I know is that I didn’t think about the men I cut down in the final battle. I know I gloried in how many of my arrows hit their targets. I wish I hadn’t felt like that.
“There are so many things I’ve done that I’m not proud of. But... I’m coming to realise there are even more that I am proud of. I don’t know if there is a scale somewhere that weighs up the good we do over the bad. But if there is, I know your scale is weighted toward the good, and I think mine might be too.”
I didn’t know what else to say. I was at a loss how to deal with Zem’s inner daemons. They seemed to be multiplying the deeper into this quest we went. Sometimes I didn’t think I even knew him anymore.
“I want you,” he croaked out, his battle to hold back the tears having been lost.
“I’ll go...” Landor said softly, making to rise.
“No. This thing we face. It’s coming closer. We have to be ready,” Zem said, as his hand snaked out to grab Landor’s wrist when he made to rise. “I can willingly share her with you, my friend. Although I’m not ready to do the same with that bastard. My blood boils just thinking of him with his hands on her. But you... I can accept you.”
Though my own blood was boiling at the way he was talking about me as if I wasn’t there, I kept quiet because this was between them. I’d already come to a place where I could happily share myself with Landor. I already loved him. Not in the way I loved Zem. But my affection for him was growing with each passing day. They both knew that. So it was now up to them.
“Flame? Will you bond with me now? Will you accept me as part of your harem?” Landor asked formally, turning to me, his pale body ethereal in the moonlight.
It was the way of many marriages. Just the asking and the accepting. Some made a show of it, but those who followed the Goddess rarely did.
I sat up on my heels between my two men.
“Yes, I accept you,” I said softly to my beautiful, white-skinned husband, taking the hand he offered me.
I turned to Zem. “Zem? We haven’t done this yet. And I know I’m an insensitive idiot, but I love you with all my heart. Will you bond with me? Will you become part of my harem?”
I offered him my other hand. He’d released Landor’s wrist the moment he’d finished his declaration, and now he took my proffered hand.
“Aye, with all my heart.”
I bent to kiss him then, tenderly, deeply.
Before it went too far, I broke from him to kiss Landor just as deeply.
Though I hated to admit it, I was scared. I had only been sharing pleasure with Zem for a short time. Now we were including another? How would it work? I barely knew what to do with one man, but two? Maybe I should have asked Airsha...
Zem laughed, and Landor’s deep baritone joined in immediately. They were reading my mind and laughing at me!
“What? Just because you’ve both been with multiple partners before.” Then I realised I’d only assumed Zem had. I didn’t know for sure. “Well, you have, haven’t you, Zem? I thought...”
“Aye, I have shared my bed with three women at one time. Never other men though. That usually happens when a man is interested in men as well as women, I gather. Not... Not that I’m an... an expert in such matters, of course.” He fumbled his words into silence before adding. “I don’t think that’s likely the case with the Airluds. They’re brothers, after all.”
“Flame?” Landor said.
From my position on my knees above them, I was able to take a moment to admire my new husbands. They were a heady sight, their naked torsos different, but equally beautiful, washed as they were in the moonlight flooding in through the open window. Their lower halves were covered with their smalls but each had an interesting tent lifting the thin fabric away from his belly.
“Hmm?” I answered distractedly.
“I do not think we need instruction in this. It will be what it will be. What we have experienced with others is not what we will experience with you.” He paused, and when he went on his serious tone was gone, replaced by humour. “Or I hope not. You will not giggle when my cock is in your mouth, will you?”
I laughed aloud.
Reaching out, I wrapped my hands around the jutting rods of both men, grinning cheekily when they groaned. It was a very satisfying response. But now what?
“Now we explore your body,” Landor answered my unspoken question.
Zem rose up to his knees so he could pull my chemise over my head. I lifted my arms to assist him, looking backward and forward between him and Landor uncertainly.
It was not the first time Landor had seen my breasts, but from the groan he let out, it was a sight he was happy to repeat. It was all I needed.
Feeling like a wanton, free and wild, I reached up and released my harem knot so my crazy red curls fell around my shoulders. This time it was Zem who groaned.
Zem leaned in and claimed my mouth hungrily, one hand cupping a breast as he did so. While I enjoyed duelling his tongue with my own, I was aware of Landor rising to his knees too. His open-mouthed kisses raining down over my naked shoulder delighted me, especially when his tongue laved at my skin roughly. The feel of his silky hair caressing my cheek as Zem kissed me deeply was pure sensual delight.
My hands began to find skin and run over it. I knew one caressed Zem’s back while the other followed the hills and vales of Landor’s ribs and belly. Silky skin, warm and solid... and mine.
I broke from the kiss, and Landor gave up his attention to my shoulder in favour of my mouth. Zem seemed content to kiss his way down my neck and then along my shoulder, his hand that had been kneading my breast now moving lower while the other gently caressed my arm.
Moaning into Landor’s mouth, I arched up off my heels, trying to spread my legs a little so Zem’s wandering hand could find a safe haven in my damp curls. My draws were in the way, and before Zem did to this pair what he did to the last he couldn’t get off fast enough, I drew back from both men and made a show of removing them while they gave me their rapt attention.
Laughing, I flicked my hair over my shoulders and climbed back onto the bed where my men awaited me, naked. Both had made the most of the pause to remove their smalls.
For a moment, I studied Landor’s proud white cock. Long and slim like him. I ran my hand over it admiringly, as Zem began nibbling at my earlobe.
“Can I see if I can avoid giggling?” I asked Landor, who was just sitting on his heels watching me watch him.
“Please...” he got out, swallowing audibly.
I bent lower, feeling Zem’s hand sliding up and down my back as he shifted his position to the side. He’d stopped kissing me and seemed to be watching what I was about to do. Suddenly, I was uncomfortably aroused, my cheeks burning, my breath coming in pants. Surely Zem wouldn’t enjoy watching me take another man’s cock into my mouth, could he?
I looked at him, trying to read his thoughts, or at least his expression. His walls came down and my arousal surged higher. He not only wanted to watch, he was close to coming at the very idea. Who would have thought!
He grinned at me then. “This is better than I expected.”
I grinned back before returning to what had aroused us both. While Landor continued to lean back on his hands, his butt on his heels, I moved in to nuzzle his long cock with the side of my nose. Taking the scent of him deep, I found his fragrance different, but just as appealing as Zem’s.
Did Zem hear me think that?
I heard him chuckle as he brushed my hair back so he could get a better view of what I was doing. Trying not to giggle, I licked up the length of Landor’s rampant cock. It was silky and hard and very hot. He shifted a little, grimacing.
“Am I not doing this right?” I asked him, suddenly only too aware of my inexperience. He hadn’t enjoyed his night with the girls. What if he didn’t enjoy sex with me? And after committing to me...
Landor’s hand cupped my cheek and made me look up to meet his gaze. He lowered his shields, and I saw that his grimace had
been fear that he was about to come. The excitement of having another man watch as I licked his shaft from root to head was almost more than he could take.
I giggled then. It was almost impossible not to, when I was trying so hard to keep from doing it.
“If it is your mouth around my cock, my fire-haired warrior, I don’t care if you giggle or not. I didn’t enjoy those girls because they weren’t you! I only wanted you!” Landor told me passionately.
I grinned up at him as I lowered my head to his cock again. Zem was rubbing his cock against my side and I could read the pleasure he was getting from the visual and tactile stimulus.
That was all I needed, the thrill of him watching me as I lowered my mouth over Landor almost had me coming. Landor reached out and grabbed my hair and began guiding me with it. Up and down, twirling my tongue across the thick vein as I went.
“Gods, oh Gods...” Landor moaned, his breath catching as he began to shake. I could feel he was close. Yet he wanted it to last longer, wanted to make the pleasure last. This was me, the woman he’d imagined himself with ever since I came to him out of the darkness. Now I was giving him pleasure beyond any he’d known before.
I didn’t know how that could be. Why my mouth was any different to one of those girls. But he seemed to think it was.
He dragged himself away, panting and grimacing, his muscles taut, his veins throbbing.
“No, not that way. Not the first time. Let me calm down. Let me watch you do that to Zem,”
I understood. With his emotions and thoughts open to me, I understood his need. Being inside me when he released for the first time meant something to him. It was a physical completion of our bond.
So I shifted to Zem, who was now laying on the bed ready for my touch. Anxious for my touch.
This time it was Landor who held my hair back from my face so he could watch as I lowered my mouth over Zem’s thicker, slightly shorter cock. I’d done this before, and I knew the taste and feel of him. Knew his scent. With pleasure, I sucked him in as deep as I could go, which wasn’t far, but it seemed to be far enough. I fondled his balls and pulled gently on them as I sucked. He groaned with pleasure and twisted slightly from side to side.