Darkness Falls: Cirenthian Chronicles (Book 2)

by D. R. Rosier

  My cock jumped at the sound of her voice. It hadn’t once occurred to me to wonder where Alethea was, until I heard her voice. She was still in the bed, watching us. Her voice had come from very close by. Part of me was a little shocked by that, and a part of me was very turned on.

  I heard Serina whimper above me and she started to tremble on my tongue her body frozen in bliss. I greedily sucked in her nectar as well, and it was with some relief that I released my control and gasped up into Serina’s heat as I started to unload into Sienna’s hot ready core.

  Sienna’s gasp echoed mine and then she lost her breath as I expanded within and filled her and I felt her ecstatic bliss tighten around me as our juices mixed in rapturous pleasure.

  We all laid there together in bed and caught our breaths. I wondered about Serina too, that must have been some talk yesterday if she was willing to join us all together, with Alethea watching.

  I still wasn’t sure what that was about. I was willing to let my wives deal with all that stuff, but I’d need to talk to them about it.

  I sensed no hesitation from Serina at all as she cuddled into my side and kissed my chest. Ari cuddled into Serina’s back, her arm around Serina’s body, her hand rested on my chest. Sienna burrowed into my other side and claimed my mouth for a kiss, knowing we were sharing the taste of her as well as Serina and Ari was kind of a turn on.

  I wondered for a moment if Sienna was pregnant yet, and then realized I hadn’t really been wondering, I hoped she was.

  Serina broke the quiet, “That was… goddess, we have to do that again soon.”

  Ari replied a little breathlessly, “Sounds good to me.”

  Sienna laughed sultrily, “I think he’s ready now.”

  How could I not, being surrounded by such lovely creatures… I moaned as Sienna took me in her hand, it was quite a bit later before we managed to get out of bed, clean up, and search out breakfast.

  When we found the dining hall Nialla was already seated with her husband. She looked sad about her sister, but had a slightly amused smile on her face as she stood and bowed to Serina.

  Her voice was smug as she said, “Good morning your majesty.”

  Serina on the other hand looked like she’d swallowed sour milk and said, “Oh sit down.”

  Nialla said with twinkling eyes, “Yes, of course your majesty,” as she sat back down.

  I chuckled which got me a dark look.

  Serina wasn’t very happy, but I could already see on her face that she was planning out the next move. After breakfast was finished she kissed me in full view of everyone which put a smile on my face.

  She whispered in my ear, “I’m going to be busy today, but make sure you and your mates make their way to my bed chamber tonight.”

  I whispered back, “Of course your majesty.”

  She snorted and walked off. I did feel a little sorry for her, she had a country to get under control and an empire to build a defense against.

  Maggie said to us, “Feel free to come study when you want, I can see you will be living here. If you don’t come see me soon though I’ll be upset, so don’t make me hunt you down for that conversation. And feel free to ask me about anything in the library you don’t understand, we are still looking for a replacement for that bitch Stella.”

  I replied respectfully, “Thank you mage Maggie, I’ll not keep you waiting long, just as soon as things settle.”

  Shortly after breakfast I made it a point to talk with my mates, alone.

  “What did you talk to Serina about, she seems a lot more… open to a relationship with us now.”

  Sienna shrugged, “I won’t tell you what happened, maybe she will someday. Let’s just say she doesn’t mistrust women, she took our word about you.”

  I nodded. I guess that sort of made sense, it still seemed like a really fast turnaround.

  “Do either of you mind then if we move into her suite? Things will get a little complicated now that she’s queen… I think.”

  Ari sighed, “I don’t think so, if anything this will make things easier. We can live in the capitol here and visit Arinith when we want. Ciren is also a great place to start new business and to be honest everyone will be clamoring to work with a mage, and if things work out, a consort to the queen. Not many mages go into commerce you know.”

  Sienna blushed, “I don’t see a downside either. Compared to my life plans when we met this is like a dream. Live in the castle? Share a husband with a queen? If that isn’t security for our family I don’t know what is. Besides, I already really like Serina. She’ll be a wonderful queen even if she hates it. She really cares about everyone. In fact I bet she’d love it if we picked up Tina as a surprise. Serina really depended on Tina to run the mansion while she did her mage duties and they’re close friends.”

  I smiled, “I won’t have a problem with it either, so I’m glad we’re all agreed.”

  Sienna asked, “Why would anyone have a problem with it?”

  I explained, “Pride. Some men would hate that she was more powerful and influential. They wouldn’t be able to separate that in public and in matters of state she was in charge, or conversely they would be too uncomfortable to be a man and take control in the bedroom.”

  Ari agreed, “He’s right Sienna. You probably didn’t run into that problem because you were lucky enough to grab Marcus up when you were ready to start a life and family.”

  I asked, “Also, what’s going on with Alethea, I was a little surprised we had an audience this morning.”

  Sienna looked at Ari, and Ari looked uncomfortable.

  Ari sighed and looked slightly ashamed, “This morning was kind of an experiment on my part.”

  I asked in a confused voice, “In what way?”

  Ari took my hand and said, “Alethea… loves you. She has for a while now and I’m fairly sure it was one of the main reasons she chased after us. Not that she lied, she feels responsible since it was her family that rejected you and dishonored the bonds you were able to create with the ward and community. Alethea is a flirt and a joy to be around, but in her own way she is a protector just as I am.

  “She’s my cousin though and I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was with the idea of possibly becoming a co-mate with her. I love her to death, and she is more than worthy, but I thought it might be… awkward. So I’m afraid I asked her along last night, and wanted to feel how it would be with her there. I should have told you. I think there was a part of me that might have been a little jealous as well, I’ve always envied how easy it was for her to be playful, and joyful. I was always the more serious child.”

  She sounded ashamed of herself there at the end.

  I asked, “And was it? Awkward I mean, or were you jealous?”

  She blushed, “No. I don’t think I could ever share pleasure with her like I do with Sienna, and now with Serina. That would feel… wrong. But having her there didn’t bother me, I love her after all. She’s not just my cousin; we grew up as best friends. I had planned to tell you when we had some time alone, that if you were interested, we were all okay with it. Even Serina is, I’m sure you could tell they were already forming a friendship when we arrived there. Although she isn’t a mate or wife yet, both Sienna and I thought we should involve her.”

  Curious I asked her, “Why?”

  Sienna coughed, “Because we can see what you two don’t yet.”

  I raised my eyebrow but changed the subject. If they were dodging the question I didn’t need to know. I trusted them with all of me. I thought about Alethea for a moment. She was fun to be around and I did love her already as family. Did I like her more than that? Could I fall in love with her? I was certainly attracted to her physically and had enjoyed her hugs, she was a little taller than Ari but otherwise they could be twins. They were both stunningly and exotically beautiful. But the last few months I’d been focused on thinking of her as a cousin, adopted or not it would be a shift in thinking.

  I replied, “I’m not sure yet, I nee
d to think about it,” I continued to explain my thoughts.

  I did love her as family though, so I wouldn’t jump into anything just to try it out unless I was relatively sure it was a good idea. She was important to me and I didn’t want to hurt her. I also wondered how blind I had to be not to notice she was in love with me, how did Ari put it? She’d said for a while now.

  “Okay, I like the idea of surprising Serina, who wants to go on a six hour trip to retrieve Tina? I guess I can go into the city tomorrow. Unless we pour more magic into it…”

  Ari nodded, “That makes sense, if we both go we’ll only lose a quarter each, I don’t think we’ll need to fight today, and even if we did it should be fine.”

  I asked, “Where is Alethea anyway, should we take her with us?”

  Ari said, “I think she is working on hammering out a new treaty with Serina between the times Serina is sending out new orders to the mayors and all the other mages. Like I said earlier, she came after us for a number of reasons and she is avidly pursuing them all.”

  That… really put all the flirtations between us in a new light. I just thought that was her personality, maybe being friendly and joyful was, but perhaps her flirting had been a lot more targeted. The truth was I just hadn’t been paying attention.

  “Okay, let’s get out of here then, if we push extra magic in we should be back before lunchtime.”

  On the trip I tried to explain some of my ideas. It was nothing Earth shattering, I thought I could probably create electricity pretty easily, but I really had no idea how to make a simple light bulb, much less complex machinery. But I could introduce some things here, like better plows, more efficient ways to wash clothes, water heaters. They had plumbing of a sort, but only used it for tubs, not waste, so they still had chamber pots and outhouses. I guessed no one here had invented the S bend pipe which kept the smell from coming back up.

  I figured some things I could actually make a business for, others I could sell the idea to black smiths and introduce the idea of royalties or become a silent partner with a very low percentage of the profits. I’d figure something out there. There was a ton of simple things like that which could be added at Cirenthia’s level of technology.

  When we arrived and let Tina know what was going on she was thunderstruck for a moment. Then she ran around for an hour while we waited. She knew better than we did what Serina would want, so I didn’t interfere in that way and simply let her do her thing. It was worth it later on to see the surprised and very pleased expression on Serina’s face at lunch time.

  We brought Alethea with us when we went to train that afternoon. Even her smile was a bit strained by that time, being away from nature to long tended to sour their disposition. When we got out there we paired off, Ari and Sienna went to work on their sword techniques. It wasn’t exactly subtle, we were being thrown together to see how I felt about things changing between us.

  But then it had been my idea, and subtle was not one of my strong points.

  Alethea raised an eyebrow playfully, “So you’re going to teach me some magic?”

  The way she said magic sent a shiver down my spine and I smiled.

  “I was planning to, then you can laugh at my pitiful sword dance and give me pointers.”

  She grinned and winked, “I doubt I’ll laugh, I’ll be keeping a very close eye on your form and technique.”

  My cock twitched at her obvious double meaning, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to change my thinking after all. Just knowing how she felt seemed to be doing the trick. I was a guy after all, and she was a beautiful woman, all the way through. I was sure the reason I hadn’t noticed was my focus back then was all about joining Ari’s family, so I could bond with Ari. Ari and Sienna had been taking all of my energy and focus.

  I cleared my throat which made her chuckle.

  “I’m not sure which affects can be adapted to fire, but we’ll go through some of the ones Ari and I made over the last month.”

  We sat across from each other, our knees touching as we discussed the magic. I started with the flash bang, which would probably be easier with fire. The light part she picked up quickly, but she couldn’t really produce sound short of creating an explosion. That was fine though, the flash bang was designed to startle people so they couldn’t concentrate if they were protected with magic. Her version would also kill them if they weren’t protected well enough, not exactly a drawback.

  Then she practiced shaping thin flames to affect the light which had potential, but also seemed to distort her vision. She seemed to make some progress there after a while. We switched at that point and she watched as I went through the sword dance. When I finished she had a thoughtful look on her face and I rejoined her on the ground.

  I asked, “That bad?”

  She said distractedly, “Hmm, oh, no. It was good. You’re still a little stiff at the end there, but that will smooth out with practice.”

  She added, “They told you how I feel about you, didn’t they?”

  I nodded slowly and waved my hand, “This was my idea, to spend time with you alone. I hadn’t really considered us before now, you were Ari’s cousin, and you became mine. I wasn’t sure if I could adjust my thinking, but… I’m sure now that I can. How did you know?”

  She smiled radiantly, “You looked at me differently today. I could see it in your eyes. You’ve always cared about me, but… now there is more there. Something I’ve been longing to see in your eyes.”

  She leaned forward and kissed my cheek softly, “We shall have to take a walk alone soon Marcus.”

  I held her for a moment, gave her a chaste kiss on her neck and released her. I knew what she meant; this needed to be something we shared alone. The first time would be intense, much like with Ari. Even beyond that, the first time should just be between us, and we didn’t really have time for that right now. We had to go back too soon, and with Ari and Sienna not that far away…

  Regardless, that’s why both of us avoided kissing on the lips, I could scent her desire and I was sure something would break if we kissed. We wouldn’t be able to hold back the claiming. I also wondered what she saw in my eyes, or why she fell in love with me in the first place. I wasn’t going to ask though; I’d just keep being me. We just sat there and stared at each other for a long moment.

  She blushed and winked, “You have any other magic to teach me while we wait? Or you could just keep staring at me like you want to devour me…”

  I smiled and nodded slowly. I taught her how easy it was to block scrying, and how to create exceptions so that in an emergency we could find her.

  I asked curiously, “So how are things going between you and Serina? Officially I mean.”

  She replied thoughtfully, “Really well. I expect we will have a treaty again soon, though it may take some doing to get my father to sign it. I might be gone for a day or two soon to take care of that.”

  Ari and Sienna came back. Ari looked a lot more relaxed, our afternoon training seemed to do the trick, “We need to get more plants and stuff in our rooms, that would help right?”

  Ari and Alethea nodded and Sienna said, “Maybe we can go down to the city tomorrow and do that, or just ask the castle gardener. I need to remember there are servants for almost everything now.”

  Chapter 19

  I knew I wouldn’t be able to put it off long. I’d already promised Serina we’d be in bed with her tonight; otherwise I’d have grabbed Alethea and found an empty one for the night. There was also a lot going on and I couldn’t drag her off now either. It wouldn’t kill me to wait of course, but we had started something in that field, formed a connection, and hadn’t gotten to finish it.

  Perhaps I’d steal her for an extended lunch tomorrow. I started to make plans in my head to do just that. I could tell it wasn’t just me, I could scent Alethea’s need. This also helped me realize I hadn’t turned into a caveman without any patience, this was a biological directive being caused by her pheromones, something that neither o
f us could fight for very long.

  Ari and Sienna both seemed amused at the results of our afternoon training, I guess Alethea and I weren’t acting all that subtle about our attraction. As I lay down in bed that night surrounded by Serina and Ari, I was painfully aware Alethea was just one body away. I had no desire really to sleep with any of my other mates that night either, I knew I would be thinking of Alethea during it, and I wasn’t willing to go there.

  That wouldn’t have been fair to anyone involved.

  My last thought as I fell asleep was fuck lunch; I’d drag her off and take her in the morning when I woke up. The business she had with Serina could wait that long surely, before I lost my mind. Of course, shortly before we would have woken was when the other shoe dropped.

  Serina shook us all awake, it was before false dawn, before we usually got up to sword dance. Serina had a pinched look on her face and she gasped out the words.

  “Valley pass is under attack, the mayor and his family is fleeing for some reason. The city has high walls and is the gateway through the eastern mountains. I don’t understand how it could have fallen so fast. Give me a minute to absorb this message.”

  She went silent for a moment and I consulted the mental map I had of Cirenthia. Cirenthia was huge, just over fifteen hundred miles long and close to six hundred wide. It was over eight hundred miles west to Cliff’s Edge from here, and almost seven hundred from here to the Eastern border. Even worse is there is no way it would take less than a few weeks to get there, even on horseback. Marching it could take over a month. Fast travel wasn’t an option, I’d never been farther East than Ciren and neither had Ari or Alethea.

  Serina moved off the bed and started getting dressed. She called a servant to wake mayor Nialla and her party. It was clear to me the war we all worried about was now here. I shared a glance with Alethea, our morning plans would have to wait now. We would live though, it was too important to get a response of some kind going. The trip would take long enough for the troops that were now nearly trained; we couldn’t afford to tarry away more lives.