by Rebel Miller
Tai stood behind him, remorse overcoming his face.
My mouth moved, but nothing came out. Dread consumed my body.
Suddenly, Rhoan spun around and slammed his fist straight into Tai’s jaw. I cried out as Tai staggered to the ground and rolled onto his back. Rhoan grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pummeled him in the face again. While Rhoan was big, he wasn’t as large as Tai. It was clear when Rhoan easily hauled him up and shoved him toward the door that Tai wasn’t interested in fighting back.
“Stay the fuck away from my sister!”
Tai ran his tongue across his bottom lip. It was bleeding. His jaw and the skin just below his left eye were red. I struggled not to go to him. Doing so would only aggravate Rhoan’s ire. I must have moved, though, because Tai glanced at me and shook his head almost imperceptibly. He made no move toward the door.
“Get out!” Rhoan yelled, advancing on him. I grabbed the back of Rhoan’s shirt, trying to keep him from doing more harm.
“And you!” Rhoan spun to glare down at me. He looked at me like it was the first time he had ever met me. “Halls, Kira, how long has this been going on?”
Pulling my lips inward, I tasted the saltiness of my tears. I licked them away as more fell down my cheeks. My brother’s disappointment settled like a dead weight inside my chest.
He turned to Tai, whose expression was unreadable. “Holy fuck,” Rhoan said, looking at Tai like he didn’t know him either. Suddenly, he stepped toward him. “I told you to get the fuck out!”
Tai wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, eyeing Rhoan cautiously. “I’m not leaving,” he said. “How are you going to get this information to your uncle?”
Rhoan faltered but quickly rallied. “We’ll send him the file anonymously,” he said.
“He’ll think the same thing you did. That it’s a trick, or inauthentic.”
“Then we’ll confirm it.” He glanced at me. “I’ll head to Husk with him myself so he can see that my aunt and her family are safe.”
“You know that’s a bad idea. You’ll put everyone in danger if you trek over there for no reason. You’ll need your status files authorized and up to date to make that trip. Plus, with your promotion, you can’t take those chances.” He stepped toward Rhoan. “You need me.”
“No fucking way. We’ll figure it out.”
“Don’t be an asshole, Rhoan. You can be angry with me for the rest of your life, but don’t take it out on your family.”
Feeling an immense amount of guilt, I said to Tai, “You don’t have to do this.”
Tai glared at me. “I know. But I’m going to.” He stalked to the table, collected the documents and stuffed them into his bag. Then he shoved his big body into his coat and slung his duffel bag across his chest.
“Look out for a message from me to your uncle tomorrow,” he said over his shoulder as he engaged the door and left, leaving a heavy silence in his wake.
It was only after a painfully long minute that I felt the courage to speak again, and it was from a safe distance behind my brother. “You’ve been promoted?”
He swung around to pin me with a glare. “Don’t you dare try to change the subject. Did Tai give you that envelope?”
My mouth fell open. “No! It’s not him. I swear on my life,” I added the latter when he scowled.
“Then he’s doing this out of pure guilt.”
I didn’t respond. It wasn’t a question and, truthfully, I didn’t know the answer.
He bore down on me. “Who gave you that envelope, Kira? You tell me now or, so help me, I’ll call Tai off and go directly to Uncle!”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me. Who are you protecting?”
I relented a bit. “He’s … a senator.”
“Thank the gods for small mercies. At least we’re not involved in an Elite category of crime.” He scrubbed his hands over his face then tensed. “What did you do to get this information?”
“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything.”
He glared at me. “So a new senator pal of yours simply handed over treasonous information to you?”
“He’s a friend, a good person. We can trust him.”
His shoulders slumped and he shook his head slowly. “Halls, Kira, who are you not sleeping with?”
“I’m not sleeping with Tai,” I said stubbornly, realizing too late that I was inadvertently confirming I was sleeping with my source.
Disappointment blazed bright in Rhoan’s eyes.
I frowned, feeling a new bout of tears well my eyes. I fought them off. My brother would have no sympathy for them.
“Have you no self-respect?” He ran a hand through his hair, the dark curls snapping back into place. Rhoan shook his head. “Maybe you should go back to live with Ma and Da. I’m obviously not doing a good job watching over you.”
“I’m not a child!”
“So says the girl who’s acting like a kid in a candy store filled with government officials!” He spun around and started toward the kitchen. “Two men. Fuck, you’re exactly like your mother,” he muttered.
“What?”
Rhoan froze at the cooler then wordlessly opened it to remove a bottle. He downed half the blue liquid before turning to me.
“What did you say?” I said.
“Nothing.”
“What did you mean by that?”
“Kira, leave it alone.” He brushed passed me to sit at the table.
“You forced me to tell you about the envelope.”
“You hardly told me anything.”
“Tell me!”
He looked at me thoughtfully then thinned his lips. “Very well, I suppose you’re old enough. You’re obviously no innocent.” He sat at the kitchen table and nodded toward the chair across from him. “Sit down.”
I took a seat.
“Have you never wondered,” he said, “why Uncle Khelan is always around — every holiday, every birthday, every special event?”
I scanned Rhoan’s face. “He’s part of our family,” I said.
“No … He’s a close friend of the family who we call ‘uncle.’” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “He’s a good-looking and smart man, yet he’s never introduced us to a woman or man in all the twenty-plus years we’ve known him.”
I frowned, racking my mind. “There was a woman once, years ago. Uncle brought her to the house.”
“I remember,” he conceded. “She worked with him at the Judiciary. She was more Ma’s friend than his.”
My fingers found their way to my hair. I wrapped a few locks around them as I thought back hard.
“Don’t you find it odd,” Rhoan continued, “that Uncle has as much say in our lives as Da?”
I disentangled my fingers from my hair. “Are you telling me that he and Ma are having an affair?”
“No. I’m saying that Ma is in a relationship with Da and Uncle Khelan.”
I stared at him. “Are you certain?”
“I saw them once, years ago,” he said. “I came home earlier than expected. They were in the sitting area, and I had come through the back door, so they didn’t see me. Ma was lying on the couch, her head in Uncle’s lap. Da was sitting across from them. I thought something was wrong with Ma — it was odd to see her in that position. Then I heard her say something like ‘I wish we had more times like this.’ Uncle leaned over and kissed her full on the mouth. Da didn’t say a word.”
“Oh,” I said, and turned my thoughts to the past.
Rhoan’s eyes narrowed. “You’re taking this very well.”
“I saw them too,” I told him. His eyebrows rose. “Nothing as out-right. It was the other day, just a look that passed between them, the way they moved around each other. I couldn’t believe it, so … I dismissed it.” I stood up and started to pace the room. “Why would they hide their relationship? So what? Multiples are commonplace!”
Rhoan shrugged. “I’m not sure, but it might have something to do with
Ma’s background.”
Of course, I thought. Ma was from Septima, where multiples weren’t widely accepted.
“Halls, to live in such secrecy …” I scowled. “Ma’s allowing some archaic thinking to stop her from living her life freely.”
“Ma is only part of the equation. Da stands by, allowing this farce and forcing Uncle into the role of third wheel,” he said with equal passion.
“Come now, Rhoan. If Ma wanted to accept Uncle openly, Da would comply. Da would do anything for Ma.”
“Da has the backbone of an acra fish,” he said insolently. “If it were me, I would never stand for this. I would accept Uncle in his proper place or deny him completely. This lukewarm arrangement has Da written all over it.”
I exhaled deeply. “This is absurd.”
“Nevertheless, let’s just keep this to ourselves, Kira. It’s not our life to fight over.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I opened my mouth wider as Gannon pressed deeper into my mouth, the texture hard but velvety to touch. The taste, creamy and salty with a bit of sweet, slipped to the back of my tongue. I moaned as he retreated. I licked my lips, savoring the flavor.
Gannon grunted. “You liked that, did you?”
“Hmm.”
“You want more?”
“Yes, please.”
After another taste, suck and lick, I gave up. “I can’t tell what it is.”
The bed jostled and I heard the sound of cutlery against glass as
Gannon pulled the blindfold from my eyes. I squinted to adjust to the light and looked at the bowl of dessert he held in one hand.
“I think I’ll call it Kira’s Delight. Bits of smoothed toffee wrapped in guava cream and grape salt.” Gannon threw one in his mouth.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I think I’ll make you my manservant, Gannon Consul, just so I can order you to make those for me for the rest of my life.”
“The rest of your life, eh?”
I laughed, throwing myself back on the bed. “Well, I guess as long as you’ll have me.”
Gannon considered me a long moment before clearing the dishes off the bed and taking them to the kitchen. I admired the way his loose pants hung low on his waist, emphasizing his muscled stomach and taut behind.
It was the first time Gannon and I had had a chance to see each other since he’d given me the infamous white envelope. He had arrived a day ahead of the Realm Council and its delegation for the special meeting. As soon as I’d left work, I’d intended to make a beeline for his apartments but was stopped short when Talib met me in the Judiciary lobby and informed me that Gannon had rented a residence a short distance away.
Talib dropped me at a short pathway leading to a small and elegant stone-front row house, where Gannon promptly opened the door and pulled me inside. We pounced on each other, stripping our clothes off frantically and finding our way to the bedroom in a blind heat. Since then we had been in bed until late in the night, when we pled hunger.
“Thank you for acting as my test subject,” he said as he returned from the kitchen. I had been guessing the ingredients of an array of treats he had “whipped up.” Blindfolded, I was grading them as he fed them to me one by one.
He climbed onto the bed and kissed my shoulder before sitting behind me. I leaned into his bare chest, reveling the feel of him against my naked back.
“Any time,” I said with a grin. “You know, if this high chancellor thing doesn’t work out, you could become a chef.”
“And effectively kill my parents? You’re a wicked woman.” He kissed the back of my neck and snaked his arms around my waist. I sighed as he slid a hand up my chest between my breasts and gently wrapped his fingers around my neck.
“I’m sure,” I said, “your parents would understand if you wanted to while away your days making treats for your subordinate mistress instead of ruling the worlds.” I rested the back of my head in the curve of his neck.
He snorted. “I don’t think it’s possible to be both a subordinate and a mistress.”
Gannon licked behind my ear then suddenly slid his hand into my hair, tugging almost painfully at the strands. I gasped as he repositioned my head so he could take my mouth. After he had finished devouring it, I leaned into him, languid.
“Halls,” I said. “Why is it that when you do that, my whole body melts?”
He was quiet for a moment then said, “I’d like to say it’s because of my unparalleled sexual prowess, but I have a feeling you’re asking something else.”
It had been a rhetorical question, but since he’d pointed it out, I decided I wouldn’t mind knowing.
“I’ve never felt this way before,” I confessed. “During sex, I usually have to fight for an orgasm. Sometimes it doesn’t happen at all.” I ran a finger along the arm around my waist. “With you, I could come as soon as you give me that look you always do.”
He chuckled. “I’ll have to remember to put that to test.”
“I’m serious.” I leaned back to look at him. He looked at me quizzically. “What?” I asked.
“How many lovers have you had?”
I blinked. “Five, including you.” I decided oral sex didn’t count.
“And, excluding me, did you enjoy sex with them?”
“It was okay.”
“Which means it was horrible. Who initiated sex? Were you on top or the bottom most of the time?”
I frowned. “I don’t know. I would initiate a lot. The positions varied, I guess. What are you getting at?”
“Sometimes I forget how young you are,” he murmured, brushing his hand across my cheek. My back straightened. “I didn’t mean that the way you think,” he said.
“Explain.”
“You know you’re sexually submissive, right?”
“I am not submissive,” I said with the requisite amount of haughtiness.
“You most certainly aren’t,” he mockingly matched my tone then smirked and added, “outside the bedroom, that is.”
“I initiate sex,” I insisted, “and sometimes like to be on top.”
“I’m sure you do. But the ultimate question is, who has the control?”
I took a moment to consider that then, with a shake of my head, said, “I know what sexual submissiveness is and I don’t have it.”
He threw back his head and started laughing so hard I wanted to punch him. “It’s not a disease,” he said when he caught his breath.
I crossed my arms.
“Come now,” he said. “Are you angry?” He pulled at my arm.
“No, I just think you’ve slept with too many submissive women,” I muttered.
It was his turn to go cool.
After a moment’s consideration, he said, “Okay, do as you wish.” He untangled himself from around me, removed his pants, then lay on his back, his arms folded behind his head.
“What are you doing?” My eyes roamed over the visual feast that was his body.
“Have your way with me,” he said. “If you get to orgasm, then we’ll both know you’re not submissive.” He settled in.
“You can’t just lie there like a dead fish. No one would get off like that!”
He grinned, smug. “I don’t intend to just lie here. Now, go ahead. Have at it.”
I pursed my lips, mildly irritated, mostly intrigued. Finally, I gave in. I crawled to him and surveyed his body, wondering where to begin. Gannon’s eyes darkened as they glanced over my naked breasts.
“Perhaps,” I told him, “I’ll get you to orgasm before I do.”
“That will never happen,” he said, so blatantly confident that I believed him.
I straddled his hips and rubbed myself against him, testing out my subject. His cock had been semi-hard before but stiffened fully when I bore my weight down on him. I glanced up, looking for his reaction, and found him gazing at me steadily. Slowly, I lowered my breasts to his chest, rubbing my nipples against his light dusting of hair before resting my chest on his. I enjoyed the warm
th of his body heat suffusing my skin. I ran a hand up his shoulder, up his neck and along the side of his face before taking hold of his jaw. Then I melded my lips with his as I rhythmically stroked his cock with my sex, trying to fan the flame that had already been stoked. My tongue dipped inside his mouth, licking hungrily, searching for his answering reply.
Gannon removed a hand from under his head, brushed it lightly over my hair then skimmed it down my back. Removing his other hand, he used both to caress my behind, molding me gently, before wrapping his arms around my waist to pull me in for a tender hug.
It was awful.
I eased up. “Stop. This isn’t working.”
“What?”
“You have to do something!”
“I am. Isn’t this what your lovers used to do?” His eyes glittered clear blue with restrained amusement.
I glared at him through narrowed eyes.
All of a sudden, he thrust a hand into my hair and used the other to anchor me as he forced me onto my back. He used his thighs to widen my own and nudged the head of his cock against my opening. It was the only notice I got before he thrust inside me so hard and fast that I arched my back to accommodate him. I gasped just before he fastened his mouth to mine, his tongue delving inside. My sex drowned immediately in its own juices, opening me up to take even more of him.
After his next few grinding thrusts, he gripped my thigh, forcing it against the bed to widen his access, and I came apart, my body shuddering violently. I wrested my mouth from his and called out his name as searing pleasure shot out from the very core of my being. As I rode my orgasm, I felt him flex inside me. He looked down at me, watching me, his expression smug.
As I panted, his eyes became hooded and he slid out then thrust deep once again, taking me relentlessly as he sought his own release.
* * *
“That woman over there who looks as timid as a mouse,” Gannon said in a low voice, “is designate to Gaia Ambassador of Hale. A more frightening woman I’ve never met.”
I hid a grin behind another sip of wine.
“Across from her, leaning against the wall because his knees are in untreatable arthritic pain, is designate to Hector Ambassador of Dignitas.” He slanted a look my way. “He won’t admit it, of course. Nothing is despised more among leadership than a show of vulnerability.”