The Harem Master

by Megan Derr

  "You're not squirming out of this with that sad answer," Kitt retorted, slamming down his wine dish. "You know so much about kissing, Lord Demir, then let's see you prove it."

  Demir startled, jarring his wine dish and splashing the table. "What? That is not appropriate—"

  "Oh, no. He said you were going to be put to training me, and now you say my kisses are lacking. So train me." He stood up.

  "I don't think—"

  "I'm not letting this matter rest," Kitt cut in. "You questioned my abilities. I want to know what gives you the right."

  Demir bowed his head. "I only meant to tease. I've overstepped and caused offense—"

  "Not getting you out of it." Kitt looked at Ihsan.

  "I am not going to order him to do something that makes him uncomfortable, Kitt."

  Kitt glared. "Of course not. But tell him he will not cause offense or trouble by doing it if he so chooses."

  "Of course he would not. I have already told Lord Demir I trust him implicitly, especially with the three of you. If he wants to teach you a lesson, he is free to do so." Ihsan looked at Demir, saw the uncertainty and hesitation on his face. "It's not often anyone sets Kitt in his place, Lord Demir. By all means, unless you prefer to abandon us to preserve your sanity."

  Demir gave the barest nod, then braced his hands on the table and rose smoothly to his feet. "Very well. You are correct that a person should not say such a thing unless they can prove their right to say it. My position as Harem Master lends my words weight, but I respect a foreigner would not immediately accept that." He joined Kitt, smiling down at him.

  "So I kiss too playfully, hmm? You've only kissed me once, you know."

  Demir smiled, soft and… indulgent, the fond sort of indulgence a teacher gives the student who is secretly his favorite. "You kissed me, and under duress, which is not remotely the same thing. Also I observe, and I'm very good at it. You kiss to please, and for pleasure, but never more than that. I would wager because you do not want to take it seriously, past a certain point, because that point is closely associated with the work you were trained to do."

  "Perhaps," Kitt replied, mouth twisting in a wry smile. "So how should I kiss, Harem Master?"

  "With devotion." Demir slid his fingers along Kitt's cheek, until his hand gently cupped the back of Kitt's head. He bent, mouth sliding softly against Kitt's in a teasing butterfly kiss before settling more firmly. Their mouths seemed to fit together like coordinating taaki pieces.

  An ache twisted, sharp and bright, in Ihsan's chest. It was a breathtaking kiss to watch, the way Demir's mouth worked slowly, thoroughly. He drew back and eased up every time Kitt tried to make it harder, hungrier. No matter how Kitt pushed or tried to tease, Demir remained firm until bit by barest bit, Kitt succumbed and matched him.

  Kitt lifted his hands but had not even gotten them halfway up when Demir gently grabbed his wrists and moved them to rest at the small of his back, keeping Kitt firmly pinned, unable to do anything but focus on the kiss.

  Watching them felt illicit. That made no sense; Kitt was his concubine and everything they did was, officially, for his pleasure. But it still felt like he was invading their privacy, undercut by a twinge of envy that he was not part of it.

  He did not need to look to know that Haluk and Sabah were equally enthralled.

  When they finally drew apart, Kitt's face and neck were flushed pink. Ihsan had never seen that happen before. Kitt and Demir stared at each other, and though he knew Kitt well, Ihsan could not puzzle out so much as a whisper of their silent exchange.

  Finally Kitt let out a shuddery breath, pulled back, and turned away, not looking at anyone or anything as he stepped toward his seat at the table. "Come here, Kitt," Ihsan said softly.

  Kitt immediately altered his path to drop down in front of Ihsan, the barest tremor to his hands as they landed on Ihsan's shoulders before sliding up into his hair to drag him into a kiss. The movement sent Ihsan's hair tumbling free of its loose knot, but he barely noticed, more consumed with the new, raw edge to Kitt's kiss, the knee rubbing against his cock as Kitt straddle his thigh.

  Ihsan broke the kiss after only a few moments because if he didn't he was going to come in his pants. "Merciful Divine." He swallowed and tried not to be painfully, agonizingly aware of the new flavor in Kitt's mouth. Was that a trace of Demir, or had his imagination fevered? "I'm not certain any of us will survive your lessons, Kitt."

  "Suffer," Kitt muttered, pointedly rubbing Ihsan's cock with his knee one last time before crawling away to sit beside Sabah, who curled an arm around his waist and pressed a kiss to his brow.

  Smiling faintly at them, Ihsan then turned to where Demir still stood off to the side. The smile faded as their eyes met, however, and every thought flew out of his head. Demir's eyes burned, but the heat was laced with pain. Whatever had just happened, Ihsan had let it go too far. "Lord Demir—"

  "Respect, Highness, I must find my bed, for tomorrow is going to be a long day. You are welcome to stay as long as it pleases. I will see you tomorrow." He bowed low, and Ihsan nodded, murmured quietly that he may go.

  When Demir had vanished into his room, he stood. "We've outstayed our welcome, and I am fairly certain my hour is nearly gone." He led the way out of Demir's room, then followed Sabah down the hall to the rooms allotted to them.

  They all gathered in Sabah's room, and Ihsan was grateful for the kisses they all immediately gave him and each other. "I fear we have made a grave mistake."

  "All will be well," Sabah said. "Though I would not go letting any of us kiss him again, that's for certain." He shot Kitt a look. "Was it as wonderful as it looked?"

  Kitt sighed. "Obviously. That man is a fool to think it's nonsense that people would pay a kingdom's wealth to possess him. Mark my words, if they are hoping to use Tavamara to provide regular sex slaves, the first one they're going to move out of here is Demir. And now that we are starting to interfere, they are going to panic. Eventually, sooner rather than later if I had my guess, they are going to decide to cut their losses and run—and they will take Demir with them. It's by the Dragon's Blessing alone he has not already vanished. Someone needs to keep an eye on him."

  "You tell Lord Demir that he must be under constant protection, see how well that goes for you," Haluk replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "I think at present the only thing he wants to hear from us is that we are going far, far away and will cease wreaking havoc upon his already tumultuous world."

  "We'll sort it out tomorrow," Ihsan said before they could begin arguing. "I'm going back to bed. Kiss me goodnight and then go to sleep yourselves. We will try to meet tomorrow, though I'm not sure when since there is still Bulut to deal with."

  "I maintain you should let me deal with him," Kitt muttered. "But have it your way." He stepped in close and dragged Ihsan down into a kiss that was all bruising lips and sharp teeth, leaving Ihsan's lips throbbing as he pulled away.

  Sabah's kiss was gentle, reassuring, the softness the rest of them needed to smooth their hard edges. He had never taken to the fighting the way the rest of them had, but he had always been waiting to patch them up when the battle ended. Ihsan smiled faintly as he drew away.

  And Haluk, as ever, was the strong and steady rock, seldom faltering once he chose his path. His kiss was exactly the grounding Ihsan needed, those strong arms reminding him that after all they had been through, they were not going to fall now.

  Drawing back, Ihsan smiled at all of them, then murmured his goodnight and departed before he gave in to the urge to stay and cause more problems. But his room, when he returned to it, felt unbearably lonely. His stolen couple of hours with Euren, the time with his men, and that illicit moment with Demir…

  He dared not think of Demir, however. Admiration of him, all their jesting comments, had been just that: jests, idle, a pleasant distraction from everything pressing down on them.

  That kiss had changed everything. The candle flame burn of admiration and imperso
nal lust for the Harem Master had turned into a bonfire of longing and desire for Demir. Ihsan wanted to be kissed with devotion, wanted to see Demir happy—happy with them, no matter how selfish that made him.

  Hopefully he was just overreacting, and it would all burn back down to something manageable.

  If it didn't... Well, he would face that problem when he came to it.

  For the present, his only goal was sleep. Stripping off his clothes, too tired to do more than leave them in a pile beside the bed, he crawled beneath his blanket, twisting and turning until he was comfortable.

  But though exhaustion clawed at him, sleep was slow in coming, and when it finally came, it was filled with dreams that left him sad and aching.

  Twelve

  Euren grunted, murmured sleepily. She didn't want to wake up, damn it.

  Soft laughter puffed warm air against her throat, chased by a hot mouth.

  Well, that was certainly a reason to wake up. Euren opened her eyes, twisted around, and let Canan drag her into an eager kiss, tasting fruit juice and honey bread. Drawing back slowly, she nuzzled Canan's cheek. "What are you doing here?"

  "We got tired of being locked up. Lord Demir showed us how to get here via the roof."

  Euren laughed. "We?" But even as she asked, laughter came from the other side of the bed, and she turned back around as Asli and Gulden crawled across the bed to join them. The best part of multiple lovers was the differences. Canan was straightforward, casual, and sweet. She loved to love, had taken to the life of a concubine as though made for it. Asli was a true lady of the court: restrained before the rest of the world, but behind closed doors all that restraint fell away with the clothes.

  Gulden was probably the most restrained of the four of them, though that also made her the most patient and evil. She was also the one who'd possessed the fine toy collection and seemed to have a knack for obtaining more, even when they were living in a monastery in the middle of nowhere.

  Drawing Gulden in, Euren kissed her, soft and lazy at first, but with increasing intent as three sets of hands set to driving her to madness. She pulled away from Gulden's sweet, distracting mouth with an effort, then twisted again, pushing Canan to lie back against the pillows.

  With a soft chuckle, Canan drew her into a kiss, long, sure fingers gripping Euren's messy hair. Euren nibbled at her lips, licked them, then mouthed a wet trail down her throat to her breasts. She sucked one nipple gently into her mouth, then drew back and blew on it. That got her a pleased groan, fingers tightening their hold on her hair. Urging Canan's fingers loose, Euren continued her downward path, spread those soft, lightly muscled thighs wide. She lapped at the waiting wetness, teased and rubbed with a gentle finger before she put her mouth to work in earnest, tongue pushing deep into Canan's slick, wet heat before withdrawing to suck and tease her swollen clit.

  It didn't take very long at all before Canan was mewling desperately, struggling to writhe, pushing against the hands holding her in place, trying to get away from and move closer to the multiple mouths driving her wild. Only a few minutes later she shuddered in their hold, Euren's name stuttering from her lips.

  Euren had only just drawn back and sat up when she was toppled over, yelping in surprise, and it was her turn to be delightfully tormented until she screamed.

  If the guards outside heard anything, they were wise enough not to investigate.

  When Euren had finally regained enough energy to move and was relatively certain her limbs would cooperate, she let her harem drag her out of bed and over to the washing area. They had just settled into the bath when the familiar scrape of stone against stone drew their attention. Euren drew back from nibbling lazily at Canan's mouth, turned, and watched as Ihsan stepped out of the secret passage entrance and approached them. "Good morning, husband."

  "Good morning, wife, dear ladies," Ihsan greeted and swept them a playful bow. "What a lovely sight to begin my day."

  Euren snorted softly, then heaved herself out of the water. Ihsan looked her lazily up and down, grinning as he went to fetch a robe for her. His lips were warm against the side of her throat as he helped her into it. "How are you this morning?"

  "Most well. You?"

  "Better, now, but I unfortunately come with unhappy news."

  Sighing, Euren led the way over to the sitting area, settling down amongst the cushions and unpinning her damp hair to begin combing the tangles out. Canan, Gulden, and Asli joined them, bringing over the breakfast tray they had neglected in favor of vastly more interesting activities. "I wish I could say I was surprised. What's wrong?"

  She listened, growing increasingly horrified, while Ihsan related all that Demir, Haluk, and Kitt had learned when they'd snuck out of the palace. "Can't we just banish them all from court and throw everyone even the slightest bit involved in prison until we can sort out who is guilty of what?"

  "Spoken like a guard," Ihsan said with a brief smile. "Unfortunately it is not that easy. Havarin especially is already angry with us; I met briefly with their delegates and assured them Arda was dead, that we would pay all costs for funeral, transporting the body, and compensation to the family, but that does not change the fact that one of theirs was killed where they were promised safety. We just ended a war with Lavarre, and Hadge and Gollen are always waiting for any excuse to go to war with us. If we are going to raise a ruckus, we must be absolutely certain we hold all the pieces and nobody will be able to take them."

  Euren wrinkled her nose. "I still favor my method."

  "Oh, if only," Ihsan said, smiling over the rim of his teacup before taking a swallow that emptied the cup.

  Something was still bothering him. She could see it in the restless way he tapped his fingers on his thigh, though he kept trying to still the movement. His eyes were dark, tight around the edges. "What's wrong, Ihsan?" she asked softly.

  "A much more personal matter," Ihsan said with a sigh. "I let Demir kiss Kitt last night and it has… had more of an effect on all of us than I anticipated."

  Asli and Canan made soft, strangled noises. "All my jewels to see that," Canan muttered. She picked up her cup of cool, dark red fruit juice and drank most of it. "How fine a sight was that?"

  "Too fine," Ihsan groused, raking a hand through his loose hair. "That is the problem."

  Euren frowned, then set aside her comb and crawled over to him. She brushed his hair from his face, rested her fingers on his cheek. "You are growing fond of Lord Demir."

  Ihsan blew out a ragged breath. "Yes. Not that it matters since there is nothing to do about it, but yes. Haluk is already half in love with him, and Kitt is definitely fond of him. I think Sabah is, too, in his quiet way. I let matters last night go too far and am paying the price."

  Kissing him softly, Euren then drew back and sat next to him, taking his hand and twining their fingers together in her lap. "Tell me."

  Draining the tea that Gulden had refilled for him, Ihsan finished explaining all that had transpired the previous night, from Bulut's misbehavior all the way up to Kitt and Demir's kiss.

  "When will His Majesty call a meeting about Bulut, do you think?"

  "Soon," Ihsan muttered. "I should probably go and prepare for it, and I've been too long gone from my room, anyway." He drew her in, fingers tangling gently in her hair, and kissed her long and slow and sweet. "Thank you for listening. I hope I've not completely spoiled your day."

  "You only spoil my days when you pretend to be dead for two years," Euren retorted. "Get along with you, then, so I can prepare for my own likely-unpleasant day."

  With a last kiss, Ihsan stood. Sweeping them another bow and wishing them good day, he left as quietly as he had arrived.

  "One would think the problems with his father and the council would keep him suitably occupied," Gulden said, giving a soft huff of laughter. "Leave it to Ihsan to pile romantic woes on top of it all. He's right though—nothing to be done about it unless he wants to coax Lord Demir into joining his harem, which is more etiquette than e
ven Kagan would breach."

  "Why is Kagan so volatile, anyway?" Canan asked. "Everyone has said, over and over, that he is awful. Certainly I have seen evidence aplenty to confirm that, but people are not born despicable."

  Euren shrugged. "I do not know. I was not exactly privy to such knowledge growing up, save via Ihsan, and he maintains his father has always been malicious, abusive, and unreasonable. I know his late wife was not his first choice, and the lover he had for years, a man everyone thought would join his harem, ran away about a year before His Majesty married. Lady Betya's son, I do not remember his name… She retired from court and lives in the country now. I do not know whatever became of the son."

  "Raan," Asli said. "Lord Raan, or he would have been lord if he had remained. Rumors abound about why he left, but none have been confirmed. I think it was just one more problem heaped on Kagan's head. His parents, Merciful Divine grant them eternal peace, were not cruel per se, but they were busy and content to leave the raising of their children to others. Little injuries and insults pile up and can turn even the kindest person into the cruelest."

  "It doesn't excuse his behavior," Gulden said. "He was much worse to his children than his parents were to him, and Ihsan turned out well enough."

  "Mmm," Asli said. "But how might he have turned out if he'd not run away? If he and I had married? I don't know how I would have turned out, forced into a miserable existence I dreaded more and more every day."

  Euren rose. "Let us be grateful we'll never know. Now, I think I had better prepare in case His Majesty summons me today. What does one wear to be summoned by the king who had them arrested only moments after their return from a five year absence? And who is currently furious with my husband over the matter of the Steward's arrest?"

  "Armor," all three women replied.

  Laughing, Euren walked over to her clothing trunks and threw them open. Joining her, Gulden, Asli, and Canan bickered playfully over the options before finally settling on a dark green skirt and top with diaphanous pink sleeves and pants and finished off with silver, emerald, and diamond jewelry.