by R. J. Price
“Wait, back up—chased her?”
Mie, in all his childish innocence had mentioned chasing before. He had asked what it meant when he wanted to chase a girl. The idea of chasing a woman made his heart beat a little faster, so perhaps there was more to that than just a nagging.
“Warriors once chased single queens who refused to make connections. All the warriors. Whoever chased the queen down, won her. Then usually got stabbed in the morning, but eventually it worked out... usually. As long as the man wasn't stupid.”
“Multiple warriors, as in I'd have to outrun everyone else to catch her? But women are so tiny and untrained.”
“The queens of old were trained alongside the warriors so that when they took flight they could keep ahead of the warriors.”
Av whimpered. It was a little sound that escaped his throat, but seemed to catch Danya's ear. The woman's head cocked up and a little frown creased her brow.
“You've thought of this?” she asked.
“It's been altered from my understanding. Queens walk with the spirits on the darkest night and a warrior takes her to ground as my father seems to tell it.”
“Walking with the spirits is an invitation from the queen. When she takes flight and you follow, she bites and fights, it's her body saying it's time to breed.”
“But that's rape,” he said.
“Until you thrust into her and she begins to purr in delight.”
His mind went blank, not knowing what to make of what he had just been told. Taking a breath, he tried to process what Danya had said as an outside observer. It took far too long for him to think rationally again.
“She bites and claws because her body only wants the strongest blood and a man who can't best her, or at least match her, isn't good blood,” he said with a struggle.
“It is my understanding that this would be the case,” she said. “It is also my understanding that the instinct died down as the ranks did. A queen born now has a choice of a warrior or a group of commoners, and she tends to choose the warrior. Other warriors living at the time are either claimed or do not align with her desires, therefore she chooses the one.”
“What does that have to do with me and Aren?” Av asked.
“She has you and Url,” Danya said. “And by the feel of it, there is another strong warrior moving towards the palace from the South.”
Av swore.
“I'm not telling you that she will take flight, but if you push the subject she very well could. The thing is, then, who would win—Url or the other warrior?”
“What? I'm a warrior. I'm a man's man, a manly man. I do many manly things.”
“Do you always do that when flustered?” Danya asked.
“Do what?”
“List off the same, useless thing over and over again?”
“I'm a warrior, I could take anyone!” Av protested. “I would be the one to take Aren to ground, not Url or this other stranger.”
“When you go that colour, did you know Aren turns towards you?” Danya asked as Av felt his face heat once more. “I don't think she knows what she's doing, but she's aware of you wherever you are in the palace.”
“Did you just rile me up to see what would happen?” he demanded.
Danya nodded slightly. “Though all I said was true.”
“No doubt it was, our people have a long history. But this is not that time, this is this time and this is this queen and I'm getting Aren. Not Url or anyone else. She's not going to take off with all of us chasing her and if she did, you know damned well I'd take her down, not the others. So don't taunt me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Aren stared at Mar, her mouth hanging open as her friend described the act.
“We call it kneeling,” Olea said.
“Why?” Aren asked, her voice reaching such a high note that even she was surprised at the sound of it.
“Because typically the woman lies on the bed and the man kneels on the floor,” Telm said. “It's the same service a woman can provide for a man. Though, I must admit, in my time it was very much something that women didn't receive, but did give.”
“In the North the men are very happy to provide,” Olea said with a shrug. “It's practically necessary before sex. Not that I'm complaining. Er knows how to use his tongue, but a man needs to know what he's doing before that's enjoyable, otherwise it's like...”
“Wearing a wet pair of undergarments,” Mar said.
“Exactly!” Telm said.
“Men can learn how to do better. I found the easiest way was to do the same for him, but show him how I'd like his tongue to move. He was so surprised at the act that he made every effort to... reward me for my attention.”
“But he doesn't need to kneel to do it,” Aren said.
“No, that's simply what it's called,” Olea said. “Has Av done that for you?”
“Well, yes, he used his tongue once. I didn't mind it but really, I prefer”—she hesitated and looked around at the other women—“well, he uses his hands as well and frankly I just prefer his…”
“He was not joking when he said you needed women to talk to,” Telm said with a slow nod.
“He was her first?” Olea asked Telm.
She was right there! Aren snatched up her drink and swallowed a large gulp. Thumping the glass back onto the table, she was determined to say something, to stand up for herself.
But all she did was look around the table at the others and pick up her glass, taking another gulp.
“Aren,” Olea said expectantly.
“Mar got mated and he claimed me,” she said.
“Details,” Olea said.
“Mm,” Mar said, teacup halfway to her lips. “See, Aren upset Em and went to a man to buy some land and then found Av to ... well, because she's stupid, is what happened. And Av took her off someplace to have a private conversation with her. How'd that go Aren?”
“He started kissing me and then his hand was running up my leg,” she said. “Suddenly he proclaimed that I was a queen and I... sort of batted him over the head with a book backed by magic and I bolted.”
“Oh my,” Olea said, going a little red. She looked at Telm who nodded gravely. “He claimed her good and proper?” Telm nodded again and smiled as she picked up her drink. “But that only happens in myth.”
“Right to claim, is what it's called, and a warrior can only claim it on a queen he didn't know was a queen because apparently if you claim a queen that you know is a queen you're just claiming a woman,” Aren said. “But if you claim a woman and she turns out to be a queen it's called the right to claim and a warrior can actually use it to defend his actions. He uses the right to claim in order to insert himself into her life and unwittingly links the pair of them, or something.”
“The point there being he was attracted to you before he knew you were a queen,” Olea said.
“I don't think so,” Telm, Mar, and Aren said as one.
“I'm still not sure,” Aren added. “Anyhow, after traipsing through the woods because I smacked him about a little bit, he dragged me back here and hit me for hitting him.”
“He dragged you out of a madman's murder plot,” Mar protested. “He saved you.”
“And then hit me,” Aren said.
“Can't demand equality if you aren't willing to meet it blow for blow,” Olea said.
“I hit him with my magic, by accident,” Aren said.
“It could be argued that he hit you with his fist by accident due to a warrior's ingrained nature to hit what hits them first,” Telm muttered. “Anyhow, it didn't cross the line that he would have to cross to be seen as forfeiting his life.”
“How much of a spitfire was she before she was taken, that you allowed her to be hit?” Olea asked Telm.
“I personally think she might enjoy a good slap to the backside,” Telm muttered. “So I allowed a three-strike rule.”
“I might enjoy a good slap to the backside?” Aren demanded.
“Apparently some
enjoy being beaten,” Mar said.
“Warriors enjoy tying up their conquests,” Olea said, turning to Aren. “How do you feel about being tied?”
“Why? Why the tying?” Aren asked.
“How do you feel about tying Av up and having your way with him?” Mar asked.
She sounded innocent, but she must have known it would hit a mark. Aren snatched up her glass and took a swallow rather than answer.
“Mm, no, never tie a warrior,” Telm said. “It demeans them.”
“I tied Er last night,” Olea said with a grin. “Gave him a good beating with a riding crop for making me work in the healing hall for the next three days. Two now. I enjoy my time there, I do, but it was also enjoyable to tie him, blindfold him and beat him with a crop.”
“You did what to your mate?” Telm demanded.
“Mother, he enjoyed it,” Olea said. The woman sipped her drink, then set it back down. “And begged me for more this morning. But we were late rising so he's to be kneeling upon my return to the rooms, or otherwise it's a sexless night for both of us.”
“Can that be healthy?” Aren asked.
“I believe it to be, and Er never complains,” Olea said quietly. “Of course we switch each month, who is dominant. Going on my phases. Sometimes we go outside of that depending on the situation as it calls for it. If he is especially stressed, as you returned him to me, Aren, I make my will known and he refuses. Then we both get beat.”
“I thought one in a relationship like that is dominant all the time,” Mar said.
“Queens and warriors play give and take,” Olea said. “It seemed only natural to us that the give and take continue in the bedroom. I have met commoners who have a similar relationship, but one is always dominant and the other always submissive. It was how Er and I learned how to create our relationship in the bedroom.”
“You interviewed people?” Aren asked.
“How else were we to discover what we did and did not like?” Olea asked. “Such as, Er enjoys a male dominating him, but I don't like a third joining us.”
“A-a-a-” Mar stuttered out the word. “A third can join?”
“As long as both in the mating agree, as many as they agree can join,” Telm said to Mar, then looked at Aren. “It was an arrangement Em made for Jer, to allow for his taking men to his bed, but she swore no one was in her bed during all her years on the throne besides Jer.”
“Perlon slept with Jer,” Mar sad suddenly.
“Awkward,” Olea said.
Telm, Aren, and Olea all picked up their drinks and took a gulp before setting the cups down and looking at Mar. The young woman nodded slowly.
“It was years before I was born. Which has to make it illegal, since Perlon is Av's age, but still… he slept with a man. Does that mean I'm not good enough?”
“We could sleep together,” Aren said to Mar.
“The two of you?” Telm snapped. “Wouldn't know where to put what. The one didn't even want to have sex with her own mate and the other has probably never touched herself. Please, you two would be a terrible one-night stand.”
“I know how to please a woman,” Aren protested.
“How?” Telm asked.
“I'd clean the room, pull back the blankets, run her a bath, and read her a romance story until she fell asleep,” Aren said.
“You forgot the wine,” Olea said, patting Aren's hand gently.
“Don't encourage her,” Telm said. “The girl doesn't know that her own bits have names, let alone where the bits are or how to use them.”
“Do handmaids not still help their ladies with that?” Olea asked.
“No!” Mar and Aren shouted at the same time.
“No, that is—and always was—crossing a line that should not have been crossed,” Telm said. “I taught my girls never to give in to that. And these two shouted because Aren was once Mar's guardian.”
“Well, then Aren must know the basics because Mar clearly knows how to please herself,” Olea said. “Otherwise she'd just talk about how her mate was between her legs and now she's with child.”
Mar went bright red. Aren stared at her friend, wondering what Olea meant, then simply turned her attention to the older queen.
“Quit beating around the bush and just kill the rat,” she said.
“Av's used his hands, no?” Olea asked.
“Of course he has,” Aren said.
“Women use their hands in much the same way, only on themselves,” Olea said slowly.
“To what end?” Aren asked.
All the women at the table laughed nervously.
“No, seriously, to what end?” Aren asked. “What could my hands do that Av's cannot? That man is just good enough that I've had to tell Wena not to let me wander the halls at night.”
“And he's never managed to hit the spot,” Telm said to Olea.
“What do you mean, he's never managed to hit the spot? He pleases me and we go to sleep. I am pleased, it is pleasing. What else is there to sex?”
“It's called an orgasm, dear,” Telm said.
“And that's why every young woman needs at least one older, experienced woman assigned to her,” Olea said.
“And you whined when I set you up with the old head of house,” Telm grumbled.
“I was twelve, and she was creepy,” Olea said.
“But that woman knew what she was about when it came to pleasing a woman,” Telm said.
“Oh, I don't argue with that in the least,” Olea said. “But she was still creepy and she deserved the fork to the thigh.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jer walked out of the palace with a grumbling Laeder following close behind. The scribe understood why he had to train. He understood why Jer wanted him to train with Aren and Wena, but what he didn’t understand was why everyone insisted on training at the crack of dawn.
“First off, to make a point,” Jer said, pulling Laeder to a stop where the guards wouldn’t be able to hear the conversation. “Second off, to keep her at a time when the other ladies won’t join in just to get attention from her. No lady, or lord, is getting up at dawn just to make nice with the one who sits the throne. Thirdly, because you training at dawn gives you the rest of the day to search the library. I don’t want your eyes going on you because you read in poor light.”
“The library has very good lighting,” Laeder protested. “And I’m just not used to this early rising. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize like I’m about to beat you,” he said. “Training can help with a great deal of things, including that teary-eyed reaction I get when I wake you at dawn. This will be good for you, good for us.”
“Are you joining us?” Laeder asked with a frown.
“It’s also the only time I can train because by the time training is over, everyone else is up and I have steward duties. I’m not going to stop being a warrior just because I’m steward as well. Until the debts are settled, my days are filled from breakfast to dinner except for court times and then technically those are filled as well.”
“Oh, I thought you were going to dump me, then go back to bed.”
“That would be stupid.”
They both stared at one another for a moment. Then Laeder’s eyes shifted over Jer’s shoulder and watched someone walk past the two of them. Concerned, because only lords and ladies would be walking from the palace to the training grounds, Jer turned.
Av approached the guards and came to a stop just out of Aren’s reach. The queen looked haggard, but not in an ill sort of way. No doubt it had something to do with the report Jer had found slid under his door that morning about Lady Olea and Telm stumbling through the hallways drunk the night before.
Whatever the conversation had been about, he was just happy it ended in hangovers and not three bodies in the healer hall.
Jer motioned to Laeder and continued walking. He approached just as Av admonished Aren for drinking heavily enough to be hung over. His brother had a water skin, which begged the qu
estion of what Av was doing with a full water skin, which he offered to Aren. The queen took the skin, but shot Av a look that clearly stated she believed it to be a trap.
Stopping just short of Av, Jer took in the whole scene, of Wena standing back and the guards at a sudden standstill, and decided not to interrupt. He pulled Laeder around the two and approached the man in charge of the training.
The captain of the guard oversaw most of the training, but he rose later in order to work with the lords and ladies throughout the day and be available through some of the night. It was said to be the only perk of the job, the ability to sleep in and stay on a fixed schedule, but the captain also had no time off. There were not enough guards, let alone coin, to hire a secondary captain in order to give the captain time off. The few times the man did take holiday, the master stood in as captain.
Em hadn’t permitted him to take holiday in several years. Though that hadn’t stopped Av and Jer from slipping him off palace grounds for a day or two.
The man in charge of the rotation had a cup of tea in his hands, still steaming. He looked blearily at Jer, then bent slightly and looked around Jer, to Laeder.
“You want scribes trained too?” the man asked.
“I think my brother wants everyone trained,” he said in response. “But specifically I want Laeder to train. This is really the only time.”
“You don’t have to explain to me, Lord Jer,” the man said with a headshake. “Lady Wena’s too strong for Aren with whatever it was that happened over the winter. Your scribe lad will be a better match for her, and you for Wena. That woman has some aggression against males that she has to work out.”
“But if I bruise Aren, Av’ll…” Laeder tried to protest but trailed off instead.
“Then you’d best learn to fight quickly,” the man said with a grin.