The room wasn’t stabilizing, so I did as she said, but I pulled her closer to me and snuggled her against me.
It was easier to think with my eyes closed, and I had questions.
“Are orgasms always going to be like that?” I was asking Mordecai, but only because I figured Kirsten wouldn’t know.
“She needs to have sex with regular people in this realm. Regular as in, not high powered. She can learn to control it when her energy is the only thing she has to worry with. The three of us combined ended up with the three-cubed effect. Even for me, that was a lot.”
“Then why did you have it be the three of us the first time?” she asked.
“Because I want us to be an item, and our appearance this morning confused people.”
I rolled my eyes and then wished I hadn’t. “No one’s going to be confused this evening. I’m pretty sure everyone will know we’ve fucked. My lions and lionesses were caught up in the orgasm, and I’m not sure how I’ll handle that. It’s supposed to be a day of mourning, and I exposed them to...”
I wanted to be pissed, but I could only be angry with myself. Mordecai had warned me, but I’d been full of hubris. I was certain I’d be fine.
“Those in Midgard got the energy,” he told me, “but only a few picked up on the orgasm aspect. The rest just felt it as their King offering loving, healing energy. Those who picked up on the orgasm aren’t likely to bring it up, since most everyone else will be talking about it in other terms.”
I opened my eyes and met his gaze. “How do you know?”
“I just do.”
I glared at him, and he added, “They’re your people. You’ll know once you’re back in your own realm. I can sense things across realms.”
“The people in Alfheim caught it as an orgasm,” Kirsten said. “They’re going to know exactly what we’ve been up to.” She rubbed my arm. “Not all of them, though. Not all of your lions, either. It’s like the energy only let those who are worthy experience it.”
“I’m not sure worthy is the right word,” Mordecai told her. “Your energy only chose to share itself with those of... shall we say like minds? Those who love as you do. Those with morals you’d approve of. Those who choose life over death, even when the other choice would be easier.”
Kirsten rubbed my arm again and snuggled a little closer. “There was this huge empty space in my life. In my heart. I’d been trying to fill it. I knew it was my responsibility to make it go away, and that I couldn’t let someone else fill it. I had to.” She aimed her face at me and opened her eyes, and I knew it cost her. The room swam for her, but she held my gaze. “Is it safe for me to let you fill it? I love you, Nathan. I always have and probably always will, but if you’re going to get pissed at me and turn your back again, I’d rather you walk away now. I don’t know if I can survive you doing it to me again.”
I looked to Mordecai, and his expression clearly told me not to blow this. I sighed and looked back to Kirsten.
“I don’t think I can make any promises. Since becoming Amakhosi, I haven’t had a significant other, much less shared her with other men. My lionesses are my subjects, not my equal. All I can tell you is that I’m willing to give this a try. Mordecai seems to think we can pull it off.”
She looked at the old god. “You think we can pull this off when we have four houses between the three of us? I can’t give up this one or Homewood, and I can’t see you moving to the Human realm and getting rid of your home on Olympus.” She looked at me. “Technically, you have two places – the one you live in and the one your lionesses live in, so that makes five houses.”
“No one sells anything yet,” said Mordecai. “Let’s agree to have that talk at the spring equinox. For now, we stay at each other’s places. In reality, we’ll probably be at Homewood the most. Cora can handle you being in other realms now, but once you’ve spent enough time here to get to know your top people, I think you’ll probably set a schedule to be here one day a week, or maybe even every other week.” He glanced at me and looked back to Kirsten. “I’m assuming I’ll be able to spend three or four nights a week with you, most weeks. Some will be less. Daytime will be a crapshoot. Might be one day this week and five the next.”
“I’m not sure I can give a number of days per week.” Between my duties as Lion King and my responsibilities at Drake Security, I sometimes didn’t make it home for days at a time. “All I can promise is that I’ll check in once or twice a day and let you know what’s going on.”
“No promises today,” Kirsten said. “Mordecai has been telling me for weeks that I needed to repair my relationship with you. He made it sound like he’s certain the relationship exists, even when I thought there was no way. I don’t know what the truth is, but I’m willing to see where this goes.”
She took a fortifying breath, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what she said next.
“If you turn your back on me and shut me out again, I won’t consider opening myself to you again. We’re going to fight and argue, and we probably aren’t always going to agree with how the other leads their people. That’s fine — we don’t have to agree on everything. However, if you decide I’m not the kind of person you want in your life, so be it. You won’t get to change your mind again.”
I’d hurt her. I knew it when I did it, but I hadn’t been able to face her after I’d watched her torture people.
I wasn’t sure how to respond. My lionesses don’t talk back like this. I should’ve been used to Kirsten, but I was still figuring things out. Centuries of being with women who belonged to me and had no choice but to obey had given me bad habits when it came to a partner.
“Look,” she repeated, “all I’m saying is that you can’t just shut me out like that. If you have issues with something I do, we need to talk about it, and you need to deal with your shit. You’ve had centuries of no one making you deal with your shit except Aaron, and he only made you face your most extreme baggage.”
“Okay. I’m sorry.” I didn’t sound sorry. I tried again. “I hurt you. I’m an asshole. I’ll try to do better.”
“Two and a half Midgard hours until the funeral,” said Mordecai. “Kirsten needs to talk to a few people in this realm before she leaves.”
“I do. I should get dressed and call Zeta in before I figure out who to speak with. It feels as if I should talk to the Crone.”
“Follow your instincts,” Mordecai told her.
I tried sitting up again. The room seemed mostly stable, so I walked to my clothes, but then thought twice about putting them on before I took a quick shower.
Kirsten
Nathan went into the bathroom and I telepathed Zeta. She’d parked herself not too far away, so she made it to the room in a couple of minutes. I barely had time to get my robe on and greet her at the door.
She hugged me and then bowed to the still-naked Mordecai.
“Will you name them both Consort to the Queen?” she asked.
“It’s way too soon to be thinking of that. What did you get when we, ummm....”
“When you orgasmed and shared it with a portion of the realm?” Her smile told me she knew I was going to be embarrassed about it, and she thought it was cute.
“I don’t suppose there’s a big oops flag I can raise? Is there a sorry-for-sharing-my-orgasm protocol?”
“On the contrary. You’ve now proven you are, indeed, our queen. Making it to the center of the labyrinth gave you the title and the crown, but now you’ve cemented your relationship with us. Those who were included will feel closer to you, and those who weren’t will mostly try to become the kind of person their queen wishes them to be.”
“Oh no. I’m not doing that again! I have to learn how to stop it!” I looked at Mordecai, hoping he’d tell me Zeta was mistaken.
“You’ll be expected to do it at least four times a year — at the equinoxes and solstices,” he said, and he didn’t even try to tone down his grin. “We’ll work on teaching you how to keep it private, but yo
u’re going to need to find someone without power, but who can be trusted with power if they get it.” He looked at Zeta. “She’ll have to feel a connection with them before she’ll be interested.”
“Yes. It’s okay. We’ll deal with it when she’s here without her consorts.”
The shower in the bathroom turned off, and Zeta tilted her head, listening. “I imagine His Majesty will need to eat. I had the kitchen prepare snacks for the three of you, and they’re bringing them now. Who would you like to see, my Queen?”
“I don’t want to bring people to the castle who aren’t already here, but I’d love to talk to the top people who helped us fight.”
“We have limited time today,” Mordecai told her. “We must return to Midgard for an important funeral shortly. Kirsten will return in the next day or two for an extended time.”
“Then I would recommend speaking with your personal guard unit, expressing your thanks to them and the rest of the army, and promising to return when you can spend more time.”
Nathan walked out of the bathroom in his jeans but no shirt, and his hair wet. He looked positively delicious, but I felt Zeta’s discomfort. She wanted to acknowledge Mordecai’s godhood, Nathan’s status as king, and mine as queen, but I’d asked her not to do that behind closed doors.
I walked to her and drew her into a hug. “You’re my friend, Zeta.” I turned us to the men. “I need ya’ll to make her feel comfortable enough she doesn’t feel the need to bow to you.”
Nathan took two steps back, grabbed his shirt, put it on, and walked to us. He pulled us both into his arms. “I’m not your king, Cedrotrix. I’m Kirsten’s boyfriend. You don’t bow to me even in public.” He leaned back and met her gaze. “You’re important to Kirsten, and that means you’re important to me. I hope to get to know you better, so I can call you a friend.”
“You’ll just have to get used to me,” Mordecai told her without coming closer. “I’ll protect you merely because Kirsten cares about you, but as with Nathan, I look forward to getting to know you better.”
I wanted to ask her what she’d felt from the shared orgasm, but I didn’t know how open she was. Also, I didn’t know if she had sex like a human. I had no idea how nature spirits might have sex.
I looked at the men. “Zeta and I will be in the sitting room next door. I’m going to put us in a bubble so you can’t hear us.”
Mordecai nodded. Nathan just stared.
I turned without rolling my eyes at them, and pulled the door closed between the two rooms. Before I put us into the bubble, I asked her, “What’s the fallout been from the battle? I’m hoping to come back tomorrow and stay a few days. I need to meet with the families of the men who died, and I’d like to talk to those who were injured.”
“No fallout. The realm is proud of their warrior queen. We feel safer.” She took a few moments to think. “There’s been talk about needing a way to contact you when you’re in Midgard. Also, it’s unusual for nature spirits and deities to be close to Strigorii, since they aren’t alive in the way we define life. Few see this as a negative, though. In fact, I believe many saw your all-female fighting force as a positive. Those concerned about having a queen as opposed to a king seem to have been assured by your show of force.”
“Thank you for your honesty. If there is bad news, I hope you’ll feel comfortable delivering it. An advisor needs to be able to comfortably tell me the truth, whether I want to hear it or not. You’ll be my friend whether you choose to remain my advisor or not. You understand this, right?”
“I think you should have sex with someone in the army. While you’re getting to know the men, just keep an open mind. If you elevate someone’s power, you’ll be elevating someone within your army, which means their superiors will let you know of any changes if it’s a delayed process. Also, you basically own your soldiers, so that power will be yours. If you don’t power him up, you’ll know it’s safe to have sex with someone who doesn’t have much power.”
I put the bubble around us. “I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks for being frank with me. Can I ask what you picked up from our orgasm? Did it come across as a sexual thing? And, I’m sorry if this is out of line, but are you sexual? Would it have come across that way?”
She took my hand, walked us to a sofa, and pulled me to sit beside her. “Sex with another nature spirit can be a mixing of our pollens, or we can take on a more humanoid form and engage in the kind of sex you’d recognize.” She tilted her head. “The energy I received from the three of you was bigger than anything I’ve ever experienced. Until now, my biggest energy experience was healing you in the temple in the middle of the labyrinth, and helping the Harlequin energy settle into your human body when we crowned you.”
“My human body? So, I’m still human?”
“I don’t know. Previous Elf Kings have been high elves. You have enough royal blood to allow you entry into the center of the labyrinth, but you aren’t a high elf. Or, you weren’t. You don’t look different. I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that.”
“It’s okay. I don’t think anyone else does, either. So, our orgasm was your biggest energy experience, but how did it feel?”
“Loving, and pure, and sacred. I sensed the sexual release behind it, but I felt it as a spiritual event.” She shrugged. “I’ve been involved in sacred sex rituals though, so I don’t have a problem connecting sex and spirit. If you do, or if any of your people in Midgard do, they might not experience it the same way.”
“I don’t think my people in Midgard experienced it. I know Nathan’s did.”
“Cora did, along with her wolves.”
“As sexual?”
“This I do not know.”
“If some of the men got it as sexual, that could be a problem. Wolves in Midgard are serious about being true to their partner.” And I’d never be able to look Ranger, Mac, or Bethany in the eye again.
“You need to trust your power. Also, I hope you’ll go to the Crone for help, and won’t just depend upon me and Mordecai.”
I nodded. “I’d like to check in with her today, but I worry I’ll show disrespect by having limited time.”
“You might. I’ll talk to her and let her know you hope for time with her when you return and can spend a few days in Alfheim.”
“Thank you.”
We talked another five minutes because I needed to make sure she was doing okay. Her life changed when I came into it, and it was important to me it’d changed for the better. She assured me she was doing well, and she enjoyed her new responsibilities. She still had plenty of time to just be a tree, and she found this time to be relaxing and grounding.
I dropped the bubble around us and telepathed Mordecai to see how we were doing on time.
You have a little time if you need it, but I’m told Cora has been challenged again, so you might want to consider returning now. I was about to come get you.
“I need to go now,” I told Zeta. “I’m sorry. Please tell everyone I need to attend the funeral of someone close, and I’ll try to return tomorrow in Midgard time, though I’m not sure how that will translate in time here.”
Chapter 11
Kirsten
I felt Cora’s anger and heartache the second Mordecai flashed us back to Homewood.
Her gaze met mine, and I swear I saw fire in her eyes. She didn’t look like a hug was going to help, but I wasn’t sure what she needed from me. So, I asked.
“What can I do to help?”
She grinned, and my heart lifted a little. I didn’t like it when she was sad.
“A little warning before you gift me and the pack with so much energy might be nice, but I’m not complaining. I’m sure there’s a story, and I want to hear it, but it’ll have to wait.” She looked to Nathan at my left and Mordecai to my right, and then focused on the fact I was holding hands with both.
“I’m glad the day hasn’t been total shit for both of us. It felt like you left the realm after Tyson’s funeral?”
&nb
sp; “We did. I told Kane you’d have come if the timing had allowed it, and he said he understood.”
“I texted him. I’m going to go down in a few days. We were both just a member of our pack and pride before. Now we’re leaders, and we’re new leaders. We think we can help each other along, or at least have someone to talk to who’s probably at the same place on the learning curve.”
Mordecai walked to her and put both hands on her shoulders. “He’s leading a pride. You’re now leading hundreds of other packs. It isn’t the same, but I’m glad the two of you are connecting. Tell me what’s really bothering you.”
“How can anyone throw out a challenge to happen right after Randall’s funeral!? If he wants to fight, we should do it now and get it over with. I can’t deal with my grief over losing someone I loved with all my heart while I’m worrying about a fight to the death!”
This, I could fix. “Then I’ll take you to him and we’ll take care of it now. Have I met him? Or do we know where he is?”
“I don’t think you’ve met him. He’s one of the South Carolina asshats, and if I lose to him then our people will suffer greatly. Not just the wolves, but humans too.”
“Of course he’s an asshat. He’s disrespecting Randall by challenging you today. Do we know where he is? Would it work for me to take you to him now? Can you demand the challenge happen sooner?”
“She can,” said Mordecai, “and I can take a large group of you to him. They’re camped out on land in Ringgold, owned by a wolf who used to be in the pack down there. He’s lone wolf now.”
“You’re getting involved?”
“I respected Randall for the way he lead and for who he was as a person and wolf. Cora isn’t the only one pissed about the way this disrespects him.”
I felt her tension ease. She was ready to handle this now.
“Let me change clothes,” Cora said. “I like this outfit.”
She returned in blue-jean leggings, an oversized tee, and sandals. I was in boots, a few layers of clothes, and a jacket, but I was used to my friend not feeling the cold. I hugged her, told her, “You got this,” and looked to Mordecai.
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