She cried out, thrusting her fingers into my hair, holding me closer.
Begging for more with her rocking hips. I dragged the tip of my tongue across her the curve of her sweet breasts to the other prickled nub and latched on.
She hissed and arched the pebble of flesh against my teeth.
Blessed stars, to thrust my seed inside the wettest hottest place in the universe. My hands slid to her pants.
So did her hands. We struggled to push the garment down. To merge into one cohesive mass of heated bliss.
She snaked her fingers into my harness and pulled me where she wanted me.
Gods, the way she slid her legs around my waist. The way she stared hungrily into my eyes. I just wanted to make the blood stop pounding in my manhood. It had been such a long day. I grabbed my aching member and slid the head along the slick notch of her sex.
She groaned and threw her head back.
She wanted me. I thrust so hard into her damp channel that I slid all the way to root's end. Right where a warrior dreamed of landing. She groaned, the walls of her channel constricting with her sounds, squeezing around my tenderness, sending the Queens' lights spinning into darkness. I could only clamp my eyes tight and try to focus on her touch.
She pulled my harness toward her, drawing my body down until I leaned on both palms against her quaking ribs, then she rotated her hips as if she rode me. My abdominal muscles took control, squeezing every last drop of blood in my body into the tip of my erection.
Holding back was impossible. I thrusted. And thrusted. Erupting. Contracting every muscle I had trying to plant my legacy inside her soul. Imbue a piece of my presence for all who visited the Starry Sky realm in the future.
And Aisling matched every one of my dying moves.
Her body went rigid, her inner muscles contracting, over and over.
Greedily draining me of any of my remnant seed.
And I hovered on trembling arms.
She opened those omniscient blue eyes and peered through my soul.
Nothing needed said. I draped my body atop her softness and wrapped my arms around her limp flesh. My mate. My life. But I should take better care of her. Give her time to rest. I shoved up and carried her body to the sleeping skins.
She snuggled down into the furs without argument, closing her eyes.
Since Var guarded our outer doorway, I could bathe quickly. Quickly enough to return to her where she slept peacefully. I slipped away to bathe.
Lehd rubbed water from his face where he leaned against the pool's wall.
He shot me a knowing stare.
One indicating he was almost a little jealous of what he just overheard. Not because of my nudity and obvious satiated state. He had to realize how he would be one of the first she'd take to her bed after she wielded the mark of a youngling. All a warrior needed to do was walk in on them as they were earlier, comfortably sitting with each other. That was the way things should be between Aisling and her Royal Guards.
Lehd's presence pushed into my mind. "Any plans stewing among the Queens?"
I jumped into the warm water. "None yet. Their consorts have been summoned. I fear irrational choices will be made given many consorts no longer have Queens."
Lehd nodded. "The Queens may not have made the best decisions. But, at least, the decisions were firm. What does Ishan say?"
"She plans to marry Frenyl off to Ovh's brood. She speaks of marrying our other half sister to Var's brood."
"But Wryn is low-caste."
I nodded. "And that is the problem. All the clans do is bicker over who gets the Pure Heart."
?
Chapter Seventeen
Sleep evaded Borun that day. Maybe the problem was his pounding headache and the fleeting mindspeak squabbles that deluged his thoughts, he grumbled. Or the fact a little of Aisling's blood would have snuffed the queasiness in my gut. But she fell into a deep sleep. Probably from all the riding. A warrior couldn't sit a war beast for days on end until he'd served a few months as a Royal Guard. My mate only started riding seven days ago.
So few days had passed. But so much had changed.
"Borun," Var pushed into my mind.
"Yes?"
"A message has arrived for Aisling from her commander."
The light orbs had been hung on the opposite side of the living area. Aisling slept quietly in the remaining shadows. Var wouldn't disturb her. "Bring it to me."
Var stepped so quietly through the bath's doorway that if I hadn't been waiting for him I'd have never known he was there. He held a white square.
"That's the message?" I asked in mindspeak.
Var nodded, his blue gaze never blinking. He handed me the slick object.
What kind of message came in this manner? "Thank you, Var." I studied the eyes that rarely reflected any emotion in his mask. "Are you suffering much from the loss of your mother?" I wouldn't. My mother feeds like a hungry animal off the pain she inflicts on others. But who knew how other queens cared for their younglings?
Var didn't flinch. "I'd rather be taken as a sky demon slave than serve a queen."
Why didn't his answer surprise me? "Then you must be content. We no longer serve a queen."
Var nodded. "I return to my duty now." He pivoted and disappeared through the bath's doorway.
Var was unique among Luvks in his coloring-a pale gold stripe, extremely pale. His white palms and hair set him apart as a Pure Heart with those blue eyes. But his golden stripes muddied the picture for most. All but among females. Luvk had been a favorite among the courts. But he'd always served as the leader of his mother's Royal Guard which meant he was always in view. Even more popular. Most Royal Guard leaders relished the attention the females showered upon them. But why would Var rather be enslaved than wield the power of a Royal Guard leader? Even I had my own lodge separate from the others. I had my own personal attendant who lavished me in my favorite foods and cared for my lodge. And I could take any village female to my sleeping skins unnoticed by the court if I chose to.
"Borun?" Aisling called. "What is that?"
My mate should have been a Luvk in her ability to note changes in her surroundings. I spun to find her propped up on an elbow. "It's a message from Goro."
"Oh?" She sat up completely with the furs wrapped around her body. "I hope he sent news."
I doubt there was much of anything in the lightweight communication. I handed her the white square.
She grabbed my wrist and pulled me down to sit behind her, then she squirmed backward in my lap to rest her warm silken skin against my chest.
My heart almost sank away into nothingness the way she leaned the back of her head into my neck and played with her message. She had initiated this touch. This exquisite form of contact that proved she wanted to be with me. I dared not move or I'd change everything. But something deep inside me forced my arms to snake around her. To hold her curves where she couldn't retreat.
She burrowed deeper into my chest and focused on her message.
"We need to carry the syringes, Borun," she noted as if ticking off the message's details. "Don't distract me. Or I'll forget again. You and your distractions!" She patted my knee.
I rubbed my cheek against the soft hair on the side of her head."Syringes?"
"It's a way to carry each other's blood so we won't get caught without it. The Marshals usually hide their syringe in their boot." She focused on the strange markings on her message. "Goro will return shortly. He's trying to find out what's happening on Slaken." She folded up the whispering communication back into the small white square and met my gaze. "Have you slept much?"
Her warm palm fell upon my arm and rubbed along my muscles.
Was I her altar? By the way she caressed me, I had to be. "Enough," I lied. I would have loved to crawl into the sleeping skins beside her beating heart and rest my ear right where that heartsong drummed for me.
"I'm sleepy," she said, reaching for my cheek. "Sleep with me?"
I rai
sed up her lightweight and placed her down into the sleeping skins.
When I placed her in the furs, her gaze shuttered as my arms slid from beneath her. She sighed.
My mate was so calming the way she seemed to relish my touch. I stretched out beside her body, curled my chest around hers, and slid my knee between her thighs.
She grabbed my shoulder. "I love you too, Borun."
Could it be we had more than this Marshal blood bond between us? I shoved onto an elbow and found her watching me. Just lying here with her. Just holding her wasn't blood lust. There had to be more to what we shared. I laid back down against her breasts, closed my eyes, and sank into her beating heart.
This was where a warrior needed to be, needed to rejuvenate, needed to sleep. Aisling. My mate. If this wasn't love, such a thing didn't exist.
Her arms curled around my shoulders and cradled my head like a youngling. "Thank you for protecting me, Borun."
My soul melted into hers.
* * * *
"Borun," the warrior called again.
Can't they just leave me alone to sleep with my mate, he demanded internally.
"Borun." Aisling slid her palms down my back. "Wake up. Lehd is here."
Would growling make him leave? I opened my eyes and raised up to find his ugly face looking down at me.
And Aisling's breasts. I grabbed some fur and pulled it over her body.
"Blessed sunrise, Borun," Lehd said. "The Queens have summoned all the Royal Guards to the great hall. Should we go?" His gaze snapped to Aisling's and back to mine as if he meant we guarded a Marshal.
Not a Queen.
I pushed into his mind. "Wouldn't you like to know what they're planning to do?"
"Isn't it better to speak where Aisling can hear?"
"Not when comparing her duties to that of a queen." Some days a warrior just couldn't rest. "I'll go." I shot my mate a half smile.
"I suppose I'll begin learning the ancient language of Luvk. So, don't sneak off with Mart." She winked.
Lehd bowed slightly and left us.
I shoved up from Aisling onto my knees but pressed into her curves a little.
She groaned slightly and covered her breasts with her arms. "Ooo, that hurt."
"Sorry, little one." I leaned down and kissed her.
The peck turned into a long and deep adventure.
She pulled back from my probing tongue and looked into my eyes. "We need to hurry and prepare the syringes. Also, we need to know what's happening with the Queens."
She was right. We were up, dressed, drawing blood from each other, and holding the syringes in minutes.
"Here. Press the end against your arm like this and hit this trigger," Aisling instructed.
I copied her actions with my own syringe.
A tiny whisper of pressure indicated the contraption had injected my arm.
"There. We're set for forty-eight hours. If anything happens to keep us apart, we can resort to placating our inner beasts with these shots. But be warned. We get five shots per vial of blood." She handed me an extra vial. "This is another ten days. Keep it hidden too. The vial somehow stores our donation so it doesn't spoil." She smiled and tucked her syringe into her boot's shaft. "Although," her conspiratorial gaze slid to mine, "I prefer the old-fashioned method of satiating blood lust." Her white eyebrows danced a few arching steps.
Sex. "Only a fool would prefer a syringe over bedding you, little one."
She grabbed my whiskers in her palms and plopped onto my lap, tears sparkling in her eyes.
Those blue orbs made a huge difference in what a warrior could detect in his mate.
"Don't be too long," she whispered and dusted my lips with a feathery kiss.
If the Queens could gift her Luvk hearing, she could hear my heart and know I didn't want to go and listen to the nonsense. But what did queens care with their idea of duty? I grabbed Aisling's tiny waist and hefted her sweet curves up until we both stood facing each other. "I'd better go before I miss everything."
Her smile bent downward. "I thought I was everything."
Her heartsong didn't lie. She teased me. I took her hand. "Come. Wake Mart. Make certain all of the guards are as busy and miserable as I am at the great hall."
She snorted a retort but followed in my footsteps.
* * * *
Mart unrolled a large piece of hide on the table before Aisling. The same symbols covering the Wall of Glory spattered the leather in rows of dots and lines. Nothing like Mayan numbers, she thought. More like Chinese symbols. Glyphs. I was going to have to learn a new language. Add to that I had no knowledge of the spoken form. That meant two languages were on my list. I studied Mart's glowing silver gaze.
Candlelight danced in those foggy orbs.
Did he smother laughter with that misty reflective curtain? It would be fun to show him how easy it was to learn another dead language after mastering a few. Piece o' cake never summed up the challenge more elegantly. I'd give him a chance to attempt to express his sense of superiority. After all he was the last of his people who could read the text. "How did you learn the written language?"
"Practice."
What a smug answer. He obviously thought me incapable of the feat. I tugged the edge of the leather toward me. "Well, what are the basic components of this language?"
"Each symbol has a meaning."
That was a given. "But does each symbol represent a word like table, fire, or wind? Or do the symbols combine in an order to create one of those words?"
One of Mart's black eyebrows arched. "Each symbol represents one word."
"Well, see," I shot him a smile, "your job won't be as difficult as you thought."
The other guards eased up around the table.
Undoubtedly chattering in mindspeak.
If I had worn my white tunic with long sleeves, I would have shoved the cuffs up to my elbows. This job would be easier with a pen and paper. "I need something to write with."
All the guards glanced between each other.
Well, they had no idea what write meant. Talk about a caveman moment. A little ochre and oil would make a fine ink. "Okay, I need some oil. Even fat will work. Or something that can burn."
Lehd nodded and disappeared into shadows.
"Ochre's another issue. Just something to tint the fat." I scanned the dark room, my gaze locking on the fire pit. Ash would work. I left the warriors standing at the table, scooped up a large shovel of smoking coals and ash, spread it out on the cooler surrounding stone floor, and mashed the lumps into a powder.
The guards just eyeballed me like I was nuts.
They'd show some respect soon enough. "Do you have a dish I can use?"
Proy presented me with a metal serving container.
They'd obviously already eaten breakfast.
My stomach snarled a retort.
I scooped some ashes into the dish.
Heat radiated through the metal base.
But the ash needed to cool before the oil could be added. Where was Lehd?
The shadows stirred into stripes beyond the hearth's flames. Lehd materialized with a square container. He handed it over to me. "Your oil." His glowing gaze showed he adored being helpful.
A chill skittered down my spine.
Maybe his helpfulness was best left when the others weren't watching. All waiting for their turn at me. It didn't matter if he desired me. They were my consorts. Logic concluded they should desire me.
Var smirked at Lehd.
What was that about? Had they already laid out a pecking order of who gets me first?
* * * *
"Stop fawning over the Marshal, Lehd." Var did everything he could not to hurl the Sunset Royal Guard across the room. But Lehd had no right forcing himself on Aisling, Var concluded. Borun was First Mate and she had yet to bear the mark of a youngling.
Lehd rose, careful not to behave irrationally in front of our charge, and met my gaze. "I haven't frightened her. We are friends."
>
The fool could hear her erratic heartsong like the rest of us. "That's not what I hear. You're intimidating her. Back off."
"Var is right, Lehd," Mart concurred. "Leave her to her task."
Lehd shot us all a warning stare. "I produced what she requested."
"You're too young to know better," Mart added.
Lehd's heart began drumming a war song. "I have been old enough to lead the Sunset Royal Guard for ten years. Don't-"
"Apparently, twenty-eight years of life haven't taught you anything," Var blurted.
"If you can't stop arguing in front of Aisling, go outside and help Ovh guard the entrance," Proy ordered.
"Yes, the point is to help her feel safe. Not nurture her distrust in her guards," Mart condescended.
Lehd scowled and wandered back into the shadows toward his sleeping skins.
The young Lord had no idea how his brief experiences among the Royal Guard in his instant promotion to leader because of his height and strength molded his views. How could he see nothing but love when servicing the Queens held little respect? We'd all be foolish to risk losing our new position and fall right back into the clutches of our despicable mothers. And frightening Aisling would result in such a fiasco.
Aisling left both containers near the fire and returned to Mart's scroll. "Do you have a map of the territories?" She descended into a chair, focusing on Mart.
"No."
"Well, I can make one."
Could she? Since when did females have the intelligence to do a warrior's work? The glances the others shot between the other Royal Guards showed their thoughts danced down the same path.
But what if Aisling could do something no other Queen could? What if she could undermine the matriarchs and help us unite the clans? Or at least keep our mothers from deciding our fates. Although, I'd never heard rumors of any of the other leaders suffering as I have.
Mart's gaze bore a hole through me.
Stay out of my thoughts. Mind your own business. Hopefully the others were eavesdropping on my contemplation.
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