That's better than nothing. I grabbed my quill.
He pointed to the sketch of a square encircled with a circle on the east side of the map. "This is the realm of my birth, Sunrise realm." He leaned closer to me, his bulging biceps right beneath my nose, with the faintest growl in his throat. "The city ruins are here."
Was he staking a claim with Lehd's behavior across the room? Time to change the subject. I quickly made a dot where Mart's finger touched the map. "Okay, what about these other realms?"
Lehd was on his feet, crossing the space so quickly I feared a fight was imminent. "Don't forget the Sunset realm." He shot me a wink and planted a finger near another square inside a circle on the opposite side of the map. "Here is the location of our ancient city, Treklos. On the coast, Aisling. My clan ruled the seas."
Mart threw his head back laughing. "I don't recall that bit of history."
Lehd's gaze shrank to a slit. "Because the Sunrise clan was nothing more than cowards."
Mart's laughter died.
Blood was about to flow. "Var! Ovh! Proy!" Where in the hell were the other guards?
?
Chapter Twenty-One
The door to the guard's quarters flew open behind Aisling. Thank goodness, she shouted inwardly.
Golden Var stormed into the room wearing his war mask with some type of spear in hand.
He just stood there like I was in charge. "They're fighting." I pointed at the two children at the table. "Can the rest of you guys hang them from the rafters?"
Lehd made a yeah-right sound.
Okay, maybe he was as big as Borun. But three against one when the three were only an inch shorter had to equate to some type of advantage.
* * * *
Var almost spat where he stood looking at the two Royal Guards who had gotten him summoned before the Marshal. This was absolutely ludicrous, he thought. "What are you arguing about?"
Mart leaned back into the crook of his chair. "He said the Sunset clan used to rule the seas."
"They did," Lehd replied.
Aisling glanced back and forth between the dolts at the table and me. "I can't mindspeak." She anchored a determined gaze upon me. "You have to speak aloud."
"The dispute is as old as time, Aisling. And long since dead." I glared at the two guards. "Besides, it matters little which clan ruled what since the Queens claimed the thrones."
Proy darted through the bath's doorway.
Ovh emerged from the back of the guards' lodge.
Both simultaneously. "Mart and Lehd are frightening Aisling with ancient quarrels."
Proy and Ovh each took a stand beside the two guilty guards who now tried to act as if nothing had taken place.
"What would Borun do to you if he was here?" I asked them.
Mart smacked his lips.
Not the reaction I'd expect from a Royal Guard who finally mated. He and Lehd undoubtedly squabbled about female territorial rights. "She chooses."
Both shot me petulant glances.
"Let's hope this is the last time you shame yourselves before Borun returns." As if they thought bickering over ancient feuds would win a queen's favoritism. But it was good to see Aisling didn't respond to their actions. Although Queens caused nothing but problems. I nodded respectfully to Aisling and returned to my duty guarding the door.
* * * *
What in the heck just happened, Aisling wondered. I just asked where the ancient cities were located. And then the guards flipped out. Talk about jealousy. Okay, next time I need to mate, Lehd's up to bat. Even Stephen on the playing field. Whether Mart bitches or whines. But I'd finish the map to prove I was in charge. "Proy, Ovh, I need you to show me where the ruins of your realms' ancient cities are located."
Lehd returned to lounge deliciously upon his sleeping skins. Mart just leaned into his chair.
Proy and Ovh pointed to the leather. I drew dots, thanked them, and returned to the pile of maps. Proy returned to guard the exterior door to my personal quarters. Ovh just lurked.
Obviously to monitor whatever else occurred. Thank goodness. I could use some reason while dogpaddling in this sordid sea of sex games. I sucked in a deep breath and yanked out a map that had held some interesting dot patterns. "What is noted on this hide?"
"Sky demon attacks."
Mart seemed ready to cough up answers. Or was he embarrassed of his behavior. So why keep a record of demon attacks? "What does this tell you?"
"Where the attacks occurred. The different types of dots indicate when the attacks occurred."
Now that was intriguing. "Show me the changes through time."
Mart's clean fingernail slid between the symbols for each clan with a whole lot of confusing zigging and zagging.
"Okay, I get the point. This is too damned much information to pass on easily." She shoved his finger aside and focused on the dots.
The map must have been old. Some dots were darker than others. Some were round. Others were oval. There seemed to be more lighter round dots than darker ovals. Throw in the dots that appeared to have an X drawn through them and the map must have contained three waves of attacks.
"Which dots are oldest?"
"The faded circles. The ones that have been crossed through occurred a century later. The ovals were the final wave of attacks two centuries after the crossed out dots."
Why so long ago? And what about the recent attacks? "But you said the sky demons are still raiding."
Ovh sank into the creaking chair beside me. "They claim to have stopped raiding. However, small parties continue to come at night."
If the Slakens hunted or mined something, the attacks should be focused and reflective of that focus in the maps. "What do they want?"
"Queens' orbs. The magic crystals lighting the palaces." Both Mart and Ovh said the same thing simultaneously.
Those damned light crystals in my lodge? "Uh, so what do they want with them?"
"The few Luvks who returned from enslavement say they use the crystals for many things in their homes and cities."
Fuel. And I have lovely raid magnets floating above where I sleep.
"They don't have night vision, Aisling," Mart added. "It's easier to find the orbs at night."
"That doesn't make me feel better with those damned balls hanging in my lodge." And Borun so far away. But he said he chose my guards specifically for their strength. Surely, everything was alright.
"Don't worry, Aisling," Ovh said. "Sky demons don't attack palaces."
"Why?"
"The Queens are their chosen leaders. This is why Queens still own the crystals. They are never raided. You're at the palace. You're safe. And you have your Royal Guard," Ovh answered.
Then something else instigated the Queens' murders. Something non-Slaken. The parties involved may be trying to make the murders appear as if caused by the sky demons.
"What are you thinking, Aisling?"
Did I have a strange heartbeat? It couldn't hurt to see what they thought. "Since a lot of friction exists between clans," I shot glares between Lehd and Mart, "we can't assume the Slakens are behind the Queens' murders. Especially after what the Thunder clan did trying to capture me on the way here to Ishan's palace."
Lehd relocated to an empty chair around the table.
"Killing a queen is one of the worst kinds of crimes, Aisling." Lehd's words thundered from his seat beside me.
"Borun recognized all my assailants. He never mentioned any clan other than the Thunder clan. And the sky demons only raid occasionally. So, what's the point? If the Slakens can't have the Queens' orbs and they want the Queens in power, why would they kill them?"
"To cause confusion," Mart stated.
Confusion would arise regardless of who struck at the Queens. "Or the Slakens aren't behind the murders. Borun didn't tell me what the Queens think. What did he tell you?" Maybe they'd cough up the details.
"That the Queens are terrified," Mart announced. "Nothing like this has ever happened-"
"
Until I arrived." I reached for a map's edge and saw my hand tremble.
Would there be no end to this sex madness? I flipped the ends of the stack of maps over and looked at the exposed half of each one. "What resources does each of these maps indicate?"
"Ores. Foods. Anything that might be of use to someone-"
"Who might want to invade other realms," Lehd blurted. "Why the Thunder clan when the Sunrise clan has maps such as these?"
Lehd would start another fight. "Wait in my personal quarters. I'll speak with you when I'm finished with Mart and Ovh."
Lehd shoved to his feet and turned with a grimace to disappear behind the thumping bath's door.
Mart would explain. "So when you didn't look happy about presenting your maps to the rest of my guards, you worried you'd upset some of them?"
Mart nodded. "These maps are only of historical value to me. I never wore the leader's mask and rarely had the opportunity to bring up anything my brood would care to consider."
Ovh snorted. "You should have shown her in private. Lehd's so young that he reacts before thinking."
Lehd is young? "Your Queens allow young sons to lead? Isn't that a bad choice?"
"Only if she is murdered by a consort," Mart said.
Why don't I like that answer? "It's obvious the Queens are annoying. But humor me. Why would a young son be used to protect a queen against a consort planning to murder his mate?"
Ovh's golden gaze shifted to Mart.
Mart inhaled and rolled his silver gaze to me. "The largest royal son is most likely to be strongest. Like Lehd. Because they are from different clans. A leader of the Royal Guards serves to monitor all the intimate interactions between the Queen and her consorts. Just in case a consort decides to kill a Queen for whatever reasons. That's why the largest son is chosen to lead."
A lump wedged into the back of my throat.
How cruel to force a son to live a celibate life and watch sex endlessly.
"You shouldn't have said that," Ovh growled.
"She needs to understand how the Queens and Royal Guards operate."
Enough already. "Alright, the both of you, stop arguing."
Ovh sighed. "I apologize, Aisling."
Now he was proving helpful. Considerate. Whereas, Mart seemed to have a selfish streak to him. Maybe that was the difference between having white stripes and orange stripes. An orange male learned to be more patient by necessity while waiting in the back of the line. Like Lehd. "I'm going to speak with Lehd." I shot Mart a warning glance. "And no I'm not worried about being alone with him. He's not going to kill me. He's made that perfectly clear time and time again." Maybe kill me with kindness. But my shaking hands could use a little dose of Lehd. I strode to the door before either Royal Guard could stop me and reached a quaking hand toward the wooden slab.
Lehd stood in the darkness beside the pool with his hands on his hips.
So much for following orders. "I thought I told you to wait in my quarters?"
The door slapped shut behind me where only his form was sketched out by the pool's light.
"I thought I'd better stay close enough to help if Mart did something foolish."
A noble excuse was a noble excuse. But he needed to do what I told him to do. He was my guard. And my sanity required compliance. I stepped to the edge of the pool.
Borun hadn't been gone half a day and everything was falling apart. Mart could have acted a little more sympathetic to the other guards since we'd slept together. Well, that was the answer. This big mass of muscles just needed to feel he got his fair share. I circled the pool.
He stood quietly.
Was this the way of my future? Smoothing ruffled feathers? Didn't these guards share? Or would everything smooth over after I had mated with them all? I didn't want to go there. But necessity keeps slapping me in the face. I stood toe to toe with him.
God I felt small. And almost a little like Borun was with me. Safe. "You should have done what I told you to do."
He snorted, his head wagging a bit. "I'm a grown warrior. I do what's best for duty's sake. Protecting you is my duty."
Thank God because those muscles were certainly all I could think about.
Duty. Or I'd have to rip him a new ass for doing whatever the Hell he thought important. I pivoted and paced out half the pool's edge. All the way back to the sunken ledge where I sat to lather up with soap. Time to seduce him into sleeping with me. I yanked my tank top over my head, grabbed the heels of my boots, and pulled.
He followed my trail around the swirling water.
Slowly. His boots snatched the edge of the pool toward him.
I slithered out of my olive camouflage pants, kicked them aside onto my other clothes, and rose to face him in my bra and panties.
Especially since these males loved the white lace.
The pool's glow traced the black stripes in his beard and across his arms.
He halted before me, his gaze anchored upon mine. "I hear every breath you take, every beat of your heart." He reached out to curl a hand beneath my chin. "You don't react this way to Mart."
How smug.
His hand dropped to my side, sliding warmth and gooseflesh along my body to my waistline to snake around my lower back.
Arguing I felt the same for Mart would have been futile. My insides dissolved into liquid heat as his arm pulled me up against his chest where he could kiss me when he chose to.
His gaze slid down to my lace bra.
Hanging there with my feet dangling was the strangest sensation between plow-into-me erotic and my feeling a little at his mercy. But that's certainly what he wanted. A warrior like Lehd obviously preferred things his way.
His gaze slid up to my mouth. He licked his lips. "I don't like his scent on you." He lowered my feet to the cold stone floor and tugged off his boots.
The ache in my groin was so damned overwhelming that I couldn't unbuckle my bra snap. Or my hands quivered so much from blood lust I couldn't control my fingers. But the fact a queen had her largest son monitor her intimate relationships suddenly began to sound significant given Lehd's comment about Mart's scent on me.
He grabbed my cheeks and kissed me.
Long. Passionately. With so much emotion I groaned against the probing searching actions of his tongue. I snaked my arms around his neck and clung to his intoxicating kiss.
Lehd pulled me into his drumming chest and massaged my cheek and neck with his hot lips, then released me to stand before him. "I won't hurt you, Aisling."
My knees wobbled after his mind-numbing kiss.
The pain in his features set off another wave of lava rolling through me.
I know. Maybe I should have said the words because he couldn't penetrate my thoughts, but I focused on getting my fingers to work the bra's clasp. All I wanted was his hands on me. They had to feel amazing given the power of his kiss.
His pants fell to floor, and one by one he stepped each foot from the puddled leather.
Oh boy. Those legs… That amazing erection.
He reached for my hands, taking my wrists, lifting them over my head, and slipped the bra off with a grin, only to release me and jump into the whirling water.
Water splashed everywhere. Even running over the edge to my feet and clothing.
He surfaced, wiping the water from his eyes to watch me. Hungrily.
God I felt beautiful. Although, men had always looked at me that way. But Lehd was like Borun. Maybe young and hotheaded. But just as adoring. And enormous. Enormous made a girl feel safe in BFE outer space with sky demon raids out to collect her magic light crystals.
A chill tickled my skin into chilly attention. Among other parts of my body. Time to have Lehd make me feel safe and warm. I slid off my lace panties and stepped into the ledge's lapping water.
Lehd leapt from the water with his perky striped ass, heading into the room's darkness to return with a dish of soap bars.
Perky was good. And everything else about him was equally perky.
Everything.
He placed the dish at the pool's edge and descended to sit at my feet, staring up, taking my hand, pulling me down to straddle his lap in the pool's warmth.
God all the air was sucked out of the room. And more than a void stood between us. His cock was so damned engorged that I doubted he'd make it beyond lathering up his hands.
But he did. And went right to work on my neck, rubbing downward, down to sore nipples that were so taut he spent a lot of time washing them.
I ached so badly with the lathering I almost mounted him. Just the thought of sliding along his hard shaft made my soul weep wave after wave of molten heat.
He slid his hands down my back to my ass.
His erection jerked between us.
Oh if he didn't hurry. I was so tired of these males and their deprivation.
His fingers slid between my cheeks and pulled them tightly so he could finger my sensitive skin around the pucker of my anus.
The blood in my womb pounded for him, begged he thrust inside me hard and fast.
Right now.
His hands slid around my sides to work my belly. And lower. But he stopped. His sensuous lips backed away until he stared so lovingly into my eyes that I almost keeled over into the water.
His fingers slipped through my curled pubic hairs, gently washing, rather exploring, all the way down to my nether folds.
I couldn't breathe. Didn't want to breathe. Just wanted to focus on him touching me, trailing inside me like a kid in a candy store.
Elation threaded upward through my body up to my head where all I could do was lean backward to let the euphoria root so deeply into my memory I'd never forget Lehd's touch, his kiss, or his eyes. Those mesmerizing golden orbs that followed me everywhere. Analyzing my every blink. Lehd would be my lover.
He was the lover.
And he could make love with his long fingers.
He toyed with me so deeply that I had to grab onto his harness to anchor myself as my hips rocked against his probing fingers. Anything to slow down the rising tide of bliss building in my soul. I needed him so badly.
"Aisling," he whispered into my ear.
I wanted all of him inside me. I grabbed his cock and ran along the long supple course of it with my hand.
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