by Jayne Faith
“I know. Thank you,” I breathed, my spirits lifting in spite of her warning.
When we reached my room, I turned to her. “Will you come in while I get ready?”
She tilted her head at the closed door. “Remember, I can enter only if Kalindi is here and she gives her permission. Didn’t I see her in the cafeteria?”
I made a face. “Yes, she was there.”
“We’ll catch up in the morning, then. Have fun.” She gave me a sly smile and waggled her fingers at me in a little wave as she turned to continue down the corridor.
The door latched released when I touched the handle, and I entered my empty room feeling oddly forlorn. Perhaps it was thinking of Lana, combined with readying myself for Lord Toric alone. It seemed that no matter what happened to me on Calisto, isolation continued to plague me. I was surrounded by dozens of women, in a palace with thousands of people, and yet I felt like a speck drifting through space.
I went to my wardrobe, opened it, and took off my shoes and dress. The purple slip of a garment that I’d worn to Lord Toric’s bedchamber before, when there were cameras there to broadcast my boldness to the entire nation, slid with silky coolness against my fingers.
Before putting it on, I found the matching panties in the second drawer of my dresser and hung them on the hanger with the negligee. I bathed quickly with my hair tied up to keep it from getting wet. Once my skin was dry, I slipped into the silky panties and garment and then wrapped up in my new robe and sat at my vanity.
I couldn’t help a glance at Kalindi’s vanity, with its jewelry and perfumes and its drawer that held compacts. I had almost nothing to apply or use to beautify myself, and there would be no stylist to come and fix my hair and makeup as there’d been for the Tournament.
Using a few of the handful of hairpins that I possessed, I twisted the sides of my hair up and back to the crown of my head, pinning the strands there. I turned my face from side to side, eyeing myself in the mirror. My hair looked nice, if plain, and I’d just have to be satisfied with that.
Hera had told me that one of her assistants would come for me at the appropriate time, and a glance at the clock over the door showed that I still had nearly half an hour to wait. How silly it would have been to follow Kalindi’s advice to skip dinner to “ready myself.” I had almost nothing to use for preparation, and I would have just been sitting there starving and waiting.
I should have reached for the tablet to study the rules of harem life some more, but instead I propped an elbow on the vanity, cradled my chin in my palm, and allowed my eyelids to lower.
I recalled the advice Clarisse had given me before the seduction challenge. She’d said that I was in control, that lingering eye contact was sexy, and what else?
I’d moved slowly and deliberately as I’d disrobed in front of him, though I couldn’t remember if that had been part of her advice. Either way, it had worked. The pure desire, the hunger, in Lord Toric’s aquamarine eyes was matched only by the way he took possession of me in his bed.
I allowed myself a soft little moan at the memory. Even without giving myself to him fully, I’d experienced pleasure beyond my wildest imaginings. Though I knew I had not given him exactly what he craved, he’d seemed deeply satisfied, too.
If only I could get Sytoria to teach me how to fulfill his needs completely.
I let my mind wander until the chime at the door startled me from my daydreaming. I stood, cinched the belt of my robe a little tighter, and went to answer the door.
An unfamiliar Calistan woman stood waiting. Though we hadn’t been introduced, I would have known she was one of Hera’s assistants just by the business-like press of her lips and the way she consulted her tablet—as if what she saw when she looked around were not the true reality, but merely things to be checked off and recorded on the device she held.
“Follow me.” She about-faced.
As we strode through the corridors at a purposeful pace, I drew looks and whispers from the harem women we passed. I probably should have been accustomed to people staring and talking about me, but my skin prickled under the attention. I folded my arms tightly across my middle and looked straight ahead at the Calistan woman’s back.
She took me through the inner doors of the harem quarters to the outer doors. When they opened and I saw the familiar face of Tullock, one of Lord Toric’s guards, waiting on the other side, I felt my tight expression relax into a relieved grin. He gave me only the tiniest of nods, but even through the stoic set of his face, I could tell he was glad to see me again.
After the doors closed behind me and Tullock and I were well away from the harem quarters, I looked up at him. “How is he doing?” I asked quietly.
Tullock’s posture didn’t change, but he shifted his eyes to flick a quick glance down at me. When a moment of silence passed and he didn’t respond, I wondered if he’d found my question too insolent to answer.
“Quiet. Very absorbed in his duties,” he finally said. “But I’m sure seeing you will lighten his mood.”
Pleased little flutters swirled through my chest.
We were winding through narrow hallways that were unfamiliar to me, and when we finally came to a door, Tullock halted. “Through there you’ll find a powder room. When you’re ready, go through the doorway opposite and follow the corridor to Lord Toric’s bedchamber.”
“Thank you,” I said. I set my chin and reached for the door handle.
The powder room was warmly lit with sconces turned down on dimmers and a large pillar candle in the middle of an ornately carved vanity. I peeked inside the vanity’s drawers to see if there might be some makeup I could apply but found only some hairpins, a comb, a brush, and a stack of tissues. Needing none of those things, and eager to see Lord Toric, I crossed the small room to the other door.
It opened into a narrow corridor, and the soft tapping of my shoes against the stone floor echoed as I moved through it alone toward the next door. My pulse seemed to surge a little more with each step.
I paused with my fingers on the knob and drew a slow, deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. It was silly to be so nervous, but I couldn’t help feeling acutely aware that this visit to Lord Toric was official. Requested. Sanctioned. It felt like everyone in the palace knew I was spending the night with the alien Lord.
I laughed under my breath at myself. How was this more nerve-racking than disrobing on camera in front of all of Calisto? If I could do that, I could certainly do this.
I turned the knob and the door unlatched with a faint click.
The doorway didn’t open directly into Lord Toric’s bedchamber but into a little alcove where I could see only part of a wall and a slice of the balcony opposite. The evening breeze shifted the one balcony curtain that I could see from my vantage point.
When I stepped into the expansive room, I found the lighting was pleasantly low and there was a faint scent of fruit and flowers overlaying the metallic musk that I knew as the scent of Lord Toric’s skin. In an involuntary reaction, I inhaled deeper. Taking the scent of the room into my lungs seemed to stoke heat in the center of my body.
But where was Lord Toric?
I took a few more steps, my gaze quickly sweeping the large but sparsely furnished room. Just as I was about to call out his name, one of the balcony curtains buffeted in the breeze and I caught sight of him outside.
His back was turned to me, his hands wide apart on the railing. I moved quietly toward him, enjoying a moment to take in the way the simple rope belt looped around his tunic emphasized his broad shoulders and trim waist.
I tried to read his mood from his stance. He was very still and his back was straight, but his weight was shifted slightly over to one leg and his arms extended gracefully outward, his fingers soft on the railing.
Contemplative was his mood, if I had to guess.
The sudden desire to feel his arms around me propelled me forward. I allowed my shoes to click against the floor and announce my arrival.
“Lord Toric,” I said, just as he began to turn at the sound of my approach.
When his aquamarine eyes met mine, the smile that began at my lips seemed to blossom through my entire body.
“Maya.”
A tiny delighted shiver passed through me at the sound of my name on his lips.
He reached out one upturned palm, and I went to him and placed my hand in his. Our eyes stayed locked as I moved. Part of me noticed that beyond the balcony the last strokes of sunset still just barely painted the horizon in pink toned reds. But most of my focus remained on him.
He drew me to him, turning at the same time to face outward again. Pulling me in front of him, he kept hold of my hand and curled his arm around the front of my waist. With one arm curved protectively around me, holding me firmly to him, and the other hand resting on the railing, I had no choice but to relax against him. My back was warmed by his body heat, and my eyes were full of the spectacular view.
I wanted to stay there forever.
I felt him bend over me slightly. “I’m so happy you’re here,” he said.
A tinkling little laugh spilled from my lips. “You summoned me. I had no choice,” I teased.
In one swift movement, he spun me around to face him. He moved closer, nearly pinning me as the railing pressed against my shoulder blades. A playful spark mingled with heavy-lidded lust in his eyes.
“That’s right,” he said, his voice so low it was nearly a growl. “I wanted you.”
I shifted, increasing the pressure of my body against his. I looked at him from under lowered lashes and reached up with one finger to slowly trace the line of his jaw that began just under his ear and trailed my finger down the side of his throat where I could feel his rapid pulse.
The bulge of his growing arousal fueled desire that flared hotly through me. When he lowered his mouth to mine, it was no tentative, sweet kiss. It was pure hunger, and my lips answered with my own yearning. The rough edge to his movements only excited me more and made me want him more urgently.
My hands found their way to the back of his neck, encouraging him to kiss me more deeply. When he did, my fingers curled and I dug my fingernails against his flesh.
He moaned, the sound vibrating from his throat to his lips and passing to mine, and my knees nearly buckled.
He broke away first, his breath ragged against my cheek as he reached down to gather the skirt of my dress in one fist, hiking it up to my knees. The other hand slid around my backside, and he lifted me easily.
As I wrapped my legs around his waist, my pulse jumped and then sped. Desire poured through me, washing away my awareness of anything except him.
My mouth found his again as he carried me to his bed. When he lowered me to the cool, silky bedspread, he pulled back and his eyes bored unblinking into mine.
“I love you in every possible way, Maya.” His voice was at once tender and ragged with lust, and my breath caught in my throat.
Before I could respond with my own declaration, his lips covered mine, his hand under my skirt and trailing up my inner thigh.
I reached for his belt, loosening it so I could grasp the hem of his tunic. I nearly tore it in my haste to yank it up and over his head. Within a breath or two, our clothes were heaped on the floor and we were pressed together, body against body.
Absorbed in the joy and pleasure of being with him, I almost believed that nothing could ever come between us.
Later, as I lay curled on my side with Lord Toric pressed against my back and his arms circled around me, I remembered Clarisse’s proposition.
I stroked his arms with my fingertips and turned my head slightly so I could speak without muffling my words in the pillow.
“My Lord, is there an actual law against my becoming Queen?” I asked. I whispered the words, knowing that even though I couldn’t see the guards they weren’t far. My heart bumped at my own brazenness, but I allowed the question to stand.
He shifted a little, and I turned so we were face-to-face. The candlelight seemed to etch the planes of his handsome face in sharp relief.
“An Earthen Queen?” He reached up to touch my hair, tucking a strand behind my ear. “You know I want you by my side. But even if there is no law against it, it would never stand. Besides, you have an important role to play in the Return. You are the harbinger, Maya Calderon. And every moment of every day I pray for the Return to come before I must marry. On Earth, we will truly be together.”
Despite his affection, an irritable prickle passed through me at the mention of the Return and my supposed part in it.
I raised up on one elbow. “How can I truly be the harbinger?” I asked, my voice low so it wouldn’t carry. “You know what really happened when I dropped from the bridge into the flame.”
I gave him a pointed look, surprised at my own sudden aggravation but also curious about his level of conviction. Was he truly buying into the staged events of my miraculous survival? I was, of course, extremely grateful that those events saved my life, but the miracle wasn’t real.
His jaw muscles flexed a couple of times before he answered. “I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong. You are a miracle. You just don’t want to see it. You don’t want to accept it.”
His eyes flicked down and away, and surprise spiked through me. Was that hesitation . . . doubt I read in his face? I waited for a moment, looking for any sign of what I thought I’d seen.
Finally, I let out a long sigh. “I don’t want to argue. I just want us to be together, unencumbered by miracles and Queens and laws.”
“As do I.” His face softened, but his focus seemed to intensify. “I will find a way, Maya. My dedication to my duties and to the Return don’t supersede my love for you or my desire—my need—to have you by my side.”
At the mention of his need, I turned over to my back and rested my head on the pillow, looking up at the ceiling. He’d inadvertently raised the topic of our other problem—his needs, the ones I didn’t yet know how to fulfill.
“Have faith,” he said, his fingers running lightly across my stomach. “I do. I know we were meant to be together, and by the stars I will find a way.”
I turned to him and allowed myself to be drawn in, our lips meeting and our bodies intertwining. My worry receded to a faint point in the back of my mind but did not entirely disappear.
The next morning, Lord Toric was up before dawn. He whispered in my ear that he had to leave to meet with the High Priestess, but I was welcome to stay until after breakfast.
I burrowed deeper into the covers, luxuriating in the warm cocoon of soft linens. Memories of my night with Lord Toric mixed with dreams as I dozed, but I knew I couldn’t linger too long.
When I sat up and stretched my arms over my head, the morning light breaking over Calisto was still cool-toned and faint. I’d put on my negligee before falling asleep, knowing that when I woke there could be servants or guards in the room. Still, I felt nearly naked in the thin garment as my feet touched the floor and I went into Lord Toric’s dressing room.
The robe I’d worn from the harem quarters hung on a hook, and next to it a selection of three other robes Lord Toric kept there for me. I reached for the long one with plush lining, slid my arms into the sleeves, and cinched the belt.
Breakfast service had been set up near the balcony doors. I went to the cart and poured a cup of fragrant steaming tea, but instead of sitting down on one of the chairs at the small round table nearby, I opened the balcony door a few inches and slipped outside.
The chilly morning air bloomed around my bare feet. I clamped my elbows against my body and clutched the warm mug in both hands, trying to absorb its heat.
Calisto’s faintest sun was just cresting the horizon far to the right. Its light warmed the tone of the sky, infusing it with a wash of buttercream yellow and streaking a few low clouds with a pale blush of coral.
I walked to the railing and looked across the palace gardens and walkways below and out to the rooftops of houses
and spires of taller buildings.
If I were the queen, what would it be like to preside over this foreign land? I’d come to know certain things of Calistan culture, society, and religion but still felt very much an outsider. And after recent events, not just an outsider but also a spectacle.
If the Return came, I would get to go back to Earthenfell. To my people, my home. If I could do it by Lord Toric’s side, perhaps I could ensure that Earthens were treated fairly. For though I believed that Lord Toric’s heart was good and pure, I was very wary of how Earthens would fare in the event of the Return. After all, we’d been little more than slaves to Calisto for countless generations. We were stewards of the land they hoped to reclaim, farming it and providing Calisto with food and other raw materials. And I certainly hadn’t forgotten the Selections that sent young Earthens to die on Calisto twice a year.
My desire to return home to Earthenfell by Lord Toric’s side was not only driven by my love for him, I realized. It was also fueled by my desire to ensure my people’s safety.
A new determination firmed inside me. I stood straighter and gave the spectacular view one last look before retreating back to the warmth of Lord Toric’s bedchamber.
I left my cup on the table and hurried to the dressing room, where I exchanged the lined robe for my new one and slipped my feet into my shoes.
I went into the alcove and through the powder room, and a guard was waiting outside the powder room door.
He nodded at me, and I smiled as I recognized North, one of the guards who had been assigned to me after I was kidnapped.
He escorted me back to the harem quarters. Inside, I ignored the lingering looks I drew from the women as I made my way to my room.
As I quickly bathed and dressed, I realized I had a couple of rather daunting tasks for the day: convince Clarisse to help me meet my sister again and convince Sytoria to teach me how to use the whips and other implements with Lord Toric. I also had to continue studying the book of rules for harem life in preparation for my exam.