The Kingdoms of Sky and Shadow Box Set

by Foxglove, Lidiya

  “Are you going somewhere?” I asked. I had noticed he only used a cane if he was traveling outside of the rooms we used daily.

  “Yes. I have to check on the preparations for the move to Irandal. I would invite you but there will be hundreds of steep stairs before the day is done, and I know you won’t let me carry you around like a baby tumpskin.”

  “Er…no,” I said, wondering for the hundredth time what on earth sort of animals they had down here, and how many of them had I eaten? “It’s fine. I need to prepare the garden before the move.”

  Raia said before the move to Irandal I had to spread fertilizer and mulch on the plants and do some heavy pruning, which would involve a lot of lugging of buckets. Oszin could do all that. More importantly, I just needed to talk to him.

  We had to figure something out.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Oszin

  When I was a little kid, my dad used to drag me out of bed before the sun got up to tend to the goats and chickens. I don’t think I was a natural morning person. I never got used to jarring myself awake and plunging right into manual labor. I wasn’t even allowed coffee until I was older. Talk about cruelty.

  It was even harder getting used to life in Hemara. I was sleeping weird hours, and then I’d wake up and have to wait for the king’s candle and then the bell, before I could have breakfast. Often I’d be standing around with the bellman, just waiting. He’d chat with me about times when the king slept in and the court was waiting around.

  The whole thing was pretty damn ridiculous.

  On the other hand, the dragons were the most easygoing people I’d ever met. They were supposed to be warriors, with an enemy at their backs! They didn’t address their superiors properly at all. They took everything in stride. There was always music, dancing, and barely concealed sex going on. I mean, they definitely spent a lot of time training and patrolling too, but privately I wondered if women in the army wasn’t too much of a distraction.

  And these dragon girls weren’t modest. At all.

  I always did a little training practice in the morning before I took my post. Outside there was a big arena-like space on one of the rooftops of the fortress where dragons could fight in dragon form and even fly, for the few who had wings.

  Inside a few rooms held ample space for sparring and equipment for honing one’s skills solo—bags to punch, a shooting range for archery, dummies to whack and stab.That morning, there was a girl punching one of the bags wearing nothing but shorts, sweating profusely and grunting. She had small breasts, so there wasn’t much bounce, but still. It did some weird and confusing things to my body and mind.

  I never expected I’d feel like a prude.

  After I’d gotten in some sword practice and hit the baths, freshening up for Himika, I took out one of the radical papers from home and reread the introduction. The dragons didn’t hassle me like some of the Gaermoni did, but they were so strong.

  The titles of kings, the great palaces they build, the riches they accumulate, the wealthy men who think themselves superior—all are simply the constructs of luck, not value. If one studies the history of mankind, one will see that all kingdoms fall. The Elders claimed they had the word of god, but if that was so, why did they fall? No man is a god. And if all men are capable of falling, then all men must be equal.

  This world seemed so much closer to equality than the world I had left. I realized I should appreciate that.

  But I didn’t want to see women fighting. Particularly, I didn’t want to see Moth fighting and putting herself in danger. I was starting to worry that if she was healed, King Aurekdel would actually let her go to battle. And if something happened to her, I would lose my mind.

  My dad always used to tell me to protect my mom and my sisters when I was a kid. If something happens to me, you are the man, Osz. You always protect them. You always put them first. He always made such a big deal about working hard so my mother didn’t have to be in the fields much like her mother and grandmother had done. She got to stay in the hut doing gentler tasks and her skin stayed pale. Where I came from, that was—admittedly the low bar—test of a man’s strength and love.

  This place was really a test of my loyalty. Was it loyal to protect her? Or loyal to let her do what she wanted?

  When I went upstairs, she wanted to work on the garden. Once we were up there, she was clutching a purring Kajira and avoiding my gaze.

  “I need to get the fertilizer, right? Do you know where it’s kept, by any chance? I mean, I could ask.”

  “Wait.” She chewed her lip. “I wanted to talk to you alone.”

  She sounded too serious. “All right.”

  “Aurekdel told me the offer he made to you.” She made a little face that was kind of adorable. But…no. This was not good.

  “Oh, crap.”

  “Oszin, I’ve loved you for such a long time. That hasn’t changed at all. If I could have gotten out of this marriage without feeling like I was putting my whole country at risk, especially if I’d known I wouldn’t even be healed, I never ever would have come here. But—I did, and…” She looked down. “I’m starting to care about Aurek and Seron too. I don’t expect you to understand, at this point. I know you’re used to, um, monogamy. I know you don’t want to share me. But I—I really don’t know what to do if you won’t.”

  “I said I would stay at your side and protect you forever.”

  “Okay. That’s not an answer.”

  “You didn’t actually ask a question.” But I groaned. Of course I knew the damn question. I ran my hand through my hair. “We didn’t know if you could handle one men, and now you think three might not break you?”

  “Aurek and Seron are very gentle with me. But…at the same time, they don’t treat me like I’m so fragile I can’t be touched. I’m stronger than you think.”

  “I don’t try to baby you. You know that.”

  “No…but it’s still so different here. From the moment I got here, the dragons let me do things. Not just Aurekdel, but everyone. I think the only reason I can handle the fact that my bones are still crystal is that no one’s trying to shove me aside and tell me I just need to look pretty. I thought I would want to run away with you, but…”

  “Don’t. Just don’t.” I grimaced. “I feel like such a failure. But…I realize, you’re happy. That’s a good thing. Of course the last thing I want is for you to hate them.”

  “But Aurekdel wants me to be happy too. He wants you there. I want you there.”

  Her eyes were yearning, shining with the beginnings of heartbreak. I hated seeing her cry. I’d do anything to avoid that, normally. And letting her down seemed like the biggest failure of all.

  What she was asking me was so much more than I ever imagined. I could hardly stand it, not being able to touch her all the time. The very idea that not one but two other men had laid claim to her first…

  I put my hand around her face, erasing the first tear that escaped with my thumb. “This is the last sort of conversation we should be having,” I said. “We don’t have misunderstandings. It’s just…that I don’t want to be executed for punching the king in the face.”

  She laughed a little and set Kajira down on the balcony. The cat started chomping on some of the grassy weeds.

  “I want you all for my own. When I see you, I can’t help it. I’ve waited for years to touch you. I wondered if I’d ever be able to tell you how I feel. It seemed almost traitorous for me to love a princess. But over time, I started to know you loved me back. And when we finally said those words…” I kissed her, and she tugged on my shirt to get closer and deeper. “Moth, how can I hold back? How can I surrender a single inch of you?”

  “I don’t know…but…look at the priestess. She’s got five men and they all work it out. Aren’t women built for these things?”

  “You’re not. Are you really saying you think you’d ever want three men at the same time? Sacred stones.”

  She drew back, looking suddenly hurt
and then annoyed. “There you go again, Oszin. You are treating me like a delicate little girl. You want to ‘make love’ to me, I guess. But what if I want this? You think I’m corrupted now?”

  I wasn’t even sure how to answer without pissing her off even more. She wanted…three men…at once? My little Moth?

  On the other hand, my lower half had some differing opinions. I was forced to adjust myself.

  “I’ve learned a lot in the last month,” she said.

  “Yeah, I bet, huh?” I was a little sarcastic, although now I was really playing with fire.

  “Yeah.”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “I want you to say that you’ll be with me the only way I can really truly be with you!” She was breathing harder. “I want to feel you—deep—inside me. And you want it too. At least, part of you does.” She pointed at my trousers. “So…just get over it already. Try it. Once.”

  I put my arms around her and she stepped back against the stones. “Who’s stopping us from trying it now, then? While we’re alone?”

  Her little fingers climbed up my collar and then smothered themselves in my hair, pulling me closer, and we kissed even deeper. Her tongue was in my mouth. Her other hand reached down and stroked the length of my cock through the fabric.

  “You have learned some things…”

  “Yes…” She pulled back a little, tugging my lip with the edge of her teeth before letting go. She looked up at me, hand still in my hair, with devastating eyes. “And I’m stopping us from trying it now.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” She slid her hands back. “Even at night, Seron is Aurekdel’s champion, and he has to follow Aurek’s lead. But you’re mine, Oszin. I want you to be mine.”

  “Well, we’ll see about that, because deep down in my animal instincts, I definitely think you belong to me and not the other way around.”

  She threw herself into my arms. “Thank you.”

  “Wait, now. I didn’t say I’d do it.”

  “Yes, you did. I know it already.” She nuzzled me under my chin.

  Meanwhile, Kajira hunkered down on the thick stone wall, extended her neck, and hacked up all the grass she’d eaten and a long string of saliva. She looked at me and then immediately flew away.

  “Yes, that’s about how I feel,” I muttered.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Himika

  “Good.” Aurek looked so pleased when I told him what I’d done.

  “One would almost think you prefer sharing me,” I said. “I’m raising my eyebrows at you. I’m not sure that’s normal. You should at least be a little begrudging.”

  “I’m just not selfish that way.” He shrugged. “I have never felt as if I experienced less satisfaction for being generous. Now, Seron and Oszin might not agree with me, but they’ll come around to my way of thinking, I’m sure. Still, I know this is a delicate balance. The weeks I have spent with you can’t compare to the years you’ve spent with Oszin, and this will be your first time with the boy you love.”

  “Y—yes. Way to put the pressure on it…”

  “I’m also under some pressure here.” Aurek scraped one claw against another, thinking. “It is unconventional to let my queen choose a champion as well, so I imagine there will be some gossip about it. I don’t want any rumblings of instability. I need to make it pretty clear to Oszin that I am still the king. But I also realize that this is against his upbringing, and I would like some gesture to make this a special night. I do have an idea. How do you feel about…hmm, I don’t know if you really understand this phrase. Ritual claimings?”

  “What does that mean? You mean like the priestess and the Grand Quintet?” I blanched. The priestess had to submit to all of her guardians at once in a particular way to control her magic at times. I definitely wasn’t ready for anything like that.

  “No, more tame than that, I suppose. Let me explain. I’m thinking of the Gift of Patience. It started a long time ago with ice dragon women; they would encase their bodies in a crust of ice and their lover would have to melt them out of it, very carefully, without burning them. Just some fun with fire and ice, you know, she’d have to trust him, and he would have to be patient with her. They usually began with a dose of kulum mist to get them both excited so the whole thing acquired an agonizing sense of tension, and as he would free various parts of her—well, they started doing things like leaving little gifts along the way, like sweets or toys embedded in the ice…”

  “I don’t want to be encased in ice!”

  “No. Of course not. You would freeze. So would every dragon who isn’t an ice dragon. And you can’t really do the same with fire or metal or crystal.”

  “I don’t want the kulum mist either. And I don’t want him having it. No aphrodisiacs. It has to be real.”

  “I don’t want him to have kulum with you, in any case. It can make a man lose control. We can’t have that with you. Anyway, there’s a bedroom game called the Gift of Patience. It doesn’t really involve anything rough, or anything you haven’t done before, except getting tied up like a present for him.”

  “Tied up?”

  “But he has to untie you before he has sex with you. What makes it thoroughly enjoyable is the anticipation that builds and builds. It’s the sort of thing couples usually do on an anniversary.”

  “Would he like that?” I hardly knew what Oszin actually wanted, besides simply to have me.

  “I would guess part of his opposition is feeling like he is giving up some control and agency, and missed his chance at being your first. He has loved you for a long time, hm? What would be more of a symbolic gesture than if I wrapped you up for his pleasure, and if you gave yourself to him in such a trusting way?”

  My sweet spot suddenly throbbed with desire at the very thought.

  “It will also ease his anxiety over how to share you, because there is a ritual way to proceed through the Gift of Patience. Once I have prepared you for him, I will step back and simply guide him through the ritual.”

  “You’ll be there?” I drew back again. Of course, I’d already warned Oszin that was how it had to be. But he wasn’t going to like it.

  “I must be there,” Aurek said, grazing my lips with a finger. “Otherwise, what is the point of inviting him? I’m not offering you to him. I’m inviting him to us.”

  “You make all the decisions, huh?”

  “I told you before, if you say no, then that’s that. It’s possible that tonight, Oszin will want to say no. It’s also possible that he will realize his inhibitions are artificial…and that he will never be able to shake the sight of you offering yourself to him. What do you think?”

  “I think it is certainly going to be a stretch for Oszin to be able to handle you,” I said.

  Which is how, a little bit later, I had Aurekdel looping a long thin strip of leather around the back of my legs, and then my wrists, before tying it in a knot in front, while I lay naked on a bed of furs. I had to be very patient, but at least I got to take a good long look at my husband, and he was an attractive sight, his perfect lips set with intent, hair falling in his eyes. I liked watching his hands tie knots. He left them human for the moment, but they were equally attractive either way. Oszin’s hands were knobby and Seron’s were just huge, but Aurek’s had long, deft fingers.

  “You’d better be right about this,” I said. “This might be too much for him. He’s just a country boy, really. He’s going to feel like you’re corrupting me.”

  “I don’t think dragons and humans are all that different, in the end,” Aurek said, straightening up and plucking another strip of leather from a clump of them draped across the end of the bed. “Trust me. Sometimes it’s all or nothing.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Aurekdel

  I was just a tiny bit of jealous of Oszin, to be honest. He had Himika’s heart in a way that only time could earn. I wasn’t sure I had her heart at all; maybe just her body, but one had to start somewhe
re, and clearly she was a girl aching for this sort of touch.

  I don’t know why I wanted to earn that place in her heart. She was prophecied to me, yes. But the prophecy had failed me. It wasn’t about that anymore.

  Something about her got to me in more ways than I could count. She could be so demure and nervous compared to a dragon girl, but at the same time, she was not one to shrink from anything. Beyond that, I guess I understood the yearning inside her, to be strong and prove herself. I knew the pain of limits. It was so much more satisfying to push hers, when I didn’t know how much farther my own could really go.

  I wanted her to have all the love she yearned for, from men who cherished her as much as I did, but I had to admit, I wanted to be foremost in her mind. Always.

  It was hard not to simply want to run my fingers along her skin, then my tongue, to taste the salt of her sweat and the musk of her desire, to plunder her until she moaned for me.

  But this was all about patience.

  I took the strips and tied them around her legs, one by one, until she was tied up like a mermaid without a fin.

  “Oszin’s going to laugh when he sees me,” Himika said.

  “I bet he doesn’t.”

  “Do you have other rituals like this?”

  “Of course. One might guess the priestess’ rituals came from dragon rituals long ago.”

  “But dragons don’t usually have multiple partners, right?”

  “It’s not forbidden, but it’s not conventional either. The king, queen and champion are the only such relationship still written into societal norms, but it’s a discreet relationship. I don’t know if my parents ever had my father’s champion in their bed.” I smoothed my hands over her legs, making sure the bonds weren’t too tight. She was supposed to be a gift, not a trussed roast.

  I felt her skin shiver under my touch.

  I took a bowl of dried flowers, and sprinkled them across her. Dried flowers were commonly added to the inner layers of wrapped presents; I had chosen one of my favorites, a purple flower that grew in crystal caves, with a deep scent that not terribly sweet.