Ilavani 5

by Kaelan Rhywiol

  When her door opened quietly, Mai knew who it was, and she quietly reached behind her and pulled the covers down. The sound of his robe hitting the floor echoed in the quiet of her rooms as Cam slid into bed and cupped her hips to his, wrapping his arms around her to snuggle close. Neither of them spoke, they only absorbed the heat and touch of one another as they drowsed and watched the suns come up. Cam's body heat curled around her deliciously, and she reveled in the sound of his voice when he spoke.

  “The past few days have been hard on everyone, would you rather I left?” He slid a hand down and covered her lower belly. She could feel from contact with him that he'd sought her out for comfort and to reconnect more than for a chance of a child and that if she said so he would indeed leave. During the ilaweeks he'd been gone and in the storm of emotions in the seraglio in the past two days, Mai had completely lost track of time. She'd entered her fertile period yesterday and completely forgotten.

  Mai laughed softly. “I'd forgotten and no, I don't want you to leave.” She turned in his arms and looked up into those blue eyes. He still looked rumpled from sleep, and she smiled tenderly. “I heard you were wounded, how bad is it?”

  Cam shrugged and Mai tsked, sitting up and pulling the blankets down. When she saw the fierce scar slicing across his chest, she gasped. The wound had sealed, but it'd been bad. Two days after being injured and he'd already had his stitches taken out, the scar looked weeks old, not mere days.

  “What a miracle it must be to heal like that.” She looked up and met his gaze again. “Will you carry the scar at all?”

  Cam lazily shook his head on the pillow. “No scar. It'll continue to heal until it's gone and yes, it's an excellent thing to heal so quickly. Though if we break a bone it has to be set immediately, or it heals badly.”

  Thinking about that Mai cocked her head. “Immediately? As in no time to seek medical aide?”

  Cam nodded and ran a casual hand through her hair. “Yes.” He huffed deep in his chest. “Maël broke his hand a few days before I left, and I guarantee he had to set it himself considering where it happened.”

  Mai shook her head as her eyebrows shot up. “Have you ever had to set your own bones?”

  Gaze rapt as he watched the way the dawn light gilded her hair he nodded. “I broke my hand once in training, my nose one time too. Those I set myself. My horse threw me once in battle, broke a bone in my calf and Bastion had to set that. It's part of why I've such a high pain tolerance and why both Maël and I have reasonable first aid skills. By the time the doctor stitched this up it had already started to heal. I'm lucky I do heal so well, or I could have bled out, it was deep enough.” He caught her gaze. “Out of my line, there are only three of us who heal as I do. Maël, Father, and me. Rein and Gaél both healed this way, and both of my elder sisters but even Averein's son didn't inherit the gene for it.”              

  Mai smiled and lay back down, tucking herself close to his body under his arm. “I hope if we manage a child they inherit it. Even given the problems associated it's an awesome ability.”

  She lifted her chin at the same time as he leaned in and gently kissed her. Mai kissed him back fiercely. She buried her hands in his hair and slid her tongue into his mouth. Passion flickered in her, and she slid a leg across him, kissing him deeply. His hands caressed her bare back and came around to cup her sensitive breasts. She groaned low in her throat as he did, bathing in the rush of pleasure she always experienced with him. He hardened beneath her and she rubbed her wet heat against him. Taunting one another, teasing and caressing and pleasing they were both heated and needy by the time the suns had fully crested the horizon.

  “Please,” she whispered, breaking off their kiss.

  He grinned and lifted her up. He tumbled her over to bury his face between her thighs. His talented mouth brought her higher, making her arch her hips up as she came. She gasped out his name as his mouth sealed over her aching clit and he hummed. Cam held her wide with hands on her thighs and licked, sucked and nibbled her until she came again for him, her cries echoing in the still rooms.

  When he slid into her, Mai was more than ready for him. He stretched her deliciously as he pressed deep and pulled back, driving in again with firm, slow strokes. He held her close, and she reveled in the sensation of her tight nipples crushed against his hard, crisply haired chest. She met each of his strokes by raising her hips to take him deeper.

  Wrapping her legs around his hard, flexing ass, Mai groaned as he drove hard into her. Cam took her lips again, sliding his tongue inside and echoing his motions, tongue and cock both possessing her, thrusting into her, pleasing her.

  It was coming again and she broke the kiss to whisper, “Close, so close.” Her nails dug into his back. Starting in her breasts, like electricity shooting from her nipples down through her belly, up from her toes through her legs the pleasure centered in her cunt. It built and built before she flew over the precipice. Clutching tightly to him, her body contracting around him, she cried out and came again when Cam let himself go in a hot flood with a deep groan of release. Breath heaving, they lay together in the aftermath.

  Mai giggled a bit and he chuckled in response. The minute motions of their laughter made her gasp again as a delicious aftershock took her and she moaned low. Cam drove himself tight against her while kissing her throat. When she came down again, Mai sighed and tried to catch her breath. He lifted himself off of her, dropping a kiss on each flushed breast and her lips. While he showered, she drifted softly on a current of bliss.

  She fell asleep, when she woke, mid-day light bathed her rooms. Hours had passed because her suite was hot with steamy summer warmth. She drowsily remembered Cam kissing her goodbye as he covered her with a light blanket. The heavy weight next to her in the bed proved to be Kylian, purring in his sleep. Drowsy in the quiet of the day she started to slip back into the arms of Morpheus when an odd sensation fluttered.

  A tiny sensation, like a seed spilling itself into the earth. A bright spark, deep in her lower belly. Mai laid a hand between her hips and gasped as she felt the flicker in her mind again. Her gift of foresight at work, she knew she would conceive a child today. Mai could sense the potential for new life. A child of hers and Cam's. She grinned, ecstatic at what her gift told her.

  She held very, very still, giving the new life every chance to form. There weren't thoughts or emotions yet, it was too new—really just a potential at this point—but the flicker, the awareness, of life was there. Mai drifted to sleep again cradling a hand over her belly and joy in her soul.

  Memoir of Alexander Righ, Ruler of Erieria—Excerpt

   

  The life of a contracted breeding woman in a royal seraglio is hard. Despite living in the lap of luxury, it's incredibly difficult to perpetually try for a child in the face of constant losses. Knowing the logical reasoning behind our low fertility, I still wonder what the hells the ancestors were thinking. The amount of grief surrounding the engenderment of heirs in our world is immeasurable.

  CHAPTER 64:

  38th of Sunani, Summer

  12:31 hours, Mid-Morning

  CAM

   

    Cam sighed at the necessity of visiting his breeders again. Amaya was ovulating, and it had been made clear to him in the most primal way possible how incredibly important an heir was. He went into his quarters, having left the court for the two-hour lunch break. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on Li's forehead where xie lay in their bed. Xyr golden skin seemed pale, and xie'd been ill off and on for the three days since they'd returned from Kedowyth. Xie'd woken up that morning and raced for the washroom where xie'd promptly lost everything xie'd ever eaten. Xie couldn't keep down food and had been snacking on candied ginger, dry crackers, and ginger ale. To his recall, Li had never been sick, and it scared him. Xyr healing abilities were even more advanced than Cam's own and xyr system usually managed to bea
t off any infection before xie became symptomatic.

  Xie remained asleep, which made it a little easier for him to do his duty. Much as it hurt him to leave xyr, he nodded to the attendant keeping watch over her mistress and went through the door leading to his Seraglio.

  Cam served his fertile breeders and then went back to his suite. He showered and checked on Li again. Awake, xie'd dismissed xyr servant and though still pale seemed alert. Xie lay quietly watching a movie on the entertainment system when he came out of the shower, still brushing his hair. “Will you let me call a physician yet?”

  Li's jaw formed a stubborn line he knew all too well as xie shook xyr head. “No. If I'm still ill tomorrow you can ask again, but you know how I feel about the Ard Righ. If I'm seen by a physician their scanners automatically dump information into the memory banks of that… thing. If I'm broken, bleeding out or dying you can call a doctor. Not until.”

  Shaking his head at xyr, Cam dressed in clean clothing for the afternoon court. “Having been ill, you may not know Father ruled as we wished regarding Baladeva, he's been indentured. They tattooed him yesterday, and he'll be put up for bid at the next weekly auction.” He saw Li's cheeks flush and wondered at xyr connection to the blond. Bemused, Cam said, “I take it you'll be buying his contract?”

  Xie didn't look at him but nodded.

  “Well, talk to the steward about getting rooms for him. He can't be on the royal floor until he's proven his loyalty, which will take, oh, the entire time of his indenture if it's up to me.”

  Xie smiled at him. “Surely, you're not jealous?”

  Cam looked thoughtfully at xyr. “No, not sexually. The Twins know I'd be the world’s biggest hypocrite if I denied you lovers. Besides, you and I both know I'm not built like that, I'll be happy that you're happy. That said, the way your neck was bruised makes me want to cheerfully torture the bastard, so keep him out of my sight for a bit. Please?”

  Xie blew him a kiss as he toed into his dress shoes. Xyr gaze filled with love while xie looked at him. “Your wish is my command, my love.”

  Cam finished braiding his hair, missing Onyx and Agate like he'd miss a limb. He hadn't yet replaced them, though he knew he'd have to. Onyx had yet to wake and even when he did he'd need time to grieve before resuming his duties. If he even wanted to. Onyx had earned his mark long ago and was free to do as he willed with his life.

  Cam went to Li and kissed xyr gently goodbye with the stern warning, “I love you. If you get worse, call the damned doctor, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you. I love you too much to lose you.”

  “I promise, my love. I really am feeling better, and I may even order food soon.”

    Having to be content with that Cam left to go back to his duties.

  Memoir of Alexander Righ, Ruler of Erieria—Excerpt

  I'm afraid my scheduled time with my journal has been obfuscated by a rather rousing romp with Min. Gods, it's so good to feel like a man again, and not a walking skeleton.

  CHAPTER 65:

  39th of Sunani, Summer

  18:00 hours, Noon

  LI

   

  Li wore xyr full guild companion accoutrement when xie went to the prison to confirm xyr newest purchase. Xie'd called ahead, instructing them to hold him back from the auctions and as xie walked xie could hear the raucous crowd outside the jail walls. Xie'd arranged to purchase Baladeva’s mark, but intended to give him a choice first. Swaying on xyr chopines and with a retinue of royal guards—at Cam's insistence—xie came to a stop in front of the cell that held Bal.

  He'd been tattooed on the upper portion of his bicep with the Erierian Willow, and the tip of his left ring finger bore a silvery-green willow leaf. Though xie couldn't see them, Li knew he'd bear matching leaves over his heart and on his left foot. he'd have to earn the money through excellent service to play connect the dots before he'd be free. Being a convict, he wouldn’t be paid, so only tributes could be used for his mark.              

  Bal sat in his cell, dressed in the same clothing as the other indentured, lycra shorts and a thin tank top. Surrounded by the gray walls of the prison and dressed simply, his beauty still gleamed like a star. Even on a planet where comeliness abounded, he was almost too stunning to be real.

  Stepping down off of xyr chopines with the help of the upraised hand of a royal guard Li approached the cell. Baladeva sat watching xyr carefully, thick arms braced on his knees, gaze sharp, assessing and perceptive.

  “I see you've healed well,” he broke the silence when xie got close enough.              

  Lifting a hand to xyr throat xie smiled at him, not bothering to hide xyrself, he already knew what xie was. Could that be the attraction to him? Li tilted xyr head. “Yes, it's a gift in my trade.”

  His eyes drifted down xyr garb and back up to xyr face. “And which trade would that be?”

  “Either, both.” Xie cocked xyr head. “I'm sure they've told you your mark is to be auctioned today. You have to know what you look like and what you'll be purchased for if I let you go out there.”

  Those massive shoulders shrugged. “It's just sex.”

  Li shrugged too. “True. You've an option, though.”

  Perfect eyebrows rose, making his light blue marking stones, oval and Gennsu catch the light.

  “Oh?” His voice bitterly sardonic he gestured at his clothing and the cell bars. “Here I was under the impression that I'd lost the right of options.”

  Not sure exactly how to deal with him, Li shook xyr head. Xie held xyr hand out, and one of xyr servants placed a silk bag in Li's hand. Xie pulled out a collar, one designed for a man and emblazoned with the willow. “I'm willing to buy your mark. Something about you intrigues me.”

  He moved quickly, so quickly in fact xie stepped back from the doors of his cell. Bal smirked. A despairing edge to his tone, he said, “And what would my duties be?” A bitter expression crossed his face. “As you've already pointed out, I'm magnificent looking. Will I be your bed warmer?”

  Li shook xyr head, trying to see through the edge of despair in those silver eyes to the man who drew xyr so.

  “We'll have sex with one another only if we both want to. I would never require involuntary sexual service. You'll be a servant and train as a bodyguard unless you have something else of use to me you'd prefer to train in.” Xie gestured to the partially tattooed forms of xyr personal servants.

  “I pay tributes often and well, which isn't something many people do. I imagine it could potentially shorten your tenure of indenture.”

  Bal moved slowly so as not to spook xyr and braced his arms through the bars. He leaned close to his side, bending to meet xyr eyes. Speaking quietly, he kept his gaze on xyrs, and said, “Why?”

  Drawn like a moth to a flame Li stepped close enough he could easily have grabbed xyr again if he'd been minded to, and whispered, “I don't know.”

  This close, xie could see that his emotions were on the very edge of collapse. To be born a free noble and find oneself an indentured second class citizen due to your family’s or your own actions must be quite a blow. Li empathized with that abundantly. Was that his attraction?

  His voice rumbled deep and low in his chest. “Did you and or the prince ask the king to spare my life?”

  “We both did.”

  “Would Righ'sa Cameron have asked for that without you?”

  “No.”

  “Was he against it?”

  “In his heart, yes, and he isn't entirely happy with my purchase of your mark.”

  “Would Alexander Righ have executed me or exiled me without you?”

  “Execution. You knew enough and had done enough that you should have reported your family. The combination of laws you broke equaled execution. Alexander Righ didn't want to grant my boon; he asked me to remove the request.”

  Baladeva bent that beautiful he
ad and looked at the floor for a moment before returning his attention to xyr. All barriers were gone between them, and xie saw to the depths of him as he said, “Honor and love are why I served my father. I may have done wrong, but I still have honor. You've saved my life thrice now, once by not killing me when you took me down, once by convincing your prince not to kill me, and once by intervening between my crimes and the Righ.”

  “Five. My mentor would’ve seen you dead, as would my other lover.”

  “Five then. Less one because I let you live when I should have pulled your trachea out of your throat.”

  Li nodded silently.

  “And you don't know why.”

  Holding his gaze, xie shook xyr head. No.

  His voice as serious as xie'd ever heard it he held his hand out. "I know you're armed, cut my hand."

  When xie'd done so, quickly in case he'd been minded to take xyr blade, xie scrutinized him.

  He swallowed as he watched blood puddle to fill his palm. Then raising his eyes to xyrs, he made a fist and let the blood drip to the floor. “As you've saved my life, until I repay the debt, my life is yours. My Raiu.”

  Memoir of Alexander Righ, Ruler of Erieria—Excerpt

   

  I've decided I must recognize Xanthippe Kataniya in her proper role in my house. Her complete records will be presented to the Ard Righ to legitimize her familial claim. She had a last medical and termination procedure yesterday, my gods that girl is fertile! None of the fetuses were Maël's, so I've withdrawn her from the cloisters and canceled her appointments with her clients. Today and tomorrow were scheduled as her days off, and she's fertile. I've had the physicians manipulate her fertility to bring her around again. I'll send for her tomorrow morning to explain her situation after my meeting with my sons. Any offspring she has from this point on will be Maëlcolm’s or, possibly, Cameron's. I'll tell Maël tomorrow morning in our meeting; he's cohabiting with the girl now so my approval and the news of what she is should be a pleasant surprise to him.