A Lotus for the Regent (15 page)

Ajalira nodded.

“
I saw how you were affected by the dance, and I wanted to make sure
that you did not take offense. Truly, I—”

Ajalira knew
that if she let him go on, she would never say what she needed to say. But she
had no words, either. She loved Kamen Itenu, and if he wanted her, sullied
though she might be, she would gladly give herself to him. So she threw her
arms around his neck and cut off his speech by pressing her lips to his.

Chapter Eight

Kamen's eyes
widened in shock, and though he did not at once return Ajalira's kiss, he dared
not break it. This was just what he had wanted, and he wondered at the sudden
change in her. Kamen slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her against
him, feeling her soft breasts press against his hard sternum. His quickly
growing cock rose against her belly. Kamen tilted his head and kissed more
deeply, slipping his tongue between Ajalira's ready lips. She moaned into his
mouth, and Kamen breathed through his nostrils the most contented breath he had
ever exhaled. Ajalira's hands caressed his dreadlocks, and Kamen's hands
explored her hips and ass. She wore no underwear, so the smooth lines of her
body were unbroken to his touch. His cock swelled further, and he pressed
against her harder. She opened her mouth wider, and their tongues danced in a
kiss that had been a long time coming.

At last Kamen
broke away, but he did not retreat. He sucked at her bottom lip, nibbling it,
before moving on to her chin, jawline, and neck. Ajalira tilted her head back,
and Kamen kissed every bit of flesh exposed there, right down to her
collarbone. She moved her hips against him, and he responded by thrusting
forward and up. He needed to be inside her, and by the way she was moving, he
guessed she wanted him to penetrate her, to slam himself into her with as much
force as his hard soldier's body could muster. Kamen reached up and pulled back
on her hair so that he might pull her flesh tight and nibble at it more, thus
giving her more pleasure. But it was the yanking of her hair that caused her to
yelp in pleasure. Kamen looked up into her shining eyes and knew at once what
kind of lover she would be. He had seen the kind before, the women who liked to
be bound and fucked, who liked to be spanked and dealt with roughly, only to
have Kamen bathe and caress and kiss them afterward.

But Ajalira had
been trained as a Lotus, and so she accounted herself a whore. Kamen broke off
his kisses and backed away, and Ajalira clasped at the air as if trying to hold
on to dissipating smoke. Her pained eyes asked Kamen why he had left her arms.

“
I want you, Ajalira,” Kamen said, wiping his mouth, “more than
anything. But I'll not use you in a way that you find dishonorable.”

Ajalira looked
down at Kamen's cock and smiled. It was sticking up through his white, linen
skirt. Even through the raised loincloth, the dark flesh of his penis was
visible. “Will you have me as your concubine?”

That Ajalira was
blunt Kamen already knew, but this surprised him. Had she just proposed to him?

“
Would this satisfy you? As you know, Sunjaa law forbids me to take
any foreigner to wife. Would you think of yourself as my property? I don't want
you to think of yourself like that.”

“
Would you treat me as property?”

Kamen shook his
head. “Of course not.”

Ajalira took a
step forward, her translucent dress clinging to her naked body. “I already knew
your answer. That is why I asked. So?”

Concubinage? In
this moment of passion, Ajalira seemed sincere, but would she chafe under the
reality come morning? Would she regret it once her status was signed into law?

“
I love you, Ajalira,” Kamen said, and Ajalira beamed. “From the
moment you risked yourself at the guildhouse for my sake.” Kamen grabbed
Ajalira and pulled her to him. “I promise that I will take no wife to supplant
you, first in my heart.”

Ajalira kissed
his mouth. “I love you, Kamen. I will be your concubine and not think myself
less than your very own.”

“
You alone.” Kamen returned her kiss. “Wait right here.” He slipped
out of the room and spoke to a nearby slave.

“
Darien?” Ajalira asked when Kamen returned.

“
You heard that?”

Ajalira touched
the tips of her pointed ears. “Ausir ears are keen, but even beyond that,
remember that I was trained as a Lotus.”

Kamen's gaze
shifted to her forearm. “You truly hated your life there, and I'm sorry for
it.” He took her by the hand and led her to the side of the bed where he made
her sit. Then he collected some bandages, fetched some warm water, and sponged
away the blood.

Before he could
begin to bandage her arm, however, Ajalira stopped him.

“
Wait.”

Kamen paused,
puzzled. “Why?”

Ajalira, with a
swiftness that showed Kamen how skillful a warrior she could no doubt be, drew
from the floor the blade he had given her. Her eyes fixed on his, she sliced
into the outside of her left forearm. “I hereby swear myself to you.” She
reached up and wiped the blood on her right cheek. “Alaxton Battlebringer bear
witness to my oath.”

Kamen watched
the blood drip from her jawline and marveled at her savage beauty and strength
in seeming fragility. “Abrexa's chain! Now there's a woman.” He wanted her now
more than he ever had before.

He cleaned this
cut, too, and wrapped her forearm, tying off the dressing with the expert touch
of a soldier. “Not too tight?”

Tears fell from
Ajalira's eyes. She shook her head as her chin bunched up and trembled. “You
are so good to me.”

Kamen knelt
before her and looked up into her face. “No. See, I've never known a woman as
good as you. Your proper pride and your honor match your beauty, and though
this does not bloom—” He touched her bandage, indicating the slashed Lotus
tattoo underneath. “—You will forever flower here.” He pressed her hand against
his chest, just over his heart. “I will treasure you from this day until my
last day.” He pushed away the thought of her outliving him by centuries. He
would not let any dark cloud mar his perfect sky of happiness. “I will make you
the envy of queens.”

Ajalira leaned
forward and kissed his brow just as the door opened. Darien entered the room,
his massive frame filling the palatial doorway. He said nothing, and Kamen knew
he understood. Darien turned and whispered something to the slave. Kamen
guessed it was a command for quill, ink, and parchment.

“
So, Lord Itenu has set his heart on the fair Ausir,” Darien said,
smiling as he took long strides across the room towards them.

Kamen flashed
Ajalira a grin and rose, embracing Darien by the forearm. “Ajalira, and she is
to be my sole concubine.”

Darien's
eyebrows shot up. “Indeed?”

The slave
hurried into the room.

“
Let it be written,” Kamen said.

Darien snapped
his fingers, and the slave laid out everything on a nearby table. “Let it be
done.” Darien drafted the document.

Kamen returned
to Ajalira's side. “What is your family name?”

“
Zomalin.”

Kamen did not
know that name. “I'm going to sign the parchment, and then you will be mine. No
law of gods or men can sunder us then.”

Ajalira reached
up and touched Kamen's arm, running her fingers down over his bicep and across
his abdomen. She sat up perfectly straight and leaned forward. Her every move
was a confession of her desire for him.

Kamen looked
over the document, and it read just as he wanted it to: that Ajalira would
become his concubine, that she alone would hold that title, and that Kamen
would take no wife to supplant her. Kamen filled in Ajalira's full name and
then signed it with his own. Darien stood and hugged Kamen, picking him up off
the floor in a bear hug. Ajalira laughed.

“
Congratulations, old friend,” Darien said, setting Kamen down with a
jolt.

Kamen took a
deep breath. “Thanks.” He walked back over to Ajalira, took her by the hands,
and raised her to her feet. “I must take you now in the presence of the Lord
Admiral. He must bear witness to the coupling, and then he will sign and
leave.”

Ajalira nodded.
Apparently she already knew this, but when she glanced at Darien, Kamen
detected some measure of embarrassment in her expression. He resolved then to
make it a token penetration. He would not fuck her in front of Darien the way
Darien had fucked Saerileth in front of him. When he finished, he wanted to be
alone with Ajalira.

Kamen laid
Ajalira down on the bed and pushed her skirts up to her waist, exposing her
bare pussy. His cock twitched as blood rushed through it, making it as hard as
any spear. He pulled her knees up, took off his own skirt, and knelt between
her legs. Ajalira looked down at Kamen's cock as he ran his hand down its
length. She was already wet, so this would be quick.

“
I cannot give you my virginal blood,” Ajalira whispered, her face a
mask of shame.

“
Don't think that way, my love.” Kamen leaned forward and kissed her
forehead. “I know you were a Lotus, but that's all behind you now. As for my
part, I hold your honor intact.”

Ajalira nodded,
once again tears coming to her eyes.

Kamen shifted
forward and laid the head of his long cock against her pussy lips. He flicked
his penis up and down twice to wet it, and then he slipped the head inside her.
Ajalira licked her tightly drawn lips and moaned. Kamen held his cock there,
and though every instinct told him to drive himself all the way in, he resisted
the temptation. That was for her alone. Besides, he had other plans first,
plans of bringing out the sex kitten he knew was inside her.

Kamen turned
back to look at Darien, and the Lord Admiral nodded. He signed the document,
rolled it up, and took it away. Once he was gone from the room, Kamen removed
himself from Ajalira and stood up.

“
What's wrong?” Ajalira asked.

Kamen reached
down and scooped her into his arms. “Nothing. Now we can get started.” He stood
her in the middle of the room, right in front of the four-poster bed, and paced
before her.

“
Is everything all right?” Ajalira tucked her blonde hair behind her
ears.

Kamen stopped,
turned, and grabbed the collar of her dress. He ripped it down the front,
tearing the entire garment in half. Ajalira gasped but did not retreat. She
laid her forearms across her naked breasts, which heaved in excitement, and
rubbed her thighs together. Kamen yanked away the torn dress and ripped it
again in half down the middle, dividing it into two halves. Ajalira craned her
neck to watch him, but he only let a sly smile hint at his plans for her. He
took her arm and raised it, holding it against one post of the bed.

“
What are you doing?” Ajalira asked.

Kamen wrapped
one piece of the dress around her wrist, tying it to the bedpost. He then did
the same thing with the other wrist, and when he looked at Ajalira again, he
saw wonder dancing in her eyes. She knew what was coming, and she loved it.

But she did not
know—not quite. Kamen doubted any Lotus trainer was as good as he. Besides,
they were all Zenji. Their cocks were not as big as Sunjaa's.

Kamen's erect,
black penis bounced before him as he walked in front of Ajalira. “You shall
forget every lover you've had before me. You shall come for this cock alone.”
Kamen stopped in front of her and stroked his penis, and as Ajalira watched
him, she squirmed and whined. “Oh, you want this?”

Ajalira nodded
vigorously.

“
Not yet.”

Ajalira
whimpered again.

“
Yours is the last pussy I'll ever have.” Kamen knelt before her and
tapped on the insides of her knees, spreading her legs apart. “I have to make
sure it's ready for me.” In one fluid move, he hoisted her legs up over his
shoulders so that her cunt was within tongue's distance of his mouth. Ajalira
yelped. Kamen supported her weight mostly on his shoulders, but he did not want
undue stress on her wrists, so he partially held her up with his hands cupping
her buttocks. This gave him the excellent opportunity to explore her vagina
with his thumbs. As he licked her clit with the tip of his tongue, he thrust
his right thumb into her pussy, using his trimmed thumbnail to lightly scrape
against the rough spot of her vagina. Ajalira moaned and opened her legs wider,
slamming her pussy into Kamen's face. Kamen shifted his ministrations, using
the flat of his tongue over a wider area of her clit and pussy lips. He licked
and sucked in the rhythm of his fingering, and he quickly worked Ajalira into a
frenzy.

Suddenly he
stopped and looked up. “Don't come yet. The first time you come is on my cock.
Understand?”

Ajalira whined
but nodded.