Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (21 page)

“This is not a bad thing, is it my queen?”
Diandra asked then clarified, “The, erm… last bit, I mean.”

I didn’t answer because my heart started
racing as my mind pulled up memories of Lahn dosing with water but
he didn’t wash his hair, yet it was never dirty or greasy and it
had been arranged in various styles. And he had paint on yesterday,
even his back which no way he could have done. And just now when
he’d come in, he had no paint and his hair was no longer loose and
flowing. It was pulled back in a tail that started at the base of
his neck and his hair was contained at intervals down his back with
slim, gold bands.

“Is Lahn –?” I started.

“Undoubtedly, my dear,” she answered
swiftly.

I sat up straight and Ghost lifted her head
but I didn’t notice.

One of those
women
was washing my husband’s
hair?

Oh no, I did not
think
so.

“Dahksahna Circe, it would be best –”

My eyes cut to her. “Do you think Lahn is…
is… has he…? Does he
fuck
them?”

She shook her head, scrunched her eyes
closed then opened them and asked, “Fuck them?”

“
Has he slept with them, had sex with them,
had intercourse,
relations,
” I
snapped.

Her face got soft with understanding. “Oh,
my queen, I see this disturbs you but yes, again, I’m sorry to say
it is their way.”

It was their way.

It was their way.

Last night, they were having their way right
on the dance floor. And I knew some of them having their way with
Xacto had to have wives at home in their chams.

I left him last night. Lahn was there at
least an hour longer than me, likely more.

I left him last night!

Then he came to our tent and fucked
me!
Maybe after he had his fun
with
them!

“
Now?
” I shrieked, Ghost mewed and jerked in surprise
then read my mood and jumped off the bed.

“Now?” Diandra asked, her body tense.

“Is he fucking them now? I mean, since we
were married?”

She shook her head, leaned forward and
grabbed my hand. “I do not know,” she said quietly.

She didn’t know. Which could be yes or it
could be no. Which could mean
yes
.

I yanked my hand from hers and looked
away.

“My queen –” she started.

“
If you say it is their way, I swear,
Diandra, I swear… I’ll
scream
,” I snapped at the tent wall.

She was silent.

I deep breathed.

Then I made up my mind and looked at
her.

“I must ask of you an important favor and I
will warn you that it will be one you won’t want to grant. I am
your queen, I get that, but I will tell you and mean it that you
have every right to refuse what I ask and there will be no hard
feelings,” I declared.

“Erm… all right,” she mumbled
hesitantly.

“I want you here tonight to translate what I
have to say when my husband gets home.”

She instantly whispered, “Oh dear.”

Oh dear was right!

“You can say no,” I reminded her and she
held my eyes.

Then she leaned forward and grabbed my hand.
“I advise you as your friend, Circe –”

I shook my head and squeezed her hand hard.
“I get that, Diandra, I get it. Trust me, I do. Now, will you be
here tonight when Lahn gets home?”

She studied me. Then she squeezed my hand
and said softly, “Yes, Diandra, as your friend, I will always be by
your side when you need me.”

Tears instantly filled my eyes and one
spilled over before I looked away.

I let her go and dashed at it with the back
of my hand before I whispered to the wall, “Thank you.”

Diandra didn’t respond.

Then I pulled in breath through my nose,
looked at her, smiled a fake smile and suggested, “Why don’t we
have some lunch?”

*
Translation:
“Today you rest, tomorrow we see if you’re healthy. The
Horde does not ride if my Circe is not well.”

Wifely Duties

Night had fallen; I was pacing the cham
while Diandra sat at the table sipping from her third chalice of
wine.

She was sucking back liquid courage.

I didn’t need liquid courage; I was coasting
high on adrenalin and emotion.

I did not allow myself to consider
why
the possibility that Lahn was
having sex with other women and allowing them to bathe him and do
his fucking hair upset me so much.

It just did.

A lot.

A lot,
a lot.

And like when I saw something I wanted
badly, I got irrational and emotional when I got upset. The
difference was, when I got upset, I got
extremely
irrational and emotional and this, unfortunately
frequently, mingled with a whole lot of stupid.

So I didn’t question it in this world just
like I never did in my own.

I just let that tidal wave sweep me wherever
I got swept.

Which was what I was going to do the minute
Lahn got home.

I was wearing my apple green nightgown and
my long hair was pulled up in a messy knot wrapped with a piece of
ribbon that I’d tied into it. I was too wound up to have it in my
face and on my burned shoulders, it was driving me mad, so up it
went.

“I wish you would sit, my queen, you’re
making me nervous,” Diandra mumbled and then sucked back more
wine.

I stopped, turned to her and started
babbling. “I can’t sit. I’m wound up. And, by the way,
I
wish
you’d
stop calling me your queen. I know I am to the
people out there but you’re just my friend. No one but us knows
what it means anyway, all my friends from home call me Circe mainly
because that’s my name and I’m not a queen there but even if I was…
not that that could ever happen but still… I wouldn’t let them. And
you’re my friend. So, I’d like you just to call me
Circe.”

She gave me a crooked smile that looked
alarmingly tipsy and I wondered with some concern if Diandra was a
lightweight.

“
I’d love that…
Circe,
” then she giggled.

Oh shit.

The cham flaps slapped open, I turned to
them and then stopped breathing when Lahn bent low and entered.

Here we go.

His eyes cut through Diandra, across the bed
and hit me standing at the far end of it. Then his face went soft.
Then he took a step toward me.

I lifted my hand swiftly and said,
“Stop.”

Diandra translated.

Lahn stopped and his brows drew together in
a way that didn’t loosen me up one bit, his gaze sliced to Diandra
then back to me.

“We need to talk,” I told him in a soft
voice. “It’s important. I asked Diandra to translate for us.
Please, Lahn, will you talk with me?”

Diandra interpreted and Lahn stared at me
with that scary look for awhile then he jerked his chin up, crossed
his arms on his chest and cleared his expression.

“I think that means yes, Circe,” Diandra
translated his look.

“I think I got that, honey,” I said to her,
Lahn’s brows snapped right back together again and he looked over
at Diandra.

“Lahn,” I called and his eyes came back to
me. “Did you have sex with one of the Xacto last night?”

His face darkened ominously when I said
the word “Xacto” and it darkened
more
ominously when Diandra translated what I said.

I held my breath.

He scowled at me.

I felt my heart start to hurt.

He continued to scowl at me.

My heart squeezed.

“Me,” he finally grunted.

“No,” Diandra translated a word I actually
knew and I felt my chest release.

“Okay, baby,” I whispered to Lahn, watched
his eyes flare briefly when I did but the scowl didn’t shift.
“Now,” I went on carefully and quietly, “I know I’m living in your
world, I get that. But I want to explain something about my world,
something I want you to get and I want you to get what it means to
me. Will you listen?”

Diandra translated. When she finished, Lahn
kept scowling but jerked his chin up.

“
Shahsha,” I whispered, got nothing but
continued heat from his eyes and then forged ahead. “In my world,
men are faithful to their wives. They don’t cheat on them, they
don’t have sex with other women or do
anything
with them, sexually or not. They don’t allow other
women to touch them, bathe them, um… etcetera.”

Diandra translated and her translation
became tentative as the raw, brutal energy Lahn normally exuded
ratcheted up to the danger zone.

“
I get that you do, here, I mean, the
warriors do and all that,” I said swiftly, Diandra translating with
me, “but in my world we don’t. We
so
don’t, if a man does that to his wife, she has the right to
leave him.”

This was a mistake. A
bad
one.

I knew this when his body tensed so
fiercely, it seemed to grow and expand and I heard the growl escape
his throat.

No words, just a growl.

“Circe, my dear, I didn’t know… you
shouldn’t… warrior wives do not ever –” Diandra started but Lahn
spoke over her and his words were clipped and seriously fucking
pissed off.

When he was done talking, Diandra
translated.

“You will not leave.”

“I wasn’t saying I was going to, just –”

Diandra spoke with me and Lahn spoke over
her and she translated but she didn’t have to. He simply repeated
his pissed off words.

“You will not leave.”

“I wasn’t –”

He kept talking and Diandra interpreted.

“You will not call the wife of Seerim after
me.”

I blinked at this sudden change of subject
as well as his words which I did not get.

“What?”

Diandra translated, Lahn spoke and then she
spoke again.

“You will not call Seerim’s woman ‘honey’.
That is mine.”

Oh man.

“It’s an endearment,” I explained. “In my
world we say it to –”

“It is mine. You will not use it with anyone
but me.”

I studied him and decided this was not going
very well.

So I decided to agree in order to try to
soften him up for the hard part.

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Okay,” he bit off.

Then we started talking with Diandra
translating.

“We need to talk about the Xacto,” I told
him.

“I will not discuss the Xacto with my wife,”
he told me.

“Um… this is important to me,” I
explained.

“This matters not. I will not discuss
it.”

Oh man. Now
I
was getting pissed.

“But Lahn, I’m telling you this important to
me!” I snapped.

“It is not your place,” he replied.

“I’m your wife!” I shot back, my voice
rising.

“And as my wife, it is not your place,” he
returned.

“That’s crazy!” I cried.

“It is not,” he retorted.

“Doesn’t it matter to you that this is
important to me?” I asked.

“
No,” he fired back, saying it in
my
language.

Oh yeah. Now
I
was pissed.

“
I beg to differ, big guy,” I retorted.
“And I will tell you right here, right now, right in this cham,” I
pointed to my feet then at him, “
you
will not let them touch you.” I jerked my finger at him
again. “
You
will not let
them bathe you.” Again with the finger. “
You
will not let them massage you, touch your gorgeous
fucking hair, your fantastic fucking body or anything to do
with
you
because
that
, baby,” I
swept him top to toe with an up and down sweep of my hand then
jerked a thumb at myself and leaned in, “is
all
mine.
”

“Vayoo ansha,” he ordered, uncrossing his
arms and planting his hands on his hips and I retorted before
Diandra could translate because I knew what that meant.

“
I will
not
come there until you promise me you won’t have anything to
do with the Xacto. You want someone to bathe you,” I jerked my
thumb at myself again, “
your wife
will do it. If you need someone to braid your hair,”
another thumb jerk, “
I
will
do it. You need someone to massage the muscles in your body,” this
time I tossed my head, “you guessed it, big guy,
that
will be
me
too
. And you need someone to fuck you, suck your cock
and make you come,” another jerk of my thumb, “that’s
me
too and
only
me. Do you get me?”

Diandra quit talking and the instant she
did, Lahn ordered, “Vayoo ansha.”

I instantly retorted, “No, Lahn, I won’t
come there until I know you get me.”

Diandra translated and Lahn repeated, “Vayoo
ansha.”

“Do you get me?” I shouted.

He spoke and Diandra said, “Lahnahsahna,
sheathe your claws and come to your husband. Now.”

“No!” I snapped.

He spoke then Diandra said, “Last time,
Circe, you come here or I come get you. Do you want that?”