Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (37 page)

Then a small, tragic smile drifted across
her mouth and she said one word.

“Rainbow.”

And then so fast it was almost as if I
didn’t see it, her hands shot up, she grasped the knife, tearing it
away from The Eunuch who shouted in surprise. She took it by the
hilt, pointed it to her belly, shoved it in and drew it up.

Blood spewed from the wound, loud gasps,
cries and exclamations could be heard all around but I shot to
standing, my arms straight down, my head tilted back and I shrieked
to the heavens.

“
No!
”

At the exact same time I cried, lightning
rent the sky, a crack of thunder filled the air, the heavens opened
and rain poured down.

“End her misery!” Lahn shouted.

Somehow I knew he was now standing but I
didn’t look. My head tipped down to see she had fallen forward.

The Eunuch didn’t delay, he dropped to his
knees, his hands went to Dortak’s bride, he pulled her back across
his thighs and he tore the blade from her belly. Her pained eyes
captured mine and I held them as he swiftly drew the blade across
her throat, blood surged out, wetting the stone and I watched, my
eyes locked to hers for the terrible, brief seconds it took the
life to drain from her eyes.

The rain came down in sheets, already
washing her blood in a dark river across the light stone.

“No,” I whispered as the tears filled my
eyes, the rain beat against my skin, my hair, my clothing, all of
it soaked within seconds.

Dortak roared in triumph, my eyes went to
him and he pounded a fist in his chest then punched it in the air,
turned and pushed his way roughly through the crowd.

Then I saw movement out of the corner of my
eye. Two men and four women. The men were carrying something and
one of the women had a huge wad of white material in her hands.
They made it to the fallen woman and the women arranged the
material flat on the wet stone as the men lifted her with care and
then set her at one end. They moved away as the women gently rolled
her lifeless body, wrapping her tight in her wet, white gauze
shroud; the blood still seeping from her wounds staining it
red.

Once she was wrapped, the men came forward,
lifted her onto a stretcher and swiftly all of them moved out of
the clearing.

“Kah Lahnahsahna,” Lahn called.

Fogged like I was in a dream, my head slowly
turned to him and I saw his paint dissolving down his body as the
rain beat into him.

His arm was extended to me.

I stared at him.

“Go to your king,” Diandra whispered in my
ear, her hands at my waist, pushing. “Now, my love.”

I moved to my king, he took my hand, pulled
me close, bent our arms and held my hand tucked close to his chest,
me to his side and we stepped off the platform, walked down the
rise, through the gathered throng that was standing, silent and
unmoving (except to let us through) in the driving rain.

I kept my head up, my eyes straight but that
didn’t mean I didn’t cry the whole way home.

* * * * *

My girls were in the cham when we arrived
and they sprung into action.

My clothes and jewels were taken away but
before Packa could put a cloth to me to dry my wet skin, Lahn
murmured, “Tahkoo tan,” and they hurried out of the cham.

Lahn, also still wet, his black paint
seeping, but now hideless, came to me and gently he pulled me into
bed not only under the silk sheet but also under the first layer of
hides.

Then he pulled me into his arms, face to
face, his hand cupping the back of my head pressing my face to his
throat.

I listened to the rain beating on the top of
the cham and wondered how the material didn’t get saturated and the
wet didn’t seep through.

As I wondered this, Lahn held me close.

Then I whispered, “Your Hunt did that to
her.”

“Rayloo, kah rahna fauna,” Lahn said softly,
giving me a squeeze.

He understood my words even though I spoke
my language, I knew it.

“Your Hunt drove her to that.” I was still
whispering.

“Rayloo, Circe.”

“She was beautiful.” I kept whispering.

Lahn didn’t respond.

“He killed her beauty and slaughtered her
soul.”

Lahn said nothing for a moment then he asked
quietly, “Soul?”

“My people’s word for pahnsahna, her
spirit,” I said just as quietly.

That got me another squeeze.

Then his hand slid from the back of my head
and around to cup my jaw where a thumb under my chin pressed up
gently so my head tipped back. He was looking down at me, his eyes,
I could see, soft in the candlelight.

“The heavens wept,” he said in Korwahk.

I knew the air felt wrong all day because of
the impending storm but I still replied in English, “That happens
when innocents are punished.”

“Innocents?” he whispered.

“Ones who did no wrong,” I answered in
Korwahk.

His head tilted so his forehead could rest
on mine.

I closed my eyes.

Then I opened them and whispered in Korwahk,
“You were right, she wished that.”

“I know, my tigress,” he whispered back in
English.

I kept whispering when I said in Korwahk,
“Thank you for not punishing me.”

His chin jerked back slightly and his
forehead came away from mine before he replied, “I would not punish
you for being what you are.”

I blinked then asked softly, “What?”

“Kah Circe, you are kah Lahnahsahna, you are
my warrior queen. It is who you are. It is not what anyone made
you. It shines from your eyes. It is what I see in the boys I
select to serve Suh Tunak. It is why I chose you. It is why we
suit. It is why together we begin the Golden Dynasty of legend.”
His thumb started stroking my jaw as he went on. “I cannot say I do
not wish you would have thought before you acted today. If Dortak
took her life, it would have ended her torment sooner and saved her
from what she endured tonight. But I recognize it is who you are.”
I stared up at him, heart in my throat. He was speaking in Korwahk
but he was doing it slowly and I understood most of what he said
and what he said, I had to admit, moved me. Then I watched his
mouth twitch before he finished, “Though I will caution you at
least to attempt to rein it in in future. I do not like my queen in
black.”

My clothes were kickass here, it was true.
But I was with him and I hoped I never had to wear that black
outfit again in my life.

“Okay,” I whispered and his lips curved as
his thumb swept mine.

“Okay,” he repeated.

I had more to say so I called, “Lahn?”

“Mm?” he murmured with another stroke of my
jaw.

Okay, shit, it must be said there were some
times when I really liked my husband. Now was one of them.

“Thanks also for not punishing your men,” I
said and his grin turned to a smile.

“My Circe,” he started, “on your claiming,
you stole my blade. No one, no other man, no other warrior, has
ever taken my weapon. Not once. I know when your little warrior
shines through, you will stop at nothing. I could not punish Bain
for his weapon being seized when you had a mind to seize it for you
did the same to me. He could not control you so he and Zahnin
sought to control the situation. This is not grounds for
punishment.”

Again, he was talking in Korwahk so I didn’t
catch it all but I got the gist of it.

And the gist made me stare.

So when he received no response, Lahn spoke
quietly. “I like my paint on you, my golden doe, because I like how
I put it on you. But I like it more that your warrior spirit
deserves the paint.”

I kept staring. Then I asked (in Korwahk),
“No one has ever taken your weapon?”

He nodded.

“Wow,” I whispered and he smiled again.

“I do not know what that means, my tigress,
but the way you say it and the look on your face, I do not have to
ask.”

I felt my face get soft. Then I tilted my
head until my forehead rested on his chin. To that, he tilted his
until his lips rested on my forehead.

Then, there, he murmured, “The heavens wept
at my wife’s command.”

I blinked at his throat and tilted my head
back to ask what he meant but before I could say a word, from
outside the cham I heard a man shout, “Kah Dax!”

Lahn’s head turned and then, to my shock
(and horror, I must add), he shouted, “Enter!” in Korwahk and
lifted up to sitting in the bed,
taking me with him.
The hides fell as he pulled my back to his
front so I was facing the cham flaps, his arm across my breasts
somewhat covering my nudity from the three warriors who bent and
entered our cham.

He didn’t have to shield me. They only had
eyes for their king.

Rapid fire Korwahk was thrown but I got this
from it:

“You are needed, my king,” one of the
warriors.

“I attend my bride,” Lahn (which I thought
was nice).

“It is important, my king,” another
warrior.

“I leave my wife in our bed, it had better
be,” Lahn.

“You have my vow it is,” the second warrior
who spoke, spoke again.

Lahn hesitated before he sighed. Then he
turned me in his arms, his hand came up to curl around the
underside of my jaw and he dipped his face to mine.

“Rest and try to sleep, my tigress. I will
return,” he said in English.

I nodded, he held my face steady and touched
his lips to mine.

Then he set me in bed, threw the hides over
me, exited off the side, went to the trunks, pulled out then yanked
on another pair of hides and left the cham still tying them at his
hips.

The warriors followed.

The rain fell.

And I lay in bed in the tent, listening to
the drops slap against the cham and I tried to do as my husband
ordered – rest and sleep.

But all that filled my head was the
beautiful, tragic bride of a monster saying a word she did not know
but a word I knew in my soul she understood, “Rainbow.”

And I hoped she was over it, her spirit now
inhabiting a wonderful world.

* * * * *

I woke when Lahn’s arms shifted me into his
body.

Sleepily, I lifted my face to his and my
eyes fluttered open.

“Is all well?” I whispered.

“Yes, my golden doe, now sleep.”

I nodded but kept my face tipped to his as
his moved closer to mine.

And then when his lips pressed against mine,
groggy and not thinking, mine parted.

And the instant they did, his tongue swept
inside.

It felt great and he tasted even better.

My body snuggled closer to his as I drowsily
offered my mouth to my husband, he accepted, his arms growing tight
around me and he drank deep.

When he ended the kiss I felt his lips move
against mine as I heard the rough, whispered words, “Golden
honey.”

I mumbled, “Mm,” dipped my chin and tucked
my face in Lahn’s throat.

Then I fell asleep in his strong, tight
arms.

The Golden Goddess

“Wake, my queen,” I heard Lahn’s voice, my
eyes fluttered open but before I was fully awake, he plucked me out
of bed, planted my ass in his lap, knees bent, one arm circling my
calves and waist, the other hand sifting in my hair from the neck
up.

I focused drowsily on his handsome face and
whispered, “Hey.”

Then I watched his eyes smile as he
whispered back, “Hey.”

I was pretty sure my eyes smiled too mainly
because I knew my mouth did it. Then his gaze dropped to my mouth,
his eyes grew heated and his head bent.

I was registering the heat in his eyes when
he murmured against my lips, “Your king wants your golden
honey.”

A vague memory of the night before filtered
into my brain and I didn’t hesitate before I parted them in
invitation and immediately felt Lahn’s tongue sweep inside.

Nope. It wasn’t a dream I had last night.
My husband could
kiss.

My arms slid around his shoulders as he
dropped back then twisted, my back hit bed and Lahn’s body hit
mine; all the while we kissed, our tongues dancing. He shifted and
I knew what that shift meant, my legs parted, his hips fell between
and his hand went to the ties on one side of his hides.

Seconds later, his tongue plundering my
mouth, his cock slowly invaded me.

I moaned into his mouth.

Oh, this was good.

He started moving, slowly, his sweet strokes
unhurried, his mouth never leaving mine.

No,
this
was good.

His lips finally moved to trail down my
cheek to my ear as I lifted my knees and pressed my thighs to his
sides to take him deeper and held on tight with my arms.

“
My golden queen commands the heavens,” he
whispered in my ear, I turned my head to ask what he was talking
about but he turned his head too, his mouth came back to mine and
my question evaporated as all thought moved to his mouth, his
weight, his heat, his cock…
him.

His eyes were open as his tongue slid back
into my mouth and I felt my belly plummet, my limbs tense, my lungs
burn as I saw it, I saw
it,
golden, shimmering, bright and brutal and deep… God, so
deep in his eyes.

But I saw it.

My hand slid up into his hair to keep his
head to mine so I wouldn’t lose it as he kissed me, made love to me
and showed me his spirit.

I’d never seen anything like it and it…
was…
beautiful
.

With nothing but kisses, light touches and
slow, sweet, deep strokes, Lahn built the fire until I had to let
his spirit go so I could close my eyes with my climax, my moan
drowned in his mouth.