Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (47 page)

She stopped again. I squeezed her hand and
prompted, “Go on.”

“
Well that started… it started, er… then he
started to change again but not to go back to how he was before. He
just kind of, um…
kissed
me. Not
my mouth or anything. My eyes, my forehead or when he would sweep
the hair off my shoulder, he would bend low, you know…” she paused
and her eyelashes fluttered a little in a very cute way before she
whispered, “he’s very tall.”

“I know he’s very tall, Sabine,” I whispered
back when she didn’t go on.

“Well, he would bend low to kiss… er, my
neck. And then… then, one night he pulled me into his arms when he
got in bed with me and I was terrified he was going to… you
know.”

I nodded again and held her hand tight. “I
know.”

She leaned further into me. “But he
didn’t.
He just held me. And I…
I…
slept
with him like that.
” Her
eyes grew round. “Like a
baby.
”

I smiled. “This is good.”

“I… is it?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yes,” I answered without any hesitation at
all. “Has he continued to –?”

She nodded. “Yes, every night, he holds me.
But… um… the other night… er…” her eyes slid away and she went
quiet.

“Sabine, you can tell me,” I whispered and
her eyes came back to me, her face now aflame.

“
He
touched
me,” she whispered reverently, her eyes warming, she leaned
in and went on quickly. “He was holding me then he turned my back
to him and his hands moved on me and they did this awhile,
soothingly, then I relaxed because it felt rather…
nice
and then he started using them
in ways… such ways…” the look in her gaze drifted faraway and a
small smile played at her lips as she breathed, “such
ways.
”

Well, good for Zahnin. Well done
warrior!

I squeezed her hand and her focus came back
to me then I stated, “It was good.”

Her eyes got huge. “No, Circe, it
was
beautiful.
”

All right! Zahnin was definitely
the man!

“Then this is definitely good,” I informed
her and her face fell. I felt my brows draw together and I asked
carefully, “It isn’t good?”

She shook her head, looked to the side and
said softly. “He hurt me.”

Oh man.

“Yes, he did,” I confirmed softly back and
her eyes again came to me.

“
But I want it again,” she breathed her
admission and I blinked but she carried on. “He just hasn’t…
done
it again and I don’t know how
to… er…
ask
him
to.”

I stifled a giggle, released my hold on her
but lifted both hands to cup her jaw and I dipped my face to
hers.

“Okay, then, my sweet girl, I will give you
my advice. If you want this, if you know in your heart you want
this change, then my guess is, your husband has shown you a hint of
the beauty he wishes to give you. Now that he has done that, he is
waiting for you to give him a sign that you liked it and wish for
him to give more.” I actually felt her face heat under my hands but
kept talking. “So, the next time he kisses your forehead, tilt your
head back so he will instead kiss your lips.” I watched close up as
her eyes got wide again and carried on. “Or, if you have the
courage, touch him as he holds you when you’re in bed. All you’ll
have to do is glide your hand across his chest or find his and move
it to your body. He will take your hint and then your part will be
done and he will lead the way.”

She stared up at me and whispered, “I…
Circe, I don’t know if I can do that.”

I smiled at her. “You can, Sabine, if you
want what he can give you and I promise you,” my hands tightened on
her jaw, “you have my word that, since he knows how to give you the
gift he’s already given you, he knows other ways,
better
ways to give it to you again.
And if you liked what he’s already shared, I promise, you will like
even more the bounties he has yet to offer.”

“Really?” she breathed, clearly astonished
but liking that idea.

“Oh yeah,” I whispered.

She studied me and whispered back,
“Claudine says that you enjoy, er…
this,
um… greatly and, er…
often
with our Dax.”

“
Oh yeah,” I repeated, dropping my hands
but capturing both of hers. Then I told her, “You know what
happened to you is the way of the Korwahk and I do not condone it.
This does not
happen in
my land either. I endured the same as you and I didn’t like it any
more than you did. I did not endure it for as long, but I endured
it. What I do know is that your husband is a proud warrior and he
wanted your happiness enough to put his pride aside and ask for my
assistance in helping you settle in your new life, with him, in
your cham. This was not an easy thing for him to do, but he did
it.” I squeezed her hands. “For you.” She pulled in her lips and I
finished. “He did what he did because he knows no other way. This
is not an excuse, it is simply the truth. He does what he does now,
and what he has been doing these past weeks since he brought
Diandra and me to you, because he cares for you and wants your
happiness. I would try to focus on that instead of the path you
took to get here and my hope is, my friend, that he will continue
to show you tenderness and work for your happiness. And I care for
you enough to wish that for you in your life with him and tell you
this as the truth I believe it is and not lie to you in the hopes
that you will simply find a way to tolerate a cruel life that was
forced on you.”

Her eyes filled with tears, her teeth bit
her lip and she nodded before she said softly, “I believe you,
Circe.”

I nodded back and gave her another squeeze
of her hands.

Then I shared one last thing, for her and
for Zahnin, “Zahnin told me when he saw you in the parade, he knew
you were the only one for him.” I watched her face go soft as this
surprising compliment penetrated and I continued sharing. “Lahn
told me that when he claimed me, even in the moonlight, he saw my
spirit shining in my eyes and it was the most beautiful thing he’d
ever seen. To me, he was raping me. To him, he was receiving a gift
he’d treasure always. This is a contradiction that it is difficult
to come to terms with and although it does not heal the pain we
felt, a memory seared into our brains, the terror we experienced, I
cannot say it does not provide just enough balm to allow me to live
with it.”

She licked her lips, nodded and squeezed my
hands.

So I concluded. “Find a way to forgive him,
sweet Sabine, and he will reward you. I promise.”

“I hope so,” she whispered.

“I do too,” I agreed.

She grinned at me, it was tentative but it
was still hopeful. I grinned back.

Then I turned us toward the stalls lined in
front of us, wrapped my arm around her waist and she mine, and that
way we walked back to our posse.

I searched for Teetru and found her holding
folded bolts of material, my gold shimming grandly against five
other fabrics in different colors that were pretty but nowhere near
as luxurious. She was standing at the side of a stall that had a
table that held nothing but a sparkling array of bangles. I let
Sabine go and moved to her to see her finger extended, timidly
touching a silver bangle that sparkled with inset blue stones.

I reached beyond her, picked up the bangle
and she jumped, her head snapping to me.

“I am sorry, my golden –” she started to say
but I looked at the merchant.

“I will take this for my Teetru,” I looked
down at the bangles and quickly selected four more that would
compliment my girls, “and these.” I held them up to the merchant,
he told me the price and I turned to Teetru, slid the pouch from
her frozen hand, dug in and pulled out coins.

Then I realized I had no idea what value
they carried and thus ensued a back and forth with Nahka coming
forward to make sure I didn’t get gouged as I paid for my gifts.
Once the payment had been made, Nahka faded back and I took
Teetru’s forearm and slid the bangle on her wrist.

“Beautiful,” I said, my eyes moving to hers
to see her head tipped down to the bangle.

Then it tipped back to me and I saw
something I couldn’t read shining in her eyes.

“You cannot –” she started.

“Funny,” I cut her off on a smile, “I just
did.”

Then before she could say another word, I
slid my arm around her waist and pulled her away from the table.
Then I let her go, dropped the other bangles in the pouch and
handed it back to her.

“When we get back home, you can give those
to the girls. The green one is for Jacanda, the yellow one, Gaal,
the pink one, Beetus and the red one, Packa. Yes?”

“Yes, my golden queen,” she whispered, I
smiled, lifted a hand and squeezed her upper arm then I looked to
my girl posse who were all huddled together admiring a bolt of
fabric the color of violet shot with copper that Narinda was
holding out.

“Let’s get lunch!” I called and when the
queen spoke, everyone listened.

So we got lunch.

But, even if I was queen, we’d been shopping
for hours and I knew my girls had to be hungry.

The Attack

Late that afternoon, when Bain escorted me
back to my cham, I knew it was the changing of the guard because I
saw Zahnin standing outside.

I smiled at him, he tipped his chin up at me
but for some weird reason he watched closely, his head turning to
do it, as Teetru scurried beyond him and into the tent.

Then he turned back and called loudly to
Bain, “Do not go far.”

I froze at these words but my neck moved so
I could look back at Bain who was studying Zahnin intently. He gave
a jerk of his chin to Zahnin then moved away. I watched him fade
into the chams and turned back to Zahnin. Then I moved to him.

“Is something amiss?” I asked.

“I do not know,” he replied. “But I am
warrior. I am trained since five to trust my instincts and my
instincts tell me something is not right.”

Oh shit.

“What?” I asked.

“Again, my golden queen, I do not know. Let
us just hope that my instincts are wrong.”

“Are they ever wrong?”

He held my gaze. Then he grunted, “Me.”

Great.

“You are safe,” he announced and I focused
on him. “Nothing will harm you. Ever.”

The good news was, he sounded firm about
that. Very firm.

I decided to leave it at the good news
without exploring the bad partly because he sounded firm but mostly
because he didn’t look in the mood to continue that particular
conversation. And when Zahnin wasn’t in the mood to talk, queen or
not, we didn’t talk.

So I decided to change the subject to
something he
would
wish to
talk about.

I got closer to him and said quietly, “All
right, my protector, this goes against all the girl club rules but
for her sake and yours, I’m going to share.”

He stared down his nose at me and crossed
his arms on his chest. From my experience with Zahnin, I knew this
meant I had his attention even though he likely had no clue what I
was talking about at this present time.

“I had a chat with Sabine today,” I informed
him, saw his eyes flash but that was all he gave me before I
continued. “Or, she had one with me.”

I stopped talking and waited for his
response.

He just stared at me.

Seriously, Sabine said he chatted with her
but I couldn’t believe it. I knew he had words, just not many of
them.

So I laid it out for him. “You’re in,
Zahnin.”

That got a reaction. He blinked in
puzzlement.

“
I’m…
in?
” he
asked

I grinned. “In. In.
In,
” I answered. “Whatever you’re doing and whatever
you did a couple of nights ago,” I watched his body jerk slightly
in surprise that I had this knowledge but again that was all he
gave me so I kept right on talking, “she likes it. Like,
a
lot.
”

He stared at me but said not a word.

I sighed. “What I’m saying is, you were
her first, that didn’t go so well for, um…
her
so she has no idea what she’s doing but she
wants…” I leaned in, “
more.
She just doesn’t know how to ask.”

There it was. His eyes warmed and his
mouth curled up slightly at the sides. He got me and what he got
was hot.
Way
hot. If I
didn’t have the super hottest guy around, I would think it
was
ultra
hot.

Boy, Sabine was going to get lucky.

“
So, I advised she make a move and you’re
going to have to watch for it,” I went on sharing. “It might be
timid, shy maybe awkward and will definitely take some courage for
her to do but she’s going to make a play, you’re going to need to
receive it and take it from there…
gently.
”

“Right,” he grunted.

“
I can’t stress enough that she’s still a
little scared of you
and
her
feelings. She’s not experienced. You’re going to have to teach
her.”

The lip curl got bigger and he said low, “I
can be a teacher.”

I bet he could. And he looked like he was
looking forward to it.