The Queen's Consorts (16 page)

He pushed his teeth against the balls in his tongue and studied Laysa, who was still looking toward the entrance to the banquet hall. There was a sadistic gleam in her eyes he recognized well. Any unclaimed Rayian female would be seen as a threat, but one Sari’s age, with her beauty and natural confidence, was particularly curious. All of the Sacred City was speculating about her. If Laysa knew how drawn Calder and Taryen were to her, Sari would already be dead.

This was clearly a test or a setup, probably both. If Taryen and Sari gave in to their passion, Laysa would have Sari executed and Taryen punished within an inch of his life before the queen’s guards could put up a defense.

How very unfortunate that the captain of the guard and his first lieutenant were already so high on herb they’d forget Sari the moment they got Kayla alone. Calder knew Kayla used her gifts on the soldiers. She’d been doing it for a while now. It was the reason she’d stopped coming to Taryen for an outlet. Sex with a true of heart was addictive on a bad day, but with the herb pumping through their systems, they’d be useless for a while.

“Lady Laysa.” Calder used a strong, clear voice, demanding attention.

She turned to him, arching an eyebrow. “I didn’t give you permission to speak.”

“Let me go with them,” he said rather than apologize.

A small, evil smile tugged at her lips. “Why do you want to go?”

“To protect my lifemate,” Calder answered honestly.

“You think he’ll do something inappropriate?”

“I think anyone with that much herb in their bloodstream is apt to do something inappropriate,” Calder countered and then gritted his teeth as he added, “
Please
let me go with them.”

She tilted her head, regarding him critically. “What will you give me in exchange for the favor?”

“What do you want?”

“Perhaps I want more than one thing?”

He inclined his head. “Make me an offer.”

“Cocky.” She growled. “You think you’d learn by now that bargaining is pointless when you have no leverage. The fact is I can have anything I want from you.”

“Not willingly.” Calder dared smirk at her, knowing it was the only leverage he had.

“I want blood.” The ring of lust and desire at the sadistic indulgence was blatant. Her eyes grew heavy-lidded as she looked to Calder kneeling at her feet.
“Lots of it.”

“Let me go to them, and I’ll give it.”

Laysa arched an eyebrow, snapping out of her own sexual spell easily. “Them?”

Calder winced internally at the slip, but he didn’t outwardly show it. He thought to respond but decided silence would serve him better than jumping on the defensive.

“I was going to give you ten, but perhaps twenty would be better suited to a slave who doesn’t know his place.” Laysa mused when he didn’t respond to her observation. “Are you willing to take twenty lashes for
them
?”

“It won’t be the first time I’ve taken twenty lashes for my lifemate,” he reminded her rather than acknowledge anything more damning.

“Fine.”
Laysa shrugged indifferently before she turned to look around the table at the rest of the council members still watching silently. “Get out. Make the cleaning servants leave with you.
Except you two.”
She pointed to Garid and Larim. “I won’t be long. Wait for me outside the doors.”

“Laysa.”
Macro stood up. Haven did also, and neither backed down when Laysa sent a glare in their direction. Despite the gasps at the table, Macro reminded her, “Calder’s not yours.”

“Macro!” both his brothers shouted at the same time.

But Laysa seemed undisturbed by his boldness as she asked sweetly, “Perhaps our lovely Kayla would like to join Calder in his punishment. Since she’s so fond of showing me her back for every dinner performance, maybe I’ll use it as my canvas for the rest of the evening.”

Calder saw both Macro and Haven physically blanch, even if Kayla turned to look at Laysa with the same calm, peaceful look Taryen had whenever he faced a cruel punishment. “I would offer myself up as a replacement for Calder if that’s what’s required to slake your unusual bloodlust.”

“I know, lovely.” Laysa’s smile broadened. “That’s what makes this such fun. And to think, with
all that
herb in your system, it’ll be a particularly memorable night for all of you when I insist Macro and Haven watch.”

Calder shook his head when he saw them stand tall despite the threat to a woman they both clearly loved and served in secret. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he knew watching Kayla get whipped with the herb in her system would destroy the two soldiers. Kayla would be fine. True hearts didn’t hold on to hurts and resentments once the moment passed, but Macro and Haven would never recover from it. It would haunt them to end of their days. Calder should know. He had watched Taryen punished with pain more times than he could count.

“I need to get to my lifemate,” he reminded them, because all this nobility was doing was delaying him. He turned to give Kayla a look, knowing as one of Taryen’s confidants she’d understand where the others might not that this was a pointless fight. It was hurting him, not helping. “
Please
.”

The pretty redhead met his eyes, and the understanding was clear. Much like Taryen, she was excellent at choosing her battles. She wasn’t one to defy simply for the sake of pride or principle.

“We should go,” Kayla announced for the entire table as she stood and flipped her long, curly hair behind her, showing off pert, firm breasts in a way few could without seeming conceited. “Dinner was enlightening as usual,” she said cordially before she looked at the two soldiers still standing there defiantly. “My parents are conveniently gone, so I’ll ask kindly, Haven, Macro, escort me?”

The two soldiers shared a look that showed their absolute revulsion at the situation. Even with the herb pumping through their system and the woman they loved standing there near bare, they hesitated, which was honorable. Few would be strong enough to resist its effects, even in the name of the great mother.

“We’re sorry.” Haven finally groaned miserably as he looked across the table to Calder still kneeling on the ground.
“Truly.”

Calder inclined his head rather than respond. He’d already said more than he should. Twenty lashes
was
enough for one evening. He just waited silently, staring at the ground, listening to the scrape of chairs being pushed back. Then there was the shuffle of the last members of the head table leaving, and the servants being hurriedly ushered out.

His heart was still thudding hard inside his chest, but it was more out of fear for Taryen and Sari than the imminent punishment he faced. As horrifying as it was to admit, he’d become so accustomed to pain, he didn’t fear it anymore. He just endured and fought to maintain a sense of dignity in the face of it. Even if no one else saw the strength of his pride, which still remained powerful and strong, it was real to him, and that was all that mattered.

“My tail.”
Laysa turned to the last of her servants, who remained in the large, now empty banquet hall.

A look of revulsion flashed on the woman’s face, but she hid it before Laysa could see. She reached into the large, black bag she carried for her mistress and pulled out a short-handled flogger Calder knew all too well. Long rows of sharp, Tourillan gold nails were tied a finger space apart all the way down six thick straps hanging off the jewel-encrusted handle. The dozens of nails glittered under the dim lighting, making the flogger look oddly beautiful for an instrument of extreme torture.

“You know you’re still obligated to me for this evening. You’ll have to come to me on the new day to make up for it.” She reached into her small
purse,
still hanging over her shoulder and pulled out the same high dose of herb she’d forced Calder to give Taryen. “But of course, I’ll allow for a late appointment to give you time to recover.”

“How kind of you, my lady.”
The sarcasm dripped from Calder’s voice.

Laysa arched an eyebrow as she held out the herb and laced sugar. Not knowing if he was helping them or dooming them, he closed his eyes in loathing and opened his mouth with the image of Taryen and Sari held tight in his mind. He let her place it on his tongue and then closed his mouth obediently, knowing it was the only way to get to them.

He’d taken this big of a dose before, and he still winced over the things he’d done and thought about while high on it. He closed his mouth, feeling the sugar dissolve and the leaf tingle against his taste buds. To think this herb was supposed to be his gateway into a loving, spiritual union with his lifemate and the queen he was born to serve. Considered a highly spiritual herb, the flavor was pleasant, but to Calder it was like swallowing poison. He had about forty-five minutes before he became completely mindless.

Laysa gripped his chin while the last of the sugar melted. “You know I’m going to use your mouth before I let you go to them.”

The idea of going to Sari with Laysa on his lips—

Calder shuddered, knowing he was being far too obvious, but it was completely involuntary. He’d pleasured Laysa more times than he could count, and it was
never
something he enjoyed, but he could usually push any distaste for the task to the very back of his mind. Now it felt like a betrayal against the most fundamental part of his soul.

“We’re going to make it thirty lashes, my pretty pet.” She squeezed his chin tighter as pure fury flashed in her gaze. “I don’t like that look on your face.”

He had the sudden urge to fight to the death. To strike out and finally know the satisfaction of pushing something sharp and metallic through the smooth, tan skin above Laysa’s black heart. Just the thought of what she was going to make him do made him murderous.

It must have shown on his face, something far more dangerous and deadly than she’d seen from him before tonight, because there was a flash of hesitation in her gaze. She hid it quickly and said, “You volunteered to bleed for me, and I believe you know the position. Having you willing for it was the bargain, was it not?”

Calder narrowed his eyes at Laysa for one long moment. Then, before he could change his mind, he got up and turned, presenting his back to her. He crossed his wrists in front of him, flexing his back muscles as he did it, giving her the widest possible canvas to work with. He wasn’t surprised when his golden wristbands fused together. Laysa always made sure he was bound when she intended to push him past the limits of restraint.

“Do you think the herb’s had enough time to make you sensitive?” she asked in that same falsely sweet voice she always used when she was being vindictive. “Let’s test it, shall we?”

She lashed out without warning. The flogger slapped against his back hard enough for the nails to sink in and rip through the flesh and muscle of his right shoulder when she pulled it away with a quick flip of her wrist. He shouted at the shock of pain but then locked his jaw in fury at himself as the torturous, white-hot sear of frayed skin made thinking about anything else impossible. The herb had certainly started working, which would make thirty lashes a hundred times more painful.

She didn’t give him a chance to recover. The second lash was even more agonizing as it tore into his other shoulder.

She hit him a third time without allowing reprieve and demanded, “Count them.”

“Three,” he choked, hating how tight his voice sounded.

“Perhaps we should have
Darin
start schooling you again. Counting usually starts with one, my pet.”

He grunted when she whipped him a fourth time, but rather than argue, he said, “One,” through gritted teeth.

His eyes were wide against the pain, because he never got used to the level of agony she could inflict on his body at a whim. When he was young, he used to wonder why all the members of the council were so incredibly sadistic when the rest of the sisters were perfectly content with Calder and Taryen’s naked bodies and talented tongues.

It wasn’t until he was past eighteen that he figured out they were hurting them on purpose, asserting their authority and trying, lash after lash, to beat down the queen’s front line of defense. Taryen and Calder had been trained since birth to defend and protect their queen. They weren’t just pretty decoration. They were her most feared defenders, far more so than even the queen’s guard. It was beaten into a consort’s head that they were to do
anything
to protect their queen. She was sunshine for their people. She was health, wealth, and vitality, and keeping her safe meant the security of all of Auroria rested in their hands.

Another lash and again Calder grunted before managing a tight, “Two.”

He had already been a deadly adversary by thirteen when the sister council had informed him and Taryen they were breaking tradition and starting their pleasure training early. He could have taken out ten of the queen’s guards by himself, but he was still young and innocent, completely uncomprehending why Laysa had called him to her rooms for training and then given him fifty lashes for no reason. Then she’d made him pleasure her while he bled, forcing her will on his when his body would have given out from the pain, all the while claiming it was his duty to care for the leader of their people.

Calder shuddered again at the memory, hating that Laysa was the first woman he’d ever tasted. Why couldn’t it have been Sari instead?

Another blinding sear of pain, this time across the thin skin covering his lower spine.
He hissed in pain he couldn’t hide. “Three.”

He never got used to it. Every lash reminded him of that first time, when Laysa ripped away his innocence along with his flesh until he was broken and sobbing from the horror of it all. If that wasn’t enough, she’d forced his body to do what his mind couldn’t even comprehend, showing him for the first time what it really meant to have no free will. Then she’d sent him crawling back to his rooms for a small reprieve, and all he could think was at least Taryen hadn’t caught the eye of that evil bitch like Calder had. Surely there was only one sister that truly cruel, but then he’d found his lifemate passed out in the washroom and slowly bleeding to death. Taryen’s injuries were twice as severe, so horrible Calder forgot his own pain and actually threw up when he saw what they’d done to him. Even now he wasn’t really sure why he saved them both by dragging Taryen to the baths and then upped the awfulness by pushing him into the healing waters without an ounce of pain syrup. It would have been easier to have just curled up with his lifemate on that cold floor so the two of them could die together.