The Queen's Consorts (19 page)

Now Calder knew why Macro hadn’t simply announced her as queen. He wanted Sari to see, to know the abuse and the betrayal by her people. Calder didn’t know if he should consider Macro wise for allowing Sari those few days of reprieve to learn what she faced, or call him a fool for getting them in this situation.

He decided to reserve his judgment until he saw the outcome.

Calder stopped listening, knowing now that he had one goal. Get Sari and Taryen somewhere safe until the herb wore off, and then face a battle that would change the course of history.

The herb was in his system too, so Calder gave up being subtle and ran to his rooms. What he found there made his heart drop. Brothers, with their swords drawn, were raiding the rooms. Sisters were opening closets and searching under the bed.

He stood there silently watching them destroy the one private place he and Taryen had together. They’d never bothered this area before now, considering it too sacred to disrespect. It was the suite of rooms they once shared with the queen when they’d all been infants, and the nursery had just grown and transformed with them to the sanctuary it was now. Again, he should have known Sari was the one when Macro dared bring her in there.

But no one noticed Calder as he went through a riot of emotions. He was an invisible slave they paid no mind to, and the injustice of it, not just for himself, but for every servant who existed just to be used and discarded rolled through him.

He grabbed the first brother he could reach and spun him around. The smaller man’s eyes widened when he had to tilt his head back to look into the eyes of his attacker, but that was all the warning Calder gave him before he slammed his fist into his face. He fell to his knees, leaving him kneeling at Calder’s feet, and Calder didn’t even take a moment to enjoy the novelty of it. In the blink of an eye, he reached down and grabbed the man’s sword, savoring the smooth slide of it leaving the holster. This was who he was supposed to be, not a toy for the queen’s sisters. Reclaiming his birthright was a powerful, purifying moment.

Then he spun around, slashed with deadly precision at the second brother he could hear at his back. He caught him in the side, slicing through flesh, cracking bone with his fury as his enemy screamed in agony. He too fell at Calder’s feet, and when Calder turned to face the room, he found seven remaining opponents, three women and four men, all facing him in stunned horror.

“Attack me,” he said tauntingly as he narrowed his eyes at them. “
I dare you
.”

A streak of blue light flew at him from a bolter weapon one sister was bold enough to fire. He used his sword to deflect it, sending the surge back at her. Her screams bounced off the walls, but Calder only smiled as he watched her writhe on the floor. He recognized Parin, a sister who’d abused Taryen more than once. Calder hoped she suffered before she died, knowing without thought she had issued a deadly pulse in hopes of protecting herself from his fury.

If he had time, he’d kill them all, recognizing every last one as blind followers of Laysa. Calder had spent time on his knees for the other two women in the room, and the fear in their eyes proved they were regretting it now.

“Kneel before us,” Hastel, one of the sisters loyal to Laysa, demanded.
“Now.”

“No.” Calder shook his head, knowing the affront by Laysa earlier was going to be the last time he was forced to serve anyone but Sari. “I don’t serve you anymore. My queen has returned, and I believe you know it. What are you looking for?”

“There’s no proof she’s queen,” Yasmin said passionately. “The elders will never crown her without something concrete to prove her ancestry.”

The necklace.

Calder remembered Sari’s search for it, but it all seemed very pointless. Just the fact that he could now refuse their orders proved Sari’s claim as queen. Who else could free him from the sisters’ tyranny that had been his burden since he was thirteen? Sari owned him body and soul. The gods demanded his loyalty go to her first and only, and Calder believed that was all the proof the elders would need to crown her.

He held out his hand expectantly, deciding not to argue the point.
“Yasmin.
Hastel.
Give me your bolters.”

“You’ll lose, Calder,” Yasmin warned but walked toward him obediently anyway. “Too many are loyal to Laysa.
Best to lay down your sword.”

“I’ll pass.” Calder narrowed his eyes at her. “You know I love a good fight. In fact, I think you enjoyed my fight quite intensely the last time you tied me down and hurt me rather than just use me.”

Yasmin had the gall to laugh. “Hate me all you want, but that won’t change the outcome.”

“Don’t be so sure of your victory. I have a queen on my side,” he reminded them.
“And
her army
.”

“It makes no difference,” Hastel added as she too walked over with her bolter weapon held out like a peace offering. “Laysa has spies everywhere. She owns more of the queen’s guard than you realize.”

“Entirely possible.”
Calder agreed, because he didn’t doubt that. He let them both place the small, metal weapons in his hand before he mused out loud, “If failure is imminent, perhaps I should savor the night and kill you both now. Extract a little revenge before my final breath.”

They both screamed when he swung his sword around. He didn’t strike them, but he wanted to. Even when they fell to their knees with their hands covering their heads protectively, he considered it. The laws forbid a sister from being physically harmed. If one did need to be put to death, it had to be in a way that didn’t mar her skin, but Calder wasn’t too concerned with laws. He was fairly certain the gods would forgive him.

Too bad he was pressed for time.

“I want all of you to kneel, showing me your backs, with your hands over your heads.” He held up his sword to Jabit, one of the lifemates who served Yasmin, when he took a bold step forward.
“Unless you’d like to spar.
I train four hours a day to ensure I’ll be capable of defending my queen. Darin raised me in his image. I’ve battled twice as many of the queen’s guards and been victorious. How often do you hone your skills for the one you serve? It’ll be a fight to the death in the name of the great mother.”

They all fell before him, showing him their backs as their hands laced behind their heads. At any other time in his life, Calder would have fought them for a queen he didn’t know, one who owned his soul and his free will, simply because the loyalty was bred into him from birth, but now the queen had a face. She had a smile he could recall. She had a heart that beat for Taryen as easily as his did, even if they’d only just met.

When thinking of the queen before now, he’d always envisioned a more powerful form of Laysa—cool, cruel, and detached. Someone who bent his will to hers, and in return he would have the satisfaction of giving the entire planet the sun back. It was a noble cause. His blood would have meaning, rather than being spilled in vain.

He didn’t expect to actually
love
her.

Defending her was like a bloodlust instead of simple obligation, one that had him wanting to slice through all who dared threaten her safety. If he wasn’t short on time, he would have done it. Male, female, it made no difference when he considered what they wanted to do to Sari, and likely Taryen and Calder as well. They sought to eliminate the entire monarchy, which could very easily wilt without a new queen to take Sari’s place. What would happen to the planet then? Nature would have to produce a new great mother eventually, but the chaos that would descend before it happened would likely destroy the entire planet without all the systems their people had put into place to protect her.

Calder sacrificed revenge for the greater cause and left his enemies cowering as he closed the door in his wake and ran off in search of Sari and Taryen. He could think of only one other place where they would go to be secluded and
heal,
a place that was special to them. He turned the corner expectantly, already knowing where they were.

The consort baths.

The haze of bliss was so overpowering Taryen couldn’t think about anything but the feel of Sari’s mouth on him.
Of her hands cupping his balls.
Of her body, and the way her small waist flared out to full, feminine hips. He entertained the idea of burying himself in her, planting his seed, and making her a mother in every sense of the word.

In a part of his mind, he sensed the urgency of the situation, but somehow it faded to the background when he had Sari sucking him like this. Dear gods, she was amazing at it too.

Life certainly didn’t go as planned, because the very last thing he’d expected when the great mother returned was this. Why hadn’t he and Calder ever considered the connection they shared with their queen? Darin was ever loyal to his lost queen and lifemate. He never stopped loving them, never stopped thinking about them and mourning their loss. Taryen and Calder often feared for his health. They suspected he lived on out of obligation to them, while holding out the hope of being reunited with his daughter, but it was clear every day was a battle for him.

Why would the connection be any less for them? Nature intended they be perfect mates, and they were. He was wound so tight the pleasure made his vision haze as he lifted his head to watch his cock slide in and out of Sari’s mouth.

He stroked her hair, crushing flowers, but she didn’t appear to care. She was beautiful sucking him. It looked like an indulgence the way she did it, which was as unique as everything else about her. The image was his undoing, and his back bowed when the pleasure slammed into him. His cock jerked with that first pulse of release. Sari milked him with her hand, swallowing greedily in a way he understood. He loved Calder’s taste, and he knew Calder loved his as well. Taryen just never expected the queen of their people to like it too.

When the wave passed, his cock didn’t soften. It stayed hard for her and would have even without the herb. Sari continued to suck him for a long time afterward, squeezing and milking him dry before she suddenly released him with a
pop
and flipped her hair back to give him a seductive smile.

“I want to taste us together,” she whispered as she crawled over him once more, her breasts swaying,
the
tips of her long, wet hair tickling his chest. “You have me on your tongue; I have you on mine. What will happen if they collide?”

“Shall we find out?” Taryen ran a hand down her bare back and then slid it to her waist before slipping it between her thighs. “Open wider for me.”

Sari complied by straddling him, her green eyes molten as she let him touch her. Then they closed heavily when he brushed his thumb against her clit. She tossed her head back, looking completely enraptured with the pleasure when he pushed a finger into her tight pussy, finding it already slick for him.

“Taryen.”
Her small nails dug into his shoulders. “Please. I want you to—”

He stopped touching her before she could finish, knowing if she asked, he’d be forced to comply. He brought his hand to his mouth, sucking on his finger slowly, savoring her. Sari blinked to watch and then leaned in expectantly with a breathy sigh when he pulled it out.

He fisted her hair and dragged her lips to his. He pushed his tongue into her mouth, and then rubbed it against hers indulgently. The combination really was divine, and Taryen didn’t think it was the herb that had him convinced they tasted better together than separately. Sari obviously agreed, because their kiss turned into something else—heated, hungry, all-consuming. They writhed against each other—wet, naked bodies straining for closer contact as all that frustration flowed out through the kiss, their tongues brushing,
their
teeth clashing.

When the door to the baths suddenly burst open, they both jumped in shock. They’d almost forgotten the outside world existed. They turned to the doors as Calder stormed in with a sword in one hand and bolter weapon in the other. Taryen’s entire body stiffened, but not for the reason it should. There was such a powerful, commanding presence to his lifemate in that moment, far more than usual, which was saying something. He looked ready to conquer the world. It didn’t even matter that he was wearing servant’s robes. Taryen wanted Calder with every ounce of his being, and Sari did too, because he heard her groan under her breath.

“Gods.”

Calder was heedless to their admiration as he turned back to the hallway.
“You two, in here.
Backs to my queen.
I want you to strip off your robes and then kneel with your foreheads against the wall.”

Taryen frowned, pulling Sari against him protectively when the two servants came in obediently, their gaze lowered. “What’s going on?”

“Look out a window lately?” Calder asked, though he made a point not to glance in their direction. “The entire Sacred City is preparing for war. Luckily, they hadn’t thought of the baths. I found Yasmin and Hastel raiding our rooms. We need to leave.
Now.”

“Gods, Calder, you’re bleeding!” Sari gasped, Calder’s haste temporarily snapping her out of the spell in the same way it had Taryen.

Calder turned to look at the baths in stunned disbelief, though it was obvious he’d been avoiding looking at either of them naked. His wide-eyed gaze found Taryen, as he tried to recover from the shock. “Did you hear that?”

Not to be distracted, Sari demanded. “What did she do to you?”

Taryen winced at Sari’s foreign words. “She’s been using it since we got to the baths. I don’t even think she realizes it.
Must be the herb.”

Calder shook his head in disbelief, and Taryen understood. To finally hear the queen’s language on a female’s tongue was completely bizarre. He was still trying to recover from the surprise of it. He’d realized quickly once they’d gotten into the bath that Sari didn’t notice she was speaking in the queen’s language. It rolled off her tongue effortlessly like it was always meant to be there. She was farther gone with the drug than he was, though not by much. It had all started to seem normal under the sexual haze until Calder had stormed in and forced his mind to start fighting the effects.