No. It was very appropriate that all the barbarians should choke and die on their food. At least she could be assured of her own safety, that their rudeness would in the end protect her from sharing the same fate she planned for them.
Still, it would have been a great pleasure to sit at that table and watch them die one by one in front of her very eyes.
Yes. She would have liked that very much.
—
The full moon made it very easy to see their way back up the beach to the city. The city wall extended all the way across the beach and into the water, and there was a beach gate in both the north and south ends of the wall. Jaykun and Jileana approached the city via the south gate. The wall and its gates were now manned and guarded by Jaykun’s men. The gates—what remained of them and the wall after Jaykun’s offensive on the city—were closed after dusk to all comers. The only exception to that order was Jaykun.
Once they were past the wall, they walked along the beach to the docks and then walked the wooden planks to the nearest ship. Krizan ships were massive monsters, made for carrying a great force of men. They were not built for speed, so it was possible to outrun a Krizan ship if the winds were in one’s favor, but it would take a skilled captain to do so. But once a Krizan ship latched on to its target, the large raiding party was brutal. Krizans were not known for their mercy on the high seas. Quite the opposite.
“They look so beastly,” Jileana remarked.
“They are. But that is exactly what I need. A fleet of beasts that can carry a great force of men over the waters.”
“These ships don’t seem as though they could carry your entire army,” Jileana said doubtfully.
“That is because a third of the ships have gone missing. But we will get them back. We will crew these remaining ships and spend the winter chasing down what rogue ships we can find. Once spring comes, we will be ready to move on.”
“Are you certain you can find them?”
“It is hard to miss a ship that looks like this,” he remarked. Jileana thought he had a point. If not by the size of the thing, it would be known by its brightly painted colors. Each ship was festooned with all kinds of colors on its carved railings and the spires of its masts. On some of the ships, the decks were painted; on others, the sides were decorated. Each had a style all its own. The ships were unafraid of being seen and it showed.
“You are right,” she said with a chuckle.
“Odds are, the ships were poorly crewed and poorly supplied. That means we will find most of them in ports either in Moroun or at some other nearby harbor. Perhaps even your island.”
“Oh no. Not my island. You can’t get there by ship.”
“Every island can be gotten to by ship,” Jaykun said with a laugh.
“Not my island. I promise you that.”
“Why not your island?”
“Remember the storms that kept you from seeing it?”
“Yes.”
“Well, they are always there. They are violent and dangerous, and no ship can make it through them.”
“That’s…I’ve never heard of such a thing before. Surely the storms aren’t there all the time. They must let up every so often.”
“They are there all the time,” she assured him.
He didn’t believe her. If that were the case, how would she have gotten off the island and onto these shores? He found himself bothered by the fib. Then he rethought the feeling. He could understand her wanting to discourage the idea of traveling to her island. He was, after all, an invader in command of a great army…one that now included an armada. She was trying to protect her home from him. For some reason that disturbed him. Why should it bother him? It was his job as an invader to seize cities in Weysa’s name and he gave no quarter when it came to that. He should be planning to get to her island after he attacked Moroun. He would of course try peaceful methods first; he wasn’t a barbarian, after all. Just like he would with Moroun, he would send an envoy to the rulers of her island, requesting that temples be raised in Weysa’s name. The only condition was that on the island there had to be more temples to Weysa than there were to any one of the other gods. If they refused…well…that was when war broke out. From what he had gathered from Jileana, her people worshipped Diathus. It sounded as though Diathus was worshipped to the exclusion of all other gods. Since Diathus was in the faction that warred against Weysa’s faction of gods, to take worshippers away from Diathus and gain them for Weysa helped their cause twofold.
But he wasn’t focused on anything other than Moroun at the moment. He could send envoys to Serenity at the same time perhaps and then decide in which direction to go. But the idea sat ill with him for some reason. He found himself not wishing to upset her by planning to attack her people. Perhaps he was being selfish too, because he didn’t want to disrupt the rest of their time together, or perhaps he truly didn’t want to hurt her in any way. The thoughts sat uncomfortably in him. He was a calculating man, a man who was forced to make cold decisions in the name of his cause. It disturbed him to think he was losing that ability just because of a pretty woman.
Two more days, he reminded himself. She would only be influencing him for two more days. Then he would return to his clear-cut way of thinking and decide what to do as far as her island home was concerned. Until then, he would put it out of his mind and not let it come between them.
“Well,” he said at last, “I will take your word for it for now.”
“Come,” she said, taking up his hand. “Come to bed with me,” she invited, walking backward, away from him and toward the castle, pulling him along with her. The invitation gave him a fierce thrill of pleasure and excitement. He followed her all too willingly. By the eight hells, she could have been leading him to his death and he didn’t think he would care. His vision narrowed completely at the idea of frolicking in bed with her for the next few hours. By all rights he should be getting some sleep and preparing for the big day ahead of him, preparing to face the mountain of work that needed to be done before his brothers could safely leave him. But all he could think of was that he would gladly face a day with no sleep if it meant a night of being ensconced within her.
He followed her to his fate. Once he was in his bedroom with her, she sat him on the bed and moved a short distance away from him. Slowly she undid the laces of her dress and then wriggled out of it, baring inch after inch of luscious skin to his eyes. Soon she was standing naked before him, her dress in a neglected pile on the floor. He was glad of it. He should never have dressed her in the first place. She was too beautiful in her natural state and such beauty should never be hidden away. And yet he knew that if she remained naked as he had found her, he would never get anything done. He simply would keep her in this room, locked away where no one else could see her and covet her beauty for themselves, and where he could make thorough use of her, satiating the rampant passions she so easily inspired within him.
As he watched her approach him, he marveled at her and his reactions to her. Had he ever been so hot for a woman before?
Yes.
He closed the answer off before it could disrupt what he was feeling right then. He didn’t want to taint the moment.
And yet…he had to be wary. He had to be cautious or he might find himself—
No, he told himself. This was different. This time he was not blindly in love with the object of his lust. She did not and would not have the power over him that Casiria had had.
“Now it’s your turn. Don’t you simply suffocate in all those clothes?”
He chuckled awkwardly. He wanted to focus solely on her, but these other things kept intruding, these thoughts of Casiria. Why he should think of her at a time like this was beyond him.
Or is it? an insidious voice within him asked.
He shoved all of that aside with a hard mental push and forced himself to focus on the woman approaching him. In the end, it wasn’t that hard to do. He had never seen anything so lovely in his entire life. Not even Cas
iria could compare. And anyway, Casiria was long dead and this woman was very much vital and alive. But on the surface of it, he was glad Jileana was leaving him in two days. It might be dangerous for her to linger any longer than that.
She came to him, reaching out for his hands and pulling him up from the bed. She turned him and gave him a little push until he was at what she deemed was an optimal distance, then threw herself down onto the bed with a flounce of long limbs and ripe breasts. She leaned back on her elbows and raised an expectant brow.
Feeling suddenly on display, he felt awkward again. He shouldn’t. He was a man with a destiny, a warrior through and through who had no one to answer to save an all-powerful goddess. He had just cut a swath through an army of men and had seized hold of a foreign city. These were not the actions of a weak or awkward man.
Frustrated with himself, he shrugged out of the vest he was wearing with some measure of violence. Then, with equal temper, he stripped his shirt from his back, leaving himself bare chested before her.
“Very nice,” she said lasciviously, her mouth curving into a devilish smile.
Now he was determined to teach the saucy wench a lesson or two, so there was impetus to his actions as he kicked off his boots and stripped away his leggings. He was naked then and he paused to display his fine masculine muscles before stepping forward to reach for her. But she held up a staying hand.
“Not yet,” she commanded. “I want only to look at you for a moment. You…you are so fine, you see,” she explained with a smile. “The men where I come from are so slight. They are sleek and nimble and fast, but none are as big as you are. Nor do they have so many muscles. None so well developed, anyway. I find I like to look at you. I never thought I would like such a big man, but I find myself thoroughly fascinated…and thoroughly delighted.”
“So I am just to stand here while you look your fill?”
“Well, you could sing if you like.”
“Sing? I do not sing.”
“Why not? Your voice is so deep and rich. You must make an excellent singer. We have a great deal of singing where I am from. Everyone sings. Although, it is probably not the same kind of singing you might engage in. There has been no music here so far that I have experienced. I would like to hear some.”
“Then tomorrow I will hire a minstrel to sing at the late day meal. I will not be singing for you.”
“What about dancing? Surely you dance. All men dance.”
“I do not dance!”
“Why not?” she asked again.
“Warriors fight; they do not dance.”
“No warriors dance?”
His jaw clenched. “Not all. Some do. I do not.”
“That is so sad.”
“How so?” he asked irritably.
“You do not sing. You do not dance. You fight and kill and suffer a terrible torment night after night…It seems there is no joy in you to bring you balance. Song and dance are expressions of joy. If you do not express joy in these ways, I am forced to wonder in what ways you do express joy…or if there is even any joy to express at all.”
He was silent a long moment. He looked away from her. She was so fresh and innocent, so eager to see the beauty in the world. He longed for the days of romanticism and naïveté he had once enjoyed, but they were long gone, torn away by the bitter truths of life.
“The moments I spend in your body are the closest thing I have to joy,” he said, his tone hard and factual. There was no danger of her romanticizing the words.
Just the same, she smiled at him, pleased in some way with him. She shifted, rising up onto her knees on the bed and holding out her arms to him. Glad to stop being on display, he stepped toward her, let her arms wrap around his back, and reveled in the feel of her bare body pressing against his chest and belly.
She touched her mouth to his in the gentlest and barest of kisses before pulling back to engage his eyes with her own. “If this is how you feel and express joy, Jaykun, then I am glad to give it to you. I will gladly give you joy at every possible moment. Of course I will try not to interfere in your day too much, but whenever you would like to have sex, you merely need to ask and I will be delighted to oblige you.”
Jaykun couldn’t help but chuckle at her. “Are you certain about that? What if I decided to lock you away with me for the next two days, coming out only to suffer my penance each night?”
“Oh, could we?” she asked, lighting up and suddenly eager. “Wouldn’t your brothers disapprove?”
“Who gives a damn what my brothers approve of?” he bit out. “If I want to indulge myself in you, then I will damn well do so.”
“And so you should. Life cannot be all about war and killing and moving from city to city, bringing death and destruction. There must be time, however brief, to indulge in pleasures or passions. Surely your goddess would agree with that.”
“You know something, she probably would. She is the goddess of conflict, but she is known for her passionate ways. Perhaps it is the nature of her highly volatile temperament, but in tales she is fierce and demanding of her bed partners. She knows her mind and her desires and does whatever she must to see them satisfied.”
“There, now…you see? She would understand such passion in you so long as it did not interfere with her need of you. But from what you’ve told me, as I understand it, you are done campaigning for the winter. You will not be moving on until spring. There is time for you to breathe a little. To look on joy and feel it and express it in kind.”
She reached to engage his mouth with her own, wrapping him up in a drugging series of kisses until his head was spinning and heat was blooming all throughout his body.
When he was next able to, he said, “It would be unfair. My brothers cannot go home to their wives until matters in this city are settled, and those matters will not be settled if I am in my bedchamber with you.”
“But your brothers will be going home to spend months finding joy with their wives and families. All you are asking for is two days.”
He drew back a little and looked at her, looked at the sweet, pretty shape of her face and features as he digested her practical observations. He tried to see ulterior motives in her, tried to figure out why she would push him into this for her own gain, but he simply couldn’t figure it out. It made no logical sense for her to want to lock herself away with him. Not unless she was some kind of agent for his enemies, looking to distract him from something important. But that idea also made no sense and could not hold up under scrutiny. If she were there to deter him in some way, she would have let that assassin kill him that morning and be done with him. No. It seemed there were no ulterior motives here that he could see.
“What do you want of me?” he asked her in a sudden, fierce whisper. “What is it that you hope to achieve here? Tell me the truth!”
“Of course I will tell you the truth. I do not lie.”
“And if you did lie you would tell me so?” he asked with amusement.
She laughed at herself. “True. It is a claim that can only be proved with actions or inactions. So let me say this: I merely seek enjoyment. My own and now yours as well. That was my whole purpose in coming here. To enjoy myself. I had no idea what form this enjoyment would take, but I see now that it is you. You are the key to my pleasure. I will take advantage of you for it.”
He reached to stroke his knuckles down the right side of her face, letting them follow the shape and curve of it. Her skin was so soft. And he knew it tasted sweet.
“Then I shall let you do so,” he said after a moment.
She tilted her head, her eyes widening slightly with surprise. “Do you mean that? Do you mean…?”
“That I will lock you away with me for the next two days? Yes. Yes, I will. I will get much aggravation for it from my brothers, but as it stands right now, I would like to drown myself within you. It will end and you will leave in two days, but until then…”
“Oh, Jaykun!” she said with delight shining from every inc
h of her. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
He grabbed her then and threw her down onto her back on the bed, following to land on top of her.
“You may not be thanking me come this time tomorrow,” he growled at her. “You may be begging for a reprieve!”
“If I had money, I would bet against you.”
“I will stake you. One Krizan gold sovereign. If you win, you get two gold sovereigns. If I win…”
“I will be in your debt. I think that would be a clever bet for you…if you were going to win. But you are not. I will enjoy my gold sovereigns.”
“Then I have some work to do if I am going to win my bet!”
She squealed with delight when he moved down her body with a suddenly voracious mouth. He went straight down her breastbone, paused to maul a nipple with his lips and tongue, then moved down to her belly, where he kissed and licked and kissed and licked her. As his mouth traveled down, his hands paved the way before him, stroking and petting her, lifting her up to his mouth, pushing her thighs apart so he could settle between them. His broad shoulders brushed the insides of her knees even as his lips brushed down below her navel.
Dizzy from his attack and at a loss as to what else to do with her fingers—since he was, for the most part, presently out of her reach—she buried them in his hair. As though she were the one guiding him rather than she being at his mercy. She was still laughing and gasping at every touch of his mouth and hands, unable to contain the sheer delight she experienced at finding him being playful with her.
Then delight turned to blinding and absolute pleasure as his mouth slid downward, his tongue plowing through the wet feminine folds of the most intimate location on her body. Having him there swept all of her emotions into a maelstrom of delight. His tongue darted and swirled, sought to give her the best of pleasures. She found if she made the slightest encouraging sound, he hummed with answering pleasure. Soon she was throwing her head back and moaning, fierce waves of heated pleasure rolling through her body until she was dizzy with it. How had they gone from simple conversation to this amount of blinding gratification so quickly? she wondered. Had there ever been anything so delightful ever conceived? She thought not.