By Brenna Lyons

Fantasy romantica -- Prequel Novella to

Dedicated to…

Beth, Lisa, Dawn, and Kiersten; my proofers who always scream for MORE!

My husband, who told me to always write my dreams.

Jad 35^th, Ti 10-477

The captain followed at a distance, watching the children as they snuck through the hidden corridors. The plan had been simple, seemingly foolproof. Yet the children escaped with little damage. The boy still lived, and the girl--

"Len's underworld," he breathed in the near darkness, trusting their preoccupation with their goal and the noise they were making to mask him well. The captain's cock pulsed at the memory of the girl's spirit and beauty. She fought like the mother of the jaglin she cradled in her arms, though she was a mere seventeen years and untrained save the lessons imparted by her companion.

She wore her cousin's shirt, and the boy went bare-chested. He was already a tall young man though he was a full three seasons her junior, and the shirt came near to her knees. Her blouse had been ruined in the battle and her perfect body revealed to the captain for that precious instant before she escaped to hiding. The cast-away boys' trousers she wore were torn beneath the shirt and damp from her plunge in a mountain pool. Curiously, her prized dagger was gone, though the captain knew the boy retrieved it for her.

"Shhh. Keep her quiet," the boy whispered. "Ro will hear us."

"Try it, if you think her so easy to control."

The boy smiled, a rare sight since his parents died more than five years earlier. "She is not easy to control. She has the heart of Riella."

The girl scowled at him. Typically the more carefree of the two, the day's events had shaken her. The captain wanted her shaken, but this did not serve his purpose as precisely as he would have liked.

The children pushed through the secret door into her bedroom, and the captain watched through a peek hole, knowing what was to come. They came to a halt as Ro stood from his place on her bed.

Ro Ti, the mighty conqueror, crossed his arms over his chest. "Benir. Riella." His voice was controlled fury. He panned his eyes over them, scowling. "What is this?" he demanded, motioning to the baby jaglin.

Riella raised her chin a notch, a fine figure of a future queen. "Her mother was dead--"

"Then she should have died too," he growled in response.

"Should I have died, Father?"

It was an impertinent question. The captain bit his cheek to keep from laughing out loud. Only Riella would dare use her mother's memory to ask Ro such a thing and expect to live past the hour.

"That is different," he bellowed. "You are my child."

"And so you care for me. The menagerie could do with a spirited animal such as this. Can we not care for her as well?"

Ro changed course. "You left the safety of the palace again against my express orders," he noted.

Riella darkened. "There was no harm done, Father," she replied innocently.

The captain ground his teeth in fury. There should have been. The plan was perfect.

"No harm? You wear your cousin's shirt. I assume yours was destroyed by that beast."

"She was frightened and alone. Surely, you cannot blame her for a child's fear?"

"Have you need of my healing?"

Benir cleared his throat. "I took care of that, Uncle. It was minor."

Oh yes. It was minor, but it should not have been. Still, the captain nodded in surprise. Benir seldom addressed Ro Ti directly. That whelp could never be permitted to take the throne. Luckily, the princess had no younger brothers. A younger male of Ro's direct line would take the throne. Only the fact that she was Ro's only child made her heiress and her future husband heir.

Ro scowled at him. "You did this. You persist in taking her away from safety."

Benir shrugged, a careless gesture that anyone who didn't know his soul-deep fear of Ro might believe. "She has a mind of her own, Uncle. Encouraging her spirit and curiosity is hardly necessary."

Ro started to circle them. He stopped, staring at the empty space at her back in dismay. "Where is your mother's blade? I know you wore it this morning."

"I -- lost it, Father." She stammered out the admission, turning to face him.

"Liar," the captain whispered to the darkness around him.

Ro struck her across the face. Riella fell, the baby jaglin leaping from her arms to settle on the bed and hiss angrily at Ro.

For a moment, no one seemed to breathe. Benir's eyes went wide in shock. Riella pressed a hand to her cheek. Ro looked at his hand as if it was a foreign object of some sort and not a part of his body. Ro reached for Riella, but she scurried back to the edge of her bed. She scratched her beast behind the ears in comfort as the jaglin pulled at Riella's fiery hair with her tiny claws.

Ro sighed. He forced his voice to a low, dangerous growl. "Your mother died for you. She fought with that very blade before they took her from my home. It is poor repayment for you to risk her fate. You will not leave the palace again without myself and the proper guard." He scowled at her. "And the proper dress. Am I understood, Riella?"

Her voice wavered. "As you wish, Father."

"I will have your vow on this."

"You have it. I know how you feel about broken vows. You need not remind me."

"Good. Then let me heal that bruise."

Riella shook her head and backed further away along the bed. Ro captured her upper arms and pulled her to her feet. Riella stood stiffly in his embrace while he healed the bruise on her cheek with his magic, his lips skating over the skin lightly. She dropped her eyes as he finished, and Ro backed away, looking uncharacteristically uncertain.

"I trust you will take that beast to the menagerie, Benir," he ordered gruffly.

Benir darkened, though in anger or kit-like devotion was unclear. "She minds best for Riella," he whispered.

Ro nodded. "You will dress appropriately first."

Riella headed for the cabinet, seemingly putting as much distance between her father and herself as she could. "Yes, Father."

Ro looked at her sadly and left the room. Riella looked over her shoulder, giving her shaking free rein.

Benir ran a hand through his thick hair. "Do you want me to retrieve your mother's dagger?" he offered softly.

"No. I can't bear to look at it, and we have no way to remove the stains from the hide sheath."

"I'll take responsibility for that."

And that was another reason he had to die before she was of age for her throne. The boy would do anything to protect her, and that did not sit well with the captain's plans.

Riella shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

Benir crossed the room to her and drew Riella into his arms. "I still think Ro--"

The captain gripped the wall and held his breath for her answer. If she told her father about what really happened, his plans would be ended. Once Ro Ti was on guard, there would be no chance of any of this succeeding.

Riella sobbed. "No. You saw his reaction," she replied miserably. "It would only be worse if he knew the truth."

The captain relaxed his grip, drawing a dizzying breath that she saved him.

Benir nodded and kissed her forehead. "Then this is a secret between us. No one else will ever know. You have my vow."

The captain smiled. No one will ever know but me, and I will use this knowledge when the time is right.

Riella Hir pressed back into the darkness, barely breathing as her father's soldiers rushed up and down the corridors. She cursed under her breath. Benir had drawn attention somehow. It was in Mag's hands now. If the sky father was just, and he typically was, Benir would escape an unjust death, escape the palace grounds. The odds were in Benir's favor. No one knew the palace better than her cousin, except herself of course.

She shivered, feeling the winter night even through the heavy hottel uniform and cloak of a Keen officer. Riella hadn't chosen to masquerade as just any soldier. For her plan to succeed, and because a princess couldn't possibly pretend to be a complete underling, she gave herself the insignia of a captain. A general would be closer to her actual station in life, but the captains in the palace were far more numerous and thus easier to lose oneself in.

Her plan was simple, and it worked perfectly -- right up until the moment that the alarm was raised. Riella had done all she could for Benir. Now she had to make it back to her rooms unobserved.

It wasn't that her father, Ro Ti, would think she was wrong. The idea of Benir plotting against her to gain her throne was ridiculous. Riella had overheard Ro confiding that very thing to one of his trusted generals only that morning. If it wouldn't make him appear weak, Ro would have released Benir himself. That much a given, Ro would not appreciate it if Riella were caught in the act of freeing Benir. It had been said of her that Riella was too bold, but she would never seek to disgrace her father's name.

Riella was the perfect product of Ro Ti's tragic marriage, a fact that helped her in her plan to free Benir. She was taller than most men, which made impersonating a soldier a simple task. Her voice was naturally low for a woman though a bit high for the man she pretended to be. Raised by her father, Riella had adopted many of Ro's mannerisms over the years. Her purposeful stride was that of a man. Covered in a soldier's thick winter garb, she was indistinguishable from a man -- at a distance.

That was why she hid. Close on, any soldier would recognize the fine, high cheekbones and narrow chin that broadcast her gender. Without her cloak, her narrow waist alone would make it plain. She scoffed at Irin's idea of binding her ample breasts for more than the obvious reason that it would be uncomfortable. There was no way to hide her gender if her cloak was removed, binding or no.

If someone removed her cap-- Riella shuddered. No one could miss the fiery red of her father's hair in the curls pinned to her scalp. Though no man dared look at her, no man could mistake who Riella was if he felt free to look. Aside from those damning breasts and her face, there was little of her mother in her. From the red of her hair to the way she held a dagger, she was her father's image.

The corridors grew quiet. Riella eased out and hurried toward her rooms from the outside, taking a portion of back courtyard she knew would be deserted. She intended to climb up the hibernating iri vines beneath her window. Her servant-sister, Irin, would be waiting to raise the window and give her an arm back inside.

A voice barked out behind her. "Captain. What is your business?"

Riella stilled, laboring the freezing air in and out for a moment before she turned slowly. She took in the general standing two body lengths from her position. He was tall, one of the rare few men in the palace who were taller than she. The harsh lines of his beautiful face showed no jolt of recognition of her as female. Perhaps she could bluff her way out and save her father this shame.

She met his choc eyes and executed a stiff, formal bow. "My squad guards Her Highness, general. Many pardons, but I must check on the men outside the wall."

* * *

Tol's eyes narrowed. General? His captains called him General Tolerin or simply Tolerin. Ro Ti called him Tol. No one dared call him simply General. This was no captain of the palace guard.

Tol pulled his dagger and strode forward. This was not Benir. This man was half a head taller than his escaped prisoner was, but it was undoubtedly one of Benir's men.

The captain looked at the weapon in his hand and backed off a step into the wall behind him. He made no move to his own weapon. That one good decision may save his life -- for the hour until he is presented to Ro.

"What is your name, Captain?" Tol growled, an arm's length from his foe.

The man cleared his throat. "It is -- Del, general."

"How long have you been in the palace service, Del? You've not reported to me." And any new officer at the palace would report to him before taking on duties.

"I -- reported to Colonel Pers. I suppose you were not available for an interview." A slight smile curled one edge of his mouth, the only clear bit of his face in the deep shadows beneath his cap. "Generals are notoriously busy men. Wouldn't you agree?"

Never too busy for his duty to Ro. "How long have you been here?" he asked again.

"Ten days."

There was a new group of men that arrived that day. "And so soon trusted to guard Her Highness, Princess Riella? Ro Ti is typically more careful with his only child," he mused, baiting his prey.

Del didn't hesitate. "It is a temporary assignment. Captain Finn lays ill. It is an important chance for me, general. I must check on my men if I am to be trusted."

Check on his men outside the wall. In other words, make his escape. "Your superior in this assignment?" he barked. Colonel Serin had only been replaced two days earlier, well after Benir had been imprisoned.

"Colonel Vry."

"His superior?" Tol persisted.

Del faltered. He didn't know his chain of command, because he was the lying traitor Tol suspected him to be. There was no other possible explanation.

Del recovered quickly. "I took over for Finn only last night, general."

"Your weapon," Tol requested.

He hesitated.

Tol brought his blade up in warning. "Your weapon." He would not ask again. If the man refused to surrender, he would go to the interrogators with a wound to be tended, or he would not make it to them at all.

Del moved his cloak aside to show the empty space on his belt where a dagger should have rested. He hung his head. "As you can see, general, I cannot comply with that order."

Tol jerked his head toward the doorway.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked.

"To be searched and interrogated."

Del swung his pale face up, his eyes wide in fright.

Tol felt a jolt of surprise. This was no man. It was a woman the likes of which he'd never seen. Her lips were lush and dark, her skin pale and without blemish. In her boots, she was only a hand width shorter than his height.

Tol's body stirred as the wind carried the faint smell of lizors to him, a stronger scent than most women chose. He tapped down his anger. Tol thought Benir had more honor than this. He was using an unarmed woman in his plot, and he left her behind? This woman was too fine a prize to discard this way.

"Are you his schente?" he demanded.

She straightened her spine, bringing her chin up in challenge. "I don't know what you mean, general," she answered in her husky voice.

Fion, how had I ever mistaken that voice for a man's? It is a voice fashioned for long nights on a pillow. "Are you one of Benir's schente?" And why did that idea make him so angry?

A blush crept up her cheeks, and her eyes flashed in anger. "Certainly not! I told you what I am."

Tol almost laughed at her bluff. She still thought to make him see her as a captain in the guard? Had she never seen herself or did she think her disguise and height flawless cover?

Del backed away as he approached. Tol brought his mouth down on hers, taking advantage of her surprise to slide his tongue deep and tease her body to his rhythm. She tensed, stiffening against his body, her eyes wide.

Tol smiled inwardly as her eyes fluttered shut. Del's body eased against him. Her hands slid through the gap at the front of his cloak and flattened against the muscles of his chest through his jacket. He hardened, shocked at his response but unwilling to release her. Her tongue explored his, her movements bold in a way that most schente lacked.

He released her mouth, gratified to hear her ragged breathing. "Now I will have you know that I have no interest in the male of our species." He caressed her breast through the thick hottel weave of her stolen uniform. "But, since you are no male, my reputation is safe."

Del darkened. She nodded, pulling her hands from his chest.

"I will ask just one last time. Are you Benir's schente?"

"No. I am not."

Tol scowled at her. "Surely, Benir has not come upon a jewel like you by any other means."

She shook her head.

"Why would you do this? Why would you make yourself a traitor and risk death at Ro Ti's hand?"

Del smiled a wry smile. "Ro Ti does not want Benir to die. There was simply no way for him to prevent it. As one of his generals, you know that. I've seen you -- meeting with him."

"You thought Ro would show you mercy for acting as his hands?"

"I hoped never to put him in the position of showing me mercy." Her eyes pleaded with him. "Only you know I was here. If you care for him, respect him, you will help me."

The gall of the woman stunned Tol. Ro's wish or not, he had a duty. At the very least, he should take her to Ro privately to deal with. "You care for Ro Ti?" he asked her.

Del dropped her eyes. "How does one not care for Ro Ti?"

Tol shook his head. Easily. Tol was one of the few men he knew who truly enjoyed Ro's company, and even Tol admitted that Ro was a hard man. If there was a kind and loving side to Ro, Tol had yet to find it. "Are you one of Ro Ti's women?" he asked.

She met his eyes, moving her mouth as if she couldn't decide how to begin. Del nodded mutely.

Tol grinned, sheathing his dagger. He surveyed her, wishing to see more of the body beneath that uniform and knowing now that he could. Tol had been given a rare gift for saving Ro's life. Any of Ro's schente was available for Tol's use at any time he cared to use one. As usual, Ro's taste in schente was exquisite.

"What is it?" Del asked, suddenly wary.

"It is late, and you will have difficulty explaining your absence from the schente suite."

Her eyes widened, but she remained mute.

Tol stroked his hand along her jaw. "If you were with me in my room, you could not possibly have been anywhere near the prison tonight."

"But, you can't," she whispered.

"No. I assure you that I am the one man in this palace who can."

She sucked in a ragged breath. "Tolerin."

His cock pulsed at his name on her lips. "Is it a bargain?" he asked in a rough voice. "Shall I be your alibi and you my willing mate for the evening?"

Tol waited for her answer. He would not turn her over to the interrogators in any case. If she refused him, he would see her to the schente suite and speak to Ro privately. Tol respected Ro Ti too much to allow a well-meaning schente to bring him pain, and there was no sense being implicated by the woman's company if she refused what was his right so blatantly.

He scanned his eyes over her body through the split of her stolen cloak. Any schente was his, and this woman had fire and courage unlike any schente he'd ever encountered, unlike any woman he'd ever encountered. He could easily picture Del in battle, sword in hand. A woman with that much fire would be like no other in the bedroom. That was a fire he had to taste. Tol glanced at the empty spot on her belt again. Why was she unarmed?

* * *

Riella stared at Tolerin in amazement. He thought she was schente. He was bargaining with her for his silence, though he had no need to. Tolerin could take any schente he wished at any time and often did.

She looked at his broad shoulders and strong hands. Her body, already aroused by his kiss, played traitor and dampened at the prospect of his touch. Riella glanced toward his cock, but it was well hidden by his uniform. An errant need to know if Tolerin was erect and aroused as she was shot through her mind. His smile indicated that he knew her thoughts and encouraged her appraisal. Riella decided that being Tolerin's schente would be far from a punishment.

But, Tolerin wasn't one of her schaen. This was an intact, fertile male. When he stimulated an egg, there would be a chance of pregnancy. Tolerin wouldn't know that. He would think her safe for his use, sterile.

Should she tell him who she really was? No. He would take her to her father, and her careful planning to protect Ro would be undone. It was better to play the part of a schente and win Tolerin's silence.

What will I do about the chance of pregnancy? Riella bit her lower lip. She would have to deal with that. There was only one chance in fifty that she would conceive, and there were surely things that Irin could do for her if she did. And his body called to her.

But my hair-- If Tolerin sees my hair or my tattoo, he will know who I am. "On one condition."

Tolerin's smile faltered. "Yes?"

"A dark room. I will give you anything you wish, but I beg this one boon of you in return."

He furrowed his brow. "It is a small thing to ask, I suppose."

"Then you have my agreement." Mother Fion, help me. What an agreement have I made!

Tolerin nodded. "Follow me and keep your face down as if you record a missive for me."

Riella did as he asked. Tolerin didn't pause on his way, nodding to his men as he strode through the corridors. For the first time in her life, Riella was glad for her long legs and man-like stride. She followed Tolerin into his room without a second thought.

Tolerin wasted no time. Riella found herself pressed to the door, his erect cock searing her hip through her trousers and his mouth on hers, hard and impatient. His hands were busy unclasping her cloak and stripping off the jacket beneath.

He released her mouth as he dragged the jacket down her arms and pushed her cloak with it. His hand cupped her breast through the silin of her blouse. Tolerin growled his approval. "Take this off before I tear it off," he ordered in a low, husky voice.

Riella untied the wrists and neck, her body in a riot. "Are you always like this with your schente?" she asked, trying to appear unaffected by him. Her schaen were never like this. To be at a man's use made her heart race.

Tolerin pulled the silin from her body. "Never," he assured her. "But you are not the typical schente, are you?"

Riella's hands moved to the buttons on her trousers without waiting for Tolerin's order, reading the urgency in him clearly. This would not be a slow, gentle joining of bodies. This man was intense, driven.

He plucked the cap from her head and fumbled for the two clips that bound her curls. Tolerin sighed as her hair tumbled down over her shoulders. He groaned, and she held her breath, sure that the dim light that escaped the thick drapes over the windows was bright enough for him to see the color and stop the encounter before they were properly begun.

"Yes," he breathed. "Never hide this beauty from me."

She stilled, rolling her head back into his massaging fingers; her trousers clinging to her hips with her thumbs still hooked in the waistband. "Tolerin," she gasped.

"Tol," he corrected her, bringing her head forward in his grip and claiming her mouth again.

Riella pushed her trousers further down her thighs, gripping his hips and brushing her curls against the hard ridge at the front of his trousers. She found the buttons to release him blindly.

Tol groaned into her mouth, his movements fevered. "I will not be gentle. I cannot be."

"I am ready for you," she promised him. She was more than ready for him. If Tol didn't get on with it soon, she'd be forced to violence.

His fingers slid into her, finding Riella more ready for a man than she'd ever been.

His breathing was ragged. "I know you're not accustomed to taking a man more than once in a night," he began.

"I am. I will," she panted, shifting against his fingers.

It was no lie. Like the schente that served her father and Benir, her schaen were there for her use. The tradition grew out of a Keen female's sexual drive during pregnancy, the schen, an almost insatiable urge to mate. Royal females were provided with groups of medically checked, sterilized men from the age of fifteen. The men were named schaen, meaning "for the schen." The custom of providing schente for the males came later.

The rules for schaen were simple. When she called for a male, one of the group would be sent to her. Which one was immaterial. If she ever expressed a preference for a single schaen, he would be dismissed from the group and replaced with a new face to keep her from falling in love with her servant. For the same reason, all of the schaen were replaced a little at a time at intervals not to exceed two years in service with her. If a schaen ever displeased her, he would be immediately dismissed from his service -- and most likely punished by her father.

The schaen sent to her would service her to the completion of a single sexual encounter: his or her completion was immaterial. If Riella was not sated, she simply sent for another male. From what she learned from Irin's discussions with her father's schente, the males always tried to bring her to a wringing completion. Being her only schaen in a night was a matter of pride for them. She would not see the same male again for days or even weeks, but Riella had taken up to three men in a night when she was particularly restless. A single schaen did not please her often.

Tol dragged her trousers down to her ankles and lifted her slightly to plunge deep inside her. Riella bit back a scream of pleasure at the sensation of her body adjusting around his length. His eyes burned with a fierce light, seeming to glow in the almost total darkness around them.

"Ro wishes you to stifle your pleasure?" he demanded in a whisper.

Riella swallowed hard and nodded. Oh yes! For Tolerin's sake and her own, not drawing attention to herself was imperative. If anyone found her here like this, her father would not be amused or kind.

Tol pulled her boots from her feet and removed her trousers. His muscles were tense beneath the sleeves of his jacket. Riella ran her hand over them, at a loss. She had no idea why he was angry or how to soothe him. For that matter, Riella had no idea why his anger upset her.

"Tolerin?" she asked in a low, calming voice.

"Tol." He shook his head and met her eyes. "While it is my cock that pierces you, you are mine. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." His declaration made her body weak and hungry for him.

He pulled her legs around his hips and started moving inside her. Riella leaned her head back and whimpered at the ripples of heat rising in her womb.

Her nipples peaked, stroked by the coarse hottel hair weave of his uniform jacket. The feeling of his clothing was pure decadence. Her schaen were sent to her in silin lounging pants and bare-chested. She gripped at his jacket, dragging his body closer to her and drinking in every rasping fiber that teased at her skin, from the jacket brushing her breasts and neck to the trousers leaving hot trails over her thighs and buttocks.

Riella gasped as Tol pressed her hard against the door; his hands forcing hers back beside her head. She tightened her legs, drawing him deeper. Tol drew in her nipple, suckling hard. She let out a harsh cry of pleasure and bowed further into his mouth.

He owned her. For this one night, she wasn't Riella Hir, daughter of the greatest king ever known on Kegin. She was a nameless schente, a vessel for the use of a powerful general who would not remember her in a month's time, and she loved it. Riella loved the pleasure he gave her, and she loved that he held that pleasure in his capable hands and tended it so thoroughly. She urged him on as the pressure built in her. Tol released her breast and bit lightly at her ear, mixing pleasure and pain that nearly sent her over the edge.

His voice was like a warm caress on her ear. "My women do not hold back," he assured her. "My women cry out the joy in their hearts. Whatever you feel, you will express. Tell me."

"Yes. I will." She felt it coming to her, the pressure building as it never had before.

Riella screamed, her body releasing around Tol as he filled her again and again, his larger body pistoning at a furious pace. He followed her over, his seed hot. Potent. Oh Fion! To have a child from this man would be the gods' reward.

Tol roared, his harsh voice echoing off the stone walls. His cock swelled within her, locking into the muscle at the entrance to her womb and stimulating the release of her egg. Potent. Oh Fion, what have I done? The shocks pushed her past endurance, and Riella screamed, formless and breath-stealing.

He held her shivering form in his arms; his forehead pressed to hers as they both gasped in the aftermath. "A rare jewel," he whispered. "So few schente feel the stimulation once their ovum sacks are taken. You are a rare jewel."

Riella nodded against his face, unable to tell him what she'd done, unable to go back to being his princess when she so enjoyed being his schente.

"What is your name?"

She took a ragged breath. "You shouldn't--"

"Your name. I will not scream the name Del as I take you again," the humor in his tone tempered the order, but not by much.

Riella felt her mouth go dry. "Deliya," she whispered, praying Ro would spare her life for such a sacrilege. Deliya was her mother's name.

And, Deliya was what Tol called her as he brought them both to one shattering release after another. Riella was exhausted after the second time, but the touch of his hands was all it took to make her want him again. Tolerin was tireless. He was talented, and she ached for that moment when she would have to leave him and not look back.

Tol took his time once his initial madness for her ended, but the fire never died. The first time in his bed was the sweetest. She straddled his hips, screaming his name as he came with her. Being cradled beneath his body with his weight pressed to the sensitive spot at the apex of her thighs, a hundred times better than when he took her against the door, paled in comparison to the feeling of him beneath her. Her body pressed down hard on him as he filled her and signaled for the release of an egg was truly the most exciting moment in her all-too-exciting life. The final time was slow and sensual, every stroke a delicate torture to her battered senses. After that, Tol passed into a blessed sleep.

Riella lay cradled to his chest after he took her the forth time. Tol's heartbeat was steady and his breathing deep and even. She should leave him. She knew that. She even shifted to accomplish the odious task. Tolerin pulled her further into the shelter of his arms, unwilling to release her even in sleep. Riella kissed his chest, earning her a groan from him. Dawn would be early enough. She would leave him with the dawn.

Tol groaned, reaching for Deliya in the bed. His eyes snapped open as the weak, pre-dawn light streamed into the room. She was dressed in her silin blouse and trousers, her hair completely hidden beneath her cap.

"Come to bed, Deliya," he grumbled, already hard and eager to take her again.

"I cannot. I am expected elsewhere. If I am not there by dawn, the punishment will be harsh."

He raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "For me? Do you still not understand that I have free rein with Ro's schente?"

"You do not with me," she answered cryptically.

Tol furrowed his brow.

Deliya waved a hand in dismissal of his unspoken question. "Ro Ti will keep his vow to you. Have no doubt of that. He is an honorable man."

"I don't understand."

She sighed. "The punishment will not be yours. It will be mine."

Tol startled, sitting upright in the bed. "Are you saying Ro would harm you?" He wouldn't have thought it of Ro.

Deliya put her hands up in a calming gesture. "Ro and I have -- an arrangement."

"A contract?" he demanded in disbelief. If she made him a traitor, she would regret it.

"No. We have no contract. It is -- an understanding. I gave my word. Please, Tol, if Ro ever learns that I was here tonight, he will be most displeased." She seemed earnest in her concern. Her eyes pleaded with him, and her face was tortured.

Tol started to rise to go to her.

"No Tol. Do not. Please. I have no time to explain. You must forget that you ever met me. For my sake, you must."

"Let me take you to the schente suite," he offered.

"I am not going to the schente suite. I'm going to -- the rooms provided for me."

Tol's heart took up a choppy rhythm as she swept back the drapes and opened the door into his balcony. "What are you doing?"

Deliya managed a weak smile. "Climbing down the iri vines one floor to the war room."

"No. You cannot," he protested.

"I cannot be seen here, Tol. I do this often."

"To see other men?" The thought was like a dagger in his gut.

Her eyes widened. The assumption wounded her. "No," she assured him. "Just to steal moments of peace." She turned toward the door.

"Wait."

Deliya glanced back in surprise.

"Why the war room?"

She blushed. "There are hidden corridors for the king's use."

He nodded. "To the royal chambers," Tol noted bitterly.

Deliya dropped her eyes, blushing deeply. "I am sorry, Tol. That is my place. I have no choice in that. I wish I did."

Before he could answer, she strode through the door and swung it behind her. Deliya threw her legs over the balcony wall as if she intended to cliff dive like a geela bird. Tol vaulted off of the bed and through the door, looking over the edge as she scaled the last body length of vines and dropped lightly onto the lower balcony. Deliya didn't look back as she slipped into the war room. A moment later, her cap hit the glass below, tossed away as she entered the corridor, no doubt.

Tol shivered in the polar chill and slipped back into his room, closing the balcony door and drapes behind him. He fisted the uniform jacket and cloak she left behind. Deliya belonged to Ro. She wasn't Tol's. She would probably never be Tol's, not even to look upon. Was that why she demanded darkness?

He threw the clothing against the wall, frustrated with wanting a woman he couldn't have, the only woman of Ro's he could not have. The clash of metal on metal sent him in the direction of the clothing he threw. Tol pulled them up, shaking them until a heavy woman's hair clip slid from the jacket onto the floor. It was the finest platinum with deep green emi beadwork, the clip of a queen -- or a king's mistress.

Deliya may belong to Ro, but Tol wasn't giving up so easily. He would trade the rest of the schente Ro promised him for his lifetime for this one as his own. Tol knew that the first time she screamed his name at her pinnacle, the first time he took her in his bed.

* * *

Riella slowed her steps as she passed the entrance to her father's rooms. If he found her in the corridor in this state, there was no telling what his reaction would be. Her hair was mussed and was short one of her mother's clips that she couldn't seem to find in the semi-darkness of Tol's rooms. She was dressed as a man and smelled of hours of sex.

She made it through the war room without attracting attention and passed the checkpoint, the one Ro didn't know she knew of that was designed to police her use of the corridors, without detection. Now she simply had to get to her rooms before Ro did.

Riella stilled as she heard her father's voice. He was dressing. She had no time left to be timid. Riella ran flat out, on her toes so her heels wouldn't echo on the stone floor. She pushed open the hidden door into her rooms.

Irin launched toward her from the window. "Oh, Riella," she scolded. "Where--"

"Draw a bath quickly with bubbles and milk. Ro is coming."

Irin's eyes widened, and she ran for the bath. Riella pulled off her boots, hair clip and clothes, closing them in the corridor as she bolted to the bed. She tore her bed apart, rumpling pillows and fisting sheets in her hands. Riella dropped into the tub when it was half full and dunked her hair under the water, scrubbing at her skin furiously.

Irin blushed. "What did you--"

"Later, please. After Ro is gone."

Irin whimpered as Ro pounded on the door.

Riella waved her away. "Do not look at him, Irin. He reads you too well."

Ro appeared in the doorway moments later. He smiled at the sight of Riella lounging in her bath. "Did you sleep well?" he asked.

She smiled. "Very well, Father."

"I have good news for you."

"Really?" Riella adopted the look of a child contemplating her birthday wish. "What is it?"

"Your cousin Benir escaped last night. I know you were vexed by his plight."

She laughed heartily. "Merciful Mag be praised. I knew Benir had it in him."

Ro raised a conspiratorial eyebrow. "I believe I can guarantee that he will not be recaptured."

Riella smiled a sly smile. "And that is why I love you, Ro my father."

Ro's smile fled. He touched her ear and his face hardened. Riella shrank from the fury in his expression.

"Who has injured you?" he demanded.

She brushed her fingers over the abrasion left from Tol's nipping and pulling at her ear. He seemed drawn to the spot. Riella pasted on her most innocent look and shrugged. "One of my schaen was frisky." She smiled at the memory of the exquisite pleasure and pain Tol gave her. "It was quite invigorating."

Ro rolled his eyes and healed it as he had healed so many scrapes and bruises in her life. He sighed. "Which man did this?"

Riella avoided his eyes. "A schaen, Father. I don't know him. You know I wouldn't."

"I will speak to Ven. He will instruct--"

"If he displeased me, I would have already spoken to Ven," she argued.

Ro cupped her chin gently, forcing her eyes to his. "They will never injure you again," he said solemnly.

Riella bit back her fury. "Sex is not always gentle, Father. I've heard your schente talk about your tastes, and the tastes of the other men."

"You are my daughter," he growled.

"I am female," she reminded him stubbornly. "The schaen came first, for the needs of the female."

Ro released her chin. "It is time that you married. I will start the introductions."

Riella groaned. "Not those boring noblemen," she pleaded.

"Who would you marry, then?"

Riella shrugged, toying with the cloth in her hands. "I don't know. Perhaps a military man would be more to my tastes," she suggested.

Her father gave her a searching look. She was pressed to meet his eyes. Finally, he nodded and kissed her forehead.

"I have a meeting I must attend. Will I see you at breakfast?"

"Yes, Father."

"I do love you, Riella. I only want what is best for you."

She sighed. "I know."

* * *

Tol nodded to Ro Ti as he took his seat. The king seemed disturbed, and Tol sent up a prayer that he wasn't upset with Deliya. Tol wasn't certain how to phrase his questions to Ro without causing her some harm in the process. Ro was a hard man, and he wouldn't take well to perceived deceptions, either Tol's or Deliya's.

"You seem out of sorts, Ro." Tol kept his voice low and his eyes on the other generals across the room.

"It is nothing. My daughter--" He sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face.

Tol nodded. He'd only been back at the palace for three months. Following Ro on campaigns and leading them in Ro's stead had kept Tol away for most of the six years his king had been in his debt. As a result, he hadn't met Princess Riella, though he'd heard about her from the schente. She was a haunting beauty with her father's hair and bearing. If any of the men had seen her, they dared not say. It was not their place to look at her.

Tol forced a smile. "You have a new schente," he noted.

Ro furrowed his brow. "When did that happen? Ven hasn't notified me, and he typically makes a habit of presenting every new schente to me for my pleasure."

Tol felt his smile falter. "I'm sorry, Ro. I assumed she was schente." Deliya's cryptic words spun in his mind. Tol had no right to her company. What was Deliya if she wasn't schente? Ro said he'd never take another mate after he lost his Della. Was she some sort of mistress intended only for Ro's use?

The king's eyes narrowed. "Assumed who was schente?"

He shrugged. "A woman I saw leaving your rooms several days ago." It was a safe wager that Deliya would go there at some time.

Ro gave him a searching look. "Tell me about this woman."

Tol tried to hide his nervousness. He affected a contemplative look. "She was tall, almost my own height. She had the face and body of the goddess Fion, and her voice was sex personified."

"You spoke to her?" Ro growled.

"No, but I heard her speak to a guard as she passed him. I must admit that I was spellbound by her. I've been hoping that her turn would come up in rotation ever since." It couldn't hurt to admit that.

Ro darkened in fury. "And her hair?"

"Ro?" Tol was stunned by the force of his anger. Ro looked ready to do battle.

"What color was her hair, Tolerin?" His voice was a dangerous whisper that held a promise of death if Tol supplied the wrong answer to that simple question.

Tol shook his head. Of everything he knew about Deliya, it was the one thing he had no clue of, one of the many things he wished he knew for certain. Even the cap she left in the war room gave him no indication, as if she swept it for telltale hair before she discarded it. She likely had done that very thing. Deliya struck him as that careful.

He met Ro's eyes. "What color hair have all your schente, Ro?" Tol said it carefully, slowly.

Ro's face relaxed. He laughed heartily. "I do have an affinity for black-haired women since I lost my Della. I cannot deny it."

Tol sighed in relief. His discussion with Ro gave him two pieces of information. Deliya didn't have black hair like his other schente, and she wasn't a jewel Ro would ever part with willingly. Tol would never have her in his bed again.

* * *

"You did what?" Irin managed in a horror-choked voice.

Riella cringed at her friend's panic. "It was the only way. I was caught." She sighed. "What can you do?"

"If you conceive? Short of admitting this to your father--"

"No. He'll kill me for this, Irin."

She cracked a smile. "He doesn't dare. There would be civil war amongst your relatives if you didn't take the throne."

"You mean if my husband doesn't," she replied hotly.

Irin's smile disappeared. "I heard his plan."

"Telling Ro is not an option. If he doesn't dare hurt me, he will vent his fury on Tol. I couldn't bear that. Tol did nothing wrong."

She shook her head. "There's always gola berry tea. It will be painful, but it can be treated."

"By a physician who will tell my father what I did. Oh Irin, what have I done?" Riella pressed her fist to her abdomen.

"Be calm. The chances are only one in fifty that you will conceive."

Riella darkened. "They may be higher than that."

Irin looked at her in surprise, her women healer's mind working the possibilities. "Why would they be?"

"We-- I spent the entire night with him, Irin. How does that affect the situation?"

She dropped her forehead to her hands. "How many times did he spill in you and stimulate the drop of an egg?"

"Four."

Irin shot her a pained expression.

"How bad is the situation, Irin?"

"Conservatively? One chance in seven. Be prepared to tell your father."

* * *

Riella sighed as the schaen massaged the knots from her shoulders. She'd been so worried for the last three days that her schaen had no other uses for her. Riella groaned as she remembered having one of them dismissed.

The schaen had wanted to pleasure her sexually, but Riella hadn't been in the mood for it. It wasn't his wish to please her that sealed his fate. It was the way he begged her to let him proceed. She shouted him out of the room and ordered Ven to her, demanding that she never see the man again.

Her father had been livid; believing the schaen had injured her somehow. It took most of an hour for her to assure Ro that she had not been injured. In the end, Riella shouted him out of her rooms as well.

Her schaen knelt before her, massaging her collarbones.

She closed her eyes, imagining Tol's hands in his place. His beautiful black hair and glittering choc eyes danced in her mind. He opened her robe and took her breast in his mouth. Tol didn't ask. He never asked. He took what he wanted. Riella threw her head back and fisted her hands in the quilt beneath her, willing herself not to say his name. If Ro knew Tol was here in her rooms, he would hurt him.

Riella sank to her back, and he followed her down, filling her in a single stroke. She whimpered, moving against his thrusts, going where he wished to go. It wasn't exact. There was something troubling--

She forced the vision of Tol back into focus despite the schaen's shortcomings in comparison. Riella rolled her head against the quilt. She was close, so close with barely a touch from him.

"Yes, princess," he whispered next to her ear.

She felt her arousal melt away. It wasn't Tol. It was just one of the men sent to serve her. The schaen didn't seem to notice the change in her. Riella started to push him away, but the man climaxed and was locked in her depths. Riella cried out in dismay. She didn't release an egg.

The schaen looked at her in surprise. "I did something wrong, Highness?"

Riella dropped her head back. "When you lessen, I want you to leave," she growled.

"Have I displeased you somehow?" he asked nervously.

"Just leave. I don't want you here."

He left, and Riella curled onto her bed and wept.

Irin came, no doubt summoned by the schaen as he left. She gathered Riella into her lap and stroked her hair. "It's happened, hasn't it?"

"I don't understand, Irin."

"What don't you understand?" she crooned, the same calming influence she had been since Riella's body prepared for her first flux at ten and Ro sent Irin to her.

"I want them, but I don't want them. I have no control, and I feel like I'm going mad."

"It's your schen, Riella. Some women feel this, the ones who truly love their mates. I am told your mother was like this with Ro Ti. There is only one that you want now."

"I can't have him, Irin. If my father knew, he'd--"

"He won't hurt you. You know in your heart that he could never bear to hurt you again."

"He would hurt Tol," she grumbled, sick at the prospect.

"Not if you ask for him now."

Riella stilled. "Ask for him?"

"It is still early. No one would ever have to know."

"You want what?" Ro thundered.

Riella forced herself to remain calm as Irin cringed. "I've heard good things about him, Father. He saved your life. I had some of your schente point him out to me. He is very pleasing to the eye."

"That is not enough to contract a marriage, Riella."

"No. It's not. He is an honorable man, a strong man, a man you would surely approve of. There is only one more thing for me to know."

Ro shook his head. "Tolerin is one of my generals. He is not a schaen for your use."

"I don't want a schaen. I'm sick of schaen," she complained bitterly.

"So I've heard," he growled. "Is that what this is? We can get a new group."

"I don't want a new group," she shouted. "I want a man, not a servant. I don't ever want to see a schaen again."

"Why are you asking me for this?" His face and voice issued the challenge she knew would come.

Riella took a shaky breath. "You want me to take a mate. I want to take one, but I want to know that we are compatible before I sign my life away to him. Is that too much to ask?"

"He's not sterile. What if--"

"Irin has been preparing me Walla herb teas in preparation for this. The schaen have confirmed for us that it is working well."

"Irin," he barked. "You have done this?"

Irin took a step back, keeping her eyes downcast so that Ro would not see her nervousness. "It has a very small failure rate, Majesty. There is no danger to the Princess in this. She did ask my help."

Riella nodded. Irin hadn't had to lie in that. Everything she said was true, and if the schaen noticed that she didn't release an egg, it would give appropriate cover for that as well.

Ro scrubbed his hand over his face. "I will ask. If Tolerin refuses this offer, there is nothing I can do to change his mind."

Riella smiled and kissed her father's cheek. Tol would agree if Fion was kind. At the very least, he would be freed of punishment, and she would have momentary relief from her schen. Not even Ro could blame Tol that she was one of the few who experienced failure with Walla herb tea.

She smiled. Tol didn't know what he was in for. He would be meeting a Keen woman in full love-schen.

* * *

Tol strode into Ro's office and bowed deeply. He had no idea why he was called here, so the fact that Ro sent his advisors away made him distinctly nervous. Ro motioned him to a chair, and Tol sank into it. He held his tongue, waiting to see what Ro would say.

"Thank you for coming, Tol." Ro ran a slightly tremulous hand through his silver hair.

"What is this, Ro?" he asked calmly.

"Have you thought of marriage?"

Tol choked on his breath. "Is there a reason for this?"

"Have you?"

"Of course I have, but when would I meet and court someone?" he joked, trying to keep the mood light.

"You know I think of you as a brother, Tol. Or as a son."

"Thank you." He waited for the explanation that would surely follow a proclamation like that.

"My daughter is twenty-two. She has tired of schaen and is of an age to marry, but she resists the nobles she knows are available."

"You wish me to recommend a mate for her?" he asked in confusion.

Ro gave him a searching look not unlike the one he used days ago when Tol asked about Deliya. Tol shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"My daughter has taken an interest in you, Tol."

The blood rushed to his head, making him feel dizzy and flushed. Tol rubbed his neck, knowing a sick headache would accompany a shock like that.

"She offers a trial. For three days, if you are willing, you will stay in her rooms and mate with her while she takes the Walla herb tea that will prevent the release of her eggs."

"And at the end of those three days?"

"If you are not compatible, you are both free to walk away. If you are compatible, there would be a contract, only if you are both willing. I will not force you into anything. You have my vow on that. I would -- consider this a favor, but I ask for nothing that you are not comfortable with."

Tol ran a shaking hand through his hair. Father Mag, how do I get myself into these situations? First Ro's mistress and now his daughter?

"You'd be king, Tol."

His head shot up. "Do you want me to refuse?"

Ro roared in laugher. "And that is why I respect you so much."

"I don't know the woman, Ro."

"Use the three days to get to know her. I think the two of you are of a type."

"How so?"

"She shares your fire and many of your likes."

"If the three days end and we are not compatible, will you hold this against me?"

"I will not. If you are not compatible, I can ask no more."

Tol nodded. "This means that much to you? You'd ask me to do this because it means that much to you?"

"In many ways. I love Riella, but she is stubborn as an untrained buck hottel. I would give anything to see her happy and safe. This is the first sign that she might settle into a union, and she has been so desperately unhappy for the last day or two--"

"She is your only child. Your concern is to be expected."

Ro shook his head. "I respect you, Tol. I love you as a son. It would please me to acknowledge you as such, but it is more than that. Did I ever tell you how my Della died?"

"Only that an enemy killed her."

Ro's eyes filled with pain the likes of which Tol had never seen of him. "My enemy took her from my house and guards while she was heavy with my child. Still, she fought them as long as she could, stalling in hopes that I would come for her before they took her from our home. They meant to force my retreat. It took me five days to hunt them down. When I did, their leader held a blade to Della's throat, but my Della was a jaglin. She would not see me kneel for her." Ro fisted his hands. "I killed them all, but it was too late for Della."

Tol took a steadying breath. "You lost your wife and child?"

"No. The beast did not hesitate to kill my Della only because a servant held my child inside his tent. Della gave her life on a muddy cot without my healing and hands. Her last breath named my daughter for me."

"Riella?"

Ro nodded. "I hadn't approached the subject of a union with her in the two years since she came of age in fear that no one could ever protect her as fiercely as I would. You could do that, Tolerin. You are the only man I trust would. I am relieved that she noticed you."

"I will give her the trial, Ro. I can promise no more than that."

He nodded grimly and rose from behind his desk. "Then come with me."

"Now?"

"She has prepared for your arrival."

"And if I had refused?"

Ro laughed and clapped a hand on his shoulder to guide Tol with him. "Riella is my daughter, Tol."

"Is that a warning?"

"Yes. Had you refused, I have no doubt she would have come to you directly to convince you."

"Without your leave, I would never have presumed--"

Ro raised a telling eyebrow. "I have no doubt that I would never have realized that she'd used the King's corridors until she'd convinced you somehow."

Tol felt a niggling of unease. "Does she seek out men often?"

"Of course not. She's known only her schaen."

"You're sure of that?"

"I'm certain. She is watched always, even when she doesn't realize she is. Riella has only lost her guards twice in her life, and I discovered her mischief within hours. No, Riella has never pursued a man before."

Tol nodded, relieved.

Riella's quarters were at the end of Ro's wing. Tol examined the corridor as they walked, wondering where Deliya's rooms were. Were they within Ro's rooms, or did she have rooms of her own?

Two soldiers bowed and pushed the doors wide for them as they passed. Ro waved them away to a position further down the corridor.

Tol sucked in his breath in surprise, his cock surging to readiness. When Ro said his daughter had prepared for him, Tol hadn't realized he meant she would be presented to him. The green cloak covered her neck to ankle, hiding the body beneath. Her face was covered in a ceremonial mask, the likeness of a jaglin done in black and gray geela bird feathers, the eyes edged in a line of perfect emi bead.

He scanned his eyes slowly from her bare feet to her small chin and full, dark lips to her black eyes and the crowning glory of her bright red hair. What little he could see of her was stunning. This woman would have had little trouble enticing him. Tol swallowed hard.

Ro chuckled. "A good start. I'll leave you to it, Tol." He dropped a kiss on Riella's hair. "Good luck to you," he whispered.

Riella nodded and offered her father a strained smile.

A dark-haired servant stepped to Tol's side as Ro left the room. "Your cloak and jacket, General Tolerin?" she asked.

He stripped them off and handed them to her without taking his eyes from Riella's.

The servant removed them to a cabinet and returned to her mistress' side. "Should I remove Her Highness' cloak, or is it your pleasure to do so?"

"Mine?" he asked, stunned. Tol never expected this honor. Royalty had women presented to them. It was not done for landless nobles in the king's service, even those who made general by the age of thirty.

The servant smiled openly. "It is your choice, General." Her hand moved to the tie at Riella's neck.

Tol strode to them, brushing the servant's hand away in irritation. He pulled the ties open in quick succession and pushed her cloak to the floor.

He looked at Riella breathlessly. The green silin gown was slit from neck to waist in a wide vee that showcased her perfect, pale skin and the swell of her breasts. A second slit reached from her ankle to the crease of her left thigh.

Riella shifted nervously, and he caught a flash of her tattoo through the slit. The tattoo had been given to her while she was a baby to identify her if she was ever taken. It was the symbol of Ro's personal banner, a star surrounded by opposing crescent moons. Tol had a sudden urge to drop to his knees and explore all of her starting with that little red tattoo.

"Servant, leave us," he growled.

Tol heard the door close behind her. He reminded himself several times that this was Ro's daughter, the Princess, and not a woman to simply sate in, not that Tol didn't take pride in bringing even schente to screaming release. Not that Riella was a virgin. She'd had schaen to dampen her hungers for the last seven years.

That thought made Tol ache, made him want to throw every schaen out of the palace before he took her. Had Riella had her servant take her barrier in the privacy of her bath or had she selected a ceremonial schaen to take it for her and be immediately retired from his service? The imagined sight of a schaen, his cock stained in her maiden's blood, made him furious.

Tol felt the last of his control fly. He pulled Riella to his chest, seeking her mouth in a crazed haze of need. Lizor blooms teased his nose, and he groaned. Was this a scent every woman in Ro's household wore, or did one of them use a little of the other's bottle? It mattered not. In that instant, Tol knew Ro could have Deliya with his thanks if the fiery woman in his arms was his.

Riella moaned into his mouth, her hands busy at the tie at the neck of his tunic. She was like fire in his hands. Her skin, cool at his first touch, burned hot under his wandering palms. She stripped his tunic off and explored his chest, her breathing harsh and her eyes wide behind her mask. Tol reached for it, wanting to see the beauty he'd heard of.

She captured his hand, backing a step from him. "No." Her voice was a hoarse gasp.

"As you wish, Highness," he assured her, frustrated by her refusal.

Riella blinked. "Please, do not call me that. Do not make me your princess."

"What would you have from me?"

She seemed at a loss. "Let me-- Let me please you."

He smiled, wrapping his hands around her waist. "You do please me," he growled playfully.

"No." Riella placed her hand on his chest, a shaking hand. "Put your pleasure in my hands."

Tol's smile disappeared. "I am not a schaen, Riella."

She pushed away from him, looking close to tears. "I never made such an offer to a schaen," she protested.

"If this is what you wish in a mate--"

"I asked for your complete trust. I asked you to put yourself in my hands once."

Tol raised an eyebrow in disbelief. What was her game? "This is a test?"

"No." She turned from him, shaking her head. "This will never work. A woman may place her fate in a man's hands over and over, but she may never be his equal."

He placed his hands on her shoulders, kneading the tension from her. "I'm sorry, Riella."

"No. I'm sorry I wasted your time, General Tolerin. Please-- Please leave me."

"I had no idea you felt this strongly about it. If you need this from me to feel you will have my respect, I offer it freely."

"I don't want you to," she assured him in a choked voice.

"If you will promise me the same, complete control of your pleasure at another time, I offer myself. I thought--"

Riella turned to him. "I don't want a puppet," she breathed. "I want you to be mine for this one encounter."

He pulled her back to his chest. "Then make me yours." Tol captured her mouth, excited by the possibilities of being at her whims.

"Disrobe for me," she ordered.

Tol backed off a step and pulled off his boots and trousers. She bit her lip as she ran her fingertips over the engorged head of his cock. Tol growled his satisfaction, his muscles bunching as he stifled the urge to drive his cock into her. He made a promise, and his pleasure was in Riella's hands.

"Lay on the bed. In the center of the bed," she instructed.

He smiled. Complying with her requests was generating a sense of anticipation and excitement humming over his nerves and pooling in his groin. When Riella turned with the silin bands in her hands, he groaned, his cock pulsing as he extended his arms over his head for the soft binding to come. The feel of silin sliding against his pulse points sent tremors of heat through his body. Tol rotated his wrists against them and clenched his teeth in the force of his arousal.

Riella slid her left leg through the slit in the gown, baring Ro's tattoo as she knelt on the bed. She moved her eyes over him from his feet, slightly spread and unbound, to the length of him straining toward her. Riella paused there, her breathing quick and color high.

As her eyes moved up his chest, his male nipples hardened. Tol bit back his urge to spill. He never realized a woman could affect him this way, that being helpless to a woman could affect him this way. He pulled against the bonds, letting the silin bite, then slide against his wrists.

She touched the bands. "Are they too tight?" she whispered in that same slightly hoarse voice.

"I may ask you never to remove them, Riella." When she was his, he'd convince her to do this again.

"Good." She leaned over him and ran her hands down his arms, from the silin bands to his shoulders, tracing every muscle carefully.

Tol shivered at her touch, raising his head to capture the breast so close to his mouth. Riella pressed a kiss to the silin band, arching further into the heat of his mouth. She played her fingers through his hair, panting as he teased and suckled her to a hard point of arousal.

He released her. "Bring me the other," he ordered.

Riella shook her head and backed away on the bed.

Tol dropped his head back to the pillows, grumbling in frustration. Not touching her was maddening. He stilled as her hands started at his ankles, exploring his legs as she had his arms. Riella dipped her tongue in the deep scar on his thigh, the scar from the blow he took in Ro's stead. Tol raised his head to watch her.

Her fingers circled his length, massaging him, squeezing him, enticing him to bring forth droplets of his readiness. Riella sank her mouth to suck at the engorged knob, drinking him as he would her.

Tol pulled at his bound hands, frantic to free himself. He wanted to stop her before he disgraced himself by completing in her mouth. He wanted Riella to take him deeper into that moist heat so unlike a woman's core. Tol closed his eyes, tortured by the new sensations. He cried out and bucked into her, pleading wordlessly for the pleasure she offered.

Riella sank her mouth around him, running her tongue over the corded veins along his length. She pulled back, and Tol opened his eyes, shaking while he waited for her next move. Riella laid a kiss on the tip and sucked him deep, teasing the sensitive bundle of nerves under the head slowly. Again and again, she repeated the motion until Tol's muscles were tensed in preparation to spill in her mouth. He didn't care if he did; knowing such a release would surely be as sublime as the rest of the experience.

She rose up over his thighs, spreading the slit of her skirt to uncover the red curls hidden beneath to him. "I was wet for you when you entered my rooms," she whispered. "Would you like to sample how ready I am?"

"Yes." Oh Fion, what torture is this? "Let me taste you." His mouth watered. He would give anything to run his tongue through her honeyed slit.

Riella smiled and guided his cock to the well of her honey, dropping just far enough to encase him within her lips. "Taste me," she invited. "Drink deep."

Tol bucked his hips, groaning in pleasure as her body pulsed around him. Riella dropped the last finger widths with a mewling cry, already close to release.

"Untie me," Tol growled. "Untie me and let me touch you."

"What would you do? Tell me." She raised herself and took him deep again. Her hands went to her breasts, stroking her already rigid nipples.

"Yes," he urged her, stroking his cock in her in long, slow gyrations of his hips. "I would touch your breasts. I would run my thumbs over your nipples."

Riella circled her nipples with the pads of her thumbs, her breathing ragged and her eyes closed. Tol kept the easy rhythm he'd started, watching avidly as she enacted his fantasies for him.

"I'd squeeze your nipple, pinch it lightly." Watching her was driving him to the edges of sanity, but it was more arousing than he'd ever found actually doing the things he described with other women.

She did as he suggested, gasping at the sensation of the slight pain mixed with her pleasure. Riella was so beautiful, so responsive.

"I'd pull back your skirts and stroke the bud of your pleasure while I took you."

Riella shivered, her hands traveling down the front of her gown, leaving her nipples peaked against the silin in invitation. He snapped his eyes back to her hands as she pulled the slit up. Her curls reappeared, framing her hand, as Riella dipped her fingers to her core. She moaned as she stroked herself.

Tol quickened his pace, the sight of her hands stroking herself almost more than he could bear. Riella's fingers skated over his length as he eased in and out of her depths, and he ground his teeth in frustration. If she touched him, he would never outlast her.

"No. I wouldn't seek my pleasure," he reprimanded her. "I'd seek yours."

Her fingers returned to her nub, stroking herself until she was rocking in counterpoint to his thrusts.

"It's not fast enough for you. I'd stroke faster."

She did. Riella looked at him with glazed eyes. She just needed one more push to send her over into bliss.

"I'm going to take the taste you denied me, Riella. When my turn comes, I'm going to taste every inch of your body. I'm going to taste my possession of you and know I own you."

Her body rippled over his shaft. She pushed down on him hard. "Tol!" His name was a ragged scream on her lips -- like the first time in his bed.

Tol roared in a combination of denial and possession. Only one woman ever had leave to call him that. Only one woman ever had, in the heat of passion, pushed her core around his cock as she did now.

His senses exploded. Colors danced before his eyes, the green, red, white, black, and berry of Riella. The mixed scents of lizor, female honey, and musk teased his lungs. Her breathless whispers of his name over and over sang in his ears and along his bruised nerves. The silin of his bonds and her contracting core stole the last of his control.

His seed came fast and hard, stealing his breath. Riella muttered an oath to Fion as the heat swirled within her. Her hands gripped at his ribs. She dropped her chin to her chest, panting as their bodies locked.

"Take off your mask, Deliya," he ordered in a fierce whisper.

Riella raised her eyes to meet his. She pulled off the mask with a shaking hand, dropping her face and fighting back tears.

His cock lessened as his fury stole his arousal. "Release me," he growled.

Riella shook her head. He couldn't leave yet. Not like this.

Tol pulled at his bound hands, his muscles straining in the effort. "Release me," he demanded.

"Not until we discuss this. Please, Tol." She knew he would be angry. She knew he wouldn't want to listen. That was why she needed to bind him. If Riella had any chance to explain, it would be now, but she had counted on revealing herself to him before he discovered the truth.

"Your hair." He scowled at her. "You wanted the darkness so I wouldn't see your hair."

"Or my tattoo," she admitted.

"You lied to me."

"Yes. I did. I'm sorry for that."

"You said you were one of Ro's schente."

"I didn't. I said I was one of his women."

Tol pulled at his bonds, the wood slats of her bed creaking dangerously under his assault. He looked back to her with murder in his eyes. "You knew what I meant, Riella."

She nodded miserably.

"Do you know what you did? I almost revealed us to Ro in an effort to find you. I could have gotten myself killed."

"I told you not to," she whispered; though the fact that he searched for her thrilled her.

"Why did you go to my room with me?" he demanded.

"For two reasons. The first was my father. Almost any price was worth saving him embarrassment."

"And the other?" he sneered.

"I wanted to. I wanted you," she assured him.

"You could have told me."

"But, I knew--" She faltered.

"Knew what?"

"You wouldn't have touched me. You would have dragged me to Ro."

"You made me a traitor," he accused.

She winced. "No. The fault was mine. I would have admitted it if we were caught, Tol. I told you the punishment would be mine. I meant that."

His expression announced his mistrust. "You've explained. Release me."

"You hate me," she choked out.

Tol glared at her, motioning to his bound hands with his eyes.

Riella eased off of him, heartsick that he seemed intent on leaving her. Her hand wavered over his bound wrist. There was only one chance left for her. "The contract was a legitimate offer, Tol. I will not keep you here if you wish to go. The choice is yours. I just want you to know that I've never stopped wanting you."

She released his right wrist without waiting for his answer. Riella looked away, hiding her tears as he tore at the other band.

The bed shifted beneath her as Tol walked away. He pulled on his clothing and boots from the floor. Then he retrieved his jacket and cloak. He paused at the door. "I'll make sure you get your hair clip back, Princess."

Riella nodded, biting back her sobs until the door closed behind him and his footsteps faded away down the hall. She pulled off her presentation gown and reached for a heavy winter robe hung behind her bed.

She would have to admit this to her father soon. Another few days should be long enough. Riella wasn't sure what Ro would do, but he wouldn't force a contract under the circumstances, and he wouldn't harm Tol.

His freedom was all she had left to give Tol. It was what he wanted, and it was the least he deserved. He took a schente to his bed. That was all he bargained for. Riella couldn't expect more of him than that.

* * *

Tol stormed into his room and started pacing the floor. He scooped up her hair clip, wishing he could crush it in his fist.

Riella lied to him. She demanded his trust, but she didn't trust him enough to tell him who she really was. Ro's daughter! She was never intended for him. Riella wasn't his to look at or speak to, wasn't his to touch and love. She could be. She offered that. Ro offered that, and you refused it.

Tol threw her clip at the bed as he turned back toward the windows; muttering a curse and fisting his shaking hands. Of course he refused her. She could have gotten him killed with her games. She made a fool of him -- twice, first on the night he brought her here and again today.

He turned back toward the bed, waving his arms in mute supplication to the gods. How blind was he? How could so radiant and sensual a creature be schente? The sweet music of her body when he stimulated her alone--

Tol stumbled, landing on his knees in heart-pounding shock. Riella was releasing eggs that night, and he was a fertile male. Today-- He groaned. She didn't. He was sure she didn't, but it wasn't Walla herb tea that stopped her. Riella wouldn't have use of the tea with her schaen. She wouldn't have been using it when he took her the first night, and three days was not enough time for the drug to build up in her system to be of any use today.

"Mother Fion! What have I done?" His mind whirled. What would she do? He'd refused her contract. Would Riella admit the truth to Ro? He was a hard man, but he doted on her. Would Ro actually harm her as Riella believed the morning after she came to his room? The punishment will be mine.

Tol rose and stumbled to the bed. He picked up her clip and turned it in his hand. Would she do something drastic? He considered Riella's mad scheme to free Benir, wearing a stolen uniform and going unarmed. She would do something drastic.

"Gola berry tea," he breathed. Tol shoved the clip in his pocket and made the distance to her rooms in a quarter of the time it took him to reach his own. He pushed past her surprised guards and waved them away as he bolted inside.

Riella sat, curled in a long, winter robe in a comfortable chair by the fire. Her face was swollen and tear-stained. She paled as she looked at him. Riella waved a hand at the bed. "Just leave the clip there," she managed.

Tol looked at the mug in her other hand in stunned disbelief. He crossed the room in two long strides, plucking the mug from her fingers and smashing it against the wall. Tol took her shoulders and drew her to her feet, fighting the urge to shake her.

"You will not do this," he growled. "You have no right to do this."

Riella shrank from him. "I don't understand," she whispered.

The door flew open, and her guards rushed in. They stood, frozen in indecision at the scene before them.

"Leave us," Tol ordered them.

The two men looked at each other in confusion then looked to Riella for confirmation.

"Leave us," he thundered.

"Please leave," Riella stated with all the dignity she could muster.

"And lock the door," Tol added.

Riella nodded her approval of that request.

The guards nodded and went into the corridor, latching the door behind them. Tol turned his fury back to Riella.

She met his eyes calmly, stiffening her spine. "Explain yourself," she ordered.

"Explain myself?" Her gall was amazing. "Did you ever plan to tell me, or were you just going to take the coward's way?"

"You're calling me a coward?" she shouted.

"What would you call it?"

"Giving you your freedom as you chose," she growled. "This way, no one will question that it was an honest mistake."

He pulled her to his chest, the urge to shake her quickly becoming the urge to throttle her. "Honest mistake? Killing my child would be an honest mistake?" he managed in a fierce whisper.

Her face darkened. "Are you mad? I'm not--"

"The tea? What am I supposed to believe?"

"The truth."

"Which is what?" he retorted, raising his voice again. "Since that seems to be a rather sticky subject with you."

"It was lizor berry tea to calm my nerves." She pushed at his chest and punched him when he held his ground. "Let me go," she shouted.

"What honest mistake?" he demanded.

"Getting pregnant, you idiot." She tried to push him away again.

Tol tightened his grip and pulled her closer to his chest. "Why did you ask for me?"

Riella glared at him. "To expunge all proof of your guilt," she spat in a low, dangerous voice.

"What?" His voice echoed off the walls.

She didn't raise her voice in return, and her voice became the matter-of-fact voice of a patient tutor. "No matter what you decided, everyone would believe I conceived today. No one needs to know about anything else."

Her logic cut through his fury. Tol released her. Riella backed from him, rubbing her shoulders where his hands gripped a moment before. She turned toward her bed, leaving him standing there, gasping for breath as his mind worked at what she'd just said.

He shook his head. Riella did all of this to save him from Ro's wrath? "I'll sign the contract," he whispered.

Riella turned on him, eyes wide. "No."

"Riella--"

"It's not enough to base a marriage on. I won't do it."

"Riella--"

"You rejected me. You don't want a contract. You want your freedom. Well, you've got it." She pressed her hands to her abdomen, to his child. "I won't sign it."

Tol strode to her, pulling her back to his chest and taking her mouth. Riella's skin heated to his touch, her mouth urgent against his. It was her schen, and it was wonderful. He massaged her shoulders and back, feeling her unknot in his hands. Her pregnancy signs were already in full sway, and it was his child in her womb.

She lay her head to his shoulder when he released her mouth. Riella trembled, fighting her needs to preserve her case against him. Tol wasn't fooled by it. She needed him, and she wanted him. There was no way he was letting her go now.

Tol sighed. "You know there's more."

"It's schen. I'll survive it. Other women have."

"It's not just schen. It was there that night. Deny it if you must, but you know I'm right."

She shook her head against his chest.

"I tried to find you that same morning. I never wanted to let you go."

Riella pushed away from him, putting an arm's length between them. "You managed it well enough," she noted bitterly.

"I was angry. You lied to me. You're still lying to me. I don't hate you. I hate what you did."

"Then we're even."

"We're signing that contract," he warned.

"You cannot force me to."

"I can convince you."

"It won't work."

Tol stepped to her again. "That is my child, and you will marry me. No further explanation is necessary."

"Except to me." Ro's voice came from a hidden door opening in the far wall. He raised one hand holding the clothing she wore to free Benir and opened the other to reveal the second hair clip. Ro stepped from the secret corridor, looking from one to the other of them with a raised eyebrow.

Tol pulled the matching clip from his pocket and tossed it on the bed.

Ro nodded grimly and turned his eyes to Riella.

She dropped to the bed and shook her head in disbelief. "It's my fault, Father. Tol didn't know who I really was. I lied to him."

Ro walked to the bed and dropped her clothes in a pile in front of her. "You told him you were schente?"

She nodded.

He looked back to Tol. "It was Riella you were looking for?"

Tol sighed and nodded.

His jaw tightened. Ro crossed his arms over his chest and gave Riella a grim look that made her drop her eyes and Tol wonder if Ro would really hurt her. "How could you hide it?" Ro demanded. "Your hair and your tattoo?"

Riella closed her eyes, rubbing at her forehead. Tol grimaced in understanding. He leaned down and healed her headache. She didn't fight the move, and Tol took heart in that small favor. Ro shot him a dangerous look and fisted his hands in warning.

Tol put his hands up in a calming gesture. "Her pregnancy signs, Ro. It is my baby. Please understand." He didn't add that Ro left him in this very room not long ago with the understanding that Tol was going to be a lot more intimate with Riella than a simple healing.

Ro nodded and unfisted his hands. "How did she hide it from you? Convince me."

Tol rubbed the stiffness finally settling in the back of his neck. "She asked for a dark room, and I complied."

"Before that," he growled. "How could it get that far?"

Riella motioned to the clip Tol threw on the bed. "I had a captain's cap -- a full uniform. Tolerin got close enough to see that I was female, but I had hidden my identity."

Ro paled. "The soldiers could have killed you before they knew who you were."

Tol snorted. "She went unarmed as well."

Riella wiped away a tear. "I couldn't steal an appropriate dagger to match the uniform. The uniform is easy to steal, the weapon not so easily taken. The men won't realize one set of clothing is missing for only a day, but their weapon is another matter."

Ro crossed to the chair she sat in earlier and sank into it, looking shaken. He looked to Tol hopelessly. "Thank you, Tolerin."

Tol raised an eyebrow. "For?"

"For not killing her when you caught her."

Riella flopped back on her bed, burying her face in her hands.

Tol nodded, suddenly feeling the need to defend her actions. "It was pure luck that I caught her, I assure you. Her plan was nearly perfect in construction and execution. She couldn't foresee that I would cross her path. No one should have been where she was."

Ro shook his head. "Then why were you there?"

Tol smiled. "Because I thought Benir would be. No one should have been there. He would know that."

Riella barked in laughter. "Benir had three other options. I was the one who had to make it back inside the palace."

"Three?" Tol asked in disbelief.

Riella and Ro both nodded mutely.

"I need to know where they are to increase security." Tol shot Ro a look of confusion. Why would he leave known entryways unguarded?

Ro sighed. "The stable, the east guard tower, and the electrical supply station."

Riella laughed again. "The east guard tower has been blocked for five years, Father. I meant the one at the ammo station."

"Ah yes. I forgot. I blocked that one after you and Benir smuggled in your precious baby jaglin."

"You must admit that the menagerie has nothing to match her in beauty or spirit."

Ro smiled widely. "True. Where is the entrance at the ammo station?"

"I'll draw maps for Tol." She rubbed her abdomen absently, her smile disappearing. "Benir and I won't be using them any time soon, and they'll need blocked off before--"

Tol set his jaw. "You will marry me."

"I will not," she insisted.

Ro looked at her in surprise. "You suggested the contract," he reminded her.

Riella winced. "And Tolerin refused me. A child doesn't change that. The offer is rescinded."

Ro stood and took a menacing step toward him. "You what?"

Tol sighed. "I was angry. She lied to me -- who she was, what she was. I didn't learn the truth until she-- At climax, she--" He waved his arms hopelessly. "I needed time, Ro. She wanted an answer."

Ro smiled. "In that case, I rule that Riella may not rescind her offer of a contract."

She shot up on the bed, her fists on her hips. "I won't sign it. Even you cannot force me, Father."

"You will live to the contract you agreed to, three days in this room with Tolerin -- starting now. Your meals will be delivered to you. The hidden corridor will be bolted from the outside, and guards will be posted at the door with instructions that you are confined here -- both of you."

Tol nodded and motioned for Ro's attention. "May I suggest having someone cut the iri vines along these portions of wall?"

Riella paled. "I'm pregnant, you oaf. Do you honestly think--"

Tol pulled her head to him and planted a kiss on her lips. "Yes. I do." He released her and ducked her blow with a self-satisfied smile.

Ro chuckled. "You know my daughter well, Tolerin."

"I've seen her climbing abilities. We are well matched in many ways."

Riella scowled at him. "We are well matched in one. That done, I find no further use for you."

Ro shook his head. "In three days, you will have to prove that to me."

Tol motioned to Ro again. "There was another verbal contract made."

Riella launched off the far side of the bed. "You don't dare," she shouted. "I will not agree."

"You have agreed," Tol reminded her.

"I will not submit then."

Ro looked to Tol. "What is this contract?"

"It was not a contract," Riella protested.

Ro shot her a stern look. "You gave your word?"

Riella shifted from foot to foot. "Before he rejected me. His rejection releases me."

"What was this promise you made?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the hidden door in longing.

"Tolerin?" Ro asked gruffly.

Tol bit back a smile. "That she give me free rein sexually, put her pleasure completely in my hands."

"I've been freed by your rejection," she repeated.

"I've fulfilled my end of the bargain. You owe yours."

"Well, you've already collected on it, haven't you? Several times over, if memory serves."

"That is separate, existing before the current contract and has no bearing."

Ro gave her a quelling look. "A princess is bound by her word, Riella. You know that. Tolerin deferred his decision on marriage, nothing more. You will keep your end of the bargain."

She looked to the bed nervously.

Ro headed for the hidden corridor. "I'll just bolt this on the way out." He kissed Riella's forehead. "I would tell you to behave, but I know you better, and so does Tol. I trust he can handle what comes from here."

Riella dropped her face. "I would appreciate a fresh lizor berry tea from Irin since General Tolerin saw fit to smash my mug."

"No," Tol decided. "No teas."

Ro looked back at him in surprise. "Tolerin?"

He gave Ro a fierce look. "There are better ways to induce sleep, and I do not trust unknown quantities when it comes to Riella and my child."

"I'm not going to poison myself," Riella growled at him.

"No. You're not," he agreed.

Ro's smile returned. "I don't think teas and servants are advisable for the three days of decision." He disappeared through the narrow doorway a split second before one of Riella's boots struck it.

Tol strode toward her, noting her shaky retreat with a measure of satisfaction. He could handle Riella's uncertainty and unbalance but not her cold dismissal.

She motioned to the bed. "I suppose you intend to collect on our agreement now."

He shook his head. "I defer." Tol untied the belt of her robe.

"Then what are you doing?"

"You need calming."

"This isn't calming," she replied weakly.

Tol pushed the robe off of her shoulders. "You can't bathe in your clothes."

* * *

Riella pulled away from Tol in the large, circular tub. "This really isn't necessary. I've been bathing myself for quite some time. I assure you, I won't drown."

He slid to her side again, tracing the hand cloth over her collarbones, the fringe at the edge tracing over her nipples and causing them to pucker in anticipation of his touch. "The agreement said that we would get to know each other, learn if we are sexually compatible."

"This isn't sexual," she protested weakly. She wished her convictions were stronger, but her body was making a liar out of her by its heated responses.

"It is loveplay."

Riella started to protest, but Tol cupped her breast in his hand, circling his thumb over her nipple through the cloth, and she couldn't form the words to protest anything. He moved to the other without a word, taking as she loved him to take.

"You are so beautiful," he breathed into her ear as he bit it lightly.

She found her center. Riella started giggling uncontrollably.

Tol shot her a look of disbelief. "What in Len's underworld is so funny?" he demanded.

Riella tried to adopt a serious face and failed utterly. The giggles kept coming. "You're going to have to remember to use your healing magic after sex," she commented.

"I don't--"

She waved him off. "Ro wanted to take you apart when he saw the mark from your last --handling of my ear."

Tol darkened. "He was very upset that morning."

She sobered. "Yes. He was."

"With you?"

"A bit. He was more upset with whatever man dared mark me."

"What did you do?"

Her smile returned. "It was all right. I said one of my schaen got frisky, and since I wouldn't remember which schaen--"

Tol turned around her, settling on his knees between her thighs. Riella backed into the side of the tub, her smile disappearing as Tol's arms caged her in. A crazed look lit his face. She flicked a look down his body, past the strata of muscles on his chest and the sprinkling of dark hair to the length of him, growing thicker by the moment. Riella snapped her eyes back to his face and that savage, battle-ready look. His near-fury was strangely arousing.

Riella licked her lower lip, and Tol followed the movement. He pulled her toward him, his cock sliding into her as their bodies came together. His movements were tender, his expression fierce, and the entire situation excited Riella in a way she couldn't define. Was it that he was taking what he wanted without apology or the possessive way he did it? She couldn't say.

"Whose cock pierces you, Riella?" His voice was seductive.

She bowed into his thrusts. "Yours," she gasped.

"Whose child grows in your womb?"

"Tolerin's child."

"Whose?" He licked at her earlobe, sucking it into his mouth.

Riella's body pulsed in response. "Yours."

"No one else will touch you. Not while I live. You will disband your schaen and send them away. I do not want to kill them. Do not make me. Disband them."

She wrapped her legs around his hips and invited him deeper. "I already have."

Tol's eyes widened in surprise. "You have?"

Riella nodded slowly.

"When?" He laid a kiss along her throat, and Riella offered her neck more fully to him in response.

"Before I asked for you. My father offered me a new group, but I refused. I told him I didn't want to see another schaen."

"Why?"

She darkened and turned her face away.

"Whose cock pierces--"

"Yours," she sobbed.

"Why did you disband them?"

"I don't want them."

"Despite your schen, you don't want them?"

She shook her head. "Because of my schen--" Riella grimaced. The words were out before she considered the consequences. She snapped her mouth shut.

"Explain." It was an order, but one spoken in the same crooning voice that held her captive in her desire.

Riella shook her head. She could not -- would not tell him. Refusing him was hard enough.

Tol changed his angle, sending her into a wave of heat. "Whose cock--"

"No," she shouted.

"Did you take them? After me?"

She bit her lower lip, refusing to answer him.

"Did you?" His voice never changed. It was still the same steady, calming tone despite the fever in his eyes.

"Did you? Did you take a schente after me?" she countered angrily. "I've heard that Tolerin is never a day without schente." She didn't add that the schente loved that about him.

His eyes went wide in shock. "No. I didn't."

Riella burst into tears. "Why?" she choked. She hated how weak and needy her pregnancy made her.

"A man can't perform if certain portions balk." He kissed her brow. "Tell me."

"A woman can -- to a point."

"Tell me." His voice went gruff.

She shook her head. "I convinced myself-- But it didn't last." She shuddered. "I waited too long to try to stop it. By the time I pushed away--"

"He climaxed before you could end it?"

Riella nodded slowly, fresh tears coursing down her face. "My schen was strong but--" She took a ragged breath.

"But you wanted me?" His expression was heartbreakingly hopeful.

She stared at him through the tears in her eyes. She had to free him. This was not something she could admit to him and still do that.

"Whose--"

She dropped her eyes. "Yes. I imagined--" Why was she admitting this? He'd know what it meant.

"You imagined his hands were mine? His cock--"

Riella sobbed then laughed harshly. "That part was more difficult," she admitted.

Tol's mouth came down on hers, and his body increased speed until she gasped in response. Riella threw her head back as the tremors in her womb took her whole body. Tol exploded within her, locking his hot seed deep inside. She screamed in pleasure at the heat mixing with her climax.

He nipped at her ear then healed the slight pain away. "You're not going to force me to retreat, Riella. If your schaen were not enough and you had to imagine my body to attempt what you did, you love me. I will not permit another man to touch you, now or ever."

Riella sighed, pressing her cheek against his chest. "It's not enough for a contract," she breathed, her eyes closed and her mind muddled. It wasn't enough. If he didn't love her, it would never be enough.

Tol lessened in her. He lifted Riella from the bath and dried her carefully, the soft cloth heating her traitor body again. Tol didn't press for more. He placed her on the bed and pulled the quilts over her.

He kissed her cheek gently. "Sleep, Riella. I will be here when you wake."

She sighed. That was the torture of this contract.

* * *

Tol sat on the bedside. He stroked one of Riella's curls between his fingertips as she slept. He sighed as he kissed the curl and left her side, his fists pushed deep in the pockets of the lounging pants brought, along with many of his other belongings, while they bathed.

"It's not enough," he grumbled. "Why in Len's name did I refuse her?" Because she lied to me? A few moments earlier, he'd been determined that he'd sign the contract with her, that he'd never let another man touch her, that he'd never leave her bed and body.

It would be enough. Before he was through she'd sign the contract. Riella would give him a fine, strong son -- or a daughter.

Tol shuddered. A daughter of Riella? The thought was frightening. No wonder Ro had gone silver-haired at fifty. Sneaking baby jaglin in, escaping the palace, climbing iri vines-- Father Mag, you do protect the bold.

He sat at the small desk and penned a note to Ro, his hand shaking. Riella's tale of her encounter with the schaen left him scattered. For their safety, the servants had best be well clear of the palace by the end of his three days of confinement. And there would be guards at the secret exits Riella used. There would be no escape from him. Tol passed the message to one of the guards and closed the door again.

The bed drew him, his weariness and the urge to touch Riella forcing him to the warmth beneath the quilts. Riella didn't fight him when Tol pulled her to his chest. She turned to him and tangled her fingers in the curls between his male nipples.

"You will be mine," he breathed. "I will convince you to me somehow." But how could he convince her? If she refused him, what could he do? At the end of the three days, what proof would Ro demand? Would her father bow to her demand to be freed from the contract, or would he extend their time together to allow Tol more time to win her?

Riella woke to the smell of lunch. Her stomach grumbled at the smell of lamor in cream sauce. She sighed, feeling incredibly relaxed and warm. Riella moved her cheek against the pillows stacked to her chest, a strange excitement coursing through her veins.

Visions of hot, urgent sex filled her mind. A door was to her back, the rough weave of a uniform jacket to her chest. Tol's cock was buried in her, his breath hot on her cheek as he bit at her ear. Riella moaned, her fingers gripping at the pillow. His scent teased her, and her core overflowed with cream. She moved her legs restlessly, feeling the weave of his trousers under her thighs. A moment more, and she would feel his heat invading her and his cock lock into her body.

The pillows shifted, and hair rasped past her cheek; bringing more of Tol's scent with it. Her eyes snapped open and the last day flooded back to her. Would she ever wake peacefully as long as Tol was here to torment her? Riella scrambled off the bed, fighting the riot in her blood. She couldn't touch him. She couldn't give in again. Every time he played her body, she lost more of her control.

Tol regarded her calmly. "Are you hungry?"

She nodded, moving to the table and chairs that had silently taken their places while she slept after their bath the day before. Tol's hand touched her shoulder, and Riella pulled away, covering her beaded nipples, the proof that her schen might win.

He held a robe out to her. "You'll be cold," he whispered. "Your pregnancy signs."

Riella nodded, taking the robe and pulling it on without meeting his eyes. She sank into one of the chairs and poured a cup of milk, hoping it would ease the squirming in her stomach.

Tol filled a plate and set it before her. Riella chanced a look at his face and dropped her eyes again. Tol confused her, unnerved her. His expression seemed to shift from concern to longing to an expression she never thought she'd see on Tol -- uncertainty.

He hadn't made love to her properly since the tub, saying that he would only take that release again when they had reached an understanding about the contract that lay unresolved between them. As far as Riella was concerned, they already had. Tol only wanted a contract for his child, and that was not enough for her. There would be no contract.

"You should eat," he whispered.

"I won't starve my baby, and I won't poison it either. I am not the monster you paint me."

"Our baby," he reminded her gently. "I know you won't. I was angry. I said things I didn't mean. I will convince you of the truth."

Riella stared into the cup, biting back tears. Damn the pregnancy signs! She'd never been the weepy, feminine type and didn't intend on starting now.

"Riella?"

"I don't need you. You wanted freedom. I gave it to you. You needn't do this."

"Do you know what I was thinking when I was tied to your bed?"

"That's obvious, isn't it?" she snapped at him. "You wanted the contract."

"Yes. I did."

She shook her head. "Of course you did. I'm what every man wants -- on the surface. It's when you find the woman behind the mask that you change your mind."

"I don't understand."

"Every man wants the princess, the daughter of Ro Ti -- and everything that entails. It is Riella that is not palatable."

"Entails?"

"My beauty. My sensuality. My--"

"All of that is Riella," he decided.

"My throne," she whispered. "Some hold over my father."

"That is the point I balked on."

She scowled at his earnest look.

"Ask Ro. He wouldn't lie about something so elemental."

"Yes, he would. You must not know Ro very well. If it meant marrying me off and ensuring the future--"

"Your future. Do you have any concept what will happen if he dies before you wed? Or if you marry a weak man?"

"I am not the weakling he takes me for. I am not as sheltered as he believes. He excludes me, but I use the hidden corridors and stealth to learn what I want to know."

"He knows that. There are only two times in your life that he could not account for your whereabouts."

She pressed her fist to her womb miserably. "Perhaps it would have been better if he had known."

"No. It wouldn't."

"Because you feel you have a claim on me now." A tear escaped down her cheek.

"Because I got to know the real you, the Riella you hide from the rest of the world."

"It was an act. I played schente for you. There was nothing of me in that." She knew she lied, but the lie was easier than admitting that she bared her soul to him.

"You weren't playing schente. If you had, you would have left me after that first time like a schente."

"I was in your debt. You wanted more."

"You wanted more," he countered.

"I won't deny that. You're very potent, very talented." And the thought of leaving tore me apart. That was the part he didn't need to know.

"I saw what I wanted and took it. You craved that. Being the leader is tiring. You want me to take."

"Then why did I tie you to my bed?" she challenged, needing to deny how easily he read her intentions.

"Besides keeping me from harming you when I learned the truth?"

Riella blushed at his insight.

"You wanted my trust. If I trusted you, I might stay. I forgot to trust you. I am sorry for that. I focused on the mask instead of the woman inside it, the woman I love."

"Love," she choked, shaking her head. "You took a schente to your bed. You don't love a schente."

"I told you that night that I wasn't treating you like any schente I'd ever had. I didn't bed a schente. I made love to Riella."

"No. You didn't. You don't even know me."

"I could. I want to. Already, I think I know you better than your father does."

Not better than Benir. "My father taught me to always trust your first gut reaction to a situation or person. Yours was to walk away."

"No. My first reaction was to make love to you all night long, to risk us both to try to find you when you left my bed, and to pine for you when I thought I couldn't have you."

"You pined horribly. So horribly that you jumped at the chance to bed a princess," she accused. It was unfair to say it, but the itch inside her was driving her mad. Riella mentally prepared herself for his rebuttal that she had taken a schaen, pretending it was him. That would be the most logical path for Tol to follow, and angering him would push him away. Away was good.

She wrapped her arms around her stomach and tried to control her shaking. His proximity was making her body riot. If she could survive another two days, it would be easier. Irin assured her that the schen is not as insistent when the male you love is not close. After the three days, Tol would be out of her rooms, out of the palace if she could arrange it. That, she could survive.

"As a favor to your father," he growled. Not the track she expected, but he was angry, and angry was good.

"The look when you saw me prepared for you was no favor to my father. But, you didn't know it was Riella. You saw only the princess." She could work with this track just as well.

"You're right -- in a way. The restraint I showed was for the princess. Your beauty and sensuality are Riella, and those were what drove me to fall on you as I did. I didn't want your throne." He sighed. "When I saw you-- When I was tied to your bed, I spent a lot of time comparing Riella and Deliya. Do you know what I discovered?"

She didn't answer. Riella wasn't sure she wanted to know his answer. He wasn't angry. He should be angry at the things she was saying. Why wasn't he? The squirming in her stomach intensified. She pressed her forearms tighter to her abdomen, feeling light-headed.

"You were the same woman with one difference. Deliya was a woman I could never have. Riella was a woman I could."

"One woman is interchangeable with another. That is a faceless schente to be used."

Tol was in front of her, his mouth on hers. He swallowed her cry of protest and the groan of acceptance that followed. She couldn't think for her schen. The itch and squirming melted into a firestorm of need. Tol pushed her knees apart, splitting her robe to her waist. He eased his hips between to push her legs wider around him.

Riella reached for the tie on his lounging pants, but Tol captured her wrists and brought her hands back to her side. His mouth left hers, blazing a trail down her chin to her throat. She dropped her head back as he teased the pulse point at the base of her neck with his tongue.

"I will not use you, Riella. I will not use you for anything. When you wish me to make love to you, you need only ask. I have never simply used you."

Tol pushed away from her, leaving her aching for him. He was aroused. His cock strained against the silin of his pants. Tol pushed a shaking hand through his hair and motioned to her plate.

Riella looked down at herself; her legs spread wide for him, her robe thrown over her knees, and her breaths coming in short gasps. She swept her robe together, closing her knees and feeling the traitorous ache and wetness all the more when her thighs touched. Riella wrapped her arms around her chest, shaking in his sudden withdrawl.

"Riella?"

She jumped up and headed for the door. Her father would end this. He had to end it. She could live with her schen if Tol were not pushing her to this madness at every turn.

The guards blocked her escape.

"Let me through," she growled at them.

A man with a colonel's insignia bowed his head to her. "I cannot, Princess."

"I only wish to speak to my father. I order you to get out of my way."

"Many pardons, Highness, but my orders come from Ro Ti personally. I cannot allow you to pass this point. If you wish to see your father, I am to send for him."

Riella pulled her hand back, intent on striking him. The colonel didn't flinch as she brought her hand around, but she didn't connect. Tol's hand closed around her wrist, jerking her swing to a jarring stop.

"No, Riella. That is not the answer," he breathed in her ear. Tol raised his face, pulling her into the hard muscles of his chest. "Our apologies, Colonel Vry. Would you like the colonel to send for Ro, Riella?"

She shook her head. "No. He will only side with you against me." The realization hurt, but she knew it was true. Seeing her father and Tol sharing those knowing looks and plotting together against her would be too much.

Tol kissed her temple. "In this case, you are right. Come eat now. If you'll excuse us, Colonel Vry."

The colonel offered a wide smile and bowed. "As you wish, General Tolerin, Princess Riella." He closed the door as Tol lifted her away.

He didn't release her. Instead, Tol raised her captured hand and kissed it slowly. "These men protect you, Riella. They would give their lives for you."

She nodded, grimacing. Ro had always taught her to be kind to those who hold your back.

"I'm sure the colonel understands that your schen drives you, but it is poor repayment for his service when you strike him."

"I've never," she choked.

"I know. Soldiers talk about things like that. Benir was known for his heavy hand--"

"For me," she whispered. "He only raised a hand to the guards when he felt they were derelict in protecting me."

Tol kissed her hand again. "I didn't know that. Ro is a hard master, also when it comes to you, but you are typically known to be kind to those who serve you." He released her. "Come eat before you get sick."

The crawling sensation intensified as his arms left her. "I can't," she admitted, hating herself for her weakness. Nothing laid her as low as this one thing.

"Riella?"

"You're not the one with an itch in your nerves stealing your sanity," she snapped. "Your presence makes me crazy."

* * *

Tol wanted to laugh out loud, but he bit it back to a snort of disbelief. Not making love to her was driving him crazy with her. She was so responsive, so sensual -- and so skittish every time she found herself close to accepting him.

He could take her now. Her schen would make Riella hunger for his touch, but he didn't want her that way. If Tol took her now, it would only reinforce her belief that it was just sex between them. Tol had spent the last day walking a fine line with her, moving toward convincing Riella that there was more than a mindless schen involved in what lay between them.

"You have to eat, Riella. Your pregnancy signs will only get worse if you don't."

She turned on him, her color high and her eyes those of a warrior. "Then leave me."

"Even if I wanted to, I can't. Colonel Vry will not let me pass either."

"You outrank him," she reasoned.

"And you outrank me. Your father outranks both of us, and he gave the order that Vry is falling back on."

She slid down the wall behind her, wrapping her arms around her stomach again. Tol crouched in front of her and touched her cheek. Riella closed her eyes and brushed her face against his hand, her skin warming as she planted a kiss in his palm.

"Riella, it doesn't have to be this way."

"It's my schen," she denied. "When the three days are ended and you leave, I won't feel this way."

"I'm not leaving at the end of the three days." He would do whatever he had to to win more time from Ro.

Riella brushed her face in his hand like a kittle. "The agreement," she protested in a whisper.

"You love me."

"Other women have survived it."

"Why must you fight this?"

She opened her eyes, looking uncertain. "It is not enough for me to love you."

"What do you want from me?" He forced his voice to remain calm, though the frustration of trying to convince her of what she simply didn't want to see was wearing him thin.

Riella bit her lower lip. "Nothing."

"You do want something."

"An end to my suffering. When you leave--"

"No. There is something more."

"Nothing you can give."

"Trust me. I've told you how I feel."

She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Trust me. I've trusted you more than once."

Riella shook her head.

Tol nodded, ordering his muscles not to tense. "You really can't eat, can you?"

"No," she replied miserably. "The only time I don't feel like I'm going to be ill is--" She darkened and shot a wary look at him.

Tol pulled her into his arms with a flush of success. Riella sighed in relief as he passed by the bed. He settled into the chair she fled earlier and gripped her hip when she would have bolted.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He raised a piece of the lamor fish to her lips and painted the cream sauce on her like a cosmetic cream. "Helping you feed my son," he breathed.

"Your son?" she demanded.

Tol popped the fish in her mouth, gratified that she didn't spit it back at him. "A daughter would suit me, but I knew a son would get a reaction out of you. You can't eat for the baby with your mouth clenched shut."

Riella rolled her eyes and chewed the piece of fish. Tol didn't give her time to argue with him. As she swallowed the bit of fish, he brushed a slice of lizor berry over her chin. Riella shivered, and her eyes closed. Tol raised the berry to her lips, and she took it from his fingers.

She groaned as he kissed her painted chin. Tol sucked the juice from her chin, then from her lips, his already erect cock screaming to taste her depths again.

"Tol?" Her eyes were half closed and her skin hot against his fingertips.

He picked up another slice of lamor. "More?"

Riella locked her eyes on his lips in longing, nodding mutely. Tol took a deep breath, reminding himself about his agenda. He could not lose control and take Riella again until she knew for sure what it meant.

Tol raised the lamor to her lips. Riella wrapped her lips high on his fingers, caressing her tongue over him as she drew the fish from his fingertips. He watched her chew the tidbit, swallowing a cry of frustration.

"More?" he asked slowly.

Riella nodded. He reached for the plate, but she pulled his hand away.

"No, Tol." Riella pulled his head to hers, nipping at his lower lip.

"What do you want, Riella?"

She nuzzled his lips again.

"Four words, Riella. Please say them."

"I want you, Tol."

Wrong four words. Mother Fion! She was the most stubborn woman he had ever met. "What do you want?" he repeated. He shifted her so Riella could feel the force of his arousal against the soft swell of her buttocks.

Riella gasped, rolling her head back against his arm, her breast brushing his chest through her robe. "Take me to the bed," she pleaded.

"Why?" Tol cupped her breast through the robe. "Tell me."

"I want you, Tol."

He captured her mouth, and Riella opened for him, mindless passion unleashed in his arms. Tol smoothed his hand down her stomach to the warm honey making her ready for him.

Riella cried out into his mouth as his fingers slid in her, his thumb teasing at her bud. Come for me, Riella. Shatter in my arms. Tol played at her body as she came untethered, as she went wild for him. She gripped her nails in his shoulders, and Tol shivered in pleasure.

"Please, Tol. Anything. I want you."

He laid a kiss on her trembling lips. "Wanting me is not enough. Trust me. Ask me to make love to you. Let me prove my love to you. Tell me what you want, and I will provide it for you."

Riella shook her head; the trembling that announced her mounting pleasure increasing.

"Come for me, Riella. Take what you need from me."

"I need you, Tol." Her eyes were fevered, pleading. "You can--"

"No!" He forced his voice to calm. "I told you. I will not use you, and I will not be used by you. Trust me to make love to you. That is the only way I will take pleasure."

Her eyes widened. For a moment, Riella looked at him with such longing that Tol almost broke. The urge to turn her in his lap and plunge into her was nearly his undoing. He met her eyes, pushing her body toward climax ruthlessly, massaging the spot within her that made her breathless and wrenched cries from her body. He had to push her over soon, or he would give in to the urge. That was something he could not do.

Riella bowed up into his hand and howled out her release. Tol ground his teeth as her inner muscles rippled around his fingers. She trembled in his arms.

It's not too late. You could take her. She'd welcome your length and sing to your climax. No, it wasn't too late. It was too early. Every hour, her need for more than loveplay grew stronger. Though the stimulation would not release an egg, it would help her body prepare for the rigors of birth. While the mate she desired was nearby to fill the need, her body would demand what Riella was denying it.

She collapsed against his bare chest, weeping. Tol cursed it. Riella saw taking pleasure from him as weakness. She had always had strict control of herself and her surroundings. The force of her love-schen was uncontrollable. Tol held her until she calmed; his fingers still encased in her heat. When she sat placid in his arms, he eased his hand away and smoothed her robe over her thigh.

"Can you eat now?" he asked.

Riella nodded.

"Good." Tol stood and set her in the chair. He turned toward the bathroom, needing to distance himself from temptation.

"Thank you, Tol." Her voice was a whisper.

"I would give you my blood if you required it. I only need four words, Riella."

She didn't answer, but he was sure that she nodded her understanding.

Tol looked over her shoulder at what Riella was writing. It seemed to be a map of the grounds. "Planning your escape?" he teased.

"Giving you the map of the escape tunnels I promised. If I intended to escape you, I would not need to plan it with a written map."

He pulled a chair next to her, ignoring her barb. Tol surveyed her many notations of how the entrances could be found, danger factors and weather limitations. He resisted asking how she learned that the tunnel behind the stable was unstable during a rainstorm. "What are those two marked areas outside the guard perimeter?" he asked.

"Hiding holes. If we felt we were being pursued, Benir and I would use one of these hidden caves we explored. We chose the two hardest to locate and with available water for our hiding holes. He smuggled bottled stores, clothing and emergency supplies from the palace to stock them."

"Did you ever have to use them?"

She shivered.

"Cold?" he asked in surprise. The room was warm to discomfort for him. If she was still chilled, he would send for a doctor.

"No. The fire is warm enough."

Tol nodded, relaxing. "Did you ever have to use them?"

"Not since Benir put the supplies in. At least, I haven't. Benir may have. I wouldn't know."

"The night he escaped?"

Riella nodded and bent her head over the map. She was avoiding answering his question, he noticed.

"When did you use the battle hole, Riella?"

"It is not important."

"It is." He shed his normal, light tone in favor of an edge of order.

Her pen stilled. Riella fisted it in her hand. "The day we brought the baby jaglin in." She smiled a wry smile. "That was a diversion for my father."

"To explain your long absence?"

"Yes. It was Benir's idea."

"Where were you?"

"Exploring." She twirled the pen between her fingers, staring at the gleaming metal cylinder. "And hiding." That last came too quickly, too decisively. Whatever came between exploring and hiding was what Tol had to discover.

"Riella?"

"It is not--"

"It is," he insisted.

She closed her eyes and shivered again. "I killed a man."

Tol sucked in his breath in surprise. Of all the possible answers, that was not anywhere near the top of his list of possibilities. "Tell me."

"Two men attacked us. They came from nowhere. We were young, seventeen and sixteen. They were older, battle-hardened and sure in a fight. Benir fought them both while I ran for the palace. One broke away from Benir. He had a hottel." She paused and turned her face to the fire.

"He caught you," Tol prodded her.

Riella nodded. "Yes. He did. You can imagine what one of my father's enemies would think of capturing Ro Ti's daughter. My hair was in my mother's clips, but uncovered. There was no doubt in his mind who I was."

Tol fisted his hands in his lap, forcing air into his lungs. "He had you?" He sent up prayers to Fion and Mag both that he was wrong.

"No," she replied weakly.

Tol let out a sigh of relief, thanking them for protecting the bold young woman he loved.

"He tried. He ripped at my blouse and trousers. I -- wore a dagger then, behind my back. While he was occupied with-- I pulled it and killed him. I took the artery in his hip and twisted. He was dead before he could wrestle the blade from my hand."

"Was that the real reason you didn't wear a dagger when you freed Benir?"

Riella nodded. A tear spilled down her cheek. "I heard a hottel and believed the other man bested Benir. The cave was close. I hid. Since there was water, I bathed his blood from myself while I waited for my father's soldiers to find me. I knew Ro would leave no chance--"

"Benir found you?"

"Yes. Benir was on the hottel. He found my attacker and hid the men from plain view. He-- I left my dagger on the man I killed when I fled. My father would have died in his heart had one of his soldiers reported that scene to him. It was too much like my mother. Benir brought my dagger to me. He gave me his shirt to replace the one that was--

"The men had been poaching while they did whatever else they were there to do -- spying would be my guess. They killed the mother jaglin. Sneaking her baby in and pretending our injuries were in handling it-- Well, it worked." Riella smiled another wry smile.

"You never told your father any of this?"

She winced. "No. It would have hurt him too much to no good."

"You went outside again?"

"Never. Not without my father and the proper guards. Benir told me about the supplies in case I ever had need of a hiding place again." Riella laughed nervously.

"What is it?" Tol asked.

"I've never told anyone that." She met his eyes in the firelight touched his cheek. "Why do you think that is, Tol?"

His heart pounded against his ribs. "Why do you think it is?"

Her lips brushed his, a gentle meeting of her body to his. "I love you," she breathed into his lips.

This was the way Tol wanted her to come to him, calmly, not in a haze. "Do you believe that I love you?"

"Yes."

"Do you trust me?"

"More than anyone."

"More than Benir?" Tol wasn't sure why he asked that. He had to know that she truly trusted him.

The heavy silin belt from her robe traced over his hand. "Completely." She nipped at his lower lip. "Make love to me, Tol."

Thank Fion! "If I do, we will have a contract. Ro will join us tomorrow."

"No."

Tol closed his eyes, cursing the hope that was crushed again and again.

"I still have a day to our confinement. Promise me that day before you return to your many duties."

He didn't meet her eyes. "And then you promise to sign the contract?"

"As long as my stipulations are met."

"Which are?" he asked warily.

"No campaigns. Defend our lands but do not leave me to conquer as my father did to my mother."

"Agreed." Prying him from her bed to defend would be difficult enough.

"I will be equal ruling partner. Military decisions are yours. Welfare of our people will fall to me."

"Agreed. It is one of your strengths."

"I will have complete fidelity from you. My schaen have been disbanded. You will not take mistresses or schente while I live. The penalty is loss of our children to me and banishment."

Tol swept her astride his lap, pressing her hips down to nestle his cock to her. Riella dropped her face to his chest, her hand splayed over his heart.

"I have no wish or need for other women. You will not take other men," he growled.

"And the penalty?" she breathed.

"He will die. You -- will spend a week tethered to our bed, relearning the one who owns you. You will be my only schente, Riella. You will be my life, my love, and my bride."

"The mother of your children?" she teased.

"Would that please you?"

"If I say yes, may I have a lizor berry tea before my nap tomorrow?" Her eyes glittered up at him.

"Hmm. I will consider that as a possibility, but we may have to negotiate for it. Then we are agreed? I will notify Ro tomorrow. We will be joined the following day. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

Tol laughed in the release of his bottled stress. "You place yourself in my hands?" he whispered.

Riella smiled and grazed her teeth over his nipple. "As I did that first night."

Tol groaned, taking her mouth slowly, deeply. Riella's calm fled in favor of the burning need of her schen. He gathered her wrists together between them, wrapping the silin belt around and knotting it without looking at his work.

"Too tight?" he asked.

Riella shook her head.

He led her to the bed, using the belt as he would reins leading his war-buck for an ambush. Tol smiled at the sight of the red curls above her mound framed in the swaying edges of her robe. Riella started to raise one knee to slide onto the bed, but Tol lifted her and laid her in place. She gasped as he knotted the belt to the boards of her bed.

Tol spread her robe, framing her body. He gazed at her choc nipples, tightening into hard points for him. Riella tipped her hips, offering her deep red core, wet with her honey, for his approval. Tol ran his fingers over her folds, fighting back the urge to play his cock in her heat. She deserved more than a rushed encounter.

He brought his fingers, slick with her musk and honey to her nipple. Riella shuddered, her eyes wide as he painted her with her own juices. Tol took the nipple in his mouth, licking her sweet essence from the rigid peak she forced deeper into his mouth. He suckled her hard, and Riella cried out, thrashing beneath him as he released her. Tol smiled as he started the whole experience again with the other nipple.

When he released her again, leaving one final lick across her sensitized flesh, her eyes were heated in need and her hair fell across her cheek from her thrashing. Her lips trembled. "Release me," she pleaded in a wavering voice.

Tol chucked, nudging her thighs wide around him as he rose to his knees. "I don't think so, Riella. I told you what I intended. Do you remember?"

Riella glanced down her body, shaking her head in denial. "Release me," she repeated.

"You are mine."

Tol lowered his mouth slowly, savoring the play of emotions on Riella's face. Her shock warred with fascination, arousal, and stark hunger. He blew a puff of air over her core, and she ground her teeth against the sensations washing over her.

"No man has ever tasted you, have they?" He planted a kiss on the fiery curls and ran his tongue in a lazy circle through them.

Riella shook her head fiercely. Tol expected that. She may enjoy sex, but Riella had always demanded complete control until Tol came into her life. A position that put her pleasure largely in a schaen's hands would not be something she would seek out.

He flicked his tongue inside her. She bowed up, driving him deeper into her. Tol didn't retreat in the least, taking her to the edges of climax. Riella pulled at her bound hands, her muscles tensing.

"Please," she gasped. "Release me." She was close. Her flavor was a heady mix of musk and spice. Her head came up to watch him. "Tol!"

He startled. Her ragged cry wasn't one of completion. Riella was in a panic, pulling against her bonds, her eyes wide and locked on a spot over his shoulder.

Tol turned an instant too late. Startling colors accompanied a searing pain, and darkness swept over him as silin brushed his cheek.

* * *

Riella opened her mouth to scream, but Benir clapped his hand over the lower half of her face, muting her attempt to bring the guards.

"Shhh. Riella, it's me," he whispered.

She shook her head fiercely, trying to make him listen to her. Her eyes moved to Tol, and she stifled a sob at the thin trail of blood winding down his temple. He was still breathing. Thank Fion and Mag, he's still breathing. Benir must not have aimed his blow to kill.

Benir misinterpreted her sob and scowled at Tol. "He can't hurt you, Riella. I'm here to help."

She shook her head, frustrated with his lack of understanding. She had to get him out of here and get help for Tol, preferably getting out of the silin belt somehow along the way.

Benir pulled at the belt. "Len's dungeons," he growled. "The knots have pulled tight." He released her mouth.

Riella sighed in relief. "Benir, get out of here."

"Not without you."

"I'm not leaving, but you are."

He looked at her in disbelief. "Are you drugged?"

"No. I'm not. Get out of here before I have to save you again." And Tol certainly wouldn't help her save Benir this time.

Benir shook his head and went to her winter cabinet. He pulled out her boots and cloak. He slit the silin belt between her hands and the boards with his dagger and scowled at the tighter knots close to her hands. "I'll get that off when we're safe."

"Benir, I am going to say this just once more. I don't want you captured, but if you don't leave, I am going to scream for the guards while you are still here."

"I am not leaving you. This is my fault."

"He is my husband, Benir. This is no one's fault but my own."

Benir scowled at her statement and pulled her legs around to ease the boots over her feet. Riella kicked him away. He gave her a look of exasperation.

"Do not make me render you unconscious, Riella."

"I'm not going. Leave me."

Benir was on her before she could scream, his hand locked over her mouth again. "I will heal what I do. I promise," he assured her.

* * *

Riella groaned at the chill in the air and started to pull the cover further over her body. She opened her eyes in confusion. Her hands were bound? Why was there a jaglin fur wrapped around her? Why was she rocking slowly?

Benir looked down at her with a lopsided smile. "Feeling better?" he asked.

She brought her hands up into his chin. Benir fumbled, managing to aim her at her feet as she fell from his arms. Riella bolted away as she found her feet, but Benir caught her after only a few steps. She never thought she'd see the day that she would be gratified to see that she had drawn blood on her cousin.

"What is the matter with you?" he demanded.

"You broke into my room, knocked both my husband and myself unconscious, and abducted me; and you want to know why I'm upset?" she thundered. Riella swung her head around, trying to get her bearings in the darkness. She caught sight of the crag in the cliff side and pushed Benir away, turning toward the nearest open entrance back into the palace.

Benir took her by the shoulders. "You don't have to go back," he assured her.

"Yes, I do. Even if I didn't freeze to death out here, my husband is unconscious on our bed."

"I heard about your so-called marriage," he growled. "Why would you go back to him?"

"Heard what?" she asked, pulling out of his hands again and heading for the cave that would take her into the ammo station.

"Ro gave you to a soldier when he learned that you helped me escape. He locked you in with him and allowed him to take you."

Riella stopped and stared at him, her breath coming in little white puffs on the winter wind. His face was a study in pure fury. Benir was actually told that Ro did that to her and believed it.

She touched his cheek. "Oh, no. Benir, why would you believe that?" Riella shivered, her body rebelling at the bitter cold. With only her open robe and cloak against the winter wind, she wasn't sure how long she would last.

"I heard you with my own ears. I heard you beg that rutting beast to release you three times, and he refused. He tied you down to take you, Riella."

"Oh, Benir! Haven't you ever played at love?" She grimaced. Probably not. Benir had always been too serious for his own good. "Now take me back please. I-- My pregnancy signs do not deal well with this cold."

He stilled. His eyes narrowed. "I heard-- Swear to me that I was lied to."

"You were, Benir. On the Mother Fion, you were."

He looked around warily. "Then we have to leave here quickly."

"Why?" A panic settled in her stomach.

"If I've been lied to, a traitor is coming for you."

"Why Benir-- I am not the one named traitor."

Riella turned her head fearfully toward the voice.

Tol forced his eyes open. He stared at the ragged scrap of silin in dismay. A rust-colored stain marred the pure white linens of the bed. It wasn't his own blood. This stain was high on the bed, just below the pillows. Tol pushed off the bed and staggered to the hidden door. It was bolted from the outside again.

"Guards," he bellowed, heading for the cabinet and pulling out his boots.

The door swung in and two young officers stepped into the room. Their eyes widened at the sight of Tol.

"You, wake Ro. You, send for my war-buck."

The one ordered to Ro bolted.

The other looked at him in shock then panned his eyes over the bed. "The Princess?" he asked.

Tol paused in pulling on his tunic. "Taken," he growled.

"But the doors--"

"The king's corridor was bolted. What idiot thought that meant it was safe to leave unguarded?"

He blushed. "Colonel Vry, General Tolerin. He ordered a re-organization of manpower just this afternoon."

Tol snapped his head around with a heavy hottel-knit sweater in his hand. "This afternoon?"

"Yes, sir. He--"

"Get that hottel. Now!" Tol pulled on his sweater and grasped the belt with his weapons still hung on it.

"Merciful Mag, Tolerin. What--" Ro's voice broke off.

Tol strapped on his belt without looking at it and grabbed his cloak. "You had the exits you know of guarded as I asked?"

"Yes. Of course."

"Have your guards been sent away?"

"What? No. Why would they be?"

Tol nodded. "I am heading to the cliff face, twenty stride east of the crag. That is where you will find me when you are ready to join me."

"Who did this?" Ro demanded in a shaking voice.

"Vry. You wanted to know who the true traitor behind Benir was. Now we know."

"Give me five minutes."

"In five minutes, I will be halfway there. Bring clothing and warm blankets. This cold will be hard on her." Tol folded Riella's map into his pocket and headed for the door.

He winced at the lost expression on Ro's face. Ro was pale. He stood with the bloodied sheets fisted in his hands.

"Dress, Ro. I may need your help to get her back alive."

Ro threw the sheets down and nodded, the fierce battle-ready expression Tol recognized settled on his face. He strode to his rooms, barking orders as he went.

Tol took the stairs three at a time and mounted his war-buck at a full run. Braek knew Tol's battle cry and grip meant a break-neck run. The war-buck, a lead male hottel fully twice the size of any other hottel, threw his head and bolted for the gates that were already opening for him.

He didn't slow until he reached the path to the battle hole closer to the east guard tower and the ammo station. The ammo station was the only entrance Ro didn't have enough information to guard. Benir would go that way.

The stars and moon were bright, and Tol had a wide field of vision as a result. He was ten stride out when he saw the body. It was Benir. There were signs of a struggle, a battle. Tol mounted Braek and sped off toward the cave. If Mag was kind, Riella made it to safety.

* * *

Riella sifted through the boxes of supplies. "Where would he put it?" she muttered. "It has to be here." She never took her mother's dagger back to the palace. Riella couldn't bear to look at it after she used it to kill. Benir would keep it safe for her. She cursed the darkness inside the cave, but a fire or lantern would draw attention and pinpoint her location for Vry.

She stifled a cry of success as her hand closed on the emi-beaded sheath. Riella drew the dagger and sawed through the silin around her wrists. She dug into the box, knowing Benir's organizational skills. All of her clothing would be in the same box. Riella dragged on a pair of winter trousers that fit her much better now than they did when she was seventeen. She pulled on heavy stockings and pulled her boots back on as quickly as she could.

Riella froze with a sweater in her hand, barely breathing in fright. Was that a sound? She snatched the dagger back to her chest, listening to the night sounds outside. There were no falls of stone or footfalls announcing Vry's approach -- or Benir's, though she held out little hope that Benir would best the colonel of her personal guard. Ro chose Vry for only two reasons, his skill and his perceived trustworthiness.

She relaxed her muscles and dropped her cloak. Riella fingered the dagger in indecision, finally easing the sheath into the back of her trousers. She wouldn't put it down again. Riella peeled off her robe and pulled on the oversized sweater, covering it with her winter cloak as quickly as she could. It was the cloak of a princess, the winter fur of a jaglin inside and out. Riella resolved to commission a more practical cloak, jaglin backed with hottel, when she was safely back in the palace.

Unwilling to continue searching through boxes and risking detection by the noise she made, Riella captured several handfuls of the trickle of water that escaped the ice block somewhere deep in the rock. Her fingers felt like icicles when she was done, but her thirst was slaked.

Riella sank to the natural rock seat against the back wall and pulled her legs to her chest, encasing herself in her cloak to conserve as much heat as she could. She couldn't stop shivering. Her pregnancy signs made her ill prepared to handle such an assault to her system.

But, she had to persevere. There was no knowing how long her wait would be. If Benir triumphed over Vry, he would have come for her by now. Tol had her map, but Mag only knew how desperate a blow to the head he took. Even if the guards realized something was amiss and called for Ro, her father would have no idea where she would run. The search would be slow and painstaking.

Riella looked at the boxes of stores in longing. The supplies would be near frozen, and she could not risk a fire to warm them. It would be a race to see whether the cold or hunger drove her to dangerous extremes first. She buried her face in the soft fur inside her cloak to conserve what little body heat remained.

* * *

Riella turned her head, baring her ear to the frigid middle-night air. She waited, ignoring her growling stomach and chattering teeth, listening for the sound that roused her from sleep to repeat. She decided it was a fragment of a dream and let her eyes drift shut.

It came again, a skate of rocks on the trail outside. Riella held her breath and waited, her heart beat loud in her ears. Soon enough, she would know if it was friend or foe. Thank Mag, it was winter. At least the jaglin were hibernating, though they preferred the lower caves even in the hot summer months.

A bright light shone in her eyes, and Riella blinked hard, shuttering her eyes against the glare. She counted the heartbeats with a sinking sensation in her stomach. There was no cry to other soldiers announcing that she had been found, no exclamation of relief from Tol or Ro.

She bit back a vicious curse. "Hello, Vry."

His laughter echoed off the frozen stone. "Ever the princess," he decided. "Except in your bed -- or General Tolerin's. I trust Benir killed him for his believed trespasses against you?"

Riella didn't answer. She had no idea what Benir told him. Worse, if Vry really believed Tol was dead, she had an advantage she wasn't about to give up. Apparently, Vry wasn't afraid of facing Ro, but no sane man wanted to face both Ro and Tol.

Vry took three steps toward her, crossing half the depth of the cave. "Missing your mate, Riella?" he taunted.

"More than you can imagine."

"Which of your drives vexes you? I will gladly appease all of them for you."

The invitation in his tone made a sick swirl the likes of the great vortex open in her stomach. Had she a meal to lose, Riella had no doubt that she would have lost it. "I want nothing from you."

"A pity. I assume you've dressed for travel."

Riella grumbled a curse her father would frown on, wishing she had the excuse to waste time even as she thanked Fion that he wouldn't watch her don clothing.

"Come then."

"What is your plan, Vry? Killing me won't win you anything. I have three noble relatives in line after Benir vying for the throne."

"I don't intend to kill you. If I meant to do that, my men could have done so long ago. Of course, they did fail in the tasks I set them."

"Which were what, precisely?" She had to waste as much time as she could.

"Kill off Benir, among other things. It really doesn't surprise me that I had to end him myself. Plots of death and false accusations of treason-- The man has the most uncanny ability to escape death. Or -- he had until tonight."

Riella bit back a sob for Benir. He never wanted anything but her safety and happiness. "And?" she persisted.

"Win you as my bride, of course."

"How?" She thought she was beyond shivering, but her body proved her wrong again.

"Once my men had you, and I chased them off and returned you to Ro; he would give me anything I asked for. I would have asked for you."

"Had me?" she asked, sick at the implications.

"You don't think the men you killed found you by chance, do you? You were so beautiful, trapped beneath him." His voice lowered, though Riella couldn't decipher if it was in arousal or warning.

"Your plan now?" she croaked out.

"I plan to claim you in conquest," he replied simply.

Riella pressed her back to the wall in shock. "You can't. My grandfather did away with that barbaric custom," she protested. "Taking a woman unwilling was deemed punishable by death."

"Many people still consider it a valid way to the throne."

She pressed her hands to her stomach, feeling light headed and nauseated.

"Tolerin's son?" he taunted. "I have a doctor waiting to remedy that. A weak injection of gola extract directly followed by a strong one of olum and triclum-- You'll expel the baby without trauma and with very little pain. I am assured that you will barely remember the ordeal. Since it is so early in your term, you will be ready for me in less than two weeks." His voice turned hard. "Now stand and come with me."

Riella pushed to her feet, her legs shaking beneath her and her entire body numb and icy. She couldn't let this happen. There had to be something she could do. She took a single step toward him and collapsed to the floor.

* * *

Tol pulled his dagger slowly, stamping down his fury. He hadn't heard much of Vry's plan, but Riella's protest told him all he needed to know. Kor, Ro's father, had done away with the system of taking a woman in conquest as a way to the throne. Had he or not, Tol would die before he let Vry kill their child and take Riella unwilling. There would be no conquest, whether it would work or not.

"Get up," Vry barked at her. There were faint sounds of movement. "Len alive! What else can go wrong? I should have known your pregnancy signs would slow me down."

Tol sent up a prayer to Fion that Riella would be all right. He hadn't checked the time when he left the palace, but she must have been in this cold for hours.

"Get up," Vry growled.

Riella screamed weakly, and Tol threw caution to the winds. He launched into the cave, taking in the sight of Vry standing over her gripping a handful of her hair in pure volcanic anger.

"Release her," Tol demanded.

Vry yanked Riella up as a shield by his grip on her hair, bringing his dagger to her hip through her cloak. His eyes challenged from over her shoulder, the only clear piece of his body between Riella's taller form and his cap. "There are other ways to take your son, Tolerin."

Riella met his eyes in the dim light of the overturned lantern, pleading for his help. Tol nodded, his chest easing. She wasn't as incapacitated as she pretended for Vry, but she was still hurting.

"Leave her, and you may escape to fight another day," Tol offered.

Vry laughed harshly. "I think not. You and Ro will both bow before me for love of Riella and whatever child her body harbors."

Riella shivered. "He wouldn't dare," she breathed. "No man who loved me would let you do this to me."

Vry pressed his blade deeper, making Riella shy from him. "To save your life, Tolerin will. You see Riella, if I do not proceed, I will die. Now or later, I will die. My only safety is in your continued existence in my hands."

"I would rather be dead," she spat.

She shifted away from Vry, and her cloak swirled around her body as Vry pulled her closer to his chest. Tol held his breath, his eyes locking on a strange movement beneath her cloak. What was she doing? He shifted his eyes back to Vry as the traitor smiled his victory.

"You might," Vry taunted her. "Tolerin and your father would prevent that death at any cost, and it is the men I must deal with. You, I will simply take."

Patches of color rose high in her pale cheeks. "Simply take? You think it will be that simple? You better than anyone know I will not submit so easily to you."

Tol looked at her in surprise. What was she saying? How would Vry know something like that?

Vry laughed heartily. "Ah yes. And we both know how loath you have been to carry a weapon since then. Don't we, Riella? What would it take to make you take up arms again?"

"That is a question you do not wish to ask of me," she warned.

Riella met Tol's eyes with a fierce look that made his stomach swim. He couldn't risk signaling her to stand down. Whatever she had planned, Tol would have to let her do it and back her any way he could.

Vry released her hair and found her right wrist through her cloak. His laugh echoed around them. "You seek to make me believe you are armed? We both know better."

Riella turned abruptly around his blade on the pivot point of that wrist. Vry screamed in rage and pain, pushing her from him as his dagger clattered to the ground. Tol caught her as she fell toward him, shifting her away from his dagger so that he could defend her and sweeping Vry's dagger into the far corner of the room beyond the traitor's reach. Riella shook against him, her legs not supporting of her body weight. Tol watched in amazement as Vry crumpled, trying to stem the flow of blood from the deep leg wound that severed the outer length of his thigh muscle and took his artery.

Riella's eyes were narrowed, her voice edged in ice that made the winter air feel warm by comparison. "You thought I was beautiful when I was assaulted by your man as you ordered. You found my screams arousing. Did you find me alluring when he died on my blade? Do you find me alluring now that you will die on it?"

Tol sheathed his dagger and pulled Riella to her feet. "I will not take your killing blow," he assured her.

She nodded, hiding her tears from Vry as she sheathed her dagger without cleaning it, her shaking so severe she barely completed that small task. Riella buried her face in Tol's chest.

He sighed as he enveloped her in his arms. "You have two options, Vry. You can let off your pressure and die quickly, or you can wait for Ro's soldiers and die slowly. I care not how you die as long as you go about it soon," Tol informed him.

Tol turned with Riella wrapped under his arm and left Vry behind, shouting curses at their retreating backs. He carried Riella to Braek and mounted the buck with a sigh. "Easy, Braek. No charge this time."

Braek snorted his displeasure, but he set off at a slow loping stride. Riella burrowed to him for comfort and warmth. Tol didn't speak. He wasn't sure he was capable of more than screaming out his fury that his own blade hadn't taken Vry.

Ro looked up from Benir's body at the sound of their approach. His expression eased. Tol pulled Braek to a halt next to him and nodded to Ro in unspoken comment that Riella would recover well.

"Vry?" Ro barked.

Tol smiled. "I left him with a choice to either bleed to death quickly or die at your hand." He handed the map to Ro.

Ro scanned his eyes over it in surprise. "This isn't like you, Tolerin. I would have thought you would have taken a decisive death blow."

His smile fled. "The blow was not mine to take." He glanced at Riella in explanation.

Ro paled and pushed the map at a captain behind him. "Your squad will follow this to the traitor. If he lives, bring him to me. Colonel Bek, have my doctor and my daughter's servant meet us in her rooms when we arrive. The rest travel with us."

Tol nodded as Ro mounted his war-buck and took up the pace Tol set. The soldiers fanned out in battle formation around them.

Ro's jaw was tight in fury. He didn't look at Tol as he spoke. "Tell me."

"He planned to take her in conquest. There is a doctor nearby prepared to take our child by injection."

Ro shuddered. "Captain Finn, Captain Eddel," he barked. "Take your squads when we reach the gates and perform a search for Vry's troops and a doctor. Take the traitors however you can." He looked back to Tol. "Why did she take the blow?"

"Vry was using her as a shield with a blade to our child. He didn't know she had a weapon until it was too late for him."

Ro nodded. "Benir was helping him?"

Tol shrugged. He doubted it, but he couldn't say anything for sure.

"No," Riella offered in a sleepy voice. "Benir was tricked, told that I was given to you unwilling. He tried to stop Vry. Benir died a hero. Vry arranged the false evidence against Benir. He also tried to have Benir killed when -- when we were children."

Ro took a calming breath. "Why?"

Riella didn't answer.

Tol wrapped the edges of his heavier cloak around her to help keep her warm. "Benir would go to any lengths to protect Riella. Did you know that he prepared battle holes for her use?"

"No. I didn't. She ran to one?"

"Yes. She's clothed. She might have eaten."

"No," Riella interrupted miserably. "Couldn't risk a fire. It would have pinpointed me to Vry."

Ro raised an eyebrow. "I never ordered her trained for battle tactics," he noted. "Where did she learn this?"

"Benir," Tol answered, knowing he was correct in his assumption without Riella's nod of agreement.

Ro nodded and asked no more.

The palace was a warren of activity. Servants scattered before them as Tol carried Riella to her rooms. Tol ended Irin's annoying fussing by sending her for food while the doctor checked their babe and Tol healed her various bruises.

Ro paled at the blood on Riella's hands. He pushed a shaking hand through his hair, as if the sight of his daughter fresh from a battle was more than he could stand.

She pulled the jewel-encrusted sheath from behind her and handed the weapon to her father without meeting his eyes. Her voice was a whisper in the suddenly still room. "Would you -- see this cleaned for me, Father?"

Ro examined it carefully, tears in his eyes. "This is your mother's blade. You lost this years ago."

Riella shook her head.

Tol sighed. "She never lost it. Benir hid it in the battle hole for her."

"Why this dagger? Benir could have put any number of weapons in her hole. Why her mother's blade?"

Riella stood and headed for the bathroom, her eyes cast down. "I need to bathe," she noted in a distracted voice.

Ro's eyes widened. He turned the sheath, scanning it for some clues to her withdrawl. "What are these old stains, Riella?" he asked warily.

"They are nothing." She stilled in the bathroom doorway, startled by someone pounding at the outer door.

Ro nodded to the doctor to open it.

The captain Ro sent to Vry entered and bowed deeply. "The traitor was dead when we reached him, Majesty."

"Good," Ro spat.

"He left a rather cryptic message behind."

"Read it."

The captain looked from Ro to Tol and paled. "As you wish, Majesty. It says-- Your screams are arousing, but you are always most beautiful when you kill."

Riella gagged and launched into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Ro strode to the captain and pulled the scrap of paper from his hand. "Leave us," he ordered. "All of you, leave us."

The captain and doctor bowed quickly and left without question, reading the fury in Ro correctly.

He turned back to Tol, waving the paper between them. "You know what this means?" he demanded. He raised the stained sheath. "What this does?"

Tol nodded. "She told me the tale early tonight, but even Riella didn't realize that Vry was involved at the time."

"Tell me."

"The day of the baby jaglin--"

Ro nodded. "The last time she disobeyed me and left the palace with Benir. Riella lost her guard and disappeared for hours. I was furious with her."

"Was Vry her guard?"

Ro paled. "Darkest Underworld," he cursed.

Tol nodded. "I thought as much. He led two of his men -- mercenaries into their path with orders."

"What orders?"

"Kill Benir and--" Tol took a deep breath. "And rape Riella."

Ro fisted his hand around the dagger. "Those filthy mercenaries," he stormed, his eyes wild.

"Did not succeed," Tol assured him. "Benir killed one in armed combat. The one who broke from him-- Riella killed him as he tore at her clothes." He waved a hand at the dagger. "With her mother's blade. Benir created the first battle hole of the cave she hid in to wait for you or Benir to take her home."

"She never told me," Ro noted sadly.

"Riella didn't want to hurt you. After her mother--"

"No. Deliya has nothing to do with this," he insisted.

Tol swallowed hard. Deliya was Ro's bride? Ro had always called her by his pet name, Della. Riella used her mother's name with Tol when she played schente? This was not a story he would ever share with Ro.

Ro didn't notice his upset. "When she returned with the jaglin-- I struck her, Tol. I never had before, and I never have again. I was mad with worry, and I lost my composure with her. Even now, Riella shies from me when I anger. She didn't tell me, because she was afraid I would hurt her for it. I told her how ungrateful she was to risk her mother's fate-- I wish I had never said it."

"She loves you, Ro. She loves you more than life. Trust me. Riella would do almost anything to save you pain."

Ro gave him a speculative look. "Even pretend to be schente?"

Tol smiled widely. "You know your daughter well. But never worry. Riella has always been precious to me, even when I believed she was schente."

"Then go to her. She needs you."

Tol nodded and stripped off his sweater and boots as he headed to the bathroom.

* * *

Riella scrubbed her hands in the basin and started a bath, trying to ignore the conversation in the main room. She pulled off her clothing and trailed her fingers in the scented water, startling when her father roared out a demand for information about the mercenary she killed. Riella swallowed a lump of fear.

The door opened, and Riella jumped to her feet, expecting Ro to be standing over her, his eyes hot in fury. She let out her breath in relief as Tol stepped into the room.

He shut the door behind him and reached a hand to the lounging pants he still wore. "May I join you?" he asked slowly.

She nodded and turned to slide into the tub. "He knows?" she whispered without looking at Tol.

"He does. He wishes he had known then. Ro would not have reacted as he did if he had known. He regrets striking you."

"I know he does."

"But you always feared he would do it again?"

Riella shrugged. "I am not easy on my father's nerves. I am not the woman he feels I should be, the woman my mother would have raised."

Tol eased into the tub beside her and started rubbing a hand cloth over her back. Riella sighed and snuggled further into his chest, settling her knees over his thigh to be closer to him. His breathing quickened, and his cock hardened against her hip.

He reached for her hands. One by one, Tol stroked the cloth over her fingers, cleaning the memory of Vry's blood from her.

Riella chanced a look at him. Tol was tense, his eyes half-hidden from her. As when he took her in the tub a few days earlier, his feelings were impossible to gauge.

"You're angry," she guessed.

"Only that you chanced so much, but I know that you needed to."

Riella nodded. "Thank you for that."

Tol cracked a smile. "Of course, if you ever try something like that again, there will be a penalty for you."

"What penalty?"

"I don't think you're in any mood to pay it," he decided.

Riella sobered. "Not being tied to our bed. I don't think I want to try that again too soon. Seeing you struck down--"

"I'm putting a latch on the room-side of that door," he promised gruffly.

She smiled. "What is my penalty?"

Tol pulled her into his lap, turning her so her legs straddled his thighs and her breasts pressed into his chest. "Do not tempt me," he growled.

"Is that the only penalty you know?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You prefer another?"

"Never." Riella reached to guide him to her entrance.

Tol groaned as she settled over him. "Are you feeling properly penalized?" he teased, bucking deeper into her.

"Not yet," she panted. "But I trust I will before much longer."

Not long at all. Fion! Her arousal was like a geela bird launching off a cliff. She fell hard and fast, her senses in a spin, and then she rose, soaring. Riella gripped Tol's shoulders, seeking an anchor. Instead, the additional contact increased her fervor.

Tol read her perfectly, murmuring endearments in her ear as he nipped at it playfully. He took her faster and harder.

Her vision sharpened, the lines of Tol's face as he fought back his climax for her suddenly beautiful and mesmerizing. Tol took her deep, roaring his loss of control as Riella threw her head back and screamed her release.

He groaned as his cock thickened in her, locking into the band of muscle at the entrance to her womb. Riella gasped, her body responding to his inner touch. How had she survived without this?

Tol's head came up as a thunder of footsteps approached. He pulled Riella into the shelter of his chest, though she scarcely cared that she was naked in his arms. The guards burst into the room and gaped in surprise.

"Captain," Tol barked, somehow maintaining dignity and calm while on display and locked in her body.

They turned abruptly to the doorway. The captain cleared his throat. "Many pardons, General Tolerin. We heard-- His Majesty made it clear that we were to make no more assumptions tonight."

"Well spoken, Captain, but if you don't mind--"

"Of course, Tolerin. Your food awaits your leisure, sir."

"Dismissed."

Riella started giggling as the door closed behind them. Tol gave her a mock fierce look that made her laugh harder.

"What a night," she managed. "We don't seem capable of finishing our lovemaking in peace."

"I will move a chest in front of the king's corridor and bolt the main door," he offered.

"Agreed -- Prince Tolerin."

Tol scowled. "Must I be called that?"

"It comes with the contract."

He sighed. "I see why you dislike it so intensely."

Riella sobered. Benir always hated it, too. "Tol, I'd like to ask something of you," she began nervously.

"Anything. You know that."

"Benir died to save me. What he did to you--"

Tol kissed her forehead. "I understand. He is forgiven his mistakes, because he only meant to protect you."

"It is more than that. If our baby is a boy, I would like to honor Benir."

He shot her a look of pure confusion. "It is your place to name our children," he reminded her.

"I would like to know that you will not resent it."

His smile spread. "I will agree on one condition."

"Yes?"

"If our child is a girl, would you consider naming her Deliya to honor the night we gave her life?"

Riella blushed. If Tol ever mentioned that fact to her father, Ro would be livid.

"We will, of course, tell Ro that it is to honor your mother," he added, holding a chuckle in so that his throat bobbed in the effort.

She nodded in understanding. "And if it is a boy, I shall have to play at schente another night until we have a daughter. After all, my mother must have a namesake."

NOTE: Keen is a lyrical language, and minor changes in pitch and inflection denote a slightly different word in the language. See next page for the Keen calendar.

Braek--------- barbarian

Choc---------- a soft, brown color

Hir------------ princess, Your/Her Highness

Kit------------ breeding cattle, which are used for food

Reg----------- queen, Your/Her Majesty

Ri------------- king, Your/His Majesty

Ti------------- conqueror, king who takes his land by force

Triclum------ the drug used to treat gola poisoning

A year on Kegin is roughly equivalent to an Earth year. Days are twenty Earth hours long, but the year is separated into twelve months consisting of thirty-seven days each. Weeks on Keen consist of eight of their days. I formatted the calendar as if the Keen year started in January like an Earth year. In reality, the Keen year begins in Endl. The end of winter and beginning of spring is a time of rebirth, and so it is the start of the Keen New Year.

Pri------- January

Ite------- February

Endl----- March

Wos----- April

Zor------ May

Fim------ June

Jad------- July

Caj------- August

Wend---- September

Abrin ---- October

Veril------ November

Iric-------- December

Brenna Lyons lives in Haverhill, MA with her husband, three children, and a zoo of pets. She is a poet and novelist who has a poem on the cover of the upcoming Treble Heart release of Full Moon Inheritance by Jacqueline Elliott and eight completed novels currently on submission and seeking homes with four separate publishing houses.

Brenna enjoys the Society for Creative Anachronism and is a member of such groups as Broad Universe and RWU.

Brenna holds a BS in Accounting and a Certificate of Computer Programming. Why? An auditing teacher commented that she would either "make the perfect auditor or the perfect thief," and she had been writing for eleven years with little professional training -- in effect, a thief of attention by misdirection.

In the years since that fateful day, she has worked as an accountant and auditor, as a stock clerk and running a cash register, as a tutor, in child care, and as a writer -- always as a writer.