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“We think not.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “We have taken measurements of the planet. If our lands had always faced the sun, we would expect to see a bulge, however slight, somewhere in the desert.”

  “A bulge? Perhaps due to the gravitational pull of the sun?” I swiped a piece of roasted bird through sauce and ate it before chasing it with wine.

  A lifted brow hinted that he was surprised by my acumen. I hoped not. Underestimating me would be insulting and unacceptable. He said, “Yes, but Janus is almost perfectly spherical except for a slight thickening at the equator of our world. We speculate that Janus’ natural spin was altered, probably by the Terran Progenitors.”

  Behind me I heard Maia stir restlessly.

  “But why would they do such a thing?” I asked. “Such an act would unpredictably alter all life on Ja—”

  “We believe they did it as an experiment.”

  He had interrupted me three times, I noted with irritation. “An experiment? I cannot imagine such arrogance. That must be why there are so few indigenous life forms here.”

  “Yes. The Progenitors willfully destroyed the native ecology.”

  Maia appeared between us to ladle a spicy vegetable soup into our bowls. Flavored with cinnamon and curry, it is one of my favorite dishes. Stirring it with my spoon, I sniffed, appreciating its aroma. “After having killed everything off, they then seeded the planet with Terran plants and animals, including our ancestors. They left and haven’t returned for perhaps three thousand starturns, even though they must have understood that the chances of our survival were slim.”

  “Yes. If legends are correct, Janus is quite different from Terra, a planet with both tilt and spin.” Kaldir cautiously spooned soup into his mouth. His teeth were quite even and shone white against his dark skin.

  I was still trying to comprehend the extent of the Progenitors’ presumptuousness. Why were they revered? “They killed all life here and condemned the beings they left to an almost certain death. It is only Chance that has allowed us survival. Chance, and gaining an understanding of the Balance that had to be achieved.”

  “Not all indigenous life forms died off. There are myths of transforming creatures we call the Chimaerae.”

  “I have heard the legends.” I kept my voice casual. “If they exist, they must be few. Of more importance is the Balance that preserves our survival and in its turn must be preserved.”

  “Yes, the Balance, the central unifying concept that guides everything you Shadowlanders do.”

  I disliked his condescending tone. “Here we are aware that we exist on a precarious point between Darkness and Light, intolerable cold and searing heat. Even you DesertDwellers don’t dare to travel deeply into your realm, just as the Lords of Darkness live as close to our lands as we allow.”

  “Ah, the Lords of Darkness.” Kaldir leaned back in his chair, affecting a casual mien as I ate my soup, concealing my smile behind my spoon. He might have been a brilliant scientist but he was not a clever diplomat. What he would say next was of true importance to him.

  He continued, “They will also send a delegation, won’t they? When are they expected?”

  “I am not sure.” I set down my spoon and signaled a servant to remove the bowls. “Rumor has it that Darkness’ nobles, um…contend among themselves for the honor of becoming my sole suitor from the Nightside.”

  “Clan warfare is common in the lands of eternal night but is disruptive. We had hoped to negotiate a new trade agreement with their emissaries.”

  “For what commodities?” I asked as Maia served the fish course.

  “Ice from their glaciers to cool our machines and ourselves, and the rare metals we use in our experiments.”

  “Everything will have to pass through our realm,” I said complacently. I ate a sliver of the fish, which was bathed in a delicate white sauce flavored with capers and lemon and sprinkled with chopped, roasted nuts.

  “Yes. Negotiations would be easier with all three parties in one place at the same time.”

  I smiled. “You and your delegation are welcome to stay as long as you wish.” I had not learned everything I wanted to glean from Kaldir and was pleased that he would remain.

  Chapter Three

  My time of the moon was close, and I was often in the grip of an almost uncontrollable randiness. My only comfort was knowing that I was not the first queen to face this dilemma and that I had outlets for my energies.

  After dinner, during one of my few unscheduled moments, I entered a bower called the Royal Privilege and met my selected guards. They were the same two who had pleasured me so wonderfully on my Exhibition Day, and I had returned to them again and again. Parron and Rall had never failed me, together or separately. They had sworn fealty to me and I could trust them to observe the limits I also obeyed… I was not so sure of Frayn, Geoman or Kaldir.

  The bower, a small balconied bedroom, had an overview of a heated marble bathing pool that was a popular trysting place. Vines twining up the castle wall as well as potted foliage on the balcony hid us from the lovers below. It was ideal for self-pleasure as well as assignations, and as my seventeenth starturn approached, I visited it often. Most frequently I was alone but tonight craved more stimulation. The attentions of the males had heated my blood. It might have been my imagination, but I believed that every glance from Geoman, Frayn or Kaldir held erotic promise. By the time dinner was over, more than spices, wine and tea had warmed me.

  To preserve appearances, I accompanied Kaldir to the anteroom of his quarters and bade him good sleep. I had wanted to test him with a kiss, but the presence of our respective retinues quelled any advance in our physical relationship. I did not know how I was going to get him alone, and I would not consider mating with anyone without so much as a kiss or a touch passing between us.

  I pondered the question as I went back to my suite and, dismissing everyone but Maia, asked her to order Parron and Rall to the Royal Privilege. With immediate understanding, she said, “I will also ensure you are undisturbed, Your Majesty.”

  When I climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, the guards were already in the room, lighting the fire. Dressed in formal black-and-red livery, they also were armed, which surprised me. “Swords?” I said, with a question in my voice.

  “Lord Parlous’ orders, Your Majesty.” Rall kneeled before me. “Caution, with the foreigners in the castle.”

  “I suppose that is wise,” I said. While Parron tended the fire, I took Rall’s hand and led him outside. Below us, flambeaux revealed naked figures frolicking in the heated waters. I thought I recognized Frayn, heard Lord Geoman’s low laugh and the titters of several of my ladies-in-waiting. I wished them well but would not join them.

  But watching was an option. Indeed, it was the purpose of this bower.

  Lifting my skirts, I pressed Rall’s blond head toward my quim. He wore his hair long, often tied at his nape, and I loved to tug it free of its confining band and feel it softly sweep my thighs. As he burrowed beneath my dress, seeking the sweetest spot, one of the ladies sat on the white marble coping at the pool’s edge. Opening her legs, she crooked a beckoning finger to Geoman. He rose out of the water, his body glistening with moisture, damp hair clinging to his skull. Smiling, he kneeled before her and buried his face in her muff. At the same moment, Rall kissed a sensitive spot behind my knee. Geoman’s lady and I moaned in unison.

  Parron left the fire, now crackling merrily in the grate and, behind me, set his hands on my shoulders. “May I, Your Majesty?” He tugged the ribbon securing my gown.

  “Yes.” I tipped my head to one side.

  He knew me well enough to take the hint and slid his lips along my neck, raising shivers of desire. His hands were busy unlacing my dress. Rall was just as busy. He stroked my thighs, separating them, then reached my pussy and tugged my labia apart so he could kiss me. That simple act, so laden with promise, drew a sharp ecstasy that stabbed through me.

  He rubbed his tongue on my
clitoris and the rapture increased. My gown fell away, its folds brushing my sensitive skin. I gasped as Parron pulled down my chemise, exposing my breasts above the corset. He plucked my nipples, naked in the cool night air, to achy points. Rall continued to assail my pussy with tongue and lips, fingering my slit. He then spread moisture along my crack, lubricating my arse.

  He inserted a finger and pleasure rushed through me. My cries rose in pitch. Below, Geoman still gave his lady a tongue-lashing while behind him another woman caressed his fine, tight rear, reaching between his legs to tease his cock and balls. Behind her, Frayn stood, his hands separating the halves of her buttocks with his cock head poised for entry.

  Parron cupped my breasts while nibbling on my earlobe. Rall’s tongue pushed against my clit and I wantonly ground myself against him. Each movement drove his finger farther up my rear and more bliss through my body. Another finger joined the first… He was opening me, readying me.

  Parron unlaced my corset and tugged it away, freeing me, and I came, gasping, with Rall’s tongue on my clit, his fingers in my bottom and Parron’s hands squeezing my breasts.

  Rall disentangled himself from my gown, stood and kissed me, taking me into his arms and thrusting his tongue into my mouth. I tasted my juices on his lips. Still behind me, Parron gripped my arse, one cheek in each of his strong hands, and kneaded the flesh through my chemise.

  I heard a shout from below and I pulled away from my lovers to look. Geoman was now atop his partner, who lay back on the turf as he pumped in and out of her. It was Frayn who had shouted. I recognized his cry. He sounded the same way each time. A bit boring, really. His lady was facedown, draped over the marble coping that edged the pool, and Frayn, his back arched, surged in and out of her while slapping her round bum in time with his strokes.

  I gripped the balustrade and leaned over to get a better view. The breeze lifted my chemise, fluttering the light fabric over my bottom. Parron came up behind me and stroked my arse, gentle where he’d previously been rough. His voice was low and intimate in my ear. “Do you remember…”

  “Yes,” I murmured, smiling. He didn’t have to complete the sentence. I recalled the first time Parron and Rall had spanked me. Shortly after my Exhibition Day I had, against all wisdom and orders from my parents, ridden a half-wild stallion that had been lately been brought to the royal stables. The stallion had been a gift from the prince-scientists of the desert, who were very proud of their steeds. I had been fortunate. Though I had been thrown, I hadn’t been injured. But Parron and Rall had raced after me, falling far behind while seated on less-speedy mounts, and had found me flat on my back on a pile of leaves in the forest, winded but unhurt.

  Relieved to the point of anger, Parron had sat on a log, turned me over his brawny knee and spanked my thirteen-starturn bottom. Mindful of my status, he hadn’t struck me hard enough to really hurt me, but instead had caused a different response. Heat had flashed through me, radiating from my well-spanked bottom to my clit and throughout my body. I’d found myself squirming, pussy hot and wet, over Parron’s thigh, moaning, scrabbling for Rall’s hardening rod. After I opened his codpiece, he’d stepped behind me, torn off my riding breeches and buried his cock in my ready quim. Parron had slid out from beneath me and, draping me over the log, unlaced his cod and put his erection between my lips.

  Parron had caressed my face while Rall slapped my arse in time with his vigorous fucking. Each movement of Parron’s rod in my mouth, each spank, each deep thrust had taken me higher and higher… I’d torn my mouth away from Parron’s cock and screamed out my orgasm.

  That scene had been repeated again and again, with variations, of course. But after I had ascended to the Golden Throne, vaginal intercourse was forbidden to me until I decided upon a mate, a king for the Shadowlands. Political necessity forced erotic creativity.

  Now, leaning against the balustrade with Parron caressing my bottom, I sensed that a repetition was nigh.

  He nipped my ear, put a hand on my breast, pinched the nipple. He’d fondled me to the point of soreness and still I longed for more. Still clothed, he pushed one boot between my bare ankles and kicked out, separating my feet. I leaned over the balustrade, offering my buttocks.

  I turned my head and saw Rall, now naked, approaching me with a polished rod of taqqa horn in his hand, carved to resemble a man’s tool, from which dangled straps of leather. He kneeled near me and slid the smooth rod up my pussy. Ahh… Pressure and desire… Again I ascended toward pleasure’s heights. As I moaned and clenched, Rall secured the straps. One went around my waist and the others attached the rod to the waistband, front and back. They were designed to leave access to my back hole.

  “Thank you,” I whispered. My guards knew that I could not risk impregnation in the heat of passion, and the horn-rod in my pussy protected me from penetration. And it was cleverly carved, with a smooth protrusion inside me resting on my channel’s most sensitive spot. The leather strap pressed against my clitoris when I moved or when a partner touched me.

  “You’re welcome.” Parron slapped my bottom, and I whimpered, clinging to the rail. He spanked me again. I cried out, my hips jerking. Rall, still kneeling beside me, reached for the horn-rod and rotated it. I moaned, the heat of lust again spreading through me, a delicious contrast to the cool marble railing. I was limp, my knees weak.

  “Shall we to bed, Your Majesty?” Rall stood with my relaxed body draped over his shoulder. When I murmured “yes,” he carried me inside and eased me onto the bed, then joined me.

  I watched Parron strip while Rall suckled my breasts, caressing the nipples with his lips, circling the areolas with his tongue, nibbling and nipping the tips, but using his teeth with care. His soft fair hair flicked my breasts, stoking the fire within me. He was slim and somewhat bonier than Parron, who was dark, with a wealth of curls furring his barrel-shaped, muscular chest. With a pang, I realized that I would miss them when I married. Unlike everyone else in the Shadowlands, I could not fuck at will anyone I pleased, at least not until I had borne a couple of babes. But after the succession was secured, I could have whoever I wanted.

  Parron’s cock sprang from his loosened codpiece. He was thick and red, shorter in length than Rall, but he made up for that slight lack in girth. At the sight of the member that had pleasured me so well in the past, I drew in a hissing breath and gripped Rall’s equally hard tool. Leaving my breasts, he pulled me atop him. I shoved my hands underneath his shoulders, holding them for support.

  He lifted his hips, grinding his cock against the leather covering my pussy. Need roared through me as he groaned, digging his hands into my buttocks, pulling me apart. I tightened around the rod inside me and felt it push up against my clit. I moaned, and Rall slapped my arse. I jerked with the sting.

  The bed creaked as Parron joined us. I felt his weight between my spread legs a moment before his hand slid up and down my crack. He’d moistened his fingers with perfumed oil, and I scented the invigorating aromas of peppermint and cinnamon, herbs that would stimulate my sensitive tissues, make them swell and tingle.

  One thick finger entered my bottom. I groaned with pleasure as his slippery digit pumped me slowly. Rall spanked me again, not hard—enough to surprise me, heighten my awareness. I felt his chest rub against the nipples he’d so thoroughly loved. The hard nubs slid along his skin, well-lubricated by our combined sex-sweat.

  Another slap on my rear before Rall palmed the halves farther apart. Another finger joined the first, and I trembled, anticipating Parron’s invasion. Rall’s cock pressed against the leather holding the taqqa rod in place. Ecstasy seized me and I screamed and writhed.

  Parron withdrew his hand and I whimpered. Rall spanked me. “Did you say something, Your Majesty?” His voice was low, sweetened with the hint of a tease.

  I found myself giggling. “N-no.”

  “I thought I heard you…beg.”

  I gasped. “Never.”

  “Or perhaps…you said, yes, do that again.”


  “If I did not say it I meant to.”

  “With pleasure.” He spanked my bottom again, and when he gripped my buttocks, he opened me and Parron pressed his cock inside.

  Though he’d taken me there before, still he stretched the ring of flesh guarding my most private portal, and his tool felt like a lance spearing through me. Fiery rapture engulfed my body, radiating in flaming waves from his cock up my arse to the rod in my quim, to my clit, tortured unbearably by the leather strap. I shouted with joy, arched and bowed, pressing my nipples against Rall’s chest. He grabbed my head, pulled me down and kissed me deeply as Parron fucked my bottom. I squirmed, reared and bucked, but Parron controlled me, gripping my hips and spanking my buttocks while Rall wrapped one arm around my waist to hold me firmly. I clung to his shoulders in a frenzied agony of pleasure and pain as I cried out my release. Hot seed filled my rear and spurted over my belly as my lovers joined me.

  Aftershocks rippled through my body as Rall took my face between his hands. “I love you, Audryn,” he whispered.

  Tears spilled down my cheeks. Though I was the Queen of Shadow, that night my body belonged to them, and they knew exactly what to do with me.

  * * * * *

  Later, alone in my bedchamber, sleep eluded me.

  I love you, Audryn.

  This was the first time I understood that Rall’s feelings exceeded the fealty he owed his queen.

  Regret stabbed. I had not meant for Rall to fall in love with me. Whatever I did, whomever I chose, I would hurt a good man, one who had done nothing to deserve the pain I would surely deal.

  Chapter Four

  Though my sexual urges had been sated for a little while, the next days presented another frustration. Try as I might, I could not get Kaldir alone. I needed to tryst with the man, for I had taken Caducia’s advice to heart. The people’s happiness is dependent upon the queen’s joy, for in the Shadowlands, the people and their monarchs are one.