A Kiss of Fire: A Kiss of Magic Book 2 (13 page)

“He did not take me to his bed that night, nor did he let me go out into the world unprotected. He put me into a room with his father’s concubines and had me share space with them. Oh how mean and spiteful those women were! They could not wait to report my presence to the raja. As expected, he was furious with his son. ‘Fuck her if you must,’ his father said, ‘but she is no fit concubine for you.’”

“So Jirar called me to his bed that night—and every night after—so I might have a safe place to sleep and so he could keep me close. But we did not make love those first nights. In fact, I think Jirar thought he felt very little about me those first weeks. But slowly, as he got to know me, he realized he was beginning to burn for me. He became obsessed with my comfort and care. The littlest things about me began to plague his mind incessantly…or so he told me. The smell of my hair. The darkness of my eyes. The shyness of my smile. Then, one night when he could take the temptation no longer, he devoured me with his passion for me. I had never known such pleasure could exist.

“Unfortunately, in a home so small, so crowded and with so little privacy, our passion was not private. His father learned of the coupling and then demanded that, now that he had his fill of me, Jirar was to put me out of the house. Jirar told his father that he would not…that he intended to make me his first wife…his only wife. His father threatened to disown him, to take the right of succession out of his hands. They both knew this was an empty threat. Still, this created a rift between father and son that was never repaired, not even on his father’s deathbed. Jirar was willing to risk everything for me…the little non woman who would one day bear him three children and his only line of succession.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Ariana said with feeling.

“For what?” Fatima asked.

“The child that did not live. Or…am I wrong? I have only heard you mention two sons and no daughters…perhaps you have just—“

“No. You are correct. There was a child that did not live. A daughter. She would have been younger than Vich. Her name was Fatim. She would have been as beautiful as my sons are handsome. It was a great loss for Jirar and I. And then, shortly after, I lost Jirar and became raji-mother. I ruled until Sin was old enough to take the reins of the government. I am afraid I was not half the leader Sin is. He was born to lead. Luckily, it was only five autumns before Sin reached the age of maturity. And really he was ruling by my side even then. He is his father’s son. Born and bred to be a ruler of men.”

“That must have been so daunting…to be a non with two young boys to raise and a country to run.” Ariana could not help but be impressed.

“I had the power of my brothers to help…and Sin was already quite powerful for all he was a young man. No one dared to try and oust us. Besides, our people have a great respect for the bloodlines of our royals. They would do anything Sin asked of them…including go to war. It may not have always been the most popular decision, but the end justified the means. Sin has opened up a whole new world for us. The gift of the land you have given us has meant everything to a dying race.”

“A dying race?” she echoed.

“There was no more room. Disease was running rampant in close quarters. Yes. We were dying. But now we’ve space aplenty. Thanks to you and your people.”

“To us? But we didn’t do anything. We fought you tooth and nail before giving up that land! And we didn’t give it to you, we sold it to you.” A fact she was feeling with shame now every time she said it.

“You could just as easily have continued to war and you could have bargained for less at a price we couldn’t afford. This was exactly what we needed under terms we could survive. It meant a lot.”

“Your people fought valiantly for what they needed. And it was a need, not just a selfish want as so many of my people viewed it…view it still. If I could go back, I would work to change that.”

“It is more important that you are here and make my son happy.”

“I cannot make your son happy. No one can be responsible for another’s happiness. That is entirely up to them.”

“We are going to have to disagree on that. Like I did with Jirar, you have lit a fire in my son. He grew up with his father and I for an example as to how it should be between a man and a woman. You will not convince him that he cannot win you without time and patience. That is why he has brought you to me you know.”

“So you can talk me into caring about his needs and disregarding my own?”

Fatima chuckled, a soft, rich sound that Ariana couldn’t help but smile with.

“No, darling. Because you try his patience. Because he feels he cannot control his baser urges around you and he wishes to respect you better. I am to play chaperone.”

Ariana blushed wildly, hardly knowing the reason why. She should be grateful this woman would now act as a buffer between her and Sin. But for some reason she felt loss…as though she were being deprived of something she wanted very much.

No! She didn’t want him, she told herself stubbornly.

Even though that quiet part of her knew it to be a lie.

Chapter Fourteen

Ariana spent the day with Fatima and didn’t catch a single glance of Sin the entire time. She liked the older woman’s dry wit and wise ways. Getting to know her helped her to better understand a man she was already learning far too well. Sometimes it made her uncomfortable to think on it, other times it did not.

The two women took midday meal together in the pretty salon. The servants served them at a small table that was off to one side of the room. It was a simple, light fare, already portioned onto their plates.

Then Fatima sat at her loom and deftly worked the shuttle back and forth as the two women chatted about many different things.

When Sin finally came into the room, it was to announce that supper was ready. Ariana looked up at him, butterflies fluttering about in her belly. He was such a beautiful man, she realized. She had not appreciated it before because she had been so determined to despise him, but there was a dark intense beauty to his features. Oh, he was all male and in no way pretty, but he was richly handsome in a rough sort of way. It was a type of beauty she did not see often in the perfect dandies that were the male Sarens.

Sin came up to her and, with perfect courtly manners, he held out his hand to her. It was such a simple gesture, and yet it was not. For in his eyes was the deeply intense knowledge that he now knew what she looked like without her clothes on…that he had almost become completely intimate with her on that level. If she had been hoping his use of his mother as chaperone would mean that he would forget those facts and pretend they had never happened, she was sorely disillusion in that instant. As he waited for her hand, his eyes raked down over her and she could see his breath come a little quicker.

She flushed hotly all up and down her body, from deep inside places she hadn’t been in touch with in a long time…if ever. But she wasn’t about to let him know that, so she placed her hand in his and lifted her chin in defiance of how she was feeling.

Sin tucked her hand into his elbow, his fingertips lingering to stroke the back of her hand. It felt almost suggestive, that stroke. She squelched a shudder. He held out his opposite elbow to his mother and she took it. Three abreast they walked out of the salon and into the large dining room some distance down the hall.

Where the salon had been sunny and peaceful, the dining hall was darker and noisy. There were children running about, chasing each other up and down the length of the floor around the table. As Sin entered the room the adults took hold of the children and tucked them into their seats. There were five women and one man sitting at the head of the table, and many men and women seated at the foot. One of the women at the head of the table was heavily pregnant. This must be Harea, she thought. The other women must be Sin’s brother’s wives and the man must be his brother.

As Sin seated her and his mother, she took the opportunity to consider his brother. He was about half a foot shorter than Sin, but had the same pitch colored hair. He had brown eyes as well, but his were fair and nothing like the nearly black color shared between Sin and his mother. He was a barrel-chested man and seemed solid enough, but there was a sense of him being less fit than his brother was. Then again, who wasn’t? For a man who spent so much time pouring over books and ledgers, Sin was extraordinarily well developed in musculature. She wondered what he did, outside of riding, to keep himself so fit.

“Ariana, this is my brother, Raj Vich,” Sin introduced her. Vich frowned at the introduction but inclined his head politely. Barely politely. “These are his wives Caran, who is firstwife, and Kindah who is secondwife. They are mothers to his sons Joren, eldest and heir, and Freash, respectively. These are his concubines and daughters. Arud, mother to Darinda and Hela, mother of Dasa. This is soon to be mother Harea.” He indicated each woman and child as they were mentioned. He took his seat at the head of the table. Ariana had been seated at his left. She felt as though she was on display. As if this seat were of some significant importance by the looks she was receiving.

“At the end of the table you will find ambassadors and diplomats from many other lands.”

That surprised her. She had always envisioned the Kiltians as an insular race. But then she recalled that they were heavily dependent on outside resources for everything. Even the food they ate. He began to introduce them and each got up and bowed in their turn. He simply introduced her to them as Ariana. Not Ariana, triumvir of Saren.

She realized then that one of these people might be the best way she had of getting news of her location back to the Sarens. Of course, Sin had to realize this too. It was no doubt why he had kept her locked secretly away. The more people who knew of her the higher the risk that the Sarens would come for her in one way or another. So why had he let her out? Why was he letting her be seen all of a sudden?

“Ariana, it is a pleasure to have you at our table,” Raj Vich said, oozing all charm and grace.

“Thank you. It is a pleasure to join you.”

“Tell us, Triumvir Ariana, how is your country?”

A ripple of tension ratcheted through the man sitting next to her. Sin had purposefully omitted that she was a triumvir. Vich had just, quite purposefully she had no doubt, exposed her for who she truly was.

“It is well, last I heard.”

“But surely you must miss your home country,” Vich said smoothly.

“A great deal. But I hope to see it again very soon,” she said with a small smile.

“Do you indeed?” Vich was all surprise. Or feigned surprise. It was clear by his arch behaviors that he had some kind of personal agenda where she was concerned. She realized then that everything he had just said had undermined his brother in some way. She found she didn’t like the idea of it in the least. Even though making her true self known to others was in her best interest, she didn’t care for the idea that Vich was somehow trying to get a leg-up over his brother.

“Yes. But in the meantime I am enjoying my visit in your country.”

“Your…visit?” again that arch tone.

“Yes. Your brother has been kind enough to play the role of host. I hope to see more of your fine country and its peoples.”

“Well, but for two autumns ago this had all been your country. Have you never visited it before?”

“Not this particular corner of it. It was not very settled, which is one of the reasons we were not so loathe to part with it.”

“Yes, my brother did make quite the bargain, getting us all this wild country. It is taking quite an effort to see it settled. Our Anima shamans, who are the equivalent of your Padoni majji, are having to learn all new ways of growing things in nature. They are used to making rocky shale and soil produce what little homegrown crops we had. This richer loam is not nearly so temperamental, but it is taking some learning. Plus, the weather plays a factor. We have tremendous weather events here. That requires the use of the Weath, our weather shamans. Farmers can hire both shamans to maximize their crop output, but they don’t come cheap and they can’t perform miracles. It takes time and energy and a great many resources to make this land produce. Even so we have yet to yield a decent crop. I only hope next autumn is better…elsewise it would seem you got the far better end of our deal.”

It was a judgment and an insult, Ariana realized. And yet Sin let it slide. For some reason she felt compelled to come to Sin’s defense.

“Learning to work the soil is only a matter of time and patience,” she assured Vich. “I am only sorry that more Sarens did not volunteer to guide you as we had hoped they would. I suppose there were just too many bad feelings all around.”

“We did offer your Padoni majji handsome recompense, but alas the war left them too bitter to consider the riches we could offer them.”

“We are making our own way,” Sin said.

“Yes, but quite slowly. Why with all the expense we are putting out, it will be no wonder if we starve to death before we ever see a single bumper crop.”

“I’m sure it isn’t as bad as all of that,” Ariana said, trying not to talk through her teeth. If Sin could keep his temper in check, then so could she. “As a matter of fact, I know it isn’t. For I have seen the ledgers myself. Kilt remains quite prosperous.”

“You have seen…?” Raj Vich couldn’t conceal his shock. “My brother shares intimate details of the workings of our government with you?”

Oh dear. That wasn’t what she had wanted to do at all. She was trying to defend Sin, not give Vich more fodder for his workings against him.

“Yes. Raja Sin has been kind enough to help us. You see, we are thinking of implementing a tariff on all of our imported goods, but we have no model on which to base our system. Your brother had provided the intimate details of a working—and might I add flourishing—economy with a tariff basis.”

“That is very kind of you Raja Sin,” one of the ambassadors said. “Perhaps you would be kind enough to show us as well?”

“Perhaps,” Sin said shortly. “I would not make a habit of showing such details to just anyone. Ariana is a leader of her people. An equal. If your leaders were to come themselves as she has, I would wholly consider the possibility.”

“Harea,” Ariana said brightly, changing the topic away from its current bent. “You are due soon?”

“Any day now,” Vich said for her. “She will give me my third son.”

“Are you so certain then that it is a boy?” she asked with a smile.

“It makes no matter either way,” Vich said with a careless wave. “I’ve got my heir, and a second son to boot.”
Which is more than I can say for my brother
, was the unspoken remark in the room.

“What does a man need with so many wives and concubines? In our culture we take only one husband or wife.”

“Pregnant wives and concubines are a sure sign of a man’s virility,” Vich said proudly. “It is our duty to provide many sons for the royal line.”

“It seems as though this was an unwise thing to do when you were so crowded before this. One would think you would make effort to keep the population down.”

“Only royals may take multiple wives and concubines.”

“Is it required?” Ariana asked. For some reason a vicious stab of jealousy went through her at the idea of having to share Sin with other women. The thought shocked her. He was not hers! She could not make any demands on him. But she would be damned if she was going to be one of many women in his life, only of interest until the bloom rubbed off.

Confused by her feelings, she hardly heard Sin’s reply.

“No. Not required. For instance, our father only ever took our mother to his bed and his heart.” She looked at him and could see the intensity in his eyes. As if he was trying to say “As I would do to you.”

She blushed under the regard of his speaking eyes. A plate of food was put down in front of her, and she picked up her utensils, but she simply stared down at the fare, not really seeing it. She didn’t know what to make of herself. Of these odd feelings swirling about inside of her. There was such a study in contradictions. On the one hand she was hoping someone would come and rescue her from this fate…on the other thinking maybe…perhaps it was not such a bad fate after all. Her entire body was thrumming with awareness of the man sitting next to her.

“Harea will become thirdwife if she produces a son. Only concubines who give birth to sons may become wives,” Arud said. There was a kindly bend to the woman’s head. Unlike Vich’s wives who seemed to be a little bit above their company.

“How many wives can you have?” Ariana asked.

“Up to five. Raj Vich may not take any more wives or concubines until one of us is no longer here or is proved barren by going five autumns or more without producing a child. In that case the wife or concubine would be put aside and retired,” Caran said. “Save the mother of the heir of course. She will always be firstwife.”

“Unless the son dies,” Kindah said, smiling sweetly.

“Yes then the secondwife becomes firstwife and on down in a ripple effect. Firstwife, in this case, would become secondwife…or thirdwife depending on whether Harea produces a son before such a terrible tragedy occurred.”

“But we will not talk of my son’s death,” Vich said stormily. “The entire line of succession rest on his shoulders after mine.”

“That is…until Raja Sin has a son and heir,” Harea said softly.

Everyone looked to her then and she flushed uncomfortably. It was clear everyone on that end of the table knew what Sin expected of her. She did not like it.

“But first I must find a woman worthy enough to become firstwife. It must be someone extraordinary. Someone who could rule equally by my side.”

“No woman could ever rule equal to you, brother,” Vich said with a scoffing sound. “No woman could ever rule our people.”

“Mother did so,” Sin reminded him in a sharp dig.

“That was different. She was raji-mother, ruling in your stead until you were of age. And even so you were of age in only five autumns. You were already wise enough and powerful enough to be ruling. It was more like she was aiding your rule. You were far above others even at fifteen autumns. But perhaps someone of Kiltian birth could aid you in your rule by providing you comfort and ease, but surely no woman could be allowed full power over the fate of the Kiltian government. Not even that, should you do the unthinkable and take a foreign bride.”