The Harem Master (11 page)

He dismissed the healer with a gesture to the door, then took his seat on a cushion beside the low bed on which Haru and Maru slept. Maru groaned quietly, moved restlessly, and whimpered when that jarred something in his poor nose. The healer had reset it and packed it with gauze, but time was the only real cure. The bruises around his eyes were already forming; it would be days before he would be fit to leave the harem hall again.

Unfortunate, since Haru and Maru were well-favored by Kagan. If they had wound up the target of his anger… Demir dared not think about what he would do to the others. They had just lost Nur, had lost three others that month alone. Who else must die before somebody stood up to Kagan?

He was somebody, but he had no power to remove a king. The best he could do was kill one. But what did he know about killing a man? He had been trained in pleasure. Even what he knew of pain was in how to use it on those who enjoyed it.

"Lord Dem…"

"Shh," Demir said, shifting his gaze to Haru even as he gently combed through Maru's hair so he would still and sleep more soundly. "Rest."

"M'fine." Haru slowly sat up, wincing slightly and gently touching his fingertips to his swollen face. "I didn't need the sedative; the healer is over cautious, though his care is appreciated. Wanted to tell you…" He broke off with a yawn and seemed for a moment to drift off back to sleep.

Shaking himself, Haru snapped his eyes open and said, "His Majesty got into an argument with Lord Galal."

Lord Galal was Councilor of Foreign Affairs and head of the council. That position was not inherited, but his father and grandfather had held the position for most of their lives, and only one other had taken up the role before Galal claimed it. He had held it for the past twenty years. Of all the council, he was the most dangerous, the most willing to accept change. If he pushed for the abolishment of the harems, then it would most likely be done. "Why were they arguing?"

"He was trying to convince His Majesty to marry again. Lord Galal said that people are unlikely to take well to Prince Ihsan after he was gone so long and has come back… I do not care to repeat unkind words, my lord."

"You do not need to," Demir said quietly. "I can guess them. So they are pushing for His Majesty to remarry and produce new heirs."

Haru nodded. "Yes, only His Majesty did not care for any of Lord Galal's suggestions. The argument got out of control. I do not think he knew what he was saying at the end. But…"

"What is it?"

After another long moment of hesitation, stroking the subtle vine and flower pattern in the fabric of his soft, shimmery pants, Haru said, "His Majesty never defended His Highness. He seemed pleased, in fact, that nobody was going to like Ihsan or accept him as king. I do not understand, my lord. Is it not a good thing that Prince Ihsan is not dead?"

"Politics make very little sense unless you are a politician," Demir said with a crooked smile. "Be grateful they make no sense to you. Rest, Haru. You and your brother are off duty until you are both fully recovered." He leaned over Maru and kissed Haru's unmarred cheek. "I am sorry you were hurt."

Haru shrugged. "Be careful, Lord Demir."

"I will do my best." He waited until Haru fell asleep, then rose smoothly to his feet and returned to the entrance of the harem hall. Slipping into his office, he quickly wrote a note, then folded and sealed it. Returning to the entrance hall, he beckoned one of the guards close. "Deliver this to Prince Ihsan. Wait for a reply unless he bids you otherwise."

The guard bowed and tucked the note into his sash, then departed with near-silent footsteps. Demir bid a second guard see that wine and a late lunch were brought, then went to the practice hall to prepare for his performance that night.

"Ihsan."

Ihsan looked up from the papers he was reading at the sound of Haluk saying his name, but his irritation at being interrupted dropped away when he saw a harem guard kneeling several paces away from the table. When had someone knocked on the door? "What brings you to see me?"

"A message from Lord Demir, Your Highness," the guard replied. He pulled a folded slip of paper from his red sash and held it out. Haluk took it, walked over to Ihsan, and gave it to him.

Unfolding the note, Ihsan quickly read the brief message:

With deepest regrets, Your Highness, I must cancel our appointment this afternoon in order to prepare for your banquet this evening. If it pleases Your Highness, I am more than happy to visit you later tonight after the banquet.

It was signed with the stylized orchid that was the crest of the harem masters. Hmmm. Ihsan folded the note and tapped it against his lips. "Tell Lord Demir that the change in appointment is acceptable, and I will meet with him in the Jeweled Gardens an hour after the banquet concludes."

The guard bowed so his head just barely touched the floor, then sat up slowly. "Yes, Your Highness." At Ihsan's nod, he stood and left.

Ihsan handed the note to Sabah, gesturing for Haluk and Kitt to join them at the table. "Something is wrong. Lord Demir wants to meet with me tonight. We are all of us attending the banquet; it will not look strange if I take the whole of my harem to the Jeweled Gardens tonight after the banquet. But I wonder what I have missed while I have spent most of my day shut in going through all these damned papers." He sighed. "It troubles me greatly that the royal finances are in such disarray. Why was I in such a hurry to return home to this?"

"It's still less arduous than war," Sabah replied. "If only barely."

"I'm not entirely convinced of that," Ihsan said as he picked his papers up again. "I wish the banquet was not happening."

Kitt gave a soft snort. "Yes, so tiresome to attend a party in your honor."

"That is not what I meant," Ihsan said. "I am worried about what might happen. This place has become a pit of vipers, and they are none too happy that I've returned."

Sabah took a sip of water from the pale blue glass at his elbow. "Roughly half the council has eligible or nearly eligible daughters. They have probably been placing their pieces carefully ever since your brother was exiled. With you and your brother gone and your sister dead, all new opportunities presented themselves… Now you've neatly ruined all those ambitions. I am worried about tonight, too."

"It's peculiar being on this side of matters," Kitt said, stealing the wine that Ihsan had left languishing. "Executing royalty is always good money if you have the patience and are willing to take the risks." He shrugged when they all gave him looks. "I'm just saying, it's strange not being the assassin for once. On the bright side, I can probably help determine how they will try to kill you."

Haluk stole the dish from Kitt and drained the last sip of wine. Picking up the carafe, he refilled it and took another sip, then held the dish out to Kitt. "The Sunburst Pavilion is at the south edge of the palace, facing the sea. It used to be open so that anyone on it could look upon the sea, but the wall was built two generations ago after a noblewoman and her two children were assassinated. Below it are the wine cellars and access to some of the pipework that runs through the palace. There is one main set of double doors and two servant doors: one leads to the kitchens, the second leads to various other store rooms and the entrance to the servant quarters. Any attack will come from the wall, the doors, or the roof; the guards have accounted for all of those."

"Guards at the wall are easy to bypass or remove quietly, especially about midway through the entertainment," Kitt said. "Everyone will be drunk, the guards will begin to grow bored, and it will be dark. So much noise and shadow, it would be easy to slip to the top of the wall, use an arrow or a poisoned dart. I'd be back over the wall before anyone could catch me. Alternately, it wouldn't be hard for a servant to get close."

"Servants allowed to serve the royal tables are strictly controlled," Ihsan countered. "I would not know their faces anymore, but my father, the guards, and the other guests would. That would only work if the king requested something unusual and extra help was needed to manage it, but even then the servants pulled would have been previously approved. That's a long game assassination."

Kitt and Haluk both frowned, exchanging pensive looks. Sabah made a soft noise and looked at all of them. "You think like soldiers and assassins, I will grant you that. Clean strategies all. But you are not thinking like politicians."

"How would a politician think, then, my beautiful schemer?" Ihsan asked.

"Right now? With panic the primary motivator. There's been no time to hire somebody with even half of Kitt's skill. Men like that need time to work, and a shoddy assassin comes with too much risk. That leaves forcing someone to do it, either a servant or guard who can be blackmailed or bribed. Better if someone can be bribed, but blackmail is a manageable backup, though the leverage would have to be terrible to force someone to murder a prince." He rubbed the side of one finger across his lips. "There is also poison, and that would be my vote."

Kitt made a face. "Poison would be the last resort of a desperate man, or the action of a stupid one. I've poisoned people before, but poison requires tightly controlled circumstances. The way people here eat and drink, poisoning a particular person at a banquet would be impossible. You might be able to manage it at a private meal like ours, but there is still no guarantee one of us would not take the poison first. Anyone choosing poison would have to be willing to murder everyone at the table. Too messy and unpredictable."

"I'm just saying, have a care what you eat and drink tonight," Sabah replied. "Many of these secluded nobles will find it easier to kill broadly and sort out the mess later, especially if they're scared and panicked. It hardly matters if in killing a prince they accidentally remove a few rivals and concubines. It's not the assassin people should fear, it is those who keep assassins in work."

Kitt opened his mouth, then grunted and drank the wine he still held.

Chuckling, Ihsan leaned over the corner of the table and drew Sabah into a soft kiss. "I am eternally grateful that you are on my side. You have your father's ruthless mind."

"Amusingly, he would probably claim that I am too soft."

Haluk and Kitt laughed, then Haluk said, "You are many things, Sabah, but I have never known soft to be one of them. In bed or out of it."

Sabah rolled his eyes and picked up one of the small paperweights scattered across the table, and threw it at Haluk. Catching it easily, Haluk set the weight back on the table then rose smoothly to his feet and rounded the table. He sank to his knees again, pushed Sabah onto his back, and skated a hand down his chest and stomach to cup his cock. "As I said."

"You're the one causing it. Do something about it."

"Yes, do something about it," Ihsan said with a smile. "Because now I have no hope of focusing on these accursed numbers. If I am going to be distracted from my work, then I want the very best distraction." Especially when the rest of his day was going to be more tension and anger and an arduous banquet.

Instead of turning to each other and giving him something lovely to look at, however, Haluk and Sabah pulled apart and rose smoothly to their feet, Kitt joining them as they pounced Ihsan. Hauling him to his feet, the three men dragged him over to the enormous, low-set bed against the far wall. Kitt paused only to loosen the gauzy curtains the servants had drawn back that morning.

By the time Kitt rejoined them, Haluk and Sabah had Ihsan naked and were stripping off their own clothes, retaining only the jewels they wore. It made for a handsome sight, one so very different from the still-recent days when all four of them had worn layers to protect against sand and enemies. When every day had been brutal fighting, hard travel, or restless sleep.

He moaned as Sabah and Haluk each pinned a wrist above his head, their free hands trailing down his body, teasing, stroking, pinching. Heavy hands rested on his thighs, fingers sliding inward to tease the soft skin there. Their hands slid away to be replaced by Kitt's, softer, lighter, the fingers long and capable of many, many wonderfully wicked things.

They were not as wicked as the mouth that trailed playfully along the length of his cock, all the way down then slowly, slowly all the way back up, made all the worse by the way Haluk and Sabah kept him held firmly in place, teased his nipples, licked and sucked at his skin. The perpetual aches of a body riddled with shrapnel scars were easy to forget beneath the hot mouths, the affectionate, teasing touches.

Haluk cupped the side of his face, bent, and kissed him, slow and firm, swallowing the moans provoked by Kitt's mouth dropping over his cock. Ihsan whined when Haluk drew back but was immediately mollified when Sabah took his place. Their hands slid back down his body, spread his legs wider. His breath stuttered, turning into a soft groan as Kitt's fingers, warm and slick, teased and pressed at his hole. "You three will be the death of me."

Sabah and Haluk laughed softly, each kissing a side of his throat before trailing those hot, evil mouths down to suck and bite at his nipples again. Sabah's touch was slow and easy. Haluk was sharp, quick. The contact left Ihsan trembling, writhing futilely in their grasp. He tried to thrust deeper into Kitt's mouth, but they held him too firmly for his efforts to be anything but frustrating. Kitt pushed one finger into him, twisting and crooking it, making Ihsan cry out.

"No, don't stop," he whined when Kitt pulled off his cock, but the rest of his protest was forgotten when one finger became two, as wicked and knowing as the grin on Kitt's face. That grin was the first thing he had noticed about Kitt, bent over a table as a guard fucked him, like he knew something the rest of the world didn't.

Many would say he was a fool for taking a Rittu serpent into his harem. A snake was a snake, as Kitt so often said. But there was infinite difference between the man about to fuck him, the one who loved him, and the vipers who were probably plotting how best to kill him. "Kiss me."