The Soldier's Lotus (24 page)

“
Saerileth—”

“
Do not love me, Lord
Itenu
. You are already spoiled for any man. Having loved
Darien, no other man would ever be able to satisfy you. Do not love me, too.”

“
Love you? I wish you
were dead!” Kamen’s arms slid around Saerileth’s waist, and he pulled her tight
against him.

Saerileth had dreaded this moment, this moment she had
feared from the time she had saved Kamen’s life in the desert. He desired her,
and she knew, as surely as she knew the sun rose in the east, that if it were
not for Darien, she would have already loved Kamen
Itenu
for his beauty, his courage, his nobility, his grace. But there was Darien, and
Saerileth drew her breath for his sake only.

She felt Kamen’s arousal pressing against her belly, and
she moved her arms up around Kamen’s back.

“
Saerileth.”
Kamen leaned down toward her, and his face was
black with fury and yet full of desire.

But Saerileth had no intention of succumbing to Kamen. Her
arms around his back, she reversed the standard moves of the Katipo Form, and
Kamen froze in front of her.

“
You shall never have
him, Lord
Itenu
!” Saerileth’s breast was heaving, and
she stepped back from Kamen. “You are noble, cunning, and wise, worthy of my
master’s friendship – precisely the sort of man any Lotus could love.
Any Lotus except this one!”

“
Saerileth?”
Darien’s voice was raw with pain, and Saerileth
spun around to face him.

“
Darien!” She threw
her arms around him, and she saw the pain on his face morph into a furious joy.
“I love you, Darien.
Only you!”

“
I know it.” Darien
pushed her behind him. “Now go back to
our
room.”

Chapter Fourteen

Darien paced in front of Kamen, who still stood paralyzed
from Saerileth’s deadly touch. Kamen had had his hands on Saerileth.
Darien’s
Saerileth.
What had been happening, and how
far would it have gone had he not found them together? The fact that Kamen was
frozen told Darien much: Kamen had forced himself on Saerileth, and she had
stopped him. She would not betray Darien, not even with the young, charming,
rich nobleman.

“
What were you
thinking?” Darien stood before Kamen, his body turned sideways, though he stared
at Kamen out of the corner of his eye.
“That she would fall
into your arms?
That because we shared her – something I should’ve never
done – you could take her without me around?”

Kamen’s throat moved as a series of low grunts escaped his
lips. He was trying to talk, but he could not yet form words. So, the touch
paralyzed everything, including the tongue. Well, not everything, because
Kamen’s wide, fearful eyes tracked Darien’s movements.

Darien paced some more, and he kept looking over at the
water-serpent tattoo that spanned Kamen’s chest. He reached down and touched
his own inked flesh. The tattoos were symbols of their long friendship and how
they had saved each other’s lives on numerous occasions. Darien loved Kamen
like a brother, and that was the only reason he had not already snapped his
neck. He owed Kamen that much at least – a chance to explain himself.

Minutes passed, and just when Darien began to wonder if the
paralysis would ever go away, Kamen suddenly collapsed. His constricted chest
opened, and he sucked down
lungfuls
of air, coughing
and sputtering as he did so. Darien stepped away and gave Kamen time to
recover. He was glad that Saerileth had not been able to immobilize him,
because coming out of the paralysis looked quite painful, to say nothing of the
humiliation.

Kamen’s breathing returned to normal, and he looked up at
Darien from where he sat on the floor. Shame burned in his dark eyes, and
unshed tears gleamed in the dim firelight of the room.

“
Explain yourself,
Kamen.” Darien planted his feet in a wide stance before Kamen and crossed his
muscular arms over his broad, naked chest. “What did you do to her to make her
paralyze you?”

Kamen coughed again. “I told her she’s not good enough for
you.”

Darien’s anger flared.
“Liar.
First of all, she’d just laugh.
A Lotus not good enough to be
a concubine?
Right.
Besides, you had your hands
up to touch her.” He suspected that Kamen wanted Saerileth for himself, and
these lies were making his suspicion all the more feasible.

Kamen stared at Darien, sorrow and anger warring within him
and making his countenance a changeable mask of emotion. “She told me that the
one I love can never love me back again.”

Confirmed!
Kamen was in love with Saerileth, but she had rejected him. Darien breathed
deeply, his pride for Saerileth infusing his being, allowing him to stand
taller than he ever had before. Kamen was a worthy rival, but Saerileth had
chosen Darien. Despite being ruined and despite being in exile, Darien was
Saerileth’s choice. She had chosen him over wealth and security. Furthermore,
she chose him over Kamen, a fine, attentive lover by all accounts.

“
You shall keep your
distance from my concubine,” Darien said. “You are never to be alone with her
again.”

“
You don’t have to
worry about that.” Kamen stood, though his footing still seemed unsure. “That’s
the last thing I want.” His voice was thick.

This answer confused Darien. Why wouldn’t Kamen want to be
alone with Saerileth? He agreed so easily and readily to Darien’s demand.
Perhaps it was his friendship for Darien that allowed Kamen to give up on his
prize. Or perhaps it was only the shame of the moment that spoke. Whatever the
reason, Darien would hold Kamen to his word. His anger still burned brightly
against his friend, so he turned on his heel and left before he said anything
he might later regret. Anyone else would have already lain dead at his feet.

When Darien stepped into the corridor that connected his
room to Saerileth’s, he smelled his raven-haired Lotus’s rose-bath scent. The
aroma cleared his head and banished his wrath. He ran down the hallway and
burst into his own chambers. Saerileth was waiting for him, and when she saw
him, she jumped up from the divan and ran into his open arms.

Darien kissed the top of her head as he wrapped his arms
around her tiny frame. He completely covered her body with his own, so
different were their sizes. He liked it that way, and the way Saerileth cuddled
into his chest told him that she, too, preferred it just that way.

“
You keep to your
bare-chested
Sunjaa
ways even here, my love.”
Saerileth looked up into his eyes as she ran her hands down his flanks. Her
black nightgown brought out the cobalt blue in her eyes.

Darien appreciated Saerileth’s small talk, for he knew that
she was trying to calm him. “I enjoy watching the offended expressions of the
Vadal
when I walk by.”

Saerileth smiled and snuggled back down into his arms.

Darien lost himself in her embrace and scent, letting his
worry over Kamen slip away. But he still needed to talk about it. “
Saeri
, why was Kamen in your room?”

Saerileth looked up. “He was there when I got there. He
surprised me.”

Darien stared down at Saerileth, and he felt his arms flex
against her shoulders, for she was cradled under his biceps. “Why?”

“
He was angry and
confused, and he wanted to fuck me.”

Saerileth’s words were like a blow to Darien, but he loved
her for her honesty.

“
He wants me,”
Saerileth said, “but he loves you.”

“
And I love him, too.”

Saerileth’s light laugh came as a surprise to Darien. “No,
my love, you do not understand. He
loves
you.”

Darien leaned back to get a good look at Saerileth’s face.
No mirth danced in her eyes; no smile played on her lips. “Oh.”

Saerileth nodded once, and her eyebrows shot up.

Realization struck Darien like a sudden sandstorm. “That
explains a lot.”

“
He thinks that by
sleeping with me, he will break us up, and then he will have you all to
himself.
Just you and him, like back in the navy.”

Darien walked away from Saerileth in shock and resumed that
same pacing he had done in front of Kamen.
“Common quarters.
If I had known, I never would have joined him in common quarters.”

“
How could you have
known?” Saerileth moved over to an ornate, high round table that held crystal
goblets and a decanter of red wine. She poured two glasses. “
Common
quarters is
standard practice among your people. It fosters camaraderie
among the soldiers.”

“
But it seems that it
breeds love, too.”

“
True, in some men,”
Saerileth said. “Kamen likes both men and women, but he is in love with you.”

Darien felt something cold against his skin, and when he
turned, Saerileth handed him a glass of wine.

Saerileth and Darien clinked glasses and drank, and she
looked him up and down. “And I cannot really blame Kamen. He has excellent
taste.”

Darien pulled Saerileth again into his embrace and laughed.
“This changes everything. I don’t need to be jealous of Kamen; I just need to
keep my distance. He must’ve felt like this for some time. We’ve been
inseparable for years.”

Saerileth’s mouth curled up in a wry smile.

“
Had I known, I
wouldn’t have fucked him at my house that day. So, what do you think of your
rival?” Darien found it amusing that he – not Saerileth – was the center of the
issue.

“
I have to admit that
I am jealous, for I knew at once how Kamen felt about you.”

“
How did you know so
quickly?”

Saerileth stood up on her tip-toes and fished for a kiss.
Darien gave it to her. “I am a Red Lotus,” she said. Then, after a pause, more
words burst from her. “I almost let Kamen die.”

“
When?”

“
In
the desert.
The poison from
the assassin’s blade would have claimed him within minutes.”

“
Then why did you save
him?”

“
Because
you asked me to.”

Saerileth never ceased to amaze Darien. “So, despite
knowing that by helping Kamen you were keeping your rival alive, you saved
him?”

Saerileth gave Darien one short nod, and her eyes shone as
she looked up at Darien. “You wished it, and I knew how sad you would be if
your best friend died.”

Darien picked Saerileth up off the floor and kissed her
mouth. “You’re more forgiving than I would have been. You are truly the best of
women.”

“
If I am, it is only
because you are the best of men.”

Darien tore away her nightgown with one swift pull.

“
Vadal
fashions are so frail,” Saerileth said, her
naked breasts pressing against Darien’s chest.

Darien felt his cock rising between her dangling knees. He
kissed her neck and bit into her soft flesh, eliciting a moan from Saerileth.
She sucked in her breath and wrapped her legs around his waist. Darien was
fully hard, and with one deft move, he reached under her buttock, grabbed his
cock, and guided it into her pussy. It slipped in, for she was already wet. Her
pussy opened to him, and he buried his thick shaft to its end inside her. She
wriggled down on him, her clit pressing against the defined muscles of his lower
abdomen, her cum flowing out on his phallus. Darien grabbed her by the buttocks
so that all her weight was supported in his mighty hands. This gave her free
rein, and she used it. Saerileth put her hands on his shoulders to brace
herself
as she rode him, which she was able to do even
though Darien still stood. The muscles in his arms bulged as he moved her up
and down on his cock, plunging into her with every thrust, bringing her closer
and closer to her climax.

A weaker man’s constitution probably would not have been
able to handle such vigorous fucking in that
position,
and even Darien’s heart raced with the effort. But he fucked her right there
standing in the middle of the room until Saerileth shuddered and whined as she
came. With two steps, Darien had her against the wall, and he went up on his
toes and rammed into her. He trailed kisses across her neck and shoulders, and
he bit her nipples. He was close, so he kept her weight supported with his left
hand under her ass as he brought his right hand up and wrapped his fingers
around her throat. He squeezed lightly, and she moaned again. Her eyes rolled
back for a moment, showing Darien just how much she liked the light domination
play. Her pussy clinched down around his shaft, coaxing his cum from him. With
two more slow thrusts, his cock exploded, sending a stream of seed flowing into
her, filling her pussy with his love. Saerileth nibbled on his nipple as he
emptied himself inside her.