The Soldier's Lotus (35 page)

“It’s your choice,” Darien said. “Admit what you did, or we
Sunjaa
will annihilate your people.”

“Either way, I die.”
Talex
knew
what would happen if he spoke or not. If he did not speak, Darien would snap
his neck, and there would be war. But if he did speak, the Zenji would execute
him for his crimes. War, however, would be avoided.

Darien was not sure which way
Talex
would go, but he hoped that the man, however despicable he might be, would have
some desire to save his race from utter destruction. Either way,
Talex’s
life was at its end.

Talex
grunted and struggled once more and then lay still. His
shoulders slumped, and he let his hands fall to his sides. “I did it.”

“Did what?” Darien jerked up, choking him a little tighter.

If looks could have killed...
“I ordered the execution of the
Kesandrahn
clan.”

“Who did you work with?”

“I gave the job to Ulen
Ahnok
.”

The sailors all looked at one another in bewildered
amazement.

“Why Ulen?”
Darien asked.

Talex
was jelly in Darien’s arms now, clearly having abandoned
all hope for himself. “We made a deal. He would wipe out the
Kesandrahn
, and I would give him all the pearl contracts
the
Chamri
had.”

The sailors’ black countenances displayed their rising
wrath.

“Why kill the
Kesandrahn
?”

“With them dead,”
Talex
said,
“the
Chamri
would have a monopoly.”

Darien released his foe and stood. “You’ve heard the
confession.” He looked at each sailor in turn. “You are all loyal
Chamri
men, I know, but this man is a blot on your family
name. His crimes are known in Arinport. If you fail to bring him to justice, I
will make sure your family’s crimes are known to all the
Dimadan
.
It’s your choice.” Darien sheathed his sword and stepped aside.

From what he had learned from Saerileth, Darien knew that
family honor was important to the Zenji, more important than life itself. For
family honor, Saerileth had taken only one kill in vengeance. That was the only
reason
Talex
had sailed free out of Arinport. The
sailors closed in on
Talex
and cut him to ribbons,
killing him in a pool of his own piss, shit, and blood. Yes, Darien had guessed
correctly. To the Zenji, honor meant more than life.

****

Saerileth must have arranged for a tout to meet Darien at
the docks, for as soon as he disembarked from the
Crown
, he was greeted
by a smiling, sprightly little boy with no shirt and no shoes.

“You must be the mountain Darien.”

Darien laughed and mussed the boy’s filthy dreadlocks.
“From a lad’s perspective, I can see how I might be a mountain. What can I do
for you?”

“It’s what I can do for you,” the boy said. “Your missus
told me to come fetch you back to your house.”

“My house?”

“That’s what she said.” The boy started to run off. “Well,
come on. These stones under my feet are hot, and I don’t want to stand around
all day.”

After the dark deed done aboard the Zenji ship, Darien was
glad for light spirits and bright sunshine. The sea washed away blood, and in
time Arinport would wipe away memory. This day his new life began. Taking long
strides, he kept up with the boy who chattered and skipped beside him all the
way to his new house. He was stunned by Saerileth’s choice, and he could not
have taken a better house. It was built on top of a cliff of bedrock, and the
river valley spread out before his vision. Lush grass and palm trees for as far
as the eye could see.
The River a shining ribbon winding its
way across the land.

Darien found Saerileth dangling her feet in the pool in the
high-walled backyard.
“
Saeri
.”

She jumped up and ran to him, and he caught her halfway,
raising her small body up into the air with his powerful arms, spinning her
around, and setting her down again into a tight hug. She wore light
Sunjaa
cloth; she smelled of lavender.

“What a beautiful home, my
Saeri
.”
He kissed her lips, enjoying the softness of her mouth and the lingering taste
of strawberries. “But what do you say we leave Arinport forever?”

Saerileth pulled away from his kisses but did not move to
break his embrace.
“Leave Arinport?
Why?”

Darien kissed her again.
“Because I want
to marry you.
We can go live in
Vadal
lands.”

Saerileth laughed, her mirth like water springing up from a
fountain, splashing all around her, making Darien wet with her delight. “There
is no need for that. We both know that you do not consider me property.”

“But you call me ‘Master’.”

“And if you really were, I never would call you that. Our
children will be legitimate.” Her cobalt blue eyes were wide with love. “Being your
concubine is enough – but if you ever even
think
of taking another
concubine or a wife, don’t expect her to live out the night!” She touched the
tip of his nose with her forefinger, playing the jealous wife.

This just made Darien kiss her again, and this time he
pulled her in closer, hunching over her so that he could drive his pelvis into
her. He wanted her exquisite sex.

Saerileth responded, bending her body into his. “Besides,
you are a true
Sunjaa
, a man of the Word and a man of
law. If I were your proper wife and not your concubine, you would always be
aware of my status and rights.” She tilted her head back, exposing her long,
white neck, which Darien set to kissing roughly. “You would not feel free
enough to play with me the way you like to.”

“No,” Darien said between kisses. “No, you’d always be my
Saeri
. I’d take you any way I wanted to.”

Saerileth ran her fingers across Darien’s scalp and
caressed his ears. “I know you better than that. You would never turn me over
your knee and paddle me for being naughty.”

Darien growled. “Then we stay. Let our new life begin then
this way.” He held her out at arms’ length, and her rising passion was shaken.
“
Saeri
, I had
Talex
Chamri
killed.”

Saerileth’s mouth opened slightly in the only astonishment
a Lotus would ever show. “Had
him
killed?”

“I exposed his murderous ways to his own clan, and they
executed him right there aboard ship. You know how Zenji are about their
honor.”

Saerileth threw herself into his arms, wrapped her arms
around his thick torso, and buried her face in his chest. “I love you, Darien.
I love you so. You have avenged me at last.”

“Anything for you,” he whispered into her hair. “I love
nothing so much as I love you.”

They returned to the house, kissing the whole way, unable
to keep their hands off each other. A sandal dropped here, a belt there. By the
time they reached the over-sized bed of plush mattresses and silk sheets, they
were naked and sweating. They gasped between kisses. Darien slapped her ass,
and she clawed at his sides. Saerileth’s howls filled the house, anointing each
corridor, blessing each room with hers and Darien’s ecstasy.

Epilogue

Saerileth
sighed as she nibbled at the carrot stick. It did not help
much, but any easing of the nausea was welcome. According to the midwives she
could expect the nausea to subside after another fortnight. She did not,
however, fidget. Her handmaid was busy plaiting Saerileth’s long black locks
into the elaborate pile currently in fashion.

“Are you sure you’re all right to go,
Saeri
?”
Darien swept into the room with
Orien
on his
shoulder. “Son, do you think Mamma ought to go?”

“No.”
Orien
was only just past
two years old, and it was joy to Saerileth to hear him lisping out Zenji as
well as
Sunjaa
. “Mamma should go with us to the
boats.”

“To the docks,” said Saerileth, waving her handmaid away.
“And how would it look if Lord Darien
Kesandrahn
,
admiral of
all the
Sunjaa
navy, was not represented at the King’s birthday celebration?”

“Not well.” Darien leaned down and kissed her lips. “But I’m
not going myself.”

“Down,
Pappa
.”
Orien
wriggled from
his father’s grasp and ran over to his parents’ enormous bed. He climbed up
into it and began to burrow around beneath the coverlets.

“I know, my love.” Saerileth rose and slipped her arms
around Darien’s waist. He attended far fewer royal functions than he ought to
considering his station. He had been ennobled in the first month of King
Jahen’s
reign, and in the ensuing restructuring of the army
and navy, Darien had also been made admiral. As it was peacetime, it entailed
little actual combat, but he was often aboard ship for a day or so at a time –
and Saerileth was always at his side. Little
Orien
was as at home in the water as on land, and, looking over at him where he
played amidst the silken sheets, Saerileth knew that it was not merely her
maternal prejudice that accounted him the loveliest child she had ever seen. He
was not quite
so
dark-skinned as Darien, but his
features were the same, the same high brow, noble chin, and full lips. The
hair, Saerileth admitted, was hers, though.

“Has Kamen found … anyone yet?” Darien had clearly not been
following the same train of thought as Saerileth, instead dwelling on what kept
him from attending the current celebration.

“No,” said Saerileth, tracing the head of Darien’s
water-serpent tattoo with her forefinger. “The Regent is well and truly sought
after, but he has yet to find anyone to fill his … vacant affections.”

Darien twisted one of Saerileth’s locks around his fingers.
“Has he said anything particular to you?”

Saerileth caught the tinge of jealousy in his voice, and
she laughed lightly. “Master, what has your concubine done to arouse your
jealousy?” She slipped her arms around his neck. “I am nearly four months gone
with your second child. I am not one to draw the eyes of men to me.”

It was Darien’s turn to laugh. “You are still absolutely,
perfectly beautiful, and I’ll prove it to you as soon as you get home.” He
kissed her, and she felt the proof of his words rising against her belly.

She ran one finger along his hardening shaft. “You will
tempt me to stay home after all, and then where would we be? King
Jahen
wants to see us.”

“Then go, so you may come back more quickly.” Darien gave
her a quick slap on her ass.

“Hurry, Mamma.”
Orien
popped his
head out from the sheets.

Saerileth kissed both her beautiful
Sunjaa
men and left.

****

“Welcome, Lotus.” King
Jahen
spoke in
Vadal
to Saerileth, and she responded in
kind.

“
Your
Grace.”

“Is Admiral Darien coming?” The young boy’s eyes held hope.

“No,
Your
Grace.” Saerileth leaned
forward to murmur in his ear. “But tomorrow he is, and he will bring Your Grace
a gift then.”

“That’s better.” King
Jahen
smiled, and in his mixed-blooded loveliness Saerileth saw her own son’s future.
“We can talk more if he comes tomorrow.”

Saerileth bowed and went back to the celebration. She was
not wearing her Zenji fashions, but rather the translucent white gown of a
Sunjaa
noblewoman, and she knew that, by the end of the
evening, word of her pregnancy would be the gossip of the city.

“Lady
Kesandrahn
.” Kamen came and
bowed over her hand.

Though it always pleased Saerileth to hear herself
addressed by the name Darien had taken as his house name, she pitied Kamen too
much to stand upon that degree of formality. “To you, Regent, I can never be
other than ‘Lotus’.”

“Thank you.” Kamen glanced down at her rounded abdomen.
“Congratulations. Be sure to tell Lord
Kesandrahn
how
happy I am for him.”

Saerileth listened carefully to Kamen’s speech. His heart
rate did not alter as he spoke Darien’s name, and the only change in his breath
was a slight sigh. “I will tell him.” She smiled wryly. “Are there any carrots
to be had here?”

Kamen laughed, and he waved over a servant. As the Regent
gave orders for carrots to be brought to her, Saerileth watched the motion of
his muscles beneath his scarred chest. The water-serpent tattoo was spoilt by a
particularly wide scar. Though Kamen could have worn
Vadal
fashions to cover the scars, the little king was too proud of them for anyone
to think them a blemish. Saerileth was reminded of Darien’s scars and how they
moved her. She wished only that Kamen might find one who would love him as she
loved Darien.
Or at least as near that as possible
.
Saerileth did not deny, even to herself, that the passion she and Darien shared
was not necessarily possible for everyone.