The Soldier's Lotus (6 page)

“
Yes, both.” Saerileth
smiled when Darien rose and fetched
her a
mug of ale
from his private keg, along with an apple, also from his private store. As a
Lotus, such attentions were no more than her due; as a concubine she should
have been serving Darien, not the other way around.

“
Thank you.” She took
the food from him, and she saw his gaze fix on her mouth as she ate.

“
I plan to have a
retirement party,” said Darien suddenly. “Are you able to arrange something
like that?”

“
Yes,
Darien.”
She looked up at
him, and the desire to kiss his lips surprised her. She did not, of course,
take the liberty, but the very fact that she wanted him was unsettling.

“
You’ll have anything
you need. I have plenty of money, so whatever you think is necessary, we can
get.” Darien took the empty mug from her and set it back on the table.

“
How large is your
household?” asked Saerileth. “How many guests will you be inviting? What sorts
of entertainment do you want?”

“
Well, I had thought
of inviting Kamen and his family – they’re nobles, so the party has to be
elegant – maybe some of the other nobility?”

Saerileth understood at once. Darien wanted to begin to
move up in society, but he did not know how. She would be able to help him with
that, and at the same time she would be able to learn more about the massacre.
Perhaps, if she were quite successful in helping Darien, she might even be able
to get a look at the royal records. Then she would know for certain if it were,
as she had always thought, the
Sunjaa
King himself
who had ordered the destruction of the
Kesandrahn
clan. “Is your wife nobly-born?” asked Saerileth, and inexplicably her breath
hitched.

“
I don’t have a wife.”
Darien laughed. “I have four concubines, though. I mean, besides you,
Saerileth.
So five.”

“
So you have a harem
then?” Saerileth wondered what the women in
Darien’s harem
looked like. It was always possible to determine a great deal of a man’s tastes
by looking at his harem. She hoped that they were not all
Sunjaa
.
That would put her at a disadvantage that only being a Red Lotus could
outweigh, and Saerileth preferred a larger margin than that.

“
Not really.” Darien
was not looking at her.

“
What?” Saerileth
stared. “You have four concubines who are
not
a harem?”

“
I have four
concubines, and I keep them all in the same house with me,” said Darien.

Abrexa’s
chain!
Saerileth shifted from her place on the divan, sliding up onto Darien’s knees.
She settled herself in his lap, facing him, forcing him by her very nearness to
look into her eyes. “You don’t have a harem because you didn’t buy your
concubines, did you?”

“
No.” Darien’s cock
was swelling beneath her.

“
You saved them, the
way you did me, didn’t you?”

“
Yes.” Darien pulled
her flush against him, and the hardness of his shaft rubbed against her still-sore
pussy, causing it to flood.

“
If you like,” said
Saerileth, leaning forward so that her lips nearly brushed his, “I will be your
chief concubine and make the others into a proper harem for you. If you are
going to move upward in
Sunjaa
society, you will have
to behave as noblemen do.”

Darien jerked her
pallav
downward, and, as her shirt was ripped and gone, her breasts were bared to him.
“Yes, Saerileth my Lotus, you are my chief concubine. You can teach me to
behave as noblemen do.” He took her breast into his mouth, pulling off only
long enough to say, “But I will continue to fuck in my common way.”

****

Saerileth slipped out of the litter into Darien’s waiting
arms. He had not originally intended to hire a litter, having planned to walk
from the port, where news of his retirement had sent ripples of shock
throughout the fleet docked there, to his home. But Saerileth’s surprise at
being expected to walk so far in her flimsy slippers had been enough. Darien
had instantly hired a litter.

“
Thank you, Master.”
Saerileth slid her hands down Darien’s chest as he put her on the ground. His
cock was so large in his breeches that she would have assumed he was already
erect, except that when she touched him, his cock sprang to life, growing
beneath its leather covering. Saerileth’s pussy was still sore from the last
time he had fucked her, but she already wanted him again.

 
“
You can have the concubines summoned to you,” said Darien,
taking her by the hand as he led the way into his house. “You are the chief
concubine, and you are in charge of everything.”

Saerileth looked up at him. “You entrust everything to me?”
That was unexpected. Lotuses were rarely purchased; they were prohibitively
expensive. But when they were, they were given charge of their owners’ social
lives, never of everything.

“
You’re a Lotus.
You’re educated. You know how to do everything, right?” Darien’s teasing smile
was gorgeous. “You can give instructions to whomever you please. I have a
steward, yes, but he will answer to you.”

Saerileth had to use all her training to keep her breath
from speeding up and betraying her emotion. Darien was allowing her total
liberty. She was to have as much or as little responsibility as she desired,
but no one, not even the steward, was to outrank her. Darien’s generosity
astounded her. She would be as free to pursue her vengeance here as if she were
living alone in the city. “I know how to do most things, yes.”

“
You’re home, Darien!”
It was a woman’s voice, speaking in heavily-accented
Sunjaa
,
and Saerileth immediately recognized this for one of Darien’s concubines.

“
This is Saerileth, my
chief concubine.” Darien did not show any particular response to the woman’s
effusive greeting, and Saerileth narrowed her eyes.

“
Chief?”
The woman, a homely blonde-haired
Vadal
woman of nearly forty winters, stopped just short of
Darien. “But she’s so young!”

“
Saerileth is a Red
Lotus,” said Darien, and he slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her to
him.

Saerileth saw the woman’s flash of anger, despite how
quickly it was smothered. Anger, Saerileth noted, not jealousy.

“
Now, I have to attend
to more paperwork.” Darien bent down and brushed a kiss across Saerileth’s
forehead. “Retiring is more of a pain than I had expected.”

“
Will you be dining
here tonight, Master?” Saerileth laid emphasis on the word “master”. Though
because she was a Lotus she would call Darien by his name in private, it was
unacceptable for any concubine to address her master by his name. His other
concubines would have to learn.

“
Yes.” He dropped his
kiss to her lips, and then he was gone. He moved so quickly that Saerileth was
astonished. She realized afresh how physically perfect he was.

“
So, you’re to be
chief concubine.” The woman was still glaring at Saerileth. “No doubt you’ve
used your Lotus training to twist Darien—”

“
Master,” said
Saerileth. “You are not to refer to him by his name. That is forbidden to a
concubine.” The words came out automatically, but she was not thinking of them.
She was, instead, realizing that this woman was wrong. Saerileth had not used
her Lotus wiles on Darien, not once. “What is your name?” asked Saerileth.

“
Lia
.”
The woman put her hands on her hips and looked
Saerileth up and down. “You’re a little
minx,
I can
see that clear as
moonsrise
. But maybe we’ll be able
to get on.”

“
We shall.” Saerileth
smiled, completely masking her irritation. “I take it that you,
Lia
, have been the chief concubine until now?”

“
Well, Darien—”

“
The
master.”

“
The master never made
anyone chief. I was just here first.”
Lia
shrugged.

“
And how long have you
been here?” Saerileth continued her walk through the house, surveying the rooms
as
Lia
spoke to her. Darien’s house was spacious,
full of wide windows and large, open rooms. It was an elegant design, showing
Saerileth that Darien had some innate taste. However, she also saw that
everything inside the house had been left to the whims of the concubines.

“
I came here right
after Da – the master bought the house with the plunders from his first spoils
as a captain in the infantry.”

“
Infantry?
I thought that he was a sailor?” Saerileth did
not allow anything beyond the idlest curiosity into her tone, but her
puzzlement was great. She
knew
that Darien had been a sailor. The
Sunjaa
who had massacred her clan had sailed in on
their own
ship.

“
He was. He was a
sailor for seven years, but for some reason, even though he had a fair bit of
money even then, he left the navy. He was in the infantry for six years after
that. He was made a captain almost at once, and I was his first concubine.”

Saerileth filed away the bitter pride that tinged
Lia’s
words. “So he transferred back to the navy when?”

“
Seven years ago.”

“
So you’ve been with
him for twelve years?” Saerileth calculated that Darien would have made captain
within a year and probably have gotten his first plunder a couple of months
later. She was correct.

“
Yes.”

“
And
the others?
Where are they?
I should like to meet them.” Saerileth stopped in a particularly large room,
one with a balcony that overlooked an enclosed courtyard. The room had two or
three divans haphazardly placed around, and some cushions lying about on the
floor.

“
They should be in
here soon.”
Lia
stopped in the doorway. “Would you
care for some tea, Saerileth?”

“
Yes, thank you. And
have the rest of the concubines sent in immediately.” Saerileth sat on one of
the divans. This room could easily be converted into the primary chamber for
the harem. She, as chief concubine, would have a room of her own, but the
others would have this one for their living space.

Just then three giggling young women entered from the
balcony. When they saw Saerileth they stopped.

“
I didn’t think it was
true!” exclaimed one. She was probably in her late twenties, and her dark skin
showed that she was a
Sunjaa
.

“
Darien really found a
Lotus!” This one was mixed-blooded, but at least partially
Sunjaa
.

“
You are not to call
him ‘Darien’ any longer,” said Saerileth. “You are to be a proper harem, and as
concubines you must refer to him as ‘Master’.”

“
I always thought we
should.” The
Sunjaa
girl smiled at Saerileth. “My
name is
Aneke
. I’ve been Da – the master’s concubine
for three years now.”

“
Here’s your tea.”
Lia
returned and placed a steaming mug in Saerileth’s hand.

Saerileth took it. “Thank you.” She raised it to her lips
and inhaled the aroma.
A black tea, probably
Vadal
in origin.
The
Sunjaa
were not fond of tea.
But underneath Saerileth detected
another odor.
She was familiar with herbs from her training. Contraceptives
were a staple for Lotuses, and she always drank them. But this was not a
contraceptive. She rose and poured the tea onto the floor.

“
Hellebore?
Really?
If I were
carrying the master’s child, you would have me expel it?” Saerileth shook her
head. “You really thought to deceive a Lotus? You are a fool then.”

Lia
was shaking in fury, but the other three girls were merely
confused and frightened. Saerileth knew they had not been involved in this. “I
would never—” said
Lia
, but Saerileth interrupted.

“
Do not pollute the
air with your lies. Go to your chamber, and do not leave it until I summon
you.” Saerileth watched
Lia
go, her unwilling steps
betraying her wrath as clearly as her tightened shoulders. “Things are going to
be different here from now on,” said Saerileth.
“Very
different.”