Dragon Lord (38 page)

She was sorry when it ended, but all good things came to an end--eventually, and she admitted, to herself, at least, that she was more surprised that he’d seemed to have no interest in the outside world for as long as he had. She was not only
not
sexy when she could barely sit up without help and wallowed around the bed like a walrus, but despite his efforts not to show it she was pretty sure he didn’t think so either. He spent far more time cuddling with her and stroking her fat belly than he did trying to think up inventive ways to navigate his way around mount Olympus and even when he did have sex with her, he was either very careful to restrain his passion and use great care or the mountain had severely dampened his passion.

It was still good. The pleasure she felt only from his touch was better than the pleasure she’d known before climaxing from sex--and when he made her come, it was the closest to heaven she ever expected to come.

He woke her tickling her nose with a lock of her hair. She thought it was a bug and slapped at it, whereupon he uttered a husky chuckle.

Cracking one eye a slit, she glared at his grinning face. “Very funny, you ass,” she muttered, struggling to roll onto her side and put her back to him.

He promptly scooted up behind her and shoved his cock between her thighs, pushing slowly in and out while he nuzzled her neck and nibbled at her shoulder. “Are you referring to the long eared animal known as a jackass? Or this?” he queried with mock indignation as he squeezed one of her buttocks.

Raina smiled in spite of the fact that she was far more interested in going back to sleep than bantering with him. “Both,” she said promptly. “And you can stop that. I’m not interested … right now.”

He nipped at her ear. “Just go back to sleep, sweeting. I will attend to this. You will not even know that I am here.”

Raina uttered a snorting chuckle. “As
if
I could sleep with that … log of yours sawing back and forth along the crack of my ass!”

He cupped a breast, massaging it. “Does it not distress you at all to waste such a magnificent erection?”

She chuckled. “It
might
… if I didn’t know there’s lots more where that came from!”

He lifted his head. “Do you hear that, soldier? I told you you might as well go back to sleep. The lady has spurned you!”

She grinned. “Simon! You are impossible!”

“Nay. I am magnificent,” he retorted with a chuckle.

Shifting her shoulders so that she could see him, she smiled up at him. “Yes, you are.”

He met her gaze for a long moment and finally dipped to kiss her on the tip of the nose. “Now that you are awake, you must get up and dress. Duty calls,” he ended wryly.

Raina frowned at him. “Duty?”

He grunted, popping her buttocks lightly before he rolled away. “Alas, yes. The council is convened and I must go and speak with them.”

Raina pushed herself up on her elbows. “You want me to go with you?” she asked in surprise and not a little dismay.

Correctly interpreting her alarm, he smiled at her reassuringly. “It will not take long to say what I have to say and then I will take you to show you the beautiful side of my homeland. I know that you have seen nothing but the ugliness.”

That sounded a lot more appealing, but she still wasn’t happy about having to go into public when she knew they’d all be staring at her. She had no interest in politics, even if she could’ve understood what they were talking about. She hated to disappoint him, though, so instead of whining and asking him to let her wait in his room until he came back, she got up and tried to pretend she wasn’t as uneasy about the prospect as she was.

She was
not
happy at all, though, when he summoned women to help her bathe and dress. She was uncomfortable being exposed to Simon’s view looking as she did. It was worse having strange women helping her bathe and dress, especially since they chattered to one another in their native tongue the whole while. She didn’t
know
that they were talking about her, but she didn’t know they weren’t either.

She felt a little better when she’d finished bathing and saw the gown and pants they had brought for her to wear. In style, it was pretty much like everything she’d worn since she’d been brought to the palace, a sort of loose robe/dress to be worn over the loose legged pants made to match it. As with the others, the dress fastened up the front. The ‘waist’ was just beneath her breasts and the skirt loose and flowing to mid-way her calves. The neck of this one, though, was lower than the others, showing a lot more cleavage than she was used to having on display.

It was made out of a material that reminded her of satin, though, shinny, and not clingy like the other gowns she’d worn. It was also lavishly embroidered with a beautiful design and sparkling stones had been sewn into the designs that reminded her of diamonds.

The only drawback was that it was a pale cream, almost white and she already felt like a blimp. This was bound to make her look even bigger, she thought glumly.

Simon seemed pleased, though.

He seemed a little less pleased with the way they’d arranged her hair--in a style similar to the woman in the portrait--which Raina hadn’t especially liked either, but it seemed to be a fairly common style among the women.

“I far prefer your beautiful hair flowing about your shoulders,” he murmured. He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head and then tucked her hand in the crook of his arm, matching his steps to hers as he guided her along the seemingly endless corridors of the huge place and finally through a set of double doors that opened into a huge room.

She almost had heart failure when they stepped inside and a contingent of trumpeters snapped to attention and let out a blast with the strange looking musical instruments they were holding--all six of them at one time. Jumping, she sidled closer to Simon, looking around with wide eyed uneasiness as everyone in the room--and it was packed to the gills--immediately bowed low and stayed that way as Simon dragged her down the center of the room to a dais at the other end.

He patted the hands she had looped frantically around his arm. When she looked up at him questioningly, he smiled at her. “Do not be alarmed, beloved. Old traditions are hard to break.”

Easy for him to say, she thought with some dudgeon.
He
wasn’t surrounded by a room packed with aliens. She’d known there was no way she could enter a room with Simon and not attract attention. She just hadn’t expected to be the focal point of the entire room.

She supposed Simon was actually the focal point, but she could hardly go unnoticed under the circumstances and she’d hoped to.

She felt a little relieved when she saw that Audric was one of the people seated on the dais, which held several chairs, one very big, very fancy looking chair, and two less fancy chairs on either side of that. The relief didn’t last, of course. Audric’s nearness had been a tremendous comfort to her almost as long as she’d known him, but she’d no sooner drawn a sigh of relief from knowing he would be close by than it dawned on her that he was probably really pissed off with her right now.

She’d be lucky if he didn’t give her the evil eye and snub her.

Which she richly deserved.

He didn’t, though. Even as she sent him an uneasy, guilty glance, he smiled at her reassuringly and got to his feet with an effort and bowed as Simon helped her up the steps to the dais, guided her to the chair beside Audric and helped her to sit--helped her because the damned thing was higher than it had looked. She managed to plant her butt on the seat easily enough, but by the time she’d scooted into it, her feet were dangling above the floor. Trying not to look as uncomfortable as she felt, she propped her hands on the mound in front of her and then moved them to the arms of the chair as Simon moved away from her and sprawled comfortably in the huge, fancy chair she finally realized was the throne of Schalome.

She felt the color drain from her face as that sank into her, felt her heart alternately skip and race with nerves as everyone finally rose from their bows and faced the dais.

Chapter Twenty Three

Simon reached almost casually for her hand and laced his fingers through hers in a gesture of reassurance. Raina smiled at him tentatively when she saw that he was looking at her, relaxing a little when he lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. He lowered her hand to the arm rest again, but he didn’t let go of it as he turned to survey the crowded room, bringing them to an expectant silence with no more than that look.

As the silence became so profound it was nearly deafening, he began to speak.

Raina had no idea what he was saying, of course, but as she surreptitiously watched the crowd around them she saw shock in every face--just shocked disbelief. She couldn’t decide, at first, if they were shocked speechless with joy or fear or anger, but she noticed after a few moments that everyone began to flick curious glances at her. The color that had left her face surged back and then began to pulse uncomfortably hot when the people began to divide less subtle glances between her and Simon as he continued. The dead silence that had gripped everyone when Simon began speaking gave way to a whisper of voices that gained in volume when he’d finally stopped speaking. Several men, dressed in clothing that seemed to indicate they were men of importance, detached themselves from the crowd and seemed to be arguing with Simon. They were certainly discussing something they weren’t happy about.

After a few minutes, when the crowd seemed to be becoming more agitated instead of less, Simon rose and helped her from her seat. “Do not look so distressed, beloved. I knew they would not be pleased. Go with Audric,” he added, glancing at Audric. “He will keep you company while I sooth their ruffled feathers.”

She didn’t like the taut look on his face and the tone of the voices, even though she couldn’t understand what they were saying, made her more anxious, especially when Simon seemed worried about her continued presence. “You’ll be alright?” she asked anxiously.

He smiled. “You do not need to stay and protect me, my little dracon,” he murmured. “Go with Audric. I will be along directly and redeem my promise to show you Schalome. They are more … distressed than I had anticipated, and I do not want to leave until I have calmed them.”

She still didn’t like leaving him in the room filled with so many agitated people, but she thought, maybe, she was adding to the contention the way they kept looking at her. Finally, she nodded and turned to look at Audric a little doubtfully. He looked as grim as Simon, but he moved unhesitatingly to take her hand and settle it on the crook of his arm as Simon had before, guiding her to a door at the back of the dais.

Instead of leading her back to her room, or his, or even Simon’s apartments and leaving her, he walked her down a long corridor and outside into what looked like a small formal garden. There were strange, stunted looking plants arranged along walkways and benches sprinkled here and there. She didn’t have much interest in the landscaping, though. A shiver skated along her spine. It was cool outside, so high in the mountain, but that was only part of her discomfort. She didn’t know what Simon had said to those people, and she knew there were guards stationed around him, but she still didn’t like him being surrounded by so many people who seemed so unhappy with his announcement.

Audric noticed. Turning to one of the men trailing them, he barked what sounded like an order and the man saluted and disappeared. He returned bearing a long, fleecy woven something that looked like a very long, wide scarf as Audric guided her to a bench and helped her to sit down.

Audric settled the scarf-like thing around her shoulders, wrapping it around her. “Better?”

Raina nodded, struggling with her uneasiness about Simon and her discomfort around Audric considering their last meeting. “You’re getting around much better,” she commented finally. “I’m glad.”

“Not nearly as glad as I am, I expect,” he returned, smiling faintly. “I was heartily weary of being confined to my sick bed.”

Raina managed a faint smile, but then frowned, feeling her discomfort rise as she struggled to think of an adequate apology for her behavior. “I’m tempted to beg off on account of hormonal insanity,” she said finally. “I know you probably hate me, and you won’t believe it, but I’m sorry … about ….”

He lifted a hand and nudged her chin to force her to look up at him. “I do not hate you. I do not think that I could. I love you, Raina. I knew that he would come for you, even if you did not … and I also knew that you would go to him--As it should be when you carry his child. I will not say that it did not cause me pain,” he finished wryly, “but it was no surprise to me.”

Raina studied him with a mixture of hopefulness, distress, and shame. “I love you, too. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just ….” She broke off and sighed. “I can’t help it.”

“You love Simon more,” he said simply. “Do not look so distressed, Raina. I am used to being in Simon’s shadow. I do not particularly like it, but I love him, too, so I understand.”

Raina frowned. “I love Simon differently,” she corrected him.

“Because he is Simon.”

“And I love you because you’re you,” she said, smiling faintly.

“In a brotherly way.”

Raina chuckled, but she hated to see that look in his eyes, especially when it wasn’t true. “I hope you don’t think that I’d do the nasty with so much enthusiasm with my brother--even if I still had one. Ew!” she said teasingly.

He smiled more easily then, desire rising to gleam in his eyes. “I am not at all certain that I believe that, but as it helps my feelings a great deal, I think I will try to believe it.”

“You should. It’s true.” She studied her hands for a moment. “What was all that ruckus going on back there?”

Audric’s entire attitude changed instantly. “Simon abdicated. He has relinquished all rights to the throne of Schalome, now and forever,” he said with a mixture of anger and incredulity.

Raina stared at him in shocked disbelief. “He did what?”

Audric stared at her for a long moment. “You did not understand any of that?”