Dragon Lord (40 page)

“And, like it or not, when you leave here to return to her world, I will go also. You may not think that you need me now, but I have always watched your back, and I will continue to do so! Because whatever you say now, whoever they finally decide upon will not like to think that you might decide to return just about the time he becomes comfortable. If you do not spend the rest of your days dodging assassins, I will be nothing short of amazed.”

He got to his feet then, barely remembered to bow, and stalked off.

Chapter Twenty Four

Audric was startled and not terribly pleased when he answered Simon’s summons several days later and entered his chamber to discover that Simon was sitting with his back against the headboard of his bed, Raina between his splayed thighs and propped against his chest. He stared fixedly at Simon’s hands as they moved over Raina’s bared abdomen for several moments before he collected himself enough to beg pardon and make an about face.

“My apologies. I was told you wished to speak to me,” he said stiffly.

“I summoned you. Sit down--the end of the bed will do,” Simon responded coolly.

Audric stared at the bed for a moment and balked. “I will stand … if you please,” he growled irritably.

Simon ignored him, tipping his head to look down at Raina. “Is that better, beloved?”

Raina sighed, but decided to lie. “Yes, much.”

“There was something I needed to discuss with you … and it concerns Audric, as well.”

Raina shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position as she looked around for something to cover herself with. Seeing nothing close enough to grab, she gave up. She didn’t particularly care. If Audric was revolted, he could look at something else. “What is it?” she asked finally. “Nothing bad?”

“I hope you will not think so,” he said, and paused for a moment. “Would you be greatly distressed if we stayed here instead of returning to your world?”

Raina tipped her head back to look up at him. “I’d … still be your woman, right?”

He smiled faintly and kissed the end of her nose. “Did I not say you would always be mine?”

Raina smiled back at him in relief. “Then I don’t care--as long as I’m with you I don’t care where we live.”

“You are absolutely certain?”

Her smile widened. “Of course I’m sure.”

“Well, that is a relief, because I had told the council that I would not consider ruling without you by side and they have decided that they want us both.”

Raina chuckled wryly. “They want you badly enough to put up with the upstart Earthling, you mean.”

“They will do more than ‘put up’ with you, I assure you,” he said grimly. “They are happy to have you, else I would not have considered it.”

Raina sent Audric a wry look, but he was staring studiously at the far wall. She frowned. “I’d be … like … your consort?” she asked hesitantly.

“You will be my Empress--we are equals, you and I, remember?”

Raina wasn’t certain of how she felt about the title, but she felt delirious with joy that Simon had said he would marry her--not asked, told her, but she wasn’t about to quibble over it. “Empress Raina,” she said thoughtfully.

“It does have a nice sound to it,” Simon agreed cheerfully. “And Audric will be
your
consort,” he added.

Raina’s mind went blank. She stared at Simon a moment and then looked at Audric. Audric looked as if he’d been pole-axed, though, and she could tell he wasn’t going to be any help clearing up her confusion. “But … you mean he’ll be my escort?”

“Audric knows what I mean, do you not?”

Audric stared at him blankly for several moments and finally sat down on the end of the bed as if his knees had give out. “I have not betrayed you, Simon. I swear it! I never would.”

“But you love her, Audric, and she loves you--
I
love you. I would far rather accept that we are all dracons, and fallible, than demand something of you that you might or might not be able to do. As much as I want to be with Raina all the time, and as little as I care for the thought of sharing her, I can not do my duty without leaving her alone much of the time and I would never trust anyone to keep her safe but you.

“I need to be easy in my mind that Rainie is safe when I can not be with her, Audric, else I can not in good conscience accept the duties expected of me. Rainie’s happiness and well being will always be far more important to me than anything else.”

Audric turned to look at her for the first time, staring at her for a long, long moment before he looked at Simon again. “You do not mean this,” he said hoarsely. “You are … concerned … now and you are not thinking clearly.”

“I am thinking clearly. I have checked the laws. There is no impediment. Despite the fact that it has always, in the past, been males who have binded with multiple consorts, there is nothing to prevent such an arrangement between us. You may be sure that I am not completely delighted with the prospect, even though I feel that it was the best solution for all of us. You may
also
be certain that I mean always to be first with my Empress--
we
will be first bound. She and I first mates, and
you
will be her consort--that does not make you and I equals. I do not expect this to go smoothly--perhaps in the years to come--but no time soon. I believe that we will muddle through, however. I have not slain you yet.”

“Uh … Do I have a voice in this?”

“Only if you mean to agree with me, beloved.”

Raina gave him a strained smile. “I should’ve known that was your idea of us being equals,” she said teasingly. “There’ll be raised eyebrows.”

Simon shrugged. “I do not care, even a little. They can waggle them, if they like. I am the Emperor Simon Draken, and I always do as I please.”

Raina sighed. “Well, if y’all are through deciding what you want to do, do you think, maybe, you could call the healer? I’m pretty sure something’s happening here.”

All traces of humor left Simon abruptly. He stiffened. “Gods be damned! Rainie! Why did you not say something before! Audric will have a heart attack if you have that child before the healer arrives and I am not at all certain that I will not! Audric! Go! Fetch the man now. And if you faint, I swear I will tie you to the whipping post myself and take the hide off of you!”

Simon looked so relieved when the healer arrived and sent him from the room, Raina might have been amused if she’d been in any condition to feel amusement. The pains had been growing steadily worse even before Audric had arrived for the discussion, though, until they’d reached the point where she couldn’t sit still any longer.

She’d listened only with half a mind to the discussion, had a dim idea of what it was about, and a lot of reservations, but she could deal with that later, she thought, when she didn’t hurt so much. It got worse than she would’ve believed possible, so that she passed from the fear of dying to the fear that she wouldn’t, and still it didn’t let up. She hardly knew where she was or what was happening beyond the haze of pain, but she perked up when the healer stepped to the door and announced that the baby was coming and Simon should come in to witness the birth.

Almost over, she told herself. Just a little longer.

When she managed to open her eyes again, Simon and Audric were plastered against the wall at the foot of the bed, both of them looking as if they would pass out and slide down the wall at any minute. She lifted a hand hopefully to Simon. He stared at it as if it was a snake and finally wobbled to the side of the bed and dropped heavily to his knees, grasping her hand. She squeezed his hand tightly, uttering a growl of effort each time the healer told her to push.

“The babe has crowned,” the doctor announced.

Audric slid to the floor and fell over, distracting Raina in the middle of a contraction. She tried to sit up. Simon pushed her back down. “He is resting, beloved. He will be fine.”

Raina panted for breath. “He hit his head.”

“He has a very hard head. I am certain, if he broke anything at all, that it was the fixture he turned over when he fell.”

“It is a male child!” the healer announced just as the baby announced his arrival by letting out a loud, indignant wail.

Riana let out a tearful breath of relief. “Is he alright? Does he look alright?” she demanded anxiously.

Simon turned his head to look at the infant. He frowned. “He is very small,” he said finally. “And very ugly.”

Raina glared at him, but ground her teeth as another contraction hit her. “What’s wrong?” she asked, panicked when the pain eased off.

“You are doing very well, lady,” the healer said soothingly. “The second infant has crowned.”

Simon stared at the man blankly. “You said there were not two,” he said accusingly. “I have been going insane with worry that it was one enormous babe and there are two?”

“I beg pardon, sire, but I said I did not
hear
but one. If you will only look, you will see that there are definitely two.”

Simon looked vaguely ill. “I will take your word for it,” he said uneasily, his hand tightening on Raina’s, more as if he needed to hold on to her than as if he was giving reassurance.

“If you will take this one, I will help the other.”

Simon looked at the man in horror, but finally reached to take the wiggling bundle. Raina held up her arms for the baby as he turned and he settled it beside her with a look of profound relief. She cuddled it as she strained with another contraction and finally went limp as a thin wail announced the arrival of the second baby. “It is a female.”

As excited as she was about the babies, and anxious to examine them, exhaustion threatened to swallow her up. She struggled against it until she’d carefully looked both of her babies over and satisfied herself that they were perfectly formed. One of the women that had arrived with the healer surged forward and reached for a baby. Raina tightened her arms around the baby protectively, glaring at her.

“It is alright, Rainie,” Simon said soothingly. “She only wants to bathe them. She will bring them back to you.”

She still didn’t like it, but she was too exhausted to argue. She lay drifting in and out of sleep for a while, listening to what was going on around her, feeling awe and happiness slowly claim her. “Devlyn and Racquel,” she murmured.

When she opened her eyes, she discovered Simon had disappeared and Audric was kneeling by the bed, holding her hand and grinning at her sheepishly. “They are beautiful,” he murmured. “Just like their mother.”

Raina blinked at him dizzily. “They are?”

“Yes.”

She frowned. “Racquel has dark hair … like Simon.”

“I have not seen them,” he confessed shakily. “But I know they are beautiful.”

Closing her eyes, Raina smiled. “Go and look at them and come back and tell me.”

She dropped into oblivion when the healer had finally stopped bothering her and went away. When she woke again the room was dim, as if darkness had fallen. Somewhere in the distance she heard the faint threads of music and many voices. For a while, she struggled with the realization that it had been midday the last she recalled and finally pressed her hands to her belly. It felt so strangely soft and flat.

A light came on at her movement and she squinted at Simon, who’d been sleeping in a chair across from her. “Where are the babies?”

“Sleeping--as you should be.”

Disappointment filled her. “I only got to hold them a minute.”

He pushed himself from the chair and sat on the bed beside her. “You have had little rest in weeks. Rest. They are being well attended, you may be sure. Each of them have a nurse for their needs and Audric is standing guard over them--when he is not making absurd faces and strange noises at them. I told him to stop frightening them.”

Raina frowned, searching her memory. “Did he faint?”

Simon chuckled, but quickly pretended to cough. “Nay, lady. He is a fearless draconian warrior! Why would you think that?”

She thought it over. “He had a knot on his forehead the size of my fist.”

He grinned. “I will let you ask Audric.” He hesitated. “Will it discomfort you for me to lie beside you?”

Raina smiled. “I could sleep better.”

Dragging his boots off, he climbed into the bed with her and settled beside her. “They are beautiful and I could not be more pleased or proud--of them or you.”

“You said Devlyn was ugly,” she said accusingly.

“He had been through a great trial. I have seen him. He is handsome now that he is not such a bloody mess. In truth, I did not get a very good look at first. I was trying not to disgrace myself as Audric did.”

Raina chuckled, but then frowned. “What is all that noise?”

Simon grinned at her. “They are celebrating the birth of the crown prince of Schalome--and our new princess. You need not concern yourself that you are welcome only because you will be my mate. They adore you as much as I do.”

Raina sighed blissfully and snuggled next to him. “Do you adore me?”

Simon slipped his arms around her and sighed contentedly. “With every fiber of being, beloved.”

Chapter Twenty Five

One year later …

Raina propped her head on her hand and watched Audric appreciatively through half closed eyes as he removed his clothing. Catching her gaze as he finished removing his trousers, he paused, studied her a moment and, his eyes gleaming with amusement, posed, flexing his muscles for her. A smile tugged her lips upward. “Mmm,” she murmured, “very, very nice. I especially like that muscle right there,” she added, pointing to the erect cock jutting from his belly.

Grinning, he moved toward her. Placing a knee on the bed and one hand on her hip, he rolled her onto her back as he settled the bulk of his weight on his side on the bed and dragged her beneath him. “It likes you, also. Especially this little part of you right here,” he murmured, holding her gaze with his as he glided a hand over her belly and cupped her mound in his hand.

Dragging one leg upward, she allowed it to drop to one side, giving him better access as he stroked a long digit along her dampness and found her sex, delving inside. “I like it when you let your fingers do the walking, too,” she murmured huskily as he stroked his finger slowly in and out along her passage.