Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
“And we will ride with them,” Gal added.
“That is your choice,” True said.
“I do not think—” Serena began.
“Get a bath,” Gal ordered. “We will have a meal ready when you are bathed, dressed and packed. We will eat well, but swiftly. And once we do, we will go.”
“Can you have her guard prepared by then?” Brix asked True.
“They are already prepared to ride when you are,” True replied.
That was True…
Always so….
True.
At a thought in her head, another arrow pierced her heart.
“Does Elena know?” she queried.
True shook his head but said, “I do not know, but I assume she received the same message we did.”
Serena drew in a deep breath.
“Go,” True urged. “Tell your mother when you see her that she is in our thoughts and it is an honor to know her.”
“Thank you,” Serena whispered.
She meant the guard. She meant his care in sharing this information.
And she meant him referring to her mother in present tense.
True quickly masked the surprise these words coming from Serena caused before he replied, “It is I who should be thanking you.”
“Thank you,” she repeated.
He let that go and inclined his head.
Then he urged softly, “Go, Serena.”
She nodded.
She looked to Farah, who actually blew her a kiss with tears trembling in her eyes, to Tor, who looked down at her with such a gentle expression, she had to tip her chin to him quickly before the witnessing of it unraveled her…
And finally, down to Gal and Brix.
“Let’s go,” she said.
They nodded.
She walked out of the room and her friends followed.
She bathed.
Quickly packed.
Wolfed down some food.
And with her crew of gnomes on horses on either side of her, a troop of Dellish soldiers at her back, Princess Serena, a Dellish hero, bolted down the lane that led away from Birchlire Castle, and then she raced over the cobbles of Notting Thicket on her way to her mother.
On her way home.
111
The Holiday
King Mars
Bedchamber of the King, Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
Mars licked his way up his queen’s belly, between her breasts, along her throat, over her chin to her mouth, where he said, “I will pierce you tonight while our company stumbles from cock to cunt in the garden celebrating Miet.”
Silence giggled.
Then she grasped his cock and tried to guide it to her sex.
“This sound fine, but I would wish to watch,” she murmured.
“The piercing?” he asked.
“The celebrations,” she said on a tug of his shaft that earned her a grunt and a stroke through her hand, this bringing him nearly inside her, but his body stilled when a heavy knock sounded at the door.
“Not now!” he bellowed.
“My king! Urgent news from Wodell and the Nadirii.”
Gods dammit.
When Mars did not move, his wife’s hand left his shaft to alight on his cheek.
“You must go,” she said.
“We must go,” he returned. “I’ll put on your chain, you shall link mine, and then you don something accessible. After I hear this news, I’ll finish fucking you on my desk.”
Her eyes went molten and her cheeks turned pink.
Thus, he kept his eyes open as he kissed her so he could enjoy both.
When he was done, he dragged her up the bed onto his lap, reached for his wedding chain on his night table and handed it to her.
She threaded it through his hoops and linked it, kissing the hoop by his lip when her task was complete. She then reached for hers and he did the same.
After his kiss, which was full on her lips, they left the bed.
They met again outside their dressing rooms.
And holding her hand, he led his queen to his study.
Mars sat behind his desk, Silence sat on his side atop it, but at an angle and twisted at the waist, so she could regard Chu as he sat in the chair opposite them, his face perfectly composed.
Nyx sat in the chair next to him.
Her face was not perfectly composed.
Lorenz, agitated as he had been for some days now, was pacing beside his desk.
“This is your choice,” Mars said to Chu. “Basil oversees the removal of the Go’Doan. Those priests having been arrested can be interrogated by Lorenz, Guard, Kyril and I. You do not have to be present when they’re executed. Thus, you are free to ride.”
“And the recovery of this asset that the priest G’Fenn took direct from one of our own homes?” Chu asked, an edge to his deep voice that belied the utter unconcern on his face.
“He is not an asset, he is my friend,” Lorenz bit out.
Chu turned coolly to his captain. “I refer to him as such in order not to make rise emotion that is already skating the surface, my brother.”
“There is no chance of that,” Nyx spat. “For this emotion is not buried in the slightest. In either of us.”
“We will get to you both in a moment,” Mars murmured.