Chapter Nine
I lay in bed, my release drying on my belly, long after Jucai left. The sea beyond the glass wall tried to calm me, but my thoughts wouldn't stop spinning. I couldn't come to terms with what had just happened. Obviously, Jucai had been as unsettled as I, but that didn't help.
Finally, my itchy belly prompted me to get up.
I took a long bath, soaking in my confusion.
The hot water relaxed my muscles but did nothing to ease my mind.
At last, I got out of the bath, dried off, and went into my dressing room, trying to leave my anxiety in the bathroom.
But my thoughts nipped at my heels like dogs, following me into the dressing room.
What the fuck was that? It felt like we were going to mate. Then the urge just vanished.
“As if the Gods changed their minds,” I whispered to my reflection.
To either side of me hung luxurious clothes of the finest silk, velvet, and cotton Zaru had to offer.
As the King's representative, I had to look the part.
But I didn't reach for my fine clothes. Instead, I stood naked before the full-length mirror on the far wall of the dressing room, studying my body for any sign of mating magic.
“As if there would be one.” I rolled my eyes and turned away.
The near-mating rose in my mind again—the feeling of bliss, of knowing that I'd never be alone again, that ultimate happiness lay within reach.
Then, the sheer terror. The panic. Silently, I had begged the Gods not to join us.
Jucai was not a good mate for me. He would change my life in the worst ways.
And then it had stopped. “The Gods answered me. Holy fuck.” I turned back to the mirror to meet my startled gaze. “Holy fuck!”
If Jucai was my mate, but the Gods denied our bond because of my prayer, did that mean I'd never mate? The memory of that feeling of completeness rose again, and I nearly wept. No, I didn't want that with Jucai. I didn't want it with anyone yet. But I wanted it someday.
Looking up, I whispered, “Please forgive me. I want a mate. Just not yet and not him. Please don't deny me a mate.”
There was no answer, not that I'd been expecting one.
After a Dragon unearthed Karadas, all of us got a good look at our gods.
Both Ensarena and Karadas had shown themselves and spoken with us.
Karadas even took a Dragon mate. Would Ensarena do the same?
Oh, but she'd been angry, so angry with her old lover and their children.
She'd attacked the Dragons who had sided with Karadas. Then she made peace with him.
Regardless of how the Gods felt about their children now, they wouldn't be listening to me. Ensarena was in her realm, and Karadas had retired with his mate to a separate realm. Meaning, both were beyond the hearing of the likes of me.
But if they couldn't hear me, who had answered my prayer?
Simple—no one. We hadn't mated because we weren't meant to.
Those feelings were odd, but not unheard of.
I've heard people talk about feeling something profound when they were with their lovers.
We had experienced that because we had gone through a lot in a short time.
That's all it was—a response to our emotional day.
“I'm an idiot.” I grabbed some underpants and pulled them on.
“I am such an idiot. That wasn't the mating urge.
I was feeling close to him, feeling affection.
Ugh! No wonder my body rebelled, and I cut it off before it went further.
“I don't know what's worse—nearly mating Jucai or falling for him after a single day.” As I pulled on my pants, I made a decision.
“No, I cannot allow myself to feel anything for that—” I paused.
What was he? Was Jucai arrogant? Yes, absolutely, but so were many Land Dragon Kings.
Granted, I barely knew him, but I'd already learned he was a hero who fought monsters to protect his people and had invited me there, hoping to expand trade to help his people even more. He built a city for them, offered free schooling, and made sure that no one went hungry. In land cities, there is the Scales—an organization funded by the Dragon Kings to see to the wellbeing of their people. Here, Jucai oversaw it all himself. He’d even explained his aggressive sexuality.
I'd seen his pain myself. Jucai could not have faked that.
Did that mean I trusted the Sea King? No, it had been a day. I wouldn't trust anyone after only a day of knowing them. But was I starting to? Yes. More importantly, I had no reason to dislike Jucai. No reason not to . . .
“No!” I pointed at my reflection. “It doesn't matter if he's a good man or not. You cannot fall in love with a Sea Dragon—not any Sea Dragon. You are a Zaruian. You love the sun! Don't be a fool, Nadar.”
After that firm talking-to, I felt stronger.
I finished dressing and headed to the dining hall to eat dinner with Jucai and his court.
He had shown me where it was on our way to my room, so I had no issue navigating the maze of corridors down to the main floor of the palace.
In the western wing, the dining hall curved around a circular kitchen garden of fruit trees, vegetables, and herbs.
Glass walls made it feel like an open space, bringing the garden into the room, while the curve created sections.
The kitchen completed the circle, curving around the outer half of the garden, with entrances at two ends of the hall.
I entered at one end of the circle, passing a buffet table of appetizers and drinks set against the stone wall on my left, and lounging cushions against the glass wall to my right.
The plush cushions followed the curve of the wall, wide enough for several people to lie together in each section.
Firm, rectangular cushions formed back supports and armrests while dividing lounging areas.
Sea Dragons in various states of undress sprawled across those cushions, enjoying all the pleasures they'd been denied for so long.
Many of the Sea Dragons were together, but many more had bed slaves with them.
I averted my gaze and rounded the curve.
A shimmery curtain hung between the lounging and dining areas.
Just past this curtain, long, black enameled tables stuck out from the stone and glass walls like the spokes of a wheel, with a central aisle.
Sea Dragons sat on floor cushions at these tables.
Low walls of black wood extended behind the diners to support their backs, and wooden armrests were available for the diners to lean on.
I expected the tables to be for eating, but the Sea Dragons satisfied two appetites at once, eating while slaves saw to their other needs.
I grimaced as a slave wove around me, responding to a Sea Dragon's wave.
He wore blue pants with a back lacing that was immediately undone by a Sea Dragon man even while the Leeya got onto his hands and knees to suck at the breasts of a Sea Dragon woman.
There was so much flesh on display and so much use of it that I could only look forward.
Understanding why they had such appetites didn't make it easier to witness them satisfying those appetites.
Thankfully, things calmed a bit as I approached the royal dining dais.
Perhaps they made the hall curved to create levels of lewdness.
I strode between tables of dining Sea Dragons, nodding at those who smiled at me, and went to the royal dais where King Jucai lounged on the only raised seat in the entire room.
A black wooden frame, the length of a couch with the width of a bed, held a thick silk mattress.
Cylindrical cushions lined the low walls of the King's couch, and more of them served as armrests for His Majesty.
Larger wedge pillows formed backrests. Before him was a table much higher than those used by his court, allowing him to dine comfortably.
Still, he wasn't as high as we sat at our dining tables in Zaru, and the size of his couch made him look hedonistic.
Several dishes already waited atop the table untouched.
The King reclined on an armrest as he sipped his drink and idly watched the servants go in and out of the kitchen door to the right of the dais.
His casual demeanor vanished when he saw me.
He sat up to watch my approach, his gaze caressing me from head to toe.
The room quieted as I bowed. “Your Majesty.”
“Lord Nadar, join me.” Jucai waved at the spot next to him on his couch.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” I climbed the steps and slid between the table and the couch.
The Sea King removed his armrest, moving it behind him as I sat down, so there was nothing between us. His hand instantly went to my thigh and slid inward. I stiffened.
He leaned in to whisper, “The table conceals my actions.” He rubbed my cock through my pants.
I cleared my throat. “Could we eat first?”
“You said whenever I had need.”
“I also said I wouldn't fuck you in public.”
“I'm merely touching you. It helps keep my need for sex at bay.” He moved his hand to my back, but then slipped it under my tunic and down my pants. His middle finger pumped between my cheeks.
It was a strange caress but also erotic, teasing me with what was to come.
I glanced at him. “Shall I serve you?”
Jucai smirked. “Indeed.”
“I meant the food, Your Majesty. Unless you wanted me to crawl under the table and suck you off first.”
“Would you mind?”
I burst out laughing, but then I saw his serious expression. “Is that what your bed slaves do?”
“No, I don't allow my bed slaves here. I usually have one of the kitchen slaves see to me while I dine.”
The words caught in my throat. I moved down the couch, away from him.