Chapter Six #2
If he’d been closer, Jaykun would have kicked his brother under the table.
But the truth was, Garreth was tired and missing his wife and child.
He wanted to go home to them, and the longer it took Jaykun to get entrenched in this city, the longer Garreth and Dethan would stay by his side.
Winter was coming and it would take several weeks overland at best before they got home.
With ships, the time could be made considerably shorter.
However, the ships in the harbor were run by Krizan crews, crews that were not to be trusted if this morning’s incident was anything to go by.
And most of the men who had crewed those ships had died in the battle.
As if Dethan were reading his mind, Dethan said, “Only half the armada is in dock. The other half is in the harbor or missing. We need to fetch the escaping ships.”
“They shouldn’t get too far,” Garreth said. “They must have nothing but the barest of crews. I say we send several ships to run them down one by one. Bring them back to the harbor.”
“First we need to know how many we are talking about,” Jaykun said.
“Honestly, I thought there would be more missing,” Garreth mused.
“They simply didn’t have the manpower to sail them after throwing all their men at us. Poor planning on the part of their ruler,” Jaykun said.
“The whole battle was executed poorly. This city should have lasted indefinitely in a siege against us. They had the ocean at their backs and could constantly resupply, keep from starving, and yet the shops are all but bare, the bazaar skin and bones,” Jaykun reported.
“It shouldn’t take too long to get it back into shape, but still, what was going on here?
How had the finia thought to stand against us or save her people from us?
How could such a poor leader be in such a powerful position? ”
“How can you ask that? You have seen it yourselves time and again. These titles are inherited, not earned. The people follow a bloodline, not a leader. It’s laughable.”
Garreth chuckled. “So says the man whose wife inherited her title and city,” he teased Dethan.
“Be that as it may,” Dethan said, grinning good naturedly, “when it came down to it, the stronger leader prevailed. My wife is very powerful in her own right and in her love for her people. With me at her side, our city will not fall to any invading forces.”
“But you are not at her side,” Garreth pointed out quietly. “A battle could be won and lost while we are here so far away from our homes.”
“Easy, brother,” Jaykun soothed Garreth.
“You’ll be home soon enough. Within the next month.
I guarantee it. With ships at our disposal, we’ll cut the journey in half for Dethan and take at least a week off for you as well.
I’ll have you back at my sisters’ sides before first frost. I vow this to you. ”
“Then let us get to business,” Garreth said impatiently. “You’re wasting time … allowing distraction.” Garreth didn’t have to look at Jileana. They both knew who and what he was talking about.
“Enough!” Jaykun barked, making his younger brother jump in his own skin. “I do not need you to remind me of my duties and responsibilities. The gods give me reminder enough every day at dusk!”
“Garreth didn’t mean—” Dethan began.
“Then what did he mean?” Jaykun snapped.
“That I am not to have even the smallest pleasure? A fraction of a moment where war and duty does not consume me?” Both brothers fell silent.
They were being selfish and they knew it.
They were not by nature selfish men, but they were missing their families and the strain of it was starting to wear on them.
“Don’t worry,” Jileana spoke up with a bright smile, “I shall see to it that you have a great deal of pleasure in order to balance out your duties. And I will restrict our mating to the night so it won’t interfere with your daily duties.”
Jaykun had been considering taking a drink of wine and was suddenly glad he had not done so.
He might have choked on it. Or he might have thought he was in his cups and hearing her wrongly.
But the truth of it was, she meant every word and had absolutely no compunctions about announcing those words in public.
He heard chuckles rippling down the table and he actually had to will himself not to blush in front of his men. Did the woman have no shame?
That was his second thought, however. His first thought was immediately picturing her as he had seen her the night before: long, sleek limbs; bare, beautiful skin; and emitting sensual sounds of pleasure. The idea of seeing her thus once again was more than a little appealing.
Actually, the craving for it was overwhelming.
She was such a passionate creature in everything she did, so direct and voracious for everything she could possibly experience.
He had never known anyone like her. He appreciated her honesty, her candor.
She did not play games. She said exactly what was on her mind, expressed her desires and wishes the moment she knew what they were.
The idea of having a woman like that in his bed was arousing to the extreme.
She did not waste time being coy or demurring; she devoured her pleasure just as she devoured her food, savoring every bite and gorging herself on each flavor to be had.
She shot him a look that practically set the air to sizzling.
She craved him just as he craved her, he realized.
Oh, thank the gods! The idea that she had all the power between them was more than a little disquieting.
But the fact that she had desire for him meant that he had at least some kind of power too.
Jaykun jumped in his seat when he felt a hand brush up the length of his inner thigh beneath the table.
It was a brief touch, one that felt more reassuring than it did seductive.
Just the same, the heat that ripped through him was overwhelming and suddenly he craved things far beyond the meal in front of him.
“Jileana, I prefer we not discuss these things in public,” he said tightly. He could control this, he told himself firmly. He was the master of his own fate and in command of everything around him. He could easily control his passions for a simple woman.
“Why not?” she asked with her usual openness. “I thought you would want your brothers to be reassured that our sexual meetings would not interfere with your daily responsibilities.”
Dethan chuckled. “I feel reassured,” he said with a great deal of mirth in his tone.
Jaykun was overwhelmed with the urge to smack him on the back of his head. Both he and Garreth were enjoying his discomfiture far too much.
“I’m not sure I do,” Garreth said with a grin. “Just how often are we talking about here? Once a night? Twice? The man has to get his sleep.”
“I thought perhaps—”
“Do not answer him!” Jaykun cut her off sharply even though he was damned curious as to what the answer would be.
The idea of having her once was overwhelming enough, but twice?
More? As often as he could gorge himself on her?
The idea was beyond appealing. “Both of you stop,” he warned them harshly, “or you’ll find yourself battling me back in the practice ring. ”
“Oh! Please don’t stop,” Jileana said eagerly to his brothers.
“I should like to see that. I watch my father and brothers practice all the time. It is a fine way of seeing the warrior in a man.” She slid Jaykun a hot little look.
“I would very much like to see the warrior in you. I find the idea most stimulating.”
“Oh, I think that could be arranged,” Dethan said with a snicker as he ignored his brother’s deadly glare. “Maybe we can knock some sense into him in the process.”
“Which of you will it be?” she asked eagerly.
“You are much larger than Jaykun is, and you are much smaller,” she said to first Dethan, then Garreth.
“A smaller man is usually faster. A larger man often has more power. Perhaps I should like to see you both. Not together of course, because that would be unfair, but each individually.”
“You know, I really would appreciate it if you all stopped making plans for me without consulting me.”
Jileana turned a warm, beautiful smile on him and he felt his temper dissolve away instantly. It was a reaction that simply floored him.
“Oh, of course we aren’t making plans without you. You are sitting right here. If you had any arguments, you would certainly bring them up, just as you are right now. So which is it you prefer? Your larger brother or your smaller one?”
“It doesn’t matter because I can beat them both,” Jaykun muttered.
“Ha! Not likely!” Dethan scoffed.
“Hardly,” Garreth chimed in.
“I can and I will. First you, little man,” he said to Garreth. “An easy fight to warm me up. Then you, you lumbering ass. Maybe if I put you both in your places you’ll stop bothering me!”
“Wonderful! When shall we do it? After this meal?” Jileana asked.
“Why wait?” Jaykun said, surging to his feet.
“Easy, brother,” Dethan said with a chuckle, reaching to grab Jaykun’s forearm and pull him back down into his chair.
“You have promised the lady a meal and so you shall give it to her. Practice can wait until later. We will arrange it for an hour before supper, two hours before dusk. This way we can get some other work done first and have time to digest our meals.”
“That makes every bit of sense,” Jileana agreed. “Where will it be?”
“There is a practice ring to the east of the castle. The men have already been using it. We’ll meet there at the appointed time.”
“Very well,” Jaykun muttered as he pulled his chair back up to his plate. His brothers were right. The meal he had promised Jileana ought to come first.
The rest of the meal seemed to pass in something of a fog for him.
He was trying to figure out exactly how she had managed to get exactly what she wanted out of him every single time so far.
She didn’t seem to ask for anything, and yet he found himself performing to her pleasure.
Sex, shopping, eating, and now fighting.
All done for her pleasure. The understanding bemused him; It occupied his mind quite frequently throughout the rest of the afternoon.
After the meal, she had dutifully drifted out of his reach, going off to do who knew what, who knew where.
It had concerned him a little. She seemed to have a knack for doing and saying things that might cause trouble, so he had been concerned about leaving her to her own devices.
Especially in a castle full of a hostile species.
She had made it clear to all and sundry that she shared a place of intimacy with him.
It wasn’t so farfetched an idea that someone might try to hurt her as a means of sending a message to him.
It was thoughts like this that kept him listening to his brothers with only half his attention.