Chapter Ten #3
She yelped and sat up, her entire body bristling. “Ow! Hey! That’s not fair! First you wear me out with your unending appetite for sex, then you wake me up.”
“Um … the unending appetite for sex was you,” he pointed out.
“What?” She seemed to think about it. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he said with a chuckle. “I like your unending appetite for sex.”
“Yes, I seem to recall that,” she said with a grin.
“Jileana … I want you to stay. At least for a little while. I find three days to be woefully insufficient when it comes to learning about you. I … I should like to get to know you better.”
Her iridescent eyes brightened and she smiled. “You would?”
He smiled back. “I would.”
“Oh, that’s so nice,” she said. “But I can’t stay.”
“You …” Jaykun was taken aback. It had not occurred to him that she might not want or be able to stay.
He hadn’t realized that their three-day timetable might be restricted for a reason on her part.
“But surely you can put off whatever business you have for a few more days,” he found himself saying.
“Or perhaps you can come back when you are done.”
“No. It’s nothing like that.” She gave him a wan smile. “I must go home. You see, I wasn’t supposed to come at all. My family is probably wondering what happened to me. Or they may have figured it out and are likely quite cross with me. Either way, I must return home.”
“Well, maybe if you go home and tell them where you are, surely then you could come back and—”
“No. My family is not very understanding about these things. You see, where I come from a daughter does not leave her father’s house until she is bonded with her husband.
I may be rebellious enough to leave for seven days, but any more than that would be disrespectful to my father.
And hurtful. I would not do that to him.
” She brightened then. “But you could come with me. I know you would like it in Serenity. And it would give you the opportunity to discuss with our leader the possibility of erecting some temples in Weysa’s name.
That is, after all, your purpose, is it not?
You did say you first would try peaceful methods over war.
I do not know how successful you will be, but it would not hurt to try. ”
“No, you are right. It would not hurt to try.”
But if he failed, then what? Then he would make war on Serenity and Jileana’s people? He found the idea surprisingly distasteful. He scoffed at himself. A warlord who did not want to make war? What was wrong with him?
He didn’t want to admit it, but the idea of going with her to Serenity and spending more time with her under the guise of diplomacy was more than appealing. He could do two things at once. His brothers could manage without him for a little while, couldn’t they? Just a few days?
“Very well. I shall come with you as an ambassador in Weysa’s name. My brothers can manage here for a little while. Can you give me a day to prepare?”
“No. It must be tonight. Tonight or a moon from now. That is your choice.”
“A moon from now? Why are you pressuring me so? I do not understand what one day has to do with anything!”
“You will once I show you the way to my people. Please. Tonight or a moon from now?”
“I see. You have a ship leaving tonight,” he murmured.
He couldn’t wait for a moon from now. His brothers would be gone by then and there would be no one to manage the city while he went on an ambassadorial mission. He did not like to be so pressured; it was probably Very unwise of him to allow it. There was no time to prepare.
“I would need to get a guard together. I cannot go to a foreign court with merely the clothes on my back and no one to protect me.”
She laughed at that. “Jaykun, you do not need protecting. You are immortal.”
“What? H-how did you know…?” he stammered.
“You burn yet do not die. I therefore guess you to be immortal. Am I wrong?”
“No. You are not wrong,” he said, relenting. “I am cursed. I am immortal. And I will suffer that curse until the end of time. That is the way of it.”
“Very well. So you are immortal and do not need protecting.”
“Immortality does not protect me from imprisonment.”
“Jaykun, you have my word. No harm will come to you. You will be a free man in our court. We have guests very rarely, but when we do, we treat them well. It is an exceptional thing, to be extended an invitation to Serenity. I hope you appreciate it as such.”
“And you are certain your court would welcome me?”
“As certain as I can be. Come … come with me. I would like for you to meet my mother and father. I think you would enjoy meeting them and they would enjoy you as well. You are an intelligent man and my mother does appreciate someone handsome to look at.”
That made him chuckle. “And does this mean I get to stay in your bed? Or will the rules change once we are in your home?”
“Well, some rules will certainly change, but being in my bed will be, I’m afraid, a requirement of your visit.”
He laughed at that. “Very well, then. Let me discuss it with my brothers and pack some belongings. Then I will make my first diplomatic mission to Serenity.”
“The first of many, I hope. We worship Diathus almost exclusively, but it is perhaps unwise not to appreciate all the gods. We should not give insult through neglect.”
“Even if you raise just a few temples in Weysa’s name, I think I can be satisfied.”
“You will have to be. War on Serenity is impossible. Diplomacy is your only option. But I should like to give you the opportunity.”
“War is impossible? How so?”
“You could never get your army to Serenity. There is but one way there and it is heavily guarded.”
“It is an island and I now have an armada.”
She laughed at him. “Your armada will mean nothing. Serenity is impenetrable. The storms, remember? You will see. You had best hurry. Dusk is approaching.”
He smiled at her, then called for a servant.