Chapter Five #2
Jucai strode over to them. They backed up in unison. I had to press my lips together to keep from laughing. If they had completed their training, they wouldn't have retreated.
“You will await your master here,” Jucai growled.
“Uh, they are not slaves, Your Majesty,” I said.
“They serve you, do they not? That makes you their master.”
My guards did not like that. They scowled at the King and me.
I shook my head. “I am not their master. I'm not anyone's master.” I shifted my gaze to my guards. “I'm in no danger, and the King prefers you to remain here. This is called diplomacy.”
“But, Lord Nadar!” Raje tried to protest.
Lord Anfar smacked his arm again. “We'll stay here.”
“Thank you.” I climbed into the carriage.
After settling on the back bench, I propped an arm on the carriage wall.
It was nice to ride in an open-topped carriage without worrying about the weather.
Jucai climbed in and sat beside me. I glanced at him.
During our time apart, I assumed I'd amplified his handsomeness in my head.
He couldn't possibly be as glorious as I remembered.
He was.
Dressed in blue silk with purple leather boots, the Sea Dragon King was resplendent.
He had his pearl crown on, his long hair falling in a straight line beneath it, and his skin shone from an application of scented oil.
I breathed in deeply, appreciating the light scent of tea.
Tea-scented oil, how unique. It enhanced his natural scent of salty cinnamon.
An image came to my mind of Jucai standing naked in his beautiful bathroom, arms extended as slaves massaged the oil into his skin.
“To the Golden Oyster,” Jucai said.
I came out of my fantasy with the jolt of the carriage. Scrambling for something to say, I asked the obvious. “Is that a restaurant?”
The driver urged the white horses forward, and we headed out of the palace courtyard. I glanced back to see my guards still standing before the steps, looking lost. A tinge of anxiety ran down my spine. They couldn’t have been so distraught about a few slaves.
“It is indeed.” Jucai drew my attention back to him. “Did you enjoy your slave?”
I started to tell him that I didn't fuck slaves, but then remembered my promise.
If I told Jucai I had passed on the slave's offer, Bantar would get into trouble.
But if I told him I had fucked Bantar, Jucai would think I approved of his slaves.
So, I just shrugged. Diplomats are experts at evading questions.
Jucai chuckled. “I saw you watching my Kaikeyo bed slaves and thought you might enjoy one.”
Another technique for avoiding questions is to deliberately misunderstand them. “I have little use for a servant yet. He's having my clothes cleaned.”
He cocked his head at me. I gazed ahead.
Jucai cleared his throat. “Yes, well. He will handle all of your needs.” He laid a hand on my thigh. “All but one.”
I patted his hand.
“Correct?” he prompted.
“What's that?” I smiled at him. Then I noticed the lovely architecture. “Your city is so beautiful. I've seen similar architectural styles in Rusokai, but these are even more ornate.”
“Nadar.”
I looked at him. “Yes, Your Majesty?”
“It's Jucai, and I want an answer.”
“I didn't hear a question. What is it you want to know?”
Jucai grimaced. “That you are . . . mine.”
“I'm sorry, Jucai, but one night does not make a relationship.”
He turned to face me. “I meant for the time being. I do not share, Nadar.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “And yet you sent me a slave to fuck. You did that after I'd made my discomfort over slavery known. So, did you really send him for my pleasure, or was it a punishment? Or, even worse, a test?”
Oh, well, there went evasion. Something about Jucai made all my training disappear.
The driver remained silent, but his shoulders shook.
“He was a gift,” Jucai said stiffly.
“He is a man, not an object to be given away!”
“Then you didn't fuck him?”
“You told me you and your court respected your slaves and never abused them. You lied to me. I don't like being lied to.”
“What?” He looked baffled. “What are you talking about?”
“The reason I don't want to answer your question is that Bantar told me if I didn't use him, the Master of Palace Slaves would punish him.”
Jucai went still. “Punished how?”
“He'd go without dinner.”
“Oh.” His shoulders lowered. “That is not abuse, Nadar. That is a mild punishment. Parents punish their children in much the same way.”
“He shouldn't be punished at all! It was my choice, not his.”
“But he was told to seduce you.”
“So you admit you sent him to sway me?”
“I thought if you experienced a bed slave for yourself, you'd understand.”
“And you thought commanding someone to have sex with me would convince me?”
“I didn't simply point and command, Nadar. I asked the Master of Palace Slaves to find a Kaikeyo who'd like to experience sex with a Land Dragon. The volunteer was then commanded to seduce you.”
Commanded to seduce me. No wonder Bantar had disrobed so quickly. It probably didn't take a lot to seduce a Sea Dragon, but I had proved difficult, and he had to resort to spreading his ass cheeks. Ugh!
I took a breath and pushed down all the terrible things I wanted to say to Jucai.
Even if what he said was true, I didn't know if the Master of Palace Slaves had followed the King's order to the letter.
Bantar had seemed willing, but he'd also worried over his punishment.
Was a missed meal enough incentive? It wouldn't have driven me to bed someone I didn't want to.
Regardless, Jucai had done it to prove a point.
I didn't like that. But a part of being a diplomat was holding your tongue.
“As relieved as I am that you didn’t force Bantar to seduce me, I don't appreciate the manipulation. Please do not send me another bed slave.”
“He is not your bed slave. He is your personal slave.”
I blinked. “What's the difference?”
“He is to attend to all your needs.”
“And suck me off if I want?”
“That is the duty of every slave, be they a palace or bed slave.”
“Wait, you mean to say that even those slaves that serve your food or drive your carriage,” I waved at our driver, “are supposed to pleasure you on command as well?”
“That is what they agree to do when they volunteer to be tributes. They serve the Sea Dragons in my court and any Dragon visitors should I wish it.” He motioned at me. “Their service is encompassing. They fulfill all our needs and desires, and we treasure them for it.”
“Dear Gods,” I whispered. “What if your male slaves aren't gay, or your female slaves are?”
“They announce their sexuality through clothing, and we respect that.”
“Excuse me?”
“For men, it's the pants. Straight men wear pale blue pants. Gay bottoms wear black pants that lace up the back. Gay tops wear black pants that lace up the front. Versatile men wear red pants that lace up the back. Last, bisexual men wear blue pants with a front lacing.”
I gaped at him. The words just wouldn't come.
“Do you want me to repeat it so you know who you may approach?”
“Gods, no!” I drew back from him. “You define them with pants?”
“It works well, and that way unwelcome partners know to leave them be.”
“Then they can refuse?”
“Of course they can refuse! We are not rapists. Those who offer themselves as tribute usually want to serve us in every way, so they rarely refuse. But we won’t punish them simply because they aren’t sexually attracted to us.”
“I can’t decide if I should be impressed or repulsed.”
“As a diplomat, shouldn't you be open to trying things before dismissing them? I specifically sent you a slave who wore black pants with back lacing.”
“Oh, yes, because it's all right for me to fuck another man as long as I don't let him fuck me, right?”
“Yes, I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but I will not share my lover in that way.”
“We've shared one night together. We are not lovers. We are strangers getting to know each other.”
“I know well how pleasure can be unemotional, just a shared experience that means nothing.
But this is not nothing, and I think you know that, Nadar.
Regardless of the short time we've known each other, we are not strangers.
I've chosen you to be my lover. It is an honor that you will respect by being faithful to me while you are here.”
“But I can fuck another man? How is that being faithful?”
“No other man shall have you as I do. That is the fidelity I demand.”
“You cannot demand anything from me. As I told you this morning, I am exempt from your commands.”
“As a diplomat, but not as my lover.”
“I have not agreed to be your lover.” But even as I said the words, I knew he was right. Somehow, our night together had pushed us past being strangers.
We did not know each other well, but we knew each other well enough to form a temporary attachment.
All of that, however, wouldn't have mattered if not for one thing—I wanted him.
I had wanted Jucai from my first sight of him, and my craving had only intensified.
Besides, it wasn't as if I wanted anyone else in his court.
I would have been faithful in every way without him asking. Damn my insatiable lust for this man!
“Either I have this from you or nothing, Nadar.” Jucai had been watching me, doubtless coming to the wrong conclusion.
I raised my chin.
He held my gaze.
Another moment passed. I let it drag out to assuage my pride. There was no way that I'd tell him how much I wanted him. “Very well.”
“Then you are mine.”
“Hold on. I'm not your subject or property.”
“No, you are my lover.
“For now.”
“Yes, for now.”
“All right, I agree to that on one condition.”
Jucai raised an eyebrow. “Which is?”
“You don't fuck anyone else either.”
“I will agree to the same restrictions I impose on you.”
“But in reverse?”
“Yes, I agree not to penetrate another person. But I will not give up the other pleasures my bed slaves provide.”