"May I speak to you, Commander, privately?"
Kinya Sarakh stood by the corner, under the arching door where his soldiers, his brother, and his lover disappeared as if he had timed the moment they would leave. His shoulders curved and his eyes peering with a smile spread across his face. It was as if he had a grand secret to share that Akhutenan wanted none of.
Yet, he was now the Commander. Things between the nations were not about his wants.
"Of course," was his reply as those departing figures disappeared into the light of the inner courtyard leaving him behind. "There is a side room, I believe."
"I'm sure the guards will be gracious enough to lead us," Kinya gestured as he entered the hall with a few guards readily at his beck. "The green sun room, isn't it?"
Akhutenan knew an ambush when he saw one and frowned. "I should send word--"
"To whom, Commander?" Kinya smiled again. "I am the Empress' scribe, record keeper, and messenger. There is nothing I say that hasn't already been spoken out of the lips of Her Highness."
"Of course."
Donte had warned him prior that the politics of Sonhrai would, at its mercy, sacrifice him to provide and prolong its lifeblood. He reminded his lover that that is what noble families do. Perhaps the words offended him into silence, but Donte was strangely silent for having rushed over so quickly to join him, only to say so little.
The benefits of his new bloodline were enough to protect his family if the Crown Prince failed, the Emperor reigned supreme, and rampant chaos continued to spread. These types of things were not given without any payment.
He followed between Kinya Sarakh and the guards trailing behind with his fingers twitching, readying to pull out his daggers tucked within his belt. When they reached the green sun room with green geometric suns carved into the flooring, he found someone already inside. A woman not much older than him dressed in red and gold designs thickly sewn in the style of Zhuong with gems sparkling in her twisted-up hair. Her eyes were wide but cold and when he turned to Kinya noted the similarities in their face.
"This is my niece, Crown Princess Consort of the Zhuong Empire," Kinya gestured as Akhutenan awkwardly bowed in deference to the woman.
She waved him off. "We are of a similar status and title, actually. No need to bow."
Kinya nodded to the guards and the three of them departed the room, as the scribe said, "We will be waiting outside the door. Don't rush but we are on a timely schedule."
The door squealed shut, and Akhutenan spoke first, "I don't believe we have any reason to meet. And, it is inappropriate for a Crown Princess Consort to meet me in private."
"Oh, is it?" a voice said from the corner of the room, slinking out from the corner, with a disarming smile upon his face. The man wore thick silks of black and blue with tinges of red and gold lining the robes. A rounded hat bespoke with gold dragons and gems sat upon his head. His very curved cheeks and wide eyes carried the very look of kindness and mercy. "It's good that my wife is an appropriate sort."
Akhutenan hadn't sensed the man before he made his presence known. Everything about this situation rang alarmingly. "My apologies, Crown Prince, but I don't believe we've ever met before."
"We haven't, but I hear that we have much in common."
"I sincerely doubt--"
"--like a hatred for Akira Lin."
Akhutenan pursed his lips and then exhaled sharply. "I barely know the man."
Zhuong's Crown Prince laughed with his Consort, sharing a smile with him as if they had been waiting for him to reply with those words. The Crown Prince returned, "He shackles your fairytale lover under delusions of revenge and hatred for something he's held onto for too long. You can't possibly want that for him? To stay an ant under Akira Lin's foot. I've never heard such a love story."
"You don't understand."
The Crown Princess Consort said then, with her hands held tight against her waist, "I knew such hatred. The source of my despair is in Akira Lin, as well, but we see the forest for its trees. Akira Lin is not the wickedness that's polluted this land. He is merely the symptom."
"The true evil of this land," the Crown Prince finished. "Can only be one who creates disorder and flashes their gestures of help, only to feign weakness in its light. Do you know that my wife and I have tried to have children but to no avail?"
Akhutenan sighed and then rubbed his nose. "Apologies, Crown Prince, but I can't see how any of that has to do with me."
"We found that Akira Lin has an alchemist who produces poisons that act like tonics, serums, and cures on the surface. A flavor so sweet that you could mistake it for a meal. Underneath it lies a contraceptive. One that only Akira Lin carries the recipe for."
"Perhaps you should be spending time trying to find the traitor in your midst who sends you these poisons."
The Crown Prince and the Crown Princess Consort share a look before the Crown Prince continues, "It's Yu Ying, the Ambassador's husband."
"You wish for me to get close to him, and what? Kill him."
"No," the Crown Prince smiled with kind eyes. "You must kill Candise instead."
"For the Zhuong Empire?" Akhutenan laughed. "I don't believe you understand where my loyalties lie. It doesn't waffle between the empire that does the greatest courtesy. It is based on repeated--"
"And how often has the Sonhrai Empire held you up?"
"They haven't--"
"Is that why they send you off, alone, without the backing of their Crown Princess or even one of their other Princesses? The first opportunity that they require you to support them and they abandon you instead. Because they care? I can't imagine the Carolingian Crown Prince would choose you over his father if things were to come to an end. If I know that, surely, so does the great Empress of Sonhrai."
Akhutenan had been made aware only moments earlier that Jata Niara would not be leaving with the initial war boats. And that he would be sent in for reconnaissance with Babatu's reckless and inexperienced son. The dead weight of Afolabi would do more damage than any enemy or lack of reinforcements.
"The Empress is busy," Akhutenan weakly defended.
The Crown Prince sighed and Akhutenan knew the point had been made.
"I suggest you think about what you have to gain from staying Akira Lin's ally and whether you're the hero in this or simply an indifferent soldier ignoring the plight of your lover, your child, your family--your real family."
The door shut behind them.
Akhutenan gritted his teeth but knew that Kinya had spun a web sharp enough to cut through his skin. He walked towards the small arched opening leading outside to the evening sky. Falcons hovered above the palace and Akhutenan questioned whether his next actions were the correct ones.
He frowned and then pushed out his hand, snapping his fingers in the air until one of them caught sight of his hand.
Hopefully, Nwaijaku would take the message for what it was.
Or, he would be forced into doing something he didn't want to do but would easily do to free Donte from Akira's clutches.
It's not as if the Empress liked the Zhuong Ambassador.
Enkidu shared a nod with Jata Niara as they were led into the marriage halls of the palace, where Jata Niara would spend the next few months with her new husband. At her side, stood the aforementioned spouse, hooded and covered in jewels and covering, without having spoken a word.
"Lady Sapphira has sent more gifts for her son's marriage," one of Noë's servants entered the halls with a four-man carrying cart full of large trunks, small trunks, and jewelry cases. "We will send these to the vaults to be recorded in the family investments."
The servant didn't wait for Jata Niara to accept the gifts, and she expected that this would be the new exception and not the one-off. Her head tilted catching a sharp movement out the corner of her eye.
"Is Nwaijaku on her way?"
Enkidu nodded.
It wasn't good for her to spill blood on her wedding day.
As they walked the halls, her newly wedded husband was quiet underneath all those gems, crystals, and filigree. Part of her expected the omega to speak with the same adoration as before, but rumors of outside concubines had reached the ears of the palace. It was unlikely he hadn't caught whiff of them. To make matters worse, she had yet to choose a known concubine to ward off purveying interests.
There were three Marriage Halls in the palace, as they represented the main three consorts of a ruling leader, outside of the main consort who lived closer to the main palace where the ruling leader slept. Each of the alpha heirs born of those consorts was given free reign of these chambers after marriage to offer time to organize their territories, spread out their investments or properties, and have any housing built, as was the case in Jata Niara's situation.
Marriage Halls were designed out of clay, much like their ancestral homes were built, an extension on the palaces that stuck out as the halls transferred into the holdings of the Marriage Halls. The windows were rounded openings, the walls of thick red brown stone with the floorings of a similar mix, and the doors carved from the hands of their royal carpenters who inherited the skills of long-dead ancestors.
Their main rooms had doors carved of whimsical leaves, forests, and kola nuts with fertile plant life bursting out. It was the room the newly married couple would be disallowed from escaping for a full day with food, water, and clothing for that time left inside.
Doors would be locked and the surrounding area blocked off.
No one would be interrupting at that time.
As they drew nearer to the door, Jata Niara knew that she would be locked in before Nwaijaku was free of guard duty at the main entrance.
She leaned towards Enkidu and lowered her voice, "Inform Nwaijaku that if Akhutenan makes a move, remove Donte."
"But--?"
She waved her hand. "Akhutenan has his heir. He will get over it in time, but Donte has built his coffin. He chooses Akira Lin's disorder and chaos rather than narrow crossing of peace among our people."
"And if he doesn't?"
"Then," Jata Niara shakes her head in disbelief. She can't imagine a world where Akhutenan chooses the right decision over his emotional bouts of flippancy. A man who chose willfulness out of a stable heart couldn't be trusted. "You must listen closely to what he says. It may not be the correct decision, whatever he decides to tell you, but the right way through will be buried in there somewhere. He's clever when he's not thinking with his cock."
Enkidu nodded, and the trail of servants beside and behind bowed as the door was pushed open.
A feast covered a round table built of purpled black granite with etchings around its edges with words of prosperity and a happy marriage neatly written. Beddings, furs, and three barrels of water stood behind the table. There were oils, fruits, and liquor at the wall closest to them.
Said pile of pillows, beddings, and blankets sat behind an archway with dangling drapes as thin and soft as water with the color of spun gold.
With the door creaking shut behind them, she listened for the loud scratch of the heavy wooden lock that would keep them in.
Her eyes trailed over Noë's form, seeing his complexion slightly paler than she remembered it being and his form slightly wider but equally as tall. Her shoulders ached under the weight of the fur wrapped around her shoulders, and she unclasped it, tossing it to the floor. Only the thickly woven straps that the fur formerly clung to, sewn in brown beige triangular designs, crossed over her bare chest.
Noë stepped forward towards the table and Jata Niara's eyes caught the small platter of drinks tainted with Akira Lin's contraceptive mixture. She reached over to add it to the feast's drinks when she caught Noë's quick fingers having already drawn a mug into his hand, knocking the crystal fringe blocking the larger half of his face, to down the drink in one gulp.
"I hope that wasn't out of nervousness," Jata Niara said pointedly as Noë dropped the mug with a loud clatter. "There is nothing to fear on your wedding night. Not with me."
Noë huffed with a clicked tongue but said nothing else. His hands now clasped tight against his side.
It seemed the omega had certainly heard of the concubine rumors.
"Those rumors--the can be a bit unkind to me and my position, but they are, unfortunately, somewhat true, I have no official concubines but I have a duty to helping produce heirs for my Imperial Mother's dynasty," Jata Niara paused, waiting for Noë to speak but still there was nothing said. "I can swear that no illegitimate heirs are running about. Any alphas you bear will be of the main legitimate line."
Noë stood still.
Worry spun through Jata Niara as she wondered if he reacted badly to the drink. What if she had given him something akin to poison, by accident? By an unlucky strike. Her hands reached over towards Noë's shoulder, nearly grasping the upper sleeve when Noë's hand whipped out, spinning around to clutch Jata Niara's straps clinging to her arm immobilizing her.
Small familiar daggers slid out between his fingers slicing through the straps barely giving Jata Niara a second to pull back with part of the strappings still clinging to her body as Noë yanked alongside her. Her fingers caught on the fringes, knocking the crystals off, leaving an assassin's face behind instead of Noë's.
"You--again?" Jata Niara swerved as the assassin swung his leg up, twisting the strap, pulling her in, as he lunged with the small daggers. She swung her arms out and rushed forward, slamming her shoulders into his chest, grappling his waist until a few of the daggers fell to the ground. He elbowed down hard on her back. Something that wouldn't have worked so well if she hadn't been sore from carrying the several pounds of weighted fur for half the day. Her hold broke and the assassin pulled himself free. "You won't be able to get out alive."
"I just," the assassin hissed as he swung out his arms again, like crisscrossing windmills, "have to kill you before the door opens again."
Slicing the air and flipping his legs as he kicked down at her chest, knocking the air out and flinging her against the stone wall. Pain rushed up her body, and her knees smacked into the cold stone as she fell, crouched over, gasping for air.
After Akira Lin's inform, she could see the barest of features likened to Kinya Sarakh. Thinly veiled relation with features uncommon to Sonhrai, like his cheekbones carrying his eyes like a curved hawk's wings, the smooth jawline, but then amongst those features were those of Zhuong people with thick black hair not unlike the basis for woven and layered kente.
The assassin smirked over her, crouching to her level, he said, "I was told if I could kill you before the moon's light, then all I had to do was make it look like a heart attack with this," and a powdery yellow-green ball rolled around in his palm. "And someone will be able to pull me out through that window with no one the wiser."
"Who," Jata Niara choked out, "sent you?"
"Who else but the patriarch of the Okon clan," the assassin laughed. "He may not be able to find your mapper, but a mapper without a benefactor might as well be dead. And the bounty placed on your head, well, I won't have to kill again if I don't have to."
She wondered if Akira Lin lied to her or the assassin simply didn't know that Aliyu Okon was a hangnail on Kinya Sarakh's foot. Yet, there was nothing in his words she thought could be shaken. His words even convinced her this was the right thing to do, and by all rights, why wouldn't he?
Her eyes closed as the assassin crushed the poison, scattering the dust in the air like bugs in the night. She tried holding her breath, but her chest spasmed at the force, and she inhaled a long breath of it instead.
Seconds passed as she waited for the pain to strike and winced as she felt her leg spasm beneath her, but nothing happened.
She opened her eyes one at a time, still hunched on the ground, staring at the grappling form of the assassin wrenching his crystals, gems, and layered clothing off his body. Piece by piece ripped off as he hissed unintelligibly in muffled, pained groans.
Until she caught the words, "Antidote--it should've worked!" as his hissing got louder.
Her body squealed under her quick dash towards the paralyzed man, yanking the cut strap from her body, and flinging it around the assassin, hooking his arms to the hangers holding up the gold-spun, strand-like curtain with said straps.
With his feet barely touching the ground and his arms pulled up, he was more like strung-up meat in a butchery than the laughing villain of earlier. The upper half of the wedding robe hung limply over his hips, while the bottom half was only partially ripped loose. She could see why he had been grappling against the robes. His body stood a pale sandy beige before was now tinged with red and pink.
Her fingers traced along his skin, but there were no bumps or raised irritation. In fact, if she hadn't known they were both poisoned, she wouldn't have known they were poisoned at all. Her body hadn't felt in the least pained. It might have even felt less pained after inhaling that dust as if it were an analgesic, a pain reliever.
He groaned at the pressure of her fingertips, muttering something under his breath that she had to lean, carefully, to hear.
"There's something wrong with me," he whispered, while writhing against the straps holding him up. "I can't see."
She reached up to his closed eyelids, thumbing it open, and could see no damage or off-color tone to it. But with every shiver and flick of his eyelash, his eyes lost focus, and his head flung back, lolling over his shoulder. A gentle fragrance floated into her nose, then pulling her towards his neck, where the smell intensified.
Her memory tripped into when the aphrodisiac-like incense clogged her nose. This fragrance was a gentler but altogether the same scent. She resisted the urge to laugh in his ear and breathed out, "It seems they left out a lamb for the hunter to prey on."
The assassin shivered at her words and groaned, "Liar! I--!"
Her hands clutched around his chest like hooks with her fingers at his back and her thumbs at his nipples, twirling her thumbs against them and stroking his back. The assassin tried pulling away, but the straps only tightened as her lips nuzzled against his neck.
He smelled like a bounty of fruit and sweetened cake.
The lower small robe wrapped around her hips squeezed around her as her cock slid out already wet. Her teeth grazed against his neck as she situated her cock between his legs, rubbing underneath his sack with her hands pressing harder, flicking his now swollen red nipples. His lightly toned ribs rippled and tightened, but she could tell the assassin had gritted his teeth, trying to stave away any moans from escaping. Her nibbling trailed up behind his ear, as she said, "I wonder if they trained you with pleasure in pain or pain in pleasure? I can almost imagine you begging on your knees for the pain to stop but now I wonder if it must be the opposite."
With her cock squeezing between his thighs even as he tried to twist around it or spread his legs wider, it was a losing battle as she felt her cock thicken between his cheeks and a dribble of wet from the assassin leak on her with a spasming groan. She pulled out her cock but only wrapped around the assassin from the back, perching her hands in a similar position. Only now her thumbs massaged at his back with her fingers strumming him like a harp. Her lips drew against his neck and she inhaled his glorious scent again as her cock sunk into him. She moaned against his throat, rolling her hips until she tucked fully inside.
He trembled in her hands before she heard his garbled voice begging, "Move. Please."
Fire consumed her like a flame to a wick, lighting the candle bright as her hips pulled out and began thrusting, plunging in and out of his warmth almost impulsively as she pressed in without aim but to fill him up. Her arms clutched him tighter as his backside tucked tightly to her front. His hips bouncing against her as she yanked his waist up and down. She didn't last long before her release sputtered out of her once, twice, and then three times. Her cock thickened again before she could drag her cock out and the heat pulled her back in, squeezing around her until she wrapped her arms around him fully thrusting with urgency. Hips swinging repeatedly until her release pulled out of her again and a moan escaped the assassin as his head fell back against her shoulder. A pleasured groan shivered out from the assassin as cum trailed down his legs. His body still trembled in the post-pleasure high.
Her fingers gently palmed his scalp before she clutched his hair tight enough to pull his head back as she said, "Tell me the truth. Who sent you?"
"I told you," the assassin panted. "The Okon--"
"I don't believe you," she said as she reached up and unhooked his arms from the upper rafter hooks, pulling his arms behind his back and tying the straps together into a tightly wound knot. "Maybe, we'll be done when this is over."
"Wait--!"
She flattened him against the stone floor with her elbow, shoving his shoulders down and his hips straight up as she sank into him again with a sigh and a muffled groan in response. His knees bent forward as her legs caged him in and her hips bounced against his, pressing him closer and closer to the ground. Her cock pierced him just as thick and full as it had been before slamming repeatedly into his heat like a fast game of genna, kicking ball.
Until finally his legs gave out, and she splayed over him, thrusting as if nothing had changed, his hips bounced against the strikes as his body slid back and forth until his release yanked out of him and she dug deep, filling him until his voice cracked. She slipped noting the cum spread underneath his hips and sighed.
"You have another chance to make this up to me," she said before sliding back on the bed, noticing his sense of sight had returned, but his arms were still tied around his back.
"Let's talk."