“Thank you, no,” Elissia answered with a small headshake, grabbing her courage with both hands. “I do have something I need to discuss with you, though. A problem I can’t find an answer to.”

  “Then I’ll be glad to help,” Derand answered, putting his glass aside before leaning forward. “What’s involved in the problem?”

  “I - know I agreed to share your bed the way a real wife would, and I’m not trying to - back out of that agreement, but I’m having trouble - making myself feel as -eager as I should.” Elissia had tried not to stumble over the words as she spoke, but the attempt had been a miserable failure. Still, there was nothing to do but continue to plow on? “I wanted you to know that so you don’t feel - cheated and hurt.

  I agreed to go along with this plan wholeheartedly, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

  “I appreciate the warning, I really do,” Derand murmured, leaning back as he studied her. “Under other circumstances I’d probably just shrug and let the matter pass, but I’m sure you understand why I can’t do that here and now. We can’t afford to have anyone think that we’re not blissfully happy and deeply in love, so we need to have you be as eager and involved as you’re supposed to be.”

  “So how do we accomplish that?” Elissia put in, speaking the lines she’d mentally written for herself. “If you have a magic wand of some kind you never mentioned -No, wait a minute. I hope you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

  “What other answer is there?” Derand countered with a gentle smile as he got to his feet. “You agree that you need the help, and that’s what the device is for, to help you feel what you’re supposed to. I’ll just go and get it, and then the problem will be solved.”

  He put a gentle hand to her face as she made half-hearted attempts to argue what he’d said, but her formless babbling didn’t stop him. He went to a wardrobe and opened one door, rummaged around for a moment, then brought out that bead on its string. Elissia closed her eyes when she saw it, hating the thing even while knowing it would be her salvation. She didn’t want the bead inside her, but what other choice did she have? ?

  “Tomorrow night we’ll try to find something else to do, but tonight we’re both too tired to think,” Derand said, startling Elissia with how near he now was. “Let’s get this in you, then we can put on our show for anyone who may be listening before we fall into the sleep we both need. We have to get an early start tomorrow because there’s a lot to do.”

  Elissia kept up a small bit of protest as he took her arm and led her to a chair, then draped her over his lap. Her heart began to beat faster when her skirts were lifted and tossed over her back, and the next thing she knew her nether cheeks were being separated. Holding back a gasp as the bead was put inside her proved to be impossible, just as impossible as not immediately starting to squirm. The experience was just as unpleasant as Elissia had known it would be, and before she could stand up again the unpleasantness was added to.

  “Ow! No!” Elissia yelled as five hard, fast, whacks were given to her bottom. “What are you doing?”

  “Just helping things along,” the miserable beast answered mildly as she all but flew back to her feet. “We do want you to have the proper reactions, don’t we?”

  “Next time we’d better make sure that our definitions of ‘proper’ are the same,” Elissia grumbled as she rubbed just a little at her stinging backside. And began to squirm even harder. “I’m ready to go straight to bed.”

  “As am I,” the beast agreed as he got slowly to his feet, acting as if he had all the time in the world. “So let’s do it this way.”

  “This way” turned out to be his lifting her into his arms before he carried her to the giant bed and put her down in the middle of it. Rather than getting up again he followed her down and kissed her, his hands moving all over her body as his tongue sought her soul. Elissia moaned as she gave herself over to responding to him completely, her hands stroking his back in a silent plea for him to hurry and get inside her.

  But he didn’t hurry, and by the time he came to her completely she found it impossible to hold back a scream of delight. He stroked her hard for a very long time, making her repeated release even better than usual, and by the time it was over Elissia was a limp rag. For once she didn’t even wait for that blessed bead to be pulled out of her before she fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

  Chapter 11

  Derand smiled as he walked along the hall the next morning, and his good humor had more than one reason behind it. Last night he and Seea had made glorious love, and the way she’d fallen asleep so fast had let him cheat just a little. He’d put her under the quilts without removing the bead, so when she awoke this morning she was just as hot as she’d been last night.

  And that was a discovery she hadn’t enjoyed at first. She’d muttered under her breath and reached around for the string to take the bead out of her, but he hadn’t allowed her to do that. He took her wrist and kept her hand away from what it reached for, and she’d actually pronounced a very unladylike word before trying to use her other hand.

  If she hadn’t used that word Derand would have simply taken her in his arms and made love to her, but he couldn’t overlook what was a very pointed insult. He’d captured her other hand as well and had held both of her wrists as he put her across his lap, and then he’d administered a short but pointed spanking.

  Seea had yowled and struggled with every one of the ten or a dozen smacks he gave her, her reactions showing that the bead was making her even wilder than she’d been the night before.

  The last two smacks were deliberately harder and slower than the rest, and by then Seea was mewling as she squirmed uncontrollably. When he put her face down on the bed and moved between her knees, she quickly raised a rosy and obviously tender bottom to let him enter her more easily. She had to know she would feel the spanking again while he made love to her, but she’d clearly been too hot to let that matter.

  He’d happily seen to the heat of both of them, and they’d had to lie still for a while before they were able to get up to bathe and dress. Seea had tried to act annoyed over the spanking and his having taken advantage of her, but she hadn’t tried to claim that she’d enjoyed the time less than he had.

  “Even if she won’t admit she enjoys my lovemaking,” Derand murmured as he walked, more pleased than annoyed. “She’ll be forced to admit her feelings eventually, so all I have to do is wait. And try not to act like a fool? “

  A sigh tried to escape Derand as he thought about how quickly he’d jumped to use the bead in Seea again last night. It was probably nothing but pure luck that he’d made the right choice in how to handle her, so the next time he’d better take more than three heartbeats to make a decision that concerned her?

  “Good morning, my king,” Derand heard before looking up to see Listan waiting for him. “I trust you slept well last night?”

  “I did indeed, my friend, I did indeed,” Derand answered as he clapped Listan on the shoulder, finding it impossible to keep his good mood down for long. “And my own bed felt even better with my wife sharing it.”

  “I hope the queen had as good a night as you obviously did,” Listan answered in a murmur meant only for Derand’s ears. “Is it a bad sign that she isn’t here with you?”

  “My queen isn’t here with me because she’s busy with the first of her new jobs,” Derand responded, knowing there was more than satisfaction showing in his grin. “I had all my battle commanders report to a briefing room, where I introduced them to Seea. Then I told them that she was better at strategy and tactics than they were, and challenged them to test the truth of that claim. When I left they were already throwing situations at her and demanding to know what she would do if she were in charge of the battle.

  They’ll start with battles they were involved in personally, and then probably go on to classic battles from history.”

  “But when she shows them how good she is, will they welcome her presence or resent it?” Listan asked, clearly not as happy as his king. “I hate to think of her being given a hard time by a roomful of men too stiff-necked to see how valuable she is.”

  “All my battle commanders claim to care more about what a person knows than about who they are,”

  Derand said, flatly refusing to let himself shift into rage at the thought of someone trying to abuse his woman even with nothing but words. “I told Seea privately that I need to know which of my commanders are flexible enough to adapt and which can’t, so she won’t take any hostility as a sign that she’s unwanted.

  If one or more of those men refuse to acknowledge her ability they’ll be doing other things that are wrong, so relieving them from their command will work to strengthen the army. And before I relieve anyone, I’ll have you look into what they are doing so I’ll know where they really stand.”

  “As long as the queen has been warned to expect trouble there shouldn’t be anything she can’t handle,”

  Listan said with a relieved nod. “Shall we get on with your tasks, my king?”

  Derand thought that was an excellent idea, so the first thing he did was head for the room where the chief priests of all the religions waited. There were a lot of shocked comments being made as Derand entered the room, mainly because the priest from the night before had been brought in first in chains. As soon as Derand appeared, the chief priest of Drassar pushed forward.

  “Your Majesty, what’s the meaning of this outrage?” the man demanded, as close to being out of control as Derand had ever seen him. “That man is a priest and therefore must be released at once!”

  “That man is also someone who tried to commit murder last night,” Derand answered mildly, his calm words very much a contrast to the way the chief priest had spoken. “My enemies are tired of losing when they face me directly, so they’ve apparently started to sneak around behind my back. Here’s what happened.”

  Derand told them all about the way the priest had been hoodwinked, and by the time he was finished the muttering from the other priests held a different note.

  “So you can see that this man decided to become something other than an associate priest,” Derand ended with. “If he’d been smart enough to speak to others and make sure of what he thought was the truth, he never would have done as he did. He tried to commit treason, and for that reason - and one other - I announced that he would be executed.”

  “Executed,” the chief priest of Drassar breathed, a stricken look on his face as everyone else fell into a shocked silence. “Your Majesty! I grant you the fool was misguided, but committing treason wasn’t his intent. Surely taking his life would be

  -“

  “Please,” Derand interrupted, holding up one hand. “My main reason for announcing that he would be executed was to keep my enemies from killing him and then blaming his death on me. I don’t need the life of a fool - and foil - to make me feel like a king, so I’m going to release the man into your custody. But -

  ” and with that word Derand looked directly at the chief priest, ” - I refuse to allow him to remain in the Federated Kingdoms. You’re to have him pack what possessions he has and leave at once, and if he’s found anywhere in Arvin by next week he will be arrested and hanged. Is that clear?”

  “Eminently clear, Your Majesty,” the chief priest agreed with heavy relief, bowing more deeply than ever before. “Allow me to offer my sincere thanks for your very great show of mercy and wisdom - and for taking the trouble to guard the life of a fool who first tried to take your life. May Drassar smile on you for all the days of that life.”

  “Thank you,” Derand said with a smile. “I’ll want all of you to tell your associate priests and acolytes what happened with this man, just to be certain it doesn’t happen again with someone else. And now I have a more pleasant announcement. I’ve finally brought home the woman I married when we were both children, so I now have a wife and queen. But the ceremony we went through was many years ago, and now we’d like to repeat that ceremony with all our friends and vassals present. I’d like to have someone officiate who represents all the gods, so please do what you have to in order to choose someone for the job. I know it won’t be easy, but I have confidence that you’ll find a way. Thank you for coming.”

  Derand left the room with even more commenting going on than there’d been when he arrived. If he’d chosen one of the priests to represent the rest, nine kinds of hell would have broken loose. Now the unsavory job of choosing had been put into the hands of those who would have screamed, and they would find a way to cooperate. If they didn’t and Derand had to do the job for them after all, they’d have absolutely no grounds for complaint.

  “That’s one headache taken care of,” Listan murmured as they walked along the hall. “Now we can pay attention to all the rest.”

  “One of the rest should already be done,” Derand murmured back. “Were the pigeons sent out with the invitations to my guests this morning?”

  “Just as you ordered, my king,” Listan agreed. “The messages read, ‘Wedding ceremony and games to be held. Do come.’ I know you chose the wording yourself, but ? It sounds as if you’re giving them the choice about attending.”

  “In a manner of speaking, I am,” Derand answered with the amusement he felt. “If I’d sent messengers to all of them with beautifully drawn proclamations I could have required their presence, but pigeon messages are too ? informal for that kind of formality. At least three of the five would have decided they had to be insulted, and I don’t need that kind of trouble right now.”

  “But what if two or more decide not to come?” Listan fretted. “How can we know that your enemy won’t be one of them?”

  “Don’t worry, my friend, none of them will stay away,” Derand said with a clap to Listan’s shoulder.

  “Since there’s nothing for them to be insulted about, they’ll realize that staying away while everyone else attends would be political suicide. And there’s also the games to consider. Whichever of them has the winning fighters will also have added prestige, at least until the next games are held. All that means even the enemy will realize that he can’t stay away.”

  “I sincerely hope you’re right, my king,” Listan said, then braced up as he pushed aside the worry. “We found another four intruders dressed as your guard, but they fought to the death rather than surrender and be put to the question. Three kitchen workers and two general servants are missing, I’m told, new men who were hired without real recommendation. I’d like to think that that’s the lot of them, but somehow I don’t believe it.”

  “It’s possible that some of our own people have been bribed,” Derand said, no longer amused. “Get together with Potry and find out from him who among the servants and cooks could be bribed - or threatened. Make sure all the servants’ families are safe and not being held hostage, and at the same time do the same with our fighters. With this kind of behind-the-back kind of sniping, anything and anyone could be a weapon against us.”

  “I hate to say it, but you’re right, my king,” Listan said after letting out a deep breath. “And I’ve already gotten some of the workers started on putting up tents for the fifty fighters each of your kings will bring with them. We’ll hold the games in the back meadow near the brook, with seating available at every game site. What about food and drink?”

  “Let the townspeople set up booths and stands or circulate with carrying trays,” Derand said, having already considered the question. “Get a list of those people and what they’ll be offering, and use the list for three purposes. The first purpose will be to let you give each provider some gold to get started, making it possible for them to do business. And when they’re given the gold, they’re to be told that some people will be paying them with chips of wood instead of coin. The chips are to be kept track of, and after the games can be turned in for silver or gold.”

  “And those are the chips you mean to give out in the poorest section of the city!” Listan exclaimed with revelation. “When you had the chips made up and told me they were meant for the poor, I had no idea what you meant. And I thought you didn’t like the idea of charity.”

  “I don’t,” Derand agreed, stopping near a bell pull and pulling it. “The chips will be charity for some, but for others they’ll be a means of achieving independence. If, after the games, anyone shows up here at the palace with a chip, he or she is to be found some kind of job that pays in coin. The people who get the chips are all to be told that.”

  “So the ones who are worth saving will use some of the chips for a good time, but will save at least one,”

  Listan said with a nod. “The rest will just be interested in that good time, and by not saving a chip they’ll eliminate themselves without us having to do it. I like the efficiency of that idea.”

  “Another reason for the list is to see what’s going to be sold,” Derand said after nodding agreement. “If there’s plenty of food to be offered and not enough drink of all kinds, we want to know about it beforehand so the imbalance can be eliminated. And then there’s the third and most important reason? “

  “To make sure it isn’t someone in our enemy’s pay who sets up to ruin the occasion,” Listan finished when Derand just let his voice trail off. “That was my first thought when you talked about keeping track, and I had another thought as well: we’ll have to make sure that the games aren’t sabotaged in some way that makes it look as if we’re out to cause the kings to appear foolish or stupid. I have a feeling that not many of us will be enjoying this very joyous occasion.”

  “I have a feeling that your feeling is right,” Derand said just as sourly as Listan had spoken before turning to the servant who had answered his ring. “Ask Potry to bring a tea service to the small conference room, please, and ask him to make sure there are extra cups.”