Queens' Warriors Read online

  Shari sat in astonishment, her thoughts racing and chasing each other. She owned this magnificent home. She reverently touched the plate in front of her, the tips of her fingers skimming the edge before pulling her hand back abruptly and setting it in her lap.

  “No.” she said.

  Vincent turned looking at her questioningly.

  “No?”

  “No.”

  “No, what?” he asked, reaching out to pour clear red liquid into a gold rimmed goblet.

  “No. Just…no,” Shari said stubbornly.

  “All right. No. But it all still belongs to you whether you want it or not.”

  Shari shook her head as Vincent downed the contents of the glass in one swallow.

  “Yes. There is nothing you need do. Winters, runs all the houses. Shan Lin and I are… We travel a lot. You remember us telling you we were in the Queen’s Guard?” He waited as she nodded. “We mostly live out of barracks and there’s little we need beside our weapons, clothing, and mounts. It will change now that we’re married. We’ll be allotted sufficient quarters as befits the marriage-niece of the Queen…”

  “The Queen…” Shari said only now taking in the memory of the twins telling her their aunt was the Queen of Aranak.

  “Yes. The Queen. She is…” Vincent added carefully.

  “Your aunt, the Queen of Aranak,” Shari repeated.

  “Yes.” Vincent turned to Shari once more, carefully setting down the crystal pitcher he had just used to refill his glass. Picking the glass up he brought it to Shari’s lips, offering her a taste. Accepting the liquid absently as her mind reeled at all she was taking in, Shari quaffed the liquid he poured into her mouth.

  Swallowing the drink automatically, Shari took in the taste.

  The taste was somewhere between heaven and orgasmic. A sound of pleasure escaped her mouth and her thoughts centered on the surprisingly refreshing drink. She could not quite decide the exact flavor of it though. It tasted as if it was a mimosa, but there did not seem to be alcohol in the drink. The drink was also sweeter then a mimosa. Whatever it was, it quenched a thirst as no other drink she’d ever had. With the exception of water, which had no taste at all.

  “Lord, that was wonderful. What is it?”

  “It is the juice of the primpate fruit. We have them in the garden and Winters sees we’re supplied with an ample amount of the juice every morning. Do you like it?”

  He was teasing her as he must know she had liked it. At the moment, she was busy draining the contents of his glass. Swallowing the last of her drink, she nodded her answer.

  “You have the same look on your face now as you did last night after Shan Lin and I…”

  Shari’s hand reached out covering Vincent’s mouth and cutting off any reference to just what the two men had done to her last night before Winters could hear. Looking back at Winters and then to Vincent, she tried to use her eyes to tell Vincent not to say anything while Winters was in the room.

  Chuckling behind her hand, Vincent snaked out his tongue and began to lick her hand sensuously before Shari could snatch it back.

  “Hey!” she gasped out loud, before snatching her hand back and rubbing it against her now pounding heart. Using his tongue had been only one of the things Vincent and Shan Lin had done to Shari last night.

  “Do not fear Shari. Winters is a very discreet man. He’ll never listen to our conversations. Will you, Winters?” Vincent asked, laughter visible in his eyes.

  “Hmmm?” Winters started comically. “Did you say something, Sir? I can’t quite hear you, My Lord Prince. My hearing has suddenly gone. Would you mind speaking up, Sir?”

  Shari glared at Vincent, her heart finally slowing its pounding at the memory of what had gone on between her and her new husbands the night before.

  The night before had been… Wonderful, magnificent, fabulous, stupendous… She could barely think of an adjective good enough to describe her feelings of the love and caring the two men had shown her last night, and given time, she could get very used to this kind of treatment.

  “I’m very glad you enjoyed yourself, Kasha. It was my pleasure.”

  And mine also, heart of my soul.

  Shari froze as Shan Lin’s voice sounded inside her head. The business of speaking in her mind would take some getting used to.

  “It’s all right. We’ve lived with it all our lives. It’s only natural you’d have a time of adjustment, at first.”

  Vincent leaned over, casually stroking his hand down her back reassuringly then straightened in his seat and reached for the food in front of him.

  * * * * *

  “I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave you for a day, maybe two. We’ve been given orders to report to Hurok by tomorrow.”

  Vincent spoke casually from beside Shari as they sat down to breakfast the next day.

  “Is there trouble?” Shari asked wondering why she would think so.

  “Nothing, which hasn’t been going on for sometime now. It’s mostly routine. The Queen thinks if she sends heavy reinforcements in now there won’t be a need for mass forces later.”

  Do not worry. Shari. It’s routine at this point.

  Tell her the rest.

  Shari turned to Vincent with a question on her face.

  “The rest of what?”

  Vincent, in the process of scooping his breakfast on a plate, paused momentarily then continued to fill his dish. Shari waited as he prepared his breakfast, set the plate in front of himself, then began to eat.

  Tell her.

  Why don’t you tell her? You’re in such a hurry for her to know, get your ass in here and tell her.

  “Hey. I can hear you guys just fine now. Why don’t you just tell me Vincent?”

  Vincent squirmed in his chair, clearly uneasy.

  “Well…that is to say… Look…” Shari nearly smiled into the glass she had just lifted to her mouth but fought the urge. The notion of this large and in charge man in acute discomfort somehow reassured her as nothing else the two men had done, could.

  Setting her drink on the table, she did her best to help him along.

  “Maybe if you said it really fast and got it out, it wouldn’t be so hard for you.”

  That’s good. Why don’t you give it a try.

  Vincent snorted.

  “Why don’t you come in here and stop hiding. You tell her.”

  Shan Lin strode in, looking refreshed after having lingered in the bath, leaving Shari and Vincent to find breakfast together.

  “Good morning, Shari,” he said as he bent down to give her a lingering kiss before taking a seat on the other side of her.

  Looking between the two men, Shari wondered why Vincent would be having such trouble telling her whatever it was he had to say.

  “That’s easy. What he doesn’t want to tell you is our aunt has requested…”

  “Demanded, you mean,” Vincent interrupted.

  “Fine. Our aunt, has demanded an audience with you. She wants to meet her marriageniece.”

  Shari’s eyebrows drew together in concern.

  “And this would be bad, why?” she asked the brothers as she felt tension seep into the room.

  “It isn’t a bad…” Shan Lin began only to be interrupted once again by Vincent.

  “Not if you want to feed our wife to the averons so soon after we’ve finally found her.”

  Shan Lin frowned at Vincent.

  Vincent. We don’t want to frighten…

  “Frighten? Why would you be worrying about frightening me? Is your aunt an ogre? Is she a…” Shari could not think of anything bad enough she was willing to say about another member of her husbands’ family. Well, actually, her family now.

  “An ogre? That would be putting it mildly.” Shan Lin said reaching for what Shari thought might be some kind of meat.

  Shari stared at him wondering why they would even think she would go to meet the woman if she was so bad. Queen or not.

  “So I just don’t
go to see her. End of story. It’s not as if she could force me to. After all, I’m an American…” She stopped her speech right there. Was she still an American?

  “Can she force me? Just how does this kingdom work anyway?”

  Vincent was nodding his head.

  “Yes, she can. This is a Queendom. She is the Queen. She can do whatever she wants.” As he spoke, Shari heard a thread of bitterness in his voice. Thinking it might just be a problem of a ruler ruling a bit too long, Shari sought to reassure him.

  “I can be diplomatic when it’s necessary. I have to be…had to be…in order to survive in the corporate world as long as I have.” Another reminder of what she had left behind.

  “Shari,” Shan Lin started, reaching out to grasp her hand. “It is not as simple as that. I’m afraid things have gotten more complicated with our aunt then any of us would like. There are things…”

  He stopped mid-sentence as if searching for the right words. Vincent beat him to it.

  “There is a power struggle going on at the moment. You see our cousins, Mitch and Kristain, the Queen’s sons, have taken a bride.”

  Shan Lin picked up the conversation and the brothers took turns telling her the tale.

  “In the succession of the throne of Aranak, the throne is passed to the female of the line. In the case of only male children, usually twins, being birthed by the ruling Queen, the throne is then passed on to the wife of the male twins the day of the marriage.”

  “In the case of Mitch and Kristain, the woman they chose as their bride, Queen Stephanie… Here’s where it gets complicated.”

  “Queen Stephanie is from the Realm of Earth, just as you are…”

  “But that’s…”

  Shari had been about to say it was a wonderful thing. Someone she could actually sympathize with, commiserate with, but Shan Lin held up his hand to forestall her.

  “Wait. It gets worse.”

  Worse? Shari wondered. How could being from Earth be worse? Her eyes narrowed as Shan Lin continued.

  “Since Queen Stephanie knew nothing of our ways, she chose to learn all she could before actually coming here and taking control of her throne. Minor details had to be taken care of before she could come. Those aren’t important now. I only bring it up so you’ll understand just how seriously she is taking on the mantle of leadership.”

  Shari nodded, understanding only too well. In the other woman’s place, Shari would want time to learn all she could so as not to make mistakes with an entire world she knew little about, rather than jump in and learn as she went. She shuddered to think what might happen if…

  But it was exactly what she was doing now. If Vincent had explained correctly, she was now in a position similar to what this Queen Stephanie must be facing.

  Shari’s body began to shake.

  What if I screw something up? I don’t know the first thing…

  “Be at ease, little one. It’s close, Kasha. But not quite.” Shan Lin tried to reassure her. “We are here for you.”

  Vincent and Shan Lin each reached out to comfort Shari, coming out of their chairs to surround her. Shari felt waves of comfort emanate from the pair, and the pounding of fear in her heart, which started at her thoughts, eased gradually.

  Taking a deep breath seemed to indicate she was calmer and the two resumed their seats and the discussion.

  “The problem is this. Our aunt, Queen Sara, is not ready to have her position or power taken from her. She has barely acknowledged our new Queen except inside the palace where she resides. She makes no concession to the fact she must vacate her position as soon as Queen Stephanie deems it necessary to come and reside in Aranak, and from what my brother and I know, it won’t be long now.”

  “You see Sara is very addicted to the life of a monarch. At the moment any and all are at her beck and call. When she says jump, there is no asking how high, you just do it. She is cruel, she is a tyrant, and she is slowly driving the world of Aranak to its knees for no greater reason than she can.”

  At those words, Shari watched Shan Lin bow his head in an attempt to hide his growing anger. She reached out her own hand and comforted him by stroking her own fingers down his cheek. She wanted to get out of her chair and take him in her arms and lay his head on her breast. Anything to ease the ache she was now feeling in her own chest as if it was hers.

  He looked up out of eyes awash in anguish and gave her a lopsided smile.

  “It is we who comfort you. It is the way of our people.”

  “Then the ways of your people need to shift a bit,” Shari said as she got up and went to him, taking his head in her hands and giving him a gentle kiss on his lips. She saw Vincent come up beside her and reached a hand out to his brother. Reaching out one of her hands, she gently guided Shan Lin’s head to her breast and awkwardly leaned into Vincent.

  “I’m here now. Anything you two need, I’ll see you get it.”

  A choked sound came from Shan Lin.

  “It is our duty…” he began.

  “It is all of our duty to see the three of us get what we need. You are my husbands now. No matter how it came about, it is a fact. If I need to see your aunt, we’ll figure something out in the end. Don’t worry. I can hold my own with the best of them.”

  Shari did what she could to comfort her husbands as they began to tell her about their aunt.

  * * * * *

  It was sometime later in the evening as Shari sat awake in bed, her husbands sound asleep when she began to think she might have bitten off more then she could chew with their aunt.

  Shari shivered between her sleeping husbands as she thought of the things they told her their aunt had done. Two arms, one from each man on either side of her, reached out to enfold her in their warmth as murmurs sounded in stereo.

  “Ssssh. I’m fine.”

  Twin grunts of acceptance sounded and Shari smiled at the sounds. Even in their sleep her husbands worried for her.

  It didn’t matter. If it was a command performance the woman wanted, a command performance the bitch would get.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Shari awoke gradually to find herself lying on top of Vincent, her back to his chest, her body on fire. Shan Lin lay between her legs, his head dropping forward absently as his tongue darted out teasing against her clitoris. Vincent’s shaft was burrowing itself slowly into her pussy then receding just as minutely. A rapturous groan escaped Shari, sounding husky with sleep as well as desire.

  “Does this please my wife?” Vincent whispered into her ear as he thrust then retreated with small circling movements of his hips. First he thrust into her from the left side, sliding negligently out again, then reversing sides and repeating the process over and over again until Shari nearly begged him to go faster.

  Shan Lin busily lapped away at her clit, alternately sucking on it, then biting down gently before his tongue laved deliberately at the burning bud. He lifted his head and smiled wickedly at Shari before returning with a vengeance to his task.

  “Do your husbands service you well? Is our loving to your liking?” The sensual words whispered in her ear caused her pussy to contract and Vincent to moan sensually against her neck.

  “Again, Kasha. Again.” Shari moved her hips lower, her mind beginning to catch up with her body. Vincent thrust his hips upward just in time to catch her downward movement. The result caused Shari to use her channel muscles to grip the hot cock buried deep within her.

  “That’s it, love. Do it again.” The words were gritted against Shari’s neck as Vincent brought a hand upward and began to knead her breast.

  Shari gyrated her hips faster, seeking release. It made no difference. No matter how briskly she moved, neither man would be rushed.

  In the end, she resorted to pleading, begging in the worst way possible. The men played with her as if she was their personal toy and they had been denied her for a long time. Shan Lin gradually increased his licks and suckled her faster as Vincent’s cock rammed harder and harder. Gri
nding her hips, Shari whimpered in gratitude.

  On the verge of an orgasm, crying out in sheer relief at finally being given what she sought, she neared the edge, her hips pistoning in counter rhythm to Vincent’s strokes and Shan Lin’s tongue, she tasted the climax waiting just ahead. Shari rose off Vincent’s chest, grasped onto Shan Lin’s hair and pushed his head further into her pussy. Swiveling her hips, she simultaneously ground her pussy against Vincent’s thick shaft.

  Breath coming in pants and wheezes, Shari listened as Vincent encouraged her to fuck him.

  “Harder. Your pussy is so tight, so wet… Riad! Frech my cock.” His voice trailed away as he sucked in his breath hard.

  The words sent her into her climax screaming out as her pussy convulsed and pulsations ripped through her body against Vincent’s thrusts. Moments later, or perhaps a lifetime later, Shari felt Vincent’s release. As his cock jerked and his body rode out his release, her pussy joined him in another, softer orgasm.

  Shari lay panting as Vincent kissed her neck and Shan Lin nuzzled her nether lips occasionally licking her sensitive clit, sending an answering jolt through her body.

  When her breath returned, Shari thanked the men.

  “Now that’s what I call an alarm clock. Any chance I can get the entire performance replayed while I’m fully awake?”

  Both men chuckled as Shari disengaged herself from Vincent and collapsed on the bed.

  “You’re an insatiable woman, Kasha, but it’s fine with me. I do believe I’ll enjoy it in my wife.”

  Smiling seductively, or hoping she was, Shari tried a come hither look on Shan Lin.

  “Are you pained, Shari?” Shan Lin asked solicitously and tilting his head checked her body from head to toe. She rolled her eyes and wondered if perhaps her husbands weren’t as in tune with her as she thought.

  “He understands well enough, Kasha,” Vincent said from beside her as he turned his head and bent to kiss her. His tongue made its way into her mouth as his fingers came to rest in her springy curls, playing with her clit.