Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
And Sofia’s.
And True mentioned it but made no judgment about Elpis’s feelings on this matter. He simply made his point without driving it home in other ways that would not be welcome.
A good general.
A good diplomat.
Perhaps just a good man.
An oddity for a Dellish.
A boon for Farah.
Mars liked this.
“It will be done,” Mars murmured.
“My gratitude, Your Grace,” True replied, dipped his chin and turned, moving through the quickly clearing entryway on a path to Farah.
Finally, Mars was able to turn his complete attention to Silence and he did this as he walked to her.
She wore a gown not of Wodell. It was not of Airen. It wasn’t even of Firenze.
He’d never seen anything of the like.
A red nearly the exact same shade of his cloak. It ran in gathers over her shoulders, covering her breasts (mostly, part of the swells down the middle could be seen). Under them, the cloth was attached to a wide belt of the same material that had horizontal gathers, rather than the vertical at her breasts and skirt. That panel molded to her midriff, stomach and upper hips and from it, the same silk floated down and swept the floor.
Her hair was up in a profuse bundle of loose curls that covered the entire back of her head.
But at the front and through the curls were threaded a multitude of gold chains that seemed to link in a knot behind her left ear. There, a number of strands tangled, falling down the wide path of bare, ivory skin of her front, between her breasts. The other he saw fell down her back, though he could not know how far they went, for she was turned to face him.
As he was noticing was her wont, she let simple (or in the case of that gold, subtle but extravagant) things make her point.
In other words, she wore no other jewelry.
She would wear her wedding chains beautifully against that pale skin and gleaming black hair.
But arriving before her, Mars decided she would take no other piercings.
Except, perhaps, one at her navel.
And one, like he had, in her tongue.
“Wee monkey,” he whispered when he arrived at her, and he could sense her struggle with not, perhaps, rolling her eyes or uttering a retort.
This made him smile.
He took her hand and turned her to the line he’d prearranged to form before he led her to her horse.
“It’s time to meet my men,” he announced.
“All right,” she said softly.
Her eyes. Her breasts. Her shining hair that looked soft as Firenz silk. Her wit. Her cleverness.
And her voice.
All of this he liked.
Very much.
“Lorenz, husband of Nyx, father of no one, my captain,” he introduced Lorenz.
She bent at her waist and then held out her hand, murmuring, “Lorenz. My pleasure.”
Lorenz took her hand and Mars heard her intake of breath as he pressed it to his heart and his stomach before releasing it.
This was also prearranged.
For traditionally, on such an occasion when a guard was presented in fidelity to the protection of a woman, the female’s hand would be pressed to heart and cock.
However, Mars had recently learned his little one would most likely not react well to that.
And learning this, he wanted her small hand nowhere near another man’s cock.
“My future queen,” Lorenz rumbled.
She offered him a trembling smile.
Mars moved her down the line.
“Chu, husband to no one, father probably to many, though none known, my left flank,” Mars declared.
“You are of The Mystics,” she whispered, staring up at Chu with his deep-set eyes and sunflower undertone to the tan of his skin.
“I am, my future queen,” Chu replied.
“I’ve not met anyone of The Mystics,” she said.
Chu grinned. “You have now.”
She held her hand to him as she bent at the waist. “My pleasure.”
Chu took her hand and held it to his heart then his stomach before he released it.
Mars led her down to the next. “Guard, husband to Zosime, to be father to a daughter or son within months, my right flank.”
“My future queen,” Guard said as he took her hand and pressed it to himself.
“Many congratulations and a safe delivery of your child,” she bid. “May he or she be vigorous and the gods smile down on them with abundance.”
“And my thanks, my future queen,” Guard replied on a grin, his eyes sliding to Mars, his gaze stating openly his approval.
Mars didn’t need Guard’s approval, if glad of it, so he nodded to his man and moved her to the next.
“Basil, not to be married, eventual father to orphans, if this is his choice, my rear flank.”
“You…don’t wish to marry?” she asked hesitantly, but curiously.
“I take only arse, my future queen. And that would be only male arse,” Basil replied, and Silence gasped.
“She’s Dellish, brother, remember this,” Mars warned.
“My apologies, my future queen,” Basil said. “Though, might I add, I wish to find but one arse I wish to take…eventually.”