The Queen's Consorts (6 page)

“Here”—Sari pointed to the map in one of the many travel books Taryen collected—“is the City of Flowers. It’s the largest producer of flowers in all of Auroria.”

“You’ve been there?” Taryen looked to Sari with dark eyes mesmerized by the fantasy of journeying outside the high walls of the Sacred City. “You’ve seen them?”

“I have. If you travel using the vortexes, you’ll end up in the City of Flowers sooner or later. They do so much exporting that requires quick travel. All major cities have direct tunnels there. Plus it’s a tourist mecca. Everyone wants to see the flowers. It’s amazing.” Sari gave Taryen a bright smile. “There are no trees, only vast rows of greenhouses as far as the eye can see. The sky is less cloudy, and on a good day you can actually feel sunshine on your face.”

“I thought they used artificial light.”

“They do,” Sari said, feeling sad about that. “But they get more sun there than they would anywhere else. At night the artificial light makes the glass houses glow like a sea of colors. If you go up on Favan Mountain, there’s a spot where you can sit and look down over the city. You wouldn’t believe how beautiful the lights are.”

“I could be a gardener for the City of Flowers,” Taryen mused. “Must be very rewarding, tending to the flowers, watching them blossom and grow.”

“It’s not very fun. Like the mines, they have slave labor there. Those who manage the greenhouses have taken all the joy out of the job, I assure you.”

Taryen appeared unconvinced as he ran a finger over the City of Flowers on the map. “One can find joys in their job even when it’s forced rather than chosen.”

“Not many do, Taryen.” Sari studied him, knowing he held no bitterness for the life the gods gave him. “You’re unique.”

He looked up from the book, frowning at her. “That’s a compliment?”

She smiled.
“Very much so.
I wish I had your gift of forgiveness and natural joy.”

“No, you don’t. It’s a birth defect.”

Sari frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Some Rayians are born pure of heart.” Taryen sounded like he was explaining something unpleasant. “There are tests when they reach school age. If they fail, they are sent to the missions outside the Sacred City.”

“To work?”
Sari asked, knowing there were Rayian-run missions. Sari always found that strange, seeing how their generosity differed vastly from the corruption most Rayians were capable of. “They’re forced to do charity work against their will?”

“Not against their will. They prefer it,” Taryen said as if it were obvious.
“To travel, to care for others and see the world.
No pure heart wants to stay within the Sacred City.”

Sari heard his longing and asked, “Why weren’t you sent away?”

Taryen shrugged. “The gods chose me to serve the queen.”

“Were you tested?”

“Twice.”
Taryen turned the page of the book, his eyes downcast as he studied drawings of the City of Flowers.
“Once when I was six cycles.
I failed, but it was decided the gods’ will was for me to remain here. When I was fourteen, Calder appealed to the council to test me again. Again I failed, but they refused to send me away.”

“Why do you say it’s failing?”

“No one wants to be pure of heart. We make poor leaders, and leadership is a Rayian’s birthright.”

“I disagree,” Sari argued, hating the Rayians more than ever. “I think compassion makes for very good leaders. If there are many of you, it seems by design that some of your race should be pure of heart. The gods are wise, and the Rayians mock them by failing to see that.”

Taryen laughed. “I wouldn’t say that in public. That would be a very unpopular opinion.”

“Tary?” Sari whispered, feeling her heart ache when something occurred to her. “Why did Calder appeal to the council when you reached fourteen
cycles.
”

“It was not too long after our training fell to the sisters.” Taryen looked at her, his eyes appearing sad for the first time. “He was very angry then.”

Sari frowned. “He’s angry now.”

“No, he was much worse back then.” Taryen shook his head in denial. “It was a dark time. When we were younger, we had no concept of what it meant to have no free will. We were supposed to be raised with the queen, but she was gone and no one wielded the power. Then we got hormones and our lives became very different. It’s a side effect, the sisters being drawn to us. They harness enough of the queen’s power to bend our wills to theirs, and Calder didn’t handle the change well. He became obsessed with the idea of saving me, of somehow overcoming the will of the gods. It’s better now that he’s accepted our fate. He’s happier. There are moments when his smiles reach his eyes. During the dark days, I thought he would never smile again.”

Sari brought her knees up. She rested her cheek on them as she studied Taryen, finding his words haunting and the fact that they lacked bitterness even more so. “I had just reached puberty when I was brought to the Order of the Seven Swords,” Sari whispered, finding that his story brought up her own troubled memories.
“Maybe fourteen.
Maybe younger.”

“You don’t know how old you were?”

“My grandmother died when I was small, criminals killed her for the food she had in the pantry. I was so young when it happened I forgot my age and birthday.” Sari shrugged, wishing she remembered more of her grandmother. “That was before our government had built the greenhouses, when food was scarce. She hid me in the attic. I was up there for days. The ones who killed her weren’t the only ones who raided the house. I remember others coming. Even soldiers ransacked the house.”

“That’s terrible.” Taryen sounded shocked. “Our soldiers would never take advantage of women or young ones.”

“They did. I watched them through the slats in the ceiling. They tore the house apart.”

“What’d you do when they left?”

“I was starving. I had run out of the water that she left me with. I ran away,” Sari said simply. “A woman found me and turned me in to a shelter. I lived there for many years. They fed me. They educated me. My life wasn’t ideal there, but I was happy enough. I considered them my family until one day the head of the shelter sold me for a bag of gold to the Order.”

“I’m sorry you lost your family,” Taryen said sadly. “I always had Calder and
Darin
. I can’t imagine losing the ones I loved.”

“I miss the other young ones I lived at the shelter with.” Sari ran her fingers through her curly hair, working out the knots sleeping with wet hair had caused. “But the ones who ran it weren’t my family, Tary. They sold me into sexual slavery when I was still a girl.”

“You’ve very beautiful,” Taryen said, as if looking for an explanation for cruelty. “Calder says beauty’s a curse.”

“I tend to agree with him.”

Taryen leaned closer to Sari, hesitance showing in his dark eyes as he studied her face. “Can I ask you a personal question, Lady Sari?”

“Please.” Sari smiled. “I enjoy your questions.”

“How did you stay pure?” he whispered, the question sounding forbidden on his lips. “We’ve heard whispers of the Order of the Seven Swords.
Seems impossible to stay pure in that environment.
Calder and I barely manage it in this one, and threat of death is the punishment for anyone who forces us to take them. They still fear the queen enough to obey that one rule.”

“I developed other talents.” Sari gave him a guilty smile. “I have a gift for quick learning. I made myself valuable in other ways.”

“Might I ask what other ways?”

“Well, some of them are not appropriate conversation for one who is pure of heart,” Sari said teasingly.

“I’m pretty well versed in carnal pleasures.” Taryen’s eyes lit up as a laugh burst out of him. “Pure of heart does not mean naive or dim-witted, Lady Sari.”

“Maybe a little bit naive.”
Sari pinched her fingers together and squinted at him. “But certainly not dim-witted.”

“You’re not going to tell me?” Taryen asked playfully, and Sari knew he was being bolder than he was usually allowed.

“I was a performer,” Sari said, wanting to reward him for his boldness. “Pretty girls can be valuable outside the bedroom if they’re talented performers. I became
very
talented. It was all
fake
, but they never knew that.”

“Ah.” Taryen smile grew broader. “I know of what productions you speak. I’m good at those as well.”

“Yes, but as you likely know, sometimes being too talented a performer draws attention that becomes impossible to avoid.” Sari sighed. “The Order allowed me to perform hoping to drive up the price of my virginity. When I was about to go to auction, the opportunity of escape presented itself and I ran away.”

“Where did you go?”

“I started traveling.” Sari gave him a wan smile. “I’m sad to admit that most travel is largely unglamorous. It consists mainly of doing unsavory things for food and water.”

“Strange your grandmother lived outside the Sacred City or one of our other palaces,” Taryen mused thoughtfully. “Perhaps she was a pure of heart.”

“I don’t think so.” Sari frowned as she tried to remember more of her grandmother. “She was kind, certainly. But I don’t think she was pure of heart. She was a great storyteller. I remember that most of all.”

“As are you,” Taryen offered encouragingly. “You’ve inherited her gift.”

Sari went to grab her pendant, finding it missing.

“My pendant.”
She reached within the robes, touching bare skin. She clutched at her chest, feeling empty without it. She had managed to cling to that pendant through everything.
Protecting it from thievery all this time, only to lose it now.
“Did you see it?”

“You had no pendant when you were brought to us.” Taryen eyed Sari in concern. “Was it valuable?”

“It was my grandmother’s.” Sari thought it must have fallen off on her way into the Sacred City. “It was the last thing she gave me. She put it on my neck as she hid me in the attic. I think she was hoping I could somehow sell it for gold or trade it for shelter if something happened to her, but I would never. It’s just a pendant, but it feels like a great loss. It’s all I had to remember her by.”

Sari had been feeling oddly lighthearted considering the unsavory topic of conversation. Now she was overwhelmed with sadness. She could not believe she had lost her grandmother’s pendant after clinging to it all this time. Tears stung her eyes, and she knew she was about to start crying right there on the floor next to Taryen.

Taryen scooted closer to her. “May I touch you, Lady Sari?”

“Please.”

Sari surprised herself by turning to him. She fell into his arms, finding his skin warm. His presence was extremely comforting. Which was as strange as everything else about him; any other male save Calder and she’d be running for the door. She closed her eyes to inhale Taryen’s enticing scent. She couldn’t help but rub her cheek against his muscular bare chest. She thought of the pain he suffered, of his people who mocked him for being pure of heart, and life suddenly seemed very unfair.

“I wish we could run away. I wish I could show you the world.” She placed a hand over his heart to feel it beating steady and strong. “I think you’re wonderful.”

His fingers ran over the curve of her neck, his thumb brushing against her pulse point. It sent the strangest tingling surging through her bloodstream. It felt cleansing, as if his touch alone was erasing a lifetime of unhappiness. The pain over the loss of her grandmother’s pendant splintered and fell away from her as if it had never existed to begin with.

Sari tilted her head on Taryen’s chest. She looked up at him and felt her heart burst with the strangest longing she’d ever experienced. He was so handsome, and he made her feel lighter than she thought possible. Being with him felt like an addiction, one she became suddenly desperate to surrender to.

“Kiss me,” she pleaded.
“Just once.”

Taryen’s touch slid to the back of her neck, his fingers tangling in her wild hair. “Your will is my will.”

He captured her lips, and Sari didn’t know how, but she tasted his desire. She felt it blending with hers in one wild rush as his tongue invaded her mouth. Sari parted to him and clung to his broad shoulders as the kiss became surprisingly feral. She let him own her mouth, wanting to drown in the feel of him. Like Calder, Sari found the gold balls in Taryen’s tongue oddly seductive, the warm brush of them making her hum for more of him.