Pet's Pleasure (16 page)

Bekion nodded. “I thought as much. Her skin isn’t absorbing it. I’m sure the nanites have blocked it. Take her to the infirmary and find out why. Nausic will escort you.” He tapped his cuff so Nausic would know Bekion required his presence.

“At once, My King.” Furielle held her hand out to Starling, who buttoned her dress and got off the couch without aid.

Furielle faced the maid who had accompanied her. “Come.”

Bekion said, “Leave her. See to Starling.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Furielle followed Starling out of the room.

Bekion waited for the sound of the outer chamber door opening and closing before turning his attention back to the report.

Clothing rustled as the young woman standing before him shifted from one foot to the other.

He said, “Stop fidgeting. You’re distracting me.”

The sound stopped and Bekion finished the last five pages of the report. He added his authorization code and signed off the document. For a moment, he allowed himself to relax against the couch with his eyes closed. “Now then—”

The woman yelped then apologized quickly.

He resisted the urge to sigh as he opened his eyes. The woman before him was very pretty and very young. “How old are you?”

“Twenty, Sire, this past month.”

“Ah.”

That explained it. She became legal recently. He guessed working at the palace must be her first real job since leaving her parents’ home.

“Furielle showed you the palace.”

“Yes, Sire. I ended my interview with Lady Vieve an hour ago. Mistress Furielle was there and Lady Vieve asked her to escort me.”

He tapped his cuff, opening a communication channel. “Vieve.”

Vieve said, “Yes, Bekion?”

“I have a young woman standing in my inner chamber.”

“Good. Good. You’ve met Aya. She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

“Quite. What are her duties?”

“She’s your new maid.”

“
My
new maid.”

“Yes, though why you give them that ridiculous title when everyone knows the women are hired to be your concubines, I’ll never understand.”

He wouldn’t bother telling Vieve that Aya could hear their conversation. Vieve wouldn’t care. He said, “They have that title because the women are palace maids. I will not have a room full of women lying around being pampered and spoiled as they think up ways to scheme their way to the top. My question refers to why she is here.”

“Good question. You didn’t send for her—I’d know. I told Furielle to show her around the palace. I guess she thought Aya should see the bedroom sooner rather than later. Did she interrupt something?”

Quite a bit
, Bekion wanted to yell. He held back the urge and kept himself from showing his annoyance at the situation. Starling’s little malady made a convenient excuse.

He said, “I was in the middle of reviewing the export-import report.”

“Did you finish?”

“Yes. I’m sending Aya back. I’ll have her deliver it to you.” He held the tablet out to Aya. The girl inched forward and took it from him then dodged back.

He hated skittish women. Her virginal demeanor meant her parents probably pressed her to take a job at the palace so she could gain status and prestige as a woman the king favored.

Vieve asked, “Where’s Furielle? She can bring the tablet to me.”

Bekion started to answer when he noticed Aya staring at him with wide, scared eyes. He made a shooing motion.

The girl nodded quickly and ran out of the room. She forgot to curtsy. He wouldn’t call her on the infraction because he wanted her out of the room.

He said to Vieve, “Seeing Starling to the infirmary.”

“Did something happen to Starling? Is she ill? What happened?”

Bekion couldn’t help his amusement at Vieve’s instant, frantic concern. He said in a soothing voice, “Calm yourself, Vieve. Starling is fine. The nanites are rejecting a lotion she uses. I’ve sent her to the infirmary to find out why.”

Vieve sighed. “So long as it’s nothing serious.”

“I don’t believe so. I’ll learn more once Furielle returns. That’s not why I called you, however.” He stood, crossed the room and closed the door. “No more maids.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me and you understood my meaning. No more maids, Vieve.”

“I thought you would like a fresh face since you’ve managed to work your way through all the current maids—even the ones who were actually hired as maids but you promoted to concubine status.”

“Aya is pretty but she is also a frightened child.”

Vieve made a sound of understanding.

“That aside, I plan to start the search for my queen. I cannot have a palace full of loitering women greeting my bride.”

“I have been after you to start your bride search for the last three years. What convinced you?”

He bit back his immediate answer for her to mind her own business. Saying that would only pique her interest. And he had no plans of telling her his many close calls with Starling had him searching for a solution other than instant gratification in the arms of a willing palace maid.

Vieve asked, “Bekion? Did the connection cut out?”

“I’m here. Never mind my reasons. I need you to prepare a list of candidates.”

“Already done. I have to update it since it’s over a year old but I’ll have it to you no later than dinner. I wouldn’t want you changing your mind.”

“That won’t happen.”

“And Aya has arrived. I shall leave you to the rest of your day. Call if you need me.”

“You’ll show up even if I don’t,” he grumbled as he pushed the button that ended the connection.

Once again, he looked around himself. A rare occasion occurred when he had no pressing matters to attend. He didn’t know what to do.

His thoughts wandered back to the earlier interlude. Would Starling have let him continue? She had acted disappointed when he stopped, possibly because he hadn’t allowed her to climax.

Fate handed him a reprieve in that instance. If Furielle and Aya had entered the room a few seconds earlier or if he had decided to keep going, his excuse wouldn’t have worked.

Hiding.

Making excuses.

Denying himself.

Flat-out lying.

Each represented a skill he hadn’t possessed before meeting Starling. In a short time, he’d mastered them all. It had to stop. For the sake of his crown, his kingdom and his freedom, he had to stop indulging the whims of his lust.

His cuff chimed. He knew his peace wouldn’t last long. He pressed the communication button. “Yes, Vieve?”

“I have the tablets ready for you. They are waiting in your audience chamber.”

“That was fast. You said before dinner.”

“I told you I didn’t want to give you time to change your mind. The information I gathered hasn’t changed. Only two of the girls have gotten married since my initial research.”

Bekion shook his head at Vieve’s enthusiasm. “Fine, Vieve. I shall go to my audience chamber and look over these perfect women you have chosen for me.”

“Each candidate is educated and compatible with your physiology. They are chosen from the highest and the lowest. I didn’t let a simple lack of title or a questionable birth influence my decision. That opened many possibilities to me.”

“I’m sure it did.” Bekion nodded to Rois as he left the outer chamber. The man fell into step with Bekion along with the rest of the guards. “Is the number you prepared for me realistic, Vieve?”

There was a long pause. “Define realistic.”

He groaned.

“It’s no more than fifty. That’s a realistic number given how picky you are. I even kept your current tastes in mind when choosing candidates.”

His current tastes? He thought of Starling. None of the women would be anything like her. Starling had grown on him—an acquired taste he couldn’t deny.

“Fine, Vieve. I will play this game. For now.”

“I’ll stop bugging you when you choose a bride.”

“Dismissed, Vieve.” He ended the conversation.

Behind him, Rois said, “She is nothing if not persistent. She’s been trying to marry you off since she came to the palace three years ago.”

“I have no more inclination now than I did then,” Bekion said with a tired sigh. “But I must. As I get older, that one responsibility weighs heavily on me. I need to choose a bride before Supreme Emperor Udo decides to do it for me.”

“Or Vieve.”

Bekion snorted and then laughed.

Rois joined him.

No, Bekion wouldn’t put it past Vieve to simply hand him a bride. Knowing her, she would slip the wedding into his itinerary for the day and not tell him about it until she handed him his formal wear on the way to the ceremony.

He said to Rois, “You know, my friend, after I get married, I will direct Vieve’s efforts toward you.”

“Have I angered you recently, Bekion, that you threaten me like that?”

Bekion clapped the man’s shoulders. “I only want you to join me in the joys of married life.”

Both men stopped outside the audience chamber while two of the guards entered the room and checked for intruders. Once they gave the all-clear, Bekion entered, leaving the guards outside.

Vieve had placed several tablets on his worktable. He already felt fatigued and he hadn’t even touched them yet.

There was no help for it. He had to take this path.

He sat down and picked up the first tablet. It didn’t hold his interest long so he switched to another. The facts Vieve had collected on potential brides astonished him. Her information network supplied details about each girl’s likes, dislikes, hobbies, interests and exploits—good and bad. He didn’t want to know how she’d come across it all.

“Bekion!” Tinette stormed into the study, shaking off the guards as she entered. She glared the men out the room and then turned the look on Bekion. “I have heard many disturbing things about you, Bekion.”

He didn’t acknowledge his mother. He knew she would visit him sooner or later. The palace population loved secrets and gossip. It was only a matter of time before Tinette pulled her head out of her latest book and heard some of it.

“Bekion, you will answer me.”

“You have yet to ask me a question, Mother.”

He hid a smile behind a tablet when he heard his mother curse under her breath. She must truly be angry to do such a thing. Tinette considered herself above vulgar behavior, after all. But the woman hated when people threw her own attitude back at her. Bekion had learned from the best.

She said, “I refuse to believe a son of mine would carry on in a deviant relationship with his pet. That…that
thing
is little more than a wild beast and cannot invoke passion in a normal man let alone
my
son. There are women aplenty in the palace to tempt your eye, why would you turn to such disgusting behavior?”

Bekion bit back his automatic reply. His temper pricked easily when it came to Starling. He couldn’t act upset with Tinette or she would realize the truth. Calm denial proved the best solution. Hopefully, the subject would drop and Tinette could return to her own little self-absorbed world.

“Bekion!”

He lowered the tablet and faced his mother, whose face showed more fear than anger. “Mother, I’ve never known you to listen to palace gossips. Starling is my pet.”

“She sleeps in your bed.”

“Like any pet would. Surely it should take more than that to upset you.”

“A maid walked in on you while you fondled—”

“Petted,” he corrected with a half-smile. Both words meant the same in this situation but he emphasized the less provocative of the two so his mother would leave off the topic.

“Her breasts?”

“What about them? They’re on her body and I was petting her. I’ve touched her head, her legs, her arms and her back. Or should I avoid touching my pet for fear others will think my attention is perverse?”

He smiled when Tinette’s indignation faded into uncertainty. He stacked the tablets on his desk and stood. The conversation had ended. He needed to give Tinette an excuse to leave. “Is that all, Mother? I have matters to attend to before dinner.”

She gave him a small pout and said in a soft voice, “I overreacted, didn’t I?”

Bekion rounded his desk and laid a kiss on her forehead. “You are my mother and you are worried. I thank you for that but there is no need. I have no intention of becoming sexually entangled with my pet.” At least he didn’t anymore. He kept that last part to himself.

He wanted no more close calls with Starling. She was his pet, not a palace maid. His public life made such an affair dangerous. The people of the palace would overlook a mistress once he married his queen. They wouldn’t overlook Starling.

Tinette nodded with a sigh. “I am sorry I interrupted you the way I did, Bekion. When I heard the maid telling others of what she saw… You’re right. I don’t normally interest myself in gossip. I don’t even know why I listened to the girl. I’ve never even seen her before.” She gave a nervous laugh.