Gio sighed. “’Tis sorry I am—”
“You had nothing to do with your sire’s actions this eve,” Dari interrupted.
“Yet I still feel guilty,” Gio muttered. “I don’t know what in the sands has possessed him as of late.”
Dari’s lips parted to speak when a bound servant cleared her throat. ‘Twas Amia—one of the king’s favored bed wenches. Dari and Gio both looked at her quizzically.
“’Tis sorry I am to do this,” she said in hushed tones, “but the king has bade me thusly.”
One of Gio’s eyebrows arched. “Aye?”
Amia sighed. “I am to remain outside your bedchamber doors, milord, until you verify the princess’ virginity.” Her cheeks were aflame. “Then I must report your answer back to him.”
Dari felt her entire body blush. She realized Gio knew when ‘twas she blushed, yet she prayed Amia wasn’t so perceptive.
“Oh milady,” Amia said, quashing the princess’ hopes. That was two for two. “Do not be embarrassed. Truly, ‘tis a difficult situation for us all.”
Leastways, that much was true. “I am fine.” Dari painted her serene smile back on. “But I give you my thanks for your concern.”
Gio looked ready to kill someone—namely his sire. “Tell the bedamned king,” he slowly enunciated, “that the princess and I are not done partaking ofmatpowand foodstuffs.” A tic worked in his jaw. “I shall have word sent to him of my betrothed’s virginity when we are done feasting.”
“Aye, milord.”
Looking uncomfortable, Amia took that as a cue to be on her way. Dari’s teeth sank into her lower lip as she watched the bound servant disappear. Gio sighed.
“Dari—”
“’Tis not your doing, this.”
His expression was crestfallen. “He has turned what was to be a special moon-rising between us into a perversion.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I truly do not know who my sire is anymore.”
The gentling. ‘Twas to begin this eve and every eve of Gio’s desire thereafter. Very few Trystonni females would ever succumb to the gentling process for most did not find their Sacred Mates until they were already of a mateable age. In truth, her cousin Kara was the only other female of her acquaintance to have experienced it. Unfortunately, ‘twas not a subject the cousins had ever spoken of together for gentling was an intimate act between two future Sacred Mates. ‘Twas done to accustom the younger female to the touch of her male counterpart.
Dari supposed she had the right of it to feel sorry for herself, yet in truth ‘twas Gio whose feelings she wished to soothe. She was to run from him in four short fortnights. It had been her hope to at least leave him with sweet memories of their time together.
Confusion stole over the princess. She no longer knew which was the more honorable course to take. Should she keep the verbal vow she had made between cousins and break Gio’s hearts in the doing or should she keep the unspoken vow between future Sacred Mates and forsake her sister and cousin? ‘Twas an impossible decision and it weighed on her mightily. The only certainty in all of this was that Dari could not stomach the presence of King Elian for much longer.
She could see herself happy with Gio did they live on Ti Q’won—or in any other place so long as the Arakian king was not there. Nay, Arak was not the home for her. Leastways, not whilst its king remained on this side of theRah.
Dari raised a chalice ofmatpowto her lips and downed it. “Let’s go,” she told Gio. The emptied cup clanked on the raised table. “This eve only becomes a perversion if we allow for it.”
His expression was surprised… and more than a wee bit attentive. “You are certain?”
“Aye.” She rolled her eyes. “Leastways, we shall have a bedamned statue commissioned after this eve in honor of my virginity.”
Gio’s eyes widened. He laughed. Sweet goddess, but he took her breath away when he laughed.
“Alright then,” Gio quipped. “We shall alert the tradesmen on the morrow.”
Dari couldn’t help herself had she tried. She giggled.
Chapter Six
‘Twas the very first time Dari had ever seen Gio’s rooms. She was surprised yet pleased to find no bed wenches within it. The princess had assumed that, being unmated, Gio would seek out the charms of a bound servant. She had been wrong. The only thing to be found in his bedchamber was a bevy ofKefa slaves. He like as naught put his man-rod inside of them, but then who should have a care? ‘Twas like coupling with naught for the slaves consisted merely of sands that had been enchanted by the priestesses of Tryston. They looked real, they felt real, yet they were not real.
His apartments withinArakiawere much more vast than Dari’s, but then such was to be anticipated. After all, this ‘twas where they would be expected to dwell together in sevenYessat-Years’ time, after they were mated on her twenty-fifth birthday. Her hearts were heavy as she espied Gio’s rooms, the desire not to hurt him surging swiftly through her very blood.
“I have waited so long for this eve,” she heard Gio say from behind her. His voice was thick, aroused. “In truth, some days I felt like ‘twould never arrive.”
