Right then, I looked up to Noc and saw no fierceness either.
His smile was white and wide but it didn"t transform his face.
My Noc always showed me his love and the happiness I gave him.
And the devotion he gave to me.
Thus I melted into his body.
"Would be jealous you"re pervin" on that guy if you didn"t wake up happy to be back in your world and feelin" the need to go down on me," he noted.
I frowned.
Noc kept smiling. "You told me a year ago that I"d be in an adobe house that had running water only because it was fed direct from a river, that house in a parallel universe, waking up in that place to get the best b.l.o.w.j.o.b of my life, I"d be intrigued, but I"d think you were crazy."
"This is hardly the topic for discussion on a day like today," I snapped. "Circe and Lahn haven"t invited us here for you to be rude."
He dipped his face closer to mine, still smiling. "Babe, first, no one understands a f.u.c.kin" thing I"m sayin" seein" as no one speaks English. And second, you think there aren"t gonna be a lotta b.l.o.w.j.o.bs goin" around today, you"re very wrong. Weddings make people h.o.r.n.y."
Well!
"That may be so but you don"t discuss it moments before the joyous festivities begin." I admonished. "Regardless if people don"t understand you, that wolfish look on your face speaks volumes."
His wolfish look got even more wolfish (which I had to admit, though not to Noc, was most attractive). "If they had airplanes here, I"d hire one to skywrite how good my woman is at giving head."
Although I was most pleased I could pleasure him so thoroughly in this way, I batted his chest.
He started chuckling.
At that moment, a hush fell over the crowd.
Noc lifted his head and we both turned our attention to the colossal lip of sand-colored rock that jutted out over the city of Korwahn creating its Majestic Rim.
There we saw Korwahk"s Dax Lahn, his chest and back painted in blacks and golds, striding to the clearing before us where his throne and that of his queen were sitting.
The Golden Queen Circe was at his side, in extraordinary regalia, including a band of glittering golden feathers around her forehead.
And loping next to her like a trusted pet (something I"d found last night when we"d arrived and I was introduced to it that it was) was a large, grand white tiger.
Following them, under a drooping shade of golden silk, was a young couple, the pretty, plump woman beaming happily, the lean, tall man at her side looking serious.
The shade was held up on four poles by four young women, all practically skipping in their excitement.
Coming up the rear was a regiment of Korwahk warriors, all wearing black and gold paint.
Just off to the side of the clearing, Lahn and Circe"s three children were being looked after by Circe"s friends, Narinda and Nahka (women I"d also met last night), who had their own children with them, this large brood easily managed considering Narinda"s husband, Feetak, and Nahka"s husband, Bohtan, were keeping a stern eye on the crew.
Circe and Lahn made it to their thrones just as Diandra, Circe"s best friend, a kind and exceedingly attractive Valerian woman (which meant she spoke Noc and my language), sidled up next to us.
I looked to her and returned her smile before my gaze shifted back to the rim to see Circe seated in her throne made of white horns.
The honor guard had lined up behind her.
Lahn"s throne, made of ma.s.sive black horns, was empty for he did not seat himself. He stood, hands on hide-covered hips, looking like he was scowling down at the couple who were now situated in front of their king and queen, facing each other, the four women still holding the shade over them.
"Iykoo!" Lahn boomed.
"Kneel," Diandra whispered in translation.
I at once had the urge to kneel, but as the throng around us did not, I stayed where I was, in the curve of Noc"s arm, and watched Jacanda, Circe"s trusted slave girl, kneel across from her soon-to-be-husband, Derahn.
The instant they settled on their knees, a collective gasp came from the crowd as a shower of flower petals in the colors of yellow, orange and deep pink fell from the underside of the awning held over them, raining down on the couple below.
Feeling my lips quirk, knowing that was the queen"s magic, I looked from the couple to Circe, seeing her mouth curved up in a soft, indulgent smile, her eyes glued on her slave who was also her friend.
And I noted it again.
Since arriving the day before, I realized in her home, she was the Circe I knew. My friend. A woman from my new world living in a savage land in my old, a woman who was giving and amusing and kind.
But when she walked out of her home, she was the Golden Warrior Queen of Korwahk.
It was her way that this distinction was rather vague.
But it was nevertheless unmistakable.
Now she was queen.
And she was a sight to behold.
Even so, I tore my gaze from her to another sight that was always one to behold and saw her husband, his torso twisted so he could look at his wife.
When he turned back to the couple, he was shaking his head but doing it quite clearly fighting a smile.
Lahn was not one for flower petals.
But he liked that his wife was.
He became serious again when he looked to the subjects kneeled before him.
Then he opened his mouth and started speaking.
Diandra translated as he did.
"Today, the slave Derahn takes to wife my queen"s servant, Jacanda. Today, he gives his oath that he is now her possession. She owns his body. She owns his spirit. She owns his seed. And today, the queen"s trusted servant Jacanda gives her oath that she is now Derahn"s possession. He owns her body. He owns her spirit. He owns her womb. They will take no other until death. They will be owned by no other until death. Derahn will sow children into Jacanda and he will offer protection and guidance to the family he creates until his final breath. Jacanda will deliver him these children and offer nurture and care to them and Derahn until her final breath."
As Lahn paused, there seemed a stirring of the warriors both behind Circe and Lahn"s thrones as well as those painted for the ceremonial day who were standing amongst the crowd (including, I noted with a sidelong glance, Zahnin, who had transferred his children to his wife, and was now looking much more alert and back to fierce).
My gaze returned to Lahn as he spoke again.
"And they will do this as free man and woman..."
The stirring around us increased as Noc"s hold on me tightened because this stirring was not only of the warriors, but also the entirety of the crowd.
Lahn spoke through it, I had no doubt noting the feel of the gathering, but ignoring it entirely.
"Owned from now to their death by no merchant, no man, no warrior. Owned only by each other. This is my decree. This is the decree of my golden queen. And this will be done. As their oath is now done and they are man and wife to each other from this day until they burn on their pyres."
I shifted my gaze to the couple to see that this declaration of freedom was another gift bestowed on them that was a far sight sweeter than flower petals falling. They were staring up at their Dax in open-mouthed wonder.
Apparently, slaves were rarely freed in Korwahk.
"And as a gift to Jacanda," Lahn roared on while Diandra translated, sounding surprised herself (a secret well-kept, clearly, for Diandra was much beloved and trusted by Circe), "a loyal slave to your queen, a slave who has stood by your queen"s side in womanly ways that mirror the actions of a warrior of the Horde to his brother, it is the will of your king and his golden queen that every merchant, man and warrior give liberty to those who serve them with steadfast allegiance."
I felt my frame stiffen.
Was he...?
I stared.
By the G.o.ds, Lahn was freeing the slaves!
The stirring increased as did the tightness of Noc"s hold, and a shocked murmuring broke out amongst the crowd.
"It is our will, the will of your king and your queen," Lahn thundered over the low sound. "It is the seal of the Golden Dynasty. Fidelity is rewarded. Freedom is granted. We build the Korwahk the prophets have foreseen and that Korwahk will flourish and thrive under the reign of the Golden Dynasty," he suddenly lifted a hand and beat it to his chest, "my Golden Dynasty. The dynasty pouring forth from my seed planted in the fertility between the legs of my," another chest pound, "golden warrior queen."
My eyes shot to Circe to see her rolling hers at Lahn"s bold a.s.sertions.
But she was doing this grinning.
Lahn just kept speaking.
"All of those within our borders that your Horde protects from this day walk free, and they do it vowing allegiance to the sand and rock of this proud country."
There was more murmuring amongst the gathering, but as I glanced around, held close in Noc"s hold, I noticed it was only murmuring. To my shock, although this was a declaration that would change the fabric of their daily lives, most everyone (but the warriors) looked surprised, no one looked angry.
This was undoubtedly because every warrior amongst them had clearly been told this was happening today and they not only wore their paint, they wore their large swords at a slant across their backs.
I"d thought this was all ceremonial.
I realized then it was not.
So apparently, when told to free your slaves, you were quite all right with that because your alternative was to demur and have a Korwahk Horde warrior carve you asunder.
I felt this was an appropriate reaction for a variety of reasons and turned my attention back to Lahn when he again started speaking.
"It is the way of my wife"s people that you kiss to seal your oath," Lahn said, now only speaking to the couple. Then he ordered, "Do that now."
I heard Noc chuckle as I felt him relax, and it took a moment for Jacanda and Derahn to pull themselves together, but once that moment was over, they hesitated no further and fell into each other"s arms.
The kiss was not chaste.
Indeed, it was so not chaste it didn"t end at all but continued with Derahn twisting Jacanda to her back on a bed of petals on stone, covering her with his body, and a cheer rent from the crowd.
Suddenly, golden panels until then unseen (in other words, Circe conjured them), fell around the couple, hiding them from view.
"That, sugarlips, is precisely why weddings make people h.o.r.n.y," Noc murmured amusedly in my ear.
I twisted my neck and gave him a vexed look.
His gaze drifted upward and his lips muttered, "f.u.c.kin" h.e.l.l."
At his words and a new shout from the crowd, my gaze drifted upward too.
And there, arcing over the gathering, indeed the entirety of the Majestic Rim, glinting like it dripped pixie dust, was the brightest, clearest, largest rainbow I"d ever seen.
I again looked to Circe who now sat by her husband. Lahn had taken his own throne and was jerking his head tersely to a hovering servant, telling her without words to pour the libation she"d brought for his wife first.
She scuttled over to Circe.
I watched her accept the chalice of wine like she was taking a gla.s.s offered to her while she was seated at Noc"s island.
And I knew.
Lahn did not free the oppressed of his country.
His wife did.
By talking her husband into doing it.
Oh yes, the golden warrior queen of Korwahk was quite something.
"Seems we weren"t invited just for a visit with the excuse of the wedding of some chick we didn"t know," Noc remarked, bringing my eyes to him. "Seems we were here to witness something really f.u.c.king cool."
It would seem he was correct.
"I wish the others were here," I replied, meaning Frey and Finnie, Tor and Cora, and even Maddie and Apollo (these last two for Noc, I didn"t think they liked me much, but my Noc liked them).
"If they were, I wouldn"t have an excuse to take you to Fleuridia, Bellebryn and Lunwyn," Noc returned.
"True," I murmured.
"Babe," he called even though I was right in his arms, looking into his eyes.
"Yes, my darling?"
"Feel like sealing our own oath?" he asked, his stunning blue eyes now dancing.
"I always feel like sealing our own oath," I answered with the G.o.ds" honest truth.