Captivated

yet my father's heir, I should take you for my queen, Kalida. I love you. There is no other woman for me!'

Now it was she who took his face between her hands, and looking directly into his eyes, Kalida said, 'You are he for whom I have been waiting all these years.You are my mate! I would have your daughters.'

'My love,' he said, as they lay back among the pillows of the bed, 'you honor your slave, but I would have you be certain.'

'I am certain,' Kalida said. 'You are the only mate for me, Dagon. Do you not want to be my mate?'

'I do!' he cried, 'but allow me a small trial. Tomorrow night, invite both me and another of your choosing into your bed together. If when the dawn arrives, you are still certain that I am your mate, then so be it, my lovely queen. You are the only woman I have ever truly loved, but I love you enough that I would be certain that you will be content and happy with me. For to take me as your mate means that you must give up the rule of Kava, and turn it over to another. Are you certain you are ready to do that?'

'Yes,' Kalida answered him without hesitation. 'Being a queen is a lonely pursuit. I shall allow you your test of my love, Dagon. You shall see that you are the only mate who can make me happy.'

In the morning, Zeras again wished to know if Kalida would send Dagon away.

'No,' she answered him. 'Have I not said this slave amuses me? What is it that you do not comprehend, Zeras? When I wish to be rid of Zenaida's gift, I will tell you. Do not keep asking me each dawn. I find you irritating beyond all.' She turned her back on him, saying to Dagon, 'Go to Vernus to be bathed, my pet. Then rejoin me, and we will break our fast.'

Dagon bowed deferentially. 'As my queen commands,' he replied.

'I do not like that fellow,' Zeras said when the prince had gone. 'Why do you bother with him? You are a great queen. You do not need such a creature about you defiling you with his big hands, and his muscled body. If it is that monstrous dangling penis of his that keeps you entertained I will have it cast in plaster. We shall make a most realistic dildo in any variety of materials for you. Then we may be quit of this Dagon of Aramas.'

'You overstep your boundaries, Zeras,' Kalida said coldly. 'Do you think because you are my body slave, and have been since my birth, that you have the right to speak to me as you have just done? You do not. You are nothing more than a slave, as Dagon is a slave.'

'I am your father, and as such am entitled to your respect,' Zeras said pompously.

'You are not my sire,' Kalida told him. 'My mother mounted you once, twice, no more. My mother had dark hair as do you. If you were my sire, how could you have made such as fair a child as me? My sire was golden-haired. His name was Valcon. I'm certain that you remember him. He loved my mother with all his heart. When she died giving birth to his child, he killed himself. I'm sure you remember that, too. '

'It suited my aunts to convince you that I was your child. That way, you would care for me with devotion. They had, as you well know, neither the time nor the inclination to raise an infant. They were actually sorry I was not a boy that they might have rid themselves of me when I reached age eight,' Kalida said. 'You have served me well, Zeras, and certainly with devotion, but you are a man. In this world men do not have the right to criticize women. You are inferior, as all men are. You hold your little position because I allow you to hold it. Do not overstep your boundaries, Zeras. I have raised you high as I was raised high. I can easily cast you down,' Kalida warned him.

'You are a queen because I made you a queen!' he countered angrily. 'Do you think the goddess's dove alighted on your shoulder by chance, foolish woman? It was I who sewed grain into the neckline of your gown, thereby guaranteeing that the dove would choose you from all the maidens gathered in the arena that day.Idid it! I, Zeras!'

'I never before realized what a schemer you are, Zeras,' Kalida told him. 'You have kept me isolated and imprisoned in this palace as Kava's queen far longer than I ought to have reigned. You think you exploited my choosing, but you did not, and you shall no longer keep me from the fate the goddess means me to have. I believe you when you say you sewed grain into my gown that day so long ago; but grain or no, I was chosen by the goddess, even if you choose to believe otherwise, Zeras. '

'Do you think the messenger of the goddess would be tempted by a little grain in a gown? I have been Queen of Kava not because of what you tried to do, but because it was the will of the goddess,not the will of Zeras, a mere man. Go from me now. I am very angry at you, but I will not cast you aside as I should do. Your loyalty to me must count for something.'

'Are you preparing to take him for your mate?' Zeras demanded boldly.

'I have not decided yet,' Kalida lied smoothly. She would tell Zeras nothing lest he attempt to spoil her happiness. 'When I do take a mate, the announcement will be made as tradition demands.'

'How do you know Valcon was your sire?' he asked her. He had often wondered how he, Zeras, had made such a beautiful golden child.

'When I became queen, my aunts told me the truth,' Kalida replied. 'They feared your influence over me.'

'Will you make public the truth?' he persisted.

'The truth of what?' she asked him.

'Your parentage,' he answered.

'What difference does it make?' she wondered aloud, and then she smiled slyly. 'Ahhh, I see, old schemer, what you are about. You have traded upon the rumors that you were my sire to gain your small foothold. Now you fear to lose your prestige.' Kalida laughed. 'If you do not annoy me further, I shall say nothing. Why would I? It matters not who my sire was. Not in Kava. Go now, or I shall send you from my service forever, Zeras.' She watched him leave her presence, his shoulders drooping just slightly, but she noticed as he exited the bedchamber, he made an effort to straighten himself up. Kalida smiled, then turned, and hurried off to her own bath, her thoughts turning to Dagon as she went.

Dagon, meanwhile, had gone to seek out Vernus. To his surprise he found the High Procuress awaiting him in his bathing room. He bowed low to her, then stood awaiting her pleasure.

'What news do you have for me, my prince?' she asked him.

'It goes well, my lady Zenaida,' he said, his eyes going to Vernus, who stood with another man.

'You may speak before Durantis, my mate, and his brother, Vernus, my prince,' Zenaida said.

'You were right, my lady,' Dagon began. 'Zeras exercised great control over the queen. He taught her from childhood not to give in to her emotions. So it was that she had never tasted real pleasure until two nights ago when I brought her the gift of joy. Indeed, our bodies fit so perfectly together, it is as if the goddess had fashioned us for one another, as I believe she did. She desires to take me as her mate, but I have demurred, for while I love Kalida, I want her totally happy. Tonight she will invite me and one other man to her bed so she may be certain it is not just lust she feels for me. On the morrow she will, I believe, take me for her true mate. Kava may then choose a new queen.'

'Are you certain that this is a wise thing to do?' Zenaida asked him. 'If she is content to have you for her mate, then so be it, Dagon. Why must you tempt her with another man?'

'Kalida has been Queen of Kava longer than anyone else, my lady. You said it yourself. No man has ever really pleasured her until me. By taking another man into her bed tonight, she will learn with certainty that I am the only man who can pleasure her. She will then feel no reluctance in relinquishing her power over Kava; and nothing Zeras says to her will change her mind. His influence will be ended, and Kava will have another queen. You must trust me, my lady Zenaida. For Kalida's sake, this is the best way to proceed.'

'You are a clever man, my prince,' the High Procuress noted. 'I am not certain that you are also a dangerous man as well.'

'I am but a man in love, my lady,' he answered her smoothly.

Zenaida laughed, genuinely amused. 'Very well then, if you are certain Kalida will not be distracted by another lover and decide not to take you for her mate, then I must be content with your plan.'

'I am the only man for the queen,' Dagon replied with certainty.

When Zenaida and Durantis had left, Vernus said, 'You do realize, dear boy, that women tend to be fickle. Having opened the gates of passion to our beloved queen, how can you be so certain that another man will not now be able to stoke her fires?'

'Because, my friend,' the prince replied, 'I know something about Kalida that no one else does. When I told Zenaidathat our bodies were well matched, I did not lie. I have never been able to fit my manhood entirely into any woman until I met Kalida. Her sheath is longer than any I have ever known. She devoured my entire length easily.