found her bottom pushing at his belly. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. 'You see,' he encouraged her.
Kalida's head was swimming with her hot desire. Arms about Dagon's neck, she pressed her breasts and belly against him; then propelled her rounded hips back against Adon. The young man was moaning with his boiling lusts, and he boldly bit the soft nape of her neck in his passion. Unable to help himself, and sobbing, Adon released his juices in hard spurts until he was totally and completely drained. Then he rolled away from the queen, curling himself into a ball, exhausted with his efforts.
Dagon turned Kalida onto her back, pushing her legs back so he might delve into her more deeply than he ever had. The sensual pleasure-pain of his driving penis loosed the tigress in her. She clawed wildly at him. She sunk her little white teeth into his muscled shoulder, drawing blood which she licked away with her tongue.
When Dagon had recovered his strength, he said to the blond Adon, 'Go now, and remember your promise to Vernus to tell no one of this night. You will be well rewarded, not simply by the queen, but by me as well. You have done us a great service, Adon.'
Adon rose from the bed, and re-dressed himself in the short tunic he had laid aside upon entering the room earlier. 'I shall speak to no one of this,' he said. His eyes strayed to the exhausted woman. 'I would not hurt her, Dagon. I adore her. I know you are her chosen mate now, yet I cannot help but love her, too.'
'I understand,' Dagon told the younger man. 'If she desires you, I cannot forbid it, although I do not promise I can contain my jealousy,' he finished with a wry smile.
Adon nodded, and then departed.
When Kalida awoke several hours later, she found only Dagon by her side. Bending, she brushed her lips lightly against his, and his blue eyes opened. 'Thank you,' she said to him. 'It was wonderful!'
'I hope you do not expect all of our nights to be so exciting,' he said, smiling lovingly at her. 'I think I have depleted my font of originality.' He wrapped his arms about her. 'How I love you, my beautiful Queen of Kava.'
'A queen no more in two days' time,' she told him.
'It will not matter, Kalida. I shall always love you even when you are old and wizened,' he replied.
'In Kava, women do not become wizened,' she replied.
He laughed. 'I shall love you no matter,' he promised.
'Let us remain here together until the time comes for the choosing,' Kalida said. 'Vernus can bring us food, and we have each other. It is enough for me, my handsome prince. Can it be enough for you as well?'
'I could remain here in this room with you forever!' he said.
'Then I command it, my prince!' she agreed.
So while Zeras fussed and fumed at the queen's unexplained absence, Vernus enjoyed his part in the conspiracy with the lovers.
'She has duties to perform,' Zeras complained.
'Not until the morning of the choosing,' Vernus replied, 'and she will be there to complete her reign. When have you ever known Kalida to shirk in her duties, Zeras? You raised her to be better than that.'
So Zeras was forced to wait until the morning of the third day since Kalida's official mating, when she appeared from her bedchamber as if she had been there all along. She was radiant, and seemed full of energy. Zeras scowled seeing Dagon by her side, but then he sighed. The beast was her mate, and he must live with it.
The queen was dressed in a simple sleeveless gown; but this day, rather than the white she usually favored, Kalida's gown was cloth-of-gold, fashioned into tiny, narrow pleats that ran from waist to hem. She wore a rope of enormous emeralds that lay upon the smooth, fitted bodice of her chest. Gold-and-emerald armbands had been clasped about her slim upper arms. The only other ornament she wore was her ring of office, which she would today pass on to the new young queen. Her hair hung loose, contained only by the narrow, filigreed crown of gold and silver, which was studded in emeralds. Dagon wore a simple pleated white linen wrap about his loins, and his gold torque about his neck. His was, after all, the lesser role.
'Have the maidens been gathered?' Kalida asked Zeras.
'Aye, my queen, it but awaits your coming,' Zeras replied sadly.
Kalida nodded. 'Then it is time,' she said. Then she turned to Dagon. 'You will walk just behind me a pace or two,' she explained. 'Today, however, you may enter the royal box and stand just to my right. Zeras. Vernus. If you should like to see the ceremony, I will permit you to watch from the tunnel entry,' Kalida told them generously.
'Thank you, my queen,' Vernus bubbled, delighted to be included.
'No,' said Zeras. 'I hid in that place the day you were chosen to be Kava's queen, but I cannot be there today when another is picked to stand in your place. It is too much to ask of me!' His voice broke.
Compassion lit Kalida's beautiful features. She reached out a hand, and touched Zeras's shoulder gently. 'You do not have to come if it would make you unhappy, Zeras,' she told him. Then she turned again, and was gone, followed by Dagon and Vernus.
A mighty cheer rose from the assembled women as the queen and her mate entered the royal box. Vernus tucked himself into the shadows below the stairs, but he had an excellent view. Uphala and Zenaida had been awaiting the queen. Below in the arena there were slightly over a hundred young girls between the ages of thirteen and fourteen standing nervously and talking in whispers. They grew silent as Kalida arrived.
When the cheering had died, the queen stepped forward. 'Today we choose a new queen,' she began. 'I am proud to have ruled Kava these past ten years. My reign has seen our prosperity grow to its greatest levels. May it continue to grow under your new queen, and may Suneva guide her as well as she has guided me,' Kalida finished, stepping back to take Dagon's hand in hers. He squeezed it encouragingly.
The High Priestess now took the forefront. 'It is time,' she said. 'Remember that she whom the goddess chooses will bear a great burden. I advise the new queen, even before she is chosen, to remember from whence her blessings come. They come from Suneva who guards and guides us all. Suneva be praised!'
'Suneva be praised!' came the echoing cry from the benches in the arena, and from the girls below the royal box.
A temple novice stepped forward and handed the High Priestess a small box. As Uphala lifted its lid, a snow- white dove flew forth and circled the arena three times. The crowd held its collective breath, gasping in total shock when the bird alighted upon the dark head of Kalida's handsome mate, and there it sat preening itself before the stunned women.
Uphala snatched up the dove, and flung it into the air once more. Again the bird circled the arena thrice, alighting a second time upon Dagon's head. There were cries of 'Sacrilege!' but Uphala held up her hand to silence them.
'Go,' she instructed Dagon quietly, 'and stand in the entry to the tunnel below the royal box.' Then she took the bird from his head once more.
He did not argue, realizing this was a difficult situation, and he could easily find himself dead if it pleased these women.
'What is going on?' Vernus asked Dagon as the prince came down the stairs and stepped into the tunnel entrance.
'The messenger of the goddess has twice lit upon my head, instead of choosing one of the maidens gathered before us,' Dagon said.
Vernus's eyes widened with surprise. 'What can it mean?'
'That the bird is stupid,' Dagon said softly. 'Now that I am hidden, it will alight upon one of the proper candidates.'
The messenger of the goddess, released a third time, however, flew aimlessly round and round the arena, refusing to alight on any of the maidens. The crowd began to murmur nervously.
'What is happening?' Kalida asked the High Priestess.
Uphala did not answer her. Going instead to the edge of the royal box she called down, 'Dagon of Aramas,
