Her breasts heaved as I took her in firm, steady strokes. The water around us danced as tiny pillars on the surface raced up to touch the steam. Kumi squirmed harder against me as her heart slammed against her ribs. Her hips bucked, and her voice took on something like a melody.
The water of the steam bath turned into a whirling symphony of ribbons and threads. A deep, animalistic sound of pure pleasure exploded from her throat and filled the building.
Kumi slid off the edge of the pool as she wrapped a leg around mine and embraced me. I held her there for a moment as she caught her breath. Her instinctive magic fell out of the air and created a warm rain over us. She laughed into my chest as I tried to stifle a chuckle.
“That was intense,” I said finally.
“Oh, we’re not done, Swordslinger,” Kumi said. “Not until you are.”
I hauled her out of the water as desire overtook whatever restraint I had left. Kumi tackled me, and we tussled on the tiles in a fight of kisses and caresses.
The water started to dance again as I finally pinned her down and kissed my way up her body. Her coffee-colored skin glittered in the soft light as she turned around and planted herself on all fours. She peered back at me as she offered herself to me with a hungry expression.
My fingers danced across her soft mound as she ground herself into me. When I was sure she was ready, I slipped inside her and began a new movement. Her song renewed itself, and the water from every pool began to rise up. With each new thrust, the water danced and scattered. When I pulled out a little, the water receded.
Soon, I could no longer pay attention to the movements of the water. My release continued to build, and my focus was entirely wrapped in the sensation of her wetness clustering around me. She trembled all over, and the water crashed back into the pools. I felt unable to hold back anymore, and I finally came.
I lay on the cool tiles beside Kumi as she nestled into my chest.
“Woah,” I said.
Kumi stared at my member as a smile touched her glistening lips. “I see you’re ready for some more. Come.” She stood and beckoned for me to follow her into a bath.
How could I refuse a princess?
Chapter Nineteen
The next morning, after I returned from the bathhouse for a few hours of sleep, the palace bustled with activity. Leading members of the Qihin clan gathered in meeting rooms and at the corners of corridors as I left my room with the Sundered Heart belted to my hip. The officials kept their heads together as they talked in hushed and serious tones while servants raced back and forth to take messages and fetch equipment.
I found Kumi and her father on the walls of the palace. The courtyard spanned out to one side as the city glittered in the morning on the side. Beqai’s warriors fastened their armor, sharpened their blades, and talked tactics as they practiced their combat maneuvers.
The bustle of activity spilled out to the streets below. Columns of armored figures marched back and forth as other groups gathered in squares and market places. A row of warships had been assembled at the docks. Pennants in the royal colors of red and yellow flew in the morning breeze of the ocean.
I listened to Kumi and her father discuss the relative merits of different formations within their forces. She smiled warmly as I approached and smiled. Her eyes carried a barely veiled meaning, and I knew she was thinking of the previous night.
King Beqai turned to greet me, and I tried to hide any expression that would reveal what we’d done last night.
“Disciple Ethan,” Beqai said, using my guild title. “It’s good to see you awake.”
“And you, your Majesty. I think you’ve had a long slumber.”
Beqai’s expression stiffened at the comment, and I thought that I’d misjudged the man. But then he burst out laughing and sent his seaweed beard shaking against his chest.
“A fair point. Too long have I lain still as a lake while the storm raged around me. It is time to become the ocean once more and draw out the tide that will wash our enemies away.”
“I take it you have a strategy to deal with the guild, Your Majesty?” My friends and I had managed to escape from the guild house, but we’d only fought against initiates and guards. Disciples, masters, and the guildmaster himself had been absent. I assumed that was intentional, so retrieving the Depthless Dream from Horix would prove far more difficult than the escape had been.
“Oh, yes.” King Beqai pointed toward the sea. I followed his gnarled finger to the tip of the Resplendent Tears Guild House in the distance. “The whole guild cannot be blamed for the rot that has set in at its heart, but that rot cannot be allowed to thrive. We must rid the Resplendent Tears of Horix and his devotees. Then, perhaps, peace can be established on the Diamond Coast again, with clan and guild once more working in harmony, as the Treaty of Blades dictates.”
“Forgive me, Your Majesty, but that doesn’t sound like a plan. You told me why the guild should be dealt with, but now how.”
“I am considering it,” he said as he chewed his lip. “With the Depthless Dream in hand, Horix will prove a formidable enemy.” His fist slammed down on the battlements. “But he’ll need time in calmer waters before he can truly unlock its power. As it is, he still presents a serious threat. But nothing impossible to overcome. We will gather every warrior we can spare and march on that place to destroy the canker at its core.”
It still didn’t sound like a plan. And there were hardly more than a hundred men
