Hope you enjoy the second book and thanks for the feedback on the first. Going to throw in the usual copyright thing below.
I'll be short and sweet this time. If you haven't read Flame of Cytherea yet, go read it first, or this won't make sense... I won't bother with clarifying scifi/fantasy category and the type of sex, since it should follow the first book, for the most part.
Copyright 2014. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this posting or subsequent postings part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.
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Uleni's Gamble
Cytherean Chronicles Book 2
Prologue:
King Talmon of Uleni sat at the head of the table. That was the only nod toward his authority in the room and it was endlessly frustrating to him. His father had died when he was young, just thirteen turns of the suns. His bloodline had shown true and he had been given true power, that of a mage. But at twenty he was still young and inexperienced.
The true power in the kingdom, the mage who had ruled in his name until his eighteenth birthday, and who had never truly given up power, sat to his right. Advisor or mage Riese, was in his fifties, and had been crafting magic for over thirty years.
It was not as if Riese controlled him, but he suspected the older man of manipulating the information he was getting. In theory, he was king and could do as he wished, but he wondered if the soldiers would follow his orders if he tried to dismiss Riese. No, the political realities were another matter altogether.
He suppressed the urge to curl his lips at the man next to Riese, mage Lian was a powerful mage as well, but a bootlicker, nothing better than an attack dog for his master. He was quite sure this one's loyalties did not lie with him. He dared not show contempt for either man, or resist the direction they wanted to take his kingdom. Not that he had any objections to its expansion.
On his left was Colonel Ross, the man was huge at six foot three and bulging with muscle. Ross was unmatched in his ability to fight with weapons in all Uleni. To his surprise, next to Ross was a woman. He didn't necessarily have an issue with it, but he knew Riese would be annoyed by it.
Riese said with a false humility that grated, "May we get started your majesty?"
He bowed his head and said, "You may."
Riese frowned at him and he wondered if the contempt had leaked from his voice. He felt relief as Riese turned away from him. He would not deal with the man forever, but he wasn't ready to make his move and remove the older generation that had served his father.
Riese asked with an edge to his voice, "Ross, I assume you have a good reason to bring a woman to this meeting?"
Ross looked completely at ease when he replied, "She is the best assassin I have, if you'd like, I can send her away? But you did tell me to bring the best..."
Riese frowned at that which almost made him chuckle. It was petty of him he knew, especially in a king. But anything that bothered Riese on a personal level made him happy.
Riese said, "Very well. The news is not good. We had expected Abelaweth and Egeria to be weakened enough during their war for us to move in and take both. They are, but with the appearance of a Flame, that complicates things a bit for us, with his power he can compensate for the number difference."
He frowned and said, "Will he throw in with them? It is not as if we threaten the goddess with our plans."
Ross replied, "Normally I wouldn't think so, but the Flame is reported to have taken four mates in Abelaweth, one of them is Princess Nicole. Even more disturbing one of them is a Witch with Uleni blood. We can't depend on him staying out of any fight."
He carefully looked neutral at this news. He never saw the issue with a woman having power. A witch was powerful perhaps, but she would still be only one woman. But most of his nobles were rabid in the belief they needed to be killed. No doubt fearing some women's revolt.
The excuse they gave of course was it was unnatural, he always found that hard to swallow, after all, the deity they worshipped was a woman was she not? Was it not she that gave out the talents? He was careful not to let his true feelings on this show, or he was sure the position of king would soon after be open.
He nodded toward the assassin and asked, "Is that why she is here?"
Ross said, "Yes my king, we would undoubtedly lose on the field of battle. The problem of the Flame, and the witch, must be handled more delicately than that."
Riese stepped in, "Once that has been taken care of we will move forward with our plans..."
Chapter 1
Justin, the Flame of Cytherea, bane of darkness, was feeling rather out of his depth. It had been just a week since he had become mates with Katrina. They had made their way up close to the capitol after he learned the ladies plans. Apparently they were going to build a new inn several miles outside the capitol.
It was both a compromise for the disparate women to be both close to nature and the city. They were also sure it would do good business for people traveling to and from the city. They believed it may also draw the more affluent from the city as a nice place to stay during hunting trips. He didn't know much about building, but he had been determined to help.
However, once they got there, he found himself at loose ends. Kind of useless.
The shell for the tavern itself was solid stone raised out of the ground by Sally in just an hour. It was about twice the size of the old tavern. On the ground floor they had a common room and kitchen about the same size, but they also had their private rooms down there.
One large bedroom for them to sleep in, a separate bedroom for personal time, and a rather alarmingly large nursery, at least he thought so. He was still only mates with Kat, but it was obvious from the size that the other ladies were thinking in that direction.
