Free Torn By War: 4 (The Death Wizard Chronicles) by Jim Melvin

breakfast on a silver tray: parboiled eggs, a slice of spiced pork, white cheese, dried blackberries sprinkled with honey, and sweet white wine. The queen’s personal guard ate well. Elu thought back to the night before last when the surprise pronouncement had occurred.
    The queen had woken him out of a sound sleep, entering his room well past midnight while wearing only fleecy white robes that were slit at the hips. She drew up a deep chair next to Elu’s bed and tucked her bare feet under her tight buttocks.
    “Have you ever been alone with a queen?”
    “Elu has been alone with Laylah.”
    Rajinii snorted. “ The Torgon would call her a queen, I’m sure. As for the rest of us?” She made a strange face. “So, being alone with a queen isn’t new to you. But how many times have you been alone with a beautiful woman?”
    “Well . . . many times, to be honest. Before Elu was little, the women of his village came to him often . . . sometimes too often. And even after Elu became small, he slept with the whores in Kamupadana, and most of them were very pretty.”
    “ Before you were small? After you were small? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the queen said in an annoyed tone. “Regardless, you’re not getting my point !” She stood and towered over him, her nipples pressing against the thin fabric like the tips of spears. For a moment, the Svakaran feared she might strike him. But her face softened and she sat back down in the chair.
    “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”
    She took several long breaths before continuing her peculiar interrogation. “How long have you known The Torgon ?”
    “Elu has known the great one only a short time. But Elu loves him.”
    “The great one ,” she chuckled. “An appropriate name. I have called him that myself, in the privacy of my own chambers.” Then she sighed. “A day? A week? A year?”
    “Your highness?”
    “How long have you known him?”
    “Ohhhh. Hmmm. Since before winter?”
    “Half a year . . . And in all that time, did he ever mention my name to you?”
    Though he suspected it would upset her, he did not lie. “Not that Elu remembers, your highness. The great one speaks only of Laylah.”
    “ Damn her!” the queen shouted, leaping out of the chair so fast it caused Elu to cringe. “Why couldn’t Invictus have kept better tabs?”
    “Elu likes Laylah. Elu loves her. She and the great one were made for each other.”
    “So you say!” the queen snarled, pressing her face so near to his that their noses almost touched. “So . . . you . . . say.”
    Then she walked over to a small window and looked out at the palace grounds. “Not long ago, they rode off together on one of my stallions and are somewhere out there . . . now . They have no respect for me. Or Jivita. They care only for themselves.”
    “ Lord Torgon cares for everyone. But when a man loves a woman, truly loves a woman, there can be no other.”
    The queen swung slowly around. The Svakaran was surprised to see her eyes brimming with tears. “Why can’t it be . . . me?” she said, her voice suddenly so tender it tore at Elu’s heart. “I love him . . . too .”
    Elu had been naked in the bed, but he wrapped the top cover around his body and shuffled over to where she stood. “There are many people in the world you could love and who could love you. You can be happy, if you allow yourself to be. Elu knows this well, your highness.”
    Rajinii smiled, but then—to the Svakaran’s surprise—she started screaming for the guards. At least a dozen poured into the room, their armor hard as stone. Elu felt helpless, with just a bedcover for protection.
    “What is it, your highness?” one of the guards said. “Has he threatened you?”
    “I need witnesses for a royal pronouncement,” she shouted, her voice almost manic. “I offer the Svakaran warrior a position of high honor. Elu, will you accept?”
    “Accept what?”
    “I wish you to become