Page 15 of Legacy of the Heirs (The Lost Kingdom Saga #2)

Nyzaia

K azaar and Elisara were keeping secrets.

They retold the events of yesterday evening to Nyzaia and Elisara’s friends: the essence of their powers merging, the marks on their skin, the memories they shared.

Nyzaia revealed what she had learned about the celestial tie, too, and though neither confirmed if they could hear each other’s thoughts, she suspected they did.

The only missing piece of information was what disagreement had caused the pair to turn on one another.

“What happened in the lead-up to this?” asked Nyzaia, straight to the point. When Elisara and Kazaar shared a look, she rolled her eyes. Would this happen from here on out, with the pair consulting in their minds before sharing anything with the others? Kazaar never used to keep secrets from her.

“I trust Helena, Vigor, and Talia with what we”—Elisara nodded to Nyzaia and Kazaar—“ know , but are you happy for them to be told?”

Nyzaia understood what Elisara was implying.

“I have already told Farid and Tajana,” she said plainly, and though Elisara’s brow furrowed, she said no more.

“We know who set the explosion,” said Kazaar, and a chorus of “who?” sounded across the room.

Elisara fiddled with the hem of her gown as she sat cross-legged on Kazaar’s bed with him perched on a chair beside her. She looked directly at Nyzaia when she said, “My mother and your father—”

“They were lovers,” Nyzaia finished.

“How did you know?” asked Kazaar .

“I saw the hidden room in his office while searching for the book to wake Elisara.”

“It is not just that, Nyzaia.” Elisara glanced at Kazaar, who nodded gently. “They also set the explosion.”

Nobody spoke then. What was anyone to say upon discovering two rulers of different realms had killed not only themselves but all the ruling families and their children, too?

Nyzaia digested the information yet was unsurprised her father was the cause of her suffering.

She was only crowned queen because of that explosion.

She cared little about discovering he had a lover or even that it was the late Queen Vespera; Nyzaia cared only that, even in death, he had ruined her life, stripped away her freedom and taken the one good thing in her life.

The Red Stones. He had stripped it all from Nyzaia despite forcing that life on her to begin with.

“Why?” asked Talia.

“There was a letter. We can retrieve it,” said Elisara. “They were trying to trigger the prophecy, but we do not know why.”

Nyzaia scoffed and rose abruptly, the bangles clinking against her wrists. “So, yet again, there are more secrets and mysteries to solve.”

“Nyzaia.” Kazaar rose to meet her.

“Don’t,” she snapped. “I am tired of knowing nothing of this life despite my sacrifices.”

“We have all lost someone or something, Nyzaia,” Elisara countered. A flash of power burned in Elisara’s eyes like it often did when she was angry. Nyzaia said nothing.

“I could retrieve the letter. Maybe fresh eyes would help?” Talia suggested.

“I can go with her,” offered Helena.

Nyzaia sighed but nodded.

“My guard, Farid, can escort you. He is outside.” Nyzaia opened the door for them and collided with Tajana for the second time that day.

“There you are,” Tajana said cheerfully, flicking her braid over one shoulder. “I’ve put the books in your chambers.” Tajana’s smile wavered as she peered into the room and at the people inside it.

“Where is Farid?” Nyzaia asked.

“Here,” called the deep voice of her guard, walking down the corridor. “There were reports of issues between Lord Israar and some servants.” Nyzaia groaned at the thought of running into the lord. “Tajana asked me to intervene,” he added, glancing oddly at the captain of the Guard.

“Now that you are here, could you escort Talia and Helena to my father’s office?” asked Nyzaia, stepping aside to allow the two women through. Tajana offered an awkward smile. She was never good with new people.

“You can stay with us,” Nyzaia began.

“It is okay, my love. I need to complete my usual inspection of the general guards’ quarters.” Tajana leaned in to kiss Nyzaia’s cheek, who accepted it, knowing Lord Israar was likely still in the courtyard if Farid had been with him moments ago. Nyzaia watched Tajana walk away.

“I would quite like to be alone,” called Elisara. “Would you mind guiding me back to my chambers and finding somewhere for Vigor?” she asked.

Nyzaia glanced back and nodded, noting the intent stare between Elisara and Kazaar before the Vala queen rose and left the room, taking Nyzaia’s hand.

***

Elisara said little to Nyzaia, who guided her back through Tabheri palace until reaching the guest chambers.

She wanted to ask more about the celestial tie and what had unfolded between Elisara and Kazaar.

Nyzaia was certain something else had happened, as the pair were terrible at hiding the tension between them.

It reminded Nyzaia of when she and Tajana had first begun seeing one another, and their failed attempts to hide their relationship from the syndicate.

The men had all bet on when they would finally confess to it.

Nyzaia could not remember the last time she and Tajana shared such heated tension or even the last time they were intimate; the moment after Nyzaia’s coronation barely counted.

With all the recent revelations, Nyzaia craved a constant—someone to always rely on.

Why should she care what the lords thought?

Would the people really dissent if they knew she was with Tajana?

Nyzaia tried to calculate how many people might know Tajana was from the Red Stones as she strode to the guards’ quarters to find her.

She would suggest they spend the day together.

The palm trees swayed in the morning sun. Nyzaia had lost many hours of sleep, and though it had only been two days since Elisara and Kazaar had arrived, it felt like weeks.

Descending the tile steps of the palace entrance, Nyzaia crossed the courtyard to where the guards’ quarters were located, and the horse and carriage remained tied up. Intricate gold markings and ornamental pieces blinded against the deep burgundy of the coach. Lord Israar was still here.

The guards’ quarters were quiet when she approached. It should be loud on an inspection day, given over a hundred guards were stationed at the palace. Nyzaia slowed her steps. There was nobody here apart from the two men guarding the doors.

“Have you seen the captain?” she asked. The pair straightened.

“No, my queen,” one responded.

“She said she was inspecting the guards’ quarters; does that happen later? Am I early?” The two guards shared a look before one began to stammer.

“The quarters’ inspections are only once a week, my queen.”

“It was yesterday, my queen,” said the other. Nyzaia maintained composure and suppressed the urge to clench her fists.

“I must have misheard her, thank you.” Nyzaia turned and hurried back up the steps of the courtyard. She had not misheard, and as she rounded another corridor, she groaned.

“Queen Nyzaia,” called Lord Israar.

Plastering a fake smile on her face, she greeted him through gritted teeth. “Lord Israar.”

“Can I accompany you?” he asked.

“I am only returning to my chambers.”

“Then please.” He offered his arm with a forced smile, a flash of gold teeth glinting at the edges. No matter how gentlemanly Lord Israar appeared to others, the tainted calculation in his eyes was clear. He looked her up and down. “Lead the way.”

Nyzaia sighed and took his arm. Wisely, she led him away from her actual quarters and towards her mother’s old rooms.

“Have you thought any more about my proposal?” he asked, wasting no more time with formalities.

“Honestly, Lord Israar.” Nyzaia paused, trying to place her words carefully. “I do not see a threat to my rule if I were to have Tajana as my legal consort.”

The lord hummed and stroked his oily beard, pulling her to a stop by a balcony overlooking the oasis at the back of the palace before meeting the canyons. Nyzaia clenched her jaw and tugged her arm free of his hand.

“So, you have no concerns for your image but also none about her?”

“Should I?” Nyzaia countered. Lord Israar met her eyes with a smirk before placing his arms on either side of Nyzaia to grip the balcony, penning her in. Nyzaia jerked back until her hair dangled over the balcony.

“You tell me,” he whispered in her ear before striding off.

Nyzaia watched him leave, overcome by confusion.

When she was certain he was gone, she turned back to look over the balcony and tapped a rhythm on the burnt-orange stone.

She paused upon spotting Tajana. She crossed through the oasis towards the canyons, glancing behind her as she did.

Other than the Red Stones’ den, little resided in the canyons, except for the occasional runaway felon or orphans attempting to cross into a new realm.

She seemed nervous. Nyzaia narrowed her eyes, a gut feeling stirring within.

Tajana was hiding something.

***

Stupid clothes, Nyzaia thought, trying to untangle herself from the skirts of her lehenga.

Once she was naked, she secured her dark locks upon her head with a blood-red ribbon.

She was exhausted and looked it. Nyzaia prodded the dark shadows below her eyes before striding for the hot bath in the open morning air outside her chambers. She groaned, sinking into its depths.

“There’s a sound I like to hear.” With her solace interrupted, she watched Tajana enter the chambers and strip off her clothes.

Nyzaia followed her naked form as she confidently strode to the bath, descending the mosaic-tiled steps into the water.

If Nyzaia was not so angry about Tajana’s lie, she would admire her curves and the smoothness of her skin.

Instead, she pursed her lips and stared ahead.

“What’s wrong?” asked Tajana. Nyzaia lifted her foot and placed it between Tajana’s breasts to keep her from wading closer. Tajana smirked. “Are we playing a game?”

Nyzaia’s eyes glowed, and the flames in the sconces rose behind her.

“I’ll take that as a no then,” said Tajana, beginning to massage Nyzaia’s foot. “Tell me what I have done.”

“You lied to me.”

Tajana’s head jerked up to meet Nyzaia’s eyes, though Nyzaia could not read her expression. “When?” Nyzaia was no fool; she was accustomed to dissecting words. Tajana did not deny it.

“You said you were visiting the guards’ quarters, yet you were not there.” Nyzaia tried to pull her foot away, but Tajana held it firmly in place. “Then, Lord Israar and I watched you skulking back to the palace from the canyons.” Tajana narrowed her eyes.

“Lord Israar?” she asked, a sharp tone in her voice. “He is around here often.” Nyzaia glanced away, and Tajana dropped her foot. “What is going on with you?”

“What is going on with you ?” Nyzaia snapped. Steam now rose between the pair, dampening their faces and hair. Tajana’s face softened.

“I did not want to worry you, but there are stirrings amongst the Red Stones,” she confessed, reaching for the soap.

She raised Nyzaia’s leg and began washing.

“They need a leader, Nyzaia, and sadly, you can no longer fill that role.” Nyzaia pulled away in protest. “They need someone permanent, so I have been helping them to narrow down candidates for trial.”

“Trial?”

“Yes, it is how you were chosen, and Arjun Qadir before you.”

Nyzaia scoffed. “He did not exactly abide by the rules.”

“No, he never did, and look where it landed him.” Tajana took Nyzaia’s next leg and slid the soap along it. Nyzaia ignored the rising sensations stirred from her touch.

“So, you are mediating. Is that all?”

“That is all,” Tajana confirmed. “Now, you and Israar…” Tajana looked at Nyzaia with a suggestive look in her eyes.

“God no!” Nyzaia spluttered. The thought of his oily hands touching her made her feel nauseous.

“Then what is it if he does not wish to bed you?”

Nyzaia sighed as Tajana glided the soap up the remainder of her thigh. Hooking Nyzaia’s knee over her shoulder, Tajana discarded the soap and stroked water over her skin to wash away the suds.

“He does not think I should be with you,” she relented, gasping as Tajana’s nails pinched her skin as she pulled Nyzaia closer, pressing her against the cold wall of the bath. Tajana leaned in.

“And why is that?” Tajana whispered. Nyzaia stifled a groan, and Tajana smiled against her ear.

“Why, Nyzaia?” she repeated, gripping Nyzaia’s thigh in one hand while the other trailed her abdomen below the surface until reaching the peak of her nipples.

She pinched, and Nyzaia failed to keep quiet. “Why?”

“He knows you’re a part of the Red Stones,” she relented, tilting her head back as Tajana’s mouth moved from her ear to her breast, taking her nipple in her mouth.

She squirmed and reached for Tajana’s hips.

Tajana raised her head and brushed her thigh between Nyzaia’s legs, pushing against her and gripping her hands.

“And does he know what I would do to him if anyone tried to take you from me?” Tajana asked.

Nyzaia swallowed hard as Tajana’s hand moved from her wrist to the apex of her thigh.

She circled a finger between her legs, never quite meeting the spot Nyzaia so desperately craved.

Tajana’s other hand moved, tugging at Nyzaia’s hair tied in the ribbon.

“Does he think that anyone else could make you feel the things I do?” asked Tajana.

She whimpered and reached for Tajana’s breasts while Tajana tugged at Nyzaia’s ribbon, freeing her hair, which cascaded down her back.

Roughly, Tajana grabbed Nyzaia’s hands, pulling them above her head and licking the column of her neck in the process.

She looked intently into Nyzaia’s eyes as she tied the ribbon around her wrists.

“Can anyone else make you feel this way, my love?” asked Tajana, her fingers returning to the spot between Nyzaia’s thighs.

“No,” Nyzaia whimpered. Tajana chuckled against Nyzaia’s neck and lifted her until she sat on the edge of the bath, spreading her legs wide.

“And will you tell him that?” Tajana asked. Nyzaia leaned back until she lay flat against the tiles, her wrists tied above her head. Tajana kissed the insides of her thighs while two fingers teased her entrance, waiting for an answer.

“Yes.” Nyzaia arched off the wet tiles as Tajana pushed her fingers inside her.

“Good,” Tajana said, and Nyzaia closed her eyes, relishing in the sensation of Tajana’s hands and tongue. How could she ever doubt Tajana and the love between them?