Page 14 of The Kingdom of Flames

“Agh!” Vermilion cried out in surprise. Cedarheart’s axe scored across his chest in a splash of thick glopping blood. Celestine watched it on the dais, it was black.

“Begone, creature.” Lord Cedarheart growled. The pale lord of Scarlet returned to his throne, not meeting the smiling eyes of his partners in Spring.

“Come, Cedarheart.” Encarmine stood and held his sword and shield.

“Aye,” Cedarheart’s yellow eyes fell upon Elyse, his teeth like fangs, his blue tattoos rippling with muscle. “I’m eager as well. Though I don’t hide my motive for the bride behind your rules and laws Encarmine.”

It will be like a beast when he ravages me. He will break my crest while his teeth are upon my neck.

Celestine felt something. Something she only acknowledged in the late evening or early mornings. Heat took her quim, the arousal so sudden. The edge of her clit eased forth as if her body prepared to meet these lords and give her crest to one of them. She felt it in the coy looks of boys her age when they noticed one another. The same feeling she had felt when one had been brave enough to kiss her behind the lumber fields once, and the pull of his body into her and how she had responded.

Not the fairest man, but when he kissed me, that raw need had nearly broken me.

But he had lacked the final courage. He had feared her father’s wrath. She had never wanted a love moved by trepidation.

The duel grew louder. Her fate ricocheted from a shield of steel and an axe. Cedarheart was larger, but Encarmine fought with a resolve she could feel in the air.

When an axe cut came with such force, she thought the blow itself would knock the Red Bannered Lord down. She gasped as he stood steadfast and immovable, every muscle in his body locked.

There was no silken pillow for her to grind upon now. Her fate raged in front of her, a spinning coin between Summer and Autumn and their desire for the first touch. Her quim was a silken mess. Celestine’s body betrayed her fear. This was a siege, and she was a castle about to be won, taken, and captured.

I want them both to win.

The thought came unbidden, and Celestine attempted to stamp it down as soon as it rose. Long ago, the world had replaced chivalry with desperation. It had birthed thievery from scarcity and cast aside courtship with a famine of flesh. The courting tales she had been told as a young girl had slowly faded, season by harsh season, where valiant knights rode against one another for a lady’s love.

Not here. Here it was, and it was so much worse. So much better. She had always been told that her chastity and crest was a sacred gift for a husband. Now, her entire body was flush. A tingle danced up her leg and lower back as Encarmine and Cedarheart warred for her favor.

The Lord of the Brown Banner snarled, and it sounded like a wolf fighting hounds. For a moment, she saw him as a great furred beast, and Encarmine was the might of men on the singular focus of exertion.

For her.

Steel clashed and swung, inertia juggled back and forth, and sparks flew from a battered shield. Cedarheart was a beast. A thousand howls of a hundred packs running in the trees at night. Encarmine’s voice sounded like armies roaring across a terrible battlefield. Cedarheart swung wide, allowing Encarmine to slam his weight onto his shield, striking the Lord and pushing him back. The sword swiftly moved under his arm and across his chest with precise efficiency.

Blood splashed across the central dais like a bucket spilled from the hands of a falling servant. The sound of it was rain.

The battle ceased, two storms pausing. Cedarheart’s hand touched under his arm, coming forth with his lifeblood. Celestine expected him to drop, to fall gasping. But the lord’s eyes focused on Celestine, such golden hunger, such lust that her stomach turned.

“Woe to my furs this evening, Encarmine, and their loneliness.”

Encarmine stood, raising his bloody sword in salute with a brusque nod.

“Summer reigns upon the Painted Realm,” Encarmine said to the court. The dominance suited him. Celestine found herself leaning forward, edging closer. “Woe to those that seek what is mine.”

“So be it,” said Blackdawn from his throne of shadow. “The Lord of the Red Banners shall court the Aspirant for a month. Then to his brothers in Summer, then we will come forth and see what the Final Bride decides” The Lord of the Black Banner stared now at Celestine. “Should she choose you, Encarmine, you will decide the setting of the Seasons, now and forever.”

“Whom shall follow?” the Lord of the Yellow Banner asked.

“You will,” Encarmine stated, then turned to Lord Azure of the Blue Banners. “Then you, great rider.”

“The lady shall sample the wares of Summer, and if she chooses a husband, so be it.” Blackdawn decreed. Lord Scarlet looked hatefully around the court but kept his mouth shut. Lord Emberfell raised a toast to her from across the hall.

Such skin, like honey. There is a warmth there, and his face glows as if by firelight.

“We return at the end of your season to see her decision,” Blackdawn said.

Celestine swallowed. Say something, say something now.

“And if no husband is chosen?”

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