The Chosen One: A Reverse Harem Fantasy (The Airluds Trilogy Book 2) Read online

Chapter Two

  AIRSHA

  "What the frag?!" Darkin exclaimed, hastily turning to face the wall again so he could right his clothing. Luckily, my gown had fallen down around my legs when Darkin pulled out of me to check on my babe.

  "How can you feel what it's like to be her?" the ragamuffin said curiously, mouth still slightly ajar, even after he'd finished speaking.

  Darkin let loose a string of swear words he rarely used. At least not in front of me.

  I glanced at him and saw that his face was also bright red, with embarrassment as well as fury. If I hadn't been so mortified myself it would have been funny. The mature and sensible Darkin blushing like a girl because he'd been caught with his breeches down. Or open, in this instance.

  That's when it registered. The voice was oddly melodic and high and there were bloodstains down the inner leg of the tattered breeches. Had I not been guilty of the same deception many times, I would not have put the pieces together so quickly.

  "Your first blood?" I asked, oddly moved by the sight and the girl's ignorance of what had happened.

  Her dusty brow furrowed. "First...?"

  She looked down at her breeches and let out a keening sound of horror. "I... I thought it was sweat trickling down my legs. Oh, no!"

  "A lass?" Darkin exclaimed as he briefly came out of his mortification to follow our words. Then the realisation that we'd been caught taking our pleasure against the wall of the homestead by a girl pushed his horror to even higher levels.

  "Yes," I answered him before addressing my next questions to the intruder. "How did you get here? And why are you here?" I asked, giving them both something to focus on other than their embarrassment.

  "I walked. I heard in town you were taming airlings for the rebellion. I want to help. I want to fight for the rebellion." Chin jutting out, the girl spoke with so much bravado that I knew she expected to be denied. Mayhap that was why she had dressed as a boy. But the sudden onset of her first blood had given her away.

  "You can't−" Darkin began impatiently.

  I cut him off, knowing just what he was about to say. It didn't require any kind of mind-reading ability to know he was going to tell her she couldn't ride an airling into battle because she was just a little girl.

  "Dark, don't be so hasty. Jaron rode for the Godslunders when he was younger than her, and being a girl doesn't come into it."

  I watched the girl out of the corner of my eye. She'd looked crestfallen the moment Darkin had started to deny her, but hope blossomed a moment later when I interrupted. Now she was staring at me as if the sun and moon rose from the top of my head.

  "Of course it comes into it! And Jaron didn't fight. He acted as a scout during peace time."

  "You're just being a bloody-minded bastard! Just like a man!" Her fiery retort surprised us both with its ferocity and impudence.

  Determined to lighten the situation, I lifted my brows and declared, "He's actually my only husband who isn't a bastard. Now, let's continue this discussion inside after we get you cleaned up and fed. When was the last time you ate?"

  "First light. I brought enough food and water for the two day walk I knew it'd be. That's what he said it would take to get here. Well, three days, but I jogged a good part of the way on the first night."

  "You travelled at night?" Darkin exclaimed yet again. "Do you know how dangerous it is to travel the Badlunds at night?"

  "It's cooler and I knew I'd be less likely to get sun-sickness. And I've got a sling-shot and I can hit anything I aim at," the girl said indignantly, clearly not liking my rule-driven eldest husband. She thought he was disregarding her because she was young and a girl, when I knew it was his over-protectiveness at work.

  I motioned for her to come with me into the homestead. Reluctantly, she did so, scowling at Darkin as she passed him.

  "Is this a whore house? I didn't think there'd be one of them out here. But I guess the riders would need to scratch their itch, and it'd be better to do it here than take the time away to go into town," she said amiably, looking around the interior of our new home with wide eyes.

  I looked at the room from her perspective. From the way she spoke, I knew she had to have spent a lot of time on the streets. Therefore, the large homestead we had been given to set up our Airling Training Centre would seem magnificent to her. Compared to the Airlud's hovel, this place was certainly impressive in size and luxury, although for me it paled beside the decadent splendour of the Godling's harem.

  Darkin groaned and rubbed at his forehead. He closed the door behind us and I knew he was wishing he'd never given in to his passion. But who would have expected a stranger, a girl of all things, to appear out of nowhere to catch us.

  "I won't work in it though, if that's what you're thinking. My Mam said it weren't the life for me and I was to do anything else, even kill, rather than end up working on my back."

  Darkin choked back his shock and indignation, but before he could correct her, I did so. "No, this is not a whorehouse. This is one of my husbands, and we were taking a quiet moment to ourselves for pleasure. We did not expect our privacy to be intruded upon."

  "You speak funny. Are you one of those ladies? I've never seen one, but I've heard about them. But they wear flash gowns and jewels and make their hair all fancy. You don't."

  I couldn't stop my hand from touching the harem knot I still used on my white-blonde hair. It was not particularly attractive, but it was cool.

  "Aye, she's a lady, and you need to learn how to speak to her," Darkin announced in annoyance.

  Instead of being cowed by his tone, the girl's chin came up again. "I speak the same way to everybody. No lady or high-and-mighty beastling herder is going to get different."

  "Beastling herder? Do you not know who you are addressing?" I asked in mock surprise, enjoying the girl's sass.

  She shrugged and looked away, for all the world as if she didn't care who she was addressing.

  "Have you never heard of the Airluds?" I asked, and Darkin grimaced as he saw where I was going with this.

  "'Course I have. They're the ones who're taming the airlings for the rebels. They're famous!" As soon as she finished talking, a thought must have struck her because she paled and her eyes grew huge. She slowly turned to stare at Darkin like she had suddenly realised she was in the presence of a god.

  "You're not... I mean, I thought you were just one of the troopers, like me."

  "You're not a trooper. And you aren't going to be one," Darkin snapped, vexed by the adoration on the girl's face. None of my men thought much of the legend that had sprung up around them. To them they had just been lucky enough to be adopted by a pod of airlings when they were childlings and, because of Calun, they could communicate with them.

  "You're an Airlud?" she breathed, ignoring his words.

  He huffed out a sigh and nodded. "Will that make you mind me now?"

  She considered his question for a moment, pressing her legs together self-consciously. I knew she was concerned about her first blood, but couldn't bring herself to end the conversation. "If you train me to fly airlings I'll mind you."

  Her tone was cheeky and Darkin groaned in frustration yet again. He wasn't used to dealing with impudent young girls. When his brothers were young and stepped out of line he'd cuff them on the back of the head. He still did it sometimes with Jaron. But he couldn't hit this girl. Did she realise that or did she just not care if he punished her for her disrespect?

  "Can we leave this discussion until later? I want to get... What is your name? ... into a bath," I said, putting a hand on her back and urging her forward.

  "Flea, I'm called Flea."

  I knew this had to be a street name. No mother would give their daughter a name like that.

  "What did your mother call you?" I asked, more out of curiosity than the desire to assign another more suitable name to her. Flea was good enough as far as I was concerned.

  "Fellica. But she started calling me Flea when we left our village. That
's when she made me dress as a boy. So I like being Flea."

  "Flea it is," I announced, feeling as if far more than five suns in age separated us. Having so much responsibility heaped on me so suddenly had matured me in a hurry.

  "Go back to work, Dark. I will deal with our charge," I said over my shoulder. When had I gone back to using the name I'd first thought was his? It had become my pet name for him, I realised, much as he called me Beloved.

  "She may be dangerous."

  I lifted my brows at him. "Have you forgotten who you're talking to?"

  I was a better fighter than he was, having watched the youths-in-training for suncycles at the palace and practiced their skills in private. I had fought men twice my size and won. One girl, who might be a few inches taller and a little more solid than I was, couldn't get the better of me.

  He gave a little chuckle and threw up his hands in defeat. "I'll leave the little pest to you then. Her name sure suits her."

  Darkin was out the door before Flea could find a comeback. I laughed at her offended expression.

  "Come along, Flea. Let's get you cleaned up. The road has not been kind to you."

  "How many other wives live here?" she asked me, watching gape-mouthed as I turned on the tap over the bath tub, a few moments later, and the lukewarm water poured forth. It was nothing new to me, this indoor plumbing, but my men had been amazed by it at the rebel stronghold and when we first arrived at the homestead a mooncycle ago. It clearly amazed Flea too.

  "No other wives. We have not reached the stage where we're ready for riders. The airlings have to be tamed first. That is not an easy task."

  Flea shucked off her filthy garments, in a hurry to get in the water, and stood before me unselfconsciously naked. I noted her budding breasts and the growing bush of red curls at her maidenhead. She teetered on the very edge between childhood and womanhood, and I felt another pang of tenderness for her. I remembered this awkward stage, when my body was changing against my will.

  "But don't the other Airluds have wives?" she continued to ask her questions as she climbed into the water and sank in up to her neck. I had added some herbs for aches and pains that the healers had given me, because I thought they might ease any discomfort her first blood had brought with it.

  I grimaced. "My mother would be laughing her head off right now if she were here. I am getting paid back for my suns of asking questions. I never realised how annoying it could be until this moment."

  I laughed a little to take the sting out of my words. I didn't find it annoying. The reverse, actually. It was like looking in a mirror. If I ignored the rough speech and red hair.

  "How can I learn what I need to know if I don't ask questions?" she said, unabashed.

  "Exactly what I used to say. And it is a valid point. So I will do my best to answer your questions. Nay, there are no other wives but me. I am wife to the Airluds."

  She shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand. You're their whore? They share you? Aren't there four of them? That's what the stories say. Four handsome men who're brothers."

  "I'm their wife not their whore. And yes, they share me. They are my harem."

  She took the soap from me without further comment and began to wash herself. I rubbed oil into her hair and then tried to work a comb through the ratty mess. The oil was infused with herbs to kill the creatures I saw moving in the tangle, but they wouldn't stay away long if her hair continued to make such a perfect nest for them. But I didn't have the patience for it, I realised fairly quickly, so reached for the shears.

  The sight of them drew Flea from her thoughts and she edged away from me, hands up to defend herself.

  I sighed heavily. "Do you want to be a rider?"

  She nodded cautiously.

  "Then being neat and tidy is a must. This hair is too matted. It will never be free of the bugs that have taken up residence in it. So we'll do what they did to the Airluds. Do you know that story?"

  She paused for a moment, as if thinking. "How they had their hair cut off and were banished from Godslund for going after their fallen brother?"

  I nodded and smiled. "That's the one. Didn't you notice how short Darkin's hair is? He's only been growing it back for a couple of suncycles now."

  She thought about that for a moment. "So I would be like them?"

  I nodded again. "Just like them. And it will be easier and cooler too. What do you say?"

  She shrugged and moved back so I could get at her hair. I felt bad about cutting it. Mayhap a patient, womanly woman would have sat with her for the hours it would take to work the mess into tidiness, but I was not one of them. And Flea was not a girlish girl. So vanity would not be an issue for her. Not for a few suncycles yet, at least.

  I began cutting away the matted mess, trying to leave as much length as I could. I didn't want her to be bald. By the time I was finished there was a dark red cap of oily curls left.

  The water of the bath was now murky, and a thin slick of grey covered the surface. I shuddered. I remembered what my bath water had looked like after spending five searing days in a covered wagon. It had looked a lot like this.

  "Wash the oil out with the soap and then stand up and I'll rinse you off," I told her. "Have you pain from your first blood?"

  "A little, but the bath's helped. I didn't know what was happening. My Mam bled once a mooncycle, o' course, so I knew that was part of being a woman. But I've been a boy for so long I just never thought it'd happen to me. I've been feeling pains in my belly for a few days now, but I thought it was the sun-sickness or bad food."

  It was like listening to my younger self talking. I remember thinking that I wouldn't be like other girls. I trained like a boy so my body would stay like a boy's. It was disappointing when my breasts started to grow and I experienced my first blood. For the first time I had to acknowledge that I was becoming a weak and emotional woman.

  I considered my feelings about womanhood back then. Though I had resented my twin brother's derogatory attitude toward women, mine wasn't much different. The only women I knew were those of the harem, and they were all empty-headed idiots. My mother was not like that, of course. But she was the exception that proved the rule as far as I was concerned. It wasn't until I met some of the other Elemental Mistresses at the rebel stronghold that I realised my views were skewed.

  Thinking about how hard I'd fought against becoming a woman reminded me how hard I'd recently fought against being the Prophesied One. It was like I thought I could stop things being true just by thinking it so. Unfortunately, I might have powers gifted to me by the Goddess, but making things so, just by the power of my thoughts, wasn't quite within my grasp. Oh, I could call up the wind by a thought, and even open the ground up, like an Earth Mistress might, but I could not stop my body becoming a woman nor stop being the Goddess Incarnate just by denying it.

  While Flea washed her hair, I went in search of a fresh tunic and breeches for the girl. I had a much larger collection these days, so I could spare Flea one set. But they might be a bit tight on her as she was larger than me, even though so much younger.

  By the time I got back, Flea was ready to be rinsed off. She had to bend her knees and I had to stand on a low stool we used to get in and out of the bath tub, but we soon had her rinsed off. While she towelled herself dry, I laid out the clothes I had found, as well as the rags I had collected for her first blood. I would have to set Bertil the task of making her up more. Being a woman was a messy business. It was one of the benefits of being pregnant. No more monthly flow.

  My clothes fitted her well enough and she was inordinately pleased to have them. She even seemed happy with her cap of red curls.

  "It's so much lighter," she said in amazement, running her fingers through the curls. "And not itchy anymore."

  "We have a special herbal mix we use on our hair. The airlings all carry bugs so we regularly need to make sure they do not share them with us."

  She laughed and agreed that was sensible as we made our
way into the kitchen.

  Chapter Three

  AIRSHA

  By the time Flea had eaten her fill, my men had all drifted in to see the new arrival. As each came in the back door separately, Flea examined them as they examined her. Most of her initial awe at meeting Airluds was gone. But what I found interesting was that she showed no fear of them. A girl on her own, even one dressing as a boy, should have learned to be cautious and fearful around strange men.

  "What'd you do to her hair?" Jaron asked as he tipped his head to the side to study my handiwork.

  "I cut it. If it was good enough for you then it's good enough for her."

  "She's a girl," Jaron stated, as if that was argument enough for it not being good enough for her.

  "Yes, how observant of you," I replied, tongue-in-cheek. "Your point is?"

  "Girls like to look pretty. Even young ones."

  I looked at Flea, who was looking at me, and we both rolled our eyes.

  "Do you want to be pretty, Flea?" I asked sweetly.

  "Not particularly. I want to be a rebel fighting for the Goddess."

  "I thought you wanted to be an airling trooper," Darkin said, leaning against the counter so he could rub his shoulder against mine. The glow of our joining was still with us both.

  "I do. I heard you don't have to be big and strong to join the new airling army. So that's what I want to do."

  "How did you find out about this so-called airling army," Rama demanded, his scarred face a mask of intimidation. If any of my men could scare this girl it would be Rama. Not even his blonde good looks could make up for the ugly scars that marred his features. Not that I noticed them anymore. And when I did they only added to his appeal, but to anyone else he was a daunting sight.

  Sometimes he referred to himself as a monster. It hurt me more than I could say when he did so. He hadn't wanted to be the father of my babe because, in his eyes, he was a bad seed. His father had been a monster who beat his mother; so he must be one too. That he'd enjoyed killing the man who murdered his mother, when he was only fourteen, just confirmed the fact for him. Any child of his would have to be a monster as well. I'd argued him straight on that error of reasoning, but I could sense that at times he still believed it to be true.