KNIGHT'S FORK

“I’m at your service in this, Ma’am. I’ve never
refused a fight.”

I’ve never lost one, either!

To his surprise, instead of making a pass at him, she sauntered
over to join him at the service niche. She took up an Imperial
armorers’ sponge in her fingers, and began cleaning and
disinfecting the blade of an épée, which showed that she knew
what she was doing.

Her curled hand stroked firmly up and down the long shaft,
leaving a gleaming trail of moisture where the sponge in her palm
had pressed. The erotic suggestion was almost certainly
deliberate.

Two could play at that.

Two probably would. They both had a lot to learn, and most of
it was about sex, one way or another.

“Are you ready to demonstrate your prowess at sword-play,
Your Majesty?”

“Let’s make this interesting,” she whispered. “I challenge you
to a proper duel. To the drawing of first blood. If you lose, you
will impregnate me.”

He untangled his weapon and stepped back. It was such an
unusual reversal of the way these things usually played out that it
took a moment to come up with a suitable rebuff.

“If I lose, I impregnate you?” he rasped a follow up question
when their actions brought them close enough to whisper again.
“And if you win, you don’t have to, darling.” She was
breathing heavily, and her words were audible.

She was shameless! She turned morality upside down. She
was in sore need of a very stiff lesson.

“It seems to me,” he said slowly, striving for the right balance
of arrogance and legal pedantry, “that I don’t ‘have to’ anyway.”
Her heart rate increased. Hearing the faster beat excited him.
As they circled and feinted, he found himself eyeing her with
indecent interest.

The superb, layered cut of her outfit allowed for a surprising
range of movement. When she twirled, the panels of her coatdress top flew wide, revealing a glossy, lipstick red lining. Her
reflection in the long wall of mirrors showed her long, slender,
racehorse legs.

Nice legs. Shame about the… morals.

Excerpts

Prologue

'RHETT INTRODUCES HIS FIRST EXCERPT

Electra-Djerroldina's point of view

The TRAJANT'S TRAJANT