At the King's Pleasure (Epic Fantasy BDSM Romance)

At the King’s Pleasure

Michelle Fox

Copyright 2013. All rights
reserved.

Smashwords Edition.

Smashwords License
Statement

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another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.
If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not
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Blurb

Virgin princess Liana had planned to
live a life of spiritual purity and devotion, but when an ancient
prophecy throws her into the bed of a barbarian king, his demanding
touch takes her to the heights of pleasure...and pain.

A short erotic fantasy romance of 8000
words. Expect a strong, stern king who shows no mercy and a
princess who rises to the challenge.

This Book Was Banned
&Amazon’s Dirty Secret

This book was originally
published under the title
Princess at His
Pleasure
. Amazon removed the book from
search to prevent readers from finding it. It was republished under
the title
At the King’s Pleasure
and promptly removed from search again--ostensibly
due to graphic content. (It’s hard to take Amazon’s concerns over
content seriously when books like Fifty Shades of Grey and
Tampa--which depicts graphic, non consensual sex between adults and
minors--are promoted across their site.) In October of 2013, Amazon
banned
At the King’s Pleasure
for the use of the word ‘virgin’ in the blurb. You
can read more about the great book banning of 2013 on
Indie Reader.

Once the word ‘virgin’ was removed from
the blurb, the book was reinstated, although it continues to not be
listed in Amazon.com’s search engine. What does that mean? Even if
you search for the exact title and author name, the book will not
come up. Before it was delisted, it was a bestseller. Now readers
can’t even find the book to buy it.

What many readers don’t know about
Amazon is they routinely ‘hide’ content from consumers with no
disclosure. Since the tactic disproportionately affects independent
authors, this leaves traditionally published work to frequent
Amazon search engine results and pushes consumers into higher price
points. Essentially, the free will and pocketbooks of readers are
manipulated by Amazon with no disclosure.

It’s not the indie books
you can see in book listings, it’s all the ones Amazon won’t let
you read.

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Bonus

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Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction intended for
adults age 18 and over. Minors should stop here and close the book.
All events depicted are fictional. Characters are consenting
adults. Any resemblance to places and persons, living or dead, is
unintentional coincidence.

While the author has tried to
accurately portray the BDSM lifestyle, please note this story is a
fantastical imagining of BDSM. Reality may differ. Don’t try this
at home unless you know what you are doing.

Every effort has been made to provide a
quality reading experience, but editors and technology are
fallible. Please report typos or formatting issues to
[email protected].

At the King’s
Pleasure

“
You will please him or die
trying.” Queen Freiana looked down at me with a cold expression. My
sister had always been practical, but becoming queen had brought
out a hardness I had never seen before. The drought had dried up
what good temper she had, leaving her on the edge of cruelty. She
would cut me right now with it, if she could.

“
Why don’t
you
marry him, your
grace?” I asked even though I knew my fate had been determined.
Behind me, the chambermaid released the last stay of my bodice and
caught my dress as it dropped to the floor. I stepped out of my
silk skirts and stood in the center of my bed chamber waiting for
her to remove my shift.

“
Because I can’t rule Siana
from the deserts of Dalik.” She frowned. “The barbarian king was
clear, he has no interest in Siana. Breaking the drought is as much
as he wants to unite our kingdoms.”

I snorted. “I don’t believe that. A
king who doesn’t want more land? Is a liar.” The barbarian had come
riding forth from the desert full of promises and prophecies. He
swore the rain would come if I would but lie with him. Of course,
he had waited to appear until drought fever took my parents and our
enemies had gathered, thinking to strike while we were weak. One
way or another it would rain. The question remained, would it be
water or blood?

She pursed her lips and gave a small
shake of her head, the light catching the diamonds on her crown.
Just a month before, the same crown had graced my mother’s head.
Now she would never wear it again.“He is no more happy in his
choice of betrothed than you are, sister.”

I bristled at the idea that
some uncouth nomad would think I was less than a good match. I had
gold, I could read, and I had the manners to navigate a noble life
with ease. The Daliki had tents of goat hide in a desert they
claimed only because no one else wanted it. If anything, I was too
good for
him.
“What
are you saying, sister?”

She waved a hand, cutting off further
conversation. “You can discuss it with him.” She paused, giving me
an arch look. “After you fulfill your duties, of course.” She
stared me down until I nodded. Although reluctant, my silent
promise of obedience satisfied her and she said, “Excellent. Now,
take off your shift and let’s see this dress the barbarian king has
gifted you.”

I bit my lip to keep myself quiet as
all sorts of smart remarks clamored to be given voice. The
chambermaid raised the shift over my head and the cool spring air
hit my skin. I shivered, naked save for my stockings and
shoes.

Another chambermaid came forward with
the gauze fabric King Kafele called a gown. He had instructed me to
be naked underneath even though the dress was as see-through as
glass on a foggy day. As the translucent material floated over my
head to cloud around my body, hot tears gathered in my
eyes.

“
It’s rather...scandalous.”
My sister walked around me, her footsteps measured as she
considered the gown. “Although I’m given to understand that nudity
is welcomed amongst them.”

I shuddered and closed my eyes,
shutting out my present and the future unfolding before me. I had
been raised for the modesty of the temple cloister, focused my life
on the divine Mother Goddess. Today, my body would be displayed
like a market ware, paraded in front of a King who didn’t even have
a palace, but instead preferred to live in a tent out in the
desert. The servants said he even ate with his hands, like a
peasant.

Regret, grief and fear flooded me. I
sniffed trying to contain my emotions.

In the space of a moon turn,
our parents had died, Freiana ascended the throne and arranged my
marriage to the Daliki king not only to bring the rain, but also in
return for his military support. We had few friends and a great
number of enemies. Half of them wanted to marry my sister in order
to gain control of the world’s most valuable trade routes, while
the rest plotted assassination attempts with three foiled just the
past week. Meanwhile,
everyone
assembled their armies, just in case it came down
to war. The price of peace was throwing me to the barbarians and
praying that old prophecies could still come true.

Freiana gave me a sharp look. “The
Daliki abhor weakness, sister. Keep your tears to yourself lest
they think to strengthen you with a beating.”

I blanched. Surely she
jested?

She nodded to the guard at the entrance
and he snapped to attention, pulling the door open. “You’ll soon
learn queens have no time for such silliness.” Freiana swept from
the room in a rustle of gray silk, tossing one final admonishment
over her shoulder, “Fail to please him and all of Siana
suffers.”

I watched her go, frozen in place as
the chambermaids fussed over the drape of the flimsy gown. As if
that would fix its transparency. The fabric offered no protection
from the cold and my nipples hardened underneath. Shame rose to
burn in my cheeks at the thought of everyone seeing me so wantonly
displayed. Today I would be a Sianan whore among the Daliki
wolves.

I would give my body and soul to a
savage and together, we would do the most intimate kind of rain
dance.

***

Before the Daliki King came to claim me
as his bride, a welcome distraction arrived in the form of a visit
from the High Priestess. I threw a robe over my see-through dress,
not wanting to be immodest in front of the Goddess.

At the sight of her familiar blue gown
and her softly wrinkled face, I sank to my knees before, touching
my forehead to her hand. “Mother.”

“
Child.” She patted my cheek
with a gnarled hand. “Please, let’s sit.”

I settled into the chair next to her,
feeling calmed by her presence alone. “Would you like tea,
Mother?”

“
Please.”

I nodded to the chambermaid who
scurried off to put a pot of water on the fire. I prepared the tea,
selecting a fragrant rose blend my mother had taught me to make.
She had always said the mix of rose with citrus from the garden was
the only way she could hold onto the summer months during the long
Sianan winters. My mother had been from the South where winter was
weak and she battled the cold like an enemy all her
life.

“
I miss the temple,” I said,
offering the Mother a sweet. I always kept a tin of them
around.

She waved away the candy. “The Mother
Goddess is always with you.”

“
I don’t feel her outside
the temple.” I selected a confection of honey and berry for
myself.

“
Sometimes her hand in our
affairs is a cold one, child, but you must trust her to set the
path.” Mother’s smile was sympathetic. “Faith is easy in the temple
cloisters. The real test is holding on to it in the real
world.”

I nodded my agreement as the
chambermaid brought the now warm water and filled our cups. Taking
a sip, I savored the way the sweet mingled with the tea’s
aftertaste.

Mother cleared her throat. “I brought a
gift for you, child.”

“
A gift?” I looked at her
puzzled. Why would the Mother give me anything?

“
Yes,” she said, chuckling
at my astonishment.“You are still her child, princess. The Mother
Goddess has asked me to help you as I can.” She put a hand into the
pocket of her robe and pulled forth a necklace. Made of tarnished
silver, it held a light blue stone in its center about the size of
my thumb knuckle.

I took it, surprised at its weight. It
was heavy for all that it looked delicate and finely wrought. “It’s
beautiful.”

“
And more. It’s tongue
stone.”

My eyes went wide. Tongue stone was
rare enough that few people had ever seen one. Scholars said it was
a legend, but there, in my hands, was proof of its existence. “For
me?”

“
Who else? You marry a King
whose tongue you do not speak. You unite with a people you do not
know. This will aid you in your duty to bring us both rain and
peace.”

I put on the necklace, its cold weight
settling over me like death. “Do you think it’s true?”

“
What? That the tongue stone
will work? Yes. It’s no myth.”

I shook my head. “That the barbarian
king is right?”

She paused for a moment and then gave a
decisive nod. “Yes, child. If you mate with this man, the rains
will come. This is the prophecy.”

“
How can this
be?”

“
When the Goddess left us to
rule this earth, we were given the means to ensure our survival.
Should the waters of Siana go dry, the heat of the Daliki will
renew the wells. They were given magic.”