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“Aye.”

“Because he touched me?”

Sven frowned. “He did more than touch you. He brought you to your woman’s pleasure, more than once.”

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Her cheeks flushed. “Did he tell you that?”

“Nay. I know what you look like when you have been well serviced.” He reached up to stroke the soft skin of her wrist. “That is how you looked this morning.”

She bit down on her lip, her eyes troubled. “You’re right. I am a hypocrite. I should not have let him touch me.”

Sven frowned. “Why not? You are an unattached female. It is your right.”

“Not where I come from.”

“But you are on Valhalla, now. That is what males do for females.”

She held his gaze. “It still felt wrong. At first, when I woke up and realized what was happening, I thought it was you.”

He swallowed hard. “I wish it had been.”

She attempted a smile. He realized she often tried to turn things into a joke or turn the question against him when he came too close. “Why? You were probably getting busy with the queen.”

Sven stood up. “You are confusing two different things.”

“So everyone keeps telling me.” She walked back toward the door. Was she too embarrassed to continue the conversation? He had to make her stay. Sven cleared his throat.

“I apologize for calling you a hypocrite.”

She stopped and slowly turned around. “You shouldn’t. I’m the one who dumped you for doing the queen and then let a perfect stranger sex me up in the shower.”

“You are too critical of yourself. As an unattached female you should revel in your sexuality.”

“Yeah right, and you weren’t jealous either.”

Sven bowed. “Touché, my lady.”

Her mouth quirked up at the corner as if she was trying not to laugh.” I don’t think that’s a Valhallan expression.”

“Nay, I picked it up from your Earth cartoons.”

She smiled properly for the first time. “We’re stuck here together, Sven, for the next few weeks. Can we at least try to be friends?”

He frowned. “I’ve never had a female friend.”

“Well, here’s your opportunity.” She blew him a kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Aye, my lady, tomorrow.”

Sven watched her leave and then sat back down on the edge of the fountain. He put his head in his hands and growled a few choice curses. His
friend
? He would never understand the workings of a woman’s mind. He’d come to her, tried to open his heart and tell her how he felt. By Thor, he’d even admitted he was
jealous
and she’d still decided he wanted to be her friend.

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“Is everything okay, Sven?”

He looked up to see the queen silhouetted in the doorway.

“With all due respect, My Queen, I am trying and failing to make Ms. Cooper understand that my relationship with you is not the same as the one I wish to have with her. I’m not sure if she simply doesn’t understand or doesn’t care.”

Douglass nodded. “It’s okay, Sven, I understand. Did Marcus tell you he is meeting with Thorlan the council leader tomorrow to ask about releasing you from your vows?”

Sven raised his head. “He is? I didn’t know.” A spark of hope ignited in his gut.

“Perhaps Thea would welcome me if I were free.”

“Perhaps she would.”

“Or maybe the king is right and the mere idea that I touched you at all is unforgivable to a woman raised on Earth.” Sven sighed and fixed his attention on the queen who was looking thoughtful. He frowned. He’d learned to fear that expression over the past year or so.

“My Queen?”

“Perhaps Ms. Cooper needs to see what’s in front of her nose.” The queen nodded.

“I have to go find the king.”

Sven stood up as she hurried away from him, a deep sense of unease clouding his senses. What in Thor’s name was the queen going to do and how did it affect him and Thea?

After dinner, Thea wandered back up to her suite, her mind busy pondering Sven and his apology. Were he and Matt right that she didn’t believe herself worthy to be loved? She thought back to her past relationships. The men she’d chosen to go out with tended to be the kind she knew would eventually hurt her. She tended to ignore the nice decent guys. Did she really feel so undeserving?

Thea stopped dead in the hallway. Just because her father had abandoned her and her mother sucked at relationships, didn’t mean she had to as well. Perhaps having Sven as a friend would be a good way of learning how to love a man for himself rather than for what he could give or take from her. Not that Sven had seemed very keen on the idea. He’d looked positively stunned.

She opened the door to her suite and saw Woden sitting on the couch by the window strumming a musical instrument. He got up when he saw her.

“My lady, are you all right? You seem a little upset.”

Thea sat down on the couch beside him. “I’ve just been thinking about all the men in my life and how much they suck.”

Woden nodded wisely. “Aye, some males suck better than others.”

Thea stared at him. “What?”

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“I am agreeing with you. Some men are better at sucking a woman’s breasts and pussy than others.” He patted his chest. “I have been told I’m very thorough.”

“Woden, is sex all you ever think about?”

He frowned and folded his arms across his bare chest. “Nay, my lady. I think about hunting and fighting as well.”

“You’re such a guy.”

“And is that a good thing?”

Thea smiled. “You’re pure male.”

He grinned at her. “Now
that
I understand. Thank you for the compliment.” He got to his feet and bowed. “Would you like to take your bath now?”

She let Woden bathe her and massage perfumed oil into her skin until she felt as relaxed as warm taffy. She even let him make her come twice without allowing guilt to overwhelm her pleasure or her yearning for it to be Sven. Now she lay naked on her stomach while he massaged her buttocks, his strong fingers deliberately penetrating her anus with every firm stroke. She turned her head to look at him.

“What is it with you Valhallan men and my ass?”

“When your male lovers on Earth service you, don’t they make sure you can take them here easily too?” Woden added a third finger, making her squirm on the pale silk sheets.

“As I said before, on Earth it’s usually only
one
lover, if you can find one.”

Woden chuckled. “But how can one male satisfy a female? Why do you think the gods gave you enough openings to allow three cocks? One poor man would be exhausted by the end of the night.”

An image of the queen and her bodyguards flashed in Thea’s brain and she shivered. Woden continued to speak as he thumbed her swollen clit.

“Valhallan males know that it takes a woman longer to reach arousal. They understand that they can all play their part in making a female ready for her mate, even if they aren’t mated themselves.”

A clock chimed somewhere in the distance and the outer door to her suite opened with a rush of warm air. Woden kissed her shoulder.

“Let me see who it is. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Thea’s eyes began to close. Woden touched her cheek.

“My lady, the king wishes to see you.”

Thea opened one eye. “Now?”

“Aye, it is important. It concerns the queen.”

She scrambled to sit up and Woden threw a thick cloak over her nakedness. One of the palace guards guided them along the deserted moonlit corridors at a fast pace.

Having an excellent sense of direction, Thea soon recognized they weren’t heading 91

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directly to the queen’s chambers, but to the king’s, which she hadn’t yet seen. The wide doors opened to display the king, who inclined his head.

“Ah, Ms. Cooper. Thank you for joining me.”

Thea stared at the king, who wore nothing but a tight fitting pair of leather pants.

She grabbed at the edges of her cloak, suddenly aware of her nakedness and the fact that she was alone with two virile Valhallan males.

“Good evening, Sire. How can I help you?”

The king gestured to Woden, who guided her across the vast bedroom to stand beside him. She tried hard not to look at the massive bed covered in gray silk sheets and fur coverings.

“The queen came to me this evening and asked if I would allow you to watch with me.”

Thea swallowed hard. “Watch what, Sire?”

“This.” The king pulled the silk drapes away to reveal a mirror which looked down on the queen’s bedroom. Thea tried to back up but found her way blocked by Woden’s muscular frame.

“I don’t think I should be looking at this at all, Sire. I feel like a peeping Tom.”

“It is all right, Ms. Cooper. They cannot see you.”

In the room below, the queen lay back on her cream silk pillows, her head pillowed in Sven’s lap. Bron knelt between her legs, his mouth working her sex and Harlan licked and plucked at her nipples. Beside Thea, the king groaned.

“My queen looks so beautiful being pleasured, does she not?”

Thea bit her lip. What the hell was she supposed to say? Woden cleared his throat.

“She is magnificent, Sire. I would be honored to pleasure her myself.”

Thea tensed. Was Woden crazy? Surely the king would find his remarks offensive?

“Thank you, Woden. She is indeed memorable in the throes of climaxing, her nipples tight, her pussy covered in cream and open for my cock.”

Thea tried to put some distance between the king and herself but Woden had her pressed up against the mirror. Was the king some kind of pervert who could only get off by watching other men fornicate with his wife? Was this what Sven had been trying to tell her?

Thea couldn’t stop staring at Sven’s beautiful body as he caressed the queen’s hair and occasionally kissed her mouth when she thrashed around, caught up in yet another climax. His expression was distant as if he wasn’t fully participating in the orgy of pleasure surrounding him. Was he thinking of Thea as he was forced to pleasure his king’s wife? A thread of pure lust pushed through her anxiety.

Woden groaned, slid his hands beneath her cloak and captured her breasts. His thumbs brushed her erect nipples and she trembled. Below them, Bron moved to one side, momentarily exposing the queen’s sex to the watchers above. He kissed the 92

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queen’s knee, his cock rubbing against her outer thigh and thrust his fingers in and out of her until she writhed on the bed.

Harlan slid a hand down over the queen’s flat stomach and fingered her clit in time to Bron’s long measured finger thrusts. Thea could see his cock now, stiff and glistening with pre-cum as he pleasured the queen.

The king leaned closer against the mirrored glass, his breathing harsh, one hand buried down the front of his leather pants working his shaft.

“By Odin, she will be well serviced tonight.”

Woden’s hand slipped between Thea’s legs. She was so wet, her folds parted easily to let his fingers enter her. Sven got off the bed and retrieved a gold chest from the window seat. Despite his apparent lack of interest, he was aroused, his shaft thick and stiff beneath the thin silk covering his groin. Thea tensed as he returned to the bed and sat between the queen’s widespread thighs. Woden nipped at her ear.

“You see? Valhallan men understand how to make a woman ready to take a male.

Sven will fill her now.” Thea tried to close her eyes. “She will need to be filled well. The king is a big man.”

“So is Sven.” She tried to push away from Woden. “I really don’t want to see this.”

The king glanced at her, his expression uncompromising. “Ms. Cooper, you really do.”

She forced herself to stare at Sven’s naked back. Perhaps the king was right. Seeing Sven fuck the queen might make it easier for her to hate him forever and get over him quicker. She tensed as Sven opened the jeweled box and withdrew several objects.

Woden whispered in her ear. “Sven is preparing the queen for her mating. He will fill her with the two pleasure givers so that she will take the king with ease.”

“Take the king?”

“Aye.”

“But the king is standing right next to us!”

“Not for long.” Woden’s fingers moved against her mound, sliding between her swollen lips. “As soon as his mate is well aroused by her servers, he will go down to her.”

Thea took a deep breath and removed Woden’s hand from between her legs, difficult when her body was on the verge of a climax. “The servers don’t make love to her, do they?”

The king laughed as he stepped out of his leather pants to display the biggest erection Thea had ever seen. He wrapped his fingers around his shaft and added a thick gold cock ring.

“Douglass is my wife. I am the only male who gives her my seed.”

She stared at him as he continued to play with his cock, his gaze fixed on the scene below him. “So Sven hasn’t…”

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“Mated with my queen? Nay.”

Thea shivered as the king dropped a hand on her shoulder.

“Ms. Cooper, please try to understand. Sven is only doing what any Valhallan male should, offering his services to a fertile female. Does that offend you?”

“I’m not sure, Sire. It’s just not what I’m used to.”

Hadn’t Sven told her that he’d only mated with one woman? What the hell was going on? If he hadn’t meant the queen, who had he been mated with? Thea tried hard not to look at the king’s magnificent nakedness, although he was so large it was difficult to see anything else. He sighed.

“Take Ms. Cooper back to her suite, Woden, and make sure you give her pleasure.

She has a lot to think about.”

He bowed and headed for a discreet door next to the mirrored glass. Moments later, he joined the queen on the large bed. Douglass held out her arms to welcome him, her expression radiant. Sven and his companions left the room and Thea closed her eyes.

Her body throbbed with sensual heat. How would it feel to be Sven or Harlan or Bron, denied the opportunity to finish what they had started? How did they bear it? Did that explain the intensity in Sven’s eyes when he made love to her, that desire for completion, to possess a woman of his own?