The Empire (The Lover's Opalus) by Grayson Reyes-Cole

for Lanus, his denial had come three rings too late. She had betrayed him with Galan a long time ago.
    “Raeche.”
    “No woman comes to your bed,” she growled, her fists tight at her sides.
    “Eyes like the soil in the forest, hair the color of the foundation of the Living Tree, skin like watered Black Seed Extract. Frightened of her own shadow yet foolishly audacious at the oddest of times. No woman lives but you, little dark one.”
    He used a tone of sincerity and appeal. He settled his soft green gaze on her. Raeche wanted to crawl into bed with him, rub her cheek against his chest. Let him touch her heavy breasts. She let out a frustrated sound. He had been angry. Refused to lie with her. Then he said lovely words that seemed oddly natural parting a warrior’s lips.
    “Lanus.” She whispered his name, her first use of it.
    “My Raeche.”
    She felt his Spirit reach for hers and warmed. But her husband pulled back, distanced himself from her once more. In doing so, he inspired her temper.
    “You do not want to discuss Rucha?”
    His lips compressed into a line before he answered. “What is there to discuss? Rucha is my daughter.”
    “She is,” Raeche agreed, “but how…”
    “You know.”
    Raeche dragged her fingers through her heavy black locks. “But you were there when I met him.”
    “Indeed.” With his first two fingers, Lanus rubbed at his brow as he did sometimes in private moments. Then, as if he realized what he did, he jerked his hand down and leveled his gaze at her. “All watched as his eyes followed you from the time you entered the hall–a tiny beauty with dark hair, dark eyes, wearing a metallic gray dress weighted with black and blue jewels that sparkled as they embraced and revealed. All saw the shy smile with which you favored him. All heard the softened sounds as he blew an ancient song of love instead of the dancing song he was commissioned to play.”
    “ You knew .”
     

 

 
    Chapter 10
     
    “I knew. I also knew he tricked Taritana into giving you his gift which was not a gift at all.”
    “It was a flower from the single-vine.” Raeche remembered clearly the blood red petals that turned to pink then to white until she held not a bloom at all but a bit of parchment with a heartfelt plea.
    “The flower turned to a missive which asked you to meet him at–”
    “At the Lovers’ Opalus.”
    Raeche ran her hands over the soft, thin material covering her hips. Like beams from the daystar, Lanus’s gaze struck her hands and the movement of the fabric over her body.
    “Do you know why it is called the Lovers’ Opalus?”
    She did. All knew. “The Lovers’ Opalus is a round, smooth white rock surrounded by two pleats or folds of the same smooth rock but darker. Some say it appears as if the earth gives birth to a new nightstar. Some say it is Emperor Qualyan’s milk-blind eye.”
    “Men say that it looks like the hooded bud of a woman’s sex.”
    Raeche shivered then took a soft step forward. His awareness of her had grown so much. It was as if he embraced her with his gaze. She put her own arms around her waist and did not care when the front of her gown dipped. Instead she watched him shift his lower body slightly. Watched his mouth move.
    “I think that it does in truth look like that.”
    Raeche swallowed and rubbed her eyes before running her fingers through her hair. She could no longer stand still. She lifted the hem of her dress to scratch a light itch on the inside of her thigh before finishing the tale. “It is said that the Lovers’ Opalus protects forbidden lovers. When two who are forbidden to love agree to meet at this place they are never stopped, never caught.”
    Lanus rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling with one knee bent. He laced his fingers over his eyes. But his temper reached out and stroked her skin with flame. “I can bear witness that this is true.”
    “I met with him but once there. We shared no more than a