Coronation

By Grace R. Duncan

When a country crowns a new ruler, the people rejoice. For most, it’s a time to put away old fears and look to a future of peace and prosperity. But for Teman, a pleasure slave in the land of Neyem, the coronation of his love and master Bathasar fills him with new fears.

Assassination rumors roll through the country—and Bathasar is the target. And Teman knows a malik has many duties. Bathasar may not have room in his life for devotion to a slave—a lover he can’t publicly claim. The love they have might shine brighter than the crown’s jewels, but only if they can keep it alive against all odds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grace R. Duncan
• Release date: May 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005371654

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Copyright Information

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Second Edition Copyright © 2022 Grace R. Duncan

First Edition Copyright ©2013 Dreamspinner Press

Cover Art by Grace R. Duncan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, and where permitted by law. Reviewers may quote brief passages in a review. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Grace at [e-mail]

Table of Contents

Copyright Information

About Coronation

Dedication

In the alleys of Behekem…

Preview for Choices

Preview for Deception

About Grace

About Coronation

When a country crowns a new ruler, the people rejoice. For most, it’s a time to put away old fears and look to a future of peace and prosperity. But for Teman, a pleasure slave in the land of Neyem, the coronation of his love and master Bathasar fills him with new fears.

Assassination rumors roll through the country—and Bathasar is the target. And Teman knows a malik has many duties. Bathasar may not have room in his life for devotion to a slave—a lover he can’t publicly claim. The love they have might shine brighter than the crown’s jewels, but only if they can keep it alive against all odds.

Dedication

To Joe: for never letting me doubt for long.

In the alleys of Behekem…

Teman was trying very hard not to laugh. Bathasar looked exceedingly annoyed, and Teman knew his lover was getting much closer to downright angry over everything he was having to do. But Bathasar was also an incredibly patient man—sometimes too patient, in Teman’s opinion—and was dealing well with what everyone was putting him through.

Which was a lot. Bathasar was used to making decisions; Teman knew this. But the amount of planning that went into a coronation was worse than anything Teman had seen in the nine months his lover had been on the throne.

At the moment, Bathasar was standing in the main portion of their rooms, arms out from his sides as the tailor pinned, tucked, and adjusted his new robes. Bathasar had tried to argue he didn’t need new robes, but everyone from Ahmed to Zalman had insisted that, for his coronation, he did in fact need to appear in something brand new. As such, he’d spent an entire morning the week before looking at swatch after swatch of fabric—and had later confessed to Teman they all looked the same to him, save the colors.

Teman knew Bathasar hated having to deal with the pomp and circumstance. He was perfectly happy talking to foreign leaders, working out trade agreements, and making decisions on things like land ownership. He could deal with dinners and court sessions, but he was much happier behind the scenes.

So, all the activity for the coronation had been wearing on him. Teman had, more than once, nearly dragged the man into bed to get him to rest. With the planning going on, he’d been spending his evenings and late into the night working on the duties he’d normally be occupied with during the day.

Teman couldn’t remember the last time they’d had sex. There had been too much going on. Bathasar apologized for it, but Teman knew his lover was having as much trouble as he was—and maybe even more so—because of it. But, thankfully, the mess would be over in one more week, and they could get back to some semblance of normalcy.

At least, Teman hoped so.

In the sanest part of his mind, Teman knew this was a formality. This was just a ceremony for the people of Neyem to celebrate the crowning of their new ruler. But Teman couldn’t help but wonder if it might change things for them.

He was used to change. He’d spent his life moving from place to place as a hayim, members of his clan coming and going as the winds called them. He dealt very well, in fact, with it. But he began to wonder how much change this might entail. Would Bathasar realize there were other duties he would need to attend to? He’d insisted he wouldn’t marry, but he was the leader of their country, and Teman wasn’t sure Bathasar would continue to think that way. And Teman knew he couldn’t share Bathasar with a wife.

It was true they spent time with Cyrus and Nadir on a fairly regular basis. But that was different. There were no promises, no vows. There was no duty. They were friends to both, and they simply enjoyed each other’s company. Sometimes that meant sex, but as pleasure slaves, sex was a big part of who they were. With the conditioning and training still in place for him—and it would always be in place for Cyrus and Nadir—their minds were often on sex. And so, of course, that was part