Yash

Yash watched the sun set on his wedding night, brooding. He didn't like the royal palace outside of Zarquon, he didn't like being married at fifteen when his older brother was still betrothed, he didn't like leaving his hometown of Agharek to come to Arquon. But he was a prince of Akkora and knew both his worth and his duty.

He couldn't complain about the bride. Princess Meena was one year younger than him and pretty enough, but she hadn't smiled once since they had met. She had pouted throughout the ceremony and the banquet, and now she had left him waiting in their bedroom. He didn't think a woman would need so much time to prepare for bed, not even on her wedding night.

Candles flamed on with a magic breeze and he stared puzzled at the light in the room. So it was true, there was real magic in Arquon. He glanced worried at the darkened sky outside, then Meena appeared out of nothing, accompanied by Ramesh, the High Priest of the Sect who had performed the wedding ceremony. The princess wore a white silken nightgown, the priest only a red loincloth, showing off a tattooed torso that had been covered thus far.

"Prince Yash, your bride," Ramesh said, offering Meena's hand.

He hesitantly took it, but the princess kept staring at her feet, still pouting. He pulled her closer and lifted her chin, but she refused to look him in the eyes.

"You didn't have to marry me if you didn't want to," he snapped, letting her go. True that she didn't have her father anymore and maybe her brother the king had spoiled her. Still, it wasn't fair that he had obeyed while she so obviously wasn't willing to make it work.

"Of course she wanted to." Ramesh pushed her towards him. "Come on, Meena, show him."

She turned to glare at the High Priest. "Why? You already have enough of me?"

Yash blinked, incredulous. What was going on? Why was Ramesh still in the room? Why was his bride more keen to sleep with an older man than with him?

"I know what to do tonight," he said, thinking maybe she was afraid he had no experience at all.

She scoffed at him. "I'm sure you do. But you'll never be as good as Ramesh."

What? He gaped at both.

Ramesh shrugged and signaled to ignore her. ""Meena, Yash is your husband and you will sleep with him now. " The High Priest spoke as if he were talking to a child.

She glared at him again. "Fine!" she spat and went to the bed, taking off her nightgown and throwing it at Yash who was too stunned to move.

"Please," Ramesh motioned him towards the bed. "She's all yours."

Nonplussed, Yash turned his back on the High Priest and went to the bed.

He took Meena in his arms, kissing and caressing her, but she kept watching over his shoulder and behaved as if he wasn't there. He pulled back, snorting in frustration.

"Meena, I can't do it if you're not with me!" he complained.

"I see you need help." Ramesh's voice behind him startled him. Meena smiled triumphantly as Ramesh joined them on the bed.

"No, wait, I don't need..."

Ramesh grabbed his male parts and he gasped. He tried to free himself, but the other man was stronger and kept stroking him and touching him until he moaned.

Ramesh kissed Meena who opened her legs to Yash at last. The young prince trust inside her, still upset by her behavior and Ramesh's touch. That wasn't what he had expected. He had never considered having another man in his married bed.

"Has he come yet?" he heard Ramesh ask.

Meena grumbled something he didn't understand as he discharged his load inside her. It dawned on him that she was no virgin, and that Ramesh had used her first. He lay on her trying to catch his breath and understand the whispers between Meena and Ramesh who was still looming over both of them.

Meena giggled and nodded.

"Are you still inside her?" Ramesh whispered in his ear. "Good. Ready for another go?"

Not really, he thought. Then he screamed in pain as Ramesh forced his way inside him. He tried frantically to free himself from both the wicked lovers, but couldn't.

Meena laughed out loud at him, and even grabbed his head to kiss him, drowning his moans in her mouth.

Yash felt Ramesh coming, and then they let him go. Meena slid out from under him to embrace the High Priest and he laid there on his belly, too shocked to move or speak.

His tormentors vanished and he lost consciousness.

***

Neeraj had been king for eleven years, and his passion for Ramesh was still as fierce as the first day. Unfortunately the High Priest had found other – younger – toys through the years, although Neeraj had been really jealous only of one.

Two, now that he had a brand new, very young brother-in-law. Meena didn't like him, but Neeraj knew what Ramesh saw in Prince Yash – his rebellious lover, lost to the Goddess's wrath after he tried to escape.

Neeraj found his brother-in-law alone and brooding. Of course Meena was back to the underground city of the Sect with Ramesh.

"How was last night?" Neeraj asked, curious. He knew his sister was as obsessed with Ramesh as he was, and wondered if the gorgeous Akkoran prince had managed to get through to her.

Yash gulped, but didn't answer. He barely glanced back, fearful.

"Meena came to you, right?" Neeraj insisted.

Yash nodded.

"She wasn't your first woman, I hope?"

Yash shook his head. He finally turned to look at him – he looked scared and desperate.

"She wasn't alone." Neeraj scoffed. "Ramesh didn't leave."

Yash shook his head again, slower. He was now staring at him a little accusingly.

"I'm sorry, I should have insisted in keeping Ramesh busy," he shrugged. "See, he seduced Meena as soon as she became a woman."

"Why did you give her to me, then?"  Yash spoke at last.

He sighed. "Because your father threatened a war if I didn't accept a wedding alliance. I had requested your sister Lalita for my brother Harish, but he withdrew her and sent you for Meena instead."

"He was advised not to waste his only daughter with this doomed kingdom," Yash said. "Why are you not married yet? You're twenty-six and your father has been long gone."

Neeraj chuckled. "Your father has wise advisers," he said. "And I will never marry because my heart is taken and I will be forever faithful to him even if he doesn't deserve it because he prefers younger men to me now. But when I was fifteen like you, I was his one and only and he was everything to me..."

He noticed Yash was gaping at him and shook his head with a smile. "I'm sorry, you can't understand if you have never felt such burning passion for someone."

"I haven't, and most certainly will not feel it for another man," Yash snapped.

"You have no idea of what Ramesh can do to your body..."

"I have a very strong idea, thank you."

"No, no, Yash, you felt only the pain of the first time. Let him guide you, and he'll teach you everything about pleasure."

"I don't want him to touch me ever again."

Neeraj stared at his brother-in-law with compassion. Yash was young. He was gorgeous. He would learn. Or die, like the little Akkoran bastard. Nobody could resist Ramesh.

"You cannot stop him if he wants you," he warned. "Don't fight it, or it will be worse."

"Can't you protect me? You're the king, he's supposed to obey you!"

"Alas, Yash, I am his blissful slave to love. When he lusts for somebody else I can only stand by and watch, waiting for him to forget his fancy and come back to me. He loves teens like you, but when they grow old like me, he just drops them."

"So he dropped you as well."

The boy was smart.

He smiled ruefully. "Yes he did. I must  beg him to sleep with me now. Especially since Kumar. The little bastard had made quite an impression on him."

"Who?" Yash looked interested and Neeraj had enough of keeping everything to himself. His brother-in-law reminded him of his rival, and he knew Ramesh wanted Yash as much had he had wanted Kumar.

"An Akkoran boy, he was captured near the underground city of the Sect six years ago," he said. "Cute but wild, he had grown up on the streets. Ramesh loved him and thought he could be his worthy successor. Not me, who had betrayed my own father for the love of him, but an orphan from a neighboring kingdom!" The thought was still frustrating.

A hint of a smile flashed on Yash's face.

"I think he loved the fact that he must tame him fist," Neeraj continued. "And Kumar tried to run away with his friends. They were all caught, of course, but Kumar was the first. He tried to fight for the sake of his friends and was badly wounded. Ramesh couldn't save him, so he sacrificed him to the Goddess."

Puzzled, Neeraj saw Yash slowly smile.

"So you think he's dead?" the young prince asked.

"Nobody comes out alive from the Goddess Pit!"

Yash averted his eyes. "He did."

"What?" Neeraj stared incredulous at his brother-in-law.

Yash looked him in the eyes. "Kumar is my sword-teacher. He advised my father not to send Lalita to Arquon. And even if he's barely twenty-one, my father listened to him." The young prince sighed, averting his eyes. "I guess saving my life was enough for my father to accept him as sword-teacher for all of us and follow his advice once. I guess Kumar won't be able to save me this time."

It was Neeraj's turn to gape. Kumar was alive? True that his sacrifice had been different – his body had vanished from the cage – but still... Should he tell Ramesh? Or Keiko and Hayato? He had grown quite fond of Jayanta, the youngest of the Orphans, considering how much Ramesh ignored him now...

Remembering how Ramesh had been obsessed with Kumar, though, maybe it was better not to spread the news. Neeraj looked at Yash who was staring out of the window again, lost in thoughts.

"Yash... we don't want anyone of the Sect to learn that Kumar is alive, all right?"

Yash glanced at him and shrugged. "I knew I was doomed the moment I left Agharek," he said. "And now that I know what Kumar had to suffer, I'd never want him to come here and go through it again. He's not strong enough to beat the High Priest yet. But one day he will be. And that day he'll avenge me."

"You will not die, Yash," he assured. "Like I said, don't resist, go with the flow, and you'll enjoy your stay in Arquon."

"Unless you keep that Ramesh away from me, I will not live long," the prince replied.

Neeraj sighed. "Don't be stubborn. There is worse."

"Like what?" Yash snapped.

He slowly smiled. "Orgies. You'll see."

***

Yash spent only his first month of marriage at the royal palace outside Zarquon. Ramesh brought Meena to him every other day but never left them alone – she liked it only if he was present.

Yash saw him every night, though. When Ramesh came alone, he told him nobody was touching Meena, and then proceeded to touch him everywhere.

Yash tried starving himself, fighting, crying – nothing worked. Ramesh's magic pinned him to the bed, forcing him to do whatever was asked of him. He felt life sucked out of his loins and his veins and couldn't do anything to stop it.

He prayed every day for deliverance. He hoped his sword-teacher would come and save him again, but deep inside knew Kumar wouldn't risk his life again with the Sect.

Neeraj was not really helpful either. He lusted after him as much as Ramesh and sometimes joined the High Priest in his rape and abuse.

After a month Meena was pregnant and Yash was transferred to the underground city of the Sect. He was thrown into orgies and kept mostly in Ramesh's private rooms, where only Neeraj visited him with news of Meena.

Yash stopped talking. Words didn't come out, his voice was dead. He didn't scream, didn't moan. He panted and gasped silently, not a sound escaping his lips.

He felt drained. The sexual exercise, the drugs and enchantments kept him alive, but he was weakening. His inner light was fading out mercilessly. But he wasn't afraid anymore.

Then Ramesh came. "Meena died in childbirth," he said. "And your son was stillborn."

Nine months already? He had thought time was still in the underground city, but it obviously wasn't so. Hope filled up his heart and he stared at Ramesh, waiting for the rest.

Ramesh caressed his cheek with a scoff. "You know you will not go back to your father's do you?"

He nodded. He didn't want to go back and face his family after what he had gone through. He had heard Neeraj and Ramesh comparing him to Kumar; Neeraj had said they were alike, Ramesh had replied that no, they were opposite, because Kumar was darkness and he was light.

And his light was gone. He could never be the same again. He couldn't share his sorrow, his shame, his distress with his beloved brothers and family. He had known he was doomed all along.

"The Goddess shall have you," Ramesh said.

Deliverance at last. Yash closed his eyes and gulped down his relief. He looked forward to the sacrifice.

***

"But what should I tell his father?" Neeraj protested as Yash was locked into the cage, ready to be sent to the Goddess Pit.

"A hunting accident," Ramesh shrugged. "Don't say anything until he asks, Neeraj, it's safer."

Neeraj went to Yash who had passively accepted to be sacrificed to the Goddess and looked spent but serene.

"Maybe a god will save you like..." Neeraj whispered to his brother-in-law, omitting the name both knew.

The prince's lips trembled into a smile and he shook his head. Blood flowed out of his nose and his mouth. He was already dead.

Neeraj pulled away, upset. He watched Yash disappear into the pit and hoped the cage would come out empty, like it had happened with Kumar.

But no, the cage came up with the carbonized remains of a beautiful young prince who had been used to death by the Sect.

What have I done?

Neeraj staggered out of the Temple. He went back to his room and found Jayanta waiting for him as usual.

"Wine. Liquor. Alcohol." He slumped on the bed and waited for the servant.

He stared at the young man who looked as haunted as Yash had been while he sipped a strong liquor.

"I will set you free, Jayanta," he said. "You will be able to go back to Akkora."

Jayanta bowed without a word, but Neeraj saw hope in his eyes.

The king smiled ruefully. It was time for a change.