“Come on, move along!” A gruff voice barked from behind me, and someone else slapped their spear haft across my shoulder blades. I rode the blow, and managed to not stumble, even though my hands were bound behind me with iron cuffs. The rough metal scraped against my wrists, but I focused my attention on climbing the polished marble steps.

My captors ushered me roughly up another flight of stairs and along an ornately decorated hallway. My bare feet slapped on the floor in counterpoint to the guards’ booted feet. We arrived at a carved and intricately inlaid wooden door that stood twice my height. “If you displease the queen, we will hang your head from the gatepost,” the guard captain snarled.

He rapped on the door, and it swung open on oiled hinges. A young woman clad in a white gown peered around the door. “This prisoner is here at the Queen’s summons,” the guard captain told her in quiet tones. The woman nodded once and stepped back.

Another shove and I entered the room, if such a chamber could have so humble a name. It was at least sixty feet square, with two rows of columns to support the celling far overhead. Everywhere I looked was polished marble and beautiful stonework. The guard captain marched me up to where a purple rug ended on the floor.

“Now, you listen. If you touch the queen, you will die. If you touch her carpet, you will also die. She has powerful magics to protect her, so heed my words. Do you understand?”

“I do,” I nodded once.

The young woman turned toward the back of the chamber, and went to her knees. The guard captain did the same, but I stood still. She was not my queen, after all.

From the back of the chamber, a slim figure appeared from behind one of the columns. She, and it was immediately apparent that the figure was a woman, strode toward me in measured steps on the purple carpet. She was nearly my height, but slim and toned. Her skin was light, and she had obviously spent little time in the sun. She moved with the grace of a predator, and her eyes never left me as she approached.

I tried to focus on her face, for all she wore was a golden cloth tied around her waist. Her breasts moved in counterpoint to her hips; they were smallish and capped with pink nipples like berries. Her tiara and ring shone with pure gold and purple gems, and she wore gold and purple sandals. As she drew up to me, I looked into her violet eyes. She wore none of the face paint, nor did she wear any other adornments.

I tried to breathe as I took her in. She was beautiful, exquisite – my mind ran out of superlatives. I had met many handsome women and even bedded a few, but the Virgin Queen easily bested them all. I struggled to maintain my composure, but then I felt my prod begin to rise. That was bad enough, but my captors had stripped me naked before bringing me here. There was nothing I could do except stand and watch her walk up to me.

She stopped at the edge of the carpet, an arm’s length away, and looked me over with a neutral expression for a moment. “Captain, Valet, you may rise. I presume that this is the man who has vexed my commanders in the West for so long?”

Her voice matched her appearance, and my heart thudded in my chest at the sound. Her question riled me, though. No man spoke for me. “I am Drayen, Thane of the Westwood,” I said before the man could answer her.

The queen held up her hand before the captain could strike me. “Let him speak.”

“I did not ask to be brought here, but since I am here, I will speak for my people.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Your people are raiders. They have attacked my soldiers and subjects without cause.”

“We do have cause. Your commanders have claimed our land as their own, and they refuse our diplomacy. They say that you have ordered them to take that land.”

“I gave no such orders.”

“Then perhaps your commanders are pursuing their own wishes in your name.”

“They are honorable men!” Her countenance darkened.

I smiled grimly at her. “I think not. They are liars, thieves, and murderers.”

She looked me up and down, and then she froze for a moment. When her gaze rose, her eyes blazed. “How dare you come into my presence in such a state!”

My patience came to an end. “You are a beautiful woman, and damned near as naked as me. How could I not react to such a vision?” I kept my voice level, but my prod certainly wasn’t level. I wasn’t hugely endowed, but I had been told that I was larger than many men. Now, it pointed upward to where her nether hairs would reside.

Her cheeks turned pink, and she fumed at me. “Unbind him, and leave us,” she commanded.

I stood still as the captain removed my cuffs and departed behind me. My wrists hurt, and, moving carefully, I brought my hands around in front of me. “Thank you.” It took the last of my willpower to meet her glare, but I did not look away.

“I called you here to demand that your people cease their attacks,” she said.

“Does that mean that you’re planning to let me go?”

“When I have your parole, yes.”

“What about your commanders? If you leave them there, then nothing will change, regardless of my parole.”

Her gaze fell. “I cannot recall them. In some matters of state, I am still subject to the Regent.”

“But, you are not a child,” I looked at her. “Are you not eighteen plantings?”

“I am twenty plantings, if you must know.” Her glare showed again, but it was more endearing than frightening.

“Then, why do you have a Regent?”

She smiled sadly. “Because I am the Virgin Queen. Until I find my consort, I must have a regent.”

“So, find a consort.”

She shook her head. “I have been enchanted; only the magic can choose my consort. It protects me from harm, but I cannot touch a man. Even my presence can sicken a man if I speak to him too long, or linger in his presence.”

“I feel just fine,” I said with a smile.

“Do not mock me,” she said sharply.

I quickly shook my head. “I do not mean to mock you, uh, not to be disrespectful, but what is your given name?”

“Astra.”

“May I use it?”

“Yes.”

“Astra, then. I feel fine.”

“I see that,” she replied with a quirk of her lips.

Her gaze softened, and my heart lurched. “Tell me more about your enchantment.”

“How can I trust you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Did you not say that the magic will protect you?”

“Yes.”

I went with the idea that was forming in my head. “Then, I want to be your consort.”

“How will that help me?”

“For one, it will give you complete power as queen. For two, you will cement an alliance with my people. For three,” I grinned, “you get what you see.”

“I do not think it works like that,” Astra said after a moment. “Why would I agree to do this with you, a man I know nothing about?”

“On the contrary, you know much about me through my family. Your father and mine were allies at one time.”

“We are not allies. That ended with my father’s murder.”