Blade's Destiny (Ishtar's Legacy Book 3)

by Lisa Blackwood

  ***

  Asharru stormed from the council chambers, her guards scrambling to catch up. At least she did so in her mind. In reality, she rose, nodded to each of the councilor members and then walked from the room.

  Tirigan, always at the ready, followed her, his long-legged strides matching hers with ease as the rest of her guard formed up around her.

  Her rage rolled off her in waves, but she held everything in until they were in a long stretch of empty corridor with no doors leading off it.

  “Babies! We get attacked by Anunnaki! New Sumer is besieged by Ereshkigal, and the council thinks my best contribution to the war effort is to make babies!”

  Beside her Tirigan remained silent. Smart man.

  “I only agreed to spend time with Nutesh to put the council members’ minds at ease and stop them harassing me about a Trial year. I didn’t expect to find myself seriously needing to tie myself to some male for a year just to see if my gryphon would take an interest.” She couldn’t tell from Tirigan’s unreadable expression if she was talking to herself or if he was actually listening.

  She couldn’t blame him if he were dwelling on other, more concerning, issues. As she should be. Feeling a bit foolish for her outburst, she sealed her mouth shut. He must think her the silliest of creatures whining about having to spend time with a male she got to pick.

  Tirigan and his friends had a much worse life, never having a choice when it came to who they shared a bed with.

  “I know we have far greater concerns than who will one day father my babies. Please ignore my outburst.”

  Tirigan looked sidelong at her. “My Lady, you do not need to apologize. Not for this, or for anything else you will say in the future when you need to vent your feelings. And I know all about having one’s choices stripped away. And while you might live a much more privileged life than many, you are a slave to your future crown as surely as I was to Governor Ugurnaszir.”

  Her breath caught. No one had ever seen it like that. All they saw was the power.

  He understood.

  With a hint of acknowledgment glimmering in his eyes, he gave her a slight nod. One slave to another.

  Feeling better, though she didn’t know how his mere words could have such an effect, she turned her attention to another concern. If she were forced to hand tie herself to some male for a year, tradition would say that no other males would be allowed in her company for any length of time.

  That would be a problem. As her Blade, Tirigan needed some time alone with her to complete the required Blooding Ceremonies. Plus, a forced separation between her and her new friends would curtail their planning sessions and other activities.

  If Tirigan had been farther along in his Blade’s training and had already completed the first three blooding ceremonies, she would have told the council that he was her Blade, and the likelihood was high that the gods would demand a Sacred Marriage in less than five moon cycles, rendering the need for a trial year null.

  But she couldn’t risk Tirigan’s life merely to make hers easier. There had to be another way to keep him close and still pacify her councilors by agreeing to a Trial Year, even if it was a false one.

  If Tirigan had been a gryphon or even a hybrid like her, she might have been able to convince the council to accept and rally behind Tirigan as her choice for a Trial Year. Which would have made all their lives easier.

  Regrettably, the council wouldn’t accept a full-blooded human as her potential mate, nor would the nobles or the governors. She’d have a riot on her hands if she didn’t choose some random gryphon male to appease them.

  “You should come for a walk in the gardens,” Tirigan suggested. “Fresh air will improve your outlook. Besides Kuri and Hunzuu wish to get some sword practice in.”

  Tirigan’s suggestion had merit, and secretly she liked watching him. He was beautiful to watch in the practice ring. “Sounds delightful. Alas, I still have a lot of reports to read through.”

  “Bring them with you.” His voice lowered, “Otherwise I’ll have to anger Kuri and Hunzuu and miss practice because I’m not leaving your side with Anunnaki roaming Nineveh. Not unless Kuri and Hunzuu are both with you.”

  It wasn’t a romantic declaration. It was a cold dose of reality. There were Anunnaki on the hunt, and she and her new friends were all safer together. “I’ll bring Bashaa and Laliya as well. I can help them brush up on some of the rituals, prayers, and ceremonies that will be part of anointing Laliya as the next High Priestess. And, no, I don’t care what my council thinks, I will win this fight.”

  After she’d learned Tirigan was her Blade and could read a person’s motives, she’d come to trust his friends as much as she did him.

  Laliya was both cunning and loyal. She’d make a perfect High Priestess, and while they hadn’t discussed it, Asharru assumed Laliya would choose Bashaa as her High Priest.

  Tirigan suddenly laughed, humor gleaming in his eyes. “While I have every confidence in you, if you need help dealing with your council members….I live to serve.”

  Asharru snorted. “Don’t tempt me.”

  He bowed, giving it a little extra flourish. “I shall try not to.”

  “Mark my words, I am going to find a way to win against my pig-headed council.”

  When Tirigan straightened, there was still a glimmer of humor in his gaze, but his tone was serious once more. “In that case, I shall return my focus upon your protection and leave the politics to you.”

  Asharru actually wished he would talk to her about politics, or just about anything else. The only thing he did talk to her about was his plans for safeguarding her and her kingdom. He never shared his thoughts about being a Blade or what he thought about the Sacred Marriage. Nor had he murmured so much as a word about sharing her bed last night.

  She didn’t even know if he was in love with Laliya.

  We’re those two lovers?

  The thought bothered her more than it should have, but she’d never smelled the other woman on Tirigan strong enough to suggest they’d been intimate lately. And where did Bashaa fit in? All three shared an easy intimacy.

  If they shared a tri-bond, then that certainly might complicate the relationship between Monarch and Blade. Interestingly, her gryphon wasn’t territorial about Tirigan and didn’t seem to mind whatever role Bashaa and Laliya played in his life. So it might not be an insurmountable obstacle.

  She promised herself she’d look into Tirigan’s past more before caving to the council’s demands she complete a Trial Year.

  It was as she sat back and watched her Blade fight both Kuri and Hunzuu that the solution to her problem came to her.

  Of course!

  If she accepted the council’s choice, she could name Nutesh as the gryphon male she chose for a trial year, but then could also declare that her gryphon had shown a preference for Tirigan.

  Thus, to please both the council and her gryphon, she would claim both males for the same trial year.

  That would undoubtedly cause a stir among the council and the nobles of her court, but with Nutesh in the mix, it would likely prevent riots, as the nobles would know a female gryphon rarely chose a male human as her mate. They’d just assume she’d picked Tirigan as a means to keep her enemies off balance or to spite her council.

  Then later, once Tirigan was a fully anointed Blade and no longer vulnerable to their enemies, she could reveal who he was. No one would question Asharru’s reason for picking Tirigan over Nutesh.

  After all, Tirigan was the chosen of the gods.

  She was also certain Tirigan was already her gryphon’s choice, and the beast was just giving Asharru and Tirigan time to adjust before triggering her fertility cycle and sealing the mating bonds between them.

  There was just one dark, ominous cloud hanging over Asharru’s happy future.

  Tirigan had made it clear that he valued his freedom and didn’t want a physical relationship with her.

  Chapter 24

  Even though the
breeze kept trying to steal Asharru’s reports, coming to sit out in the garden and watch as Tirigan, Kuri, and Hunzuu practiced was a grand idea. The sun was warm on her skin, the breeze ruffled her braids, and the neatly groomed grass under her had a restorative property.

  Her gryphon wanted to shift and roll in the grass and then sun herself on a rock.

  She hadn’t felt so alive in ages.

  Alas, she had too many reports still to read, and in between those, she tested Bashaa and Laliya’s knowledge after they finished reading each of the scrolls she had given them to study.

  Asharru’s own reports were taking longer than usual to get through, but it had nothing to do with her two new students. Even just thinking about Tirigan had her looking up to watch as he practiced sword forms with Hunzuu and Kuri.

  Goddess, he was breathtaking.

  He made the forms into a kind of beautiful, deadly dance.

  “Tirigan is easy on the eyes, isn’t he,” Bashaa said with a grin.

  Asharru shifted her focus to the human, sensing something behind his words. “You and Laliya and Tirigan…”

  How did one word that question politely?

  “Are the three of us sleeping together?” Bashaa filled in for her.

  Well, that saved her having to waste time. “Yes.”

  “Presently…no.” Bashaa’s expression was serious for once and didn’t give anything away.

  He’d said ‘presently’ so…

  “But you have in the past, haven’t you?”

  Again, Bashaa nodded.

  Laliya leaned forward to whisper so her voice wouldn’t carry. “While we have come to love and trust each other without question, if we’d been given a choice, we might never have become lovers. This freedom is the first time in our lives we can simply be friends. It is…refreshing.”

  Asharru looked to Bashaa. “So you and he have…”

  Grinning, he took pity on her and nodded. “Yes. Our old master liked group sessions. Something you may not know is that as a hybrid, Governor Ugurnaszir possessed a human’s ability to be promiscuous but still formed a gryphon’s mating bonds.”

  Asharru felt her brow arch in confusion.

  “What Bashaa means is that the governor would force himself upon anyone who couldn’t escape him and afterward he’d consider them his mate. He has a great many ‘mates’ that he enjoys.”

  “By the goddess, I’d heard rumors, but I wasn’t aware it was that bad.”

  “That wasn’t the governor’s only perversion,” Laliya said as she looked out to the ocean. “He liked watching as his mates played out elaborate performances for him. Tirigan and Bashaa were two of his favorite…performers.”

  Ah. It was even worse than Asharru had thought. It only made her realize how strong they were to have survived such a monster.

  No wonder Tirigan wasn’t ready to open himself up to her.

  Some way, somehow, Asharru would kill the governor without causing a civil war. It would be her gift to her Blade, and his friends, and every other victim of that monster.

  But for now, she needed to master her own court, and there was one other thing she had to know before she proceeded.

  “Is Tirigan in love with anyone?”

  Laliya and Bashaa shared a look and then shook their heads.

  Asharru’s brows furrowed. There was something they weren’t saying.

  “Did he used to love someone?”

  Bashaa answered for them both. “No. Tirigan has never been in love.”

  “Though, everyone who meets him falls in love with him a little,” Laliya added, “but it is pointless. We’ve seen it so many times. He guards his heart well. He once said it’s the one thing no one can take from him and he would never give it away.”

  “Ah. I see.” Asharru glanced down at the scroll in her lap.

  Bashaa placed his hand on her shoulder. “I used to think it was because he doubted if he’d ever escape that life and he didn’t want to suffer the pain of falling in love only to have that person sold or somehow used against him. Now, I think somewhere deep inside he knew he was different.”

  “He just didn’t know how different,” Laliya finished Bashaa’s sentence for him and then set aside the scroll she’d been reading earlier. She looked up where the topic of their conversation was tripping Hunzuu. The other male hit the grass with a huff of surprise. Tirigan ignored him and attacked Kuri instead.

  The two were grace, strength, and lethal skill.

  “I have another theory,” Laliya said. “I think somewhere deep inside he knew he was a Blade and would one day be united with his queen. I think he was saving his heart, the only gift he had left to give.”

  Laliya’s words were the reassurance Asharru had been looking for.

  Tomorrow she would go to the council and tell them that she would agree to the Trial year if they would back Laliya as her choice of high priestess and give her a seat on the council.

  While they would be expecting her to choose Nutesh, she would also pick Tirigan, and the council would not learn of it until after it was done.

  There was just one little wrinkle in her plan she’d need to smooth out first—Tirigan.

  Chapter 25

  He’d trusted her. Why had he been such a fool? No one in a position of power could ever be trusted. Tirigan knew that.

  Then why had he trusted her?

  Because I am a fool, he decided.

  But she’d offered him freedom, a new purpose, and a home. Friendship. He’d thought she was offering him friendship as well.

  She’d just revealed how foolish he’d been.

  It wasn’t enough she wanted to tie them together for a Trial Year. The greater insult was that she decided she needed to also have a pureblood gryphon as well, just in case her own beast decided Tirigan might be a good plaything, but not good enough for a mate.

  What am I whining about? I don’t want to be her mate.

  That thought rang as untrue, which only made him angrier.

  Confused and sick at the betrayal, he held his silence as she stood there staring at him.

  “What do you think of the plan?” she asked, her earlier hopeful nervousness now just tasted of anxiety.

  Tirigan remained silent, too angry to speak and tell her how much he hated her plan.

  “Say something please.” She started toward him and then stopped. “Surely you see this will make it easier for us to continue with our plans to reform New Sumer, while also allowing you to remain close enough in case there is another attack.”

  The mention of the previous attack was like a bucket of cold water, cooling his anger.

  Because, as irritated as he was at Asharru right now, he wasn’t so enraged as to wish anything to happen to her.

  The sound of footsteps approaching had them both turning toward the noise. A moment later Bashaa and Laliya entered Asharru’s bedchamber. They froze when they saw Tirigan’s expression.

  Bowing swiftly, Laliya said, “Forgive us if we’ve disturbed you. Kuri has a question about tomorrow’s schedule. We’ll come back later.”

  She straightened and then snatched Bashaa’s hand and practically dragged him from the room.

  When Tirigan looked back at Asharru, she was standing with her arms folded defensively. “It is only a trial year. It will make things much more convenient.”

  “You would betray your promise to me just to make things easier?” The words flowed from some dark place in his soul. He couldn’t stop them if he wanted to. “I trusted you, gave my solemn word to serve and protect you. You promised to give me my freedom, as much as the gods allowed.”

  “Tirigan, that’s not…”

  “Tell me, which one of the gods ordered you to make me your choice for a Trial Year?”

  She winced, his sharp words hitting the mark.

  “There wasn’t…”

  “As I thought.” He started to pace, his anger too great to hold in check without venting it in some manner. “And even as you betrayed y
our word to me, your plan wouldn’t even allow me to retain even a tiny scrap of respect.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You don’t? You basically plan to tell the court that I am not worthy to be your mate because I am human, that Nutesh would be a better choice, but you want to keep your options open in case your ornery gryphon picks me.”

  “Oh, goddess. Tirigan, that isn’t my intention. I only want to find a way for us to still have the freedom to do what we need to do.”

  He frowned at her.

  Sighing, she rubbed at her temples. When at last she looked up, exhaustion and sadness were easy to read in her face. “I’m sorry. I see now how you might feel betrayed and insulted. Forgive me, my Blade. I had not looked at the situation from all angles. Will you forgive me?”

  His lips compressed, and he didn’t answer her.

  Her shoulders slumped, and she turned and walked over to the hearth where a small fire was burning. Standing in front of the fire, she seemed to shrink into herself.

  “I don’t deserve your forgiveness. My plan wasn’t entirely unselfish. The thought of being hand-tied to an insufferable stranger for a trial year disturbs me more than it should. I wanted you near. Not that I think my gryphon would choose Nutesh, but there are ways to take her choice away.”

  He knew she spoke of the fertility drug sometimes used by priests and priestesses during the spring fertility rite. It was also sometimes utilized by monarchs and blades before a Sacred Marriage. Though it was said to have a much stronger effect on those of the royal line.

  But surely she trusted him to protect her from Nutesh or others. “I would never let someone use that on you. I’d kill anyone who tried.”

  The venom in his words surprised him, and something dark rose within him at the thought of another stealing Asharru’s will.

  “I know you’d try,” she sighed, not realizing she’d just insulted him, again.

  “I’d more than try.”

  She glanced up at him suddenly. “I’m sorry, Tirigan. I will do better in the future. No more stupid ideas.”