Ishtar's Blade

by Blackwood, Lisa

  “It’s big. We can move over.”

  His hand rose up and she felt him working loose the buckle of her harness. A few strong tugs got it loose. After a moment, he eased it off her shoulders. The combined weight of the sword and sodden scabbard made a hefty thump as it landed on the carpeted floor beside the bed. Next his fingers felt around at the back of her neck for the clasp to the metal torque covering her shoulders and breasts.

  “Ha!” He sounded rather delighted to have conquered the collar’s clasp.

  He reached across her, and part of his chest and arm brushed against her breasts as he tossed the torque over the edge of the bed. Her breath quickened at the contact but she didn’t say anything or try to draw away. If she was truthful with herself, she didn’t want to be anywhere but where she was. She remained silent as Ditanu’s fingers glided between the valley of her breasts and then continued their slow, caressing journey to her navel before venturing the last of the way to the ornate belt of her skirt. The muscles of her abdomen quivered at his touch.

  He hesitated a moment and then as if he couldn’t stop himself, skated his fingers along the sensitive skin just above her belt. “This is developing faster than an honorable man would allow—we were supposed to read our letters to each other, become reacquainted over several evenings. I was going to court you properly if a little belatedly. My noble intentions seem to have departed.”

  “It’s all right.” And it was, Iltani decided at that moment. She’d never wanted a fancy courtship or any of the other elaborate trappings that went with the crown. She’d only ever wanted Ditanu, and he was offering himself to her.

  Warm lips caressed her shoulder, following the curve of her neck to a sensitive spot just below her ear. Iltani’s breath hitched.

  Again Ditanu’s voice washed over her senses, more intoxicating than wine. “Your scent calls to me, your voice soothes me, your smile sets my heart pounding, and your lush body makes me ache for you.” His tone turned raw and desperate. “Do you grow aroused when I’m near, as I do for you? Do you dream of me when you’re alone at night? Touch yourself even though it’s never enough to fill the emotional need?”

  Her throat tightened with sudden emotion at the loneliness she heard in his voice and she couldn’t get words out to answer his heated questions. The silence stretched longer and she felt foolish tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.

  He pulled away, bracing himself above her with an arm planted to either side of her head. He watched her, his king’s mask suddenly in place. “If you don’t want this, tell me now and I’ll stop and never accost you in such a way again.”

  “You overwhelm me. A feast offered to a starving man. Can you blame me for not knowing which delectable dish to start with?” Iltani touched him then, running her hands slowly up his chest, savoring warm skin and hard muscle. “Be assured I want this. I’ve wanted you since I first became a woman.”

  Ditanu released a strangled breath and lowered his head down to her lips, sealing them together. She slid her hands along his sides and kissed him fiercely in return.

  They kissed for a long time, neither in a hurry, but eventually Ditanu freed her of her sodden skirt and then rolled with her so she was resting atop him in a dryer part of the bed. Between kisses, she helped him out of the robe she’d just gotten him into.

  “Told you not to bother with the robe, but do you ever listen to me? No.” His throaty chuckle hitched and changed to a deep purr as she brushed her fingers across his right nipple and then sealed her mouth over it. She moved to the other one, giving it equal attention before planting a kiss over his sternum. As she worked her way downward, his purring increased in volume. Taking her time at his navel, she nuzzled him and then kissed her way down to one hip bone, ignoring the one part of him that was standing proud and weeping for her attention. When she ran the tip of her tongue closer to his groin, his hips jerked.

  The desperate sound he made had her own body clenching with need.

  She sat back on her haunches then, just studying Ditanu’s masculine beauty.

  “Iltani?” he sighed out her name and then raised his head to look her, humor and desire mixing together in his gaze. “Would you like me to get you pen and parchment to draw on?”

  “Maybe later.” Never one to pass up a challenge she reached out and wrapped her fingers around his thick length and he jerked under her.

  “Then perhaps there is something else you would like to…say?” he asked lazily as his hips rocked into her caress.

  After trailing her nails along his length, she wrapped her fist around him again. “You are breathtaking, my king.”

  “It’s Ditanu, remember?”

  He sounded rather hoarse. She grinned wickedly and squeezed him, flicking her thumb over his crown, collecting the tiny beads of liquid gathering in a groove there.

  Ditanu bucked, thrusting up into her fist and hissed out unintelligible words.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that.”

  He growled at her words but answered her. “That feels so much better than my hand. Keep that up and you’ll end me before we get to the good part.”

  Iltani didn’t want to stop and debated keeping up the playful caresses to see how long he would actually last, but her curiosity could wait. She simply wanted to join with him. In the end, he pulled her back up to capture her lips again.

  Ditanu grew less passive, his kisses and caresses more demanding and he suddenly flipped her over onto her back. Iltani was still gasping in surprise when he took one of her breasts into his mouth. He soon had her gasping for an entirely different reason. He seemed to particularly like her breasts, kissing and toying with them until Iltani wanted to cry out in frustration.

  His hands stroked up her sides, feather light caresses that made her shiver. He touched her everywhere but where she most needed him to. Thinking he needed some encouragement, she wrapped her legs around his hips and arched up, rubbing against him. He hissed appreciatively, but only continued to kiss her.

  She broke their kiss and glared at him. “Ditanu, you do actually know what you’re supposed to do with a woman, right?”

  He grinned. She could see the flash of his white teeth in the darkness. “And if I don’t. Are you going to teach me?” His words were accompanied by gentle little thrusts that promised relief from the desire tormenting her if he would just get on with it. She spread her thighs further and wrapped her legs around his hips, trying to force him deeper.

  He chuckled in that purely masculine way. “Not so fast. I think you’re forgetting something.”

  Iltani shifted under him until they were better aligned, and then she reared up, impaling herself on him. She and Ditanu groaned in unison and finally he started to move.

  “Damn it, tell me you love me,” Ditanu growled as he thrust up into her.

  Lost to sensation, she nearly didn’t understand his words. Then she did and understood he had desires greater than just the physical that needed sating. “Ditanu, I have always loved you.” To punctuate her words, she kissed him with a fiercer passion, until his purrs vibrated against her chest. He made a hissing sound of pleasure and increased his rhythm. His passion drove her that much closer to her own end. His one hand found its way between her legs and the added stimulus was almost enough to send her over the edge. “My king, I have loved you for years.”

  “Iltani,” he gasped out and froze suddenly, his body tensing as he came. “My beautiful warrior. Forever and always the Queen of my Heart.”

  His words, his voice, his powerful body still grinding against her, it was enough and she shattered moments after he had.

  “My beloved king,” she sighed out. “That was better than wonderful.”

  “Not bad for being half drunk?”

  Iltani started to laugh.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The sound of drapes being drawn back registered on her ears. A moment later, light from an east facing window found its way unerringly into Iltani’s eyes. Squinting, s
he grunted something unintelligible. Dawn came. Mmmm. So too did servants. Damn it.

  She’d been having the nicest dreams, too.

  An arm around her waist tightened, dragging her naked body back against another equally naked body.

  Ditanu, never easy to wake, growled something under his breath.

  “Tell them to go away,” he said again, slightly clearer.

  Iltani was still coming to terms with a few new realizations as the servants continued laying out a table with two settings. The sound of a throat being cleared behind her had her blushing harder. She rolled over and peered over Ditanu’s broad shoulder to see Uselli standing there with Kuwari.

  The cub was wiggling and fighting. Only an occasional soft growl could be heard—that was when he wasn’t chomping on Uselli’s fingers, trying to chew his way free.

  Kuwari’s head snaked around, narrowing in on Iltani at which point he loosed a cry fit to rattle teeth. Ditanu bolted into a sitting position, taking the blanket and Iltani’s cover with him.

  Uselli released the cub and Kuwari bound across the bed, leaped over his father, and landed in Iltani’s lap.

  “My king,” Uselli mumbled, “I’m sorry to disturb you, but Kuwari was fussing and wouldn’t be calmed. His grandfather said he’d been fine all night, it was just this morning. We thought he must be hungry but wouldn’t drink from the milk skin.”

  Ditanu took the milk skin from Uselli and held it out to Iltani. She took it but the cub had already settled down, purring contentedly while he waited. When she offered the milk, he took it willingly.

  Kuwari was still nursing happily when a servant came over carrying robes. Iltani put hers on without a word.

  Ditanu was standing on the opposite side of the bed belting his in place when he looked up at her and grinned. “Welcome to my world. No privacy at all. And, no, you won’t really get used to it as much as learn to tune everything out.”

  “If you say so.”

  Really, it was a small price to pay for finally being with the man she loved.

  *****

  Ditanu, as expected, didn’t have the slightest hint of a hangover. While Iltani would have been happy to stay in his chambers and make love again, repeatedly, he had kept his plans to go island to island to rejuvenate all the dormant lamassu. Her logical mind agreed it was important to have a better warning in the future if another fleet of ships ever managed to breach the dome protecting the city-states.

  Their first stop earlier in the day had been Nippur, the island of Ahassunu and her line. Shalanum was trusted enough to keep a secret so they went openly to wake the lamassu there first. Between herself, Ditanu, and his aunt, the work of waking the dormant lamassu went faster than Iltani thought it would, although it still took a few hours at each stop, and it was draining work. Ditanu decided they would do two in a day, with a day of rest between.

  Ditanu had wanted to finish one island in particular. Kalhu, the city-state ruled by Beletum and her father. It was a little-known fact that the lamassu could also be used to spy. Even if they were asleep, they could still hear and see everything within their domain.

  Iltani agreed Kalhu should be one of their first stops—but done in secret so their enemies would not be aware. Ditanu hadn’t wanted her to come, saying she should stay behind and guard Kuwari. She’d only laughed at her king’s naivety and told him he was welcome to explain that to Ishtar, then. Iltani had sensed her goddess near from the moment Ditanu had mentioned going island to island and waking all the dormant lamassu.

  *****

  That was how Iltani found herself beside one of many boats being dragged silently up a beach in the middle of the night with only the moon to light their way. Well, they did have unlit torches with them should they have a need. The rocky shore at the base of the cliffs was a good place to hide their boats from casual observation. If anyone happened to be patrolling an empty beach they might happen upon them, but that was why several of the Shadows would stay behind with the boats and subdue any soldiers belonging to Beletum. They could make an apology and sooth ruffled feathers later should Beletum prove innocent.

  If the lamassu did report something treasonous in nature, Iltani wouldn’t be concerned with ruffling feathers. She’d be taking heads instead.

  Once the boats were secured, she, Ditanu, and Kammani surrounded by a group of sixty Shadows led by Uselli made their way off the beach and followed the stairs cut into the cliff a century past. The stairs were still in good repair if a little weather-stained and salt-eaten. At the top, a large door made of solid planks and reinforced with metal was in much rougher shape. Its hinges were rusted. A cloak shoved against one and a blow delivered from a sword hilt was all it took to shatter the lock. Inside it was dark, silent, and dank.

  “No one patrols this area,” Uselli muttered in angry disbelief. “Who allows their defenses to be so compromised?”

  Ditanu cleared his throat. “Someone who has too many other things to accomplish, perhaps?”

  “Or,” Iltani added and Ishtar’s magic flared a stronger warning. “Someone who doesn’t fear being attacked, because the mercenaries who attacked us are in their hire. Ishtar’s warning magic awoke as soon as I stepped foot on this island.”

  “We should go back, gather more men before we return,” Uselli urged.

  Ditanu shook his head. “No, we need to investigate this now. We’ll wake the Lamassu as planned and then go to the council with evidence. I can’t wipe out one of the ruling houses just because I do not trust them. We need evidence first or risk having the other city-states respond in fear.”

  “But Ishtar is warning there is danger here.”

  “How many of the councilors did your power label a threat to me?”

  Iltani scowled but grudgingly replied. “Most of them.”

  “You see?”

  “That doesn’t mean Beletum and her father are not a true threat.”

  “Then think of it this way. If we only take the head, the body might still survive and grow a new one someday.”

  “I’d like to see someone grow their head back after I’ve cut it off.”

  Ditanu reached out and caressed her cheek. “It is not that I don’t trust you, but we must be certain first.”

  “Noted.” Iltani drew her sword. “I still don’t like it.”

  “Dislike noted,” Ditanu said with a cocky grin. He shielded his eyes when the first torch was lit and when he lowered his hand, his expression had changed. The flash of humor was gone, replaced by something far more predatory.

  So he did believe her when she’d warned of the danger. Now he wanted to hunt down that danger and kill it. She drew breath to say even killing every last traitor wouldn’t fill the hollow in his heart where the love of two of his cubs used to live. Closing her mouth, she remembered again the pain and hollowness in her heart when the first tiny thread in her blood link had snapped. She’d only known those tiny lives for a day. Ditanu had known them since birth. Iltani’s hand tightened on her sword’s hilt. Perhaps Ditanu had the right of it after all.

  Maybe healing couldn’t start until after his need for revenge was satisfied and laid to rest next to his two dead cubs. Whether it would heal him or not, she would help him slay his enemies even if it hadn’t been her duty. Child killers didn’t deserve to keep breathing.

  A guard stayed behind at the broken door where he could pass messages between the two groups of Shadows.

  Ditanu forged on, and Iltani stayed at his side while his Shadows paced ahead.

  They met no one in the tunnel or in the root cellar where it emerged. From there, they exited the cellar and made their way higher up into the palace. Ditanu had scoured ancient maps detailing Kalhu’s layout before he’d chosen the place they came ashore. That was how he knew of the hidden entrance and that it led up into the palace and not elsewhere in the surrounding city.

  They found a few guards on duty, but easily avoided detection.

  The Shadows’ dark cloaks were woven wit
h magic to hide them from enemy eyes. What their cloaks couldn’t hide, their training did, assuring they moved with silent feet and smooth grace, barely stirring the air as they passed.

  She and Ditanu moved almost as swiftly and silently. They’d been trained by Burrukan, after all. Still, she had to nod at the other Shadows’ training, skills which took years to perfect.

  At last, they came upon the first of the dormant lamassu—one of four statues guarding the great hall of Kalhu. These ones were lacking the beauty and luster of the ones back in Nineveh. She ran a finger along one stone feather, dislodging flakes of paint from centuries past.

  “These ones are old,” she whispered so only Ditanu would hear.

  “But they are loyal and they will still serve.” He patted one of the lamassu’s great bull’s legs. “I and those of my blood will take better care of you in the future, too. I promise.”

  Ditanu drew a blade and then brought it to his forearm and made a nick. The sharp blade sliced cleanly and a few beads of blood welled up and then a few more. He muttered under his breath and made a second deeper slice.

  Anointing the lamassu might be one of New Sumer’s best defenses, but it still hurt.

  Iltani gave Ditanu a nod in acknowledgement and then went to the far corner of the hall to her own lamassu. Priestess Kammani was already marking the one before her with blood.

  “Well, old fellow, it’s time to wake to the world once more.” Iltani sliced her own arm with a soft grunt. “I imagine it has changed a bit since last time your hooves made the ground shake.”

  Priestess Kammani prayed solemnly while she anointed her lamassu. Ditanu remained silent. While Iltani chatted nonsense at hers. It had been exactly the same for the other eleven she’d already awakened this day. Each city had a varying number of the lamassu depending on how large the islands were and how much beach they had to guard in ages past before the great dome had been put in place. Between thirty and forty seemed the normal number.

  Iltani anointed her statue more by route now than careful skill, and so she was startled when this one started to shift under her hands. Iltani whipped around to see the others already waking.