As for tonight, it was clearly a night of justice for the Lycanthrope Queen. By the volume of people coursing in and out of the frontmost throne room, and the line of patient subjects leading into it, it was clear she was very busy dispensing whatever form of law it was that tended to the disputes of her people. Noah held similar days of access once a month. It was required that all members of the Council take part in these days of dispensing law. Each Councillor had their own area of expertise. It was what made the Council so well balanced, as a rule, the troublesome temper of Councillor Ruth notwithstanding. But even she held a useful position. Her constant challenges of their ideas and choices always kept them on their toes. If anyone laid anything before the Council without the proper preparation required to argue their point for the obstinate Ruth, they would most likely fail under her scrutiny. As a result, the laws and actions the Great Council created would perhaps not be so very well thought out as they were.
Gideon was finished observing the movements of those in the nearby rooms. He watched as one group of spectators left the throne room and another began to form. As the guards allowed the group to gain entry, Gideon joined them. He was aware of the guards lifting their heads, reaching out to scent something that was not quite right, but before they could fixate on a target, Gideon was well into the room and mingling with the crowd. That did not mean he could not be spotted at any moment, so rather than wait for someone to grow wise to him, he rapidly strode onto the rich purple carpet that led up to the throne where Siena sat listening to one side of an argument, the other party to the complaint under debate waiting with some impatience to her left.
Siena noted his approach almost instantly, her head coming up suddenly as she fixed her golden eyes on him.
The Queen was in her human form, that of a magnificently beautiful woman with golden hair so pure in color it resembled the color of virgin gold filament. Her hair was almost as long as Legna’s, but unlike Legna’s silky, wavy fall, Siena’s was naturally curled, the large coils about fist thick in circumference as they twisted around and around down the length of her back and torso. She had the features of a cat, full of sly points and curves that made her exotic and lovely. This included ears that came up to delicate, elfin points, the only part of her that did not look quite human, but these could be easily overlooked by anyone not searching for the distinction.
Siena stood up when recognition set in, a soft sound from her alerting her guards, who, without delay, stood between the Queen and the intruder, imposing halberds clutched in their hands. The guards were Minotaurs, enormous and powerful creatures with the look and strength of ten bulls, a height that towered over Gideon’s own significant stature, and a warrior prowess that would challenge even Elijah’s skills.
Gideon halted his approach, one foot on the first step leading to the throne.
He folded his hands across the top of his thigh and bowed to Siena with respect, remaining with his head lowered until she decided how to proceed with him. His seeming subservience appeared to put her at ease. She relaxed, sitting down slowly before turning her attention to a nearby servant.
“Jinaeri, clear the court,” she instructed to one of her female aides. To the petitioners in midhearing, she smiled comfortingly. “Gentlemen, you will be my guests for the next twenty-four hours, during which we will continue this discussion.”
It was clear the solution was more than generous enough to keep them content. They both bowed, all smiles and excited pulses. Siena was famous for her lavish court. It was an honor for commoners to be allowed access to it.
Gideon continued to wait, his head remaining bent as the room was cleared. Though he looked vulnerable, both he and Legna were quite aware of their surroundings. Gideon did become aware of the fact that a great deal of Legna’s suspicion and tension was directed toward the lovely Queen seated a mere ten feet away from him.
The sound of the throne room doors closing with a clang was the final indication that they were relatively in private. That was, excluding the two dozen guards standing stiffly at all exits and around the throne itself. Gideon raised his head and met the Queen’s speculative gaze, letting the curious gold eyes pick him apart slowly, as if trying to discover his intentions by sheer force of will.
“Disarm him,” the Queen commanded sharply.
Instantly, the two throne guards flew at Gideon.
The medic, however, was no longer where he had been. He was, instead, rolling across the floor and out of range of the wicked reach of the Minotaur weaponry.
Gaining his feet with sleek agility, Gideon feinted a lunge at the guard to his left, forcing the Minotaur to anticipate and swing his weapon. The halberd had an impressive momentum to it due to its top-heavy weight. Once the Minotaur committed to the swing, he was virtually defenseless until it was completed and recovered. It was plenty of time for Gideon’s enhanced reflexes to give him the advantage.
The next thing the guard knew, he had a Demon flying at him, using his own halberd as a sort of step to propel himself into the air and above the guard’s horns. It was a daring maneuver—the horns themselves a dangerous weapon, capable of goring a victim with a single thrust and a twist of the Minotaur’s powerful neck muscles. But Gideon was well out of reach, even if the guard hadn’t been so startled by the unconventional maneuver. By the time the Minotaur had gathered his thoughts, he was bowled over by a powerful kick to the center of his back. Of course, “bowled over” for a creature of that size meant being driven down onto his knee. Still, it was an impressive feat, even for a Demon.
Gideon turned to face his other opponent, catching the shaft of the other halberd hard in the ribs. The blow literally lifted the Ancient off his feet, and Legna was not the only one to hear his ribs snap in response. However, the injury was nothing to a healer of his remarkable power and skill. The ribs were halfway healed by the time the medic finished rolling with the momentum of the strike.
Gideon was back on his feet, facing off with one guard, eyeing the second, and cocking his head to listen to the soft whisper of his mate as it slid through his thoughts. The Ancient Demon smiled, a rare but impressive show of fangs flickering in the light of the throne room’s gas lanterns. It was Legna’s strategy he followed as he grabbed one of his thigh blades with incredible speed, sending it flying as he sleekly dodged a halberd swing. He drew the second knife and froze himself into a throwing posture.
“Halt!”
The guards hesitated as the Demon and the Queen shouted the command in tandem. The startled Minotaurs turned perplexed looks to their Queen, each snorting with shock at the sight that greeted them.
The Lycanthrope Queen was sitting back in her throne, her chest rising and falling with her own shock and outright panic as she turned wide eyes onto the haft of the blade that almost touched her temple as it held her pinned by her hair to the back of her throne.
Gideon smiled wider, taunting his opponents with a flip of the blade in his hand.
“And I meant to miss,” he said darkly, his eyes gleaming with silver warning.
The throne room was utterly silent except for Siena’s breath sounds. Suddenly, she laughed, a short, sultry sound that drew everyone’s attention.
“Gideon, you bastard, there’s silver in that blade!”
“In both,” the Demon corrected, relaxing his stance and returning the second blade to its sheath with a flip his mate was realizing was as characteristic as it was a skilled one-motion maneuver.
The Demon moved to the steps leading to the throne, approaching the Queen in order to do the one thing no one else in the entire castle or village could do. He grasped the handle of the knife and, with a powerful pull, withdrew it from its deep embedding in the wood of her throne. The knife was snugly put away in the following second while Gideon made a respectful retreat back down the stairs. He spared a glance to the guards behind him, watching carefully with senses other than his eyes as one Minotaur extended a hand to help the other back to its feet.
“It
has been some time, Gideon, since you have graced Our court,” Siena noted, her strong voice ringing echoes throughout the cavernous room as she regained her composure with a sly grin and a shake of her hair. Gideon’s keen eyes carefully measured the amount of blood that fell in droplets from the tips of the strands of hair his blade had severed. The injury to the tensile, living hair was incidental because Gideon had never meant her any harm. The small wounds, no more or less painful than about a half dozen paper cuts for the Queen, would heal quickly. Had he meant to harm her, severing a large chunk of the gold filament strands could have easily been the equivalent of cutting off her arm when measured in trauma.
“As I recall, I was your prisoner at the time,” he reminded the Lycanthrope Queen. Gideon mentally hushed Legna when she snickered over the idea of the feminine Queen getting the better of him.
“Ah, yes, you are correct. I had almost forgotten. But we did not part on bad terms those many decades back, so I trust you are not intent on exacting some sort of vengeance.”
“No, Highness. You treated me quite well for a person of such dubious status. I am, in fact, ever grateful for the generous hospitality you showed me.”
The statement managed to hush Legna’s laughter more effectively than any of Gideon’s warnings had. He was suddenly very aware of her renewed and highly hostile focus on the Lycanthrope female.
“So tell me, Gideon, is it my hospitality you seek tonight?”
There was no mistaking the suggestion in her voice and the sly lift of both a golden brow and one corner of her full lips. The Queen stood up once more, slower this time, allowing her tall body to expose its remarkable charms gradually. She was garbed in a simple golden bra, the brief article of clothing accenting an exquisite and full pair of breasts. She wore a thick golden chain that linked around her slim hips, holding a couple of thick veils over the front and back of her long legs. A thinner chain circumscribed her trim waist, the glittering gold drawing attention to the muscular fitness of defined abdominal muscles and the deep inward curves of her sides. The only other thing she wore was the collar of her office, the gold and moonstone choker a one-of-a-kind creation that marked her for who she was to any Nightwalker who saw it, Lycanthrope or otherwise.
She moved to the top step leading from the throne itself, looking down to Gideon as she slowly began to descend. Every motion of her body was a purposeful dance in sensuality. Gold shifted and twinkled flirtatiously, gossamer veiling fluttering with the breeze of her movement. Lycanthropes tended to be highly sexual beings, even more so than Demons, and it radiated from every living cell of the Queen’s advancing body. These Nightwalkers were not merely genetic carriers of animal instincts from long ago; they were pure animalism, living a third of their lifetime as little more than an intelligent beast. That fact eddied from the beautiful Queen like raw pulsations of nature.
Gideon was aware of a soft, antagonistic hostility nibbling at the edges of his thoughts and realized the source was Legna, who, for all her control and detachment, was apparently just as susceptible to simple jealousy as anyone else. The Queen halted her approach about three steps away from him, her posture held with proud perfection as she once more took his measure.
Sweet Destiny, you would think a Queen could afford the entire dress, Legna remarked dryly.
Gideon realized he was trapped between potentially unpleasant circumstances. It would be difficult to tender goodwill to the Queen while maintaining peace with this different emotion for Legna. His goal, in the end, was not to upset either of them, and at the moment it seemed very unlikely that he could manage that. It was enough to ruffle even his practiced calm as a soft sheen of moisture appeared on his forehead.
“You come armed to my home. Why is that?”
“Would you do any less when walking into the den of those who have held you in threat in the past?” Gideon countered. “If invited to Noah’s court, would you relinquish the weapons you have, even now, concealed in your hair?”
“You were always the shrewd one.” She laughed, her smiles and humor lessening the tension in the room considerably. She came closer to the Demon, her motions more businesslike as she did so. She walked on, and he fell into step beside her. She led him farther back into the cavern, a slow, strolling tour of rooms he had lived amongst once, quite some time ago.
So long as her bedroom was not one of those rooms, Legna warned, her jealousy a fiercely tangible thing.
No, Neliss. I can assure you it was not.
And I am to take your word on that?
I would prefer if you did. However…
“I see you have not yet settled on a mate,” Gideon said to Siena.
“And I see that you have, despite all your proclamations that you never would. I can smell her all over you. She must be…delicious.” Siena’s phraseology was provocative, making Gideon smile inwardly with the imagery it churned up.
I shall have to fully test that theory, he mused.
There was no response, but he knew Legna was too flustered by her mixed emotions of the moment to formulate one.
“I recommend it,” he offered amiably. “Especially in your situation. It is far more satisfying than maintaining the status of a virgin Queen, Siena.”
Virgin? Her?!
“Yes,” Siena said, a crooked smile spreading over her lush mouth. “As delightful as that sounds, I can easily forgo the cravings of the body if it keeps me from being forced to mate with some male I will end up chained to for the rest of my life.” It was clear by the contempt in her voice that, for all her natural sexuality, she’d rather roast on a hunter’s spit. “It is quite unfair,” she remarked, “that I should be plagued by this outdated, obnoxious genetic predisposition to chose one and only one mate for the entire span of my existence.” She sighed with lascivious drama. “Imagine the fun I could be having.” She became serious instantly, speaking to Gideon as the confidant he had been for her so many years ago. “I have no need for a King, and therefore, no desire to take a lover who would become one. So, a virgin I will remain, very likely to the end of my days.”
“Those words almost have a familiar ring to them,” he mused.
“Yes, I know. And now you have a mate.” She cocked her head, taking a deep breath as she drew in his scent with obvious curiosity. “You are lucky, Gideon,” she said with honest surprise and pleasure for him. “You have Imprinted on your mate and she on you. A rare phenomenon for your people, as I understand it. I wish you joy of it.”
“Thank you,” he responded graciously.
“But perhaps if you bedded the wench, she wouldn’t be so jealous of me.”
Gideon could not help the release of a groan as he was caught between Siena’s wink of mischief and Legna’s outraged exclamation in his head.
“Siena, I did not come here to get myself a dubiously cozy bed in the proverbial doghouse. So, if you would please have mercy?”
“As you wish. Tell me why you have come,” she said as they entered a room filled with enormous fountains of gold.
Surrounding these fountains was a bath occupied with Lycanthropes of all shapes, breeds, and sexes. All these creatures were in various states of furring, feathering, and undress as they bathed in water that spread the length and width of a football field before the two of them. Gideon wisely kept his eyes averted, not wishing to inadvertently condemn an innocently bathing female to the wrath of a jealous Demon, should he set eyes on her nude body by accident.
“Have you any reason to suspect there may be a faction of your people who have taken it into their heads to resurrect the war by attacking my people?” he asked the Queen.
Siena turned to look at him, the coined gold of her eyes brightening as she speculated a moment.
“I am glad you do not think I had anything to do with this.”
“No, Siena. Though there are still many on the Council who fear your intentions, the years I spent with you during my incarceration have had an effect on both of our perspectives about each other’s
species.” Gideon smiled because he recalled that that had been Noah’s intention all along. Gideon had endeared himself with his grace and his deep wisdom to a young girl who would one day become Queen. “With the exception of testing my prowess with throne-room pranks, you are above picking petty fights. I know we have done nothing to provoke you to do anything as strong as what has happened.”
“Well, if there are rebels among my people, I usually find them quick enough. Explain what happened.”
Gideon did with efficiency and a minimum of detail. The Lycanthrope Queen listened intently.
“No. Gideon, my people may pick fights with yours, but to organize an act of such specificity and cruelty? The survival of our young is the highest priority in our moral code, and because it is high in our esteem, we consider it monstrous to do anything that resembles an attack on the young of even our worst enemies.”
“I sensed you would say as much, but you understand it was important that I make absolutely certain. For all we were aware, you may have had a social criminal on the loose that we simply had not heard about.”
“You are correct, of course. It is strategically unwise to leave avenues of possibility unexplored. If I have learned one thing about you and, I believe, your people, it’s that you are not foolish in matters of strategy.” She paused for a slow beat. “Gideon, I believe it is time for Noah and me to sit down together. At the very least, we should arrange the parameters for an exchange in ambassadors. With such positions set up and exchanged, there will be less opportunity for these gaps in information. The only thing that will come from not communicating with one another is mistrust and mistake. Before you know it, we will be returning to war for reasons we won’t even be clear on.”
“Do you think your people are ready to accept a Demon in your court?”
“I believe enough time has passed. I would request you for the position, except I know your Council duties and your new mate will be keeping you quite occupied. Perhaps you can suggest someone in your stead?”
“I am certain I can. As for your half of the exchange, be certain to choose someone very smart, very eager, and very unprejudiced toward our society as your ambassador. It will take an open mind to open the closed ones in the Demon court. Meanwhile, I will courier your request for a meeting to Noah. I will send you word of his response myself.”
Gideon Page 20
