Theyn, Ancraf, and Lidan awaited them at the palace gates. A short commotion ensued, caused by Chigaru’s and Kitty’s blood-soaked appearances, before Melchior commanded everyone to convene in his audience chamber. He had to bar his advisors before the meeting could start.
Melchior said, “This is Kitty, Chigaru’s bonded true mate.”
Kitty gave a half-hearted wave to all present.
Theyn patted Chigaru’s shoulder. “Congratulations. We wondered what errand would make you leave Serenity’s side. And look, you don’t need to change the color of your wardrobe.”
Chigaru hadn’t realized Kitty and Serenity were the same shade of brown. He wouldn’t need to change his wardrobe, but Kitty wouldn’t be happy when she learned bhresyas wore the colors of their loved ones. He could already hear her questioning whether he wore the color for her or for Serenity.
Lidan asked, “Why are you two covered in blood?”
Melchior said, “That is a question we all wish answered.”
Kitty gestured to Chigaru who took a breath before he said, “I have resided with Kitty these last few months. She is from an alternate version of Gezane. The two are vastly different from one another. For one, humans dominate all locales and the bhresya of that world disguise themselves as humans to keep from being persecuted.”
Grumbling from more than one person followed that comment.
“Kitty worked as a court entertainer.”
“Stripper,” Kitty said.
“The terms are different but mean the same,” Chigaru said to her.
She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Really?”
He nodded.
“Lucky.” She turned her attention to Melchior. “You wouldn’t need a court entertainer, would you?”
Melchior’s lip twitched in what could have been a stifled smile. “We will discuss that later. Chigaru, continue.”
Chigaru said, “I worked as a guard in the establishment of Kitty’s employ. Before returning to Gezane it came under attack from an unknown enemy. Because Kitty is my mate, she was able to read the spell that returned us here.”
“Oh you bastard,” Kitty bit out. “Are you saying that had nothing to do with my power and everything to do with me being your soul mate?”
“Yes.”
“If I hadn’t been touching you when I read it, you would have left without me, right?”
Chigaru closed his eyes against the truth before meeting her gaze once more and saying in a rough voice, “Yes.”
Kitty clutched the orb she held and appeared as though she might throw it at him, but changed her mind and gave him her back instead.
Theyn said, “I feel like I’m missing something.”
Ancraf and Lidan both nodded with affirmative sounds.
Serenity said, “It will have to remain missed. Chigaru, why were you gone for so long? From what I have gathered of your and Kitty’s…argument, you found her the day you arrived on her Gezane.”
“I did, but I lost the scroll containing the spell to bring me back.”
Kitty raised her hand to bring everyone’s attention to her and then lowered it. “My fault. I hit him with my car.” She stopped and thought for a moment. “I guess you all might call it a carriage or something. It was an accident. Though if I had known how he planned to do me, I would have sped up and ran his ass over on purpose.”
Chigaru said, “The scroll was found by another. It wasn’t until the attack three months later that it came into my possession again.”
Nym asked, “And you do not know who attacked you?”
“No. Kitty?”
She shook her head. “No clue. Ice, the owner of the place where I work…worked, has a lot of enemies. He’s a mafia boss…uh…what would you all call it?” She looked at Chigaru. “Help me out here.”
He said, “I’m unfamiliar with the term mafia.”
She sucked her teeth and sighed. “Um…” She waved her hand in a circular motion as she thought of an explanation. “A crime lord. No? Uh…a shadow king. A guy who is in charge of the organized crime in a given location. For Ice, that’s south Florida. Basically a person who has a ton of enemies, who wouldn’t think twice about killing a bunch of innocent people if it meant pissing off Ice and sending a message.” She hugged her arms and shivered. “I hope Red and the others are okay.”
Serenity asked in a disbelieving voice, “You worked for this man, Chigaru? A person who profits from criminal acts?”
“I was unaware of his occupation, Serenity.”
Kitty said, “Ice is a decent guy. He might be a crime lord but he’s an honest one. No double-dealing and you always know where you stand with him. He’s better than the prior club owner. That guy gave pond scum a bad name. He whored the girls out whether they wanted to do it or not. And got half of them hooked on drugs to keep them whoring.”
“You never mentioned that, Kitty.”
She shrugged. “Why would I? It didn’t happen to me. That was before my time. I got there in time to see the aftermath as well as help with the cleanup. You wouldn’t have recognized Red, Chi. Not at all. Whatever hole Ice put that guy in wasn’t nearly deep enough, if you ask me.” She clenched the globe she held and small tremors shook her body.
Chigaru wanted to go to her, hold her, but he held partial blame for the anger she displayed.
Kitty heaved a breath. “Ice cleaned up the club and made it a respectable place. The girls appreciated knowing they would be safe when they came to work each night. I hope Ice finds whoever did attack us and puts them through a world of hurt before he kills them.” She shook her head and her anger seemed to abate. “Not that we’ll know either way.” She looked at the orb. “I wonder if Silny can send a message back to let them know we’re okay?”
Chigaru said, “Ice knew I was from an alternate dimension. He might assume I returned here with you.”
“Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me Ice was there when you asked me about your soul mate. Nice of him to mention it. But then dragons always protect their own.”
Melchior waved them to quiet with an annoyed sigh. “Enough. Kitty, your words confuse me. Why do you blame Chigaru for not revealing who you are to him if you were there when he asked?”
Kitty pursed her lips.
Chigaru knew why she didn’t want to speak, but she had to answer Melchior’s question. “You can trust everyone here, Kitty. I promise you.”
Though in a grudging manner, she said, “I have the power to answer almost any question asked of me, but I’m kind of out of my body when I do it. I’m not aware of what’s asked unless the person asking tells me when I come back, which is something Chigaru didn’t do.”
Serenity said, “A truly powerful gift.”
“It’s not a gift. It’s a rope around my neck waiting for someone to come along and tie me down with it. I ran away from my own mother to keep that from happening.”
Nym gasped and then shot Chigaru a hard look. He nodded at her, knowing where her thoughts had gone upon hearing Kitty’s words. Nym had also been born with a great and rare power her mother had thought to exploit. To keep that from happening, Nym had run away from home and become an assassin. The taint of the lives Nym had taken meant she could no longer become what her mother had intended, though it in no way diminished the power Nym possessed.
Kitty said, “And that’s only the beginning. If I had submitted to training, I could have become an oracle, a woman able to answer any and every question with one hundred percent accuracy. The knowledge of the universe would have been open to me.” She smiled big and said in a cheerful voice, “But, I didn’t get the training for all that. Instead, I’m a court entertainer who would very much like to forget about the other thing I can do.”
Melchior said, “I have no questions needing answers.”
“Yet.” Kitty met his gaze without flinching. “Say what you want now and I know you can only speak the truth, but eventually everyone has something they have to know.”
“If that ti
me comes, you will be compensated.”
“Yes, because everyone knows money makes it all better. I can totally forget while clutching a bagful of money the sensation of having my consciousness shoved aside so some magical entity can take over my body until it feels like giving it up.” Sarcasm dripped heavy from her every word.
Chigaru said, “Kitty, you—”
“But whatever.” She shrugged again. “I’m at your mercy since this is your world, your kingdom. Do whatever you want with me.”
Melchior gestured to the orb she held. “But you are not truly at my mercy. You have an open invitation to Night Creature Forest sitting on your hand.”
“Well, yeah. There is that. Though I’m betting Silny hopes to never see me again. I’ll take my chances here.”
Serenity asked, “How did you come to meet Silny, Chigaru?”
He said, “She found me. I should not have taken up her offer.”
“No you shouldn’t have,” Kitty snapped.
“Do not interpret my words as an insult to you, Kitty. I risked much trusting an unknown mage who offered something seemingly impossible. I thought at first she did it to separate me from Serenity as part of a plan to attack her.”
“Then why chance it? You put your precious Serenity in danger.”
“Because Serenity was already in danger. Lidan saw it when others pretended not to.”
Lidan pointed at himself in surprise and the others looked at him in question.
Chigaru nodded. “I was…” He shook his head at his own shame. “If not guarding her directly, I left the palace. A Hell Hound’s duty is to be near Serenity at all times whether we are guarding her directly or not. I couldn’t. I assigned myself to day guard so I could sleep away from the palace at night.”
Kitty waved her finger between Serenity and Melchior. “You two share a room, right? You’re not like those royals who sleep in separate rooms, are you?”
Serenity said, “We had separate rooms at first. No longer.”
“Ah. I get it now. I’m betting Chi’s room is near yours, isn’t it?”
“He is down the hall. All the Hell Hounds room near us.”
Kitty asked Chigaru, “And Silny must have said something like having a mate would solve your little jealousy issue, right?”
Chigaru nodded. “She said the love of a true mate would surpass what I feel for Serenity.”
“Well, what do you know? It looks like you lot can lie after all because Silny is full of shit.” Kitty watched him, probably waiting for him to deny her words.
He couldn’t. He loved Kitty but it didn’t feel stronger than the love he had for Serenity, as he had known it wouldn’t when he’d first departed for Kitty’s dimension.
Melchior walked forward until he stood face to face with Chigaru. “Hell Hound Chigaru, you are leader of Queen Serenity’s personal guard. Do you wish to relinquish that role?”
Chigaru said in a firm voice, “No.”
“Can you say now you will perform your duties as they are intended without deviation? Can you say you are a true Hell Hound?”
“I am Serenity’s first Hell Hound. I will remain her true Hell Hound until she takes the role from me.”
Melchior turned his gaze to the others. “What say you all?”
Nym said, “I am a true Hell Hound. Chigaru is my leader.”
Haige and Theyn said in unison, “I am a true Hell Hound. Chigaru is my leader.”
Erezion put his hand on Chigaru’s shoulder before he said, “Chigaru’s support made me a true Hell Hound. He is my leader.”
“Though it might anger his true mate,” Ancraf said, “no other Hell Hound has more devotion to his duty than Chigaru. He inspired me to become a true Hell Hound. I am honored to call him my leader.”
Lidan spoke last. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Chigaru and said, “I am a true Hell Hound. I embrace the title and all it means. Chigaru is my leader but only until I can take the title from him.”
Chigaru said, “As it should be.”
Melchior said, “Hell Hound Chigaru, welcome home. And to Kitty your true mate—”
“I wish you all would stop calling me that,” Kitty grumbled.
“—welcome to the kingdom of Nexeu.”
“Woot,” Kitty said in a deadpan voice. “Can I have a shower now?”
“Yes. Everyone, return to your duties. Kitty, once you and Chigaru are presentable, I will see you both in the throne room to discuss your petition to become a court entertainer.”
Ancraf rushed to the door and opened it so Melchior and Serenity could leave first. Everyone else shuffled out, with Nym the last to leave. She regarded Kitty with a puzzled expression. When Chigaru caught her gaze, she nodded to him and then left the room.
Chigaru turned his attention to Kitty, waiting to see what she would do or say next.
She asked, “Does your room have a bath in it?”
“It does.”
“Which way?”
“You will reside in my room with me?”
“I don’t have much choice in the matter, do I?”
“You should reside with me because you want, not because you have no choice.”
“Yeah, and you should love me because I’m your soul mate, but it looks like that isn’t going to happen either.” She held up her hand to stop what he would have said next. “Can we please just get clean? Please?”
“This way.” Chigaru left the room with Kitty following behind him. He wanted her to walk beside him. He wanted her to forgive him. He wanted to do their first meeting over so his misguided feelings wouldn’t hurt her.
In the days to come, he would prove she was in his heart and wouldn’t stop proving it until she believed him.
Chapter Eight
The bath didn’t turn out at all the way she’d imagined it would. Kitty tried not to pout about the missed opportunity. She’d thought the trip to the bath would lead to some much needed makeup sex, but no such luck.
Chigaru was being skittish around her, not that she blamed him. But a little sex—or a lot—would have gone a long way toward working out Kitty’s frustration and bad mood, which would have led to forgiveness…maybe. She remained unsure about the forgiveness part of the equation.
How should she live the rest of her life knowing Chigaru had married her but longed for another woman? Another woman he happened to see every single day since he headed said woman’s personal security. Kitty didn’t know if she wanted to laugh at her pathetic situation or cry.
Since she and Chigaru were headed to the throne room, neither was an option. Kitty settled on watching Chigaru’s behind flex beneath the long loincloth he wore. She did appreciate bhresya fashion. They were minimalists—enough to cover, not conceal.
Chigaru’s chest was bare except for a waist-length vest. He wore a sword strapped sideways across his back at the waist with the hilt pointed to his left so he could grab it. He looked every bit the guard in his outfit.
Kitty had opted for something she could move in since she planned to audition to be a court entertainer. Her ensemble consisted of loose leggings made of semisheer material and a matching opaque half-vest shirt. It made her feel like she should be popping out of a bottle and asking her master what he wished. Not that she minded. She’d worn less at the club and she doubted she would be removing this outfit.
The throne room hummed with low conversations from the gathering of people spread along the perimeter of the room. Serenity and Melchior sat on their twin thrones with a little girl situated between them.
Kitty whispered, “She’s cute.”
“Princess Nilam,” Chigaru said without looking over his shoulder at her.
“Love the blue hair.”
“It’s natural.”
“Did I say it wasn’t? I made a comment. Yeesh. I know you’re home and all gung ho to get back to work, but lighten up.”
Chigaru stopped and faced her. “Kitty, I didn’t mean—”
“Oh, is that the band? I g
otta go talk to them about music.” She trotted off to the group of musicians and Chigaru didn’t try to stop her. Whatever. It didn’t matter. He was working and so was she.
The musicians stopped talking as she approached. Kitty smiled at them to show she meant no harm, not that she harbored any delusions she could harm any of the people she’d seen. Chigaru hadn’t exaggerated about being normal height. Everyone around her made Kitty feel small for the first time in her life. She was loving it.
“Hello,” she greeted the nearest man holding a guitar. At least the instruments were the same. “I’m Kitty. I’m auditioning to become a court entertainer and I wanted to talk to you all about music.”
The man nodded. “There have been a few human dancers who have come, but none were hired. The royal couple prefers bhresya performers.”
“Doesn’t hurt to try, right?”
“You are not wrong.”
“Good. I’m unfamiliar with the music around here. What would you suggest?”
The woman holding a flute said, “Do you prefer melodic or dramatic?”
“Definitely dramatic.” Kitty was happy they were being helpful.
Another man holding a trumpet started humming. The others looked his way and before picking up the tune and humming along with him. That made sense. They probably couldn’t play unless Melchior or Serenity requested it. Kitty closed her eyes and listened to the song. It reminded her of Vivaldi.
When it ended, she opened her eyes and clapped softly. “Beautiful. You mimic your instruments well.”
The group bowed in unison.
She asked, “Can you speed it up by half tempo?”
They all looked at each other before starting their humming again, this time faster. Kitty nodded in time. When they finished, she said, “Perfect. That speed and twice in a row.”
The woman said, “Signal us when you’re ready to start.”
“Thank you. I appreciate this.” Kitty flashed them a smile and then made her way to the thrones. Chigaru stood at Serenity’s side, but she tried to overlook that. With a grace that would have made her dance teachers proud, Kitty curtsied. “Your majesties and your highness.”
Kristar (Bookstrand Publishing Romance) Page 14
