Not with Ty serving, however.
“Is this dish to my Lady’s liking?” he would ask, holding out a dish of candied eep berries. Or, “Does the Goddess in the Flesh have an appetite for this tonight?” while holding out a tureen of steaming tolgen fungus stew.
Ellina was able to pick and choose but she didn’t taste a single thing set before her until the big Kindred was done serving her. Then she waited while he took a small bite or sip of each item and then nodded his approval to her.
He seemed to linger longest over the pale, buttery yellow ulumina wine, Ellina thought. But at last, he nodded his approval and she had a sip herself. It tasted the same as it always did, she thought, though the big Kindred’s apparent uncertainty made her drink it sparingly.
Down the table from her, she saw the High Priest watching as she brought the silver and gold goblet to her lips. He raised his own goblet in a silent toast to her when he saw her looking at him and smiled.
Bemused at his sudden change in mood, Ellina returned the toast and took another sip. Maybe he was rethinking his earlier behavior and hoping she would forgive him.
At long last, the interminable banquet ended. To her relief, Ellina was the first who got to leave, due to her status as Potentate. After Ty had given her his arm to help her from the table and led her away, the other nobles were free to go as well.
As she left, Ellina heard the low murmuring as they talked to each other, moving slowly away from the table, but she tried hard not to listen to it. Doubtless they were saying what they really thought of her, now that they were fairly certain not to be overheard.
Don’t be paranoid, she chided herself as Lor bounced and squeaked on top of her head. Not everything is about you, you know.
It would have been easier advice to take if she hadn’t heard the same people speak about her so often in the past, when she was a child—when she was trying to fit in with them… But no—she would put the bad memories from her mind and try to start fresh, Ellina told herself. She was the Potentate now, it was time to rise above the pain of the past—or at least try to.
She was glad to get safely back to her apartments and take a long, relaxing bath. At least she had no more engagements tonight—though tomorrow she would have to make a public appearance in the Holy Mists—a prospect she dreaded.
Still, there was no point in thinking about it now. For now, she decided, she would relax and enjoy the time she had off from being on public display.
She felt boneless with weariness and more than ready to go to bed as she slipped into the long, silky nightdress her personal maid had laid out for her. Unlike many of her clothes, it was not Sacred Blue, but rather a warm, golden ivory which Ellina liked very much. She liked the high neckline and low hemline too. She preferred to dress modestly—though she would be lying if she claimed she didn’t enjoy the touch of the cool, silky fabric against her breasts and the rub of it between her legs.
Ellina frowned as she stood before a mirror and rubbed her breasts through the soft fabric of the nightdress. She hadn’t used to notice such things—the sensual brush of silk against her bare skin or the good feeling she got when it touched her more sensitive areas. But lately, it was all she could think of sometimes.
Which caused her to worry.
Please, not yet, she thought as she looked at herself in the silvery reflective surface. I’m not ready yet—please!
But all the begging in the world wouldn’t change things one way or another. It was time to go to bed and stop worrying.
Yawning, Ellina opened the door of her bathing room, intending to cross the living area and go to her bed chamber. But when she looked up, she was so startled she stopped dead in her tracks.
Ty was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace that faced the nearest couch and he had an indecisive frown on his face.
“My Lady,” he said, when he looked up and saw Ellina standing there looking at him with a quizzical expression on her face. “We need to talk.”
Nine
There had been something in the wine again tonight—Ty was certain of it. It had been the same substance that had been dumped into the Cup of Wisdom only there had been more of it!
Damn it, who was doing this? Who was trying to drug the new Potentate? Who would dare?
Ty didn’t know but he was determined to get to the bottom of it and stop whoever it was before they could try it again—or something worse.
But…what if he couldn’t find the person drugging the Potentate’s drinks? Or what if he did find out who it was—what good would it do in the long run when Ellina had so many enemies?
Though it hadn’t seemed so at first, Ty was beginning to see that the royal court here was a hotbed of backbiting and intrigue. The actions of the High Priest as well as the murmured remarks he’d overheard from some of the nobles confirmed that. For some reason, they didn’t seem to like their new Potentate very well, though he couldn’t imagine why not. Perhaps because there were too many people hungry for the power which had been given to one small female, who they thought could be easily gotten out of the way.
Not while I’m by her side, Ty thought fiercely. I’ll kill anyone who tries to harm her and make a fucking example of them so the rest will think twice before they try again.
But as soon as her personal guard was trained and ready, he would be going back to the Mother Ship, leaving her alone and defenseless against such treachery. And though the guards he was training would die to defend her in battle, none of them had his own ability to refute more subtle attacks, like poison.
His earlier idea re-surfaced in Ty’s mind. It was radical and not at all proper but it was all he could think of. When he saw Ellina stepping out of her bathing chamber, he couldn’t be silent.
“My Lady,” he told her. “We need to talk.”
“Oh? Is there something wrong, Ty?” She came to him at once, a look of uncertainty on her lovely face. He tried not to notice how the firelight shone through the long, ivory gown she was wearing or the way the silky fabric clung to the full curves of her breasts and hips.
“My Lady,” he said, coming right to the point. “Ellina—someone tried to drug you again tonight.”
“Oh, no!” Her slim hand flew to her mouth. “Was it in the wine?” she asked. “I thought you were lingering quite a long time when you tasted it.”
“Because I had to neutralize the substance again,” Ty said grimly, nodding. “I couldn’t give it to you to drink until I was certain it wouldn’t harm you.”
“But who could be doing this? And why?” Ellina demanded, clearly upset. “I’ve only just become Potentate but the people seem happy enough—in fact, they love me!”
“The common people do, but I am not so sure about the nobles,” Ty said darkly. “And it may be because the common people love you that someone is trying to drug you. A ruler beloved by her people is much harder to depose than one the people don’t care about or despise.”
“So they’re trying to kill me?” Her face went pale.
Ty shook his head hastily.
“No, as I told you before, this substance—whatever it is—is not a poison. But I don’t know what it might do to you if you were allowed to ingest it. It might be a mind control agent, or a hallucinogen, or any number of other things.”
Ellina bit her lip. “Then I guess it’s very lucky I have you by my side to protect me from such nefarious plots.”
“But you won’t have me forever.” At her wide, uncertain eyes, Ty softened his voice. “My orders are to stay until your new personal guard of Chorkay warriors are trained and vetted to keep you safe. After that, I am to return to the Kindred Mother Ship.”
“But…but none of my people has your ability. None of those guards—no matter how well you train them—will be able to detect and neutralize poison!” she exclaimed.
“I know.” Ty sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. “Which is why I would like to propose a rather…” He cleared his throat. “A rather unus
ual solution.”
“No matter how unusual it is, I will hear it.” She sat on the couch before the fire, her hands on her lap and her head tilted up to him like an attentive pupil. Her long, damp hair fell around her face in thick profusion and her face was an open book filled with curiosity and concern. Her innocent loveliness made Ty’s heart fist in his chest.
“This solution…it would entail a certain…” He cleared his throat again. Gods, he ought not to say this—ought not to propose it. It wasn’t at all what he was supposed to be doing here. But what other way could he protect her after he was gone?
“Go on, Ty,” she prompted gently and he realized that he had to—he couldn’t stop now.
“It would entail a certain intimacy,” he said at last. “Which you might not wish to permit.”
Her face grew pale and her eyes got wide with fear.
“I cannot breed with you! I have not yet entered my Heat Cycle. At least…” Her blue cheeks flushed a pale purple in the firelight. “I don’t think I have.”
“No, no!” Ty said quickly. Damn it, he felt like an opportunistic ass! “I would never try to coerce you into, uh, breeding with me,” he said, hoping to reassure her. “That would be inappropriate, considering our, uh, respective positions. I am your guard not…anything else. No, what I wish to propose is that I try to give you my immunity to poison and other substances.”
“But how would you do that?” she asked, her brow furrowing in confusion. “What method could we use if not…” She looked pale and fearful again. “If not by breeding?” she finished in a frightened whisper.
Ty frowned, wondering why she feared the act of love so much. Maybe it was a cultural thing—any people who called the joining of two bodies and souls “breeding” as though they were nothing but animals, might not be very interested in giving and receiving pleasure. But that was none of his business—protecting Ellina was.
“You would need to ingest my essence,” he told her. “I believe in that way you could gradually become immune to any kind of poison or harmful substance that might be put into your food or drink.”
“Your essence?” She frowned. “But…didn’t you tell me that comes from your fangs?”
Ty nodded reluctantly.
“That is the intimate part, unfortunately. My fangs cannot produce essence unless they are stimulated by some outside source.”
“Like poison?” Ellina suggested.
He nodded. “Yes, but they also react to the female I am guarding.” He didn’t tell her that a regular Blood Kindred’s fangs produced essence tailor-made to a female he wanted to bond to him—or that his own fangs were even more specialized to protect and give pleasure because of the manipulation of his DNA. She didn’t need to know any of that, he argued with himself—she only needed to know how he intended to keep her safe.
“So…how would I get your immunity? Would you, er, milk your fangs for me so that I could get the essence?” Ellina asked uncertainly.
Ty cleared his throat.
“Unfortunately, you would have to do the, er, ‘milking,’ as you put it. You would need to stroke my fangs with your tongue in order to get them to produce essence tailored especially for you.”
“Oh!” Her eyes widened. “I understand now—I would have to kiss you.”
“Not exactly,” Ty said quickly. “The two of us kissing wouldn’t be right—it wouldn’t be appropriate, as I said before. But if I sat on the couch and you leaned over me and just…”
He made a motion with one hand, hardly knowing what he was trying to say. Now that his suggestion was out in the open, it felt more improper than ever. It was certainly not something he would have offered to any other subject he’d ever guarded on any of his previous missions. He wouldn’t have been surprised if the Potentate had slapped him or reported him for impertinence.
Instead, she sat there, staring up at him, a look of consideration on her lovely face.
“Well…” she said slowly. “Would it work right away?”
Ty frowned, feeling worse than ever.
“Unfortunately not,” he said stiffly. “It would probably take a couple of days—maybe weeks—of you, er, milking my fangs for their essence in order for you to build up immunity. However,” he added quickly, “Once you did, you would be protected from poisons and harmful substances for the rest of your life. And I…” He cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t have to worry about you after I leave.”
He was almost certain she would turn his suggestion down flat. After all, call it what you would, it really did amount to kissing—deep kissing—which he shouldn’t be doing with the female he was supposed to be guarding. Especially considering she was the ruler of an entire planet and he was nothing but an off-worlder commoner.
“I understand if you don’t like the idea,” he said after she had been silent a long moment. “I never should have mentioned it. Forgive me. I—”
“No.” She put up a hand to stop him. “No, I want to do it,” she said, looking up at him. “Only you’ll have to er, show me how. I…” She bit her lip, her cheeks going pale purple in a blush again. “I’ve never kissed anyone, you see. Not really.”
Ten
“It’s not really a kiss,” Ty protested. But he sat on the couch beside her and Ellina scooted close to his side. His satiny gold uniform shirt gleamed richly in the firelight and his clear eyes seemed to be glass-green at the moment. He frowned at her. “And how old did you say you were?”
Ellina bit her lip. “Twenty-three,” she admitted.
His frown deepened. “And you’ve never been kissed?”
“Once. But it wasn’t for real.” Her cheeks got hot with shame at the memory and she looked down at her hands.
“Hey, what happened?” He reached out to lift her chin so that their gazes met. “Whatever it was, it must have made you pretty upset,” he said softly. “Want to tell me about it?”
“Not really,” Ellina said, and then found herself telling anyway.
“I was thirteen years old and just beginning to realize I was different from the other palace children,” she told Ty. “I mean, I’d known for a while but when your body starts to develop it becomes more obvious, you know?”
He nodded. “Go on. Who was it that kissed you?”
“Hennessey Tolland—the son of one of the High Chamberlains.” Ellina cleared her throat. “He told Jellra Gornrun to tell Papier Thrubstood to tell me that he liked me and he wanted to meet me behind the big gold pillar at the head of the Temple of Thufar.”
“So you went?” Ty guessed.
Ellina nodded. “Of course. I was so excited. Hennessey was so handsome—I thought so then, anyway—and I had never imagined someone like him could ever like someone like me.”
“Why, though? You’re lovely,” Ty rumbled, making her blush again. “Were you especially awkward at that age? I know I was.”
“No, I don’t think so.” She sighed. “What made things awkward was that Hennessey didn’t really want to kiss me—he wanted to make fun of me.”
“What? Why?” Ty demanded, his dark brows drawing together in anger.
Ellina shook her head.
“Who knows? He got me to come to the pillar by the temple and he made a big show out of giving me a peck on the lips. Then he...” She bit her lip, remembering the shame of that awful moment. “Then he called out all the others, who had been hiding behind the other pillars. He said, ‘See? I told you I could do it. Told you I could kiss the freak!”
“Freak? Why would they call you that?” Ty asked, looking angrier than ever.
Ellina only shook her head. She didn’t want to explain the reasons to her handsome, perfect guard—didn’t want him to know the truth about her. Not yet. He would find out soon enough when she had to go to the Holy Mists and he accompanied her tomorrow.
“He ran away laughing,” she said in a low voice. “They all did. It’s…very hard for me to forget that, even now that I’m Potentate,” she added. “And hard for me to go amon
g the nobles at banquets and court events, knowing what they really think of me.”
“They’re a pack of stuck-up, snobbish fools,” Ty said angrily. “You never should have been subjected to such cruelty!”
Ellina shrugged. “That’s just palace life. The nobles are all so rich they don’t really have to work so they spend their days on intrigue and gossip and hatching plots against each other.”
“And plots against you,” Ty reminded her grimly. “Which is why I need to give you my immunity, if I can.”
“I want that,” Ellina said earnestly. “Only…” She looked at him shyly. “Only I’m not sure quite…how to start.”
“Come here.” He motioned for her and when Ellina scooted closer, he put one long arm around her and swept her up against his big, warm body.
“Oh!” She gave a breathless little laugh, bracing both hands against his broad chest, and he loosened his hold a little.
“If at any time you want to stop or want me to stop, just tell me,” he said earnestly, looking into her eyes. “I would never want you to feel trapped or unhappy, Ellina.”
“I don’t think I could feel that way with you,” she said. “But I’ll tell you if I want to stop.”
Her body was doing that strange thing again, where she felt like the silky material of her nightdress was rubbing her in all the right places. It was stretched especially tight across her nipples which felt incredibly sensitive tonight.
She knelt beside the big Kindred and leaned against him so that their faces were level with each other. This close she could smell his warm, spicy scent—like leather and fire and masculine musk. It seemed to fill her senses and made her want to get even closer to him.
“Tell me,” she whispered. “Tell me what to do.”
“Take my mouth,” he murmured, his eyes half-lidded in the firelight. “Stroke my fangs with the tip of your tongue.”
Somewhat awkwardly, Ellina did as he suggested. She cupped his square jaw in her hand and felt the bristle of his short whiskers against her palm. Then she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his, though she was uncertain about invading him just yet. For a moment, they simply shared breath, breathing into each other in a way that was both intimate and delicious.
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