by Aja James
For some moments, he lay frozen against her, not knowing how to react.
But then, against all odds, their impossible situation, he couldn’t hold it back, the fragile smile that spread his lips.
In answer, he turned his body towards her, giving her better access, and she immediately buried her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling deeply and releasing a long sigh. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back the way she liked best, cocooning her in his heat.
Her thick-furred leopard tail flicked against Tal’s nose, surprising a chuckle out of him, before curling over Ishtar’s eyes.
Before long, she was mewling contentedly in her sleep.
“The Serpent and the Leopard were the best of friends, laughing and playing for days on end. ’Til one day the Leopard finds her heart to defend, and the bond between them forever rends.”
—From the Ecliptic Prophesies, buried and forgotten
Chapter Eight
“He seems to be in a lot less pain,” Rain said when she admitted Inanna and Gabriel into the healing chamber.
“His wounds?” Inanna asked, a shuddering breath leaving her chest.
Rain shook her head.
“Still not healing very well. But the blood flow from the more recent injuries has stopped. I was able to patch the tissues and skin together the old-fashioned human way.”
Inanna’s eyes moved from the bandages on Tal’s throat and chest to regard the female who stood a couple of feet away from his bedside, opposite her.
“Her venom worked?” Inanna threw the question in Ava and Rain’s direction, not speaking directly to Ishtar.
“Yes, apparently,” Ava replied. “I took a sample of Tal’s blood to further analyze. I need to understand better how the three sets of DNA are interacting in his bloodstream. It might hold the key to his cellular degeneration.”
“Do you think modern medicine can stop the Decline?” Inanna asked expressionlessly, as if too afraid to hope.
Ava sighed.
“I don’t know. We’ve been able to advance a lot in the past few years in genetic engineering, cloning, viral research, transplant science, you name it. It’s on the back of all that work that I was able to create the serum to bond with my human DNA and make me…kind of like one of you. Anything is possible, I suppose.”
She looked Inanna straight in the eye.
“But I won’t be able to figure this all out overnight. Or even over a few weeks, months, maybe years.”
Meaning, she likely wouldn’t be able to find a solution in time to save Tal, so Inanna shouldn’t get her hopes up.
The Light-Bringer gave one sharp nod.
Ava cleared her throat, as if she was about to launch into more bad news.
“You know, Nana, um, as I was comparing the DNA with those in our limited database, ah, Ishtar—”
“Ava,” Rain cut in, taking hold of Ava’s arm. “I think we should let Ishtar and Inanna chat a while. It’s not our story to tell.”
“Why would I want to speak with her?” Inanna snarled. “What were you about to say?”
Ishtar came forth then and faced Inanna squarely.
“I would be grateful if I may have a word with you,” she said quietly, holding the former Chosen’s hostile gaze.
They were the same height, both just a couple of inches shy of six feet. Both built athletically, lean and graceful.
One dark, one light. As if they were two sides of the same coin.
“Please.”
Despite the thunderous pounding of her heart, Ishtar refused to back down. She couldn’t run away from this forever. She wanted her daughter to know her. And she knew that they had to work together, not at cross purposes, if they were to find a way to save Tal.
In unspoken understanding, the healers and Gabriel exited the chamber to the outer corridors while Ishtar led the way to the adjoining room where she and Inanna could have a private conversation.
“Listen to what she has to say, Libbu” Gabriel murmured to his Mate before he left, “listen with an open heart.”
He gave her a thorough kiss on the mouth and squeezed her hand, and then she was alone with the stranger named Ishtar.
Her father’s Mistress.
Inanna crossed her arms and stared the female down, still bristling with hostility.
As the Light Bringer, and the Angel of Death among her Kind before her Awakening, Inanna was known best for her compassion and courage. But right now, in front of the female who had caused her beloved papa so much pain, Inanna couldn’t conjure even a single iota of empathy.
Now that she was alone with her daughter, Ishtar didn’t know where to begin. The past was convoluted and difficult to retell for so many reasons.
So Ishtar cut straight to the truth within her heart:
“I once loved him more than life itself,” she said in a low, husky voice.
“You, my child, are the result of that love.”
*** *** *** ***
Third millennium BC. Capital City of Akkad. The Ivory Palace.
During the next fifteen weeks they established a comfortable, carefully platonic rhythm.
Ishtar went about her daily duties, while Tal wandered mostly freely around the Palace and its manicured grounds.
The formal chambers where Queen Ashlu held public and private court were the only places that were explicitly off limits to him, unless he accompanied Ishtar during her engagements. Which happened frequently, for she always wanted him close by.
That a Mistress brought her Blood Slave wherever she went was not an unusual occurrence, for it was the slave’s purpose to Serve her needs. And a vampire needed quite often and insatiably.
What did raise eyebrows, induce some frowns and mutterings, was the way the Princess looked upon her slave.
As if he were her Blooded Mate, a Mate she chose and loved.
This did not escape the Queen’s keen eyes. And one night, when Tal was spending time in the royal forge and carpentry hall, Ishtar was summoned to her mother’s private chamber alone.
“You asked for me, Mother?” Ishtar said after the Queen’s handmaidens opened the door.
“Leave us,” her mother commanded, and all of the servants, guards, and well-oiled, beautiful and fully aroused Dark males who had been “entertaining” the Queen, departed her presence immediately.
A couple of the males cast flirtatious glances at Ishtar, but she took no notice of them, simply awaiting her mother’s wishes as the double doors to the chamber clicked shut.
The Queen casually draped a diaphanous cloak over her shoulders and tied it loosely in front, covering her nudity but in no way disguising the proportions and secrets of her voluptuous form.
Not for the first time, Ishtar wondered whether the Queen found satisfaction in her nightly orgies with different Dark males. She never saw the same faces where her mother’s lovers were concerned.
And then Ishtar inevitably wondered about her father.
Three thousand years ago, when Queen Ashlu first held the throne, she was Mated to Ishtar and Anunit’s father. But while the Ecliptic Scrolls accounted for a Consort and a Blooded Mate of the reigning Queen, they never mentioned him by name.
They never mentioned him at all, except that he was a powerful Dark male from an ancient lineage. Who disappeared shortly after the twins were born.
“He left me because he hated me.”
Ishtar looked sharply at her mother with startled eyes.
“That is what you’re asking in your head after all—what happened to my Blooded Mate. Why am I not slaking my needs on him instead of random, faceless bodies with good, hard cocks.”
Heat suffused Ishtar’s cheeks. Not because of her mother’s directness but because they were talking at least in part about her father and mother’s relationship.
Or lack thereof, apparently.
Queen Ashlu seated herself at a glossy table carved from one giant piece of cedar wood and began to brush her long, dark hair.
“He hated me because I didn’t love him as much as he loved me,” the Queen said emotionlessly.
Then she turned to Ishtar and speared her with a knowing look.
“I didn’t love him because I was stupidly obsessed with a Pure Blood Slave that I took against his wishes.”
And now Ishtar realized why she’d been summoned. The Queen wished to teach her a lesson.
“Yes, my daughter, you need to learn this lesson,” Queen Ashlu said, reading her mind unerringly.
“Flaunt your Blood Slave as much as you wish in front of all—that’s what he’s there for, to quench your thirst and sate your lust. Fuck him in the Great Hall for all I care. But never delude yourself into believing that he’s more.”
A burning rage mounted at her mother’s words. Ishtar could feel her body trembling to shift, wanting to destroy anything that disparaged or hurt her love.
Queen Ashlu huffed a humorless laugh, as if she could sense her daughter’s fury and found it pitiable.
“What will you do? Tear apart anyone who dares to insult him? Look at him askance? You are the one who made him what he is. He is, and always will be, a lowly blood whore. You will do well to remember that.”
Ishtar refrained from speaking. The rage she felt only increased. She feared what she would say if she opened her mouth.
The Queen stood up and came toward her daughter until they were standing just a few inches apart. Ishtar was taller than her mother, though the powerful Queen was by no means short.
Queen Ashlu took Ishtar by the chin and angled her head down to look into her eyes.
“You have a vast Destiny to fulfill, my daughter,” she said quietly, though her words made more of an impact than if she’d shouted.
“The great white beast has been foreseen in the Ecliptic Prophesies. It is the protector of the White Star. You, not Anunit, will be the Chosen Princess, for only the White Star can bear offspring and carry the line. The Dark Star is barren. Anunit will never have children.”
Ishtar gasped and tried to jerk out of her mother’s grasp, but Queen Ashlu held her firm.
“I did not want this,” her mother said, the vibration of a strong, undefinable emotion in her tone.
“I did not want this for either of you. She is the elder; the rule should be hers. She is better suited to it than you. Yes, she has some foibles that must be controlled. But I was just the same at that young age, and I was far less cunning than her. You are the younger; you should be…”
The Queen broke off and let go of Ishtar’s chin, turning away.
“You should be free,” she whispered so softly Ishtar strained to hear.
“Free to run in the night with boundless joy. Free to shirk your lessons and appointments. Free to obsess over a Blood Slave as much as you desire, lose yourself in the ecstasy of his blood and body.”
Ishtar was no longer sure to whom her mother referred, for her words seemed inwardly directed.
When she turned back to face her daughter, her expression was implacable.
“But this is not your Destiny. You are the Chosen one. You will be my rightful successor. I shall announce it on your name day three nights hence.”
Ishtar’s head was shaking furiously even before her mind registered the screaming denial: NO!
“Yes,” Queen Ashlu said pitilessly.
“You will be named the Chosen Princess. You will Mate with Enlil, and you will produce the future Queens to rule this empire when your time is done.”
“B-but…I can’t!” Ishtar protested frantically, finally finding her voice.
“Enlil is betrothed to Anunit. He loves her! And I love—”
Crack!
The resounding strike of her mother’s hand against her cheek hurt more for the emotion behind it than the pain itself.
“Never, never, say those words out loud. They proclaim you a fool to anyone who hears them. What kind of Mistress loves her Blood Slave? He will never love you back. How could he? Think about it. For once, Ishtar, think with your head. Don’t just blindly follow your heart.”
She rounded on Ishtar and grabbed hold of her shoulders, shaking her.
“The heart lies, my daughter. It will drive you to madness and bitterness with its lies. The mind is clear. Only the mind can give you the truth. Think!”
Ishtar frantically shook her head, unchecked tears flowing down her cheeks.
“I can’t do this, mama, I don’t want this! Please don’t make me hurt the two people I love most in the world! I can’t! I can’t!”
The Queen stepped away from her, composed and regal once more, as the doors to her chamber opened to admit four shadow warriors from Enlil’s guard.
“Take the Princess to her chamber and see that she stays there,” the Queen commanded without inflection.
“I will give you two nights to think on what I have told you, Ishtar,” she said.
“On your name day, there will be no going back. You cannot escape your Destiny; you can only survive it.”
*** *** *** ***
Tal sat on the only stool in his prison cell and whittled away at the sculpture of a leopard he’d been working on since he’d first discovered the woodwork hall beside the palace forge.
The forge master was a Pure slave with incredible talents in making both weaponry and the finer things like jewelry and art. He appreciated Tal’s skill with a carving knife and gave him a couple blocks of sandalwood and a small iron carver “to keep time while you await your Mistress,” he’d said.
For the past fifteen weeks, Tal had done much more than simply keep time.
The forge was a place he frequented because Dark warriors often came to make requests, and when they did, Tal would find every opportunity to look directly into their eyes and see not only why they needed the weapons they ordered, but also how and when they’d wield them.
The training grounds was another area Tal walked by each night on his seemingly random ramble across the courtyards.
He ingratiated himself with the human servants and Pure slaves who brought water and towels to the soldiers as they trained. He’d chat with them while helping them with their chores, all the while paying close attention to the fighting maneuvers of the most lethal Dark warriors, including the shadow force under Lord Enlil’s command.
It would be nigh impossible to defeat them, Tal determined from his observations.
He couldn’t foresee any scenario where the Pure Resistance would come out victorious if Enlil and his shadows led the charge. Therefore, he had to find a way to keep them out of the most critical battles.
But he hadn’t been able to confront the Dark commander, Enlil, himself. Without looking into the warrior’s eyes, Tal could not anticipate the potential role he would play in the war.
It was a dangerous unknown that could turn the tide either in the Pure Ones favor or against them.
The Queen’s own soldiers were formidable in both numbers and skill, but her weakness was that she used humans in the battalions’ lower ranks. Dark warriors were mostly cavalry and squadron leaders, and if Tal discounted Enlil’s forces, the number of remaining Dark warriors would almost equal the number of Pure warriors they’d gathered and trained thus far.
If they picked off the Dark leaders of the battalions, the humans wouldn’t last long. This was not their war, after all. They had little to gain if either side won or lost.
But the Queen had many allies across her vast empire. The Ensis of her principalities had powerful armies of their own. As Tal tried to find some solutions to neutralize the shadow force threat, he gathered all the political intelligence he could.
Fortunately, Ishtar preferred to have his company by her side in every engagement where a Blood Slave’s presence was allowed. As such, Tal was able to observe and look into the eyes of each and every important Dark nobleman and provincial Ensi that visited the Ivory Palace at the Queen’s behest.
With all the information he’d collected over the past fifteen weeks, he began to devise a strate
gy that could give the Resistance a fighting chance.
And with each critical piece of the puzzle, he sent news to the Pure troops lying low in the Silver Mountains through notes with instructions and drawings tied to the backs and legs of small creatures dispatched by Ninti, for she had the Gift of seeing into the souls of all living beings and the ability to communicate with them.
Thus, on the backs of lizards, spiders, snakes and scorpions, on the legs of nightjars, wheatears, finches and larks, the Destiny of the Pure Ones was carried, like dandelion puffs in the wind, to their intended destination.
If everything worked as Tal planned, the Resistance had a very small chance of success. But two variables still plagued his mind—Enlil’s shadow force and the fact that he himself had been imprisoned in a cell for the past two nights with no explanation as to why.
Had they somehow discovered the messages he’d been sending to, and receiving from, the Resistance? Was Ishtar also being punished, if so?
He worried for her safety.
In every scenario he played out in his head, he couldn’t see any future related to her. The Resistance’s goal was to overthrow Dark rule, which meant they needed to defeat the Queen and take over the Palace. Countless lives would be lost in the process.
He’d do anything, everything, in his power to ensure that Ishtar didn’t count among the casualties.
Tal-Telal, ‘the Demon Warrior,’ a low feminine voice sounded in Tal’s head.
He looked up from his wood work to see the Princess Anunit standing at the entrance to the underground prison several yards away.
Slowly, she made her way to his cell, like a large serpent meandering toward its prey.
A mesmerizingly beautiful serpent with dark, fathomless eyes.
When she stood just beyond his prison bars, she said out loud, “You are indeed magnificent to behold, Blood Slave. No wonder my sister insisted on having you.”
Tal merely looked back at her, silent and expressionless.
“I can communicate with you just barely with my powers, but I cannot read your mind,” Anunit murmured, as if intrigued by the mystery.
“I wonder why that is.”
