by Sunny
"I am well," he said quietly.
"You were here before."
"Yes."
"You met these people."
"Some of them."
"Did you…" I hesitated. "Did they…"
A breeze rustled the leaves, swaying some of the giant trees in the distance.
"Do I need to kill anyone here?" I asked abruptly.
Gryphon laughed but it was a sad sound that made you want to weep instead of smile.
"No, my heart." He called me that but it was the other way around. Gryphon was my heart. My reason for being here. "No one. Mona Louisa was selfish. She desired the gift of walking under the sun only for herself first before any others. I shared no one else's bed here but hers."
Gryphon was able to venture out without impunity into the light of day now, a rare ability for a cold-blooded Monère. Not many things could kill the Monère but the sun was one of them. Stick them under the hot rays and it fried them, literally. One hour and they would be lobster-red and panting. Four hours and they were covered in sores and great boils, their skin sloughing off. And they would die without a healer's aid. That's what my dear mother, Mona Sera, had done to Amber. A remembered shiver rippled over me at how Amber had looked when she had done that to him.
I had passed on my ability to Gryphon to withstand the sun when I had taken him as my lover. For the Monère, sex was much more than the slaking of lust—it was also away to gain new powers and abilities. Another reason why promiscuity was the norm. Mona Louisa had tried to acquire that ability by sleeping with Gryphon in turn. I wonder if she had been successful, if the sun's heat was nothing but a mild kiss upon her skin now. I sincerely hoped not. I hoped that when she stepped out into daylight, it burned her fair skin to a dark red charring crisp.
Dropping my hand, Gryphon stepped back from me, leaving me feeling coldly bereft. His voice was a low barren sound in the night. "When you took me back, even after knowing I had been in Mona Louisa's bed, I could not believe it, that you still wanted me, desired me. I considered it a miracle. A miracle that I cherished with all my heart. But I knew it could not last." His blue eyes drifted close, his heavy lashes casting delicate shadows over his cheeks.
"There are things about me, about my past that I would have kept from you always, were I able to. But you can never out-run your past, even if you have wings," he said, with a small wry smile. In his other form, Gryphon was a falcon.
Then his smile dropped away. "There are people in there who know me. Know of my past. They would have found a way to whisper it into your ears. I have found that I do not wish to wait in agony, in unknowing torment. I will tell you myself and have done with it."
Faint light streamed out from inside the ballroom, allowing me to see those beautiful eyes weighed down with deep shadows. His voice dropped until it became a bare whisper of sound. "In other places, other courts, with other Queens, I have done things with women… with men. I've done things you could never begin to imagine. Done and had things done to me…" His voice shook with remembered pain, with remembered shame.
I reached up and kissed his trembling lips. To stop him, to take away his pain.
"Shhh. It's all right," I murmured, stroking the dark silk of his hair. "That's all behind you now."
Gryphon was only seventy-five years old. Considered young, especially to have acquired so much power. But even among the lovely Monère, where the plainest of us still drew a human's eyes, he was exceptionally beautiful. Many Queens would have welcomed him in their beds. Until he had become too powerful for them.
I knew that Gryphon had been part of a caste of what they called comfort men and comfort women. Mona Sera had used him to whore with humans in return for business deals and monetary concessions for what she wanted. But he was speaking of times and experiences even before Mona Sera. Quite frankly, I couldn't imagine what could be worse than being used as a whore for humans. Monère received no pleasure in mating with a human. I knew that fact personally. I had taken two human lovers to my bed before I learned of my Monère heritage and had gotten pain instead of pleasure. I'd thought I was frigid. As usual, it had been the sticky matter of bedding the wrong men. Or in my case, the wrong species. Finding Gryphon had been like stumbling upon an unexpected treasure when I had given up all hope.
"I love you," I said with soft fierceness. "I will always love you. Always want you. Nothing you say or do—what anyone says—can change that."
Uncertainly, Gryphon's hands came to rest lightly against my back. "Truly?" His forehead sank down to lean against mine, as if his head were too heavy for him to hold up. His rigid body softened against me and his harsh breath blew in soft puffs against my lips.
"Oh, Gryphon. You are my mate." I would tell him this over and over again until he finally believed me. What a sad pair we were. Both of us expecting the other to leave. "You are my heart. I will love you until the end of time."
His arms crushed me to him and he buried his face in my hair, murmuring my name. And I wished the crowd gone. I wished us alone so that we could touch each other, reassure each other, kiss each other. Not chaste kisses but hot, wet ones, our tongues merging, twining together even as we merged, and twined our bodies as one.
Loud voices from inside suddenly intruded upon our stolen solitude. We drew apart, looking at each other, and I watched as Gryphon drew composure down across his face like pulling on a smooth blank mask.
"It seems we are needed inside," he said.
I nodded. He opened the door and we stepped back into the room.
One nice thing, we didn't have to push our way through to the commotion in the center of the vast room. People stepped back, parting for us like the Red Sea, and then merging seamlessly back together again once we had passed.
Blond, handsome Dontaine was faced off against Amber. The air bristled and crackled with the energy and tension between the two men. Chami and Aquila and the rest of our little group stood in silent solidarity behind Amber. So much for mingling.
"What's going on here?" I demanded, stopping before the two of them.
"Dontaine has issued me a challenge," Amber said. His low angry rumble filled the room.
"A challenge?" I repeated. "For what?"
"For you," Gryphon said quietly. "Or rather for the right to you."
"What?" I wasn't sure I'd heard him correctly.
"I've issued Warrior Lord Amber a challenge to a Battle of Strength," Dontaine said, watching my face. "For my Queen's favor."
"How," I asked clearly and carefully, "can you hope to win my favor by fighting with one of my men?"
"I, too, am now one of your men, milady," Dontaine said.
Okay. Bad phrasing.
"Challenges are a traditional way for warriors to pit their strength one against the other in a permissible manner, abiding by rules," Gryphon quietly explained. "It is one way a strong male can rise above another."
"Like a cockfight?" I asked, lifting my brow.
Gryphon bowed his head. "Quite similar, yes."
"And the winner? Gets what?"
"The winner assumes his defeated opponent's rank if it is greater than his own."
"Don't tell me you can acquire the title of Warrior Lord that way." It was more than just a title and the nifty medallion necklace they wore. That was just window dressing for the power beneath it.
"No, milady, you are correct. Men cannot become Warrior Lords in that manner. If Dontaine defeats Amber, he would merely be acknowledged as the dominant male." Gryphon hesitated, and I was coming to learn it was never a good sign when he did that. "The overall winner, however. The one who defeats the Queen's champion, is usually taken to her bed."
"Is that a requirement?" I asked blandly. If it was, things were going to change pretty darn quickly around here.
"No. It is just what Queens usually do."
Silly women. Turned on by all the blood and macho violence, no doubt.
"Dontaine's not following the rules," Tomas said with quiet aggression.
His voice also twanged with shimmers of the South, but it was a different flavor from the others here. "He has to start from the lowest in hierarchy and battle his way up. Not the reverse order."
Dontaine glared coolly at Tomas. "I shall be happy to do so. Do I start with you?"
Tomas bristled at the insult.
We didn't have a pecking order, really. And I'd hate to have to have an official one. But, yes. Amber pretty much was at the top.
"No need," Amber said. "If you are foolish enough to issue me a challenge, I am more than happy to accept it."
_ What was Amber doing? And here I was, just about to forbid it. Only if I did that now, I'd be going against Amber, challenging him, setting it up so that one or the other of us would have to back down. Mentally, I threw my hands up in the air. Amber was a big boy. As a Warrior Lord, he was essentially my equal. I had no right to tell him what to do. Even though I badly wanted to.
Almost as one, first Dontaine then Amber turned and strode to the balcony from where Gryphon and I had just come. With a graceful leap, they jumped over the railing to land blithely on the grass twelve feet below. Like water pushed by a strong current, the people streamed outside, some following Amber and Dontaine's path, jumping down lightly like cats, others going out the front door. Still others flowed out a side entrance. Everyone seemed to know where to go. Eager excitement filled the air as hundreds of people merged into the forest and disappeared like pale moths suddenly swallowed up by the night. Picking up my skirts, I hurried after them with Gryphon at my side, tracking the men by sight and sound.
"Why is Amber doing this?" I whispered, my tone low and furious, angry that I couldn't do anything about this.
"It is inevitable that challenge be given," Gryphon murmured beside me. "It is the normal course of events when taking over a territory, the strong men jockeying for position and rank. It is better that Amber meets the challenge now rather than one of the others. One decisive defeat may stop other challenges from arising."
We came to a clearing. Amber and Dontaine were removing their jackets and shirts, and a ring of spectators had already gathered around them. Bernard had his arms around his wife and daughter. Worry marred the smooth line of Margaret's brow but excitement glittered in Francine's fey gray eyes. The moonlight cast deep shadows over her sharp features, throwing an almost wolfish cast suddenly to her mien.
We were just coming off a full moon. The waxing moon cast an almost perfect circle of light around the clearing, glowing with pale light upon Dontaine's rippling muscles. He was tall and well built. But Amber stood a head taller; Dontaine didn't even come close to matching Amber's weight and sheer massive bulk. God, was Dontaine crazy? How could he hope to win?
"One thing I want made clear, Dontaine." My voice sang out into the clear eager night. "You will not come to my bed this way."
He looked at me, a question in his eyes.
Oh, hell. Anger was making me stupid. The way I'd phrased it made it sound as if he had a chance when he truly didn't. Maybe it was time for some plain speaking.
"Frankly, you will not come to my bed in any way. Not any of you, other than those who I have already chosen, Lord Amber and Lord Gryphon." Announcing that I had two lovers didn't cause a single Monère to blink. I, however, couldn't help blushing. My human upbringing was showing.
Dontaine kicked off his shoes, peeled off his socks, and cast a cocky grin my way. "I would hope to change your mind, milady."
"Trust me. This is not the way to do it."
Amber unbuckled his sword, handed it to Aquila, and stepped out of his shoes. "What shall it be, Dontaine?" Amber growled.
"Two-legged form. Upright," Dontaine answered. "I'll even let you keep your dagger, Lord Amber. Non-silver."
Generous of him, but not as much as allowing a silver dagger would have been. Wounds inflicted by a non-silver weapon healed almost magically fast, while wounds made with silver healed human slow.
"Challenger sets the rules," Aquila murmured to me from my left. The others had joined us.
"That doesn't seem fair," I muttered.
Aquila shrugged. "The defender is presumed to be stronger."
Amber drew the dagger Dontaine had allowed him. Light glimmered off the knife's edge and the sharpness, the lethalness of the blade, made me shiver. "They're not allowed to kill each other. Right?"
Silence.
I turned to look squarely, demandingly at Aquila.
"It happens at times, though rarely," Aquila admitted.
I suddenly found it hard to breathe. "What?"
"Where's your dagger, Dontaine?" Amber asked, drawing my attention back to the inner circle.
"I shall not be needing one," Dontaine replied, and a sudden wash of hot energy filled the air. It was similar to what he had done when he had kissed my hand. But more. Much more. Waves of incandescent energy started pouring out from him, and Dontaine's image suddenly wavered slightly, as if a pebble had been cast into a pool of water and was rippling the clear, unblemished surface of his skin. It was like the wind blowing over a field of grass. Like a trick of light that made you want to rub your eyes and make sure that what you were seeing was real. That the sight of bones snapping, stretching, and reshaping was reality. That the image of nerves, tendons, and muscles all glistening wetly was not an unpleasant dream. That the fur suddenly flowing over his skin, and the snout that was slowly distorting Dontaine's face with an obscene crackling of shifting bone was not something in a nightmare.
Dontaine's beautifully tailored dress slacks were beautiful no more as he grew taller and yet taller, the sucking wet sound of muscles and flesh and ligaments stretching and popping, realigning, making me nauseous. The sturdy cloth ripped with a sharp sound and the tattered hems of his pants came up to his calves like little boy's britches, much too small. The top button had popped off and the lower seams had split right up the sides. The zipper, though, was still holding valiantly, sturdy thing.
I'd seen others change into their animal form before. It had been quick, beautiful, and natural. A shimmer of energy and light and it was complete. This was nothing like that. This change was slow, painful, and obscene. A stretching out, slowing down of the process, arresting it in an unnatural state. And the result was monstrous.
The creature—for that was what it was—threw back his head and howled. Pure liquid joy. Something wild freed. A wolf on the hunt, only he wasn't a true wolf. It was as if Dontaine had arrested the transformation halfway to completion so that he stood even taller than Amber, massive in height and weight. Half-beast, half-human. I'd seen something similar once before, but that had been down in Hell. This… this thing that lurched before me was covered with fur, truly more beast than man. He wasn't quite as big, as bad, as ugly as the alternate form the demon dead took, but it was close.
Dontaine's hands abruptly shot out to the side and spasmed briefly. Great hooking claws popped out from the tips of his fingers, making my heart stop.
"Dear God," I breathed. "What is that?"
"Half Change," Gryphon said quietly. "A rare ability."
I remember embracing my beast. I had done so for the very first time a few days ago, loosing the tiger within me that I had caged all my life. I had called it forth to save my brother and when I changed, I had broken free of the demon chains that had bound me. Chains that I could not break free of in my human form. We were stronger in our animal form. And I had a terrible feeling Dontaine was harnessing that greater power in his Half Change state.
With a roar, Amber rushed him. They sprang in the air, flew at each other and met with a stunning, reverberating impact that had to have been felt by everyone there. They thudded to the ground, shaking the earth, lifting dust into the air, rolling, grunting, growling, claws raking, dagger flashing. Blood flowed like thick black liquid under the silvery moonshine and screams of pain rent the night, both Amber's and whatever Dontaine had become.
"Stop it! Make them stop," I said, clutching Gryphon wildly, my eyes on those terrible
claws, remembering vividly how with one swipe of claws like that, a demon's head had rolled onto the ground, severed from his body. That was one of the ways to kill a Monère, taking out the head or heart.
"Challenge has been given and accepted." Gryphon's eyes, dark in the night, watched the battle without emotion. "I cannot stop it now."
"He's stronger than Amber, isn't he, in that form?"
"Yes."
"But that's not fair."
"They abide by the rules set."
I wanted to scream. "Can Amber do that?" I asked. "Change halfway?"
"No."
Gryphon might have lied to me in the past, even slept with another. But he'd done so to save my life. In his own way, he was honorable; true blue like the color of his eyes. He followed the rules. I turned to another beside me who was less honorable. One who did not follow the rules set by others.
"Help me," I said to Chami, my chameleon. My assassin.
"What would you have me do, milady?" Chami asked quietly. Before I could speak, he lifted me and carried me swiftly back several yards as Amber and the beast—it was hard to think of him as Dontaine—tumbled mere feet away from us.
This close I could see Amber's heavy bunched-up muscles straining as the wolf man slammed him down into the ground. Both of Amber's wrists were trapped in his grip, pinned, the dagger useless in Amber's right hand. The creature's claws were contained, busy restraining Amber, but he still had another weapon that Amber did not have, not in his human form. The wolf beast snarled, his lips curling back. Blood and other fluids glistened on his wicked, sharp fangs. He lunged with those deadly teeth for Amber's throat and my scream of horror ripped through the air.
With a massive effort, Amber twisted to one side and those sharp, ripping teeth missed, just grazing his skin, leaving a sharp line of blood like a liquid necklace to pool around his thick neck. Another bunching of his muscles, a heavy grunt, and Amber lifted Dontaine just enough to get his feet between them. With a sudden heave from both arms and legs, Amber tossed him off and was on his feet, magically fast. He crouched and sprang after Dontaine.
