Shadows of the Night (Kingdom Key Book 2)

by TylerRose.

  Up the three steps and across the into her room, she asked the Neverseen for a fresh bowl of water to wash up with. It arrived in a few seconds with a soft cloth. She washed her entire body from the top down, needing the time alone.

  Looking over her clothes, she really didn’t want to wear any of them. She would feel too conspicuous if they went anywhere. Opening the closet, she found several dresses in various lengths and weights, all left behind by various former wives. She picked one of the lightest weights in the palest pastels.

  Looking at herself in the mirror, she had a thought that Nails would have liked her in it. She squashed rising emotions and ran the comb through her hair.

  Going out, she saw the far end of the dining table had been set with fine plates and cutlery. Shestna smiled to see the dress she wore, an ankle-length sheath his last Seven-Day wife had worn their first night together. He took her hand and seated her to his right. Pisod sat across from her.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said more than once as certain topics were brought up.

  “How is K’Tran’s application moving along?” Pisod asked her, seeing she was changed.

  More change than he’d expected, until he remembered Shestna had told him she’d been missing again, taken by Solomon a second time and for longer.

  “I wouldn’t know. I was doing courier work and then bad things happened. After that, I took a few weeks to myself. When will we go to a Rovan den?” she changed the subject.

  “We won’t and that’s the end of it,” Shestna replied. “I will not expose you to the dangers of the dens.”

  She made a face at him but didn’t argue. She had several days yet to change his mind. After the meal, they went outside so she and Pisod could share a joint and smoke her cigarettes. They taught Shestna to play the three handed cut-throat Pinochle that she’d already taught Pisod in the idle hours on K’Tran.

  “You seem to smoke this pungent tobacco much more often,” Shestna observed.

  “It’s called marijuana. It does for humans what Rovan does for us,” Pisod said, finishing his toke and handing the joint back to her. “I like it as well, so it can’t be all bad.”

  “It makes me less of a bitch,” she smiled at Pisod. “So I’m told.”

  “It does. Smoke more,” he teased back.

  Shestna looked from him to her and her to him, not liking this familiarity. “Are you two engaged in an affinity?”

  “A what?” she asked.

  “Are we having sex,” Pisod reiterated.

  “Ewww. No.”

  “And you say?” Shestna asked Pisod directly.

  “Ewww. No. It would be like engaging with my own sister.”

  “You see her as a sister?”

  “One who likes to get into much trouble, so she’s a fun sister; but yes, a sister,” Pisod said. “As much as any Princess born of our father.”

  “And he’s the brother I never had.”

  “Why are you so concerned?” Pisod said, tossing a card. “Think you have a rival?”

  “Oh, he’s still denying that he wants me,” she said, tossing out her own card.

  “I have never denied it,” Shestna protested. “I am not going to hound and pester you like so many others have done. Any discussion beyond that is inappropriate.”

  “I like being inappropriate,” she said. “I learn so much more that way.”

  Pisod laid out his last card and around they went and then counted points. She added up the scores. Pisod won.

  “I should be going,” he said, handing over his neat pile of cards. “Several of the Princesses have an excursion in the morning.”

  He saw himself out, leaving them sitting in the pleasant night air.

  “You smoke a lot,” Shestna complained when she lit up a cigarette.

  “So.”

  “Is there no person whose opinion matters to you? No one you wish not to offend?”

  “There used to be. He died when Earth was invaded. Since then? Nope. I’ll hold my own opinions.”

  “You’ve also changed a great deal since I saw you last. What happened to the bright young woman ready to take on the universe?” he asked.

  She glared hard at him. “She was beaten and raped three to five times a day for about two weeks before she managed to escape. Did you forget?”

  She teleported to her room. When she didn’t answer his knock, he came in. There was no lock on the door.

  “I did forget for a moment, Femina. I’m sorry,” he said, and left, leaving the door open.

  When she had her emotions under control, she went out to find him with a vidpad in the sunken sitting area. She sat on the far end of the sofa he was on.

  “I don’t want to be treated like a china doll,” she said. “Offhand remarks like that are going to piss me off for a good long time.”

  “I’m sure,” he agreed.

  “He could show up anywhere, at any time. He’s killed at least one friend for no reason.”

  “Let him show up here. I will deliver unto him a hurt he’s never known.”

  There Solomon was, abrupt and unwelcome, in the middle of the sitting area. “I can’t resist a good threat,” he grinned.

  Shestna was already off the seat, tackling Solomon so that he fell backwards against the fireplace. Claws of one hand out for slashing, fist punching with the other, snarling an oath that Solomon’s life was going to end right here on the floor.

  Solomon didn’t have a chance to fight back, arms flailing and feet unable to get purchase on the slippery fur rug. He slipped and slid while Shestna pounded the hell out of him. Claws around his throat, choking, knowing he was about to die, Solomon vanished.

  Shestna turned, expecting to see her. She was gone.

  “Femina! Where did you go?”

  The Neverseen came into view. “Master, the Mistress is hiding in her closet.”

  He was in the room in four strides, yanking open three of the four doors before finding her crouched against the back corner, shaking with convulsive but tearless sobs.

  “He has gone, Femina. I don’t think he’ll be back for a long time,” he said, reaching his hand down to her.

  “He’s not dead,” she said.

  “He ported away before I could finish him off. He was in his last ten seconds of life when he saved himself. He will not make the mistake of coming to my home again.”

  She put her hand in his, but her legs were jelly and had no strength. She couldn’t stand. He crouched beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder and letting her remain on the spot a moment longer.

  “Fear is a hard thing. It can take one’s resolve and strength in a single breath and leave you cold and weak. I delivered unto him a hurt he’s likely never known before. I promise you that he will not be so quick to try again. Still, I think you should sleep in my bed so that he cannot take you without my knowing. I will not touch you. I promise.”

  She was calming, able to crawl out and stand. Legs shaking and eyes looking for monsters from all directions, she let him take her to the vanity.

  “Be seen Neverseen.”

  The female appeared.

  “Assist Lady Tyler with her nighttime routine. You are to be seen every second and raise an alarm if she is taken or someone intrudes.”

  “As you command, Master, so it shall be.”

  “I will be in the sitting area,” he said to Tyler before making his exit.

  “Do you have a preferred nighttime outfit, Mistress?” the Neverseen asked as she helped Tyler out of the light dress.

  “I should probably put in a little effort to not look dumpy. There’s a pink slip of a thing.”

  The Neverseen, with dress over her arm, went to a drawer and pulled out the desired object. Tyler put it on while the dress went into the closet.

  “Do you have a name?”

  “Neverseen, Mistress. All Neverseen are called Neverseen.”

  “What does your family call you?” Tyler asked.

  “Family? There is n
o family when Neverseen begin work for the Emperor Father.”

  “That seems a lonely existence.”

  “Mistress, I think you misunderstand. Neverseen are solely for work and have no interest in family. Our work is our purpose in life. Our work is our joy. It is our nature. Neverseen know no other way.”

  “Are you evolved from the Norav cats?” Tyler asked.

  “No, Mistress. We are descended from the Misinii bird. It ran so fast it could not be seen by the Norav eye. We found fulfillment in serving the descendants of the Norav. They gave us purpose beyond reproducing in the trees.”

  Descended from birds that ran very fast. That would explain the slightness of build of the Neverseens Tyler had seen so far.

  “Your people have no village of their own? No seat on a council or hold a position of Mayor?” she had to ask, the Neverseen now brushing her hair.

  The Neverseen’s eyes showed her confusion. “Why would Neverseen do those things. Norav do those things. Neverseens serve the better comfort of the Norav. We care for the family members we serve.”

  Tyler stopped her questions, realizing through the lack of internal dialogue and thought that Neverseens didn’t have the sort of higher reasoning that would allow them to be Mayors or doctors or politicians or any other such profession. They had a simple mind with a single purpose. Serve the Norav who protected them from other predators. A symbiotic relationship of intelligent cat and the birds that helped to keep them clean.

  “Thank you, Neverseen. That will be all.”

  “Yes, Mistress. I will accompany you into the Master’s presence.”

  Tyler didn’t try to tell her it wouldn’t be necessary. Of course it was necessary. She’d seen Solomon arrive and attack, no doubt, and the order to be seen at all times and raise an alarm would be in force until Shestna gave her another order. That he did as soon as his eyes lifted from the vidpad and he saw the two of them.

  “Thank you, Neverseen. That will be all tonight,” he said.

  “Good night, Master. Good night, Mistress. Rest well and good.”

  The Neverseen took a step and was too fast to see.

  “What a relief it must be to have such a simple, single-minded brain,” Tyler said. “How could a Neverseen be bought to steal the Rovan?”

  “He wasn’t. He was blackmailed in the worst possible way for any Neverseen. I have my brother Dorn’s report here. He says the Neverseen of Father’s 23rd wife was told the wife and all her children would be killed if he did not obtain the Rovan.”

  “No doubt he was further threatened that if he told anyone, the same would happen?” she guessed. “Will he still die for it?”

  “No. Father has said he will be banished from Court service and may not come within 500 miles of the palace.”

  “So…that means he can never work again. They are only employed for royal service, right?”

  “There are royal households more than 500 miles away. One of the lesser princes will take him on, I have no doubt. You are lovely. Feeling better now?”

  “Thank you. Yes, I am. I was shocked by the suddenness of his appearance and attack. I had been learning to fight, but I froze. Then I ran.”

  “Running was helpful,” he said, rising to take her arm and walk to his room. “By leaving the area, you removed yourself from immediate harm and I didn’t have to worry I would injure you in the fighting. If he comes again, you go to that same place and I will find you when it’s done. Let’s go to my room and begin to settle for the night.”

  His bedroom was as simple as the rest of the house, until he pressed a button and the entire wall lifted like a garage door to let in the night air from his side yard.

  “Okay, that’s cool,” she had to say.

  “The kitchen wall does it too.”

  “No one comes onto the property?”

  “You saw how I react when someone comes into my home,” he replied without humor, undressing and hanging his clothing on a hook on the wall by his chest of drawers.

  She saw his genitalia looked like a cat’s. Rather than an external penis hanging there, he had a slightly furred sleeve the penis would slide out of. Thus, the penis was entirely an internal organ. His testicles were tight to the body, smaller than human ones but that could have been an illusion. If part of them was internal also, they could have been much larger.

  “You are curious about Voranian anatomy?” he asked, pulling on a pair of close-fitting shorts rather like boxer briefs.

  “I admit I am curious about the anchor hooks and how that works.”

  “I will show you,” he said, sitting on the bed and turning to lean against the pillows.

  He opened the front panel of snaps to expose the furred sleeve.

  “Curl your thumb and finger,” he demonstrated with his own. “Your right hand. The Voranian female is always closed, rather like the human anus.”

  He guided her hand to the rim of the sleeve. Eight sharp points came out to grip the inside circle of thumb and forefinger and pull them open.

  “Ow,” she blurted, and tried to pull her hand away. The anchors dug in deeper. “No wonder the female rarely goes to the mating willingly. Let me go.”

  The anchors released her and sank back into the rim of his penile sleeve.

  “The Voranian female has a thick rim around her vagina,” he said., closing the snaps “It is not as painful to them as it would be for you. You are wet and pink and sensitive to touch. They are dry. Thick skin protects the vagina.”

  “So you are self-lubricating to compensate?” she guessed.

  “Yes. The pain from the hooks gripping her flesh causes her to ovulate so that she can be immediately impregnated. It is the male who controls ovulation in our species. He can make her pregnant whether she wants to be or not.”

  “Which is how you can be sure your Seven-Day brides conceive a child,” she nodded.

  “Precisely. There is no set cycle for a Voranian female. There is no period of estrous to catch her in, as there is for a human female.”

  “What do you know about human sex?” she asked.

  “I have looked into it in recent months.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I have looked into it in recent months.”

  “That’s repeating, not telling me what it means,” she laughed.

  “If you are not ever going to offer yourself, and I’m not going to ask you to, what difference does it make what I know of human sexuality?” he asked, shutting off the light from the control panel next to the bed.

  “And you think I’m a tease,” she snorted, turning the opposite direction.

  Her mind wouldn’t settle, of course. She lay there a long time, hearing every sound and startling awake. Finally on the edge of slumber, a voice woke her with a hard jerk inside her skin. Shestna was jarred awake by her sudden movements.

  “What is it, Femina?”

  “What?” she mumbled.

  “You keep flinching. Is something wrong?”

  “Things keep waking me right as I’m falling asleep. Noises.”

  “From outside?” he asked.

  “Not just.”

  “What else do you hear?”

  “People up the street are having sex. Another couple is fighting. And someone spoke in my ear. I think I’m acclimating to the crystal being so close,” she yawned. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the Rovan sooner. I needed time.”

  “Do not concern yourself with that, Tyler. You are here and you have told me. All is well.”

  She fell asleep and it was his turn to have trouble sleeping. He was hyper-aware of every noise. After an hour of trying, he closed the wall. The noise of it didn’t wake her, fortunately. In settling into bed again, he roused her enough that she gravitated toward his warmth and pressed her back against his side. Within minutes, she grew hot as an inferno as Pisod had described.

  He sighed but did not move away. Instead, he put his back against hers, reminding and cursing himself that she had
no clue what she did to a man. The child goddess within, while enjoying her potent sexuality, was still oblivious to her personal power over the opposite sex.

  Her sexual evolution was in full roar. She exuded a pheromone men found hard to resist. Some men felt its effect more than others and some of them were not able to control what it did to them, which was probably Solomon’s problem.

  The man wasn’t obsessed just because she was beautiful or intelligent. He was obsessed because her pheromones had invaded his mind and his body and wouldn’t let him go. He was weak-minded and they had disrupted his reason and brought out the worst in him. There was no way he could be part of a team around her.

  Mankell, however, had mostly maintained his composure. He might work well as one of the non-telepathic partners. Pisod would be out. She saw him as a brother and would never accept him as a sexual partner.

  Shestna had to sigh it all away and let himself get some sleep. Her final evolution, if she ever got there, wasn’t going to happen for many dozens of centuries. Almost no one alive now would be part of the team that would take her through to create her world.

  Shestna rose for the day at his usual early hour, needing to rinse the sweat off himself. He dressed in one of his finer outfits for the meetings. When he was ready to sit to his morning meal, Tyler got up. He made an exception to the house rule and let her come to the table in her nightgown.

  “Do you always have such a restless night?” he asked as she took small servings of a couple dishes.

  “If I’ve not been fucked within an inch of my life, yes.”

  “You say I am the tease,” he smiled. “I have meetings much of the day. Remember to wear the brooch and no one will bother you. If you don’t want to go alone, I can call Pisod to come escort you. Or a Neverseen.”

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she said, picking up the cup of liquid that he said was breakfast tea.

  “You are not still shaken up after last night?”

  She remembered what he meant. She’d actually forgotten for a moment.

  “If you hurt him as much as you say you did, then he’s not going to be coming back soon. Is there a temple where the common people go to worship? A library?”

  “Both are on the opposite side of the market from where we entered it. Anyone can direct you, I’m sure. I have no time. I must be going. I will be home before supper.”