Slowing his breathing, he called upon his ability to change into holographic form.
He locked his jaw against the chill that covered his skin when he left his body so he could travel to the hidden island few Beladors knew how to find. A select few that he trusted to protect Treoir should anything happen to him unexpectedly.
Until then, he'd be on the front line keeping Brina safe.
When he drew close enough to feel the pull of Treoir Island, Tzader called telepathically to Brina, letting her know he was ready to enter.
A minute passed.
What was the problem?
In no mood to be kept waiting, he called out again. Brina, are you there or not?
I'll be only a minute, Tzader.
It wasn't like she had to open a door. Brina? Are you all right?
Yes ... just hang on.
So now his visits were being downgraded to the level of a phone call? Now wasn't the time to get cranky, but sleep hadn't been peaceful or lengthy for him over the past few weeks. He rubbed his face and eyes to push off the irritation riding his shoulders.
You are welcome to enter, Tzader Burke.
The room came into focus just as Brina walked in from the hallway that led to her private quarters.
Had she been lying down? Was she not well?
Asking those questions could be misconstrued as encouraging a relationship with her, which would break his vow to Macha. In fact, he'd agreed to convince Brina he was no longer interested in ... them.
Treoir needed an heir. Now.
He couldn't think about that, about her having a child with another man, and behave with any civility. So he blanked his mind of everything except dealing with the Svart problem.
"My thanks to you for returnin' so soon, Tzader."
That sounded damned formal, but he had no reason to criticize her. He had to let it go and be just as businesslike about this. "Not a problem. To update you, we're in the process of getting a Nyght weapon. Something that will kill the trolls without putting so many of our people at risk."
"Excellent."
She sounded pleased. Maybe this meeting would go better than the last. He added, "We think the Medb may be behind this Svart problem. Quinn's searching for intel to determine if they are and, if so, why."
No point in sharing how Quinn intended to gain that intel.
"That is most encouragin' news." Brina's light voice held a pleasure Tzader hadn't heard in a while.
The unexpected sound eased the stiff muscles in his neck.
She settled on her sofa. "I'll be makin' this quick, but I need to tell you about the situation with Evalle."
"What do you mean?"
"Macha is at a Tribunal meetin' to pacify Dakkar."
"The bounty hunter? What's his problem with Evalle?"
"An Alterant shifted an' killed one of his hunters. He's expectin' to be compensated."
Tzader's muscles wound back up with that news. How far would Macha negotiate in Evalle's favor when Evalle hadn't been able to deliver a single Alterant over the past three weeks since making a deal with the goddess? "What kind of compensation?"
"I have no word yet, but I expect that we'll be hearin' word by tomorrow."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Brina's fingers tensed where she clutched the cushion she sat on. "I assumed you'd be wantin' that information in case ..."
"In case Evalle just disappears again."
"I did not say that," Brina countered in a tight voice.
"But that's why you're telling me. I thought Evalle's deal with Macha meant Evalle wouldn't get yanked into Tribunal meetings anymore to answer for someone else's transgressions."
Brina sat up straighter, just as in the past when she'd get her back up over something. "I mention this only so you'll not be surprised."
"What I know is that Evalle shouldn't be held responsible, especially when I bet no one has determined if it was even an Alterant that killed the bounty hunter. Could have been a Rias since not everyone knows the difference." Tzader struggled to keep from raising his voice. Yelling at Brina wouldn't help Evalle or him right now.
Macha might like the friction climbing between Brina and him these last two meetings, since the goddess expected him to break off their relationship, but he didn't. For the first time in his life, Tzader questioned whether he could put honor first and walk away from Brina.
Just as he questioned whether Brina truly wanted him out of her life.
With Macha away at the Tribunal, he didn't see the harm in getting some straight answers from Brina. What could be dishonorable about asking her straight up if she still loved him?
Tzader shook off his anger and smiled at her. "Do you--"
The male Belador guard Tzader had seen during his earlier visit came walking up the hallway, and Tzader lost his train of thought. That hallway led to Brina's private quarters.
What was that guy's name? Allyn?
The top three buttons on the guard's jacket were unbuttoned.
What the devil?
Brina snapped her fingers. "Tzader? Hello. Are you payin' me no mind?"
"I heard you," he muttered, watching as the beefy guard carried something concealed in his closed hand and offered it to Brina.
Allyn said, "I believe this is what you were searching for."
She held her hand out to receive what looked like a tiny coil of gold chain. Her eyes lit up. "My mother's necklace! You found it. Where?"
"On the floor next to ... your bed."
Tzader cleared his throat, hoping the sound came across as deadly as the intent behind it. Why had Brina sent a guard to search for her necklace in her bedroom? She normally cleaned her own room, preferring to keep her room private and allowing only Tzader in there.
Or had at one time.
Brina angled her head at Tzader. "Have you not met Allyn? He's my new personal guard."
"No, I haven't." Tzader had known all of her guards up until four years ago when he'd stopped entering the castle in his physical form. Since then, Macha had approved the inside guards, and Tzader rarely saw any of them inside the castle since their job was to prevent anyone from getting through the front door.
Allyn smiled briefly at her, then shifted his expression to professional when he faced Tzader. He had the thick neck of a young man who pumped iron. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Burke."
Mr.? Tzader's father was Mr. Burke. This guy might be five or six years younger, maybe midtwenties?
Thirty sure as hell wasn't old. Tzader corrected him, "It's Maistir."
That set-down registered in the guard's face for only a second, then his demeanor shut down to stoic again. "Maistir."
That was the extent of Tzader's acknowledgment of the other man. If he said any more, he'd give away the surge of fury at seeing the guy stand too close to Brina. Saying the wrong thing right now would get Tzader in deep trouble with Macha and knock the wheels off this conversation with Brina.
Allyn turned to Brina. "I'll wait outside, Bri--uh, Your Highness."
"Absolutely not, Allyn. I want you ... here." She gave him an extra look as he stepped past the giant stone fireplace and circled the sofa to stand behind her. Once he took that position, Brina faced Tzader again. "As I was sayin', I'm only the messenger on this Dakkar issue an' merely wantin' to keep you informed. Now, about these Svart trolls, I wish to know who they're workin' for as soon as you find out."
Giving a quick nod of acknowledgment, Tzader had to swallow the lump in his throat to get any words out with reality crashing in on him with double fists. Macha had not been twisting the truth after all when she'd said Brina was ready for someone else. That she had accepted the futility of her and Tzader's impossible situation.
He hadn't believed Brina a month back when she'd told him they had no future.
Tzader would respect her wishes and--
The guard leaned forward and put a hand on Brina's shoulder, clearly to comfort her.
Tzader roared, "Take your hand
off of her!"
Guess his control wasn't as good as he'd thought.
She reached up and placed her hand over Allyn's, preventing him from moving his.
The guard's face showed no emotion, but his eyes held a warning when he stared at Tzader and said in a low, threatening voice, "It's inappropriate to raise your voice around the queen. I won't have her upset."
You won't have ...
Who did this guard think he was talking to?
But Tzader's power, because he was present only as a hologram, did not extend to inside the castle.
Tzader took in the way Brina's head tilted back as she looked up at Allyn with adoring eyes she'd once had only for Tzader. At that moment, Tzader finally accepted what he'd been denying since seeing the guard walk into the room.
Brina wasn't just ready to move on.
She had moved on.
All this time, Tzader hadn't wanted to believe Macha when she'd claimed Brina wanted him to walk away and forget about her.
Asking him to cut off both of his arms would have been easier.
But the truth stared him in the face.
He had to leave before he did or said something really stupid, or dangerous.
Brina lowered her chin, her cool gaze unwavering.
Tzader squeezed the words from his clenched throat. "My apologies, Your Highness. Unless you send for me, I will forward any future reports via e-mail until I've located the traitor, to prevent imposing on your time. Excuse me as I take my leave."
She opened her mouth to speak, but he'd already started the hologram transfer back to his body in North America.
Within a few minutes, he'd be whole again.
Except for the spot where his heart used to be.
--
"This was a mistake of astronomical proportions." Allyn spoke softly, but his face was hard.
When Brina drew a breath and released his hand, Allyn's fingers slipped from her shoulder. She needed a moment. Couldn't be lettin' her bottled-up tears fall. Not now. Tzader had left as if he couldn't wait to get out of the room.
But that had been the point, had it not?
She had no time to coddle her misery. "It will be all right, Allyn."
"You actually believe that, Your Highness?" Her guard expelled a long stream of breath born of disbelief and paced across the room. He stopped, turning to face her. "Tzader is not one to be easily fooled and neither is Macha. Do you really think he'll walk away from you this easily?"
"I would have said no until just now. I have never seen him so put out with me."
"That was far more than put out." Allyn looked up at the tall ceiling for a long moment, as if someone would help him, then back down at her. "You have no idea what a man like Tzader will do for the woman he loves, do you? This is a dangerous game you play, Your Highness."
"Aye, you're right, but this is no game." She forced iron into her backbone, prepared to do whatever it took to see this through. "This is war an' I swear to you that I intend to win it, an' soon."
Macha had given Brina a deadline to produce an heir in twelve months, of which two were almost gone.
My fault for bringin' up the topic of an heir, foolishly thinkin' Macha would find a way for me an' Tzader to be together. Instead, Macha had turned the tables on Brina by demanding she perform her duty as the Belador warrior queen and get busy producin' an heir, which meant releasing Tzader of his vow of love and Brina choosing another man.
Did Macha believe men were as interchangeable as her hair color that shifted with her moods?
The goddess had painted Brina as the one with no honor for refusin' to let Tzader go. As if Brina didn't feel guilty enough? She could not expect a man like Tzader to wait forever. He'd never be able to cross the protective ward on the castle and Macha couldn't break the warding. Or so she claimed.
The goddess had manipulated a deal where Brina now had to convince Tzader that she no longer cared for him, which Brina would do. Her word was her bond.
But Macha had made a tactical error.
The goddess had allowed a loophole by agreein' to reconsider their situation if, once Brina convinced Tzader they were done, he still came back for her. Dealin' with gods and goddesses was much like handlin' a greased eel. Just when you thought you had a grip on the situation, it slipped away. That's why Brina had pressed Macha for a specific time frame in which Tzader had to walk away and come back. If ... no, when Tzader came back in time, Brina had another chance with him.
She got her deadline.
Brina had until she married another man.
Macha clearly believed she'd settled the situation, but Brina had been reared a warrior's daughter who did not give up easily.
For that reason, she had taken matters into her own hands. She'd start the clock tickin' now by sendin' Macha to see Tzader so that the goddess could determine immediately whether he believed his relationship with Brina was over.
Then Brina would move to the next step in her plan to get him back.
Unless she'd misjudged the depth of Tzader's love for her.
Allyn took a step toward her, arms crossed as he moved. For the three years that he'd been part of her guard, he always had a positive word for her when he checked in on her first thing in the mornin' and again at the end of each day. The grim shape of his mouth indicated that he'd resigned himself to his role of royal boyfriend.
Good thing, since she could make no change in her game plan now that she'd introduced Allyn as the new man in her life.
He said, "I will gladly do my part, Your Highness, to convince one and all that you are mine. But what if this does not work? Have you considered the consequences?"
Brina flapped a hand at him. "Do not worry. I'll make good on my part as well, an' you'll have your year to travel away from Treoir even if I have to ship your cold body 'round the world in a casket," she teased, wantin' to lighten his somber mood.
"That's not what I meant."
She frowned at Allyn's suddenly serious tone. What was she missin' in this conversation? "Speak your mind."
"What will happen if, once everyone is convinced of our relationship, Tzader walks away rather than interferes?"
The look on Allyn's face said he had considered the possibility of failure and Brina losin' her bid for Tzader. If that happened, Macha would demand a wedding. Allyn and Brina would be honor bound to marry.
That could not happen.
"It won't be comin' to that, Allyn."
He shrugged. "You may not be able to stop what you've set into motion today. Only time will tell, but there's no going back at this point. Not without breaking your word to Macha." His dark blue eyes met hers with an intensity that surprised her. He added, "As I said, I will stand by you until the end. No matter what."
Brina listened to his tone more than his words, tryin' to decide what else he was not sayin'.
But he was right about one thing.
She could not go back now that she'd started this campaign without risk of losin' time and ground she could ill afford to give up. Allyn appeared unconcerned about that, but a warrior such as he would not allow fear or any similar emotion to show on his face. Still, he had to believe she would never put him in a corner where he'd be forced to marry her.
But as she thought about Tzader's exchange with Allyn ... what had Tzader seen in Allyn's eyes that caused his rigid control to snap?
Allyn's face eased back into his blank, polite-guard look. "If you have no further need of me at the moment, I'd like to check our perimeter patrols."
"Of course." Brina shook herself mentally, dismissin' her ridiculous thoughts as Allyn strode away. He had no true interest in her. She'd chosen him based upon appearance and loyalty. No, he was merely a young man ready for female company, which was why Brina had refused to allow his participation in her plan without his receivin' compensation. Allyn had claimed he deserved no extra consideration for doin' his duty, but Brina would not ask so much of him without a well-deserved reward. She'd agreed to giv
e him a year of travel. Somethin' she knew he'd secretly longed for since childhood.
Aye, that would provide him the chance to find a woman for himself. She laughed at her unexpected vanity in imaginin' the guard's desire. Just went to prove what a grand performance they had given today.
Allyn might need to take care in the future and not be too convincing, but she couldn't fault him. Not when she'd made it clear that she would do whatever it took to win Tzader.
But doubt poked at her in spite of her resolve.
Would Tzader fight to keep her or, after what he'd seen today, would he walk away?
NINETEEN
"... preventing my bounty hunter from performing his duty, which in turn has cost me not just the bounty but a client--"
Tired of Dakkar's nonstop drivel on how he'd been wronged and was due justice, Macha shifted her simmering anger toward the Slavic god Varpulis, the entity called in as arbitrator over this Tribunal meeting. Varpulis wore only bright yellow shorts and ran in place. Skinny, pale and no muscle.
A god of wind or some such.
She'd had enough. "Dakkar is not a member of the Coalition and, therefore, is owed no compensation for any loss not committed as an act of intentional aggression by a member of my pantheon."
"I may not be a member, but the Coalition calls upon me when they have a need that requires my resources." Dakkar paused, his face reflecting undisturbed emotions. He had the chiseled lines, blunt nose and smooth, nut-brown skin of a man born under the rule of Genghis Khan. He'd been addressing Varpulis as if Dakkar actually cared about the Tribunal arbitrator's opinion in this discussion.
And this certainly ranked no higher than a discussion.
Macha appeared here only out of respect to the other gods and goddesses who supported the Coalition, but she would not tolerate another minute listening to Dakkar's ridiculous grievances.
As if he really cared about losing a bounty hunter? To Dakkar, that was merely a cost of doing business in his field.
His kohl-black eyes shifted from Varpulis to her. "As I understand it, Goddess, you have filed a charter for Alterants to be accepted as a recognized race ... though it appears an unwise move on your part."
She'd grind the little peon into the dirt. "You are not much of a judge of what is unwise if you dare to criticize any choice I make. If you have nothing new to add, I suggest we dismiss this meeting and stop wasting the time of deities." She'd come up against this mage more than once over the decades and had no intention of repeating a mistake she'd made the last time they'd met.
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