Dark Queen’s Army

by I. T. Lucas

  His woman was a smart lady. "I can't find fault with your logic."

  "I think Kian is right to assume that Eleanor is a Dormant. That, combined with her changing her name and moving to West Virginia, is enough to make her a strong prospect. I wonder what her talent is."

  "Ella thinks that she might be a compeller like Parker. She used to work as a pharmaceutical rep, and she must have made a killing. Her bank account, the one in her old name, holds a very impressive amount of money. If she used compulsion on her clients, that would explain her success."

  Mey shook her head. "But that's speculation. What if she was just very good at it? Or maybe the money is from her current job? What if she opened a business and is doing very well? It’s not that I want to disprove Eleanor having powers. I’m just switching places with you and playing devil’s advocate.”

  "The money is from before she disappeared. According to Roni, it hasn't been touched since then. Still, you might be right, and she’s simply an excellent salesperson.”

  3

  Mey

  As Mey and Yamanu entered the café, Callie waved them over. "Come join us."

  The group was sitting around two tables pushed together. Other than the six of them, only one other guy was reading a newspaper at a table on the other side of the café.

  He reminded Mey of her father.

  Every morning, he would read the paper as he drank his coffee, sharing the more interesting tidbits with her mother or whoever else was in the kitchen.

  God, she missed her parents. Since Jin had left for her new job, Mey hadn’t called them as often as she used to, mainly because she didn’t want to worry them. She had no news she could share about her sister, and she hated lying to them. Nevertheless, she should call them tonight.

  Anandur got up and added another table to the grouping, while Yamanu grabbed two more chairs.

  "Thank you." Mey chose the seat next to Callie, her new BFF. "Having this place to meet up and chat is so cool." She waved a hand around. "This whole village is amazing. Such a wonderful place to live and raise kids in."

  Callie nodded. "Yeah. Up until recently, that thought would have made everyone sad because it was just a dream. But now that Merlin's developed a fertility enhancer, it might be a possible future." She gestured at the playground. "You see that place? That is the saddest spot in the village, but not for long. Syssi and Kian are expecting, and Vivian and Magnus started working on a baby as well."

  "What about you?" Mey asked.

  "In time. I'm not ready yet. I have all these great plans, and I'm running around like a chicken with no head."

  Wonder cast her a guilty smile. "You could have taken more classes if you weren't helping me in the café."

  Callie leaned and patted her arm. "I’m doing it for me as much as I’m doing it for you. As Carol has so wisely pointed out, there is a big difference between cooking for fun and cooking in a restaurant kitchen. Working in the café gives me a taste of that."

  Brundar shifted closer to his mate. "You need to decide whether you want to be a teacher or a chef.”

  "Why?" Callie cocked a brow. "I'm an immortal. I can do both and also be a mother, just not all at the same time."

  Mey still found it a difficult concept to wrap her head around. Life without time limits required a shift in thinking. Except, she wasn't an immortal yet, so there was no point in getting used to the concept of limitless time.

  Yamanu pushed to his feet and put his hand on Mey's shoulder. "What would you like from the vending machines?"

  "A cappuccino and a sandwich of your choice, please. I don't care which one."

  "Anyone else want coffee or something to eat?" he asked.

  "I could use another cup," Ella said.

  Julian pushed away from the table. "I'll come with you."

  The guy was nearly as handsome as Kian, but he seemed mellow, as a doctor should be, and he lacked the leader's intensity, which made him much more approachable.

  "Do you usually run outdoors?" Mey asked Ella to start a conversation. Perhaps she could later steer it round to the girl's aunt.

  "Unless it's too hot or raining, I like running outside. Luckily, so far, it's only happened a few times, and then I used the gym in the underground."

  Mey grimaced and patted her stomach. "I should start exercising as well. I need to do something to counteract the amounts of food I've been shoving in my face lately." She cast Callie an accusing glance. "I can't help myself when someone shows up with gallons of ice cream."

  Callie puffed out a snort. "It happened once and for a good reason. Desperate times call for desperate measures."

  When the guys returned with the coffees, sandwiches, and pastries, Anandur sat down and leaned back in his chair, causing the thing to groan in protest. "Did everyone hear the news about Kalugal?" He crossed his massive arms over his chest.

  Ella nodded. "I was in William and Roni's lab when they showed Kian the footage. It was a black and white grainy recording, but the guy looked straight at the surveillance camera, and his face was exactly like the one in the picture the forensic artist drew of him. Well, not exactly, but close enough. I think it's him."

  Yamanu shook his head. "This is just another example of the Fates' work. Roni and William were scouring footage from around the country for Kalugal, and then Lokan gets a clue about his brother's whereabouts during a random meeting that had nothing to do with the search."

  "I wonder what it means," Ella said. "Do the Fates have a pairing with Kalugal in mind? Or is he needed in the war against the Brotherhood?"

  Yamanu put his sandwich down. "From what I've seen so far, probably both. But I don't think the Fates are aiming for war. Maybe Kalugal can replace his father in a bloodless revolution."

  Wonder snorted. "Dream on."

  Mey was about to support Yamanu's positive outlook when her new phone pinged with an incoming message.

  Pulling it out of her hoodie's pocket, she glanced at the screen and gasped. It was a message from Jin.

  Sister to sister. What's up with you? I asked for info, something to keep me entertained in this boring place and got nothing. I'm still waiting. Text me.

  "Is it from Jin?" Yamanu asked.

  Mey nodded.

  This was definitely Jin. The sister to sister address was from their childhood when they had fashioned walkie-talkies from empty cans and connected them with wire. Since then, it had become the equivalent of a secret handshake.

  Mey typed with shaky fingers. Sister to sister. I have a new boyfriend, and he is it. What's up with you?

  Holding her breath, she waited for a response.

  I'm green with envy. There are a couple of cute guys here, but one is still a kid, and the other one is too old for me. Bummer.

  That was Jin. Mey had no doubt.

  She typed back. What's with the communication silence?

  It's like a boot camp. Remember basic training? This is worse as far as rules and chain of command go. Everyone is so severe and strict. But at least we don't have to run around the base with backpacks filled with rocks.

  Remembering that part of the training, Mey smiled. Did you join the army? Is that what your contract is about?

  You know that I can't talk about it. But it's not the military. It's just stupid corporate bonding nonsense. It will be over soon, and then I will have more freedom.

  What about the sucky cellular reception?

  Still shit. I got the day off, and I'm in a place that has decent reception.

  Can you tell me where it is?

  Sorry. I can't. Not unless I want to lose my bonus, and you know how important that is for me.

  Yeah, the damn bonus was the reason Jin was wherever she was.

  Mey typed. I need to know whether you are okay. This entire thing has gotten me so worried about you.

  Don't worry, I’m fine. I miss you, and I miss my friends, but I'm making new ones. It’s a fascinating group of people, very diverse. Things are interesting.

&n
bsp; A moment ago, Jin had said that she was bored. Was that a clue?

  If you are not happy there, forget about the bonus and come home. I miss you so much.

  I can't.

  Why not? It's not like we can't live without that money. It will just take a little longer to open our business, or we will need to find a third partner to invest in it.

  I can't. I have to stay and do this thing because I'm not a quitter, and I signed a contract. I need to go now. My friends are waiting for me. I love you. I'll text you next week when I have another day off. In the meantime, I want details about that new boyfriend, and by details, I mean everything, including a picture.

  Mey teared up and typed back. I love you too.

  She waited for a long moment in case Jin was going to send another text, but when nothing came, she handed the phone to Yamanu. "What do you think?"

  His brows dipping low, he read over the exchange. "I'm trying to read between the lines, but I don't know your sister. You should be able to do it much better. One thing is obvious. Either Jin is curious about me or her bosses are." He handed Mey the phone back.

  "I'm sure it was Jin this time, and not someone else using her phone. It sounded like she is there voluntarily, not too excited about it, but not miserable either. Perhaps she doesn't need rescuing after all."

  Callie leaned forward. "If Jin knows that her communication with you is monitored, which she probably does, she wouldn't say anything incriminating."

  "She could have hinted something. It could have been anything, some anecdote from our childhood that never happened or something like that."

  Wonder shook her head. "If I were her, I would have been afraid to do that. What if you responded with ‘what are you talking about’?"

  That was a valid concern. "What would you have done?" Mey asked.

  Wonder shrugged. "Nothing different from what Jin has done. I would have pretended that everything was fine to keep you from worrying about me. I would have tried to find my way out of the predicament on my own. But that's me. I don't know how your sister handles things."

  Mey sighed. "Exactly like that. But what if she really wants to stay? I would feel terrible if the clan assembled a team to extract her, and she said, 'thanks but no thanks'."

  Yamanu put his arm around her. "Then we will have to make sure that our offer is so good that she cannot turn it down. I don't think a bonus, no matter how generous, can compete with immortality."

  4

  Yamanu

  Mey shook her head. “I can’t believe that I’m going to see the goddess.”

  Standing in front of the long mirror mounted on the back of the closet door, she smoothed her hand over her hip-hugging skirt. “Do you think I’m overdressed? Or maybe underdressed? I don’t know what to wear.”

  “You look great. But perhaps you want to skip the heels. Annani is tiny.”

  “But her children are all so tall.”

  Yamanu chuckled. “She must have a thing for tall men.”

  Mey looked at him over her shoulder. “How does she do it? I mean, you said that she has glowing skin and is so beautiful that it hurts to look at her. Does she just show up at a bar and walk out with a dude?”

  He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “She can tamp down the glow. But I have no idea how she picks up guys. And I’m not sure I want to know. It’s like thinking about your mother having sex. There is something disturbing about it.”

  She chuckled. “You said that immortals didn’t have the same hang-ups that humans have about sexuality.”

  “It depends on the context. As long as it doesn’t involve my mother or grandmother or the Clan Mother, I can talk about sex with anyone.”

  She nodded. “It’s sad that none of you know your fathers. I bet you would have felt the same about your patriarchs as you do about your matriarchs.”

  “Maybe. I’ve never given it much thought. It is what it is.”

  Mey stepped down from her black high-heeled pumps and put on a pair of flats in the same color. “Is this better?”

  “On second thought, you can wear whatever you want. Annani won’t mind either way. She will just ask you to sit down.”

  Mey pulled a black cardigan off the hanger and put it over her blue blouse. “I’m dressed as if I’m going for a job interview, and I feel like it too. I’m so nervous. This invitation was totally unexpected.”

  It had taken him by surprise as well. Annani usually didn’t host dinner parties on Sundays. She had Friday night dinners with her close family and on other days invited clan members for tea, canapés, and a chat.

  Yamanu pulled Mey against his chest, careful not to disturb her makeup and hairdo. She’d been fussing over those for the past hour. “The goddess is curious to meet the woman who has captured my heart, and I’m sure Alena had something to do with it as well. She probably told her mother how great you are.”

  “Do you know who else is going to be there?”

  “I don’t. When the goddess sends me a text, inviting my lovely lady and me to dinner, I’m not going to text her back and ask who else is going to be there. I can only respond with how honored I am to be invited.”

  She nodded. “I get it. I just thought that maybe you happened to talk to one of the other guests.”

  “Sorry, love, I didn’t. We should go.” He took her hand. “We can be there in less than ten minutes if we walk briskly, but I think that an easy stroll will be good for your nerves.”

  “I love it here,” Mey said as they descended the front steps. “It’s a lot like living in a kibbutz, just without the livestock, which is much nicer. I don’t like the smell of manure.”

  “Have you ever lived in one?”

  “No, I was a city girl, but I had friends who did and who occasionally invited me to spend the weekend with them.”

  Yamanu arched a brow. “A boyfriend?”

  “Yeah.”

  He expected her to tell him more, but Mey just kept walking. Maybe it was better this way. The less he knew about her past lovers, the better.

  Still, he couldn’t help himself. “Did you love him?”

  She nodded.

  Damn. Weren’t women supposed to be talkative? Extracting information from Mey was like extracting venom from fangs.

  “Tell me about him.”

  “Not much to tell. I was eighteen, he was five years older, and I thought he was the coolest guy who ever lived. We had good times together, but when I was discharged, and he stayed on, we had to end it. We stayed friends, though.”

  Things clicked in Yamanu’s head. “He’s the one you called about Jin?”

  Mey nodded again.

  She was keeping things from him, and it rankled. He had told her everything that there was to know about himself and his clan, laying it all out, but she wasn’t as forthcoming.

  “I sense there is a story there, but that you don’t want to talk about it.”

  She cast him an apologetic glance. “It’s not that I don’t want to, I can’t. It has nothing to do with me personally, but I was sworn to secrecy, and I can’t share it with anyone. Not with my parents, not with Jin, and not even with you.”

  “Did he treat you right? Can you tell me as much?”

  “He was awesome. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have stayed friends. But although I loved him, it was puppy love. It can’t compare to what I feel for you. I wasn’t even all that devastated when it ended. I was sad, but I didn’t mourn for long.” She sighed. “If I don’t transition and have to leave you, that would definitely break me. I was trying to comfort myself, thinking that I wouldn’t miss what I couldn’t remember, but I didn’t really believe it for even a moment. There will be a void in my heart that I won’t understand. I will just know that I’m missing a vital part of myself.”

  A tear slid down her cheek.

  Yamanu stooped and hugged her to him. “Don’t cry. That is not going to happen, okay?” He hooked a finger under her chin. “I know it deep in my gut.”

  “Do you want to tel
l me that you have no doubts?”

  “None whatsoever.”

  Was he exaggerating?

  Just a little.

  In the back of his mind, a small doubt still managed to hook its ugly claws into his cranium, but Yamanu would be damned if he’d let it poison his happiness with Mey. It was Sunday, for Fates’ sakes, and they had been trying to induce her transition only since Friday.

  Still, even though none of the other Dormants had transitioned so quickly, he’d hoped that it would happen faster for Mey. It was his damn vanity rearing its head again. Yamanu had thought that he would induce Mey on the first go.

  Evidently, the Fates were teaching him another lesson in humility.

  Mey smiled. “You’re a lousy liar, but I love you anyway.” She lifted her face and kissed him, then used her finger to wipe off the red lipstick she’d smeared on his cheek.

  5

  Mey

  As one of the Odus opened the door, light and the sounds of conversation spilled out of the living room.

  Mey took a step back, bumping into Yamanu’s solid chest. “The soundproofing of these houses is unnerving.”

  It was about more than just that, but she didn't want to say that the Odu freaked her out or that she was scared of meeting the goddess.

  Nevertheless, she needed to remember that normal human expectations were useless in the village, even when it applied to mundane things like hearing things through closed doors and windows.

  “Good evening, mistress Mey and master Yamanu.” The butler bowed. “Please come in.”

  Yamanu took her hand, patting the back of it with his other one. “Good evening.” He gave a tug.

  Taking a deep breath, Mey squared her shoulders, curved her lips into the shape of a smile, walked in, and then froze in place when her eyes landed on the goddess.

  Glowing, ethereally beautiful, and with a mass of red hair to rival Rapunzel’s, the goddess sat in an armchair surrounded by her children and their mates.