Queen of the Gryphons: Ishtar's Legacy: Books 1 & 2

by Lisa Blackwood

  Ditanu twisted around to glare at Beletum and Ziyatum, his tail twitching angrily, but after a moment, he turned back to Iltani with a snarl.

  She parted her cloak, revealing her mostly naked body with Kuwari clinging to her side.

  His tufted ears rotated forward, no longer pinned to the side of his head. He dragged in a deep breath, releasing it in a huffing sound, the wordless question explicit in the tone.

  “Yes, it’s Kuwari. He’s real and alive.”

  After a full-bodied shake, Ditanu paced forward, stalking her.

  Still holding one arm out away from her body while the other braced Kuwari in place, she wasn’t prepared for the tackle Ditanu aimed at her. She didn’t tumble to the floor. Instead, his weight slammed her against the cage wall.

  Her right shoulder made contact first, followed by that hip and then the rest of her body as two great paws planted against her shoulders pinned her against the shield. The magic at her back had some give to it, so it wasn’t as painful as it could have been, but several older bruises made themselves known.

  While she was still fighting for breath, Ditanu shoved her robe aside to get to Kuwari. He purred, rubbing his face against Kuwari. The cub answered, his softer calls a soothing counterpoint.

  Ditanu recognized his cub. Iltani’s throat tightened and tears flooded her eyes.

  He made more of his coughing calls and started poking around under the robe. As quickly as the joy came, it plummeted again. Iltani’s heart sank. He was looking for his other cubs. Perhaps he didn’t remember they had died?

  “My king, I’m sorry,” she said, hesitation in her voice. Would telling him about his unborn litter sooth some of the ache in his heart, or make it worse? She didn’t know. However, the decision was taken from her when he suddenly stopped and shoved his beak against her abdomen and rubbed back and forth, pausing only long enough to press his nares against her skin, scenting a second time. His purring started up again, twice as intense as before.

  The deep tone vibrated along her breastbone and unable to stop herself, she reached out with the hand not supporting Kuwari and caressed Ditanu’s wild mane. She worked her fingers into the feathers on his head and then on down to where they merged into the thick rough of fur around his neck.

  His tufted ears twitched, and he pressed his cheek against her bare shoulder, rumbling another wordless question.

  “Yes, they are yours. Yours and Ahassunu’s.” How I wish they were ours. Iltani’s throat closed tight, feeling dry as a sun-scorched rock, but she kept up the gentle caress of her fingers in his rough. He seemed to enjoy it and it kept him calm.

  Calm was good. Calm was exactly what she wanted.

  Why couldn’t she feel half as mellow? Instead, she was a chaotic mix of guilt, happiness, love, and…yes…that heat curling through her body, which had been simmering ever since Ishtar had inhabited her during the blooding ceremony on the temple roof, was surely desire.

  Ditanu half curled around her, his lion’s tail curving along her back.

  Wrapping her one arm around his head, she buried her face in his soft feathers and started crying.

  “Please my king, you must come with me now. Kuwari and your unborn cubs need you to be strong. Come with me and I’ll look after you.” She rubbed her face against his feathers and hoped her king would return to himself.

  He recognized Kuwari, but he didn’t communicate and that worried her.

  Still, he followed her to the edge of the cage, and when she drew her cloak around herself again, hiding Kuwari from the view of those outside the cage, he paced her calmly enough.

  It was all going well until they were outside the cage, and his Shadows slowly encircled him, putting themselves between him and any who might mean him harm.

  Ditanu snarled then, lashing out at one of his Shadows, knocking the hapless guard to the ground. Heart pounding, Iltani waited for the killing blow.

  It didn’t come. Instead, Ditanu merely shoved Iltani farther away from the other males around them.

  “Every male step back,” the Priestess Kammani ordered. “He’s protecting her.”

  The male Shadows eased back while the female ones came forward, filling in any gaps in their king’s protection. When Ditanu didn’t lash out at his female guards, she knew Priestess Kammani’s assumption was correct.

  Iltani walked from the sand-covered practice ring, Ditanu’s Shadows trailing behind, apparently uncertain what to do to help their king. Iltani didn’t actually know what to do to bring her king back from whatever part of his mind he was hiding in.

  She only hoped Priestess Kammani, who was trailing them knew enough to help.

  Chapter 18

  Her heart in her throat, Iltani beckoned Ditanu to follow her and then turned and started down the hall. The big gryphon paced her as she made her way back to the king’s suites.

  Priestess Kammani slid closer. Not so close as to gain a response from Ditanu, but near enough she could communicate to Iltani in a whisper. “Once you get back to his rooms, you need to show him he is still loved, that no matter how much pain he’s in, he’ll find joy again one day. Show him how to live for his cubs, if not his kingdom.”

  How was she supposed to draw Ditanu out from wherever he’d fled within his own mind? Yes, he showed recognition toward Kuwari, so she had hope that link and the tiny sparks of life in her womb would be enough to stabilize Ditanu and sway him back over to the side of the living. But beyond that, what else was she supposed to do?

  Ditanu’s own survival hadn’t been enough for his father.

  When the old king had lost his mate and most of his cubs, he’d snapped, attacking everyone and everything until his own body turned on itself. Never having witnessed it, she didn’t know if the old king had shown recognition of Ditanu after he’d descended into grief madness or not.

  Her nagging doubts kept pace with her the entire length of the walk back to the king’s chambers.

  Turning to look over at Kammani, she asked, “Do you think he’s past the worst of it?”

  “I do,” she answered calmly. “As long as you stay and shower him with love and keep Kuwari near, I think our king will recover. He’ll need careful watching, but I have hope.”

  The heavy weight which had been threatening to crush her heart lifted. She would do anything Ditanu needed her to do, anything Ishtar asked, anything at all—raze mountain ranges, wage war until every beach turned red with blood, call storms the like the world had never seen to sink their enemies’ ships—she’d do anything to see Ditanu safe and well once more.

  Please let Kammani be correct.

  So far, he’d been docile with her even though he showed a more aggressive side toward others.

  Ditanu paced in front of her again, forcing her to stop. He pressed closer to Iltani, trying to nuzzle under her cloak to touch his cub. Kuwari huffed softly at his father and Ditanu relaxed marginally.

  Although distracted by his cub, his vigilance never lessened, not even once they were safe in his rooms.

  Continuing on to his bedchamber, Iltani crawled onto his bed and then gestured for him to join her. He paced the room’s perimeter, seeking signs of enemies in the shadows and corners of the room. When he found nothing, he paced back toward her, huffing softly to catch her scent.

  “Come, my king, join your cub.” Iltani patted the bed and deposited the cub in the center while she moved closer to the headboard to give him more room. Kammani’s words still echoed in her head. Iltani just hoped rest, Kuwari’s love and her own was enough to heal his grievous emotional wounds.

  She doubted she could accomplish that on her own and prayed for Ishtar’s guidance and aid.

  When she patted the bed a second time, he bound up onto it and nuzzled his cub for some minutes. After Kuwari had fallen asleep, Ditanu rose to all fours. He came straight for her, not halting until he was standing over her, his massive bulk dwarfing her and making her feel tiny and vulnerable.

  Ditanu’s sizeable front p
aw batted at her, and she was suddenly on her back, pinned down by his paw as he pressed his face into her stomach. First, his smooth hard, beak and then the soft feathers of his cheeks rubbed over her belly. Iltani made herself go limp, giving Ditanu no reason to strike out at her, although in her heart, she refused to believe that he could or would hurt her.

  He purred and then began scent marking her. The soft rasp of his feathers against her skin tickles. She fought the urge to laugh. After long moments of scent marking her, he finally stopped and allowed her to sit up. While she was gaining her composure, Ditanu had picked Kuwari up by the scruff of his neck and was carrying him back over to Iltani. After a moment, he gently lowered the cub into Iltani’s lap.

  Kuwari wiggled and circled, making a nest out of the tattered fabric of her skirt. It was blood-stained and coated with sand, but the cub didn’t seem to care. She petted Kuwari for long moments until the exhausted cub fell asleep again.

  Turning her attention to Ditanu, she raised her right hand and carefully caressed his face and neck, her touch light and rhythmic. “That’s it. Relax. Stop fighting and rest for a while.”

  “He must not fall asleep while still in gryphon form, not weakened as he is.” Priestess Kammani pulled aside one of the hanging drapes to peer in at Iltani, Kuwari and Ditanu. “The greatest danger now is that his human side will slip away, leaving behind only predatory instincts to rule him.”

  Frowning with renewed worry, Iltani’s gaze darted between her king and the high priestess. Then Kammani held out a bowl filled with some kind of liquid.

  “Get him to drink this. It’s an herbal stimulant. After he drinks it, you need to convince him to shift back into human form.”

  “How am I supposed to do that? He’s exhausted. Even if the stimulant works enough to bring him around again, I don’t think he’s rational enough to understand we want him to shift back to human form.”

  Kammani didn’t look up from her satchel as she sorted through the contents. After she had dumped another dusting of ground herbs into the ‘drink’, she looked up at last. “He doesn’t have to be particularly rational—we just need him human. Once he’s human, you can work on healing him, both mind, body, and spirit.”

  She held the drink out to Iltani.

  “Fine. Rational, not required.” Iltani came to her knees and laid Kuwari on the pillows beside her. A large paw swiped out and knocked Iltani flat. Again.

  Body tense, she waited for the sharp claws to tear flesh, shredding her fragile skin. The wide paw flexed gently. Lethal claws dimpled the skin of her lower back, but they did not draw blood. A moment later a wing mantled over her prone body while a paw dragged her back to his side.

  Now that Iltani was back where he wanted her apparently, he drifted off to sleep within moments.

  “Hmmm,” the priestess’s voice rose to be heard over Ditanu’s purring. “Getting that great lazy lion to shift back may require some rethinking on our part.”

  The crackle of the paper the herbs were wrapped in and Ditanu’s purring were the only sounds that reached her under the shelter of his wing. While being pinned belly down on Ditanu’s bed might have, upon rare occasions, snuck into a few of her dreams, this was not how she imagined it.

  Fool of a woman, she scolded herself, get your mind on more important things.

  “Kammani, what if I summon my magic? Use that to see if he’ll rouse?”

  “No, we can’t risk it. Your body and the unborn cubs need to adjust. To use any great working of magic—not just battle magic—in the coming days might cause your body to abort them.”

  Cold dread lanced through her middle.

  No, she would not lose Ditanu’s cubs. They were hers now, hers to protect. She’d failed the other two. She wouldn’t fail these little ones.

  “Get him up. I don’t care what you have to do.” Kammani pushed the drink closer to Iltani. “He needs to drink this. Now.”

  Pushing up onto her elbows, she shoved his wing back and rolled to her feet. She walked toward the dish of herb-laced water and picked it up. Ditanu rumbled in warning and came to his feet, too.

  Well good, that was easier than she thought.

  Iltani navigated the bed, keeping her feet under her even when Ditanu pounced across the distance to block her escape.

  “I’m not trying to escape.” She ran her fingers through his mane. “I only wanted this.” She held out the drink for him to sniff.

  “Once he drinks that,” Kammani’s voice intruded again. “I have something you should drink too. It will give you much-needed energy.”

  Iltani glanced over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing. There was something in the priestess’s tone. “You make it sound like the battle has yet to begin.”

  “Hmmm,” Kammani huffed humorlessly, “I don’t doubt for a moment we have many more battles before we put an end to our enemies, but that is not what I was referring to.”

  Tapping a finger against her thigh, Iltani watched and waited for the rest, but the priestess didn’t elaborate. Well, fine. Jerking her attention back to Ditanu, she held out the bowl of water toward him again. To her complete surprise, he dipped his beak down and drank it dry.

  Well, that was easy.

  “Good,” Kammani commented.

  More Shadows arrived. Uselli eased into the bedchamber, while others waited in the outer rooms and the hallway beyond. Still, she could sense them all. It didn’t matter how far away they were. They were linked to the king, and her blood link to Ditanu allowed her to sense all his Shadows.

  Ditanu rose from where he was resting on the bed and glared at Uselli. His tail flicked with agitation, but he didn’t attack. That had to be a sign of improvement. He was far more wakeful than earlier, his eyes bright and focused as he watched everything going on in his domain. Still, for all there was the look of returning vigor, there was no sign of Ditanu the king. Presently, the watchful male on the bed was all gryphon parent.

  Kammani had stopped what she was doing when Uselli arrived, and they talked in soft voices. Ditanu growled softly, clearly not liking a male in his territory. Iltani sidestepped, blocking Ditanu’s line of sight of Uselli.

  Ditanu’s pinned ears relaxed, and his growls switched to purrs.

  “Yes, that’s it. Focus on your unborn cubs and me. Ignore poor Uselli.” Iltani allowed her hands to rest lightly upon his head, giving his ears another soft scratch.

  The big gryphon continued his purring, but he now ran his beak along her bare belly and pressed his ear against her skin. His eyes drifted closed and she felt the tension leak out of him.

  Priestess Kammani and Uselli communicated in hushed voices, unaware they’d been moments away from being attacked. Iltani’s heart was slowing back to its normal rhythm, and she started to pay attention to their whispered conversation. The words ‘Sacred Marriage’ sent her heart back to pounding. Her stomach turned leaden as a cold sweat broke out on her skin.

  “Sacred Marriage? You can’t possibly expect us to….there’s no way. He barely made it this far before he collapsed.”

  “The herbs will give him stamina.” Kammani half turned and raised one elegant eyebrow at Iltani. “This is Ishtar’s wish. How she plans to heal our gryphon king.”

  “He has a mate.”

  Kammani gave her an amused look. “Yes. He does.”

  “It’s not possible, not physically. He’s still in gryphon form.”

  “Yes, yes he is,” Kammani said and rolled her eyes. “But Ditanu will shift to human form if you give him a compelling reason. Ishtar already gave her blessing, earlier. We all witnessed it. I am certain if you both please the goddess, she will grant Ditanu a long life.”

  Iltani would do anything to see Ditanu restored, but this? This wasn’t anything like what her heart craved. She’d always wanted Ditanu to choose her, not be forced into it by Ishtar.

  When Iltani didn’t answer, Kammani sighed. “Well, you know Ishtar is the goddess of fertility, love, and war. Today you’ve seen her aspe
ct as a war goddess,” Kammani paused and pointed to where Iltani had set down her crystalline sword and then next pointed at Iltani’s slightly rounded belly, “and you’ve seen her as a granter of life. Soon you will see her as a goddess of love.”

  “I understand.” Oh, dear goddess. Those two words made it sound so easy.

  “Good,” Kammani said with a gentle smile. “You’ll need to convince him to return to human form. I don’t think you’ll find that too difficult.”

  “Of course.” Iltani felt a flush creep up her face.

  “Now, see if you can get Ditanu to part with Kuwari for a while. I’ll see to his care for tonight. You’ll have enough on your hands. I’ll stay in Ditanu’s study with Kuwari. That is about as far away as Ditanu will allow, and even then, you’ll have some trouble convincing him I imagine. “When you’re ready, bring the cub to me.”

  Iltani glanced at the drowsing Ditanu where he’d laid back down, curled around his cub.

  Yes. Iltani would have a lot on her hands tonight. Come the morning, would she even be able to look herself in a mirror after she’d stripped all Ditanu’s choices away in the night?

  To save her king, she would have to betray her king.

  Chapter 19

  Her emotions and self-doubt shoved aside until tomorrow, Iltani approached Ditanu. Seeing her, he sat up and greeted her with a purr. She didn’t even know if he still had the resources needed to shift forms.

  “I know you’re tired, but I need you to shift back into a man soon.” She scratched around his ears. The big gryphon stretched and purred, pressing into her touch, but still he didn’t communicate verbally.

  “I’m going to give Kuwari into Kammani’s keeping for a little while—he needs undisturbed sleep and milk to recover fully.” Something the cub wasn’t likely to get here if Ishtar had her way. This was the dicey part. Iltani slowly scooped the sleeping cub up into her arms. “Kammani has some milk for him. He won’t be far, just over here in the other room.”