“After my brother’s death, everything changed. I am now never alone. Tirigan said the guards decided it would be safer to buy a ship and take it to Uruk, where they could wait for word from me. But then they were captured at the docks.”
Libluth’s grunt suggested he thought she was lying about something, or maybe everything, but he didn’t deny her words.
“Well, it’s good you came to me when you did. Would hate to put good men to their deaths over a little bit of flesh trade politics.” He eyed first Tirigan, Bashaa, and then Laliya. “They the ones?”
Asharru saw no point in lying. “Yes.”
“I can see why you’d go behind your brother’s back for ones such as them.” Libluth gave Laliya a covetous grin.
It hurt to think that anyone thought she’d go against her beloved brother’s wishes after his death, but lives were at stake, and she took comfort in the knowledge Kadashman would have wholly supported her decision to save them.
He’d likely have bought them himself if he’d known just how depraved Ugurnaszir had become.
“Captain Libluth, since you’re such a reasonable man, I’m sure you won’t mind helping me hide them in plain sight as part of my personal guard? Kuri has tested them and says they are worthy.”
“Kuri tested them?” Libluth looked thoughtful again. “That will do for now, I suppose, but I’ll want to work in some practice rounds with them. Only the best are tasked with protecting the last of the royal line. And I’ll have to get them official papers from the clerk's office.”
“I will see that you’re compensated for your time.” She smiled benignly at her captain of the guard. “Now that we’ve settled the situation to both our satisfaction, I have other tasks to attend to.”
Libluth bowed. “Of course, my Lady. Call on me for anything you might need. I know you’re new to Nineveh, and I know many things about the surviving councilors, the aids, and city officials.”
Hmmm, was he offering to be her informant? That was something Kadashman never managed. Her brother must have been too upstanding for the likes of Libluth to relax around. “I may take you up on your offer.”
It wasn’t until she was out in the hall, and her gaze landed on the nearest of the young recruits lined up against the wall, that Asharru thought of something else.
She turned on her heel and marched back into Libluth’s office. At her entrance, he bowed again.
“The new recruits Kuri selected to flesh out my guard unit, do you mind if I keep them to train with Tirigan and Bashaa? I get tired of seeing a constant flow of new faces every time I go somewhere. It would be nice if there were a few familiar ones.”
Libluth looked bemused for a moment, and then a sly look entered his eye. “Whatever my Lady wishes.”
“Excellent.”
It wasn’t until she was halfway down the hall that a snicker escaped the stoic Tirigan. He even made that sound delightful.
“What are you trying not to laugh about over there?” She half turned to gaze over her shoulder at him, and he lengthened his step to join her.
When they turned a corner, he leaned close and whispered. “Libluth thinks you’ve just hit sexual maturity.”
“What!?”
“Well, to him it looks like you’re building yourself a harem to ensure your gryphon has a selection to choose from.”
“Goddess. If the court thinks the same, I’ll be inundated with nobles tossing their sons at my feet.”
“That would present a tripping hazard for our future queen,” Tirigan said with a hearty dose of humor in his tone. “Kuri would have their heads.”
It took all her focus to fight back laughter at the image he wove, but it was essential to keep her mask in place when she was out in public. If her enemies thought she was weak, or frivolous or too youthful, they would work all the harder to curtail her freedoms and exert their will over her for their own political gain.
While she strove to master herself, Kuri led them down a lesser used side corridor. If she was to guess, it was a servants’ stairway, but that was only a guess since she’d never been here before. With that realization, she promised herself she would tour all of her kingdom, every part, even those not meant for royalty or nobles.
It was the only way to get to know her people. Even if she had to do it in disguise.
They halted at the next intersection.
“This is as far as you go, My Lady,” Kuri informed her. “There is no way I’m taking you down into the dungeons where every thief and cutthroat from across the city can ogle you.”
Asharru snorted at Kuri’s bluster. “It’s not like they know what I look like.”
“Doesn’t matter. They will see a beautiful woman. Something some of them haven’t seen in a long, long while. Laliya will stay here with you. The rest of the guard will see to your protection.”
“What about you? You’re female. And pretty. Or have you forgotten?”
Kuri flashed pale teeth as she grinned in the dim light. “They know to respect me, or I’ll tear their cocks off with my teeth and make a necklace out of them.”
Tirigan lost his battle and started to laugh. He got himself under control again after a couple snorts. “My Lady, remind me never to cross Kuri.”
With that, Kuri rolled her eyes, gave Asharru a surly little bow and then turned and stalked away toward her destination.
“That guardswoman is fierce, but I sense deep pain in her.” Tirigan’s eyes were serious once more, dark and somehow knowing, like he could read someone’s soul as easily as she read a person’s face.
“She is. The man she loved and would have one day mated died.”
He exhaled a deep breath. “Ah. I see.”
And with those simple words, she was sure he knew exactly who she hadn’t named.
“Does she blame herself for his death?” His question was asked in that ultra-low tone that made gooseflesh rise all along her skin.
“She hasn’t said it out loud, but yes, she blames herself for not being there when he needed her. I think she blames herself even more for not dying with him. Now he waits in the underworld alone until it’s her time to join him. They had forged the beginnings of mate bonds even though they’d never been intimate—that’s how strong their love was.”
“I have never loved like that,” he admitted. Never loved at all—Asharru imagined she’d heard his thought, “But I am deeply sorry for her. It must be excruciating.”
“It is. But her need for vengeance fuels her now, and I think once we find his killers, she will be able to find peace. Perhaps even find love again one day.” Asharru drew herself up and wished to lighten the mood. “Until then, she can chew on ambitious noblemen who get too close.”
Tirigan might have said more, but Kuri returned escorting three terrified looking guards.
“Goddess, Kuri, didn’t you tell them they aren’t going to their deaths?”
“Eh? What? No.” She turned to the three guards. Two men and one woman. “You have all been pardoned. Bow to your future queen, you ungrateful imps!”
They did, dropping into bows so swiftly Asharru was sure they didn’t even know who out of the group they were bowing to.
“Rise,” Asharru said, pitying the poor guards. “You will now have a new home and a place in Nineveh if you wish it. But we will talk more about that later.”
The three deserters looked up, saw her, bowed again and then slowly rose to their knees. It was at about that point that the first guard, the female, recognized Tirigan standing at Asharru’s shoulder. Confusion, astonishment, and relief chased across her face almost too fast to see.
“Come, I will take you to get cleaned up, and then you shall join my guard unit today,” Asharru told them and then signaled for Kuri to lead the way.
Kuri made a strangled, unhappy sound but did as ordered.
It had been a long night with no sleep, and she was due at a council meeting very shortly. She needed to at least look like a future queen even if she felt l
ike a one-hundred-year-old jackal left to the elements.
Chapter 11
Asharru and her new guards returned to the castle and entered her suites from the garden, surprising the guards standing outside. She smiled a greeting to the guards on her way by. It wasn’t until they were inside that she noticed Kuri’s dark mood.
“What’s chewing on your backside?”
Kuri growled. “By Ereshkigal’s frigid tits. I’ve been running around with you most of the night and not one of the palace guards noticed they were guarding an empty set of chambers!”
Asharru arched a brow at her guard. “Designed that way by you.”
“Yes, but what if you’d really been abducted? They wouldn’t have noticed until the servants came to dress you for the day.”
“Obviously, we shall make changes to the routine,” Tirigan suggested. He’d followed them into Asharru’s inner chamber. Which, strangely, didn’t feel like an invasion like it did when other guards did the same.
“I most certainly shall!” Kuri barked.
“Perhaps rotate two or three of the most trustworthy guards into your current roster. They can always remain within the chambers to assure Asharru is sufficiently protected. For all we know, the assassin could be a servant placed in the palace long ago.”
“I like how you think.” Kuri’s hostile look softened as she realized she had a true ally in Tirigan. “We just have to find a way to be certain of the new recruits.”
“I am very good at reading people,” Tirigan injected swiftly. “By the end of today, I should be able to tell you with certainty which ones will be a hundred percent loyal to Asharru.”
While Kuri, and her equally suspicious twin, talked about ways to wrap their ward in so many layers of protection she might actually never be alone again, Asharru swiftly stripped out of her borrowed garb. With her back to the two of them, she pulled on the sleeping robe she’d left laying on the bed.
Now, dressed like she’d only just crawled out of bed, the servants wouldn’t be any the wiser.
Her nighttime escapades had only been possible because servants didn’t stay the night with her.
Under Kadashman’s rule, the servants had free rein of his chambers and came and went as needed, but after the assassination, Kuri had changed the rules, chasing them out after Asharru no longer needed them and forbidding them to come until the second hour after dawn.
The system worked for Asharru. While she was an early riser, she hated dealing with people until she was fully awake. Perhaps it had something to do with how her gryphon was always grumpier in the mornings.
Unfortunately, to judge by the distance of the sun from the ocean, and the sound of the outer doors opening and closing, it was already the second hour after dawn.
Asharru kicked her guard’s uniform under a stand next to the bed and went to the window where she usually sat and gazed out at the rising sun. It wasn’t until Tirigan quickly gathered up her clothing and shoved them in the bottom of one of her wardrobes that she realized he’d been watching her the entire time he’d been talking to Kuri.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
But, just then, her gryphon roused and sniffed the air, drawing Tirigan’s rich, dark scent deep into her lungs. She had the distinct impression the big cat wanted to purr and stretch and roll in the sun—while completely naked for Tirigan’s benefit.
That is not going to happen, she assured the beast.
Damn creature, having to go and complicate things even more than they already were.
Outside the sound of the servants grew louder, and she tried for bored indifference. She certainly shouldn’t be gawking at the new ‘guard’ enough to draw everyone’s attention to his devastatingly breathtaking form.
Kuri dipped out of the room to make sure the new recruits were at their proper stations.
With no one and nothing else to distract him, Tirigan wandered in her direction.
“Crown Princess Asharru, I know you are tired and must prepare for the day, but as we aren’t likely to get time to talk later, I’d like to thank you for everything you’ve done.” He bowed elegantly and then backed away, showing his deep respect for her future title.
It was odd how sometimes he was so coldly formal, and other times, he wasn’t. She preferred the easy-going charmer if she had to pick between the two aspects of his personality.
“Wait,” she found herself saying. “You’re correct, but later, I’d like to hear some of your other ideas. I think they could be very beneficial to New Sumer.”
He smiled, warmth touching his eyes. “I would enjoy that.”
But then he moved out of the way of the arriving servants. He didn’t go far, standing at attention along the wall where he studied everything. Though, like any well-trained guard, his gaze never touched upon her body again.
The servants were a mix of ages and genders made up of Kadashman’s old servants, and a few new ones Asharru had selected since it was expected of her. They soon hurried her out of her robe and then a smaller group, her bathing attendants, escorted her to the bathing chamber while inquiring what fragrances she’d like them to anoint her with today. As they passed Tirigan’s position, Asharru nodded her head.
He followed without so much as a moment’s hesitation.
Asharru didn’t look toward him again until she and the servants had all piled into the pool. As she expected, he wasn’t watching. Instead, he was maintaining his guard’s disguise and staring unwaveringly at a floor tile.
If the servants hadn’t been present, she sensed he’d have been meeting her gaze even now.
“Guard,” she called, playing along. “Earlier, you were speaking with guardswoman Kuri about ways to improve the defenses around the city. Continue. I found the conversation interesting.”
He glanced up then and met her gaze. A mild bit of humor glinted in his eyes. “I’m too new to Nineveh to speak of the whole city-state. However, one thing that has always struck me as strange is how there isn’t a secondary royal guard unit who travels with you everywhere. It seems to me, it would be much harder to insert a spy or other enemy into our ranks if we all knew each other.”
“You’re suggesting an entirely separate guard than the city garrison? Hmmm. An interesting idea. Go on.”
“I’d also suggest that new guard be given privileges not afforded to the present guards.”
“I’m not sure I get your meaning.”
“Your personal guard should not have to fear the wrath of nobles, governors, or even councilors. Guards that don’t have to fear repercussions from stepping on noble toes would be in a better position to protect the royal bloodline from any and all threats.”
“Hmmm. Give them a rank higher than a noble?”
“Not necessarily a rank. But ultimate authority to do what needs doing to see to your protection.”
“A new Order within the city guards?”
“Yes, my Lady.”
“Do you have any more suggestions?”
“Yes, actually. If there is room within the palace, I’d suggest having your personal guard live here. It places them closer to you, even when they are off duty. And it would also be added protection for their families if someone should think to use a guard’s spouse or children to get him or her to betray you.”
“Thank you for your suggestions, I shall think on them.”
She’d do more than think on them. As soon as she was able, she’d start enacting some of his ideas.
But for now, the servants needed to finish up their task of grooming her. With a sigh, she raised her arms and allowed the servants to scrub her.
This was just another thing that was different than back on Uruk. As a simple priestess, she could attend to her own grooming. Here it wasn’t a choice. Tradition dictated that others serve the royals in repayment for the blood and magic they must spill to wake and maintain the dwindling numbers of Lamassu and the other protective spells of New Summer.
A lot of good the Lamassu
and all those protections did for Kadashman. The Lamassu had sensed the danger to her brother, but the winged behemoths were stationed on the coast, watchful for threats coming from outside. By the time they’d flown inland, it had been too late.
They hadn’t even remained to hunt the assassins and grind them under their massive stone hooves. Instead, they’d taken to the air. Every last Lamassu scattered across the ten city-states had flown to Uruk, where they’d nearly leveled a third of the temple to get to Asharru—the last descendant of the first gryphon king.
One day, when she was queen, Asharru would be expected to seek out each of the stone statues with their bulls’ bodies, mighty wings, and human heads and anoint them with royal blood, renewing their magic so all New Sumer would remain protected from outside dangers.
In return, Asharru couldn’t even scrub her own back.
She sighed and soothed the sour expression that had somehow snuck onto her face while she’d been distracted.
A glance in Tirigan’s direction earned her a swift grin while the servants were busy gathering their things. Of course, he’d see the little slip of her mask. He missed nothing.
Then again, Kadashman, had done his best to teach her the ‘royal mask’ as he called it, otherwise known as the art of giving nothing away to your enemies. But she’d only learned so much from her brother and doubted she’d even master that look which could welcome a frightened child one minute and then scare off the most determined of councilors the next.
Not for the first time, Asharru thought of herself as a pale copy of Kadashman, the rightful ruler of New Sumer. And she’d been happy in her role as High Priestess.
The servants finished their scrubbing and urged her out of the pool where they proceeded to buff her dry with soft cloths, rub moisturizing ointments into her skin, dab her with fragrances and lastly tuck her into a thin, elegant robe. The dressing and makeup would take place in the outer chamber, where another set of servants would be waiting.
Blade's Destiny (Ishtar's Legacy Book 3) Page 7