“No, my love, quite the opposite. We’ll let him do what he is being paid to do, return with a gift of my Royal Blood.”
Kane was silent for a few moments. “I see what you plan with this Coppi, but as your consort, I’m not sure I should allow it.”
“Chauvinist.” Issa wiggled her bottom against Kane, teasing him. “How do you see what I plan with anything? Women’s intuition?”
Kane’s hands traveled along her shoulders and up the back of her neck. “I have no idea,” he replied. “But I do see what’s in your mind. Just as I knew you would return to us. I knew where you would arrive. That’s why I asked Upo to meet me there. I just didn’t know when.”
Issa let Kane shampoo her hair while she considered his words. He was not related to her, at least there was no close relation, but he could be of the Blood, she mused. It would explain their serendipitous meeting eight years before, and the fact he’d mentioned several times now that he could see. But Issa hadn’t seen anything in her past or future having to do with Kane that would explain this sort of ability.
“Kane, would you be offended if I tasted you?”
Kane snorted. “You already did. And no, I don’t recall taking offense.”
“That’s not what I’m referring to.” Issa smiled. “I mean would you be offended if I tasted your blood?”
Kane’s hands stopped moving and he said nothing for a moment. “That’s a…” He cleared his throat. “That sounds a bit blasphemous to me, especially coming from the Empress. Why would you consider such a thing?”
Issa tilted her head back and looked up at him. “Because my tongue will be able to discern the various genetic components of your blood and I’ll know if you’re of the Royal line. You’ve mentioned you can see in the manner of my seeing. I’d like to know, Kane. I don’t need a great deal of blood, just a tiny drop, from a nick on your finger.”
“By a gack’s shit, Issa, surely you don’t believe we’re related?”
“No, there were many genetic lines in the beginning. I merely wish to know if your line contains some Royal Blood. That might explain your ability to see, although usually men of the Royal Blood do not possess the Sight as women do.”
“Perhaps later,” murmured Kane. “Is it important?”
“No, I am merely curious,” Issa replied.
“How will this man, this Coppi, take your blood?”
“I shall give it to him and plant a convincing story in his mind, a story the high priest will believe. It is imperative that the Black Frocks come here from every corner of the realm, every single one of them. We must be rid of them, Kane, for they will never leave the men and women of Calen in peace. If they survive they will continue to search the outer systems, murdering women and children and even men of the Blood. I cannot allow this to continue. It must end here.”
Kane’s hand toyed with the ruby ring on her finger. “But you don’t intend to take your rightful place? You do not wish to occupy the throne on Matsu?”
Issa sighed. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted.”
“But you plan to remain on Calen?”
“Yes. I’m very afraid I would become a slave to the power and risk becoming the worst of my kind.” She laid her hand over his. “And I would lose you and any hope of a life.”
Kane tugged on her damp hair. “What is the worst, Issa?”
She snuggled deeper into his warm chest. She kept her voice low. “To become a monster, an Abomination, like my sister.”
“You mean Tem? The Red One?”
Issa turned around and looked into Kane’s eyes. “How would you know?”
He shrugged. “I’ve dreamed of her off and on for years. She’s a small woman, cold as a statue, with your mahogany hair. But her gray eyes turn red when she is angry or aroused. I’ve seen her. She took you that day eight years ago. I dreamed of her then, too.”
Issa stared at him, horrified. “Oh my gods! What has she done? How has she interfered in your line?”
She rose from the tub, careless of the fact that the room was chilly and she was naked and wet. She retrieved her knife from beside the bed and returned to Kane. She grabbed his hand and pulled it towards her, pricking his finger before he could stop her, catching the drop of dark red blood on the tip of her tongue.
Issa closed her eyes, allowing Kane to pull his hand away. She ran the blood around her mouth, tasting, testing. Aghast, she dropped to her knees.
“Seven hells, it’s not me. It’s not me they want.” Issa’s eyes flew open and sought her mate’s. “It’s you, Kane. You are the one they seek and they don’t even know it.” She saw Kane’s look of confusion. “I must hide you. They cannot get their filthy hands on you. She cannot get her hands on you. If they do, if the Black Frocks realize what you are, no one will be safe. Even now you are not safe. You are not safe from—”
“Issa,” Kane interrupted. “I’m just a man, a breeder of horses, nothing more.”
Issa bit her tongue to keep from admitting the entire truth. “Oh, no, by the Gods, you are far more than just a man. You are the one General Bom, may he burn in the lowest of the Seven Hells of Wrath, hoped to breed a thousand years ago. You are the first man who can see as we see; whose blood can be used in the same manner as mine—to heal, to provide visions, guidance, power, unspeakable power. Kane, you must vanish from this time.”
Kane climbed out of the bath and wrapped them both in a large, soft blanket. It was clear he didn’t understand the seriousness of the matter. “I don’t intend to run and hide,” he declared, his voice firm. “I intend to fight by your side.”
“No, my love, Upo will fight by my side. I must send you to my sisters. We can’t risk the Black Frocks learning of this, of you. I won’t risk you. You must understand, you are in great danger.”
“How can it be dangerous for me? I’m nothing to them.”
Issa closed her eyes and reached out, her inner gaze focused on the high priest of the Black Frocks. “When he tastes my blood, he’ll know,” she told him. “You and I are Blood Bonded. He’ll know and they’ll take you and use you, leeching blood from you, forcing you to father children with women of their choosing; sacrificing those children. No, I won’t allow this to happen, Kane. Either I kill us both now and we leave this world to its fate, or I take you to my sisters and they will shelter you. I regret to tell you, my love, there is no third path.”
Exhausted after her journey, Issa stumbled into Kane’s cottage. She’d left him in the past with Aja and Kyr, along with both stallions and strict instructions that they were to protect him from Tem. If they failed, and Tem found him, they were to kill him.
She’d timed her return so she’d have a few hours to recover before Upo and his companion arrived. She needed food and water and sleep, and she needed to drain some blood.
Rapid time travel built up toxins in her blood in the same manner deep sea diving back on ancient earth built up nitrogen bubbles in the blood of the divers if they weren’t careful to control their ascent. She’d seen it happen. Tem had wanted to illustrate the consequences of traveling through time too rapidly; something Issa had a bad habit of doing.
Sometimes, though, it was necessary.
Today it had been necessary. She’d had to shift Kane before he realized what she intended. It had occurred to her that if he grasped the barest notion of what he was capable of, he might be able to prevent her from taking him into the past, so she’d had to act fast.
Bringing the horses was an afterthought, but Issa didn’t want them hurt or killed in the coming battle. And she didn’t want Kane any angrier with her than he already was, would be, when he woke from the sleep she’d placed him in.
She could never retrieve him. If she did she would put him at risk. She would put the entire time line at risk.
Kane would become Tem’s plaything or the Black Frocks’ source of unspeakable power.
What cruel game did the Gods play? Or was this a ploy devised by the Red Demon alone?
<
br /> Issa racked her brain and tried to think like her patron. Was Tem so lonely, so isolated, that she’d shaped Kane to be her one true mate? Then why allow him to Blood Bond with Issa?
Or had she planned to use Issa to awaken his abilities and then take him from her, threaten or cajole or force him to remain by her side, her unwilling companion through time and space for as long as she lived?
Perhaps Kane would join with the Red Demon willingly, tempted by the power she wielded. Issa understood that temptation better than anyone.
Poor Kane. Issa could hear his voice, clear as day, cursing her soundly for leaving him behind. He might hate her, but hate was better than the alternative.
How could she have been so blind?
Her sight had failed to show her anything other than the fact that he was her mate.
That Kane should be a male…
What? What would he be called, an Emperor?
That a man should have such powers, it was unthinkable. The traits had been passed through the female line for a reason; to prevent men from gaining ascendancy, to stop men from leading the human race down the same path of self-destruction they had on Earth.
Of course Tem wanted him. It made perfect sense. With Kane by her side she would be unstoppable.
Issa realized Tem had manipulated the genetic lines until both she and Kane were born, hoping his Blood Bond with Issa would rouse his latent powers. Then Tem would take him away.
No, Issa wouldn’t allow it. Under her sister’s tutelage, Kane could become the stuff of nightmares, worse than any despot the human race had ever known.
Grabbing a hunk of dryebread and a jug of water from the table, Issa carried the items with her to a corner near the stove. She wrapped herself in a thick blanket and curled up on the floor. Eyes half-closed, she waved a hand over the cold stove and the wood within lit in a blaze of light, warming her. She drank the entire jug of water and ate half the dryebread before she drifted off to sleep, setting her internal alarm to wake her at the slightest sound.
Kane may hate me, but at least he’ll be alive to hate me.
Issa saw Upo and his companion approach. She observed them through the shuttered window, but she did not stop her task. She watched them water their horses and tether them to the fence. She heard Upo wonder aloud where the stallions had got to, but he’d already seen smoke coming from the chimney so he knew someone was present.
Issa noted with approval the way he held his sword lose in his hand. Yes, her brother was a man to be reckoned with.
She squinted at his companion and listened to the man’s thoughts. What she heard disgusted her. Coppi Hesh would sell his own mother for a few cills. Issa would have preferred to gut him, but unfortunately she needed him. He would carry her message to the dark ones.
Issa patted the seed cakes into flat circles and dried them with a wave of her hand. She’d mixed them with her blood and spring water, and sweetened them with syrup made of sugar-tree sap. That the blood contained the toxins from her time travel was all the better.
Yes, the high priest would have the ability to see her, but the poison would eat at him. If she wished, she could then kill the man quickly by feeding him her own undiluted blood. She would rid the empire of a great evil, but eliminating one man was not enough, another dark one would take his place.
Estian Fermu. Just the name made her stomach clench. Once he’d tasted her blood, he would mobilize his foul brothers and come for her. He’d sense Kane as well, and Issa knew the risk she ran, but the high priest wouldn’t understand exactly what it was he felt. Kane would remain safe under Aja’s protection, secreted away a thousand years in the past.
It was time.
Issa wiped her hands on a cloth and left the cabin. Her steps never faltered as she greeted her brother and his companion with a welcoming smile. Upo wrapped her in his strong arms and lifted her off her feet. Issa laughed as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
“Coppi,” he said. “This is my beloved sister, Issa.”
Coppi stared at her hair, and Issa could feel fear drip off the man like water from the melting snows.
“She doesn’t bite.” Upo clapped his friend on the back.
“No, I don’t bite.” Issa smiled at him. I am death. “Welcome. Every man who comes to the aid of the Empress is welcome.”
“My… My Lady.” Coppi dropped to his knees, his eyes focused on the hard ground.
“Get up,” Issa said, her voice cold. She knew Upo misinterpreted the look on her face.
He prodded his friend with a booted toe. “She hates it if you kneel to her.”
“Yes, my Lady. I apologize, my Lady.” Coppi rose to his feet.
Issa noticed he looked everywhere but at her face. She shrugged. He was nothing more than the messenger.
“What is your family name, Coppi?”
“H–Hesh,” he stuttered.
“Well, Coppi Hesh, come inside and we’ll talk.” Issa rested a hand on the man’s arm. She felt the muscles twitch beneath her touch. “Upo, remain with the horses, please. Make certain Coppi’s gelding is ready to leave as soon as he and I have finished our conversation.”
Issa watched Upo wander over to the horses, his eyes glazed, his steps mechanical. She hated to do this to her own brother, but she didn’t want him to know what she’d planned for his companion. She turned toward the cottage, her hand still on Coppi’s arm. He walked by her side, the same frozen expression on his face. “Come, my friend. I have a precious gift for you to take to your employer.”
“Where in the Seven Hells did he go?” shouted Upo. “I brought him here so he could organize his men, bring them over to our side, and he vanishes? Where did he go, Issa? Did you see?”
“Be calm, brother. Of course I know where he went. I sent him on a mission.”
“What mission?” Upo asked. “Why don’t I know about this mission? I don’t even remember Coppi leaving on his horse.”
Issa put her arm around his shoulders and Upo felt like he was a child again. He remembered all the times his little sister had done things he couldn’t begin to understand and those memories sent chills up and down his spine. She’d comforted him back then. She was attempting to comfort him now.
“What did you do, Issa?” Upo could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise even as he asked the question. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear her answer.
“I merely gave him a message to pass on, nothing more. I didn’t hurt him, yet.”
Upo shifted away from her. “Please explain yourself, sister. And while you’re at it, you can tell me why I’ve lost time. I don’t remember anything that happened after Coppi and I arrived.”
Issa looked up at him, her eyes full of hurt. “Don’t you trust me, Upo? I may be the Empress, but I’m your sister first.”
“Yes, of course I trust you, but I don’t understand you. I’ve never understood you. And I don’t like this power you have. It’s the power I don’t trust.”
Issa smiled at him, but Upo noticed the movement of her mouth didn’t reach her eyes.
“You are wise in that, brother. I don’t trust the power either, but I must live with it. If you wish to know what happened to your friend, I’ll tell you.”
Upo nodded. “Tell me.”
“I sent him to the high priest of the Black Frocks. The man you know as Coppi Hesh is in his pay in any case. I gave him the thing he sought, my blood, a gift of the Royal Blood for Estian Fermu. It will bring him here, to Tista Province, along with all his Black Frocks. They will arrive within three moons and we must be ready to greet them with all the fighting men we can muster. You and I will lead them.”
It took Upo a few moments to absorb that information. At last he asked, “Where’s Kane? What about Kane?”
“Gone,” replied Issa.
“Gone where?”
“Listen to me, Upo.” Issa clutched at his hand and he swore he could feel her distress through her skin. “Kane is gone. He’ll return when I allow him to ret
urn and not before. I won’t give you any other explanation. You will lead the Calen men and fight by my side. I said those words years ago. Nothing has changed since then. You are steady, Upo. You are the solid ground over which our fighters will ride. And when the Black Frocks are dead, you are the man all Calen will look to for guidance.”
Upo squeezed his sister’s hand. “Me? What of you? Will they not turn to you? Or do you plan to leave us and take your place on the Throne of Blood?”
Issa rested her head against his shoulder and Upo felt like time had turned backwards and they were once more children. “I don’t know where I’ll be, brother, but I do know I won’t take the throne. Let the Blood Throne sit empty until a worthy Empress is born.”
Upo turned to his sister and searched her face. “You don’t consider yourself worthy?”
“No, Upo, I am not.” A corner of Issa’s mouth turned up. “I’m still your stubborn, wrong-headed, hot tempered, willful, arrogant little sister. Matsu and the politics on that world would drive me mad, and you know it. No, I won’t go to the capital. I’ll leave that place to the ambitious men and women who have always flocked there.”
“Kane should be with us,” Upo grumbled. “He should have a say in these decisions.”
“It’s not his fault. He would be here if he could. Leave it.” Issa rose to her feet and pulled Upo with her. “Let’s pack up and head into the mountains. I’ll have to share your horse until you can get me another. We must find Kane’s men and send them to all corners of our province and to the neighboring regions. I expect upwards of forty thousand Black Frocks to arrive for their joyous celebration, their Feast of Blood.”
“Send me back,” yelled Kane. “Send me the hells back to my time.” His shout shook the small storage hut.
“I haven’t the power and even if I did, I wouldn’t.” Kyr crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the stacked bales of hay.
“Your mate can send me back. She can take me herself. Tell her. You are consort. Insist that she send me home.”
The Daughters of Persephone, A Space Opera Special Edition Page 20