Ereshkigal laughed. “Are you seeking to sway me with love? It will not work. The only power in your arsenal that can kill me is your battle rage. You are wasting my time.”
Iltani raised her blade high above her head and brought it down with all the strength in her arms and came to rest on one knee with her head bowed. The blade’s tip burned its way into the floor, through tile and stone as if it was water. Magic flowed out from the sword, racing across the floor and up walls anointed with royal blood.
When she looked up, she sought out Ereshkigal’s gaze. “Dear sister, who said it had to be me to kill you?”
Stone lions and dog sized dragons freed themselves from the walls all around the hall even as the four great lamassu reared, storming forward, crushing enemies beneath their hooves. The lions and dragons darted in, taking down the surprised guards, but most converged upon Ereshkigal’s host body.
The Queen of the Underworld fought back, destroying many of the lions and dragons, but she was no match for the lamassu, for they were deities in their own right. Two of them herded Ereshkigal toward Iltani’s location.
“A gift for you and your king,” Ishtar said as she withdrew from Iltani’s mind.
Again Iltani was alone in her own body, but she felt Ishtar near, watching.
Well, it was always good to please one’s goddess.
Dragging her sword free of the floor, she rose from her crouch and darted forward, her sword’s blade singing in the air moments before it bit into Beletum’s side. The councilor squealed in pain and staggered sideways. Iltani toyed with the other woman for a moment as she looked around for her king.
Ah, she didn’t have to look hard. He was facing off against Ziyatum, but the battle was over almost before it had started and the governor of Kalhu collapsed on the floor dead. Ditanu continued cutting his way through enemy soldiers. When he was nearly at her side, she reached down and dragged Beletum up by the hair.
“Mercy,” Beletum cried. “Ereshkigal forced me to be her host.”
‘Lies,’ Ishtar whispered. ‘My sister can only venture into my realm invited. Beletum summoned that power here. She is a willing victim. As was her father before her.’
At Ditanu’s arrival, Beletum repeated her plea for mercy.
“By New Sumer law,” Ditanu ground out, “you should be brought before your peers and they would decide how death would come for you.”
Iltani loosened her hold on Beletum’s hair and was about to render her unconscious when Ditanu leaned forward suddenly and got in the councilwoman’s face. “But you killed my cubs,” he stabbed a dagger into Beletum’s heart. “So there is no need to drag this out.”
Bracing the body, Iltani sliced the traitor’s head from her shoulders. When Ditanu arched a brow, she said, “I’m just thorough.”
“We’ll burn the body just to be certain.”
By the time they looked up the rest of the battle was over.
But Iltani knew setting their world right again would take days and days of work.
“My king, I know we will have to root out others that were loyal to Ereshkigal in the coming days, but we can’t do anything else here tonight.” Iltani sighed and took his hand, their fingers entwining. “I want to go home and see to Ahassunu and Burrukan and the others.”
“As do I.” Ditanu took her into his arms and placed a kiss on her forehead. “And then later I simply want to sit with you and Kuwari, enjoying your company. Perhaps even reading some of those letters like we agreed.”
“That sounds lovely,” Iltani agreed and then kissed him as a promise of other things they might do as well.
Chapter Thirty-One
After they had landed back on Nineveh, Ditanu was greeted by his council to learn they’d already been briefed by Uselli. Iltani wanted to thank Uselli for his swift efficiency in rounding up the council, seeing to Burrukan and Ahassunu’s needs, and then chasing away the council again afterward.
While Iltani was visiting with Burrukan, he’s started barking orders from his sickbed about troop placements, rotations, and sending the most skilled of the Shadows to hunt down any traitors who might still be faithful to Ereshkigal. All this bluster was really about his fear for Ahassunu, but after a long night with the healers Priestess Kammani had come in and said that Consort Ahassunu would have a long road to recovery, but she would heal.
After another hour, they were told they could go see Ahassunu. When he first laid eyes on her, Burrukan started to shed silent tears, but no one would dare call it crying. She grinned and promised to have Kuwari brought to them. In the end, it was Ditanu himself who brought the cub.
“I thought this one might like to see his mother.”
Ahassunu, now in human form, held out shaking arms for her cub. While mother and cub got reacquainted, Ditanu sat down with Burrukan and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“My old friend,” Ditanu said with a smile. “I was starting to think I wasn’t ever going to see you again. Glad to see you’re too cantankerous to die.”
“I’m glad I can say the same about my king. Iltani told me she nearly lost you to grief madness.”
“Yes,” Ditanu said. “We have long stories to exchange. But first, I think you have some explaining to do about some very tardily delivered letters.”
*****
After a long talk and exchanging stories, Ditanu told them he planned to tell the council the truth about Ahassunu being Burrukan’s mate. Since Ahassunu was the mother of the next generation of gryphon king’s she would retain the title of Consort and Ditanu’s co-ruler, but she was free to publicly claim Burrukan as her mate.
Burrukan had only laughed, saying their relationship was likely going to be written up as the most complicated and unusual in gryphon history. Ditanu countered by saying it would make a wonderful ballad.
With that, Iltani and Ditanu left with a promise to have servants check on them to see to Kuwari’s needs so the healing couple could rest.
They’d left the healer’s quarters together, Ditanu looking as tired as Iltani felt. All she wanted was food, strong wine, and a bed. Preferably Ditanu’s. When she cast him a speculative looked, he smiled and nodded.
“As I recall, we have a courtship ritual planned, one involving food, wine, and letters.”
“Yes,” Iltani agreed. “I do believe we might have mentioned something about that.”
*****
When they reached his suites, Iltani had to wait for the servants to finish bringing food, but finally, over dinner, Ditanu pulled out his stack of letters and a large pitcher of wine.
They read each other’s letters over a number of hours that involved laughter, tears, and a few lingering caresses which lead to other longer interruptions.
“Were you really going tie Burrukan up somewhere and kidnap me?”
“I had had a touch too much to drink one night after Burrukan had returned to Nineveh to report on your progress. I sobered up by morning, but I had still wanted to return my mate to my side. Alas, I realized Burrukan was doing his best to protect us.”
“Mates? What? Wait, but that was before the Sacred Marriage.”
“Yes.”
Iltani felt her mouth form an ‘o’ of surprise, but then her brain kicked in. “But how?”
“After the Sacred Marriage, I would think you’d know enough about how a male fits together with a female….”
Iltani smacked him on his shoulder, holding nothing back.
“Ouch!” Ditanu said on a laugh, and then, once he got himself under control, “It happened on the night of my coronation. Honestly, I’m not sure which of us passed out first, but the act proceeded far enough to form our mating bonds. You were my mate from that moment on, and I haven’t regretted it for a moment.”
Iltani was still speechless. Why hadn’t he told her this from the beginning? Finally, she managed, “Why all the deception if I have been your mate all along?”
“Because, Burrukan was correct in one thing. We were both too young to
deal with the dangers of court. You were still years away from coming into your power as Ishtar’s Blade. It would have been easy for our enemies to end the line of the gryphon kings. I was the last. All they had to do was learn we were mates and kill one of us. I would not have survived your death.”
Iltani swallowed hard. “I…I knew I was supposed to start my training the day after your coronation, and I convinced myself that I was trying to protect you from getting betrothed to some harpy who liked your throne better than the man who sat upon it. Now I realize it was also because I couldn’t face leaving you without making my feelings for you known.” Iltani felt another of those horrible blushes burn up her cheeks and halfway down her chest. “I’d had too much wine at your coronation, and came up with the foolish plan that I would show you I was a woman, no longer a child. That I could fulfil your every need. But, deep down, I think I feared losing you to another while I was away training and wanted to stake my claim.”
“Oh, I had been noticing you had grown into a woman. I was a very headstrong young male entering his prime. Trust me, my beautiful Iltani, I had stopped thinking of you as a child a few years earlier. But even then, I think I knew it would be wrong to act on it. As Burrukan has said on more than one occasion, I have a very powerful personality and tend to bend others to my will.”
“But that’s not what happened that night at all,” Iltani said, as the need to finally confess became overwhelming. “I’d planned it all out days before. After the coronation I led you back to your room, saying I couldn’t sleep, that I was having nightmares at the thought of leaving you and that I just wanted to spend a few more hours with you. When you agreed, I put on the flimsiest nightdress I could find and intentionally placed the wine in front of the fire to warm so I could stand in front of that damned fire every chance I got. I hoped if I flaunted my body and plied you with wine, you’d get drunk enough to finally take me to your bed.”
Ditanu coughed into his hand. He was laughing at her. “You were keeping pace with me in regards to the wine, only I had greater body mass. You got drunk faster. I think even then I would have done the noble thing and tucked you in bed, alone, had you not then shimmied out of that flimsy bit of cloth you called a nightdress. Once you came to me and started removing my robe, my noble intentions vanished or were drowned by a heady mix of wine and your innocent seduction. We became mates that night. I truly don’t actually like the taste of wine or any alcoholic drink, but I must say I hold a fondness for it in my heart all the same. It’s why I drink it—to remember wonderful memories of you. Besides, you seemed to come to my bed when I’m half drunk. You even called me adorable once.”
Iltani started to laugh. “Oh, by the great Queen of the Night, I seduced the king of the gryphons! Isn’t that a treasonous act?”
“It’s only treason if it goes against my will.” He reached across the table and cupped her cheek. “I imagine Ishtar was proud when her Blade claimed her king. Nothing you did that night, or any night since has ever been something I did not want.”
“I understand why you would hide this knowledge from others, but why keep this from me?”
“When Burrukan found us in the night, he was livid and tossed a bucket of cold water in my face to sober me up. He then told me that I had just put you at risk if my enemies ever figured out that my Little Shadow was, in fact, my consort. By the pre-dawn light, when the fires in my blood had cooled somewhat, I realized there was truth in Burrukan’s words, but that’s not why I allowed him to separated us.”
Ditanu pulled Iltani to him. She went willingly and rested her ear against his chest. When he continued, his voice was a deep rumble.
“Burrukan asked if I knew why you gave yourself to me. I told him we were in love, had been for years.” Ditanu sighed. “At which point, he said how could I know if you did it out of love for me, or perceived it as some kind of duty—even if you weren’t aware of it on a conscious level, for you would do anything for me, be anything for me, even if it might not aligne with your personal wishes or desires naturally. You would still fill whatever needs I might have. I think he was correct, too.” Ditanu started to chuckle. “When Burrukan said I dominated and overshadowed you all your life, I realized you might love your king out of some sense of duty, but I did not know if you loved Ditanu the man.”
He reached out and ran his thumb across her lips. “That’s why I did not tell you we were mates, even after we performed the Sacred Marriage. I needed to know—I still need to know. Do you love Ditanu the man?”
“Is that all?” Iltani laughed. “I loved Ditanu the boy long before he was either man or king. And, yes, I’ve grown to love both the man and king equally now.”
Ditanu kissed the top of her head. “I had to ask, to be certain.”
Iltani poked him in the side. “Well?”
She waited and pretended to take offense.
“Well, what?” he asked with humor.
Huffing, Iltani smacked him on the shoulder again. “Say it back to me. Or I’m going to have to beat it out of you. In the last days of my training, my skills were enough to defeat Burrukan in battle—I’m sure I could take you.”
Again he laughed, a sound so full of delight it brought tears to her eyes.
“I think I’ll withhold the words just to make you try,” he purred. “I think I might enjoy being ‘taken’ by you.”
She huffed with greater indignity, but her eyes drank in his form and desire flared to life within her at the thought of attempting to ‘take’ him as he implied.
He tilted her chin up to look her in the eyes. “You have had my heart forever. I’ve loved you before I even knew there was a way to physically express that love. You are my greatest love, the Queen of my Heart.”
Her heart did that little lurch and her stomach answered with its familiar little flip and she leaned closer and took command of his lips. After a time, she broke away to breathe. “That’s better. I’ve only been waiting all my life to hear it.”
Ditanu grinned and claimed a kiss and then opened the next letter in their stack and started reading it out loud. Iltani decided this would be a lifelong tradition, this writing and reading of love letters.
THE END
Thank you for reading Ishtar’s Blade.
If you enjoyed this world, there’s a good chance you’ll also like Betrayal’s Price
It’s another Sword and Sorcery Fantasy Romance tale about
a warrior-scout and her phoenix prince.
Read on for a free sample:
Ashayna shivered at the slow trickle of moisture down her back. The day had dawned unusually humid for so early in the spring. Still, her discomfort had little to do with the heat and everything to do with the stomach-souring dread currently tying her in knots.
Glancing down at the tracks she’d been following since dawn, Ashayna frowned. Her anxiety spiraled up another notch as an unseen force guided her mare around a pile of deadfall, taking the same path as the tracks. Lupwyns had increased their raiding in recent days, and she’d seen similar sights on other scouting missions. At first glance, this set of prints was ordinary enough, but it didn’t explain why she couldn’t set one foot in any direction but forward.
Lord-Master Trensler and his acolytes would be quick to label what forced her onward as ‘demonic magic’—the darkest of evils. If she had to call it something, she preferred the name ‘sentience.’ It was somewhat less dire than calling herself demon possessed. A chill swept down her spine at the thought. Naming it didn’t help her out of her current predicament, nor did it explain how she’d become possessed in the first place, or why the sentience was so interested in this particular lupwyn’s tracks.
Time to test fate again. Her stomach twisted as she exerted her will against the sentience and reined in Swiftrunner. Her mare halted with a questioning flick of one ear. Ashayna sought a calm place in her mind while she waited. It didn’t take long for the reaction she had come to anticipate.
Spreading out like ri
pples on a pond, waves of hot and cold washed over her, flowing down her arms all the way to her fingertips while other tendrils reached out for the rest of her body. Power. Magic. Heresy. It wouldn’t be long before iron bands of pressure forced her into obedience like it had the last four times she’d stopped or turned away from the tracks.
“Fine. You want me to follow these damned tracks?” Ashayna challenged the sentience. “I’ll follow them.” With a huff she dismounted and glared at the prints. “But my horse isn’t going to become some lupwyn’s evening meal.”
She started up the trail, one slow step at a time. With each one, the sentience loosened its hold by small degrees, much like a snake uncoiling from its lifeless kill. A shaky breath escaped her. “I am a Stonemantle. I am not afraid of you—whatever you are. I. Am. Not. Afraid.” She wasn’t certain if she believed herself, and doubted the sentience believed her either.
Pressing the heel of her palm against her forehead, she tried to stave off the beginnings of a headache left over from the rapid departure of so much power. It probably wouldn’t work, but at least the sentience was content. For now.
Ignoring the grasping fingers of the wind, she pushed errant strands of hair back from her face. Much like the wind, the sentience was unpredictable and dangerous–and just as persistent.
Ahead, the prints veered off the path, sloping towards where she could hear the soft rumble of a stream. A hemlock’s expansive branches obscured her view. With a muttered curse, she ducked under the wet foliage. The stench of rotting vegetation rose up to swirl through her nostrils. Prickles of anger danced along her control when her feet slipped from beneath her and she slid to an ungraceful heap next to the water’s edge.
The sensation of being herded hadn’t ebbed completely. She gritted her teeth, wanting to strike out at something, tired of feeling helpless. But fighting, yelling, or sobbing wouldn’t do her a lick of good. Answers were what she needed most, and the only way to get those was to continue on the path the sentience chose. She flexed her fingers to stop their shaking. She just hoped her own personal curse didn’t get her killed by a lupwyn. Or worse, burned alive. A shudder raced over her at the thought of the punishment awaiting her at the hands of her own people, should her demonic possession be revealed—maybe it would be better to be a lupwyn’s dinner after all.
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