Crucible of Fate

by Mary Calmes

  Sometimes I missed things, but other times I had to go with my gut. I had thought, no matter what, that Shahid didn’t hate me, and lo and behold, I was right. He was protecting people I didn’t even know belonged to him.

  “You cannot!” Elham El Masry roared.

  “He can do as he pleases,” the priest spoke before I could. “He is the semel-aten.”

  I had never imagined hearing thousands of voices roaring my name at the same time. “Domin Thorne” sounded like thunder in the arena.

  When I noticed Elham, I saw him think about striking Shahid, the panther who had failed him only because there was no cat in the world faster than Jin Church. But then Jamal Hassan was there, the phocal of the priest, leader of the Shu, to step between the two men and deliver his threat.

  “As the semel-aten has demanded, I expect this man’s family here in no less than three days, and should any of them be harmed in any way, the Shu will come for your head.”

  It was never to be forgotten that while the Shu protected me, they were also assassins, the deadliest in the werepanther world.

  “I told you.” Crane smirked, and I flicked my eyes to his. “I always have an answer.”

  It took every shred of self-control I possessed not to walk over and throttle him. Instead, I patted Koren’s hand before rising and walking over to Jin.

  He was beautiful. I had noticed that the first time I ever laid eyes on him. From the blue-black hair that fell glossy and straight to the middle of his back, the large almond-shaped gray eyes, and his delicate, sharply angled features, he was simply breathtaking. But what made him exquisite to me, to everyone who knew him, was his heart. Jin was the embodiment of the reah—he nurtured, he counseled, and he stood devotedly beside his mate.

  He could also be absolutely terrifying.

  “My lord.” Jin bowed low, and I reached under his chin and lifted his gorgeous gaze to me. His eyes were so much like liquid jewels that sometimes, for a moment, I became lost in them.

  “He went to you when he should have come to me, talked to me.”

  Jin straightened and took a breath. “Yes. I made it clear that it was wrong. I yelled at him.”

  But even though he’d admonished Crane, telling him that it was indeed wrong, Jin had done his bidding in a heartbeat anyway. I wondered for a moment what that must feel like, that safety net, to know that the most powerful werepanther in the world would cross an ocean to stand at your side.

  “I, too, was a maahes,” I said softly but seriously. “And I never let my semel sweat, no matter how much I wanted to prove a point.”

  Jin’s power rose, and I felt it reach out, curl around me like a cat, rub against my skin, roll through me with a gentle vibration before it receded and there was only Jin once more. The reason was easy to understand.

  Yes, he was agreeing with me, and yes, Crane had been wrong, but still, deep down, Crane was first Jin’s beset, the companion of a reah, and I was taking him to task. Even more so, I had allowed Crane to be placed in danger.

  “Jin—”

  “I made a mistake,” he confessed, and there was a slight blush to his cheeks.

  We had both made one where Crane Adams was concerned.

  Wheeling around, I had the Shu arrest both Elham El Masry and Rahab Bahur. As they were led away, the cheers became deafening.

  RAHAB BAHUR wanted to kill me. It was there in his eyes though he gave no voice to it. He trembled with fury. To his right, shackled to a bar, stood Elham El Masry.

  “We beg mercy for them, my lord,” the priest of Chae Rophon had the balls to say to me.

  The sheseru, sylvan, and maahes of the tribe of Wepwawet were all there on their knees in front of me. Elham had no one to stand for him since his tribe was his brother’s old tribe, which was now mine. Anyone who had planned to challenge me had backed down once the surefire solution had been annihilated in front of everyone. To those who were not there, everywhere else in the world, it would be reported that the maahes of the semel-aten had easily dealt with a challenge to his seat. Had Crane lost, had anyone but Jin been in the pit for him, for me, it would have meant a coup. Not within a day or a week, but surely within the month, I would have been dead. My reign would have come to an end. I would have been overthrown, and a new semel-aten would have been crowned. As it was, as events had transpired, my position of power had been upheld, and really, another attempt was unlikely. This had been their best chance; they had been so certain that they had tipped their hand at sedition. It had been a mistake.

  Everyone waited hours for me. I sequestered myself in my quarters, in what I called my office but was honestly a large receiving room. Had Yuri been there, I would not have had to make calls. As he was not, there was only one place to go for counsel.

  “Hello?”

  She sounded good even on the satellite phone. “Delphine.”

  “Domin.” She sighed and then squeaked. “Oh no, I mean, my lord—I mean—”

  “Please just let me be Domin,” I directed her. “Please.”

  I heard a soft chuckle from her, then, “Yes.”

  “May I speak to Logan?”

  “Oh Domin, I’m so sorry but we’re frantic here and it’s the middle of the night and—”

  “Please.”

  Silence and then muffled voices and sounds before Logan answered with his usual charm. “What the hell do you want?”

  I grunted. “I have your mate, semel-netjer.”

  Long silence, and I knew, because I’d grown up with the man, that Logan Church was calming himself down before he said another word. It took a lot to get an explosion out of him.

  “I’m sorry?” he rasped.

  “You heard me. Crane needed Jin, he called Jin, and Jin came, because we both know he honest to God thinks that you don’t need him there right now.”

  Deep breath. “I’m going to choke him to death with my bare hands.”

  “Are you?”

  “I swear to God, yes,” he muttered irritably.

  “Will that be before or after you fall down at his feet and worship him?”

  He growled. “I don’t worship my—”

  “Yes, you do. We all do. He’s like some Egyptian god made real. For all we know, the stories about the gods are instances of sightings of werepanthers. Jin is the only link to our divinity, and even more so… he’s your mate, my friend. He’s the other half of you.”

  “The other half of me is being ridiculous.”

  “But that’s because he has no clue about true parent/child relationships. Jin actually believes that there can only be one primary love; he doesn’t know that nothing changes between you and he. He doesn’t get that you can add your son to your heart and how you feel about him doesn’t diminish in the slightest.” He started chuckling, and I was annoyed because I thought mine had been a very sage observation. “Fuck you, Logan.”

  “Jin knows all about the love between a parent and a child, Domin. He’s just got his feelings hurt because, like you said, he thinks I don’t need him here right now. He thinks that my son and I are fine.”

  “And are you?”

  “What do you think?” he snarled. “My mate should be in my bed every night. I can’t be me if he’s not right here.”

  “What about your son?”

  “My son is now past the imprinting stage and needs to feel a power greater than his own to soothe him, to basically make him.”

  “Make him do what?”

  “Submit. He’s an infant, his power rises, and he knows that whoever is holding him is weaker. He pulled Markel through his shift yesterday.”

  I was stunned. “You’re serious?”

  “Very.”

  That was terrifying. “Markel was my sheseru.”

  “I know.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I guess I’ll get on a plane and come fetch my reah and the beset of my reah.”

  There was no way to hold back the huff. “And if I will not release Crane Adams
?”

  “You will. You must.”

  He couldn’t just be allowed to tell me what—

  “Please, Domin,” he sighed. “I can’t be the only one to talk sense into my reah. Jin only actually listens to me and Crane. That’s it, on the whole damn planet.”

  “Come claim your mate and his annoying friend,” I said, using Logan’s own term of endearment for Crane. “I want them both out of my home, semel-netjer.”

  “Thank you, my semel.”

  “Knock it off.” I couldn’t help smiling, I felt too good. “You know, you can just stay there. I swear I’ll send them both home as soon as—”

  “I need him now,” Logan said, and his voice was deep and dark. He was being strong, it was how he was, but Jin’s absence was already wearing. I understood, finally, what that was like.

  “Then I’ll expect you.”

  “Yes.”

  “Should I tell him you’re coming?”

  “He knows.”

  I hung up without a good-bye because it was our way. No endearments went back and forth between us.

  After I talked to Logan, I called Orso Bataar, semel of the tribe of Khertet, in Mongolia. He was very pleased to hear from me, and I was glad since I was asking him for a favor.

  When I finally emerged from my room, everyone was still waiting, clustered in the main hall, every semel and his retinue visiting at the time, along with as many as could push and shove themselves within the walls. It was standing room only; I was the only one who took a seat, there on my throne.

  “I will now pass sentence,” I shared with the crowd, my voice, because of the acoustics, carrying to every corner.

  The silence was thundering.

  “I have been called an infidel more times than I can count,” I declared to the assembled throng. “And now I will finally act like it.”

  Not a sound anywhere.

  I glanced at Jin, who stood beside Crane; at Mikhail, holding hands with Samani; at the priest, sneering at me from where he stood beside my prisoners; and over at Taj as he stood with Jamal and the rest of the members of the Shu flanking him.

  “I hereby banish Elham El Masry and Rahab Bahur to the tribe of Khertet, there to become khatyu of Orso Bataar. May they be blessed by Ra in their new life.”

  There were gasps and whispers, shock and outrage as Rahab’s sheseru and sylvan surged to their feet. His sylvan was able to find his voice first. “My lord, you cannot believe that we will allow such a—”

  “You will allow it,” I said as I stood up. “Or I will take them to the pit now, one after the other, and have my sheseru remove their heads. The choice is yours.”

  “But, my lord—”

  “They are traitors to my rule,” I professed. “I am the semel-aten, whether any of you like it or not. The Shu answer to me, you all… answer… to me. I will not have treason. By the law, I can kill them both outright. In Mongolia, they have a chance to rebuild their lives, start fresh. If they choose not to do this, if anyone attempts to interfere while they are in transit or once they are there, they will be killed at once. This is my mandate and has been agreed to by Orso Bataar.”

  “My lord—”

  “You are the sylvan of the tribe of Wepwawet, are you not?”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Who is the heir to your semel?”

  He seemed on the verge of hyperventilating. “His brother, Zaki.”

  “Send word to him that he is now semel of the tribe of Wepwawet.”

  “But, my lord, you—”

  “You think I don’t know all about your tribe?” I asked him pointedly. “Maybe it’s time that your gang finally became one.”

  “One what, my lord?”

  “A true tribe.”

  He was shaking. “You know nothing of—”

  “I know all about the difference between a mob and tribe, between which one gives and which one only takes. I was the semel of a tribe once that was just like that.”

  It should have been strange for me to have every eye on me, everyone silent and staring. But somewhere in the past six months, I had gotten used to it.

  “Perhaps Zaki Bahur can achieve what his brother could not.”

  The sheseru and the sylvan of the tribe of Wepwawet both waited.

  “I know that your tribe prides itself on money and power, but you must understand, that’s the world of men,” I said softly, letting my words sink into them. “And I know that we all have to live in that world, but for us there’s more. There’s always the tribe, always our family. We’re talking about that—about you as panthers, about the law and your semel. We’re speaking of your semel and Elham El Masry thinking that they were both above the law, that they would be judged as men and not as panthers and as members of the whole.”

  That was the real point and what so many people missed.

  “The judgment of the semel-aten will always be about what is best for the panther, not necessarily what is best for the man.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  It wasn’t what they wanted to hear, but it least it made sense. I wasn’t some insane, power-mad despot; I was a semel disciplining the members of his tribe. There was a cause and effect to the panther world that was absolute, and people had just been reminded.

  “I will expect Zaki Bahur to stand before me and swear his fealty within a month. Do you hear me, sheseru? Do you hear me, sylvan?”

  “Yes, my lord,” they echoed.

  When I checked, I saw how wild Rahab Bahur appeared. His eyes, which had been murderous and seething with hate, now projected terror. And it was all because I was making sense. His people understood—they would not try and free him. He had gambled and lost, and it was time to pay up. Just as in nature, when the leader was challenged, the defeated challenger was banished.

  Jamal came forward to take control of the prisoners, but before he could issue orders, I stopped him.

  “Give the job to Shahid,” I said, tipping my head toward the man who had been blackmailed into the nefarious plot to overthrow me. “He will see it done.”

  Shahid’s gaze met mine a moment before he bent at the waist. “Thank you for your faith, my lord. I will never disappoint.”

  “I know. And when your wife and child arrive, my sheseru, Taj Chalthoum, will receive them and protect them until your return.”

  Taj hadn’t known he was on guard duty, but he moved forward fast, put his hand over his heart, and promised Shahid that he would slaughter anyone who dared hurt them.

  The relief, the appreciation, the swell of emotion visibly rushed over Shahid, and he could only nod, clearly overcome.

  “Go,” I commanded.

  He pivoted, signaled the other members of the Shu, and they took the two men out, the crowd quickly parting for them.

  “And as for you,” I said, stopping Kovo before he could say a word. “I wanted Jamal here, since I am naming him as heir to my throne, heir to be semel-aten.”

  No amount of me standing there with lifted hands was going to shut everybody up. I sat down instead, as Taj called for the heralds.

  As a rule, the horns gave me a headache, but there were times when I understood why we had them.

  Jin walked to the side of my throne and bent down next to my ear.

  “Yes, my reah?”

  His eyes gleamed with worry. “Have you spoken to Logan?”

  “I have.”

  “And?”

  “You think Logan and your son don’t need you,” I said bluntly, turning my head so I could stare into his gorgeous dark-gray eyes. “You needed to be away, and Crane’s crisis gave you the reason. You ran without notifying Logan, and now you’re here.”

  He straightened up abruptly, ready to step away from me.

  I grabbed hold of his wrist, keeping him close.

  “Let go.”

  “Logan was where, at a gathering?”

  “Yes.”

  “You didn’t want to go?”

  Jin cleared his throat. “I’m n
ot allowed to attend gatherings anymore. Yusuke went with him.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Really? You think your maahen can take your place at his side?”

  He was silent.

  “Or Danny? If Logan’s sylvan went with him as well, perhaps your cousin can be switched out for you?”

  He tugged, but I was stronger. In his nekhene form, Jin could eviscerate me. If he released his power, he might even be able to make me shift.

  Maybe.

  I had felt it before and withstood it, but it had never been directed fully at me.

  “Don’t raise your power, you brat,” I said under my breath.

  His gaze flicked to mine then, and his eyes were all pupil. I was seeing a wild thing, unstable because his mate was not with him.

  “You are the only nekhene cat in the world, and your mate and your son need you desperately.”

  “So you say,” he said, and then his eyelids fluttered and I was once again, that quickly, in the presence of a reah. The difference was like night and day—he could be feral one moment and the epitome of hearth and home the next. I had no idea how Logan rode that wave on a daily basis. My own mate was simply the one who wanted to keep me and love me and be my sanctuary.

  “You miss Yuri.”

  I didn’t answer as he straightened up and smiled down at me.

  “Don’t deny it, I see it all over your face, feel it beating between us.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “What’s Koren doing here?”

  “I thought he must have come with you.” I was indignant as the sound of horns filled the hall, and the silence that came afterward was instantaneous.

  All eyes trained back on me as I stood once more, walked to the edge of the dais, and stared down at the priest, who started to object.

  “You have lost your reason if you think I would allow a man not—”

  “Silence!” I said, my voice rolling through the room. “I make the decision. Only me. You have no say, as you are no more divine than I am. And if you like, I can separate your head from your body and show everyone the color of your blood.”