But Ellina wasn’t ready to go just yet—and she certainly wasn’t going to be dismissed by Kikbax. Stepping closer to the golden balustrade, she lifted both arms and spoke loudly to her people.
She wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say, but looking down at the sea of faces—the faces of people she was now responsible for ruling and protecting—she felt words bubbling up from somewhere deep inside and she simply let them out.
“My people,” she cried and the crowd first roared and then quieted when Ellina waved her hands for silence.
Ellina felt a rush of triumph. It was a heady feeling, being able to silence so many with just a gesture but she wasn’t there to lord over her people, but to reassure them.
“For many years you have been ruled wisely and well by my grandmother, Y’res the Third,” Ellina said, her voice rising to be carried throughout the cavern. The excellent acoustics meant that even those standing in the far back, whose faces she couldn’t even see, would be able to hear her clearly.
They cheered again and quieted when she waved them silent.
“I do not have my grandmother’s years of experience,” Ellina continued. “But I do have her love for you, my people. Today I ask Thufar, who watches over us all, to guide me and give me wisdom to rule you well and bring our world peace and prosperity. I vow to you now, each of you is in my heart and I will think of you before I make any and every decision which must affect us all.”
The response to this was deafening and Ellina could see the common folk throwing their caps into the air as they cheered her impromptu speech.
In the balcony below, where the nobles were seated, she heard a different response. Uneasy murmuring broken by a few sarcastic, scoffing comments.
“Listen to them cheer—if only they could see her up close.”
“They think she’s serious, don’t they? As if anyone could care for such low individuals.”
Clearly the nobles doubted her sincerity—or perhaps just her ability to rule. Ellina tried not to notice them—or let their remarks on her appearance bother her. After all, it was only the same thing she’d been hearing since childhood, when she had gone to the Holy Mists with the other students in her class and had realized how very different she was from them.
“Very well, that is quite enough,” the High Priest snapped in her ear. He looked positively angry that she had dared to address the people—her people, Ellina thought, frowning.
“I am ready to go now,” she said with quiet dignity. But before she did, she raised her arms high once more, eliciting another rising tide of cheers and chants of, “Po-ten-tate! Po-ten-tate!” from the crowd below.
Only then did she turn to leave.
“That’s very good, my child. You did extremely well—the people love you,” Lor murmured faintly in her ear in her grandmother’s voice.
“Did you see me, Grandmamma?” she murmured back as Ty took his place in front of her and the other Kindred guards surrounded her, forming a tall barricade of muscular bodies between her and any possible threat.
“I watched you from a far window,” came the faint reply. “But I dare say the sound of the crowd cheering for you was heard all over the city. I must go now—we can speak more later.”
Lor stopped talking and Ellina frowned to herself. Had her grandmother sounded tired? Distracted? What was going on?
Not for the first time she wished she could see her dear Grandmamma in person, but of course, that was impossible. If the two of them were together, the risk to the kingdom was much too high.
With a sigh, she followed Ty back down the long, richly appointed hallway to her royal apartment. Her first public appearance had gone very well, she thought.
She just hoped she would still be alive to do the next one.
Seven
Ellina had done extremely well—there was no denying that. It was clear from the crowds cheering for her words, spoken in that clear, sweet voice of hers, as much as from the sour look on the High Priest’s face, that she was popular with the common people of Helios Beta.
Ty frowned when he pictured the slab-like cheeks and three angry eyes of Lord Kikbax as he watched the people cheer for Ellina. Clearly the High Priest didn’t really want to see his new Potentate succeed—but why?
Ty’s guess was that he wanted to control her somehow—to have power over her and in so doing, have power over the entire planet—and he didn’t like the fact that Ellina was resisting him. But how far was he willing to go to bend her to his will?
Had Kikbax been the one to put the strange substance in the wine that filled the Cup of Wisdom?
For there had certainly been something there. It hadn’t been a poison—Ty was sure of that—but it had been a foreign substance that didn’t belong in the wine. He had tasted it at once and his fangs had automatically produced an immediate antidote to counter its effects—whatever they might have been if he hadn’t neutralized it.
Ty had known the wine was safe, though he hadn’t been sure if any more of the strange impurity had been on the rim of the chalice, which was why he had instructed Ellina to place her lips exactly where his had been.
I need to get to the bottom of this before I go back to the Mother Ship, he thought as the phalanx of Kindred warriors marched up to the gilded panels of Ellina’s royal apartments and he stepped forward to open the door for her. I can’t allow any plot against her to succeed.
He wondered again, as he searched the apartment thoroughly, what had been in the wine. A mind control agent, perhaps? Or maybe something to make her sick without actually killing her—too sick to do her duties as Potentate. It would be extremely convenient for the High Priest if the new ruler of Helios Beta was too ill to get out of bed and needed him to rule in her place.
After making sure the royal apartments were safe, Ty gave the “all clear” and Ellina stepped into her living area as he closed the door on the rest of the guards. They knew to stay exactly where they were and not allow anyone admittance without his say-so first.
Ty liked the team Commander Sylvan had picked—they worked well as a unit and followed directions exactly. He hoped that the Chorkay guards he himself had selected and was currently having trained for Ellina’s personal protection would be as tight and reliable a unit.
“Whew…” The new Potentate threw herself down on one of the long, low couches covered in fine, silky golden fibers with a sigh of relief as the door shut. “That was intense,” she said, looking up at Ty. Her chewchie, Lor, sat up on her shoulder and chattered in agreement.
He nodded. “It certainly was—but I think it was a rousing success. Your speech after drinking from the cup was inspired—your people love you.”
“I hope you’re right. But I wasn’t saying what I did just to make them like me—I really meant it.” Ellina looked up at him earnestly. “You know?”
“I do.” Ty nodded and felt a surge of admiration for her. She might be young and inexperienced but it was clear she had a lot of heart and a love for her people that was lacking in many rulers and politicians in his experience.
She smiled at him, a bit shyly, he thought.
“Thank you for helping me with the Cup of Wisdom. I wasn’t strong enough to manage it on my own.” She winced and rubbed her slender wrists. “That thing is heavy.”
“Solid gold usually is,” Ty remarked and frowned. “The High Priest should have been the one to help you lift it, shouldn’t he?”
She nodded ruefully.
“Unfortunately, yes.” She shrugged. “He doesn’t like me very much, I don’t think. But then, he never paid attention to me until I ascended to the throne. Before that, I was just another one of the noble children. Just another palace brat running around, always underfoot.”
“Well, he owes you his respect now—you’re not a child any longer. You’re his Potentate—the Goddess in the Flesh,” Ty said firmly, still scowling.
“I may be all that, but Lord Kikbax’s skin is almost Sacred Blue and he has many yea
rs experience on me,” Ellina remarked with a sigh. “Though of course his hair is green and not Sacred Blue as mine is.”
“So?” Ty demanded “What does the color of his skin and hair have to do with anything?”
“The Sacred Blue skin tone is what makes a Potentate fit to rule—it is what gives her the mandate of Thufar,” Ellina explained. “If Lord Kikbax had been born female instead of male, his skin tone would certainly have put him into the running for the crown.”
She touched the thin golden crown that encircled her temples. Ty knew her styling team had wanted her to wear the heavier, more elaborate one which currently rested on a velvet cushion on her dressing table. But Ellina had complained that it seemed too formal and besides, it pinched her temples and gave her a headache.
“Well, Kikbax is not in the running and he needs to stop acting like he is,” Ty growled. “I don’t like that slimy bastard. He must learn to treat you with more respect.”
“Good luck with that.” Ellina said and shook her head. “To Kikbax I’ll never be anything but a little freak.”
Which made no sense to Ty but before he could ask what she meant by it, she asked him a question of her own.
“What did you mean about the wine in the Cup of Wisdom?” she asked, sitting up straighter on the couch and looking at him. “When I asked if it was poisoned, you said it was safe ‘now.’ What did that mean?”
Ty sighed heavily and frowned. He didn’t want to frighten her, especially knowing that she was already afraid of being poisoned. But she had the right to know the truth.
“It means that I neutralized the substance someone had put in the wine,” he said at last.”
“Neutralized it? How? And what was it?” she demanded, sitting up straighter as all three of her lovely blue eyes widened.
“It wasn’t poison,” Ty hastened to assure her. “I don’t know what it was, but it wouldn’t have killed you—I could tell that much.”
“How?” she demanded. “Do you have some kind of special training that allows you to detect harmful substances? Or is it just a special Kindred trait?”
“You could say that.” Ty gave a humorless laugh. But by the serious look on her face, he could tell she wasn’t going to be put off with half answers. “I was…bred to be able to detect poisons,” he said, trying to think best how to explain it. “It’s not a Kindred trait, normally, but I’m able to tell if something has been tampered with and to neutralize any foreign substance in food or drink.”
“How, though?” Ellina insisted. She was leaning forward, looking up at him with great interest.
“With these.” He opened his mouth, displaying the set of short, blunt fangs where a human’s canine teeth would be.
Ellina frowned, her eyes narrowing. “Are those…fangs?”
Ty nodded. “In Blood Kindred these are used for injecting essence—an agent which can heal the Kindred’s mate and also bonds her to him when he bites her. But I am a Modified Kindred—my fangs can also detect poison. And the essence they secrete neutralizes it automatically and thoroughly upon contact.”
“That’s amazing,” Ellina breathed. “Can…could I touch them?” she asked softly.
Ty considered her request for a long moment. He was reluctant to allow this intimacy—not because he didn’t want to let her touch him but because he did want to—very much. Even now he could feel himself wishing to submit, to give the curvy little female complete access to his body—which should not have been the case.
I’m too eager for her touch, he thought, not liking the feeling. Too willing to give myself completely.
But that was foolish, wasn’t it? He shouldn’t make more of his body’s reaction to a beautiful woman than it was.
“Or…perhaps you’d rather I didn’t,” Ellina said and he could hear the note of uncertainty—the formality returning to her voice. “Forgive me—it was an improper request.”
“No,” he said. “No, I’m here to protect you and I use my fangs to do that—they’re just another tool or weapon in my arsenal. You have a right to see and touch what keeps you safe.”
It was the same as though she’d asked to touch the hilt of his blaster, he told himself. Or the transparent, lightweight expanding shield that grew from his left forearm at the touch of a button hidden deep in his flesh.
Only it wasn’t like that at all. Not really.
Still, he settled himself on the couch beside her and tipped his head back, watching her from the corner of his eye. It would be like a visit to the dentist, he told himself as he opened his mouth to allow her access to his fangs, which were throbbing for some reason.
Only it wasn’t like that either, and he knew it.
“Hmm…” Ellina hummed with interest as she leaned over him, her long, wavy blue hair falling like a sweetly scented curtain around his face. She cupped his cheek in her soft little hand and looked down at him searchingly, as though she was trying to discern his true motive.
Ty wished he knew it himself. Why was he putting himself in such a vulnerable position? Why was he giving her such intimate access to his body when he had strenuously avoided allowing any other woman to touch him in this way?
You’re making too much of this, he told himself firmly. She asked to see your fangs, not stroke your shaft, you idiot! Be still and relax.
But the thought of those slim, blue fingers—the ones that felt so soft against his cheek—wrapped around his aching shaft, only made matters worse. Ty found himself holding his breath as she reached in with one curious finger to explore his fangs.
“Oh—they’re very long and sharp, aren’t they?” she murmured, as she slid the tip of her index finger down the length of his right fang, which ached and throbbed under her light touch. “I wonder how I never noticed them before?”
Ty frowned and closed his mouth, giving her finger an involuntary kiss as he did.
“They’re not supposed to be,” he said, sitting up, which made him feel considerably less vulnerable. “A Kindred’s fangs aren’t supposed to get sharp unless—” He broke off abruptly, clearing his throat.
“Unless what?” Her eyes were wide with interest.
“Unless…unless the circumstances are exactly right.” Ty cleared his throat again. Actually, A Blood Kindred’s fangs never got sharp until he met the female he wanted to bond to him. But that was ridiculous—it wasn’t as though he could bond with Ellina. She was royalty and he was an off-worlder commoner, as the High Priest has been quick to point out. Plus, he had sworn never to bond with any female and never to give his heart, due to his genetic vulnerabilities.
It’s not as if I’m fully a Blood Kindred, anyway, he comforted himself, a bit uneasily. My fangs probably react differently than a full-blooded Blood Kindred’s would—that’s all.
“So this essence you produce—it comes from your fangs?” Ellina asked, breaking his train of thought.
Ty nodded.
“As I said, the presence of poison causes my fangs to automatically produce it.”
“So I suppose it gives you immunity to any kind of poison as well as to the person you’re guarding,” she said thoughtfully.
Ty nodded again.
“I never need to fear any kind of poison or venom. I could ingest even the deadliest substance and it would have no effect on me.”
Ellina looked at him enviously.
“That must be nice! I wish I could gain such immunity.”
Her words gave Ty a sudden thought but before he could speak it, she looked up at the elaborate gold timepiece affixed to the wall and sighed.
“Well, as tired as I am, it’s almost time to get ready for the banquet tonight. I suppose my styling team will be here soon.”
As if on cue there was a knock on the door and Commander Zerek, the leader of the Kindred guards, stuck his head in and said, “Excuse me, Commander Ty’rial, but the Potentate’s style team are here to get her ready for the banquet tonight.”
“Very well, let them in.” Ty nodded and watc
hed as a gaggle of gossipy Chorkay women with skin tones that ranged from bluish-lavender to bright turquoise entered the room with baskets of styling products over their arms.
In retrospect, he was glad he had been interrupted before he could speak of his idea. It wasn’t really proper and no doubt it was better left unspoken.
Eight
The banquet was as long and tiresome as such events always were. Ellina had been attending them occasionally for the past few years, getting ready to step into her grandmother’s place, and she thought they were one of the worst parts of ruling.
Tonight was duller than most, with noble after noble rising from his or her chair to toast her health and offer insincere congratulations on her ascent to the throne and disingenuous wishes for her continued health and happiness. All of them had fake smiles plastered across their faces—many of them were the same people who had teased her when she was little and called her “freak” and “mutant.” Their chewchies danced and screeched self-importantly on the tops of their heads while they mouthed their empty platitudes.
They didn’t mean a word they said about wishing her happiness and health and Ellina knew it. She wondered how Grandmamma had stood it for so many years—all the horrible, dull hypocrisy of palace life. How had she sat at the head of the vast banqueting table night after night and nodded and smiled and pretended to like the people on either side of her when she could barely stand the sight of any one of them…
But finally the speeches were over and the servants began carrying around the trays of food. They served over each guest’s left shoulder, as was proper, but when the servers came to Ellina, Ty stopped them.
“I will be serving my Lady tonight,” he informed each server. And, using the golden tongs and utensils as skillfully as any of the trained servants, he proceeded to dish out her meal.
For once, Ellina began to enjoy herself—mainly because she actually got to pick her food this time, which had never happened before. It wasn’t considered proper to refuse a dish or ask for more of anything, so she simply had to take what was given to her.
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