Empress Hiding

  He was already moving toward the door when the actual ground itself rumbled and then quaked. The walls and windows shaking and trembling in response.

  And Rafal felt his skin begin to ripple with burning sensations.

  “Another terrorist attack?” Hondo was beside him, weapon drawn, with Guy at the ready.

  But before Rafal could answer, and before any of them could react in any sort of coherent manner, a deafening roar filled the air and snaked itself into Rafal’s insides – that could have only been one creature in this entire universe . …

  Rafal’s skin became its own entity as ten thousand needles danced and stamped upon it and the air he breathed was electrified with a multitude of charged particles that burned in his lungs.

  And an invisible spear of pain shot through his left shoulder.

  That roar was Runa.

  And his Chiyoto was hurt – he knew it without knowing it. And it did not matter how he knew that.

  Nor did he care.

  All that mattered was that he kahrolasi knew.

  Find our mate!

  And, as the explosion of a thousand window panes echoed through the house followed almost instantly by yet another ear-splitting roar and the crash and destruction of wood and metal, Rafal ran toward the mayem.

  “Hold on, shioliah!”

  Hondo and Guyanni close behind him.

  Chiyoto felt the pressure of the water around her as she plunged into the depths again.

  And she loved it!

  She could so get used to this private pool here in Capital City – it was not quite like the lake back on Haven, but it was also not as cold – she liked that probably most of all.

  As usual, her Runa was sulking about being in the water – it was definitely something that she enjoyed, not her altre. But with the food Eischen had brought for lunch, she felt as though she could swim forever.

  Your Prince’s blood was certainly a lovely change, my Treasure. We could both get used to …

  “I do not think it means the same to him, Runa. We have had this discussion, remember?”

  The dragoness snorted making the water pressure against Chiyoto’s ears vibrate – almost tickling her into a smile – Runa knew the depth of her Chiyoto’s feelings for the male.

  And, as before, we will have to agree to disagree. Your Sadid is most likely being over-protective of you like he seems to have a tendency to be.

  Chiyoto smiled at the thought of her Rafal’s protectiveness.

  And do not forget his possessiveness.

  How could she?

  “Too much of me hopes that you are right, Runa, but I am trying to be realistic. All those novels. All those magazines. They make it sound like the pull to couple is irresistible in the taking of nourishment. Perhaps we are simply not what Rafal wants in a female.”

  Chiyoto felt a large part of her being actually sag at that thought – he was so very much all she could ever want . …

  Runa sighed and laughed heartily as Chiyoto broke the surface.

  He feels so strongly for you, Treasure, that he behaves as though he owns y .. .

  The wave of fear and pain from Sila hit Chiyoto so hard she had to catch her breath.

  But before she even had the chance to wipe the water completely from her eyes upon surfacing, someone grabbed her hair and quickly raised her out of the water.

  Chiyoto saw three of the Black Guards closing around the water as pain seared through her as she called to Runa.

  “My Prince has wisely ordered,” the large knife cut a clean path through her upper shoulder as the male voice she recognized as Jaylis continued, “Your Green Trash cleaned from his …”

  It was the last words Jaylis would ever speak.

  Runa pulled Chiyoto to absence inside of her and pushed her dragoness-form fully into the present – the broken Keeper flung against the large boulder near the water’s edge – her roar sounding through the enclosure so loudly that the glass from the entire ceiling shattered with the force of the shockwave it created.

  The stench of the city filled Runa’s lungs as she quickly devoured Jaylis without so much as a second bite. So stunned at her appearance were the other Black Guards that their minute hesitation signed their immediate burn warrants as the brightly-colored energy she spewed – its color matching the overall magenta of her mane and her claws – engulfed their entire bodies.

  Their screams of agony as their flesh burned and the hides of their beasts boiled in the plasma and the magic the dragoness spat only served to fuel the bloodlust that had been borne of the apparently Prince-ordered ambush on her Chiyoto.

  Her Treasure.

  A Treasure that she could feel emotionally break apart and completely shut down inside of her – Chiyoto had heard Jaylis’ words.

  And Runa’s Treasure’s heart was breaking.

  No. It was shattering.

  Murdering Sadid.

  Runa roared again – this time in rage and self-indictment. Because she, too, had defended the pich even as her Chiyoto had wanted to pull away.

  No, you are not your sire, Sadid – you are far worse. You and your water demon with his godsfallen lullabies.

  “I feel Sila fading, Runa,” even in her pain, Chiyoto knew to take care of her faithful, “Please heal him.”

  Done, my Treasure.

  As Runa visibly cloaked herself and spread her bespelled translucent wings to rise and crash through the enclosure’s super-structure, she felt more than heard Chiyoto’s sobs – absorbed the pain into her already hardening heart.

  Now, I must heal you.

  “I do not wish it, Runa,” Chiyoto’s voice had turned cold. Dark. Even deadly. “I wish for it to heal naturally so that I will never forget the price of trusting a Crimson,” Runa heard the choked words that were lost in the heaving breath, “Of trusting Rafal.”

  They sailed silently and invisibly above the population toward a Temple that had fallen into disrepair as the Empire’s belief in an Empress and the heavenly realm from which she haled waned to almost nothing – Chiyoto’s pain coating Runa’s heart and will with a resolve that would not falter.

  But the blade may have been poison, my Treasure.

  Runa tried to gentle her rage that was nearly all-consuming.

  But such efforts were met with a heavy sigh and an acerbic laugh – a laugh Runa had never thought possible from her beautiful Chiyoto.

  “Then so be it,” a sniffle and then a frigidness of which Runa had heretofore thought her Chiyoto incapable, “I see now that you have been right all these years, my beautiful Runa.”

  Quiet. Oh so eerily quiet.

  About what?

  “Our birth makes no sense. The Empire would be better off without us – Mamere should have abstained from reproduction. The Crimson Raksasas will be free to demolish their own – at least our people will have found paradise.”

  Runa had no response – even a cry to the Makers would make no sense at this juncture.

  Because, as that unique chartreuse sprinkling in their mane could attest, Mamere had abstained.

  Yet here they were.

  So, instead of a cry to those Makers, the most powerful dragoness ever created made a silent vow that Rafal Sadid would die a very slow and painful death before she and her Chiyoto left Bohrea Cardinal.

  However they left it – spiritually or physically.

  Or both.

  Such was the least an enthroned Empress could do to repay the cowardly Crowned Prince for his devotion toward his beloved shioliah.

  Runa stifled another roar of anger as she imagined both Rafal and his water beast burning just like the other three guards had done moments before.

  Until her thoughts of vengeance were unexpectedly interrupted.

  A cry of her Treasure’s name in a voice that she blocked her
Treasure from hearing raced across the air – a cry that the soon-to-be enthroned Runa could almost feel penetrate beneath her own thick yet wind-buffeted scales. In answer, Runa swiftly and completely severed their ethereal ties to the murdering Prince as she promised the Makers she would deprive the bellowing future monarch of a once-shining Empire that should have never belonged to his ilk in the first place.

  Oh, yes, they would certainly finish this, vowed the powerful dragoness, but it would be on her terms – not some murdering Sadid’s.

  Chiyoto continued to whimper deep inside.

  Khitam felt the bear seethe within him – although he was not quite sure what had his beast on edge at the moment. They had just finished a long run – something that always placated the bear’s physical needs until Ferenti visited them – and were awaiting Jaylis’ check-in from Capital City. Yes, the check-in was a bit behind schedule, but Khitam tried to settle the pacing animal with the fact that they would soon have the treaty in hand, and he would let the bear personally thank Jaylis for his and his soldiers’ service when they arrived back for the Celebration.

  “In fact,” Khitam stroked himself as reassurance to the simmering beast, “You can have them all for your own recreation, my love.”

  Even such placation did not appease the beast this evening as Khitam had to fight against the bear’s push to be present. Khitam braced himself against the table top as he strained to keep the bear inside himself – the partial shifting between planes of existence bringing small rivulets of blood to the surface on the Khedive’s arms and on his legs and, to a lesser extent, on his scalp.

  While a roar of frustration – a mixture of both cognate and beast – filled the room.

  Must feast – must have …

  “You get kahrolasi nothing until I say!” Khitam bellowed as his limbs began to tremble against the onslaught from within.

  Will have our pet now …

  Drool began to trail from the Khedive’s mouth as his eyes rolled back in their sockets, but Khitam would not give in.

  “I will kahrolasi cancel his visit if you do. Not. Relent!”

  A beast-only, pain-filled cry answered the threat.

  But the push to be present stopped, and Khitam took a few moments to try to compose himself.

  The sedative will only work a while longer – each day brings you closer and closer to being mine to control. The bear’s frustration at being caged burned like a wildfire in Khitam’s head. Soon, the Empire will belong to me.

  Khitam’s eyes flew open wider than should have been possible – the veins in his neck distended with the growl that emanated only from the cognate as rage filled him.

  “I am the kahrolasi Khedive, you esholeshek!” Khitam picked up the large potted plant and threw it across the room such that it exploded against the wall. “You are a lowly” – drool and blood spatters accompanied the small lamp that hit the wall next as the Khedive continued to rant – “kahrolasi” – he stopped again to brace himself against the wall as the bear surged toward presence again, the surge pushing forth another mixed roar from them both – “ANIMAL!”

  The raucous caused an elder servant female to knock timidly and barely crack the door to look in on the Khedive.

  Just as soon as Khitam sensed another’s presence, he let go and let the bear rage forth at the female. Her reaction time could not match the attack lunge as the bear caught her head between its massive jaws, pulling her through the door and tossing her body across the floor. Before the hapless servant even had time to scream, the massive bear had pinned her rather rotund torso to the carpet and had begun ripping her clothes from her body.

  And her limbs from her torso.

  This as her olectif became present and began snorting and squealing – its usually docile yet bulky hooked claws finding the occasional score of fur-covered bear flesh.

  And Khitam breathed evenly and massaged himself through the entire ordeal – even as he heard the distant screams of the fading female cognate who would never again see presence.

  Would painfully cease to exist in this nothingness known only as absence.

  The crushing sound of the olectif’s entire neck and the bear’s feasting were the only sounds that resonated throughout the now silent chamber.

  As Khitam worried and seethed within the bear about the fact that Jaylis had still not communicated.

  “Our pet will be here soon, my beloved,” Khitam tried to stroke the great bear from within – felt it respond almost docilely, “And I concede your dominance.”

  The words almost hurt for Khitam’s tongue to say, but he knew they were what the beast needed to hear.

  To allow him, the cognate, access to the present again.

  The bear responded with a deep chuckle that vibrated the air around the Khedive.

  Not that you have a choice as I am here and you are not.

  Khitam growled his annoyance with the beast’s audacity, but a growl would be his only show of disagreement while in absence.

  And the beast knew it as it responded with its own more threatening growl.

  We would have our pet the entire night. Khitam felt the force of the beast’s choking presence weigh on him. It is the only way we will allow the sedative.

  Khitam smiled to himself as he felt the beast’s and his auras begin to mingle once again.

  “Yes, that would give us both some much needed relief.” Not even acknowledging the obvious threat in the bear’s final statement, Khitam warmed from within – the bear’s twisted desire mixing with his own as they both envisioned Ferenti splayed and restrained on their bed – his shentalingra’s submissive moans filling the air, “Allow my presence so that I may retrieve the bondage implements.”

  The bear growled lustfully as he allowed Khitam to present.

  Be sure to have his collar ready, too.

  Khitam was about to verbally respond when his olfactory was assaulted by the smell of green blood that permeated their chamber. The smell was so putrid and over-powering – the sight of the disemboweled olectif so gruesome – that the Khedive wretched physically while the beast only chuckled and heaved a sated growl.

  Dispose of the remaining parts – our pet will gladly clean the fluids in order to avoid being collared.

  Khitam smiled and nodded absently at his beast’s reasoning.

  For now.

  “Yes,” now it was Khitam’s turn to chortle in a very godsfallenly manner as he stuffed the small, clawed limbs and what was left of the head into a sealed disposable bag, “Even though he still will be.”

  HmmmmMmmmm. The bear almost seemed to drift away. Your Jaylis has not made contact.

  Khitam did not hear anything else the bear had to say as he flew into another mindless rage over the lack of response from his best insight into his deceitful and useless elder progeny’s house.

  “Soon Rafal and that kahrolasi beast of his will no longer be an impediment,” Khitam seethed, “And to whom should we award Hondo’s Provinces, my love, when he is crowned our new Prime Magistrate?”

  But the beast did not answer.

  After waiting only a short time for a response, Khitam simply shrugged – completely forgetting his momentary rage – and began to place the cuffs and manacles in what seemed to be the optimum locations around the bed.

  Wondering in his fading and disjointed mind about what he could have been so upset.

  And from where could all of that seemingly fresh green blood have come – Ferenti would definitely need to clean it up when he arrived.

  The great bear simply grunted in satisfaction deep within him.

  Kilgar sat in stunned silence – not that he had a choice about the silence, but he was certainly stunned as he read the words that continued to scroll across his screen. First, he did not hate anyone – his kahrolasi beast simply could not seem to stop growling at the most inopportun
e times.

  The beast growled threateningly again.

  I would cuff you upside the kahrolasi head if such were possible.

  See?! There it went again! What was with his beast … wait! Mysstree just said he, Kilgar, was hostile? When had he been hostile toward the tombul little …

  A growl and a swipe that Kilgar could swear he felt rip at his insides.

  They are kahrolasi perfect, ahmouk.

  As he winced in pain – unable to even grab his abdomen where the burning continued – Kilgar remained clueless as to the cause of his beast’s anger. And, speaking of clueless, he could not begin to fathom why Hyndaus would even say such things about him – she had always treated him so warm and almost like a mamé – something his real mamé had not done since he had turned twelve cycles, and it had become very apparent that he was not ‘brilliant courtier material.’

  How could the gentle old female say that he tried to prove himself through –

  Because you DO. All. The kahrolasi. Time.

  Kilgar growled at his obviously still unstable beast. He did not have anything to prove! We are simply the best –

  The only time we truly act as our true selves is when we are alone with your Hondo, and, to a lesser extent, with Balstir.

  Kilgar frowned severely at his beast as he ran his tongue over the inside of his cheek under the deep scars on his face as words – her words – continued to scroll across the screen.

  “She does not see these …?” Kilgar’s whisper was low but still verbal as he continued to run through Hyndaus’ words in his mind … hold on!

  Now, it was Kilgar’s growl that was so deep that the vibrations elicited pain from his head. Since when did his beast give a maalchie’s rear end about their actions anywhere but in combat or the kahrolasi arena –

  I have always given a maalchie’s rear – fighting is generally the only time you acknowledge what I have to contribute.

  What? Of course that was not true – all the times they had been with those females …

  Those were cognate females, Kilgar. They were your physical outlet – your proving of yourself. I am simply content that we are the best at what we do – I have nothing to prove. Besides your physical pleasure with those females gives me none – even the times when you passed out, I never presented to finish with the cognate’s other.