Raven stopped in front of a large, thick wooden door and opened it. He ushered her inside the room with a slight nudge from his hand at the small of her back. Caidi looked around the room with interest.
It reminded her a little of the meeting room in the smaller of the dwellings at the Taivain on Carait, but this room was much larger as was the table. The furnishings in the room were all made of gleaming golden wood. There were four people in the room—an older, black-haired, large Zarain man who Caidi assumed was the Achan of this fortress, a pretty, older black-haired woman in the chair beside him who she thought was the Acine, another black-haired man in sage’s robes and Arron, Raven’s man, who was sitting there with a smile on his face and his palms firmly planted on a large, familiar-looking book.
The large Zarain man who Caidi thought was the Achan smiled, stood and strode around the table. He clasped Raven’s forearm and clapped him on the shoulder with great familiarity. His voice was deep and full of jovial affection when he spoke. “Welcome, my friend, introduce me to your Acine. I have been waiting to meet her since I learned of your bonding.”
“Achan Cavor, this is my mate, Acine Caidi Talinian. Caidi, this is my friend and ally, Achan Cavor Retinial and his lady, the Acine Edena Retinial.” Raven introduced them proudly and watched as his friend Cavor surprised Caidi by engulfing her in a quick hug.
Caidi recovered quickly and also accepted a hug from Cavor’s wife. She was still surprised by the warmth of her reception here and was interested in this part of Raven’s past.
The two of them looked upon Raven as a sort of adopted son because of something that he had done for them at one time, although none of them were forthcoming about the details. They had readily accepted Caidi as an adopted daughter even before meeting or talking to her simply because she was a part of Raven.
Raven had been busy. In short order, Caidi learned that the sage would help with organizing the Worlds book, which had been brought to Askara. He would also be returning to the Taivain to do the translation of the book in the armory.
Raven turned to Caidi, who was still staring at the sage, somewhat surprised that he had found a way to translate the book. “Caidi, go with Edena, now. She will show you around her home and you can get to know her. You will be safe within the Taivain.”
Caidi heaved a long-suffering sigh when he added that part about her being safe. She glared at him. He was more concerned about her safety than she was. She knew she was safe. She wondered how long he would continue to see her as a delicate, fragile creature who couldn’t take care of herself in any way. It was beginning to grate on her nerves.
She was afraid that he would never believe that she was safe away from him or guards. He would never stop worrying about her. She accepted that as a sign of how much he cared about her. The problem was that he didn’t merely worry about her. He thought that she attracted trouble and worried that she might not be able to handle it.
She admitted that compared to him and the warriors of the pack, she might appear weak and inexperienced, but that didn’t mean the appearance was true. She wanted him to see her as strong, but at the same time, she liked the protection. It made her feel…wanted, desired. On the other hand, she didn’t like feeling caged or trapped.
Caidi left the room with Edena without giving in to the urge to kick her chalon. Edena wore a smile on her face as they walked down the hall. Edena led her through the Taivain to a more active part. Caidi could hear talking and the occasional screech of wood on stone, a bang and then thumps, so she assumed that they were either going toward a dining hall or kitchen, both of which would be active at this time of day.
“Have some faith. It takes some getting used to for all women.” Edena gave Caidi a friendly smile, her voice cheerful.
“What do you mean?” Caidi looked blankly at the woman beside her, not understanding.
“I am talking about the amount of protectiveness a Shadatai male exhibits toward his mate. It is always overwhelming at first. It is also always a little bit more prevalent in those who had to hunt for their homes, too.” Edena shared a commiserating smile with Caidi.
“Achan Cavor was overprotective?” Caidi cocked her head to the side. At least now she knew that it wasn’t just Raven.
“I believe that all Zarain males feel protective toward their women, but, with the Shadatai, like many of the other instincts and abilities they possess, it is far more dominant.” Edena strolled slowly and glanced at Caidi.
“Does the watchfulness ever relax, even a little?” Caidi had to ask that question. It had been uppermost in her mind for a long time, or at least what seemed like a long time. “I would like to go for a walk to view the crops in the fields outside of the Taivain without the presence of an armed escort.”
“Well, it does and it doesn’t. He will always watch over you, but he should relax on some things. At least you know that he knows that you can take care of yourself,” Edena offered with a laugh. “I was a human before I met Cavor and came here. He watched me for years, before he believed that I had enough experience to handle basic Zarain abilities, like a hunt, on my own. Even when he knew that I could do it, I was never alone in the forest. I was never unprotected.”
Caidi acknowledged the woman’s words with a wry grimace. “Raven knows that I can take care of myself, that I did so for years. That isn’t the problem. He actually believes that, when I am alone, I attract trouble and bad situations as silita honey attracts insects.”
“Why would he believe that?” Surprise colored Acine Edena’s tone.
“He questioned some of the women in my pack and heard all the bad stories at once. I haven’t been able to convince him that some of those were mere coincidences and others unavoidable. He is determined to protect me.” Caidi resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“You will learn how to handle him as all of the chalies bonded to Shadatai males before you have learned how to placate and get around their chalons. It will take some time and likely many failed attempts, but you will find a way to get what is important to you.” Edena chuckled. Just glancing at the young woman, anyone could see that she could take care of herself.
They walked into the large dining hall which was currently being prepared for the meal. Caidi smiled at the familiar site of tables being moved into place, platters and goblets being set on tables and pitchers of wine and tirsa in abundance on every table. There were some things that were the same everywhere. Caidi was just turning to tell Edena of her thought when a woman moving away from one of the tables caught her eyes.
Strangely, the woman looked very familiar. Caidi frowned in confusion as she racked her brain. It hadn’t been often in her travels through the connected worlds before she had met Raven that she had come into contact with any female Zarain outside of her own pack. She was certain that she had met the woman, but she couldn’t recall where. Her face was very familiar, but it didn’t make sense.
Even among normal Zarain, it wasn’t normal for a woman to travel unescorted. Caidi was certain that the strangeness of the event would have been enough to cause her to remember the woman and she was also certain that she hadn’t seen her in any group of Zarain she had encountered. She had stayed away from her own kind on her travels as much as possible.
Caidi looked at the woman critically, trying to decide if it was the woman or someone she resembled. The woman was blonde and rather petite. She was delicately feminine, her curves were subtle. There was nothing strange about her appearance or remarkable. There were other blonde females here and none of them seemed familiar to her. There was something familiar about those tilted, almond-shaped hazel eyes, prominent cheekbones, thin lips and a chin that seemed almost pointy. Who was that woman?
When Edena moved on to show Caidi the kitchen, Caidi followed with a last look at the woman busily setting the tables. She would leave the matter of who that woman was and where she had seen her for the moment. Memory of where and when she had seen the woman would come in time. Pressing herself for
the answers would do no good. It would only frustrate her. From past experience, she knew that answers such as this came when she was relaxed and unworried.
Caidi spent most of the afternoon with Edena. Raven and Cavor joined them shortly before the evening meal which in honor of all of the guests would be held in the large hall. The revelation occurred during the meal. When Caidi saw the woman sitting at one of the lower tables watching her with a look of mixed fear and hope, recognition occurred in a rush.
It came with a flash from her childhood. She saw the woman sitting at one of the tables in the smaller living area at the Taivain on Carait. The woman had been one of her pack. She smiled at the woman, a genuine smile filled with all of the respect that she had always had for her.
When the meal was over and everyone was milling around and talking, Caidi grabbed Raven’s hand and tugged him after her as she threaded her way through the crowd. She felt his hand tighten on hers, but he didn’t stop her. From her light touch of his mind, she could sense his determination to stay with her. He didn’t know where she was going, but it was a certainty that he would be there with her. In his mind, the word unpredictable rang over and over.
She pulled him over to the woman she had recognized earlier. The woman’s chalon was apparently ready to go. He had an arm around her shoulders to urge her through the crowd, but she was resisting. She clearly wanted to linger.
Caidi tapped the man on the shoulder which had the desired effect of making him stop trying to leave the hall. Without saying a word to the man, she stepped forward and hugged her old pack-mate and felt the woman’s arms tighten around her in an enthusiastic embrace.
“It’s been too long, my friend.” Caidi smiled as she felt Raven drawing her back, away from her old pack-mate. His protective streak was running high. She only resisted when he tried to shield her with his body. “When you didn’t return, we worried about you.”
“I ran into Camen on my way back from my mission. He caught my scent and was relentless in his pursuit. I didn’t want to lead him to the Taivain so I just kept traveling away from it. He caught up with me.” She gestured to the man beside her. “He didn’t understand why I kept trying to leave him.”
Caidi looked up at her chalon. “Raven, you wanted to know what happened to all of the older women from my pack, why they weren’t with us. I would like you to meet one of them. This is Alise. She disappeared shortly after I took over the rule of the Taivain when she was doing some scouting for us along the gate paths.”
Raven raised his brows and she could almost see the battle-ready tension coiling within him.
“We all knew that she wouldn’t simply have just disappeared. It wasn’t in her character and she had someone to come back to. She left a six-year-old child when she disappeared. If she could have returned, we all knew that she would have come back.”
Some of the tension left Raven’s body. “Ah, I had wondered about the younger females in your pack and where their mothers had gone,” Raven said, smiling now at the woman, but he was still watchful.
Alise smiled tremulously at Caidi, tears running down her face. “How is Nerissa? I have wondered all of these years what she would look like as each year passed, trying to picture her. I thought about what she would be like, what she would do, but always I wanted to see. She is fourteen now. Tell me about her.”
Caidi smiled at the woman who had been one of her supporters and advisors. “She missed you when you didn’t come back, but she always knew that you loved her. She chose her second name just before my Shadatai mate showed up and put a stop to our practice of choosing a name to give to those you didn’t want to know your real name. She chose Arisa in honor of you.”
Alise’s lips trembled and tears began to flow. “Truly?”
Caidi nodded. “She has grown up to be an exceptional Zarain. She can run like the wind, scale a tree with ease and pick a lock faster than I could at her age. She is an excellent hunter in both forms. She looks a little like you. Her eyes tilt like yours, but her face is more rounded and her hair is curlier than yours. She is very pretty. She is intelligent, loyal and has always been a joy to be around.”
Alise muffled a sob against her chalon’s tunic. He pulled her more fully into his embrace. “She has always been honest with me that part of her loyalties extended to her old home. She told me that she had a daughter, but wouldn’t tell me where her daughter was. I couldn’t give her a promise to keep the location a secret from Achan Cavor,” Camen said, his hand stroking over her hair. “I will need to make arrangements with you, Achan. I will want to finally meet my next-daughter.”
“We will arrange that,” Raven said with a nod.
Raven and Camen talked for a while, letting Alise calm a bit. It wasn’t long before Raven urged Caidi away from the two people who also turned to go to their home. Caidi knew that Raven wasn’t happy about what she had done. She knew that it was more likely the way she had done it than what she had done. He liked to be in full control of a situation and she had led him blind into that meeting. He didn’t like surprises.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
They said their goodnights to their host and hostess before they made their way back out of the walls and to their tent. Caidi walked farther into the tent as Raven secured the tent flap, ensuring their privacy. She kicked off her slippers with a heartfelt sigh.
They had been among people all day. It was a relief to be relatively alone, to have some peace and quiet and to not have to mind her manners at all times. She had been tense the whole day. She wasn’t used to other Zarain and had half expected that they would have different customs. The uncertainty that had held her today was strange and uncharacteristic of her.
She had wanted to make Raven proud of her, she acknowledged as she began to get ready for bed. She unbuttoned her shirt and slipped out of the silky material and then went to work on the skirt. She picked up both of them and put them into a pile near her bag.
She didn’t hear Raven cross the tent. The first hint she had that he was near was the heat from his body as his strong arms came around her and pulled her against his still-clothed form. Caidi relaxed against him, closing her eyes in contentment. Her head rested on his chest and her back was pressed against him, savoring the moment.
“Don’t do that again,” Raven stated in a calm, firm voice, promising himself that he wouldn’t get angry with her. He knew that she hadn’t thought that she could be placing herself in danger. He took comfort in the fact that the situation hadn’t turned violent. There hadn’t been anything to worry over, the woman had been one of Caidi’s pack and was still loyal to her after all of these years. He knew that, but he also knew that Caidi couldn’t have been certain of that.
“Don’t do what again?” Caidi rubbed her buttocks against the cloth-covered ridge of his cock.
“Don’t walk blindly into an unknown situation which could very well turn dangerous.” Raven gave her a tight hug, and then released her. She turned to face him. “This time the woman you approached appears to have always been loyal to you. Next time, that might not be the situation. I don’t want you in any kind of danger. If you see someone who you think you know or have met, you tell me and I will arrange a meeting and learn all there is to know about the woman before we talk to her.”
“Raven, there is no way that Alise could be one of the women who wanted to hurt or kill me. Alise was at the Taivain for two years after my mother’s death. She was one of my supporters and advised me sometimes. If she had wanted me dead, there were plenty of times when she was alone with me that she could have accomplished that easily.” Caidi leveled angry silver eyes on him.
“Perhaps,” Raven conceded.
“Alise has always been loyal to me and to the pack. She took on the thankless job of trying to stop some of the older women, talk with them, before they challenged me for leadership of the pack.” Caidi wouldn’t accept that halfway gesture. Raising her finger she waved it in his face as she listed her reasons. “She even saved m
y life a few times when I had gotten into trouble and couldn’t get myself out of it before my mother died.”
Raven raised his hands in surrender. “I believe you. She has never tried to kill you and she couldn’t be behind any of the attacks on the Taivain.”
“You believe me?” Caidi watched his face, saw the sincerity there.
“It wasn’t Alise. She has had ample opportunity to cause trouble for you, yet she has kept your secret for years. The woman whom we are looking for wants to rule the Taivain and wouldn’t settle into a life within another woman’s Taivain.” Raven paced. The thought of someone trying to hurt her enraged him.
Caidi didn’t argue with him. In some ways, she could see his point.
“If she had decided that it wouldn’t happen, that she could never rule, she would want to make sure you lose everything, to destroy the Taivain. I know the type. If she couldn’t have it, she would want to make certain that her rivals were deprived of it as well. Since there haven’t been any seriously destructive attacks on the Taivain, we must assume that she still has hopes of ruling.” Raven waited for her to tell him again that she wasn’t threatened. Caidi was stubborn like that.
Caidi sighed. “How do you hope to find her? She wouldn’t be living in a Taivain if she doesn’t want to be under another’s rule.”
His brows rose. Maybe she was beginning to see the danger. “There are ways, my chalie. I have talked to Cavor and Zaden and some others about all that has happened to you and the attacks on the Taivain. They agree that there are too many incidents for this to all be a coincidence.”
“You talked to them about it.” Caidi’s mouth dropped open. That, more than anything else, showed her how worried he was.
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