Guarding the Goddess Read online

  “Of course, he cares, child! And as for being businesslike, he’s just doing his job,” her grandmother said through Lor. “I spoke to the head of the Kindred High Council, Commander Sylvan, myself and he assured me he was sending his best and most deadly warrior to defend you personally and train your new guard. You need have no fear while the Kindred is with you.”

  “I suppose not,” Ellina sighed. “But he’s just so cold. So stiff and—”

  A brisk rapping at her door interrupted her and then it opened and the very male she had been talking about was revealed in the doorway.

  Ellina’s heart jumped nimbly into her throat and she wondered if he had heard her talking about him. It was impossible to tell from the stern, implacable expression on his face.

  “Your Highness,” the tall Kindred warrior said, bowing respectfully, if coldly to her. “The people are all assembled to see you drink the Cup of Wisdom. The High Priest and his helpers are in place and I and my squad are prepared to move to the balcony. Are you ready to go?”

  As always, Ellina found herself somewhat tongue-tied around the tall Kindred. And it wasn’t just his cold demeanor that tripped her up—it was his appearance.

  Though she had never expected to have any kind of an attraction to an off-worlder, Ellina had to admit Commander Ty’rial was the most beautiful male she had ever seen.

  Which was odd, because he looked so different from anyone she had ever encountered before.

  His skin was a tawny caramel color without even a hint of blue in it and his eyes…well, Ellina had yet to decide what color his eyes were. They were pale and reflective and sometimes seemed to be blue, sometimes green, and sometimes even a pale amber. His hair grew all over his head instead of in a thin, narrow strip like most Chorkay males’ hair did and it was a deep midnight black instead of being green or blue, as was proper.

  He didn’t even have a third eye, Ellina thought, which should have rendered him completely repulsive. Instead, the smooth, empty space between his arching black brows where a third eye ought to have been—would have been on a Chorkay—only somehow rendered him exotic and more beautiful than ever.

  But the tall Kindred’s beauty was purely masculine, Ellina had to admit. He had a straight nose, high cheekbones, and the longest eyelashes she had ever seen on a man. His mouth was a study in contrasts—the top lip was thin and serious but the bottom lip was lush—betraying some innate vulnerability the rest of his stern but handsome features concealed.

  Of course it was ridiculous to think so much about her temporary personal guard, Ellina told herself. Commander Ty’rial was only here until the guards he had chosen from among her own people could be properly trained and vetted. Then he would go back to the Kindred Mother Ship and she would most likely never see him again.

  Which was as it should be.

  “Your Majesty?” he asked again and she realized she’d been standing there, staring up at his perfect features like an idiot without saying anything. “Are you ready?” he asked her, a touch impatiently, she thought.

  Ellina opened her mouth to say of course she was ready in the most imperious voice she could manage but instead she heard herself say,

  “I’m frightened.”

  Two

  “Frightened?” Commander Ty’rial frowned a little, not as though he was angry, but as though he didn’t quite understand. “Why would you be frightened?” he asked, taking a step towards her. “I’ll have my entire squad surrounding you all the way to the balcony and once there, we have a translucent, bomb and blaster-proof screen erected. But the people won’t see it—they’ll only see you, their new Potentate—drinking from the Cup of Wisdom in order to increase her insight and rule them wisely.”

  “It’s not only bombs and blasters I fear,” Ellina whispered.

  “Then, what?” His frown deepened as he took another step into her sleeping chamber, which was supposed to be forbidden. Ellina was royalty and a virgin—only males she had expressly invited in ought to be allowed in her most private quarters. Still, she made no move to send the tall Kindred out.

  “I…I think my old guard, Guffin, was poisoned,” she confessed at last, her stomach clenching as she finally spit out the words.

  “What?” Commander Ty’rial shook his head. “This is the first I’ve heard of this—why was I not told before?”

  “I—” Ellina began but just then a new head appeared at the doorway of her sleeping chamber.

  “Royal Mistress,” a nasal, self-important voice said. “My master, the Lord Kikbax, High Priest of the most holy Thufar, is ready for you to drink the Cup of Wisdom. He sent me to collect you at once.”

  Ellina squeezed her hands into fists at her sides. The servants of the High Priest tended to treat her as the High Priest did himself—like a willful child who had to be corralled and told what to do. They would never have dared to speak so to her grandmother because she was older than Lord Kikbax. But since Ellina had been raised in the palace under the High Priest’s nose, he treated her as an inferior rather than his queen and goddess, which was how their relationship was supposed to work.

  Commander Ty’rial seemed to feel the implicit insult to Ellina as much as she did herself. His frown was like a thundercloud as he marched back to the door and glared down at the startled servant.

  “Who are you and how dare you command the Potentate, she who is the Goddess in the Flesh?” he demanded harshly.

  The servant started back in surprise, all three of his eyes going wide at the growl in the big Kindred’s voice.

  “I…I am but a humble servant of the High Priest, Lord Kikbax,” he stammered. “I was sent to fetch her.”

  “You do not ‘fetch’ Y’res the Fourth, as though she were a child or a pet,” Commander Ty’rial snapped. “And you will beg her pardon on bended knee for insulting her. Now.”

  He pointed to the floor of the open doorway and glared at the servant.

  Flustered, the other male got down on his knees, though he still tried to protest.

  “But my master is the High Priest! And he says she must come at once! All the people are waiting. ”

  “Your master and the people both may wait upon the pleasure of my Lady, the Potentate,” Commander Ty’rial growled. “And I have not yet heard your apology, servant.”

  His emphasis on the man’s inferior status when compared to Ellina herself and his insistence on an apology made the servant’s face turn purple with embarrassed rage. But one look at the Kindred warrior towering over him and he bent his head low, as was proper in the presence of the Potentate, and mumbled something about deepest regrets and hopes that her Royal Majesty had not been offended.

  Ellina had the feeling that Commander Ty’rial was going to insist that the servant speak up and make a more proper apology but at that point, she just wanted him gone.

  “You may tell your master that I will be there when I am ready,” she said in her most imperious, “Potentate and Goddess” voice. “For now, you are dismissed.”

  Lord Kikbax’s servant bobbed his head once more and then scrambled hastily up from the floor and ran off, no doubt to tell the High Priest how wrong-headed and rebellious the new young Potentate was acting.

  Ellina didn’t care. In fact, she was glad that the servant—and the High Priest, his master—had been put in their places. Commander Ty’rial was right—she was not to be fetched or ordered about by anyone and it was time that Lord Kikbax recognized that.

  Yet even the triumph of the moment couldn’t quite quell the sick, stomach-churning fear she felt when she thought of going out on the Grand Balcony and drinking from the Cup of Wisdom.

  The tall Kindred seemed to sense this because he closed the door to her bed chamber and came forward to take her hand in his. His fingers were warm and so much longer than hers that she felt like a child as he led her to the low sofa covered in rare golden zanda fibers and seated her on it. Then, instead of sitting at her side, he knelt on one knee before her and looked into her ey