Guarding the Goddess Read online

  Guarding the Goddess

  A Kindred Tales Novel

  Evangeline Anderson

  www.evangelineanderson.com

  Guarding the Goddess, 1st Edition,

  A Kindred Tales Novel

  Copyright © 2020 by Evangeline Anderson

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Art Design © 2020 by Reese Dante

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writers’ imagination or have been used factiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to a retailer of your choice or evangelineanderson.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only.

  Any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  Contents

  Guarding the Goddess

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Epilogue

  The End? Of course not!

  Lock and Key

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

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  Also by Evangeline Anderson

  About the Author

  Guarding the Goddess

  A Queen in need of a Bodyguard

  A Warrior who is determined not to love her

  But what happens when she needs him

  To Quell the Heat inside her?

  With Ty and Ellina survive his quest of...

  Guarding the Goddess?

  Y’res the Fourth—otherwise known as Ellina—the newly crowned ruler of Helios Beta, has a problem: someone is trying to kill her. There has already been one assassination attempt on her life and she fears that soon there will be another. She needs someone to guard and protect her—someone she can trust. Which is why she calls on the Kindred.

  Commander Ty'rial is a Kindred warrior in the Elite Espionage Corps. He takes the job of guarding the new ruler of Helios Beta with some reservations. For Ty is a Modified Kindred—his DNA was manipulated before his birth to make him the perfect slave, fit only to serve a spoiled, rich Mistress. Rejecting this fate, Ty has made his own way in life and he has no interest or intention of falling for a female in power—even one who feels frightened and powerless, as Ellina does.

  Two worlds collide when Ellina admits her fear and Ty begins to see her as a person—not just a Potentate. Feelings between them grow but they can never be together—for Ellina must choose a consort from among her own people—one who can give her an heir with the same Sacred Blue skin tones which she alone possesses. But when another assassination attempt and a villainous plot sets off Ellina's Heat Cycle, can the two of them stay apart?

  And will either of them ever be the same after Ty is tasked with...Guarding the Goddess?

  Author’s Note

  Though Guarding the Goddess may be read as a stand-alone book, you will probably enjoy it more if you read the previous Kindred tales novel, FALLING FOR KINDRED CLAUS.

  Hugs and Happy Reading!

  Evangeline

  One

  Y’res the Fourth, the newly crowned Potentate of Helios Beta, paced her royal apartment, her hands clasped behind her back, a frown of worried concentration on her face. Her sleeping chamber was all it should be—her bed hung with gold cloth and the walls covered in murals grown of the soft ura moss depicting her ancestors ruling the people, but she had no eyes for the grandeur around her. It had been only a week since the assassination attempt at the Feast of all Feelings during her coronation and now she was called upon to appear in public again.

  Another appearance. Another chance to die, she thought, her stomach fisting tightly as she paced. Another assassin could be out there, waiting.

  And this time they might succeed.

  She brushed a strand of hair behind one ear and felt her chewchie, Lor, scramble nimbly to one side to avoid her hand. It might have been hard for an onlooker to see the small, fluffy creature who was so much more than her pet. He was the same color as her hair—the same color as her skin and eyes, for that matter.

  Sacred Blue.

  The brilliant, royal blue color was a rare mutation of the usual skin color of her people. The Chorkay came in every shade of blue from a pale blue-gray to bright turquoise but only those royal females with the Sacred Blue hair, skin, and eyes were deemed fit to lead their people. It made Y’res the Fourth, not only a ruler, but a goddess among her kind.

  But even a goddess can be killed, she thought grimly. By someone determined enough to see her die.

  And her death would mean disaster for her people.

  Currently, she was the only female besides her grandmother, who had passed the crown to her, who had the Sacred Blue skin and the mandate of the Chorkay god, Thufar, to rule. Which meant if she was wiped out, her kingdom would fall into chaos. It was her duty to lead her people well, and to produce an heir as quickly as possible—a female who had the same Sacred Blue skin and eyes who would take the crown when she was deemed ready and worthy to do so. It was the only way to ensure the throne and the continued peace and prosperity of her planet.

  Produce an heir. Right, she snorted to herself. If only it were that easy.

  She had only been crowned a week ago—she certainly wasn’t ready to look for a proper consort yet. A man of noble birth and a skin color as close to Sacred Blue as possible in order to be certain that at least one of their daughters would also have the royal skin tone.

  The thought of doing that—of taking a consort and having his baby—turned her stomach. She knew what the nobles thought of her—had known it from an early age. The common people loved their queen—their “Goddess in the Flesh” as the reigning Potentate was often called. But they only