Guarding the Goddess Read online

  Relief flooded their faces and she understood that Natillus knew how very improper this situation was and was grateful she was willing to accept him in lieu of the High Priest.

  “Very good, Your Majesty,” he said and glanced up at Ty. “You must be the Kindred bodyguard we were told was coming. My wife and I played host and hostess to your counterpart, Commander Asher and his mate, Lady Lisa.”

  “Yes, that’s me. I am Commander Ty’rial.” Ty nodded at Natillus and Lambada. “I am pleased to meet you. Can you tell me the protocol for this ritual? I need to protect my Lady and I don’t like this venue at all.” He nodded at the vast room filled with warm steam and swirling mists and frowned. “Limited visibility,” he muttered. “And anyone could be here.”

  “The Holy Mists are a place of peace, warrior,” Lambada said soothingly. “Please do not worry—the Potentate will be quite safe.”

  “I know she will because I’m going to make damn sure of it,” Ty growled. “But I would rather keep her in a place where I can see her and her surroundings at all times. This area isn’t good for that at all.”

  “Generally during the Ritual of Humility, the Potentate makes exactly one circuit of the Holy Mists and then comes to the Mouth of Thufar to choose the candidate for her personal bathing,” Natillus said smoothly. “But we can skip the circuit if you’re worried, Commander Ty’rial, and simply go straight to the Mouth of Thufar where many people are already assembled.”

  “All right.” Ty seemed to brace himself. “I still don’t like it, but it’s better than nothing. Straight there, pick a, uh, candidate, then straight back here. And I’m going to be in the purification chamber when she bathes whoever it is to be certain she’s safe.”

  Natillus nodded gravely.

  “If you think it necessary, you may serve as the official witness, though I or Lambada can also act in such a capacity.”

  “My Kindred guard is very anxious to keep me safe, Natillus,” Ellina explained. “I think it’s better if he is my witness.”

  “Very well.” He nodded. “If you would come this way, please my Potentate?”

  “Of course.” And taking a deep breath, Ellina stepped into the swirling mists.

  Ty still didn’t like the situation. They were in a huge room filled with strangers in extremely limited visibility. The Chorkay people seemed to appear and disappear into the heated steam that filled the immense area at will, all of them naked and completely unashamed. Ty had to content himself with walking beside and a little in front of Ellina, always no more than a hand’s breath away while Natillus and his wife Lambada covered her other side and her back.

  As they walked, he kept a sharp look-out for any danger or would-be assassins but mostly all he saw was a lot of blue, naked Chorkay. The women all had three breasts and two vaginas and the men, (just as Ellina had told him) had a strange kind of corkscrew configuration at the top of their shafts, just below the head. Ty wondered if the spring-like shape made their male equipment more adapted to the purpose of being “battering rams.”

  He didn’t like the idea of the equipment he was seeing between the legs of the male Chorkay going into Ellina one damn bit. But then, he admitted to himself, he wouldn’t have liked the idea of any male equipment going inside her—corkscrew, straight, curved, or any other configuration. He just didn’t like the idea of any male equipment breeding her at all.

  Any equipment besides your own, you mean, whispered a little voice in the back of his head but Ty pushed it sternly away.

  It went without saying that he could never breed the curvy little Potentate. He was an off-worlder and his Kindred DNA would never allow her to conceive a female heir with the Sacred Blue skin. And since the Chorkay seemed convinced that they were doomed without a female Potentate with Sacred Blue skin tones to rule them, that had to be the first consideration.

  Then he wondered why he was thinking such things in the first place. He had no wish to bind himself to a female—any female—but especially one in power. For how would he ever know if his feelings for her were real, or simply the result of his altered DNA at work, urging him to find a Mistress and serve her all his life? No, he was better off single and as soon as his job was done here, he would leave.

  He was almost certain of it.

  At last they reached what Natillus had called “The Mouth of Thufar.” It turned out to be a vast painted carving on the ceiling—a depiction of the Chorkay’s three-eyed god with his mouth stretched wide, emitting billowing clouds of steam from its gaping maw. Every once in a while, one or two of the Chorkay people would stand directly under it and the mouth would come down in a vast stone cylinder to envelope them completely. After a moment it would rise again and they would leave and let others take their place.

  Ty liked this new location even less—the visibility was considerably more limited. So he was relieved when Natillus raised his voice and said,

  “People of the Chorkay, it is now time for the Ritual of Humility. The Mouth of Thufar will cease to emit steam for a moment so that all the candidates for the Potentate’s personal bathing may be seen clearly.”

  At once, as though whoever was operating the vast mouth had heard him, the clouds of steam stopped billowing out and the mists began to clear.

  Ty could see there was already a crowd of people waiting, clearly hoping to be picked for the private bathing by the Potentate. He was tempted to think they were all opportunistic bastards and perverts, just wanting a beautiful young female to lay her hands on them. But then he saw that the crowd wasn’t just males.

  There all kinds of people—men and women, young and old, rich and poor, nobles and commoners together. Well, except for the nobles, who tended to clump together and avoid everyone else. Even though everyone was naked, Ty could tell who they were by the rich golden jewelry they were wearing, as well as the haughty looks on their faces. As Natillus led them closer to the waiting crowd, he could hear some of them murmuring together.

  “Just look at her—wearing those purification garments as though they represented the truth!” one noble lady whispered to another, casting a sneering glance at Ellina.

  “I know! Well, we know the truth, anyway. Remember when we came here as children and everyone wanted to know what was wrong with her?” the second noblewoman giggled. “Hennessy asked her if her missing parts had been chopped off!”

  “Oh, I nearly died laughing,” the first woman murmured and put a hand over her mouth as though she was going to start laughing right then. “I know she has the Sacred Blue skin but honestly, do you really think a freak ought to be allowed to rule us all?”

  Ty stole a quick glance at Ellina. But though she must have heard the unkind comments, her jaw was set and she was clearly determined to ignore them. The gossipy noblewomen, for their part, just kept on talking.

  “Ugh—what if her horrid chewchie chooses one of us for her to bathe?” one whispered to the other. “I know it’s meant to be good luck to be chosen but I don’t want her nasty mutant hands on me!”

  At this, Ty could stand no more. He took a step towards the gossiping, giggling women, glaring into their eyes.

  “My Lady,” he said loudly to Ellina. “Shall I clear the crowd of any who dare to disrespect you? I can have some of my guards come to lock them away where they may think on their crimes and repent of their ill-chosen words if you like.”

  The noblewomen went quiet at last, their mouths shut tight while their eyes grew wide. The two of them started edging towards the back of the crowd and Ty continued to glare at them until they finally melted away into the mists that still swirled in the background.

  “Now, Ty—you’ll frighten away all the candidates,” Ellina whispered. But he thought her expression was lighter and her jaw was no longer clenched.

  “Ahem.” Natillus cleared his throat for silence and the crowd, which had been murmuring after Ty’s words, quieted to hear him.

  “Thank you, good people,” Natillus said. “The Potentate’s chewchie wil