Guarding the Goddess Read online

  But Ellina wasn’t ready to go just yet—and she certainly wasn’t going to be dismissed by Kikbax. Stepping closer to the golden balustrade, she lifted both arms and spoke loudly to her people.

  She wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say, but looking down at the sea of faces—the faces of people she was now responsible for ruling and protecting—she felt words bubbling up from somewhere deep inside and she simply let them out.

  “My people,” she cried and the crowd first roared and then quieted when Ellina waved her hands for silence.

  Ellina felt a rush of triumph. It was a heady feeling, being able to silence so many with just a gesture but she wasn’t there to lord over her people, but to reassure them.

  “For many years you have been ruled wisely and well by my grandmother, Y’res the Third,” Ellina said, her voice rising to be carried throughout the cavern. The excellent acoustics meant that even those standing in the far back, whose faces she couldn’t even see, would be able to hear her clearly.

  They cheered again and quieted when she waved them silent.

  “I do not have my grandmother’s years of experience,” Ellina continued. “But I do have her love for you, my people. Today I ask Thufar, who watches over us all, to guide me and give me wisdom to rule you well and bring our world peace and prosperity. I vow to you now, each of you is in my heart and I will think of you before I make any and every decision which must affect us all.”

  The response to this was deafening and Ellina could see the common folk throwing their caps into the air as they cheered her impromptu speech.

  In the balcony below, where the nobles were seated, she heard a different response. Uneasy murmuring broken by a few sarcastic, scoffing comments.

  “Listen to them cheer—if only they could see her up close.”

  “They think she’s serious, don’t they? As if anyone could care for such low individuals.”

  Clearly the nobles doubted her sincerity—or perhaps just her ability to rule. Ellina tried not to notice them—or let their remarks on her appearance bother her. After all, it was only the same thing she’d been hearing since childhood, when she had gone to the Holy Mists with the other students in her class and had realized how very different she was from them.

  “Very well, that is quite enough,” the High Priest snapped in her ear. He looked positively angry that she had dared to address the people—her people, Ellina thought, frowning.

  “I am ready to go now,” she said with quiet dignity. But before she did, she raised her arms high once more, eliciting another rising tide of cheers and chants of, “Po-ten-tate! Po-ten-tate!” from the crowd below.

  Only then did she turn to leave.

  “That’s very good, my child. You did extremely well—the people love you,” Lor murmured faintly in her ear in her grandmother’s voice.

  “Did you see me, Grandmamma?” she murmured back as Ty took his place in front of her and the other Kindred guards surrounded her, forming a tall barricade of muscular bodies between her and any possible threat.

  “I watched you from a far window,” came the faint reply. “But I dare say the sound of the crowd cheering for you was heard all over the city. I must go now—we can speak more later.”

  Lor stopped talking and Ellina frowned to herself. Had her grandmother sounded tired? Distracted? What was going on?

  Not for the first time she wished she could see her dear Grandmamma in person, but of course, that was impossible. If the two of them were together, the risk to the kingdom was much too high.

  With a sigh, she followed Ty back down the long, richly appointed hallway to her royal apartment. Her first public appearance had gone very well, she thought.

  She just hoped she would still be alive to do the next one.

  Seven

  Ellina had done extremely well—there was no denying that. It was clear from the crowds cheering for her words, spoken in that clear, sweet voice of hers, as much as from the sour look on the High Priest’s face, that she was popular with the common people of Helios Beta.

  Ty frowned when he pictured the slab-like cheeks and three angry eyes of Lord Kikbax as he watched the people cheer for Ellina. Clearly the High Priest didn’t really want to see his new Potentate succeed—but why?

  Ty’s guess was that he wanted to control her somehow—to have power over her and in so doing, have power over the entire planet—and he didn’t like the fact that Ellina was resisting him. But how far was he willing to go to bend her to his will?

  Had Kikbax been the one to put the strange substance in the wine that filled the Cup of Wisdom?

  For there had certainly been something there. It hadn’t been a poison—Ty was sure of that—but it had been a foreign substance that didn’t belong in the wine. He had tasted it at once and his fangs had automatically produced an immediate antidote to counter its effects—whatever they might have been if he hadn’t neutralized it.

  Ty had known the wine was safe, though he hadn’t been sure if any more of the strange impurity had been on the rim of the chalice, which was why he had instructed Ellina to place her lips exactly where his had been.

  I need to get to the bottom of this before I go back to the Mother Ship, he thought as the phalanx of Kindred warriors marched up to the gilded panels of Ellina’s royal apartments and he stepped forward to open the door for her. I can’t allow any plot against her to succeed.

  He wondered again, as he searched the apartment thoroughly, what had been in the wine. A mind control agent, perhaps? Or maybe something to make her sick without actually killing her—too sick to do her duties as Potentate. It would be extremely convenient for the High Priest if the new ruler of Helios Beta was too ill to get out of bed and needed him to rule in her place.

  After making sure the royal apartments were safe, Ty gave the “all clear” and Ellina stepped into her living area as he closed the door on the rest of the guards. They knew to stay exactly where they were and not allow anyone admittance without his say-so first.

  Ty liked the team Commander Sylvan had picked—they worked well as a unit and followed directions exactly. He hoped that the Chorkay guards he himself had selected and was currently having trained for Ellina’s personal protection would be as tight and reliable a unit.

  “Whew…” The new Potentate threw herself down on one of the long, low couches covered in fine, silky golden fibers with a sigh of relief as the door shut. “That was intense,” she said, looking up at Ty. Her chewchie, Lor, sat up on her shoulder and chattered in agreement.

  He nodded. “It certainly was—but I think it was a rousing success. Your speech after drinking from the cup was inspired—your people love you.”

  “I hope you’re right. But I wasn’t saying what I did just to make them like me—I really meant it.” Ellina looked up at him earnestly. “You know?”

  “I do.” Ty nodded and felt a surge of admiration for her. She might be young and inexperienced but it was clear she had a lot of heart and a love for her people that was lacking in many rulers and politicians in his experience.

  She smiled at him, a bit shyly, he thought.

  “Thank you for helping me with the Cup of Wisdom. I wasn’t strong enough to manage it on my own.” She winced and rubbed her slender wrists. “That thing is heavy.”

  “Solid gold usually is,” Ty remarked and frowned. “The High Priest should have been the one to help you lift it, shouldn’t he?”

  She nodded ruefully.

  “Unfortunately, yes.” She shrugged. “He doesn’t like me very much, I don’t think. But then, he never paid attention to me until I ascended to the throne. Before that, I was just another one of the noble children. Just another palace brat running around, always underfoot.”

  “Well, he owes you his respect now—you’re not a child any longer. You’re his Potentate—the Goddess in the Flesh,” Ty said firmly, still scowling.

  “I may be all that, but Lord Kikbax’s skin is almost Sacred Blue and he has many yea