Guarding the Goddess Read online

  “They think I’m a stupid little girl they can push aside with no effort at all,” Ellina said, getting angry all over again and pacing faster, so that her long skirts swished against her legs. “Just someone to be gotten rid of so the High Priest can rule all of Helios Beta while Hennessy whiles away the time playing with whores at my expense!”

  “I dare say they don’t think that about you anymore,” Ty said dryly. He smiled. “You really put them in their place.”

  “I did, didn’t I?” Ellina allowed herself a moment of triumph, before sighing deeply. “Oh, I know this is going to lead to trouble with the High Priest and I should have behaved in a ‘more politic fashion’ as Grandmamma would say, but I just couldn’t help myself. They made me so mad!”

  “Sometimes it’s good to get mad,” Ty said. “Just like it’s good to let Kikbax and his minion know they can’t push you around.”

  “I was glad you came in when you did,” Ellina admitted, stopping her pacing, to smile at him briefly. “I don’t think I could have made Hennessy get on one knee to apologize myself, no matter what I threatened him with, if you hadn’t been there.”

  “He’s a bastard,” Ty said shortly, a hint of a growl still in his deep voice. “He’s the one who tricked you into kissing him and then made fun afterwards, right?”

  Ellina was surprised he’d remembered the name.

  “Well, yes.” She nodded. “But I’d like to think that long-ago insult isn’t the only reason I wouldn’t have him for my consort. Some people outgrow their meanness and the nasty habits they had in childhood—he hasn’t.”

  “I could tell,” Ty remarked. “Did he really expect you’d join with him, knowing that he planned to break his vows and cheat on you?”

  “Apparently so.” Ellina shook her head. “Even for Hennessy, that’s brazen.”

  Ty frowned. “What I don’t understand is why the High Priest thought you’d go for it.”

  “I don’t know.” She shook her head again. “He seemed to think that I was about to go into my Heat Cycle and as soon as I was joined and pregnant, I’d be much easier to get out of the way. Maybe that was why he was so eager to see me with a consort—any consort, even that awful Hennessy Tolland.”

  “My guess is that Tolland was Kikbax’s first choice because all he wants to do is play,” Ty said. “He doesn’t seem to have any interest in running the kingdom, which leaves the way free for the High Priest to do as he pleases.”

  “But why would he think I’d take such awful terms?” Ellina asked. “He must really think I’m stupid. Or desperate.” She frowned. “He seemed awfully certain that my Heat Cycle was about to start.” She looked at Ty anxiously. “Do you think he knows something I don’t? Something about the Potentate’s Cycle that my Grandmother didn’t tell me?”

  Ty frowned grimly.

  “I don’t know, but maybe you’d better find out. Can you contact your grandmother now?”

  “I’ll try.” Putting up a hand for Lor, she waited until the little chewchie scampered from the top of her head to her extended palm and brought him down so she could look into his big, liquid black eyes. “Grandmamma?” she said, knowing that Lor would automatically reach for his link with her grandmother’s chewchie, Shel, and relay her message.

  There was a longish pause and then Lor spoke with her grandmother’s voice.

  “Yes, my child? Are you well?”

  The voice was so faint…so much weaker than it had been the last time she spoke to her grandmother, that Ellina completely forgot her own troubles.

  “Grandmamma!” she exclaimed. “Are you all right? You don’t sound yourself at all.”

  “I’m fine, my dear,” her grandmother replied through Lor. “I’ve simply caught a bit of a chill—that’s all. Nothing that a bit of hot mugworp tea won’t cure.”

  A cold fist of anxiety seemed to form around Ellina’s heart.

  “I want to come see you,” she said urgently. “I want to see for myself that you’re being cared for—that you’re all right.”

  “Nonsense, my dear—you know that isn’t possible.” Some firmness had returned to her grandmother’s voice, which did much to comfort Ellina. “We cannot be together in the same room—or even the same part of the palace. You know that,” Lor went on in her grandmother’s voice.

  “But Grandmamma, I’m worried about you. And I miss you!” Ellina pleaded. “We saw each other for such a short time during the coronation. Please, can’t I just come see your for a moment? I’ll bring my entire guard with me to be certain I’m safe.”

  “You’ll do no such thing!” Her grandmother’s voice grew positively sharp. “You know if you come to me you’re not only risking your own safety but the safety of the entire planet, Ellina! If something should happen to both of us, Helios Beta would fall into dire straights. For only a female Potentate with the Sacred Blue skin can lead our people. If anyone else tried, the Blue Crystal of Peace at the heart of the temple would split and earthquakes would ravage the land, collapsing all our tunnels and killing everyone—so says the Book of Thufar!”

  Ellina wanted to say she didn’t care what the Book of Thufar said, but she knew her strictly religious grandmother would call that blasphemy and be upset if she did.

  “All right, Grandmamma,” she said at last. “But please tell me your servants are taking care of you.”

  “My maid, Lullabella is as good as gold to me, as you can see,” her grandmother assured her. Staring into Lor’s eyes, Ellina suddenly saw a vision she knew must be sent by Shel. The little chewchie must be perched on the end of her grandmother’s bed because Ellina saw the thin, frail form propped up on pillows and covered warmly with blankets while her maid waited to spoon another bite of steaming soup between her withered lips.

  The vision did, indeed, make her feel a bit better, though it disturbed her to know that Grandmamma was feeling ill enough that Lullabella had to feed her. Her grandmother never usually put up with such things, preferring to do almost everything for herself, despite her royal status.

  “Well, if you’re sure you’re well…” she said reluctantly.

  “Quite well,” her grandmother insisted. “Though I am in the middle of my dinner, as you can see. Was there something you wanted, child?”

  “Um…”

  Now that it came to it, Ellina found it very difficult to voice the question she’d originally called to ask. But Ty, who had been watching the whole exchange, made a ‘go on’ motion with one hand, and she knew she had to at least try.

  “Grandmamma,” she said, gathering her courage. “Do you remember when you told me about…about a Potentate’s Heat Cycle?”

  “Yes, why? You know this is a private subject, Ellina,” Lor said reprovingly, in her grandmother’s voice.

  “I know,” Ellina said. “I just wondered if…if there was anything else you could tell me about it?” She hated to be so vague but she was well aware that Lullabella was listening in on the other end.

  “I can only tell you what I’ve already told you.” Her grandmother’s voice was faint and weary. “Can’t this wait for another time, child? My soup is getting cold and I’m so dreadfully tired….”

  “Of course, Grandmamma. I’m sorry. I’ll speak to you later,” Ellina said. “I love you!”

  “I love you too, sweet child.” Her grandmother’s voice was nothing but a tired sigh now. “I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”

  “Yes, Grandmamma.”

  And with that, Ellina had to be contented as the connection between Lor and Shel was broken.

  “Well, I’m afraid we don’t know much more than before,” she said to Ty, who had been looking on thoughtfully, his arms crossed over his broad chest, as he watched the exchange.

  “No, we don’t,” he acknowledged. “I guess you’ll just have to monitor yourself and watch for signs of your, uh, Cycle starting up.”

  “I suppose.” Ellina sighed and glanced at the chronometer on the wall. “Oh dear, we have to go! I’m due at