“Ah yes, I am certain it is the Valued Attendant,” Yana exclaimed, throwing open the door. “I am sure he—”
She stopped so abruptly that Dani looked up to see what had happened. The Valued Attendant was the person chosen to lead the bride from her chamber to the wedding ceremony—which in this case was going to be held in the throne room. It was usually someone close to the family of the bride and it was a great honor to be chosen for the position.
When Dani saw who was standing in the doorway, she understood why Yana had stopped talking and was now looking nervously over her shoulder at Lavi.
The Valued Attendant was Jontu.
Suddenly Dani was filled with anger. Wasn’t it bad enough that she and her little sister had both lost their true loves? Did Tornk have to rub it in by sending Jontu to do this job?
For she had no doubt that the evil Head Councilor was behind this. He wanted to intensify poor Lavi’s misery by making the very male she loved and could never have escort her to her wedding with Warro, who would never care for her and would doubtless beat and abuse her. And since Tornk knew how strenuously Dani objected to her sister’s marriage, it would be a blow to Dani herself as well.
It was just the kind of evil flourish Councilor Bray-bray would add out of spite. Well Dani refused to let it stand.
Striding up to the doorway, she hissed at Jontu, “What are you doing here? Don’t you know how much seeing you will hurt Lavi on this day? Couldn’t you say no when Councilor Tornk asked you to be the Valued Attendant?”
“He didn’t ask me, Princess Dannella,” Jontu said quietly. “I asked him.”
“Why—” Dani began but then Lavi brushed past her and threw herself into Jontu’s arms.
“Oh Jontu—this is the last time we shall ever touch! Oh why can’t we be together? I don’t want to be married to Warro—I hate him!”
“Hush, Princess!” Geora looked scandalized and Yana looked worried.
“You mustn’t say such things aloud, my sweet,” she said earnestly. “Even if you feel them in your heart.”
“I’ll say what I like!” Lavi cried recklessly. “My life is over anyway. Why should I care who hears it?”
“I fear she’s hysterical.” Geora looked down her bony nose at the crying Lavi critically. She looked at Jontu. “Perhaps I should come with you, to help you manage her.”
“No, no—that’s quite all right,” Jontu said quickly. “I’m sure everything will be just fine as soon as we get started. Lavi, my love,” he added, stroking her hair through the pale lace veil, “Please, compose yourself. We must go—time is of the essence.” He looked at Dani. “Please help me calm her—please.”
Normally Dani would have fought him every step of the way but there was something in the way he looked at her—a certain knowledge in his brown eyes that made her wonder if something was going on.
“Very well,” she said, straightening the pale purple dress she wore and coming to grasp Lavi by the hand. “Come, little sister—we must be strong,” she told the still-weeping Lavi. This is no time for tears.”
Lavi didn’t stop crying but she did stop clutching at Jontu’s ceremonial robes.
“I still think I ought to go with you,” Geora said, frowning. “And mayhap Yana as well. We can fall back just before you enter the throne room.”
“No!” Jontu barked—so sharply that Dani stared at him. He had never seemed to be an overbearing male before—it was one of the reasons she liked him.
Geora drew back, a barely concealed look of resentment stamped on her narrow features.
“Very well, my Lord Jontu. If you do not wish my help, I will not force it on you.”
“Your offer is very kind,” Jontu said. He took a deep breath. “It is just that I was chosen as the Valued Attendant and Councilor Tornk’s orders are that only I may lead the princesses to the alter.”
“Of course, of course,” dithered Yana. “You must do as Councilor Tornk says. We will not bother you.”
“Just don’t blame me if Lavi has a fit of hysterics halfway to the ceremony and there’s no one to calm her down,” Geora muttered. She was giving Jontu a considering, suspicious look that Dani didn’t like.
“Come, Lavi,” she said shortly, for Geora’s benefit. “We must go or we’ll be late. As there is no putting this off, we must face it.”
Without waiting for an answer, she hooked her arm firmly through her sister’s and marched her out the door. She was now certain that something was going to happen—most probably Lavi and Jontu would make a desperate escape. It might be too late for Dani herself to find happiness—that had died along with Ky when his ship was blown up. But Dani would be damned if a chance for her sister’s happiness would be wasted.
“Come.” Shooting Dani a silent look of thanks, Jontu led them down the mirrored corridor that went from the women’s quarters to the main body of the palace.
They went at a stately pace, as befitted such a solemn occasion and Dani kept a firm grip on her little sister’s arm, anticipating another round of melodramatic hysterics at any time. But Lavi seemed to have cried herself out—she was silent and dead-eyed as she allowed Dani to lead her down the hall. Dani was certain she could feel Geora’s sharp, suspicious eyes on her back and she kept her chin high and her gate slow and steady, hoping the other girl would leave them alone.
At last they came to a turning point and Jontu took them in the direction of the throne room. Dani bit her lip. Had she been wrong? Was Jontu simply leading herself and Lavi to their wedding? Was nothing else going to happen?
Then, just before they reached the last corridor which led to the vast room with its golden throne, Jontu turned into a narrow side corridor. Dani knew it well—it led to a small, private courtyard where the Monarch sometimes came for peace and quiet, to get away from the pressures of ruling.
Lavi looked up, frowning as they entered the tiny hall.
“Jontu? What’s going on? This isn’t the way to the throne room.”
Jontu looked over his shoulder. “No, it is not, Princess,” he murmured. “It is a way out.”
“A way out?” Lavi exclaimed, much too loudly. “A way out of where? What do you mean, Jontu? Are we running away together?”
“Hush!” Dani pinched her arm, as Lavi had always pinched hers. “Be quiet for once, can’t you? Jontu is trying to get the two of you out of here but he can’t do it if you alert the whole palace with your big mouth!”
“Not just the two of us, Princess Dannella,” Jontu said. “This is a way out for you, as well.” As he spoke, he swung open the gilded double doors which led out into the small rounded courtyard, paved in multicolored stones.
Dani gasped, unable to believe what she saw.
There were two strange people standing there who must be Kindred—one must, at least. He was huge with mismatched eyes and fangs. Beside him was a tiny female with pale skin and long, dark hair. But it wasn’t these two strangers who drew Dani’s gaze.
Standing in the courtyard with a worried, intense look on his face was Kyron.
“Ky?” she whispered, holding back even as Jontu took Lavi’s hand and drew further into the courtyard. “Ky, is it…is it really you?”
She was afraid to go to him—afraid he might be only a shade. For how could he be living when she’d seen his ship blown up with him in it?
“It’s me, little girl,” he said in a hoarse, strained voice. There was an unusual tension in his broad shoulders and his eyes almost seemed to flash red when he looked at her.
What’s wrong with his eyes? Is that normal for a Kindred? Dani wondered. Or is it because he’s a… She stopped herself, not wanting to think the word “ghost.”
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes. But…but how…” Dani could scarcely get out the question. “I saw you killed,” she whispered. “When Councilor Tornk ordered your ship destroyed.”
“I was in the Hive’s lair, scanning it, when that bastard blew up my ship,” Ky said.
“I swear to the Goddess, I’m so sorry for leaving you, Dani. I never should have done that, even for a minute. Just please tell me you’re all right. That bastard didn’t get his hands on you, did he?”
Dani opened her mouth to reply but a hot hand suddenly covered her mouth while something cold and sharp pricked at her neck.
“As a matter of fact,” a familiar, hateful voice hissed in her ear. “He did get his hands on her.”
It was Councilor Tornk and he had a knife to her throat.
Chapter Nineteen
“You bastard…” Ky took a step forward but the Councilor’s grip on Dani tightened.
“Stay back, Kindred,” he snarled. “Or my pretty little bride-to-be will die right before your eyes.” The blade he held to Dani’s throat looked horribly sharp. Even as Ky watched, he pressed it a little deeper and a tiny dimple of crimson blood appeared on her smooth brown skin.
Dani made a muffled cry but it was clear she didn’t dare struggle. Tornk could cut her throat before Ky could reach her.
Ky’s hand went for his blaster but Councilor Tornk saw the motion and shook his head.
“I don’t think so, Kindred. If you value your life and hers, you’ll hold completely still while the guards come to claim you—for the second time.” He eyed Kyron. “Apparently you’re harder to kill than I’d thought.”
As he spoke, the small courtyard was suddenly crowded with guards, shouting and brandishing pain-spears.
“What’s all this, Councilor Tornk?” Another male, tall for a Goshan, came out, pushing his way through the guards and glaring. He was wearing what looked like green and orange leaves wrapped around his waist and a tall headdress of gold, feathers, and tropical looking flowers.
“Nothing which cannot be controlled, my Lord Warro,” Tornk said grimly. The Head Councilor looked at Jontu, who was glaring at him defiantly, an arm around the trembling Lavi’s shoulders. “I suspected something was wrong when Jontu here came begging for the honor of being the Valued Attendant. He is in love with your bride to be, I am afraid, my Lord. I suspected he was plotting to steal away with the Princess Lavinia but I never dreamed he would collude with alien enemies in order to do it.”
“He tried to steal my bride?” Warro’s muddy gray-brown eyes narrowed. “Kill him!” he told the guards.
“No!” Dani’s little sister threw herself in front her male, her hands outstretched in terror. “No, don’t hurt him!”
“I don’t fucking think so.” Merrick took a step forward and raised a blaster. “Stand back, the lot of you if you don’t want a hole in your guts.” His finger tightened on the trigger.
“Stop!” Tornk shouted. “The moment any of you Kindred fires a weapon of any kind I’ll slit Princess Dannella’s throat—I swear it!”
The situation was rapidly deteriorating and Ky knew it was all his fault. He never should have persuaded Merrick to come here without an entire battalion of warriors to back them up. And yet, a thousand warriors would have done them no good. Not when Tornk had a knife at Dani’s throat.
If only she’d come to me right away! If only I had called her to me!
But that brief moment of hesitation had cost them. The old bastard had been able to sneak up the dark hallway and grab her before Ky could do a thing. And now he was going to hurt or kill Dani right in front of Ky’s eyes and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
Oh yes, there is, whispered a soft, angry voice in his head. You know what you can do, Kyron—and you must do it.
A red curtain of fury dropped over his vision—a murderous anger so thick and savage there was no denying or evading it. Though he had never experienced it before, Ky knew what it was—Rage—a state of protective anger so intense it turned a Kindred warrior into a kind of berserker, capable of doing anything in order to protect his female. Anything at all.
Rage…I’m going into rage. No, must fight it…can’t let myself…can’t think…
But the thoughts were cut off when he saw Tornk’s blade bite deeper into Dani’s vulnerable throat. As a crimson bead of blood broke free and ran down her slender neck in a tiny rivulet, Ky lost himself completely.
Another kind of Kindred—a Beast or a Blood Kindred—might have rushed forward and tried to knock the knife from Tornk’s hand. But Ky retained enough understanding to know that course of action could be deadly for Dani. And besides, he had a weapon no other Kindred had…his Touch sense.
Ky sent his whisper fingers out but though they had always been soft and gentle when he touched Dani with them, now he made them hard and strong. He pictured cruel, long talons, as thin as blades, tipped with steel.
He aimed them—these deadly whisper talons—at Tornk’s heart.
Even in the depths of his Rage, part of him knew this wasn’t right. The vow—your vow to both the Council and the Goddess! If you break it—
Ky cut off the thought, refusing to consider the consequences.
“Let her go,” he rasped, his voice low and strange in his own ears. “Let her go or by all the Gods that ever were and ever will be I will kill you, Tornk—I swear it!”
Tornk only laughed, a braying sound that scraped against Ky’s nerves like a knife and deepened his Rage. How dare this bastard laugh at his threats?
“I don’t think so, Kindred. How do you think to threaten me? I have control of this situation because I have control of the Princess.”
“Not anymore you don’t,” Ky growled. Narrowing his eyes, he slid his whisper talons between the arrogant bastard's ribs and found the beating muscle of the other male’s heart. It was easy, part of his brain thought in surprise. As easy as sliding a sharp knife into softened butter. Who knew killing could be so effortless? Effortless and deadly…
“Wha—?” Tornk’s eyes grew wide and the knife he held to Dani’s throat dropped. “I don’t…don’t understand,” he muttered and a bubble of blood formed on his lips.
“Understand this—she’s mine.”
With a convulsive squeeze of his whisper talons, Ky pulped the bastard’s heart
* * * * *
Dani gasped as the knife fell away from her throat. What had just happened? Why had Tornk let her go for no reason?
Or was there a reason?
One look at the distorted sneer of anger on Ky’s face and the red glare in his eyes told her there was more to this situation than could be seen on the surface.
Suddenly Tornk fell, slumping backwards into a boneless heap. The guards around him shouted and jumped out of the way and Dani turned to see him lying on the ground, blood bubbling from his lips and his eyes staring at nothing.
“Ky?” she asked uncertainly, turning to face the big Kindred. “Ky, what…what did you do?”
“Dani, come here!” He motioned urgently and she ran to him, just as a guard was grabbing for her. “Stand behind me,” he told her, his voice a low, menacing growl she’d never heard before.
“A sha-gra!” Warro’s shout rose above the tense muttering of the guards. To Dani’s horror, she saw he was pointing at Ky. “This alien is a sha-gra—he murdered Councilor Tornk with his witch powers,” he roared. “He and the other aliens must be killed—including the traitor Jontu who led the sha’gra into our midst.”
“But Lord Warro—” one of the guards began uneasily. But the Chieftain of the Thuggors would brook no opposition.
“Kill them, I said!” he shouted. “Spare only the females—I will marry both the Princesses myself.”
Ky’s red, glaring eyes narrowed.
“Like Hell you will,” he growled.
Dani felt something go out from him—a sudden gust of energy almost like a physical punch. Suddenly the Thuggor leader gasped and grabbed his chest. His muddy eyes went wide and he croaked a single word.
“Sha…gra…”
Then he, too, collapsed and blood began to leak from his nose and mouth as he fell in a heap on the ground.
The guards brandishing their pain-spears began to fall back, looks of uncerta
inty and dread on their faces.
And then the Monarch stepped out onto the courtyard.
Dani saw that her father was dressed in his purple and gold encrusted court robes—his finest raiment on the day when both his daughters were to be wed.
“What is this?” he demanded and his eyes flickered to Councilor Tornk and Warro, both of them obviously dead. “Who has done this?” He raised his voice when none of his guards would meet his eyes. “I said, who has done this?”
“I did,” Ky growled, stepping forward. “Because I am a sha-gra. That’s right.” He glared at the cowering guards, all of whom were shrinking away from him. “I killed both Tornk and Warro with the power of my mind,” he snarled. “And I’ll kill you too—I’ll kill any male here who dares to try and stop me from leaving with Dani and her sister.”
“You cannot take my daughters.” Dani’s father looked angry. “How dare you even suggest such a thing?”
“How dare I?” Ky snapped. “Maybe I dare because you dared to force my ship down and chain me in your cell. Then, instead of coming to see why I was here in the first place, you ordered me beaten and starved. If it wasn’t for your daughter, Dani, I might have died. I love her—clearly more than you do since you were planning to give her to this old bastard here.” He nudged Tornk’s limp form with one boot. “So I’m taking her with me now.”
“Never!” Dani’s father proclaimed. “Guards—” Then he gasped and clutched at his chest, just as Warro had.
Suddenly everything clicked for Dani. He said the power of his mind but it’s his Touch sense—he’s killing them with his Touch sense and now he’s going to kill Papa the same way!
“No!” She grabbed Ky’s arm, dragging at him, trying to make him stop. “No, Ky—not my father! Not him! No matter what he did, he’s still my father!”
For a moment she thought the big Kindred was past hearing her. There was a distant look on his face, a rage so intense it seemed to transcend any kind of thought at all and his eyes…his eyes were glowing blood red.