Warrior Queen (Skeleton Key) Page 5

  “The Ambassador can shadow me today.” She would keep him close and well guarded, yet at the same time it would explain away his sudden appearance. He might even prove to be useful. Surely the gods would not have sent him if he had nothing to offer?

  His eyebrows shot up, but he was smart enough not to say anything.

  The attendants patted him dry and his face burned like a sunset. It was quite amusing.

  He flicked her a glance, his eyes full of questions, but this was not the place to answer them. They would need to be alone for that, and she was so rarely alone. She let her gaze drift down his chest and lower. Perhaps she could find a reason for them to be alone.

  Her body gave a twinge of longing. It had been a while since she’d done anything for fun. Bryce let his hands fall to his side. There was nothing strange about what was between his legs.

  His country of Australia had sent him as a potential consort. It was a lie that grew too easily. He hadn’t been sent by his country. His country was so far away only magic could reach it. There would be no political ties or beneficial trading. She shoved aside all thoughts of pleasure.

  She was Queen and had to think of her people first.

  She met his gaze. “Why do you keep your hair short, Ambassador Bryce?”

  He chin jerked at the title. “It was a requirement for the job. Most men keep their hair short. Some women.”

  The attendants held out a variety of skirts for her to choose from. She hadn’t been sure what to dress him in or what role to give him. Now she knew. “Not the green or blue.” They were both too plain. If he was an ambassador he should wear something befitting that station. “The orange.” It had a small sunburst pattern.

  The attendants wrapped him in the skirt.

  Her heart did a little jump like when she leaped before shifting.

  He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. Now there was a warrior waiting to be unleashed. But she refused to let the smile form.

  “Can I not wear pants?”

  “Yours are being washed and we have none. Besides, why would you want to wear such restrictive clothing?”

  He opened his mouth and shut it promptly. Instead he took a few steps as if testing the garment out. Each step revealed and hid the curve of his thigh. She didn’t want to look away so she let herself watch and enjoy. She could allow herself that small delight.

  Bryce stopped walking and faced her. “What about under garments?”

  Keleti lifted an eyebrow. The bath attendants stifled laughter.

  “They are for children who haven’t learned to control when to release their waste. I’m sure you don’t need them.” She smiled at him. Dressed as one of her people, he no longer looked so strange—his hair would grow and cover those ugly ears.

  He had that pinched look that she coming to recognize as uncertainty, but he was just going to have bite his lip instead of speaking.

  She wanted to know what his home was like if he found everything here so disconcerting. Would she be just as perturbed if she was there? She’d ask him later. Maybe this evening. She stood. “Come, Ambassador, there are things to do and preparations to be made.”

  Bryce followed Keleti around the palace. He was very aware he was wearing a skirt and no underwear. It felt wrong. There was too much of a breeze between his legs. Surely she’d been having him on about the underwear. He found himself trying to work out if other people were going commando.

  He could see no tell-tale panty lines on anyone, male or female. The whole thing was distracting. Why was no one else distracted? …Then he realized that to them this was normal, and there was nothing weird about free-balling in a calf length skirt. After listening to her talk with various messengers and watching the hawks be sent out, he had a much better understanding of how dire the situation was.

  Why did he have to arrive on the losing side?

  It may not be as bad as it seemed. Castles could withstand sieges, he knew that from history. He wasn’t sure if he was in a castle. He hadn’t seen much of the city at all. If he was in Keleti’s position, he wouldn’t be showing himself the city either. He’d be keeping himself on a short leash. Which was exactly what she was doing.

  As they walked, and he tried to ignore the guards not that far behind, he decided it was time to start finding out exactly what was happening. He wasn’t looking forward to being trapped in the city by an invading army. “How much food do we have?”

  “Enough to last until the warriors arrive.” She seemed calm.

  “How close are the Southerners?”

  “Too close. When they make camp tonight we will be able to see them from the walls.”

  He’d get his first look at who was invading. He wasn’t sure that he really wanted to. “So the siege starts tonight. We could attack them tonight. Would they be expecting that?”

  “What makes you think we won’t be attacking them tonight?” She didn’t even look at him. She wasn’t giving him the full picture even though he had been right beside her all morning.

  “It sounds like you want the siege instead of a battle.”

  “I don’t want any of this. I wish my mother had never started trading with them. They want the copper and gems, but mostly the magic to change form.”

  “They want you.” Only the Queen could do that, he knew that piece of information. She was a Heavenly. He didn’t think there was anything heavenly about a giant hawk. Terrifying and deadly were better descriptors.

  “They tried that, and I considered taking a Southerner as consort, but I refused to make him king and put him in charge. That is not our way.”

  “Only the women can fly.” It was a guess, but from the curve of her lips he knew that he’d got it right. “Why?”

  “Who knows? But no man has ever got the golden glint in his eyes or the ability to see to the horizon.”

  “So it’s genetic.”

  Keleti stopped walking and looked at him. “What is genetic?”

  How did he explain genes to a Queen whose people hadn’t started explaining things with science yet? “It means passed down from the parents like eye or hair color.”

  “Passed from mother to daughter you mean.” She pressed her lips together. “It is in the royal blood. But not all have it, and not all chose to fly. There are less of us than there used to be. It is why I rule more than one city now. Even if the signs and the desire are there, the shift can only happen after the ritual is complete.”

  “Partially genetic then.”

  She nodded. “This genetic… if you were to see a family would you be able to tell who had potential?”

  “I…I don’t know. I was a cop, not a scientist. Do you keep family trees?”

  “Trees? We map royal lineage, through the maternal line.”

  “What about the fathers?”

  “What about them? Most royal children are the product of ritual. Their fathers are priests.”

  He had the feeling that meant she had no idea who the fathers were. “Do you have children?”

  “Three.”

  “Who can become a priest?”

  “Anyone with an aptitude for magic.”

  “Like men with royal blood?”

  She nodded and her eyes narrowed as she thought. “The priests can show you the map of royal lineage. Perhaps we could restore the blood line.”

  “You can’t force people to have…to make special babies.”

  Keleti smothered a laugh. To her ears he must be sounding like an ignorant foreigner. “Those babies would be created during ritual anyway. Why not tilt the magic in our favor? The gods appreciate cunning. Perhaps we didn’t take care of the magic they gave us, and now we are faced with Southerners trying to steal what is left.”

  Bryce wished he hadn’t opened his mouth, but maybe this is what he needed to do. He was willing to try anything to get home before the bottle started. “Shall I go to the temple?”

  “Do you know how to get there?”

  He glanced up the corridor in one
direction and the other. The ornate wooden carvings on the open shutters gave him no clue. It looked the same in both directions. “No idea.”

  “Then tell me more about genetic as we walk.”

  Refusing wasn’t an option. So he explained what he knew about the helix and how it could be used to solve crimes because it was as unique as a fingerprint. She wanted to see that too. By the time they made it to the temple he was lost, again, but he was sure that she had taken him via roundabout routes. In return, he had learned that they had telescopes and magnifying glasses.

  She put her hand on his arm when they stopped at the open door. “Thank you for sharing some of your world. When I listen, I realize how strange we seem to you. If you want your pants back, you can have them.”

  Bryce shook his head. He didn’t want to be seen as other while he was here. If he was other he might get locked up again. “I’m getting used to the skirt.” He stuck his leg out the side split and tried to strike a pose. “I think it makes my legs look good.”

  “That it does.” Her gaze had lowered to his thigh.

  There was a weird silence for a couple of heartbeats.

  “Thank you,” he finally said, not sure what else to say.

  She looked him in the eye. “For what? I did nothing.”

  Her stare became unnerving. It was intense even without the gold. He made himself stare back; there was a sensation of vertigo as if he was going to fall.

  Had she flirted with him, or was he misreading everything? He had no idea even though there was a faint smile on her lips. He looked away first. No one looked that hard at anyone back home. Even when talking to someone. It made him feel naked. Her hand was still on his arm. Her palm was hot. When she blinked there was a glimmer of gold.

  He was already in enough trouble without misreading any other signals. Besides, she got it on with priests during rituals. He had zero magical ability.

  He was going home. That was what he needed to focus on.

  “I’ll be here, then.” With his two best buddies, the guards.

  “We will talk later.” Then she walked away and he was too aware of the way her skirt clung to what he knew was her bare butt.

  From the highest point in the palace, Keleti watched as the invading army marched closer. Their shields glinted like silver teardrops in the afternoon sun. None of the cities she’d heard back from had seen her cousin. She had sent messages to even more distant cities. Several cities had promised to send ships; they would head south and make sure the Southerners got no reinforcement.

  She had archers already beyond the city walls, lying in wait. Come dusk, as the invaders relaxed for the night and stripped off their metal armor, her warriors would attack before melting back into the shadows and finding safety off the edge of the cliff. If one knew where to look, there were ways down and places to hide.

  As she studied the invaders, a small knot of people marched forward while the rest of the army halted. Even with her sharp sight the army seemed to snake on forever. It didn’t, she knew that. The soldiers were four abreast on the road that lead to the walled city. A hundred deep as her best estimate. They had sent several ships of soldiers. They must want her land and her magic pretty badly.

  To the left was the river that ran past the city, a small offshoot ran beneath the city wall. The city also had wells.

  The soldiers would sink fast in their heavy metal armor. It protected their chests and their heads, but left their legs vulnerable. They had great swords, but their bows lacked the distance her archers could achieve.

  She had refused to trade weapons, but she had no doubt that they had stolen weapons off the bodies of any warrior they killed. That meant they would have some of her long range bows.

  The little party of invaders got closer to the city. This was the start of their peace talks. They would ask her to surrender, then threaten. She would wait them out.

  They stopped outside of range. But with her hawk sight, she could see their faces clearly. They were all men except for one.

  Her cousin.

  Her breath caught. They had caught her. But how?

  Then she noticed that Nadri wasn’t tied up. She was dressed as they were.

  Keleti blinked not sure what that could mean at first. But understanding broke with a sinking sensation. Nadri wasn’t a prisoner. She was talking to the man next to her. He put his hand on her. He was the man who had tried to take over by becoming king. Who had then demanded her daughter as a peace offering, claiming that Keleti had broken their engagement. She pressed her lips together. Engagement. There had been no promise, only negotiations. That he’d revealed his hand so early had been a blessing.

  No one in the city would have accepted a Southerner as anything but consort, no man could be anything but a consort, and he had no right to rule. No divine blood moved through his veins.

  And yet her cousin stood with him. Touching him.

  Betrayal made Keleti’s mouth sour.

  Below, messengers spoke. Theirs and hers. She’d be getting called. They’d be wanting to talk. What offer would they make this time? What demands did they have? Or would this be a formal notice of war?

  As if she needed it when she could see what they had planned. They hadn’t come all this way for peace.

  She turned away and went down the winding staircase so she could get ready to face her cousin. Maybe she should have taken the invader as consort, then made sure that he had no power. But she didn’t want to live with a man who thought women couldn’t rule. Her cousin had obviously decided she could.

  Keleti drew in a breath and paused.

  Nadri must think letting him become king was her way to the throne. Keleti hadn’t realized that Nadri wanted to rule so badly. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  She wouldn’t underestimate either of her enemies again.

  A man ran up to her, his skirt in his fist—which he promptly dropped when he saw her—then slowed to a walk. “Heavenly, the invader and your cousin wish to speak with you.” His eyes were wide as if he were horrified at the betrayal.

  Keleti couldn’t let that sting show. She had to be calm and present a firm hold. “Fetch the Ambassador from Australia.”

  It would be interesting to see how he responded. To see if the invaders responded to his presence.

  Perhaps the invaders would back off when they saw that she had other allies. It was a bluff, but no one knew that. When people asked where he had come, from she could honestly answer that he had a great magic to travel vast distances.

  The lie only had to last until reinforcements arrived.

  Without waiting, she strode out onto the walkway along the top of the wall and looked down on the soldiers and her cousin. She let them stand, then twitch with anticipation. Their eyes darted around. Even Nadri seemed unsure. Keleti pressed her lips together. She hoped the gods saw the betrayal and would see her cousin punished. The invaders’ messenger approached the gates again. Hers would say that she had been summoned.

  That message was relayed back to the invaders, who looked disgruntled at being forced to wait. They had turned up at her front door and they had no right to make demands. Hospitality was a choice, one she had extended once before, but would never again extend to them.

  Never again to her cousin.

  She would let that betrayal be known, and Nadri would find no home among her own people. For all that the magic blood was rare, they didn’t need anyone who would sell their people to invaders for personal power.

  Keleti heard Bryce approach. Without looking back, she marched to a position above the gate. Archers stood by; their arrows notched and ready should this be a trap of some kind, but she saw no Southern archers lurking with the intent to kill her.

  “I am here only to check on the welfare of my cousin.” She certainly wasn’t going to let the soldier think it was for him. Her voice was loud and clear.

  “She is well. She saw reason where you did not.” The man’s words reached her.

 
“Then let her speak.” Or did the soldier forbid it? Was Nadri really willing to give up her freedom and obey a Southerner?

  There was a quiet conversation that she couldn’t hear, but she could see their lips moving. No one else on the wall would be able to see what she could. The magic that let her change form gifted her with the ability to see great distances when she needed to.

  “Surrender, step aside so that I may rule. There need not be a battle.” Nadri smiled up at her as though there was nothing amiss between the two of them.

  For how long had her cousin been plotting with these people?

  Keleti kept her face as still as stone, knowing Nadri would be watching every muscle twitch, the same way she was watching her cousin. “No, I will not step aside. But you are right there is no need for there to be a battle. You wanted the magic and now you have it. Take my cousin and return to your lands.”

  “For your insult, we will take the city,” the soldier said, puffing out his chest. His metal chest plate glinted.

  “And what do I claim for the insult you gave me for assuming that I would give up my right to rule to you, a man with no magic? We are even. We are done.” She stepped back.

  “You risk the city and your people for your pride,” Nadri called

  “You betrayed your family and your city and your people for power, Nadri. We will not forget.” But now the invaders had a Heavenly. If they were smart, they would learn to use that magic. She hoped that they weren’t.

  “You could kill them both now,” Bryce muttered behind her.

  Her cousin’s gaze narrowed on Bryce, but there was only surprise there.

  “Then they would seek retribution,” she said softly. “They have come here to prove a point. They cannot back down without loss of face. All they can do is fight. There was never going to be a peaceful resolution.”

  She saw that now. The moment she’d refused him and his offer, and then refused to hand over her daughter. All those times she’d confided in Nadri, her cousin had been plotting her own way to power.

  “Your last chance to surrender and end this peacefully,” the soldier shouted.

  “And hand my city to a traitor and a man who thinks women should obey, not hold equal voice? No. You would kill me and enslave my children.” She glanced at Bryce.