Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (15 page)

“
It means, Dahksahna Circe, ‘my doe’ or, as
we might say it in my land, ‘my sweet’ or ‘my love’ or ‘my
darling’.” She moved toward me carrying her cup and her eyes didn’t
leave mine as I sat in the warm, fragrant tub with flower blossoms
floating around and stared at her in shock at the same time my
belly didn’t dip, it warmed… as did my heart.
Shit!
“Warriors do not speak like this.” She shook her
head. “No, this isn’t true, they do, but it is rare and when it
comes, it is precious.” She was speaking softly, standing by the
tub looking down at me. “My Seerim has called me
kah fauna
ten times in the twenty-two
years he has been my husband. I have counted. I remember each time.
And each time was a treasure.”

I blinked up at her.

Oh. My.
God.

“
It is true,” she whispered, “the
mightiest, strongest warriors
can
fall in love upon gazing at their bride in the
parade.”

Oh shit.

“Diandra –”

“
A blessing,” she cut me off, still
whispering, “for our Dax, for his people and
for you.
”

Oh shit!

“Diandra –”

The tent flaps slapped open, I jumped, water
sloshed, Diandra turned and my eyes went there to see Lahn bending
low to enter.

My heart warmed again and other places
warmed too.

Shit!

His eyes swept the tent going clean through
me then he looked at Teetru and barked something. She rushed to a
chest and he turned to Diandra and barked something else. She
nodded, bowed slightly and murmured something back. Teetru rushed
to him with a largish clay pot that had a lid, he seized it from
her fingers, barked something else at her, jerked his head at me,
she nodded, he turned and, without a word to me or another glance,
he stalked to the tent flaps and he was gone.

I stared at the tent flaps.

Then my eyes went to Diandra who was smiling
at the tent flaps.

“Uh… Diandra, I don’t think that’s love,” I
pointed out the obvious. “He barely looked at me. I haven’t seen
him this morning and he said not one word to me.”

She waved her hand in front of her face and
replied, “He’s a warrior,” like that explained it all.

“
He’s my husband who
you’re
convinced loves me,” I returned and her
eyes came down to me.

“
He’s a husband, he’s a king, he’s a man
but above all, my queen, always remember, above all, he… is…
a
warrior.
”

I didn’t know what that meant but I knew it
was important. And I didn’t get the chance to ask either because
Gaal touched my shoulder in the way she did to indicate it was time
to get out of the bath.

Diandra saw it and turned her back to give
me privacy, Sheena’s eyes went back to the jewelry trunk and
Diandra muttered on her way back to the table, “We haven’t much
time and there’s much to do. No more chitter chatter. We need to
prepare you for the selection.”

I rose from the tub, Packa instantly curved
a thick, soft absorbent cloth around me and I stepped out.

Once I was out of the tub, I decided that
was my last step, my next one was to be Lahn’s queen for whatever
was happening today.

The step after that, we would see.

Then all seven women helped me prepare to
sit at my king’s side at the warrior selection.

* * * * *

We were moving through the encampment and I
knew by the hustle and bustle of people hurrying around us that the
selection was close and this was a big event they didn’t want to
miss.

I was getting a lot of looks and this was
not surprising. They had no mirrors here that I knew of but there
was no doubt about it.

I looked
awesome
and I looked like
a queen.

A golden one.

They’d chosen a silk sarong for me, its
color gold shot with pure white. My bandeau top was also pure
white. I was wearing a latticework necklace of delicate gold chains
that covered nearly my whole chest and matching earrings that hung
so low, they swept my shoulders. I had on the gold wristlets that
went from wrist to nearly elbow and the gold bands at my biceps,
both I’d worn the night of the rite. I also had on the wide, heavy
gold belt made thick with discs and more discs that hung down and
jangled as I moved. The leather of my flimsy, strappy, low-heeled
sandals was also colored gold. I had gold eye shadow on my lids,
dark gold pencil around my eyes, gold dust arcing along my
cheekbones and up to my temples and peach-tinted gloss on my lips.
I also had gold dust in my twisted, curled hair, making it sparkle
and glitter and if that wasn’t enough, lightweight gold clips,
dozens of them, adorned my hair making it, too, a golden
latticework of twists and curls.

And I wore the golden feathers around my
forehead and I was right that first night when Teetru had fastened
it around my head. The feathers were shiny, brilliant, so much so
they shimmered in the sun. It was thin but each feather was
perfection, pure beauty, it was the absolute coolest thing I’d ever
seen in my life.

It was, Diandra explained when Teetru set it
against my forehead, wove the ends through my hair and fastened it
at the back, my Korwahk queen crown.

And it was a good one. A huge, jeweled
affair would not in any way be better than those feathers. No
way.

In my killer outfit, I felt ready to face
the Korwahk people but even if I didn’t have that sweet outfit,
that feather band alone would have done the trick.

We were being escorted by warriors, two at
front, two at back, they’d come to the cham, slapped back the flaps
and grunted, “Vayay, boh,” which Diandra told me meant “come, now”
(though I’d already figured that out).

And off we went, Diandra and I, followed by
Sheena, guards in front and rear, moving swiftly through the
encampment toward the dais.

“I forgot to ask and before I forget again,”
I told her, “I need to find a new bride named Narinda.”

Her head turned to me and her hand on mine
in the crook of her elbow squeezed. “Pardon, my dear?”

“I need to find a bride named Narinda. She
helped me; we were in the Hunt together. I haven’t seen her since.
I want to make sure she’s all right. Check up on her,” I explained
and Diandra nodded.

“I will ask Seerim to see if he can find
your Narinda.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “Or, I mean,
shahsha.”

She smiled her approval then her eyes
flitted over my shoulder and they narrowed.

I looked over my shoulder to see a man, not
a native, but one with blond hair, a hat on his head, blue eyes and
old-fashioned clothing, white shirt with laces at the top (that
kind of needed to be washed), tan breeches, brown boots. And he
wore a low-slung belt on his hips with a nasty looking knife
attached to it.

His eyes sifted through the guards at our
front then Diandra and it hit me he was walking at our sides and he
was doing it with something on his mind

“Dahksahna,” he mumbled when his eyes hit
me.

Yep, he was walking at our sides with
something on his mind.

“Veeyoo,” a guard behind us grunted, the man
looked over his shoulder and said something conciliatory to the
guard, I felt Diandra’s hand tighten on mine then he turned back to
me.

“I am a man from your land,” he told me, I
blinked and my step faltered.

“You’re from Seattle?” I asked, my heart in
my throat but he blinked back.

“Erm… no, Middleland,” he replied.

“
Veeyoo,
” the guard behind us grunted again, this
time a little more impatiently and a lot more scarily and the man
quickly glanced at the guard and his manner became
urgent.

“The Dax will not like you speaking to his
bride,” Diandra warned. “She is not of your land. She is of another
land but now she is Korwahk, she is queen. I advise you step
away.”

He ignored Diandra, something I didn’t like
all that much, and kept his eyes on me.

“It is said you are having difficulty
adjusting,” he remarked.

“She is fine,” Diandra snapped.

He ignored her again and spoke to me. “You
fight with your king,” he stated.

“I –” I started but Diandra talked over
me.

“She is the warrior queen. The warrior queen
has a fierce spirit. It is legend. Step away.”

The dais was coming up, his eyes went in
that direction, a slash of fear he couldn’t quite hide marked his
features, the warrior grunted again, “
Veeyoo!
” and the man’s eyes swiftly came back to
me.

“My name is Geoffrey, Dahksahna, and
remember, I am a friend,” he stated urgently, his eyes peering deep
in mine.

I felt my brows draw together and suddenly
there was no hustle and bustle around us because we were out of the
throng and walking into the stone clearing before the dais.

I looked away from Geoffrey and up to the
dais.

Then I sucked in a sharp breath.

The firepits were burning at both sides and
behind.

And Lahn was there.

He was painted again, the thick black streak
across his eyes, three thin ones sweeping his cheekbones, one wide
one going from collarbone down the middle of his chest all the way
into the top of his hides, thinner ones sweeping arcs from it over
his shoulders, across his pectorals, ribs and abs. Black stripes
circling his bulging biceps and muscular forearms. He was wearing a
belt of huge gold discs that hung low on his hips.

And his hair was free, no ponytail, no
braid, the long thickness of it waved and curled down his back,
over his shoulders and next to his face.

I felt my lungs start burning.

Holy freaking moly… my husband was
hot!

His head had come up when we entered the
space and even though he wasn’t close, I saw it go hard with what
could only be described as wrath and it looked like his gaze was
pointed at Geoffrey.

Uh-oh.

We had continued moving across the clearing
and I looked over my shoulder to my right to see Geoffrey had
slowed then he turned and I watched Geoffrey quickly move back
across the clearing and then fade into the crowd.

I turned back when Diandra’s hand squeezed
mine. “We will speak of him later,” she muttered to me, I nodded
and the warriors led us to Lahn.

We walked up the steps, the warriors
peeled off and Diandra stepped away when I was presented to their
king. His eyes swept me head-to-toe but they showed no reaction
which kind of sucked because it took seven women a lot of time to
get me all gussied up, I didn’t often feel I looked hot but I felt
it then and it would have been nice for him to give me something. A
lip twitch. His eyes warming. A wink.
Something.

But I didn’t get something. I got absolutely
nothing. He looked beyond me, barked something then sat on his
throne of horns, leaning forward on a forearm at his knee; he also
leaned to the side, looking around me stating clearly I was in his
goddamned way.

Jeez, I hated it when he got like this and I
shared this with him by glaring at his head with its flowing,
freaking gorgeous black hair.

He didn’t even look at me.

Diandra caught my arm, scuttled me to the
side, took me to my white throne and touched my shoulder,
indicating I should sit.

I turned and sat on my gold pad as Diandra
moved to my left side and the instant my ass touched pad, Lahn
barked something loudly and the men started beating at the small
drums.

I looked at him to see he was still leaned
forward on his arm, his eyes off into the distance and I wondered
what the point was of me being there if he wasn’t even going to
look at me.

The man I’d seen the night of the rite
wearing black robes and having his hair cut short (even the
non-warriors wore their hair long) hurried forward and stopped at
the dais. Lahn barked another order at him, the man bowed his head
and hurried away.

It was at this point that I realized the sun
was blazing as were the firepits all around us and it was freaking
hot. I was going to get roasted out here, in more ways than
one.

“That is The Eunuch,” Diandra whispered in
my ear and I turned my head to see her bent to me.

“Sorry?”

She tipped her chin in the direction of
where the man in the robes was and repeated, “The Eunuch. He has
charge of the scouts who search for the wives for the Hunt. He has
charge of the Hunt and its celebrations. He has charge of the
warrior selections and once the warriors are selected, he chooses
who will be trained by whom then, once they are of an age, who will
be assigned to whom. The warriors spend years as what we would
consider squires, serving at the same time training before they are
sent out to make their first kill. And when we ride, once the Dax
chooses camp, he has charge of organizing the chams, making sure
livestock and horses are kept downwind, refuse is disposed of
correctly, things the Dax has little interest in.”

I was stuck on something she said
previously.

“He’s a eunuch?”

She nodded. “The Dax before King Lahn did
the deed himself. I watched it. Everyone did. It happened on this
very dais.”

Oh my God!

I stared at her then breathed, “Why?”

She shook her head. “There are those who…”
she paused, “
prefer
their
erm…” she hesitated again, “
own kind.
”

“He’s a homosexual?” I asked, aghast at
where this was going.

“A what?” Diandra asked back.