"I feel like a fledgling all over again," she complained, reading his thoughts straight out of his mind. Though she was not a telepath, by nature of her sex, she and Gideon shared a specially formed link that kept them constantly within one another's thoughts. It was the same for Jacob and Bella and all other Imprinted pairs.
"You are too hard on yourself, Neliss," he soothed, pressing a kiss into her forehead. "You are in danger of sounding like Jacob," he teased, knowing that Jacob's constant self-reprisals had a habit of getting under her skin.
"Please, you will make me toss my cookies," she said wryly.
"Toss your cookies?" Gideon laughed at the phrase.
"I know, I know…I sound like Bella." Legna giggled in spite of herself. "I cannot help it. She used that term her entire pregnancy. It rubbed off."
"So I see," he murmured, reaching to cover her belly with one broad palm. His fingers looked graceful in that way he had, curving over their hidden baby with tenderness and affection.
That was the moment Noah entered the room.
Gideon was happy to see his wife did not move or react in any way. She had a terrible habit of jumping away from him whenever her brother showed up. But as Noah continued to accept their union, she seemed to be less self-conscious.
"I am simply too tired to move," she whispered defiantly.
"Then for once I am glad of your exhausted state," he whispered back.
"Hello," Noah greeted them quietly, moving closer to his sister and brother-in-law so he wouldn't disturb their patient. "How is she?"
"Weak," Gideon said. "And worsening. I put her into a deep sleep, but she still seems to be having her visions."
Noah turned to look at Bella, watching carefully as she twitched restlessly.
"Has she said anything useful? Do you know why she is being beat to death by her own power? I have never seen so much harm caused by one's own abilities."
"I believe I may have to resort to calling in a male Mind Demon. Legna's empathy is not enough to soothe her. Perhaps a full telepath will be able to set her apart from these visions."
"That would drive Jacob up a wall. A male Mind Demon would probably have to use hands-on techniques, and you know how Jacob reacts to other men touching Bella."
"I think he has gotten better over these past months," Legna said. "He actually reached a point where he was not at all upset when Gideon came to give her checkups."
"That is because he knew that an Imprinted Demon would never be a threat," Gideon said dryly. "I am yours lock, stock, and proverbial barrel, my sweet, and I could not look elsewhere even if I tried."
"True," Legna giggled, closing her eyes and snuggling even closer to her mate.
Noah watched the tenderness between them with a combination of joy and hurt. He was happy to see his littlest sister so content and well cared for. There was no one as powerful as the Ancient Body Demon who held her so closely, and she would be protected by him to his last breath if it came down to such a choice. This contented the King deeply. He could not have parted with Magdelegna as abruptly as he had if he could not be assured of her safety.
He had gotten over Legna's absence from his home for the most part. She had lived with him for almost three hundred years. He had raised her from a small child after their parents' deaths, so he had missed her terribly when first she had left him. But the adjustment was coming along quite a bit easier than he would have expected of himself.
So why did he feel so empty when he watched her and Gideon together?
He had not enjoyed the choice of mate Destiny had pressed onto his sister for many reasons in the beginning, but now he would have no other for her, after seeing how devoted to her Gideon truly was. So he could not blame the vacancies of his heart on the medic.
Noah shook off the feelings shadowing his soul before his sister became aware of them, and subsequently disturbed by them. She was taxed enough without adding his personal deficiencies to her worry load. He excused himself and went back down to the hall so he could brood over books he probably would not try to read in any sincerity, while waiting for Jacob to return.
"Anya, you worry too much. Siena always does this. Especially in the fall."
Anya turned to look at her companion with the flicker of eyes so dark they were easily labeled black. Syreena was un-perturbed by Anya's glare and crossed her slim legs casually to add punctuation to her unconcerned manner.
Anya was a half-breed Lycanthrope who was the result of what happened when a human and Lycanthrope had children. Unlike in Demon society, mating with humans was not forbidden to changelings and not punished when attempted. But it was generally frowned on because it took a very special person to be capable of being brought into their fold, and it had to be a total commitment or none at all, because the risk of exposure to the public was too great. It was bad enough as it was with the hunters and magic-users pursuing their existence. It was a horrifying thought to consider what might happen if the entire human race came to understand that myths and legends were more often true than not.
A half-bred Lycanthrope could not shapechange, but instead maintained a human form with all the, mostly nonvisible, traits of the animal they could have become had they been full-bred. In Anya's case, she was part fox. She had the sleek, pointed grace of a vixen to her features, a beautiful delicacy that made her appear deceptively fragile. She was a redhead, though the color of her hair changed seasonally between bright auburn, brownish red, and various other degrees of the shade. At the moment that meant the myriad browns and reddish browns that came with the fall.
She was slim, petite, and one of Siena's most trusted companions. Anya was to the Queen what Elijah was to Noah. The head of her armies, her lead assassin and infiltrator, and the one person who could vex her and make her laugh all in the same breath. It was a distinction of rank no half-breed had ever had in the Lycanthrope court and royal family before.
The second female was Syreena, Siena's younger sister and heir to the throne in the event Siena did not have children. She had been called home and risen to the position of court advisor upon her sister's ascension to the throne for very clear reasons. Firstly, she was a wise counselor, a fearless advocate for her sister's wishes, and the only one who could gainsay the Queen without worrying about being banished from court. But what made her truly unique, one of the most unique Lycanthropes alive, was the fact that Syreena was the only living Lycanthrope who could transform into five distinct forms.
Every full Lycanthrope had three forms. The human, the Lycanthrope, and the animal, with the Lycanthrope being the Werecreature, half-human half-animal, like Siena's Werecat form.
Syreena had two others.
It was generally believed that the anomaly had been caused by a life-threatening illness she had suffered during her adolescence. It had almost killed her, this mysterious illness, but having survived it she had become mutated in some way that, once she became capable of changing, she realized she was privy to two different genres of form. It had often been jokingly referred to as the Lycanthrope version of a split personality. This description was not too far off from the truth on many, many levels.
To begin with, her two animal shapes could not have been more opposite of one another. The first was of a peregrine falcon, a sharp-eyed hunter in flight. The second was of a bottle-nosed dolphin, a playful water creature with inconceivable intelligence. Though characteristics of both these creatures were quite apparent in her human form, such as her keen judgment and her fearless predatory nature, it was the peculiar nature of owning two so opposite Wereforms that made her somewhat unpredictable.
As a human, Syreena was slim and light, looking very much like a delicate bird but moving with the sleek grace and speed of her dolphin half. Her hair was split down a center part, one half a beautiful multitude of feather-soft browns, the other a sleek iron gray. Her eyes were dual-colored as well, but like the harlequin, the gray eye was on the side where the brown hair was, and the brown eye in its opposite position. Though this seemed extreme, it somehow worked to make her look quite exotic and unique outwardly, a handsome reflection of her nature overall.
Syreena was an anomaly, yes, but she was a precious one. She was in great demand by those who considered her nothing short of perfection. To be one such graceful and wonderful form was enough to put her genetic code in demand, but two? The power her stock could potentially have was something many coveted, provided she could pass the mutation on to her young. But it was clearly a chance many were eager to take.
Syreena herself, however, felt harangued by the covetous attention she received, and as a result had completely buried herself in her work as her sister's advisor. She had made herself just as inapproachable as Siena had, but for very different reasons. Syreena actually craved a mate and family, but she trusted no Lycanthropes' motives or intentions. It was rather like wealthy and famous people who could never be sure what motivated others to become their friends.
"Siena does not disappear without a trace," Anya continued to point out to the counselor. "If she's going to spend time away, she always tells me so. You are only just beginning to become reacquainted with your sister. I have known the Queen all of my life and she does not always do this."
"I have been back to court since the war ended," Syreena said, her tone reflecting how she did not appreciate being reminded that the half-breed across from her could be considered more of a sister to Siena than the Princess and heir apparent could. "I think it is safe to say I have learned enough about my sister in the past fourteen years."
"No insult intended," Anya apologized in solemnity. "Forgive me, I am just worried."
"If you are so concerned, why not send out some of the Elite to search for her?"
"I would," Anya hesitated, "but if it is solitude she is seeking and I should happen to disturb it, she will be livid and I will find myself leashed to her throne."
That made Syreena laugh. The Princess tossed back her bicolored hair and grinned at Anya.