"What a pair we are. I do not believe we would know a vacation if it came up and bit us on the flank. What we should be doing is preparing for the Samhain festival."
"What are you going to do at the festival? Cross your legs and be a voyeur?" Anya teased her.
The Samhain festival always ended with hundreds of entwined bodies scattered behind the trees and bushes of the forest just beyond the castle and the village. Syreena had no mate, and due to the same restrictions Siena suffered under, she could take but one lover in her lifetime.
"You know, you are fortunate that our Queen adores you," Syreena threatened with a sparkle in her eye. "Else I would leash you to the throne myself." The Princess sobered quickly. "You have me worrying now. I think I will skim some of the territory."
Syreena stood up and tossed her hair over so that the gray side was buried beneath the brown. The brown hair immediately began to slip over her body. Feathers and wings replaced humanity, and in a breathless flash of speed that Anya could not help but admire, Syreena took wing across the throne room's vaulted ceilings.
She soared out of the underground castle in an instant, leaving Anya alone with her worries. At that moment, however, all Anya could do was marvel over the Princess's abilities. There was no Lycanthrope alive who could change that fast. Perhaps Siena, but she would have to work extremely hard at it or be startled into the change.
Anya both did and did not envy those who were full-blooded changelings. On the one hand, most changelings could change form at will. It was a handy skill that would have been a tremendous asset to the General of the Lycanthrope Queen's armies. And besides that, it seemed like so much fun to be able to experience the world as an animal.
In the con list was the tendency Lycanthropes had toward less controllable animalistic behaviors. Though those with great strength like Siena and Syreena could control most of these urges, the majority of the population tended to be less assertive over their baser natures. Anya enjoyed the instincts she had been born with; they made her a determined fighter and an excellent strategist. But she would hate being under the impulse of her instincts. Control meant everything to her.
In that moment, control meant taking some action of her own. Syreena had given her an idea. She could send out those of her Elite who were aviary. As birds they could skim the land quickly and out of immediate notice. Siena might sense one of them passing by, but so long as they kept going they would not disturb her if indeed it was solitude that had drawn her away.
If it was something else, Anya would not be able to forgive herself for not acting. Siena was indeed her sister, and she was a friend as well. She would be remiss if she did not think of the Queen's protection at all times. These times above others especially.
Siena was a remarkable leader with unequaled skill at her position. Though Syreena could step into her place if needed, the Princess did not have the same affinity with the people Siena did. Syreena had lived a great deal of her lifetime in the monastic enclosure of The Pride. Like those great and wise teachers, she knew more about her studies than she did about relating to others. This often showed during gatherings and it made others just as uncomfortable as it made her. Siena was the leader the Lycanthropes needed in this era. There could be no substitute, especially not the markedly antisocial Princess. Her time would perhaps come one day, but hopefully that would be a long time into the future, long after Siena's influence of peace and wisdom had erased the bloodthirsty legacy their father had left in his wake.
The remark about preparing for Samhain had been a jest. Syreena would not be found anywhere near the festivities and intense crowds of that celebration. Siena had thought to try and draw her out this year as insistently as she could, and this was why her absence sat so unwell with Anya. Siena could not coax her sister into joining the party if she was not here to do it, and it had been practically all she had talked about for weeks now.
No.
Something was not right.
Anya strode out of the throne room to find her Elite and see if she couldn't put that feeling of wrong back to right.
CHAPTER 5
Elijah came out of the rear room dressed more appropriately in a pair of jogging pants that were somewhat small on him, but much better than running around in nothing but a towel. They were flexible enough to be comfortable and served their purpose.
"Close enough," Siena remarked as she took his measure. "I didn't realize Jinaeri had men's clothes here. Something tells me she has a secret she's been keeping from me."
"And do you require your subjects to tell you about their affairs?"
Elijah knew he was baiting her, but she smiled and moved to sit on the couch with her feet curled up under her. She was looking a bit better though, if a little tired around the edges. Elijah joined her by sitting on the couch across from her, hooking an ankle over his knee with casual ease.
"No. But I do require my ladies-in-wait to do so. Jinaeri is one of my closest aides. I only keep unattached aides near me."
"Why?"
"Because my senses are quite powerful and it is too easy for me to detect the scent of a mate on them."
"And why would that be so bad?" Elijah pressed her. He suspected the answer already, but wanted to hear her say it.
"It is a…distraction. I keep myself far removed from those distractions. I would not punish her or condemn her for it, I would merely replace her and give her another position."
"You mean a demotion. No wonder she is reluctant to tell you."
"It is not a demotion."
"To go from a valuable aide close to the Queen to…whatever? You don't consider that a demotion?" Elijah laughed with a short, disbelieving snort. "I'll bet you anything Jinaeri does."
"Perhaps," Siena relented.
"And for what? For having a lover? That sounds quite discriminatory, Your Majesty. All because you don't want to be made uncomfortable with thoughts about a mate or about sex?"
"I would not expect you to understand," she snapped suddenly, her body becoming rigid with her irritation. "It's well known that you Demons will rut with anything that sits still for you long enough."
"Oh, really? Is that fact as well known as the whole 'Lycanthrope blood is tainted' thing?"
He made his point, that was clear. He could tell by the color flushing her cheeks. But to his surprise, she once more relented.
"Perhaps you are correct. I am afraid some of my prejudices still show themselves from time to time, despite my efforts otherwise. I apologize for the disparagement."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Elijah said quietly, feeling a bit low for taunting her. "I've said enough rude things to you recently to more than compensate."
"This too is true," she noted, her brow lifting teasingly as her eyes sparkled.
"You know," Elijah raised a hand to shake a finger at her, "you have an attitude problem."
"I certainly do. Your attitude is a huge problem for me."
"Oh, very funny," he said, sarcasm dripping from his lips.
But in spite of himself he was enjoying the harmless sparring. She had a quick and ready wit. This did not surprise him. He had seen evidence of that quite a bit already. Still, it was a pleasant attribute. He had been surrounded by strong and brilliant women all of his life. It stood to reason she would be appealing to him because of that fact alone.
"Are you hungry? I need to hunt for us if we are to eat," she said.
"You don't look like you are ready for a hunt yet," he cautioned.
"And I never will be if we start to starve to death. Don't concern yourself, warrior. I haven't had a rabbit take the breath out of me yet."
She stood up, the skirt of another one of those little dresses falling into place only after giving the Demon a glimpse of a temptingly curved bottom. Heading for the cave entrance, Siena was oblivious to the reaction it inspired in him. When he followed several minutes later, he found the empty dress pooled on the floor right near the opening. Unable to help himself, he picked the garment up and, touching it beneath his nose, he took a breath full of her scent.
It was getting harder and harder to resist these lures she so unwittingly left in his path. Whether it was moon madness or just plain old-fashioned overactive hormones, he had to get out of there. He dropped the dress back onto the ground and turned abruptly back to the little parlor.
He was still pacing in front of the fireplace when she suddenly appeared at the top of the short steps. Elijah looked up at her and froze instantaneously in place. She was flushed, breathless, and beautiful. Fresh from the hunt and, he would swear on Noah's life, she smelled a thousand times more provocative than she had when she'd left. Elijah stood still as she stepped down lightly into the room and moved past him to lay several freshly killed rabbits on the hearth. She crossed back over his path to head for the pool, intent on bathing away the remnants of blood that had stained her hands.
Siena was not blind to the warrior's rapt attention. And what she did not see outright, she certainly felt. She had an affinity with all animals, a telepathy of sorts that told her what actions and urges and feelings a specific creature was experiencing. It worked on humanoids as well when their emotions and sensations were born of their more animalistic sides.
And lust was certainly an animalistic aspect.
She washed her hands slowly, dawdling on purpose because she did not want to go back to that part of the cavern and feel the weight of those vivid green eyes and the equally clear desires that burned behind them. She was not immune to her own awareness of him and the things about him that attracted her equally honed senses. Demon or otherwise, he was a remarkable man, both physically and chemically. Siena left it to those narrow prospects. She could not bring herself to admit that there could be anything more personally appealing than just physicality. She didn't want to feel these things, but they were relentless. No matter how hard she tried, she could not push away these thoughts that would only serve to draw her to him. She hoped that by accepting at least that aspect of her attraction to him, it would remove the untouchable lure that he presented.