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She looked up to see the familiar underside of Yas’kihn’s jaw and realized it was he who held her in his big hands. The emperor screamed, a piercing, wordless sound that grated against her eardrums and would forever haunt her nightmares as the oily fire quickly spread across him and consumed his flesh. Louella gagged.
“Your bloodline isn’t as pure as you thought, Gudren,” Yas’kihn hissed. He turned his burning eyes to the surviving Ahn’hudi males and Kaanian warriors who held them at spearpoint. “You are witness to my victory. Gudren, dishonored son of our former emperor, issued challenge for my mate and my place as general superior. You are witness to his defeat and my victory!”
The Ahn’hudi males bowed their heads in submission, their crests flattened.
Yas’kihn continued his growling: “You who sided with him in his dishonor are witness to this defeat, for you, too, are defeated and dishonored. I now claim all that my challenger sought to take from me! I am your new emperor as well as your general superior, and I rescind your titles, ranks, and privileges. You are hereby banished from Ahn’hudin. Your mates and younglings are now mine!”
Captain Ashtul stepped forward, blood dripping from one arm and slashes in both legs. In a voice raspy with pain, “I am Ashtul, a prince of Kaan, and I, too, am witness to your dishonor and defeat. Kaan will remain an ally of Ahn’hudin under the rule of Emperor Yas’kihn mek Kuresh’Zha.” His nostrils flared. “Kaan does not tolerate traitors.”
The Kaanian warriors thrust their spears and slaughtered all but two of the remaining Ahn’hudi males who had attacked the general superior. The remaining two, one of them the former emperor’s attending priest who had not actually participated in the melee, were bound and escorted from the room. Those two lived to bear witness to their people.
Releasing Louella to stand amid the gore, Yas’kihn prowled the room and spat liquid fire on every fallen Ahn’hudi male’s carcass. If any were not dead, the oily fire soon killed them.
Chapter13
Louella wasn’t quite sure she heard correctly. Emperor? She gnawed on her full bottom lip. Did that make her a sort of emperor’s consort? After all, they weren’t officially married. Or were they? She frowned, wondering whether “consort” meant she would be a queen or a king’s favored concubine. Her thoughts raced.What the hell just happened?Why did the Kaanian warriors fight alongside Jax? How could this have happened at all?
“Louella.”
She looked up, startled from her thoughts, to see Jax had crossed the room and now stood in front of her. She blinked, horror mingling with bewilderment and shock. He placed a fingertip under her chin and raised her face toward his.
“Louella.”
She blinked again and felt herself tremble as the shock of the fierce and bloody battle began to register in her brain. She gulped and inhaled, then gagged at the coppery stench of violent death and burning flesh.
“Jax?” she squeaked, her voice high and thin.
Yas’kihn cupped her face and felt the clammy skin, watched how her eyes began to lose focus, the pupils narrowing to pinpoints. “Captain Ashtul, my mate is distressed.”
The captain turned his flat green gaze at him and nodded, whiskers twitching. “I’ll summon a healer to your quarters, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you,” Yas’kihn said as he caught Louella whose legs buckled. Her golden eyes rolled back, the whites startling against the earthy tones of her finely scaled skin. He cradled his mate against his blood-splattered chest, angling her head so that it rested in the hollow of his shoulder. “Inform the priest that my mating must be registered as quickly as possible.”
“And if he refuses?” Ashtul countered as he led the way to the rooms reserved for the visiting emperor.
Yas’kihn shrugged as he fell into step behind the captain. If the priest who served the emperor failed to support the new emperor, he would die as easily as the other traitors and be even more easily replaced. Wondering about the priest’s loyalty, he wondered if the male had willingly supported the former emperor’s selfish rule or had tried to guide Gudren down a more honorable path. He resolved to interrogate the priest to ascertain the truth. Glancing at his unconscious mate, he decided to spare her that conversation. It was likely to get bloody.
No, he thought, it wasn’t blood that offended her as much as it was the violence. Despite her fiery nature, his mate was a healer, not a warrior. He felt the warmth of satisfaction as he realized what a good foil she was for him. Louella’s caring nature balanced the bloodthirsty violence of his.
“A healer will arrive shortly, Your Majesty,” Captain Ashtul said when they stopped in front of the door. “I’ll take my leave now, unless you have any last requests.”
Yas’kihn nodded and said, “You and Kaan have the gratitude of all Ahn’hudin and my personal thanks. Ahn’hudin is honored by our alliance with Kaan.”
The captain bowed as the door slid open. “Kaan supports honor and defends it. May you rule long and well.”
The unvoiced question as to why the Kaanian warriors had leaped to his defense answered, Yas’kihn entered the room. He gently deposited Louella on the bed and noted the thick splatters of blood on her dress and shoes. She stirred as he began to strip her.
“What are you doing, Jax?” she muttered, her words slurring.
“You lost consciousness,” he replied as he pulled off the palla and stola.
“I’m not in the mood, Jax.” She sighed and gave him a slow blink as her mind cleared. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Your garments are stained,” he replied as he maneuvered her under the covers. Her tunic had escaped the blood spatter. He was glad of that, because he did not care to expose his mate’s nudity to the Kaanian healer who would soon arrive. He did not recognize the inconsistency in his eagerness to parade his mate garbed in ribbons and his reluctance to let the Kaanian healer see her exposed body.
“Oh.” She lapsed into thoughtful silence, then asked, “Jax?”
“Yes, pretty spark?”
