Crucible of Fate

and the courtyard, now filled with easily a hundred people, went quiet and still. “My semel jests. I will fight today.”
    Even though I would have really loved taking Ammon El Masry’s former sylvan apart, it was not my place. I bowed to Taj, who came forward and started undressing.
    Traore Uago scuttled toward me. “My lord,” the demoted sylvan began, hand over his heart. “I would have to be a fool to accept such a challenge as—”
    “Yes.” I fixed him in place with my stare. “So, really, Traore Uago, do you wish to press this rebellion of yours, or will you swear allegiance to my sylvan and we’ll hear no more of disrespect masquerading as tardiness?”
    He stared, and I held his gaze until it moved from my eyes to the ground at his feet.
    “Forgive me, my semel.”
    “My lord,” I corrected.
    “My lord. Please forgive me.”
    “Granted,” I said, bored, tipping my head at my sylvan. “Now ask for his.”
    Mikhail pivoted to face the man, but I noticed he did not release Samani’s hand.
    “Since when does Mikhail have a girlfriend?” Koren was dumbfounded, and when I glanced over my shoulder at him, I saw that Jamal was there as well. The phocal knew who Logan was and had probably made certain my men knew that the brother of the semel-netjer was no threat, thus allowing him down into the courtyard.
    “What if he were trying to kill me?” I asked Jamal, indicating Koren.
    “He would have been dead before he reached for a weapon, my lord.”
    “So you say,” I muttered.
    Jamal’s sigh came fast because he understood I was messing with him. It had taken a while for him to understand the teasing and sarcasm, but he did now.
    “Domin—”
    “No.” I faced Koren. “Don’t presume to speak to me as though we are friends.”
    “Domin, I—”
    “No,” I cut him off again and turned to Kabore. “See to Mr. Church’s comfort; have him quartered in the guest wing. I’m having dinner with my mastaba alone.”
    “Yes, my lord.”
    “Domin—”
    “The semel-aten is addressed as ‘lord’,” Kabore educated my former lover.
    I didn’t wait to hear what Koren said.

Chapter 3

     
    E BERE was watching me pace.
    “And my own mate kept from me that my sylvan and my hathen were in love!”
    When I realized she wasn’t saying anything, I whirled around to face her.
    She was knitting.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Oh, are you speaking to me?” She feigned surprise.
    “Do you see anybody else here?”
    Her grunt conveyed how annoying I was.
    “Well, it’s no wonder your former mate preferred the company of other women if you were this interesting when you were married.”
    She would not be baited; she only yawned. “Perhaps your mate travels because he needs a break from your company.”
    I narrowed my eyes.
    She arched an eyebrow before giving her attention once more to whatever it was she was making.
    “What is that?”
    “A hat for the semel-netjer’s son, Ilia.”
    I crossed my arms as I gazed down at her. “That’s nice of you. I still need to send a gift. Yuri wanted to go, but I made him wait until we could make the trip together in the fall.”
    “Why?”
    “What if he didn’t come back?”
    She scoffed. “That man would never willingly leave your side.”
    “He just did!” I barked. “He went off to Ipis!”
    “Oh my, I had no idea you missed him so desperately.”
    “He left me,” I said again, as petulantly as the first time.
    “On a mission of diplomacy that only he could undertake,” she said in an attempt to mollify me. “But he plans to return as soon as possible. I’ve seen the way he stares at you; he will always fly home as fast as he can.”
    My grunt was loud as I flopped down onto the chaise across from her.
    “Was your mate upset when you had him wait to see Jin and Logan’s new son?”
    Maybe he was; I wasn’t sure. Lately, when Yuri talked to me, I sort of tuned out and instead focused on a patch of his freckled skin, the play of muscles in his back, or the plump bottom lip he would bite sometimes when I sucked on one of his nipples or when I stroked—
    “That sound was absolutely decadent.”
    I was startled. “What?”
    “You moaned and it sounded like sex to me.”
    I scowled.
    She tittered. “Since you know, please tell me how Jin and Logan have a son already?”
    I was lost. “What?”
    “I must have missed something about the child.”
    “About the—”
     “How do they have a child already? Explain it to