Crucible of Fate

expression on Koren’s face before as Danny wrapped his arms and legs around the bigger man. He was wiggling and whining, and Koren engulfed him in his arms before he slid one hand down over Danny’s ass.
    “You didn’t tell us.” Yuri chuckled as Logan reached the table.
    Kabore took a breath when the semel of the tribe of Mafdet caught him in his stare. Gold eyes swallowed him, and my steward was momentarily speechless.
    “I wasn’t sure what Koren was going to do. It’s hard to know with him,” Logan said point blank, never anything but directness coming out of the man.
    “I don’t know,” I said, watching him carry Danny out of the square, rubbing circles on his back as Danny kissed along the length of his jaw. “I think this might be it.”
    “Me too,” Logan agreed. “And I like it. Danny’s actually very good for him. He’s smart and knows what he’s worth to the tribe. He won’t let Koren get away with anything.”
    “On the flip side,” Jin offered, “Koren makes Danny feel very confident and protected, and they simply fit. I hope Koren keeps him.”
    “Maybe it will be Danny who leaves,” I said.
    Jin thought that was funny.
    I rolled my head back so I could see Logan, gaze up into the gold eyes I knew so well. “And?”
    “I want Crane,” Logan said without fanfare.
    “Yes, I know. He’s yours.”
    “Good.” He scowled. “You look like hell.”
    “I was stabbed.”
    “So I understand,” he said coolly.
    “No, no, that wasn’t my fault,” I said defensively. “I had no idea that Jin killed the priest.”
    Logan said nothing, just let go of Jin’s hand and put his arm around his mate, eased Jin against his side. “Will you be able to leave here tomorrow? I’d like you to see my son before I leave for home.”
    “Of course.”
    His attention was back on Kabore. “I’m Logan Church, semel-netjer of the tribe of Mafdet.”
    “This is an honor, semel.”
    Logan nodded, like, of course it was, before he let go of Jin and walked around the table to Yuri, who stood to greet him.
    I enjoyed seeing the two men hug tight and hard before Logan let him go, and I stood so he could grab me. “It’s good to see you.”
    “And you,” he said into my shoulder before he let go. “Tell me what’s going on here.”
    We all sat down, and Logan kept Jin’s hand in both of his as Jin leaned on his shoulder. They really should have been on billboards together, Jin was so beautiful and Logan was all strength and heat. But what I noticed more than anything was the change in Jin. The sort of thrumming energy present since he had arrived had dissipated. Everyone had been a little on edge with him. Kabore was right—the power, though fascinating, seemed unstable. The nekhene cat was like a bottle of nitroglycerin; you didn’t know when a slight jostle might set him off.
    With Logan beside him, though, it was like a switch had been flipped, and he was just him. Just Jin.
    “Domin.”
    I came out of my thoughts to find Logan staring at me. “Yes?”
    “My advice would be to transport the semel from here. Take him back to Sobek, read the charges, and then execute him.”
    “Logan, he’s sick,” Yuri said. “We’re talking about the law and that’s all.”
    “Yeah, but—”
    “A semel who is sick has his mate to depend on, his maahes if he has one, and barring that, his sheseru and sylvan. There is a sacred bond between a semel and his house, and if the semel breaks it, then it is up to those who support him either to take control or allow him to run amok.”
    “But a semel’s word is law,” Yuri argued. “When you were hurt in the pit the time you fought with Domin, you forbade anyone from helping you or—”
    “And would that have continued until I died?” he demanded sharply. “Didn’t Mikhail go get Jin the following day, even though I forbade anyone from acting?”
    Silence.
    “It sounds like the sylvan was the voice of reason and he was killed. The sheseru allowed himself to be corrupted, and his mate and his family did nothing.”
    “Logan, they were powerless,” I said. “The son is—”
    “Weak, I suspect,” Logan said, passing judgment. “You should make these djehus both sylvan and sheseru to help him and bring the whole tribe back together.”
    Everybody went silent.
    It was brilliant.
    “Which do—”
    “The djehu of the shen should be sylvan,” Jin began, “because she knows the law. The djehu of the peq, as he is familiar with what it