Honored Vow

home yet, the wide
    open spaces, the fact that your ancestors built into solid rock—I’m sure
    it’s like a fortress.”
    “And that appeals to you.”
    “It does,” he told him. “You know how a sheseru thinks; we crave a
    castle to defend and hole up in to protect the people we love.”
    “Yes, you are all the same.”
    “We’re simple.”
    “Which is a blessing.”
    Yuri nodded, and I saw Chuluun’s first real smile.

    Honored Vow

    145

    Inside the restaurant, we all sat down on the floor with pillows and a
    low table. There was hot tea with milk, and then Chuluun ordered many
    dishes for us all to share. He started talking about Amirah again, and how
    many of the semels were already distracted.
    “I don’t know which semel is which,” he told us. “Only the priest
    knows, even our own semel does not. Only when and if the semel can
    claim their mate in their werepanther form will we know who belongs to
    which tribe.”
    “But you’d be able to tell which semel was which by the maahes
    with them,” I pressed him.
    “No.” He shook his head. “The princes are not allowed to speak their
    lineage, are not allowed to speak at all to anyone. They take a vow of
    silence when they enter with their semels.”
    “They haven’t been allowed to speak for two months?”
    “No.”
    “But they stay with the semels?”
    “If they can.” He looked sad suddenly. “We have lost one maahes
    already, and even though he has been dead now for two weeks, we can do
    nothing, as we don’t know who he belongs to. When they join you
    tomorrow, only then will we know who is missing.”
    Domin could be dead.
    I turned to Yuri, who gave me a quick shake of his head. “What?”
    “You actually think that your maahes was the one to die?” Yuri
    scoffed.
    I thought about it. “No, actually.”
    Yuri nodded. “There’s no maahes here stronger.”
    “Are you certain?” Chuluun asked Yuri, taking offense, as he was
    one as well.
    “I am,” he told him. “And I mean no disrespect, but you cannot be
    stronger than Domin Thorne.” He looked back at me. “Think about your
    maahes, Jin.”
    And I was trying to, not really understanding, until Crane bumped
    me with his knee. Only then did it hit me. Yuri meant because only Domin
    had been a semel as well. Logan Church had given another semel the place
    of maahes in his tribe because he knew he was strong enough to rein
    Domin in if need be. Normal leaders were not secure enough to take a

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    Mary Calmes

    chance like that, but because Logan had, that made Domin superior and
    strongest, as he had his werepanther form.
    “I understand,” I told Crane.
    “Good.” He nodded before turning back to Chuluun. “So what’s
    been happening to the semels?”
    Chuluun was watching Yuri instead of listening, so it took a minute
    for him to look back at Crane. “Sorry?”
    “The beset of my reah wanted to know what the treatment of the
    semels has been up to this time,” Danny told him.
    I had nearly forgotten he was there.
    “Hello,” Danny snapped, and I was surprised. This was not the
    respectful man from earlier; something was wrong.
    I turned to him and was surprised to find his eyes locked on Yuri as
    well.
    “Are the semels beaten?” Crane wanted to know, and he asked his
    question softly, with more finesse than Danny had.
    Chuluun turned his head to look at my best friend. “My semel uses a
    whip to communicate with them, so yes, they are struck daily.”
    “And they’re all in their panther form now?”
    “Yes. It’s why their mates are not allowed to see them until
    tomorrow night. Today completes the full eight-week cycle of the semels
    as animals. In the evening, they are allowed to shift into their werepanther
    form, which they will remain in until they either kill their mates or
    recognize them. If they kill their mates, or any other but their mates in the
    pit, they are instantly ordered back into panther form, where they will
    remain and someday forget they were ever men.”
    It was horrible, the idea you could kill the person you loved and then
    forget not only loving them, but your humanity as well.
    “That’s barbaric,” Danny said, getting up. “Where’s the bathroom?”
    He was being combative and surly, and I had no idea why.
    One of the other two men with Chuluun pointed toward the back. I
    had tried to catch all the men’s names but only remembered Krem and
    Berhna, who had come with Chuluun to the terminal.
    “Your boy