“What…who…who is this?” Hennessy sputtered, backing away from the big Kindred.
“This is my Kindred bodyguard, Commander Ty’rial,” Ellina said coldly. “And I believe he takes exception to the fact that you have insulted your Potentate.”
“I most certainly fucking do,” Ty growled, glaring down at the much shorter Hennessy. “You will apologize to my Lady at once or pay the consequences.” He pointed at the floor. “On your knees and beg her pardon.”
“What? I absolutely will not bow to that fr…er, to her,” Hennessy finished rather weakly, obviously checking himself as he glanced at the angry Kindred. His chewchie danced and squeaked angrily on top of his head as he spoke.
“You know, I believe it’s a punishable offense to offer an insult to the Potentate,” Ellina remarked. “With the penalties ranging from imprisonment to death. Depending on how offended she is,” she added. “And I must tell you, Hennessy, I am very offended.”
“What?” Hennessy’s almost-Sacred Blue face turned pale. “But you can’t do that! You can’t actually kill me just for speaking my mind.”
“She can and she will—I will enforce the Potentate’s will myself, if you don’t apologize now,” Ty growled. He pointed at the floor again, expressively.
Stiff with anger, Hennessy got down on one knee, like a male asking a female to join her life to his.
“If my words have offended, please forgive me,” he said in a wooden voice, his eyes blazing with outrage all the while. His chewchie was screeching so loudly Ellina could hardly hear the words. It was clear from the little creature’s actions exactly how sincere Hennessy’s apology was. Still, it was better than nothing.
“Very well,” she said. “You may go. But do not ever speak to me again in the manner you did today, or there will be consequences. Severe ones.”
The High Priest had been standing by, an astonished look on his round blue face as this all transpired. But when Hennessy got to his feet and began to storm away, he reached out a hand for the younger male.
“Wait, Barron Tolland!” he exclaimed but Hennessy only shook off his hand and slammed out of Ellina’s apartment. Clearly, he wasn’t interested in being placated.
Turning back to Ellina, the High Priest frowned reprovingly.
“Now, my dear—you mustn’t get so upset! You know Barron Tolland never meant any harm—he and I both only want what’s best for you!”
“No, you want what’s best for you,” Ellina snapped back. “Which would be if I was neatly tucked away someplace, pregnant and powerless while you ruled Helios Beta. Well, you can forget it, Kikbax, because it’s never going to happen!”
Perhaps she had gone too far. The Potentate and the High Priest were never supposed to be at odds, after all—they were meant to work together for the good of the kingdom. But Ellina couldn’t help herself—she was too angry to watch her words. Too hurt and insulted to be careful of what she said.
The High Priest’s face grew positively purple with rage and his chewchie screeched angrily.
“Now, see here, Ellina” he blustered. “You can’t go running off your new consort like this! You’re going to need a male of noble blood with skin as near to Sacred Blue as it can be when your Heat Cycle truly gets started. And what will you do if he refuses to breed you?”
“First, you will address me as ‘Potentate’ or ‘Your Majesty,’” Ellina said coldly, holding Lor back from launching himself at the High Priest’s chewchie. It would be unseemly for the two of them to fight. “Not, ‘my dear’ or by my first name, which is much too familiar and which I have not given you the right to use. Second,” she continued, as Kikbax’s face grew ever more purple, “I would never have Hennessy Tolland as my consort, not even if I was burning with Heat and was desperate. Which, by the way, I am not.”
“You’re not?” He looked baffled. “But you must be. I was so certain…” He trailed off, frowning.
Ellina lifted her chin. “My Heat Cycle is nowhere near and if it should come into play, I will choose my consort—not you, Lord Kikbax,” she said firmly. “Now, thank you for coming to lunch, but I think it’s best you go now. I would like to have my apartments to myself.”
The High Priest gave her a long look—half angry, half frustrated—then offered her a short nod in lieu of a bow.
“Your Majesty,” he said shortly and turned to go.
Ellina remained seated in her chair with Ty behind her, watching as the High Priest of Thufar stalked stiffly out of her apartment. She had a feeling she had just bought herself a ton of trouble, as her grandmother liked to say.
But really, what else could she have done?
Chapter Thirteen
“What else could you have done?” Ty asked reasonably, when he had heard the whole story. Well, most of it, anyway—Ellina couldn’t bear to tell him everything—not the part about how Hennessy had said he couldn’t breed her with the lights on, anyway. That was too humiliating—too demeaning.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head, her shoulders sagging as she paced back and forth in the living area. “I’m sure my Grandmamma would have found a better way—a more diplomatic solution—but I just got so angry.”
“And you had every right to be,” Ty said grimly. “That was nothing less than an attempted coup—albeit a bloodless one.”
“They think I’m a stupid little girl they can push aside with no effort at all,” Ellina said, getting angry all over again and pacing faster, so that her long skirts swished against her legs. “Just someone to be gotten rid of so the High Priest can rule all of Helios Beta while Hennessy whiles away the time playing with whores at my expense!”
