Besides, she knew Natillus and his mate and liked them. They were lesser nobles who had bonded at a very early age due to their chewchies being a matched pair and they had never had very much interest in anyone outside the two of them. But they had never been cruel or joined in the mean games the other noble children had engaged in—they just kept to themselves.
“Hello, Natillus, Lambada,” she said formally, nodding to them. “I am pleased to allow you to guide me through the Ritual of Humility.”
Relief flooded their faces and she understood that Natillus knew how very improper this situation was and was grateful she was willing to accept him in lieu of the High Priest.
“Very good, Your Majesty,” he said and glanced up at Ty. “You must be the Kindred bodyguard we were told was coming. My wife and I played host and hostess to your counterpart, Commander Asher and his mate, Lady Lisa.”
“Yes, that’s me. I am Commander Ty’rial.” Ty nodded at Natillus and Lambada. “I am pleased to meet you. Can you tell me the protocol for this ritual? I need to protect my Lady and I don’t like this venue at all.” He nodded at the vast room filled with warm steam and swirling mists and frowned. “Limited visibility,” he muttered. “And anyone could be here.”
“The Holy Mists are a place of peace, warrior,” Lambada said soothingly. “Please do not worry—the Potentate will be quite safe.”
“I know she will because I’m going to make damn sure of it,” Ty growled. “But I would rather keep her in a place where I can see her and her surroundings at all times. This area isn’t good for that at all.”
“Generally during the Ritual of Humility, the Potentate makes exactly one circuit of the Holy Mists and then comes to the Mouth of Thufar to choose the candidate for her personal bathing,” Natillus said smoothly. “But we can skip the circuit if you’re worried, Commander Ty’rial, and simply go straight to the Mouth of Thufar where many people are already assembled.”
“All right.” Ty seemed to brace himself. “I still don’t like it, but it’s better than nothing. Straight there, pick a, uh, candidate, then straight back here. And I’m going to be in the purification chamber when she bathes whoever it is to be certain she’s safe.”
Natillus nodded gravely.
“If you think it necessary, you may serve as the official witness, though I or Lambada can also act in such a capacity.”
“My Kindred guard is very anxious to keep me safe, Natillus,” Ellina explained. “I think it’s better if he is my witness.”
“Very well.” He nodded. “If you would come this way, please my Potentate?”
“Of course.” And taking a deep breath, Ellina stepped into the swirling mists.
* * * * *
Ty still didn’t like the situation. They were in a huge room filled with strangers in extremely limited visibility. The Chorkay people seemed to appear and disappear into the heated steam that filled the immense area at will, all of them naked and completely unashamed. Ty had to content himself with walking beside and a little in front of Ellina, always no more than a hand’s breath away while Natillus and his wife Lambada covered her other side and her back.
As they walked, he kept a sharp look-out for any danger or would-be assassins but mostly all he saw was a lot of blue, naked Chorkay. The women all had three breasts and two vaginas and the men, (just as Ellina had told him) had a strange kind of corkscrew configuration at the top of their shafts, just below the head. Ty wondered if the spring-like shape made their male equipment more adapted to the purpose of being “battering rams.”
He didn’t like the idea of the equipment he was seeing between the legs of the male Chorkay going into Ellina one damn bit. But then, he admitted to himself, he wouldn’t have liked the idea of any male equipment going inside her—corkscrew, straight, curved, or any other configuration. He just didn’t like the idea of any male equipment breeding her at all.
Any equipment besides your own, you mean, whispered a little voice in the back of his head but Ty pushed it sternly away.
It went without saying that he could never breed the curvy little Potentate. He was an off-worlder and his Kindred DNA would never allow her to conceive a female heir with the Sacred Blue skin. And since the Chorkay seemed convinced that they were doomed without a female Potentate with Sacred Blue skin tones to rule them, that had to be the first consideration.
Then he wondered why he was thinking such things in the first place. He had no wish to bind himself to a female—any female—but especially one in power. For how would he ever know if his feelings for her were real, or simply the result of his altered DNA at work, urging him to find a Mistress and serve her all his life? No, he was better off single and as soon as his job was done here, he would leave.
He was almost certain of it.
At last they reached what Natillus had called “The Mouth of Thufar.” It turned out to be a vast painted carving on the ceiling—a depiction of the Chorkay’s three-eyed god with his mouth stretched wide, emitting billowing clouds of steam from its gaping maw. Every once in a while, one or two of the Chorkay people would stand directly under it and the mouth would come down in a vast stone cylinder to envelope them completely. After a moment it would rise again and they would leave and let others take their place.
Ty liked this new location even less—the visibility was considerably more limited. So he
