Empress Hiding Page 9

  And Runa growled threateningly again inside of her.

  Chiyoto smiled bitterly yet lovingly at her Runa’s attitude – they would be alright. Just take a nice hot shower and get some sleep. Chiyoto figured her emotions were exacerbated by the fact that they were both exhausted from such a long and physically-exercising day.

  As they turned down the almost eerily-lit corridor to their quarters, Chiyoto tried to reassure Runa that they would be leaving in the morning anyway – that soon there would be nothing even remotely reminiscent of this Rafal anyway. They would just be sure to stay away from any vid-screens in Capital City to make certain there was nothing to remind them of his touch, of his eyes, of …

  Runa began her tirade against all Crimsons intermingled with her loudly growled protests of Chiyoto’s line of thinking with respect to this Rafal – her raucous objections so strong that Chiyoto did not hear the heavy footsteps that entered their corridor just as she unlocked their door and stepped inside.

  But Rafal saw her enter and ran quickly to stop her from locking the door behind her. Neither he nor his beast had even the slightest clue what he would say when he saw her again – only that they had to see her again.

  And, yes, they both had noticed the black-haired male dressed in gray standing near the entrance to this particular corridor, but Rafal did not have time to deal with long-hair right now.

  But he would.

  Because Chiyoto was his, and that fact was not open for discussion.

  And, at present, he wanted to know what exactly his “his” was.

  Now.

  Rafal’s palm landed firmly against Chiyoto’s door just as it was about to latch, and he pushed his large body through the doorway and harshly demanded,

  “We would see you, female!”

  Having just removed her scarf and now busy with emptying the pockets of her loose fitting cargo pants, Chiyoto initially startled at the deep, challenging tone of his voice.

  Rafal’s voice.

  The gorgeous male whom she apparently disgusted …

  And, just as Runa was about to take over again, Chiyoto’s temper spiked. It was a spike the likes of which Runa had never sensed in her Chiyoto – and the uncivilized altare stepped back and – smiling while simultaneously sharpening her razor-sharp talons one on the other – watched a side of Chiyoto appear that heretofore had not existed.

  As Chiyoto spun to face Rafal, the power that followed her temper also soared, and the door to the room slammed shut with the force that hit it. The blow also hit Rafal – the intensity of which was so great that it nearly split the skin over his right cheekbone, leaving what would surely become a nice bruise there. The air in the room began to almost sizzle as Rafal felt his skin begin to slowly be covered with thousands of tiny needles that crawled along it like small flames.

  Runa breathed in the power her Chiyoto wielded – here was the powerful Heiress Runa knew her Treasure to be – not the tame and docile one Mamere had groomed her to become.

  But Rafal just stared at the beautiful female in wonder as he swiped his cheek and took the brunt of her verbal tirade.

  “Of all the unbelievable arrogance!” Her voice was full of those beautiful melodies only now they were angry and looming. They reminded Rafal of the dark measures that preceded a deathblow in the great stage productions back in Capital City, “And the enormous ego with which you are obviously burdened, dear Crimson!”

  Chiyoto’s chest heaved with the anger that quickly consumed her as she faced the gorgeous and towering male that had belittled her with his withdrawal for no other reason but something he could not even see – and Runa reveled in it all.

  “Your bastardized law has any number of ways by which you may try to imprison” – Chiyoto held up a loose fist not far from Rafal’s face and lifted a single finger – “torture” – she added a second finger as her anger grew – “or even execute me” – the third finger was raised only momentarily before she aggressively lowered her hand to her side and continued fuming at him – “simply because of the blood that runs through my veins!”

  The air temperature rose noticeably around him, but Rafal noted his Chiyoto’s eyes did not change color this time – even though her anger was palpable, and the air was evidently responding to whatever power lived within her … this was her, not her animal or altare as the Blood-bornes called them.

  “But you will never” – the word ‘never’ had such emotional emphasis that Rafal felt it inside of himself – “ever” – Chiyoto began to ever-so-slightly tremble all over because of the raging emotions that were running through her – “be able to force me to give you something that is mine” – she adamantly pointed to herself, poking herself between those beautiful breasts that had Rafal and his beast captivated from the beginning – “and mine alone to freely give!”

  Rafal’s beast sat, spellbound as did Rafal – his Chiyoto was beautiful even in her rage.

  “So, unless you have deigned to humiliate your arrogant self by entering the lowly Blood-borne area to attempt” – her words made it very clear that she believed in her very soul that an attempt was all it would be this night – “to do one of the three, you need to leave here because I have nothing left to say to you … you Crimson Raksasa!”

  Her pain crept back into her final address of him as her trembling increased, but Rafal barely noticed the pain – all Rafal noticed was the awful name she had just called him. He knew ‘Raksasa’ was the horribly derogatory term the Blood-bornes used in reference to Crimsons they hated – and it honestly hurt coming from Chiyoto.

  From his Chiyoto.

  And before he had a chance to think through his response, Rafal let that hurt equate to aggression in his voice as he responded in kind to her offensive.

  “Crimson Raksasa?!” his voice was deep and it reverberated loudly off the walls as his skin continued to be assaulted by whatever power emanated from her – and, yet, he continued, “Female! I will have you know that I am the Prime Magistrate of the Bohrean Empire!” Rafal’s beast began to attack him from the inside – trying to stop or at a minimum slow the rising temperature of the anger that began as Rafal continued to roar back, “How dare you –”

  But Chiyoto met him head on even as she lowered her voice and angled her chin down in a defiantly offensive and aggressive manner – her voice sang of a pain so deep yet so volatile that it threatened the very being of the male in front of her – even though that same voice was remarkably controlled.

  Controlled and deadly.

  “Ooooooooo, the-e-eee Prime Magistrate” – Chiyoto’s voice even dropped an octave or more as the air heated further and Rafal began to feel that heat under his clothing and directly on his skin – “And to think, oh Crowned Prince” – Rafal felt the spit that sprayed from her lips with his title – “that the words of a lowly someone like myself” – the trembling increased as Rafal finally recognized the pain in her voice – “Someone whose face you are now loathed to touch” – a pain that increased even as he began to smell a burning in the air and a tear trailed down her beautiful cheek as her heated tirade continued – “Someone so unpleasant th-that” – she choked on a sob as Rafal could swear his triceps and the backs of his thighs actually began to burn as Chiyoto’s focus fell from his face to her trembling upturned palms – “that we disg …”

  Rafal knew nothing about being gentle and had never actually comforted another being in his life other than his Hondo, but he could take her pain no longer – he needed to hold his dangerous, hurting female.

  Because he was the one that had hurt her.

  Both Rafal and his beast roared as he moved forward and locked her petit body against his own massive and muscular one – holding her pressed there as he bowed his head into her hair – pushing down against her head almost as much as he did inwardly with his arms, enclosing her trembling frame completely into him – as he r
epeated over and over again,

  “Forgive me, ashia, I am so kahrolasi sorry,” Rafal breathed and whispered as he tried to calm them both, “Settle. Settle for me, please,” he paused only to take a deep breath before continuing, “Oh, Gods, please forgive me, ashia, I am so …”

  Chiyoto held her breath with Rafal surrounding her like this – she was completely tensed as her vision and her world were reduced to darkness and his over-whelming fresh-water scent of strength. But, just as she began to struggle and was about to strike him with her power and strike him hard, she became aware of the words he spoke through her hair as he held her.

  And although Chiyoto remained tense with the emotions that continued to course through her, both she and Runa stilled in silence – neither knowing what to do with the words he whispered and the feelings that welled up inside of her.

  Her body still clinched in anger? pain? hurt? – she was not even sure right now, and Runa was no help – Chiyoto tried to lift her head to look Rafal in the face. He did not seem to notice her efforts at first, just continued to hold her tightly to him and whisper for forgiveness from his … his ashia?

  As the burning sensations slowly lessened, the air around him – although not falling in temperature or electricity – seemed to stop its rapid climb toward incomprehensible instability. And Rafal felt Chiyoto’s efforts to lift her head, but he and his beast were not ready to let her be separated from them – not even that small part of her.

  Because she still trembled in his arms.

  Finally relenting with his head and allowing her to look up at him, Rafal gazed down into Chiyoto’s translucent pink eyes as she said nothing at first, only stared with a questioning look as a barely noticeable whisp of something pinkish trailed out one of her nostrils. However, instead of scaring him as the action probably should have, he felt his beast purr loudly in response as he took a deep breath and stared down at her beautiful questioning face.

  “I am an esholeshek, ashia,” Rafal’s voice reached deep inside of her once again and her hands fisted his shirt on his sides as the tears welled up in her eyes even as the slightest hint of a smile tried to breach her lips, “Forgive me, please?”

  Chiyoto cocked her head slightly to one side in question – an action to which Rafal felt his cold, hidden heart melt in response – as her sobbing relented substantially.

  “Not disgusting, ashia,” Rafal let one hand travel up her shirt and through her mane that started about two-thirds down her back – even though he still could not shake the feeling that said mane was the wrong color, “Beautiful. Kahrolasi beautiful. Need to touch you – to hold you,” Rafal took a deep breath as he felt his Chiyoto breathe with him, “Just like this.”

  Rafal’s grip on her body did not relent in the least, and, as she slightly nodded in the affirmative and laid her head back against his chest, he felt her trembling cease, and the air slowly returned to normal around them.

  But there was no peppermint or musk and no tingling in his hands or elsewhere at their points of skin-to-skin contact as there had been outside the noshery. Rafal was a bit confounded, but his beast was inconsolable about the matter – Rafal found himself in conflict with the beast trying to calm it again even as he tried to relax and hold his Chiyoto. But the beast would not be calmed, and Rafal addressed the matter with the innocent and, he now knew, volatile female in his arms as gently as possible.

  “Chiyoto?” he whispered gruffly through her hair.

  She responded with a simple melodic whimper of recognition that he was addressing her – her breathing still not completely settled back to a normal rhythm.

  “Remove your veil, ashia,” Rafal’s voice was beginning to calm even Runa – although neither she nor Chiyoto fully understood that fact, “Please.”

  Chiyoto actually tensed at his request – Runa stopping to raise her large reptilian-like brow in skepticism – as the calming Heiress raised her own head to return her gaze to his face again in question.

  Rafal fought to keep the “demand” out of his voice, “We know it is there for we can no longer sense you,” although demand was all his beast had for this one issue as Rafal stroked the thick part of her mane on her head, “You have no reason to hide from us, ashia.”

  Chiyoto searched Rafal’s handsome face, looking for an explanation – he had to have been able to sense her before if he knew that she was now hidden.

  And suspicion suddenly kicked in, and she tried to push away from him.

  But Rafal resisted her efforts even as he resisted his beast’s efforts to force himself on her. Chiyoto started to squirm more as she pushed harder in an attempt to put some distance between them.

  “Rafal, do you know wh …,” she winced and a renewed sob caught in her throat, “Arrrgh … I am Blood-borne, and you are the Crowned Prince,” she sarcastically spat as she pushed even harder and tried to duck out of his hold on her, “We should not even …”

  But before she could contemplate the matter further, he locked her forcefully against him and continued in that low tone as he leaned into her face once again – completely ignoring her struggles and the matter of conflict she tried to address.

  And the fact that he now had an inkling of how dangerous she could actually be.

  “I know, ashia, I get it,” Rafal touched her face and forcefully pulled on her chin to turn her gaze toward his again – gently rubbing a large, calloused thumb across her lips, “But you are safe with us – with your Rafal,” Rafal smoothed a hand down her back again and ran the rough palm up under her shirt to rest on her bare lower back just at the base of her mane as he breathed deeply to calm both himself and his beast, “Now. The veil. Please.”

  He would not let on just how much he hated the title of ‘Crowned Prince’ – or even ‘Prince’ for that matter – because he would allow her to call him that or anything else if it kept her close.

  Chiyoto tried to read the myriad of emotions of her Rafal – the ownership according to him, but she grinned inwardly anyway. She unconsciously calmed at his soothing and continued to stare into his mesmerizing green eyes even as he rather impatiently pressed for a response. However, she sensed no animus – Rafal was simply not very diplomatic or even gentle in his ways. And even as she signaled to Runa to unhide them, she watched his gorgeous face transition from marked demand mixed with wonder to complete satisfaction and comfort as his eyes and lips slightly smiled down at her – his lids becoming heavier and his breathing deepening as her “veil” fell away.

  “Ye-e-es, ashia,” his relief and enjoyment were not masked in the least, and his embrace of her tightened once again, “That is it,” Rafal breathed deeply, leaning into her hair as a shiver of what could only be interpreted as relief seemed to run through his body, “Thank you.”

  And Chiyoto smiled to herself and, gently nodding once again, replaced her head on his chest as they both inhaled one another and settled into a complete embrace on both their parts.

  Rafal’s entire being to include his beast fully rejoiced at the removal of her veil – the warmth and enjoyable tingling once again entering his body through his palm splayed on her lower back and his olfactory distributing her creamy peppermint and musk scent through both him and his beast.

  He finally felt his Chiyoto relax into him as his beast roared in victory.

  Chiyoto was theirs now … whatever she was … they just needed to bridge that chasm he had managed to create between them.

  Damn right ours – bridge whatever, but do not kahrolasd again!

  Rafal tried internally to continue that exchange with his beast – but, again, the beast went silent.

  Khitam ran a hand through the right side of his hair low and near his ear – the only part of the once midnight hair that remained so – the long, wavy locks and his full beard had long since faded to a uniform smoky-gray. It was yet another stark reminder that his time as Preeminent Khedive was ce
rtainly drawing short, and both he and his beast growled in true annoyance at that fact.

  It was documented fact in the Royal Registries and Archives that no Sadid – ruling Khedive or brethren thereof – had lived long after his hair had completed the full evolution to gray in the natural aging process, and Khitam’s had begun almost suddenly just over two decades ago. But his transition to gray seemed to have quickened so much more so than any others as he was still fully shy in age by nearly three decades or more of any other Khedive lifespan on record.

  The flame that burns brightest, burns. . .

  But, oh! what a lifespan it had been! Khitam smiled evilly at himself in the glass that was an empty comm-screen.

  Khitam was not even supposed to ever have sat on the throne – being the youngest of three sons of the previous Khedive, he should be holding down some important magistrate position now while his eldest brother ruled the Empire.

  A gurgle of almost maniacal laughter rumbled up from his beast inside as Khitam gave voice to its emotion – yes, it had been quite a shame when Ilkin had been so careless in his wanderings in the upper levels of the palace – so much on which to stumble with the dust and the debris that had fallen onto that upper walkway from the aging roof over the centuries …

  And Khitam could still so clearly see the disbelief on Ilkin’s face as he fell backward over the railing – the horror as he grasped for and then realized his little brother would not be saving him.

  A satisfied grumble ran through both Khitam and his beast at the memory.