I’d been imprisoned.
“Lahn –” I began as I started toward him.
I stopped when he lifted a hand palm out and growled, “Do not near me, my queen.”
Uh-oh.
My heart squeezed and my stomach clenched and both hurt… a lot.
“Lahn,” I whispered.
“I will fill you in on the parts you missed,” Lahn stated, crossing his arms on his wide chest and planting his feet apart. “After my punishment was delivered on this Geoffrey for his insolence at attending a selection and talking to my queen without my leave, he returned with haste to his king. Once there, he reported that the Dax had installed his golden Dahksahna at his side, heralding the rise of The Golden Dynasty.”
I nodded when he stopped so he continued.
“Upon reading the description of my queen, King Baldur recognized her as his own personal sorceress. A woman who had been born displaying great powers therefore as a child she was seized by Baldur so she could be at his command. A child who grew into great beauty. Therefore, he used her magic and her body at his whim.”
Oh God. Poor other Circe now in my world.
Lahn went on, cutting into my thoughts. “Clearly, his sorceress did not enjoy his attentions or her forced service. Some time ago, she escaped. She sought to put distance between herself and her king but her vessel was set upon by pirates in the Green Sea and she was later apprehended by Korwahk scouts. Nevertheless, when Baldur heard you were here, he spared not a second in amassing his soldiers and he moved on Korwahk.”
He was calling her “she” which meant he knew she was not me.
“Lahn –” I started.
“Quiet,” he whispered.
“But –”
“Quiet!” he thundered, leaning into me, his raw energy filling the room and I instantly had trouble breathing.
I also got quiet.
He stared at me and I held his stare. I did it fighting back the tremors that threatened to consume my frame but I did it.
Finally, he spoke and he did it quietly. “You are not she.”
It took me a second to get the courage to shake my head but I did.
He stared at me again. Then he whispered, “I do not know what you are.”
I held my breath as the pain sliced through me because he said that like not only did he not know what I was, he questioned whatever that was and he suspected he would abhor it when he found out.
I didn’t hear it, my focus was in that room, but outside a light rain started to fall.
When he spoke again, the pain came back, tenfold.
“What I do know is that you are far more powerful than I suspected. You have bewitched me with your beauty. You have manipulated me through months of deception. You have tricked me with your skilful mouth and body to siring a child on you, you, a creature unknown. A changeling.”
That hurt so much, I couldn’t stop myself from whispering, “Lahn, baby, please listen to me.”
He jerked his chin up. “You will be heard but I will warn you, Circe, this will be your only opportunity to be heard so you had better make whatever you say convincing.” I stared at him when he finished by commanding, “And you will not speak your soft names to me when you do it.”
I swallowed as I took that hit and my mind reeled.
He was the king of a primitive, savage horde and what I had to say to him would not go over well, I knew this. I knew. Hell, if I told someone in my world what was going on they’d think I was crazy and be justified in that belief.
But I had no choice. And I knew, looking at him, I should have told him well before now, of my own accord, not as his command. I didn’t know if that would have gone down better but I should have tried.
“I am not of this world,” I whispered my admission.
“I am aware of that, Circe,” he replied swiftly then asked, “Do you take this shape from another?” When I blinked at his question he clarified, “What is your true form?”
I shook my head and held out my hands. “I don’t take this shape. This is me. This has always been me.”
His jaw went hard and his stare started glittering.
He didn’t believe me.
I sallied forth. “I… I woke up in the pen with the other women of the Hunt. I went to bed at home, in Seattle –”
“Seattle is a nation that does not exist, my queen,” Lahn bit off. “Do you not think when you told me this was your homeland that I would not confer with those who had travelled widely? None of them have heard of this Seattle.”
“It exists in my world,” I replied.
“That,” he spat, “I will believe.”
“Lahn –”
“Get on with it, Circe,” he demanded impatiently.
“I… okay,” I shook my head. “My world is different. Much different. It –”
“It has things called hormones,” he interrupted to say, “and germs. And they do what you did to Bohtan’s son to stop people choking. They do not allow their women to drink wine when pregnant. They sew the flesh of wounds together, before and after bathing it in spirit. They have a place called ‘Mexico’. They say ‘freaking out’ to explain just about any emotion as long as it comes with shock or fear. They treat slaves like family. Their queens walk freely amongst their people; they do not hold themselves aloof as all queens should.”
Wow. He’d really paid attention.
Lahn kept speaking. “You have given me many indications you are not of this world and I’ve been so drunk on your xaxsah, so bewitched by the spirit shining in your eyes, I ignored every one.”
“That isn’t how it was,” I said softly.
“No?” he asked on a brow raise.
“No,” I shook my head and lifted my hand. “Lahn… I… this place is very strange to me too but I… well, I endured, I got over it, I adapted and I…” I hesitated, swallowed and whispered, “I fell in love with you.”
The energy in the room went brutal, so brutal it pounded against my flesh.
“Do not ever speak those words to me again unless you wish to feel the back of my hand,” he growled.
I stared at the wrath burning in his eyes.
He meant it.
Oh God.
Was this happening?
I kept staring into his furious, stony, beautiful face.
It was happening.
It was happening.
And with that thought it occurred to me that I was, again, blameless. I was innocent. The only thing I did was fall asleep. And I’d borne countless nightmares since that time, bouncing back from each stronger and stronger. I had been a good queen. I had been a good wife. I had been a good lover. I had given him everything. My body, my world, my love and I was carrying our child.