Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (11 page)

“Well,” I muttered to Diandra as we moved
from his stall, “you were right. He seems pretty honored.”

After I was done speaking both she and her
daughter laughed and it felt really, really good to join in and
laugh with them.

We moved through the marketplace and it
wasn’t near the same as going to a mall (what could I say? I was a
shopper) with my friends from home (something I wasn’t thinking
about, I already missed my Pop and was worried about him, I didn’t
even want to think about my friends) but it was just as much fun…
in a different way. I liked Diandra and the more I was around her
friendly, helpful chatter, the more I liked her. And Sheena was a
sweetheart and proved, while shopping (and begging her mother for
this treat or that trinket) that twelve year old girls were
universal… no matter what universe you happened to exist in.

We’d drunk some juice that tasted of mangos
that we got from another vendor who was pleased beyond rationality
that I partook of her cool beverage when I saw them.

A pen in which… I stopped and stared… in
which there looked to be pure white, baby
tigers.

“
Oh my God,” I whispered and rushed forward
to the pen. “They’re so cute!” I cried and looked at the man
standing beside the pen. “They’re
gorgeous!
Unbelievable! Are they for sale?” I felt Diandra
and Sheena get close and I turned instantly to Diandra. “Do you
think they’re for sale?”

Diandra was eyeing the tiger cubs. “Erm…
Dahksahna Circe…” she started but I shot around her on a bee-line
to the man by the pen.

“I want one,” I declared when I was standing
in front of him. “They’re white!” I whirled to Diandra. “I’ve never
seen a white tiger! I didn’t even know they existed!” I whirled
back to the man. “Do they change color?” He blinked down at me and
I kept talking. “I hope not. I want to name mine Ghost. No!” I
cried. “Casper!” I shook my head. “No, I think Ghost is better.” I
whirled to Diandra again. “What do you think? Casper or Ghost?”

“I think, my dear,” she moved closer, “that
you should discuss this with your king.”

“Why?” I asked and her brows knit.

“Why?”

“Yes, why? He’s The Tiger, he’s got to like
a baby one,” I stated.

“
Dahksahna Circe,” she said softly and took
my hand, “he is The Tiger and you are his Tigress, but you are
introducing a pet into your family. Not a cat or a dog or a bird
but a dangerous
carnivorous
animal.
You
don’t even know how to speak to your new husband in his language. I
think, perhaps, you should settle into –”

“Look at them!” I exclaimed, throwing an arm
out to the pen of cute, cavorting baby tigers. “They’re adorable.
They’re not carnivorous animals.”

“Even now, my dear, I suspect they eat meat
but even if they don’t, they will,” she replied rationally.

“
So?” I replied irrationally, as I had
done, all my life, before my mother died and after, anytime I saw
something I wanted and I wanted that something bad.
“
I
eat meat too.” I returned
irrationally.

“You don’t kill it and chew it raw off the
bone,” she retorted.

This was true.

I bit my lip and looked at the animals.

Then one of them loped to the side of the
pen, sat on its behind, looked up at me and made a noise I swear,
I
swear
, I
understood as “Loolah” which, I had learned from Sheena that day,
in Korwahk meant “Mama”.

My body went still and I stared at the
creature.

“Oh dear,” Diandra muttered, I looked at her
and I knew she heard it to.

“Did that… did that…” I swallowed, looked at
the cub and back at Diandra, “did that baby tiger just –?”

Another mew from the tiger cub which I
understood again as Loolah.

I took a step back.

Holy moly, the animal was
speaking to
me.

Diandra sighed, reached out and grabbed a
boy running by, spoke swiftly to him, the boy peered up at me and
dashed away, darting through the crowds.

I paid little attention to this. I was
staring at the cub.

“That creature called me Loolah,” I
whispered.

Another noise which meant another Loolah
then another noise that I heard as “gahsee” and Diandra spoke to
the man which meant she heard it too. He moved, bent, opened the
lid on something that was sunk into the ground and came out with a
bottle made of wavy glass with a weird kind of nipple on the end
and that bottle was definitely filled with milk.

“Gahsee,” Diandra whispered to me, “means
hungry.”

The creature
was
speaking to me!

I could hear baby tigers talk to me in this
world!

How bizarrely, amazingly,
fantastically
cool!

The man came back to us, bent over the pen,
scooped up the tiger cub, turned and without hesitation dumped her
in my arms. I automatically held on as he jerked the bottle to
me.

“Oh dear,” Diandra muttered again as I
looked down at the baby tiger in my arms.

All I felt was the soft, thick fur of the
cub, the pads of its cute, fluffy paws. All I saw was her proud
nose and rounded ears and beautiful, pale blue eyes looking up at
me with complete trust.

Oh shit. I was in love.

I turned the cub in my arms, took the bottle
from the man and offered it to the baby tiger.

Her big, pink tongue lashed at the nipple
then she started to feed.

Yep. Totally in love.

I turned shining eyes to Diandra. “Honey,
I’m so freaking totally in love,” I whispered.

Her eyes moved over my face then she
looked at Sheena and whispered, “Oh…
dear.
”

Sheena giggled.

I dropped my head back to the cub, cradled
her and rocked slightly side to side.

“Casper?” I called experimentally and the
cub just sucked, eyes closed. “Ghost?” I called and the cub’s eyes
opened then slowly closed again. “There it is then,” I decided in a
quiet voice. “You’re my Ghost.”

Five minutes later, when the bottle was
nearly drained dry, I heard hoof beats, my head came up and I
belatedly felt that the vibe in the marketplace changed.

I turned my head and knew why.

Lahn was galloping our way on his big bay
stallion complete with a glossy black mane and tail and black
around all four hooves and partly up his legs.

I took a step back as he galloped toward me
and reined the horse in at the last minute, jerking him to the side
so Lahn could get close, turn his head and stare down his nose at
me.

I looked up at my husband in the broad
daylight, a sight I’d never seen.

He had a fabulous chest. It was huge but it
was well-defined and I could see my nail marks had scabbed over
under his shoulder. Ditto in regards to the huge, well-defined and
fabulous parts when it came to his shoulders. The muscles of his
thighs could be seen through his hides. Gorgeous brown skin
everywhere. Thick, black facial hair with pointy beard at the chin
held by a gold band that was strange but it was also cool. Hair
pulled back in a thick braid that probably went nearly to his waist
but was now dangling over his massive shoulder, also held by a gold
band. Strong brow that jutted attractively over his eyes. Heavy,
black eyebrows. Fabulous cheekbones. Deep set piercing dark brown
eyes. Full, grooved lips surrounded by his beard.

Totally hot.

And the look he was giving me was totally
ferocious.

It was clear to see he was not best pleased
he’d been interrupted in whatever kings of savage hordes did during
the day and called to the marketplace because his new bride had
fallen in love with a baby tiger.

I took another step back.

Then I remembered who I was.

In my world, I was Circe Kaye Quinn, the
office manager of her father’s moving company, unlucky at love
(something I tried, twice, had long term relationships with guys I
thought were the ones that ended (twice) so I knew I was unlucky in
love) but beloved by family and friends.

Here, I was not an office manager. I was the
Golden Warrior Queen and The Tigress and I was wearing a kickass
outfit.

So I needed to suck it up and not be so
scared of this guy. He could hurt me, he already had, more than
once, and I survived.

So… fuck it.

I pulled in a deep breath and lifted my chin
at the same time I lifted up the cub an inch.

“This is Ghost,” I introduced her. “She’s
our new pet.”

Lahn scowled at me.

“Erm,” Diandra stepped forward then said a
bunch of stuff I didn’t understand but my guess was, she was
interpreting for me.

His eyes didn’t leave my face and his glower
didn’t leave his.

“I’m bringing her home. You’ll need to give
this man some… um, coin,” I jerked my head back to indicate the
tiger man.

Diandra spoke again and Lahn kept
scowling.

“
She’s sleeping in bed with us,” I
declared, Diandra translated (haltingly this time), the scowl grew
dark or, I should say,
darker.

I endured his scowl for a long time. Then I
sucked in another breath, felt the thick fur and warm body of the
cub growing heavier in my arms as she drifted to sleep.

Jeez oh Pete, a
white
baby
tiger
was sleeping
in my arms
and she called me
Mama
and I
heard her.

I stepped closer to Lahn, reached out from
under the cub, curled my fingers around his hard thigh and tipped
my head way back to look in his fierce eyes.

“Please?” I whispered.

He glared at me and he did this for another
long time.

So I squeezed his thigh.

He glared another second then he jerked
the reins of his beast, it sidestepped twice, Lahn reached way
down, scooped me
and
Ghost in his
arm and swung us up, planting my ass in front of him on the
horse.

Was he…?

He barked something at the tiger man, the
tiger man smiled and bowed his head, then Lahn wheeled the horse
around and we were galloping back through the marketplace.

He was! He was letting me have the
tiger!

Yippee!

I turned and, peering around his big body, I
carefully waved at Diandra and Sheena as best I could while still
keeping tight hold on my new baby.

They waved back. Both were smiling and
both smiles were
huge.

Then I straightened and looked up at Lahn
who was staring impassively into the distance. He must have felt my
eyes for his dropped to me and he pinned me with a glower.

I smiled at him.

His glower deepened when his eyes narrowed
on my mouth.

I turned to face forward, settled on the
horse and cradled Ghost.

He wanted to be in a bad mood, so be it.

Whatever.

I had a new baby tiger who could
talk to me
and thought I was her
Loolah!

Not to mention some fun new bangles.

Yippee!

The Games

The tent flaps slapped open, I jumped,
Ghost’s head came up, Teetru, Jacanda, Packa, Gaal and Beetus (who,
every last one, even the reserved Teetru, squealed in delight at
the vision of me and Ghost earlier when we rode up with Lahn to the
tent, he dismounted, yanked me down and then remounted without a
word or look and rode off), all surrounding me on the bed and
playing with Ghost who also jumped and looked to the tent opening
where Lahn was bending low to enter.

He stepped a step inside. Ghost jumped off
the bed and scampered over to him, all furry white body and big
paws. The baby tiger made it to her new Daddy, jumped up with two
paws and clawed his hides.

Lahn stared down at the creature, crossed
his arms on his chest, lifted his head and skewered me with a
glare.

Oh hell.

“Vayoo,” he growled at me, I had no idea
what that meant but Teetru and Jacanda started to push me off the
bed.

It was night, I’d had dinner and I was
guessing it was time for the games.

I got off the bed, sauntered over to my
husband and bent to pick up Ghost who was now clawing at the rugs.
She was heavy so I lugged her up and got eye to eye with her.

“Be good,” I warned.

She shoved forward, rubbed my jaw with her
head, made a purry noise I knew was Loolah and I laughed and
brought her close to give her a hug.

Then she was pulled from my hands and my
head turned to Lahn to see him drop her on the ground.

“Lahn!” I snapped but his big hand came out
and engulfed mine.

“Vayoo, Lahnahsahna Circe, boh,” he bit out,
pulling me toward the tent flaps.

“Oh, all right,” I muttered then turned to
the girls and called while waving, “Goodnight ladies. Take care of
Ghost.” I pointed at the cub and got a bunch of smiles with waves
and nods.

Then the tent flap slapped back and I
followed Lahn through it. Or, more accurately, was hauled through
it.

“I’m coming, I’m coming, slow down,” I
called as I raced to keep up with his long strides.

“Mayoo,” he replied.

“
I can’t
mayoo,
Lahn, jeez, you’re, like, six foot seven. You’ve got a
whole foot on me. Every stride you take is two of mine at least,” I
said to his back, he stopped abruptly and I nearly slammed into
him.

He turned and glared down at me then said
a bunch of stuff I didn’t understand but I’d been around guys long
enough to know that when the end of what he said went up in a
question, he was likely asking me something about females that even
if I
could
understand
him, and he me, I could never explain.