“I do not know, mistress. The Clan Mother did not tell us.”
“Was there a time that she needed to flee?”
“Yes.”
“From whom?”
“From Mortdh.”
David stifled a groan. “Did she move from one place to another because it became dangerous for her to stay?”
The butler tilted his head in a very human gesture of confusion. “The Clan Mother moved many times.”
“Did she tell you why she moved?” Sari asked.
“No, mistress.”
Shaking her head, Sari turned to David. “I don’t think we can get anything more out of him. Apparently, my mother didn’t confide in her Odus.”
“Perhaps that’s the question we should ask Ojidu.” David turned to the butler. “Did the goddess share any of her thoughts with you or your brothers? Did she explain to you any of her decisions?”
“No, master.” The butler bowed.
David wasn’t willing to give up yet. “Have you ever witnessed anyone talk to the Clan Mother angrily or disrespectfully?”
“Yes, master.”
“Can you recall one such conversation and recite it?”
“No, master.”
“Are you forbidden to recite the Clan Mother’s conversations?” Sari asked.
“Yes, mistress.”
She threw her hands in the air. “That’s the first question we should have asked. It would have saved us from going through this entire futile exercise.”
Ojidu bowed. “Shall I take care of the horses, mistress?”
“Yes, please.”
When the butler had gone, Sari sat down on the blanket and opened the basket. “Would you like some wine?”
“I would love some.” David joined her. “I don’t agree that it was futile. We learned a few things. First, your mother never used the Odus as a defense force. Secondly, not everyone loved her. Some humans talked to her with anger and disrespect. My takeaway is that she faced some opposition, perhaps even from individuals who were immune to her charms as well as her thralling and compulsion. But she was somehow able to handle them without mobilizing her Odus’ combat skills.”
Sari handed him the wine bottle to uncork and pulled two wine glasses out of the basket. “Annani is stronger than the average human male, but she is tiny, and those Nordic warriors were big, strong men. Without her mind tricks, she would have been defenseless against even one of them. If I’m not mistaken, we are talking about the era of berserkers.”
“What about weapons? Can she throw a knife? Wield a sword?”
Sari shook her head. “I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think so. Why would she? She’s always had protectors. As a young goddess growing up in Sumer, she had bodyguards assigned to her. Then Khiann gifted her with the seven Odus, and they’ve been protecting her ever since.”
“So how come Ojidu says that she never commanded him or his brothers to defend her?”
“She might have erased those incidents from their minds. Annani always thought of them as her servants, not her bodyguards. If she ever needed them to utilize their combat skills, she might have not wanted them to remember operating in that capacity.”
11
Sari
“I like Rufsur.” David followed Sari into her apartment. “I even like Edna, but I don’t like that we couldn’t do what I had in mind because of them.”
Edna and Kalugal’s second-in-command had joined them for dessert, and the four of them had gone back to the castle together. Sari would have preferred to spend the time alone with David, but there hadn’t been much she could have done about it other than tell them to leave, and that would have been rude.
“I enjoyed their company.” She closed the door. “And now that we are in the privacy of our apartment, I can’t wait to discover what you have planned for us.”
Throughout their picnic, David had been sweet-talking her and eroding her conviction that it was best for them to refrain from sex so he could preserve his energy. His arguments were that sex actually didn’t drain him but rather energized him, and that they should take advantage of every moment they had to enjoy each other before he entered transition. In the end, she’d stopped resisting and decided to go for it.
After all, fear was the enemy of reason and it had clouded her judgment. David was absolutely right about squeezing every last drop of joy from the time they had left together before things got scary.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him down for a kiss. “Our bed is much more comfortable than a blanket on the ground. Besides, there are no insects here to bite us in bothersome places.”
He arched a brow. “Do immortals get bug bites? Because that can be interesting. You could potentially spawn immortal bugs that would bite other animals and spread immortality to them as well.”
Sari rolled her eyes. “If that was possible, it would have already happened.”
She loved David’s inquisitive mind, but right now she didn’t want to talk about bugs or anything else for that matter. He’d been teasing her nonstop with his comments about her sexy ass and what he would like to do to it, and she’d been counting the minutes until they were alone so he could show her what he had in mind.
“Come on.” She took his hand and led him to the bedroom.
He sat on the bed and pulled her into his lap. “I like it that you call your apartment and your bed ours. Is that part of assuming the win?”
Sari brushed her lips over his cheek and continued to the shell of his ear. “Of course. We are going to spend eternity together, but probably not in this apartment because it’s too small for raising children.”
David’s hand followed the curve of her spine until he reached the top of her breeches. “I like the sound of that.” The fabric was just stretchy enough for him to push his hand inside and cup her butt cheek. “I’ve been staring at this magnificent ass of yours all day long.” He gave it a hard squeeze.
“What do you want to do to it?” Her nipples hardened against the fabric of her bra.
“Everything.” He reached with his fingers and brushed them along the seam between her cheeks.
Sari sucked in a breath. She hadn’t expected it to feel so erotic.
But David didn’t stop there. With his other hand, he popped the top button of her breeches and pushed them down just enough so his hand could continue to her center. “God, Sari.” He groaned. “You are so wet.”
“And you are overdressed.” She grabbed his T-shirt and pulled it over his head.
Peppering his taut chest with kisses, she continued down to where his erection had popped above the beltline. “Well, hello there.” She blew air on the tip and then kissed it. “Let’s get rid of the rest of your clothes.” Sari pushed away from his lap and went down to her knees on the rug.
Lifting his foot, she pulled the boot off, flung it behind her, and then did the same with the other.
His jeans were next.
Impatient, she yanked them down along with his boxer briefs.
As her hand closed around his erection, he hissed, and she realized that she was gripping him too tightly.