his side, he would possibly lose some power in the density transition. All right. He could work with that.
"Oh, please, you're a king, da man? Gimme a break."
"Yes," was all Cain said, and he walked toward a steep crag.
Maybe it was the flat nonplussed tone that Cain had used to answer him, but it messed with Carlos no end. He was a king? Damali had gone too far!
But he was forced to watch in awe as Cain slid his sword out of the heavy leather harness down his back, touched it to the rock wall, and made the illusion of natural landscape dissipate. Huge black onyx sphinxes guarded the entrance to what appeared to be a heavily columned temple. When they purred a welcome, Carlos jumped back. Cain chuckled and began walking forward. His footsteps left jeweled green energy in their wake that spread out on the carpet of what had seemed like grass to overtake it.
Carlos's attention was torn between the grass and the color waves overriding it, and the things guarding the entrance to Cain's spot. Everything here was freakin' energy? How did they eat? What did they eat? His focus split again as Cain stopped before the entrance, stroked a fawning Hons back, and it nuzzled his shoulder as the other one stood and roared a complaint to get similar attention.
"Shush," Cain said in a low, calm voice, sheathing his blade. "It is all right."
The sphinxes glowered at Carlos, nuzzled their master again, and sat back down on their pedestals with eyes forward. Cain motioned with his head for Carlos to follow him inside. But how did Cain kept those suckers fed and chilled out?
If he hadn't been a competitor, Carlos might have openly admitted that what Cain had just shown him was some smooth shit. However, any appreciation for what this brother could do would remain a very quiet secret within his weary soul. Carlos edged by the lions and kept his gaze sweeping as they entered a long, open corridor.
A gleaming, oblong, crystal-blue pool of water stretched before him in Olympic proportions, almost seeming like glass. Carlos studied it hard, and for the first time really witnessing the delicate, congruent bands of hue that made up the shimmering surface. Water wasn't water? Oh, shit, he was screwed.
Energy-generated lotus blossoms floated on the still surface, and white marble was everywhere. Carlos had to fight with himself not to reach out and touch it so that he could inspect the phenomena in detail.
From where he stood, it seemed as though pure gold was the mortar between the marble tiles. Freaking hieroglyphics with inlaid silver? And everything around him had an energy pulse. Almost gave off a tone from the slightly moving hues. The brother could hold illusion energy like that, put tone and color all in it to this degree? Dayum. Oh, hell no, his woman couldn't ever come over here and see this shit. If this was just a cliff-side lair, not even the main palace, then . . .
"You need some clothes," Cain said, unfastening his blade harness and casually dropping it on a white marble bench by the pool.
For the first time since they'd clashed, Carlos studied the weapon with full appreciation. That was real. It was held in a black, hand-tooled sheath with intricate designs of gold and silver studs that had been forced into the leather. The ornate platinum handle was crusted with diamonds, and the four blades that became one were highly polished steel, but in the center blood gutters were gold alloy with silver Neteru sym-bology worked along them. And the Neteru King's Council had just given him a pocketknife? No respect. He refused to go deeper into Cain's lair as he watched him walk up a flight of twelve alabaster steps, his feet making the pale pastel colors in the masonry swirl beneath each footfall. Carlos ran his hand over the nape of his neck to keep from battle bulking again as Cain strode with unflinching authority past a massive, solid gold, twenty-four-karat four-poster bed, each post crested by a pyramid-shaped, clear quartz crystal as big as his fist.
Vivid hibiscus in vibrant color splashes, ferns and elephant grass and huge leafy jewel-green plants of energy looked like they simply grew up from the marble floor and surrounded the bed. Energy-trembling white silk linens, white-on-white satin embroidered pillows, and sheer Egyptian drapes that resonated with low, sensual harmonic tones sprawled lazily across the monument of pure decadence. Aw, man... tones