"If she sires a blend, the queens will never allow her to purge her womb, you know that," Ausar said in a gentle, philosophical tone. "What if it's half yours and half his, a fusion?" Ausar waited patiently as Carlos slowly lowered his blade in shock. "Damali will not be able to get Eve's permission to end her pregnancy, and how would she be able to stand before that great queen that has gone through no less and make such a request? If there's even a cell of Cain's DNA in whatever Damali conceives, it will be wholly Eve's grandchild, regardless of what men think. Just like it will be wholly your wife's child in your wife's eyes. So, before we enter the meeting, you have to become very clear about how far you will go and where your personal line is. We all know where you're at-we have lived this heartbreak with Adam for thousands of years."
"How did Adam deal with this, make it right in his head day after day, night after night, man?" Carlos raked his hair and stared at Ausar for answers.
"You will have to ask him that yourself, in private. His demonstra�tion of this level of inner strength has earned him my deepest, most profound eternal respect. I don't know that I could have adjusted to said circumstances... so I cast no aspersions on your indignity. This conundrum has been a private riddle to me for years, but I can only imagine that my brother focused on the fact that the child contained half of his queen and thus made his peace with loving her and the child as one. Your alternative is to walk away from her and become a solo male Neteru with your own team, which we can arrange, de�voted to ridding the planet of evil. Your teams would only have to come together whenever a major planetary disaster strikes, like the one we are challenged to address now. I don't know what other choice to present to you, my brother."
"I can't leave her." Carlos looked away as his voice faltered. "I can't even envision life without Damali."
"That is your strength," Ausar said in a quiet, firm voice. "You love her. That is your advantage. Cain lusted after her. That is his weakness. Use it."
Carlos reinforced his grip on his blade, sniffed hard to swallow away the tears he refused to let fall in the king's presence. "All I can think about is the fact that the bastard broke down after seven short days-a f**king week, man, and went dark. He already had it in him. I told her! But I waited for her for five damned years and never touched her."
When Ausar simply let out a hard exhale and nodded, then closed his eyes, Carlos began walking in a tight circle. "I was there when she virgin-ripened, and was full vamp, and never violated her."
Speaking in a low rumble through battle-length fangs that had slowly lowered, Carlos's eyes went solid silver. "Three months in the damned Mexican desert, wounded, clerics all around me and then quarantined in a safe house run by the Covenant, I waited for her to come to me... and now... once she'sfinally my legal wife..."
"We know," Ausar stated and opened the door. "We stand with you.
Every king around the archon table stood as Ausar strode into the room with Carlos at his side. Adam cleared the table and grasped Car�los's arm in an old warrior handshake as Carlos tossed his blade to his left hand and grasped Adam's forearm.
"First Dante befouls my household, and now attempts to siege my young Neteru brother's household through his son, Cain?" Adam rumbled, staring into Carlos's eyes. "Unleash the dogs of war upon the planet, my fellow Neteru kings. Avenge me and my brother, Car�los, in one war."
"I have given you our collective outrage and power, powers that would have taken you years to refine," Hannibal said in a booming voice. "Did you receive my transmission last night, two hours past sunset?"
Carlos tore his gaze from Adam to stare at the towering Hannibal. "Two hours past sunset?"
Hannibal rounded the table as the other archons passed concerned glances between them. "Indeed! I sent all the outrage in a white light�ning jolt to thunder through our archon table directly to you, brother. It was pure battle fury with solid-silver-encased knowing so that it might not be intercepted by the pirating thieves of the airwaves."
"Did you receive it?" Akhenaton shouted, drawing a rumble of dissent from the large gathering of kings. "It represented eons of our knowing and cannot be-"
"It could have cancelled out the other issue," Ausar said in a cryptic manner, looking at Carlos and giving the other kings his back. "A moment of private conference with our brother." Ausar stepped around Adam and body-shielded Carlos from view. "Open a direct telepathy channel to me."
"There are no secrets between archons," Adam raged, walking back to the table fuming. His white meeting robes began to billow out from him as blue-white static lifted his long African locks off his shoulders.
"When it is a matter this delicate, there need only be one archon source of conference," Ausar said evenly, glancing over his shoulder at Adam. "I knowyou can respect that."
Adam looked away and held his peace, the muscle in his jaw puls�ing as Ausar turned back to Carlos.
There is a chance,Ausar said mentally, gazing at Carlos with his hand on his shoulder,that part of what you felt came from Hannibal's strong transmission of power.
I'm praying to God that's what happened,Carlos mentally shot back,but it was a battle bite, man...one that wouldn't even seal in the morning.
Ausar stiffened, tilted his head, and stepped back from Carlos.A battle bite...your queen took a-
Don't even say it.Carlos sent his silver gaze beyond the pillars to�ward the Valley of the Kings.It had to be dark energy, he said in his mind after a moment.That ain't me by a long shot.
No,Ausar assured him, bringing Carlos's gaze back to his by the calm thought.But our brother Hannibal is sheer strength and has one of the most significant warrior minds ever created. However, as furious as he was last night, he does not own province of a battle bite.
Is that why I couldn't heal it-couldn't pull out of the siphon and close the wound?Carlos's eyes widened as he became more distraught.Took, man, that brother is a destroyer...Hannibal isn't a healer. You see where I'm going. I could have...
Yes, yes, I know,Ausar said in a fast mental projection.
And if I battle bulked and dropped fang on Damali like that, then that was Cain's shit-not Hannibal's!Carlos's mind shouted.
"Breathe," Ausar said out loud, drawing curious stares from the other kings as he held his focus on Carlos.
"Perhaps you both need to approach the table," Solomon said in a cool tone, his gaze raking Ausar and Carlos. "If what you are dis�cussing has enough import to put our young brother in a position to nearly pass out, then-"
"Let me handle this," Ausar said, not turning away from Carlos.