Blood and Kisses - By Karin Shah Page 0,70

he was anything but a man who had grown up in cruel and chaotic times. His body language, as much as his stark words, revealed a pain that went bone-deep.

She ran to him and put her hand on his strong shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

Stung by the snub, she let it fall to her side and stood silently behind him.

Gideon felt as if another spoke with his voice. He’d never intended to tell her the whole story, but now that he’d begun, it gushed from him like blood from a wound. He found himself reliving the pain and isolation of those days.

“That’s only the beginning. Like my father, my family was my greatest threat. By the time I was twenty-three, I had quashed five different plots against me, the last led by my own half-sister.” He exhaled violently as he remembered the anguish of that betrayal, but the words spilled on.

“I held my remaining family at arms-length, and poured myself into expanding and improving my empire. Many paid for my ambitions with their blood. I had roads built, libraries, palaces, monuments. Elilu became the crown jewel of the area, but it was never enough. My kingdom was as real to me as any human, but I was still alone.”

It had all been so long ago. Longer than a hundred lifetimes, but he remembered it all as if it were yesterday. The broad tree-lined streets of Elilu, the stone buildings gleaming white under the hot sun.

He had planned every avenue, every side street. But as much as he’d loved it, it had never been enough.

“And then, I fell in love.”

Thalia stiffened. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear this. “Gideon.”

“No. Let me finish.” His eyes took on a faraway look. “Inanna was as beautiful as the goddess for which she was named. Her skin was the color of cream with just a drop of honey. Her hair was like the finest silk, her eyes, agate dark. She breathed life into my universe and taught me to trust again. She was everything good and pure, or so I thought, and she soon became as necessary to me as the beating of my heart.”

A single tear slipped past Thalia’s control, and she dashed it away with the back of her hand. Was it vital to the story that he tick off a laundry list of his love’s superior qualities in quite so much detail?

“Despite the camp followers and concubines I had known since I’d reached adulthood, and the generous offers of neighboring kings, I had never taken a wife.”

She didn’t think she needed to hear this part either.

“I arranged our betrothal and planned a wedding. It was a spectacular event. Elilu abounded with visitors and foreign dignitaries who had come for the wedding. I stood there in front of the huge crowd, and with the greatest joy, proclaimed my love for Inanna, and she proclaimed her love for me.

“But as soon as the ceremony was complete, a courier rode into town with grim news. A neighboring king had decided to take my wedding as an invitation to attack, and rapidly advanced in the north. This man was Akos.” His name sounded like a curse. “I had no choice but to ride out immediately. I spent my wedding night alone with my army on the road.

“Days passed. Seasons. A year. I yearned for Inanna every night and did not sully myself in the arms of another. Finally, I could not wait any longer and I sent for her.

“At last, we had our wedding night. She was all I’d imagined, her sweet purity as rare as the precious diamonds of the Indus. I was madly, blindly in love.

“I should have sent her back to Elilu, but I thought surely this conflict would be over swiftly. After all, I had defeated Akos many times in the past. He and his people were little more than nomads.

“This time, however, something was different. Akos was relentless. He met every move I made with a decisive move of his own. It was as if he knew my plans in advance, and I soon realized he had a spy in my camp. But who, I didn’t know.

“One evening, as I strolled through the tents of my army, listening to the sounds of the men talking and laughing, the strains of music rising from around the campfires, I heard what I thought was a struggle in a tent belonging to one of the camp followers.”

Thalia held her breath. She thought