The Priestess and the Thief Kindred Tales 30 - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,55

guilt for his misdeeds.

“All right now, all right.” Ellilah stroked the huge head again and looked into the zorel’s eyes. “You let your temper get away with you, didn’t you?” she asked gently.

Once more, the huge head nodded up and down.

“And you’re sorry now, aren’t you?”

Another nod and Demon let out a keening wail.

“I know you didn’t mean to.” Ellilah wrapped her arms around the massive muzzle and pulled it close, so that Demon’s head was resting on her knees as she stroked him. “They shouldn’t have poked at you with pain prods but you shouldn’t have lost your temper, either,” she lectured softly. “This is what happens when you let the Fury take over—you do things you’re sorry for and can’t take back.”

Demon keened again and Roke swore that the huge slitted eyes—now golden rather than red—were actually filling with what appeared to be tears of remorse.

“I know you miss him.” Ellilah leaned over to give the huge head a hug. “I know you’re sorry. But don’t cry, baby—I’m here now. And I’m going to take care of you.”

Demon nuzzled her anxiously, nearly knocking her off the fence with the force of his affection. But this time Roke felt no need to yank her down and save her. To his amazement—and the apparent astonishment of the whole Tenebrian Court—she had tamed the monstrous zorel whose head was bigger than her torso, and he was, indeed, acting as quiet as a lambkin, just as Ellilah had predicted.

“Well!” The Crown Prince had come up beside Roke. He was staring in wonder up to where Ellilah was sitting on the top of the fence, still cradling Demon’s huge head. “So she wasn’t lying,” he remarked to Roke, his bulging eyes wide with wonder. “She really is a Zorel Entrancer!”

“The finest one in all of Pok,” Roke said proudly, staring up to Ellilah as well. “And the galaxy, for that matter. Taming and training zorels is in her blood—it’s her purpose in life.”

And as he watched the little priestess with the huge, dangerous zorel, he really felt he must be right. This instant connection Ellilah had with zorels was more than a knack—it was clearly a gift from the Goddess herself. And just as clearly, Ellilah was most in her element when she was using it.

So why was she so determined to return to a life she clearly wasn’t suited to?

This is where she belongs, Roke thought, watching her stroke and cuddle the fearsome Demon. Or not here, exactly, but out on a ranch, training zorels. The Goddess wouldn’t have given her such a gift otherwise.

He just wondered if Ellilah would ever be able to use her gift again after her quest was complete.

Twenty-Nine

“So Demon’s truly sorry he killed that groom?” Roke sounded skeptical as he raised an eyebrow at Elli. They were resting in their room at the palace after a full afternoon of getting to know the huge zorel.

“Yes, he truly is!” Elli insisted, frowning up at the big warrior. “Albie was his favorite groom and he really didn’t mean to burn him. He was just trying to get away from the rope and the pain prods they were poking him with, poor darling.”

Roke snorted.

“That ‘poor darling’ nearly killed you as well, before you tamed him. Just look at this.”

He walked over and raised her right arm, showing the angry red burn she’d gotten from her first encounter with Demon. It really was painful, Elli had to admit, though she’d scarcely noticed it during her time with the big zorel.

“That was an accident,” she said, frowning as she pulled her arm away. “He said he was sorry for that, too.”

Roke frowned at her.

“You’re talking like he was actually speaking to you!”

“Well, you know—he almost was.” Elli leaned forward excitedly. “Do you know, with most zorels I usually just get a sense of their emotions—what they’re feeling, what they want or what they’re afraid of—things like that. But with Demon, the connection was so…” She shook her head, trying to think of how to explain. “It was so easy—so effortless. And yet so deep.”

“Deep, huh?” He still looked skeptical.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Elli exclaimed. “You didn’t look at me like that before when I told you I could communicate with zorels. You acted like it was perfectly natural—don’t try to make me feel crazy now, like everyone else I’ve ever talked to!”

“I’m sorry,” Roke relented at once. “It’s just that he’s so damn dangerous—maybe I don’t want you to have