Not that an image of the famous queen had survived to modern times for Fari to compare her with. But the woman’s wealth eclipsed everyone’s there, including that of the handsome Greek beside her, who was leaning toward her to whisper something that sent the queen of the Amazons into gales of laughter.
Perhaps wealth wasn’t the only thing the Greek was interested in. Hippolyta was a lovely, voluptuous woman with long dark hair and bronze skin.
Well, Fari had found her. Now she had to figure out how to get closer. She scanned the tables, spotted one with a small space two rows from the dais, and strode over to it, sliding in without a by-your-leave, because somehow she didn’t think good manners were expected. Not given the way the women and men grabbed at the food set in platters before them.
Fari reached for a small loaf of bread, tore out the center, and stabbed a slab of meat with her knife, stealing it away from another woman, whose narrowed glare eased and whose mouth stretched into a grin.
“Never seen you before,” the Amazon said around a mouthful of bread.
“I’ve just arrived. From Sarmatia.”
The woman raised her eyebrows. “Not many have ever traveled that far. The queen journeyed there once to solidify her claim. Just after she bested her cousin for the crown.”
Fari nodded as if she’d heard the story, but the truth was little about Hippolyta was known to the modern world. Her ancestry and exploits were shrouded in myth and mystery. “I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting her, but I’ve come to challenge for a position among her guard.”
“You and every one of us here. Good luck with that.”
Fari smiled and poured a ladleful of gruel-like soup onto her bread. From the corner of her eye, she watched a man—one of the Greeks, judging by the lack of gold bordering his robes—lurch to his feet with a chalice in his hand.
He stumbled toward the dais.
Now, he might only have wanted to make a toast to those seated above him, but Fari had been looking for just such an opening. A way to get the ruler’s attention.
She pushed up from her seat, leaped onto the table and ran, dodging trenchers and beakers, only to jump to the next. Then she sailed through the air, arms outstretched, to take the Greek to the floor.
Laughter roared around her as she pinched the man’s hand between his thumb and forefinger, and forced his arm behind him. When she glanced up, she found Hippolyta peering down at her.
Theseus stood beside her, a deep frown bisecting his dark brows. “I’m sure he only meant to offer a toast, Your Majesty.”
Hippolyta glanced at Theseus, then turned back to Fari. “You, there. You can let him up now.”
Fari climbed off the man’s backside and gave him a little kick before placing a forearm over her belly and bending low. “I apologize if I misread his intentions.”
“Let me see your face.”
Still bent, Fari raised her head gamely, meeting Hippolyta’s dark, keen gaze with her own.
The monarch’s lips curved slightly at the corners. “What is your business here, girl?”
Fari breathed deeply, knowing she was being judged. That this moment would determine how difficult the rest of her quest would be. Keeping her gaze steady, she replied, “I came to serve you, my queen. To become an Amazon. I pledge my sword and my ax to you.”
Caleb sat with his long legs folded like a pretzel on a soft scattering of fresh hay next to his horse. The bowl of stew he’d been given was savory, entirely edible so long as he didn’t look too closely at the pot the stable master had cooked it in.
When the side door opened, its bronze hinges creaking loudly, he didn’t bother looking up. He’d recognize Fari’s sharp, staccato footsteps anywhere.
Stealing himself, he glanced up at her from his wooden bowl. Maybe he should have taken a deep breath, too, because the sight of her, even in her masculine clothing, sucked the air right out of his lungs. Large brown eyes set in a perfect oval face drew him in. Her soft, full mouth stirred part of him that had no business getting excited. Everything about her turned him on. How he’d love to wrap that long, dark brown braid around his fist…
“Gather your things, Caleb,” she said curtly—as if she was talking to a private who hadn’t moved fast enough to suit.
“Did you procure lodgings, mistress?” he asked, giving her a deliberately lazy smile. Better to piss her off than let her know where his thoughts had gone.
“Knucklehead,” she whispered in English, “I did one better than that. Come on.”
Bemused by the smile curling one corner of her lush mouth, he gathered the saddlebags holding their meager assortment of clothing and weapons, and followed in her wake.
At the palace doors, he watched as the guard there bowed to Fari and then stood aside to let her enter.
When the man angled his spear to prevent Caleb from following, Fari called over her shoulder, “Xanos, he’s with me.”
Caleb caught up with her after she’d skirted the back of the hall and headed down a narrow, badly lit corridor to one side. She moved fast for a woman who couldn’t be more than five foot three in her socks.
At last she pulled up in front of a wooden door carved with the image of an ox.
He whistled softly. “This is ours? We’re right inside the freaking palace?”
“Shhh. Stick to Scythian. Too many people around. We’re sleeping here.” She lifted the latch and pushed him through the door, then looked around with a frown.
Besides a single cot to one side, and pegs next to the door, the tiny room was unfurnished. The only light came from a bright shard of moonlight flooding through the narrow window.
Her gaze didn’t quite meet his. “Guess who gets the bed?”
“The one recovering from a gunshot wound?”
She gave a feminine snort. “Dream on. I earned this bed.”
He dropped their bags in a corner and sat on the edge of the narrow, straw-filled mattress, ignoring her arched brows. “Maybe the floor is the better option,” he muttered as straw crackled under his hand.
“Aren’t you going to ask me what happened?” Excitement glittered in Fari’s dark eyes.
“You got invited to join her personal guard?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Not quite, but I’m to start training with them. Hippolyta’s not
that
easily won over.”
Caleb gave her a nod, impressed with what she’d achieved so quickly. “
Nice.
My being here part of the package?”
“I told her you’re my servant and that you see to all my needs.”
His eyebrows shot up.
She narrowed her gaze, frowning. “How else could I explain why I need you with me?”
“
All
your needs?” he drawled, unwilling to let that phrase go. Not when her cheeks were darkening with a blush.
“You’re a new purchase. I’m not bored with you yet.”
He gave her a heavy-lidded stare even as he tried to hide a smile. “Your love slave?”
“My
personal
slave,” she said through gritted teeth. “You cook for me, clean for me, handle the horses….”
“Service the mistress…?”
She rolled her eyes. “I had to add that bit or the others might have asked for the use of you. They’re not a shy bunch of ladies.”
“I see.” His lips twitched as he noted her deepening embarrassment.
“No, you don’t see. We’re here. Inside the palace. We’re a step closer to our goal.”
Caleb relented, and stopped teasing her. “Right. So what now?”
She blew out a breath. “Dinner’s over. Most everyone’s settling in for the night. We might take a look around.”
“And if we’re caught?”
“I’ll think of something.”
“Do you know where the queen’s chambers are?”
Fari nodded in crisp assent. “She’s above stairs. Only those closest to her are allowed up there.”
“Heavily guarded?”
“Hippolyta has guards inside her chamber with her and Theseus. She may be besotted with the man, but she doesn’t trust him.”
“That’s where you think the belt is?”
Fari nodded again. “It’s that or the temple, but she doesn’t seem like the kind to hand power over to anyone. She’d want to keep it close.”
“Did you hear any mention of it at dinner?”
“No, and I didn’t ask.. First night here and I didn’t want anyone suspecting I was after anything other than to serve my queen.”
Caleb leaned back on his hands and studied Fari’s expression. “You’re enjoying this.”
She seemed caught off guard by the comment, but shrugged. “And why wouldn’t I? I’m going to train with the Amazons. The only militaristic culture in history to prize female warriors above their men.”
“Just don’t lose sight of the mission,” Caleb said quietly. “Or lose that cuff and decide to go native.”
One elegantly shaped eyebrow arched. “Babe, I’m all about the mission.”
He chuckled. “So, shall we do some scouting?” He pushed himself off the bed and opened the door. Together they slipped into the hallway.
The palace, so far as he could see, wasn’t much of a castle as he’d always pictured them. Certainly nothing like Sadam’s gold-and-marble palaces in Iraq, which Caleb had visited while assigned in the region.
The wood-framed building had plastered, whitewashed walls. Murals covered the larger ones, and built-in niches displayed small sculptures of gods. Mini shrines, as far as he could tell.
They backtracked through the hall, which servants, male and female, were currently putting to rights. A Greek man brushed past them, weaving on his feet.
“So how’d you manage it?” Caleb asked softly.
Fari raised her chin, pride glowing in her eyes. “I showed my stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“A little kung fu.”
“Not exactly true to the era,” he murmured.
She lifted one shoulder. “But effective. Told the queen that Mongols from the East taught me the moves. She’s impressed. Wants me to instruct her guards in hand-to-hand.”
“Is that wise?”
“I won’t teach them anything too identifiable. Can’t have embroidered cloths showing up in the kurgans with Amazons in kung fu stances. Let’s head to the second floor.”
At the bottom of the stairs, he paused. “So what’s your plan if we’re seen?”
She climbed up the first step and tilted her head. “Who says anyone will see us?”
Caleb narrowed his glance. “What exactly is your talent? General Ashton mentioned that you flare? What’s that?”
“It’s best to show you what I can do, Caleb. Somehow I don’t think you believe anything unless you experience it for yourself. Am I right?”
He gave a grunt, figuring that his psychological profile must have been among the documents she’d reviewed. He ignored an inward wince at what else she might have learned about him. While he’d found many high value targets, his commanders weren’t always happy about the personal risks he took. Still, results trumped caution. Or they had until he’d walked into an ambush and gotten the soldier on point killed and himself seriously wounded.
Following her up the steps, he said, “You wondering why I refused the cure, too?”
At the top, she turned to face him. “Unless you’re into pain, I don’t get why you wouldn’t take advantage of Professor Carswell’s offer.”
Caleb’s face tightened. It wasn’t something he liked talking about. “Seemed like cheating. Taking the easy way out.”
“Because someone else died during that mission?” she asked, her expression softening.
Caleb shook his head. “Didn’t feel right,” he said, keeping his tone dead even, “erasing the injury from my body when someone else didn’t walk away.”
Fari touched his arm. “I get that,” she whispered. “I do. Soldier long enough, we all lose friends.”
Standing so close, breathing in her fresh scent, he felt the urge to bend toward her. “Yeah?” Before he could follow through on the inappropriate urge, footsteps approached, the steady stomp of someone marching. “Quick, we need to hide.”
Fari’s mouth curved. “I’ve got it handled, cowboy.”
“How?”
She pressed him back against the wall, then flattened herself beside him. Suddenly, the corridor in front of them was blocked by a barrier. Although light from the torches on the opposite side shone through, he and Fari seemed to be wedged between the new wall and the old. The female guard strode past, within inches of them, without slowing.
“What the…?” He reached up, to find his hand passing through the wall. “That’s flaring?” he whispered.
“Yeah. I can hide you from sight, create a vision of something that isn’t there. But if you make any noises, that wall doesn’t do a bit of good.”
“Could have warned me,” he growled.
Her lips stretched into a grin. “And miss your expression?”
The wall fell away.
“Your turn. What do you see?” she asked, her expression so intent that he blew out a breath.
Then, drawing the next, he slowed his heart rate and let his eyelids drift halfway down as he searched the hallway for faint impressions.
Shadows, lit green, like figures caught in night vision goggles, walked the hall, forward and back. The oldest were pale, wispy ghosts, the most recent a vibrant, flickering neon. “Within the last hour,” he whispered, “a woman, tall, built like a brick house. And a man with his hand on her ass.”
“That would be Hippolyta and Theseus.”
“And at the same time, I see two other females, their hands raised as though they’re carrying spears.”
“Her personal guards. The ones who will keep watch inside her chamber.”
His attention snagged, Caleb found the figures dissolving. He turned to Fari. “Keep watch?”
“She doesn’t trust anyone.”
“Even while…”
“Yeah, but they’re discreet.”
Fari’s embarrassed grimace amused the hell out of him. “Uh-huh…”
She blushed. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” He grabbed her arm and let his “sight” focus again. “After the four of them went inside, someone else slipped out the door just past the queen’s. He paused beside hers.”
“He? You’re sure? Only her guards, all females, are permitted up here, without a special invitation.”
Caleb shook his head, still watching the figure as it walked right through them. “He’s so bright, we had to have just missed him.”
Fari remembered the drunken Greek at dinner. The one she’d toppled to gain Hippolyta’s attention. The one they’d just passed in the hall. “It can’t be a coincidence,” she muttered.
“What?”
“Not here. Back in our room.” They headed toward the stairs, but again, footsteps sounded behind them.
Before Fari had a chance to throw up a vision, Caleb pushed her against the wall and slid a thigh between hers. His mouth captured hers before she could get out a word of protest.
She barely heard a woman’s low chuckle as she brushed past, Fari was so caught up in Caleb’s embrace. His large hands clamped around her upper arms, and his tongue thrust between her teeth, teasing her tongue, eliciting a moan that shocked her into jerking away.
“Was that necessary?” She bent her arms to throw off his hands, but he was stroking his thumbs up and down, and the sensation was raising goose bumps on her flesh.
“Just helpin’ the cause,” he said, his voice a deep, sexy rumble. His thigh pressed deeper, snug against her sex.
Fari’s mouth opened to issue a searing reprimand, but he rubbed her, there between her legs, making her shiver.
His eyes, blue and intense, studied her expression, as though looking for something in her face.
When her eyelids drifted downward, a smile curved his lips, and he bent toward her again.
This time, she was ready. Her hand smoothed over his, and she grasped his thumb, forcing it backward until he pulled away and gritted his teeth.
“All right,” he muttered. “I’ll take that as a no.”
Not exactly. Not if his X-ray vision could have seen inside her at that precise moment. Her whole body tingled as he extricated himself. Her lungs felt starved for air. She turned on her heel and walked away, an ear tuned to the sound of his steady gait behind her.
How the hell would she manage to share close quarters with him now? With one kiss, he’d awakened her desires.
The last thing she wanted was a short-term fling. If she wanted to keep her pride intact, she had to remember the mission. Had to guard her heart. When this journey into the past was over, they’d part ways. She couldn’t allow her attraction, as well as her growing appreciation for him as a man and a soldier, to cloud the fact that they were all wrong for each other.
Stick to the mission, Fari. It’s all about the mission.