Page 12 of Dark Shaman: Love Found (The Children Of The Gods #99)

AREANA

T he private dining room in Navuh's quarters glowed with the soft light of multiple candles that Areana had requested.

The servants had found two candelabras packed away in storage from the time the house had been decorated in the style of an Italian villa, and she wondered what other treasure she could find there that could help turn this house into a home.

She'd dismissed the servants early, insisting that she would handle the wine service herself. It had been a small rebellion that Navuh had indulged with an amused smile.

"You're in a romantic mood tonight," he observed, watching her pour the fine vintage she'd selected from his collection. "Should I be flattered or concerned?"

"Always flattered, my love." She handed him his glass, letting their fingers brush in a way that still, after five millennia, sent a familiar warmth through her. "It was stifling in the main dining room with the other ladies and the watchful eyes of the staff. I needed time alone with you. "

"As did I." He reached for her hand and kissed the back of it. "If I could have my way, I would spend my days and nights only with you."

She smiled. "On a hidden island in the middle of the Indian Ocean?"

"Yes. After I throw everyone else out, we could frolic nude in the ocean."

Areana assumed a mock stern expression. "You don't frolic, my love."

"No, I don't." He leaned back with his wine glass, his face relaxed and lacking the usual austere intensity. "I can't afford to. I have an image to maintain."

These moments, when he allowed his careful control to slip, reminded her why the Fates had bound them together. Beneath the cruelty and paranoia was a man capable of deep feeling, but he reserved it all only for her.

"Speaking of my image, you need to change the way you act around me. The servants are starting to get suspicious."

"What do you mean? I haven't changed anything about the way I act around you."

"And that's the problem. I try to pay attention to the other ladies so the staff won't start gossiping, but I don't have the patience to put on an act.

If you were to throw a few jealous tantrums, it would explain why I pay attention only to you.

You are also too friendly with the other ladies.

You treat them as daughters or sisters and not as competitors. "

He wasn't wrong, but she hated having to pretend for the benefit of the staff. "Can't you just compel or thrall them? That would be so much easier."

"I could, but I'd rather they reinforce the fiction I've been maintaining for thousands of years. Be a little bossier with your ladies, less friendly, and glare at them when I bestow a smile on any of them."

She took a sip of wine. "I'll try."

"You need to do better than try. There is also the issue of hiding who you really are."

She tensed. "I never let myself glow unless we are alone. Did I slip?"

"No, you did not, but it is crucial that you and the ladies maintain the illusion that you are just an immortal like them. They pay you too much deference. Much more than if you were just the first wife."

Great. Not only would she have to act hostile toward her ladies, she would have to ask them to act with less deference towards her.

He leaned forward and took her hand. "You know how important it is to hide your true identity. My entire structure will collapse like a house of cards if my commanders discover that my wife is a goddess."

Areana no longer believed his assertion that his generals would want to end her life if they discovered that she was a goddess, and she also knew that none of them could overpower Navuh's compulsion and harm her .

But she still cooperated and hid her identity on the remote chance that it might create division in the Brotherhood and fracture Navuh's power base.

In Navuh's world, power was the only currency that mattered. Love might bind them, but it would never override his essential nature.

"So, you want me to play the jealous first wife," she said. "Make scenes and stake my claim."

"You make it sound distasteful. It could be fun. I would love to see you act jealous over me."

That got her to smile. "You would, wouldn't you?" She leaned over to kiss his cheek when a knock stopped her. "Dinner must be ready." She leaned back and lifted the little bell, ringing it to indicate that it was alright to enter.

As the servants laid out the elaborate meal she'd requested of roasted lamb with herbs, vegetables, and fresh bread, appetizing aromas filled the room.

Once they were alone again, Navuh carved the lamb. "So, do we have an understanding?" He put a generous portion on her plate.

She nodded. "Tomorrow, I become the jealous harridan you require."

"Not a harridan. You won't be able to put on a convincing enough act. Just a woman protecting her position. Make it believable."

Areana took a few bites, gathering her thoughts before launching into the real reason for the private dinner she'd arranged for them. In a way, Navuh's request played right into her hands.

"I'd hate having to put on an act all day long," she said. "Perhaps I could spend my days supervising the harem's restoration with the help of my ladies, Tony, and Elias. That way, we can have some privacy back."

"I don't know about that. The site is dangerous. Construction workers everywhere, and the structure is unstable. I won't risk you."

"I'm a goddess," she reminded him gently. "And the ladies are immortal. A falling beam might hurt, but it won't kill any of us."

"It would be difficult to explain your presence."

He wasn't putting up as much resistance as she'd expected, but she still needed a convincing argument.

Areana set down her silverware and leaned back in her chair. "Do you know what we do all day? The ladies and I?"

"Whatever pleases you, I assume."

"We sit in that box of a garden, slowly roasting in the sun while your gardeners pretend to work while spying on us.

We make stilted conversation because we know every word is reported.

We count the minutes until each meal because it's the only break in the monotony, but we can't speak freely even then. We are suffocating here."

He smiled indulgently. "And here I was under the impression that you are all thrilled to finally be released from the harem. When you were there, all I heard was that you were prisoners in a gilded cage."

That was true, and Areana was well aware of the irony.

"We're bored, Navuh. Desperately, mind-numbingly bored. And bored people make mistakes. Say things they shouldn't. Drop pretenses they should maintain."

That got his attention. "Such as?"

"Yesterday, Rolenna blurted within a maid's earshot that Tula missed Tony.

I had to think quickly and cover up for her slip-up.

But it's true. Tula misses him desperately, and desperate people do desperate things.

They need to be allowed to be together, and it's not possible here or at the hotel. The harem is the only safe place."

He cast her an incredulous look. "Nothing is working there, and you can't live in an underground structure without proper air circulation."

"There are extensive lush gardens and the gazebo. Plenty of private shaded places where people can talk without curious eyes watching their every move."

He was wavering. She could see that. Time for the final push. "Besides, I want to make sure that things are being restored correctly." She waved a hand over the room they were in. "Without supervision, it might end up like this."

He laughed. "We can't have that, can we?"

"No, we definitely can't. By the way, is it okay if I go down to the storage and look for the things that were saved from the time this house still looked like a home?

The servants found these two lovely candelabras down there, and I wonder what other treasures I might find packed away in boxes, accumulating dust."

He considered that for a moment. "If I allow it, would it suffice to keep you occupied?" He lifted the wine bottle and refilled their glasses. "You and the ladies can tackle one room at a time, restoring the decor to what it was before this unfortunate exercise in modernity."

"Nice try." She took the glass that he handed her. "I want both."

"The site is full of workers."

"Then assign guards, but I want the ones who served in the harem." She took a sip from her wine. "I can't pretend all day long, my love. I need a place where I can be me, and the ladies need a place where they can be themselves."

He took her hand and interlocked their fingers. "Are you that unhappy here?"

"Sitting in this fishbowl while your staff catalogs our every move is exhausting."

A long silence stretched between them. She could practically see his mind working, weighing risks against benefits. Finally, he sighed.

"You may visit the site. Supervised, with full security detail."

Relief flooded through her, but she kept her expression merely pleased. "Thank you."

"But." He held up a finger. "There are conditions. "

"Of course."

"You go during daylight hours only. You interact with workers only about restoration matters—colors, materials, and layouts. Nothing personal, nothing that might hint at your true nature."

Each restriction was reasonable, expected. She nodded her acceptance.

"And you take a full security detail. Non-negotiable."

"The guards who served in the harem would be enough," she offered.

"There aren't enough of them given the many new men working on the site."

"Then supplement them with perimeter guards. The harem guards can provide close protection while others secure the wider area."

"That's reasonable. I'll make the arrangements. You can start tomorrow if you wish."

That had been much easier than she'd expected, and frankly, a little suspicious. She hadn't expected to be allowed on the harem grounds as soon as tomorrow. The ladies would be thrilled to hear that.

"Thank you," she said.

He smiled. "You know I can't refuse you anything."

If only that were true .

"Can we leave right after I enact my jealous wife routine at breakfast?"

He nodded. "I'm looking forward to your performance."

"You seem overly eager for me to do that."

"I will enjoy you staking your claim on me publicly." He leaned closer to her, and his mouth found her throat. "Showing everyone that I belong to you as much as you belong to me."

"You belong to no one," she said, but her breath hitched as he found that sensitive spot.

"No?" His hands moved with familiar expertise. "Then why do I keep a goddess caged? Why do I risk everything to have you near?"

"Because you can't bear to let anything go once you've claimed it."

"True." He lifted her easily, carrying her toward his bed chamber. "But also because you're the only thing in five millennia I've wanted to keep."

She let him carry her, let passion override the calculated dance that governed their interactions, the careful balance between love and power, between what they felt and what they could never fully trust.

Tomorrow, she would play the jealous wife, reinforcing the fiction that Navuh insisted on. But after that was done, she would return to the harem, ostensibly to fuss over books saved from the library, and hopefully, she would get to reestablish contact with Annani .

Tonight, though, belonged to the complex, contradictory man who held her caged but cherished, who loved and pampered her but had taken away her sons as babies.

As Navuh's hands moved over her with reverent familiarity, Areana let herself forget everything but this—the one pure thing in their twisted reality.

"I love you," he whispered against her skin.

"And I love you," she replied, meaning it despite everything. "Always."