Page 28 of Dark Shaman: The Lost Treasure (The Children Of The Gods #98)

Tamira turned back to the group, noting how they were watching her interaction with Elias with knowing smiles. "I said that shared experiences create their own form of belonging. Like us…"

She was interrupted by the doors opening and Lady Areana entering the dining room. She wore white, as she often did, the color making her pale beauty seem almost translucent.

Everyone rose to their feet, including Elias, who followed their lead and bowed.

"Please, sit." Areana waved a hand over the table. "I didn't mean to interrupt. I came to welcome the latest addition to our group." She glided to Elias, who bowed even deeper. "My lady."

"Call me Areana. Everyone here does."

"I'm Elias," he said.

"Welcome to our small group within the larger community of the harem, Elias," Areana said. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Very much so, my lady—Areana. I don't remember ever engaging in a conversation quite as stimulating. Your ladies are as intelligent and as knowledgeable as they are beautiful."

"I'm glad you appreciate my lovely companions. Each of them is a bright diamond with no equal, and I treasure them greatly." She surveyed the table with her kind, ageless eyes.

"Will you join us for coffee?" Liliat offered.

"Thank you, but no. I need to be back in my quarters." Her gaze fell on Elias again. "I look forward to speaking with you properly tomorrow at lunch."

"I'm honored, my lady, I mean Areana," Elias said with yet another bow.

After Lady Areana left, the mood shifted. Her presence always reminded them of their reality. For all the luxury and conversation, they remained prisoners of a despot's whims, and they were lucky to have Lady Areana as a protector and shield.

"More wine?" Tony asked, reaching for a bottle. "I find philosophy goes down easier with proper lubrication."

"Not for me," Raviki said, rising. "I need my beauty sleep. I feel every year of my long life tonight. Too much deep thinking makes me nostalgic."

One by one the others excused themselves, and soon only Tamira, Elias, Tula, and Tony remained.

"Well," Tony said, looking between them with thinly veiled amusement. "Tula and I should probably retire for the evening as well."

"Good night," Tamira said with a smile.

Their exit was about as subtle as a thunderclap, and Tamira found herself alone with Elias in the grand dining room, the servants having discreetly vanished once the meal had concluded.

"Subtle, isn't he?" Elias said with a wry smile.

"As a battering ram." She shifted in her chair, angling toward him. "I was hoping we'd have a chance to talk privately."

"Were you?" His voice held cautious interest.

"Mmm. Group conversations are wonderful, but they don't allow for deeper exploration." She let the words carry a double meaning, watching his reaction.

She wanted him tonight, but only if he wanted her too. She wasn't in the habit of coercing males into her bed who weren't interested.

Not that they were ever uninterested unless they were in love with someone else.

Tamira knew she was beautiful. After all, she had to be stunning for the god Mortdh to take her as his concubine.

Her beauty had condemned her to life in the harem, but it had also saved her life.

If she had stayed in Sumer and mated another immortal from a prominent family, she might have been happy for a few years, but then she would have died with everyone else when Mortdh had decided to kill all the gods and die along with them.

Elias didn't disappoint, holding her gaze. "What do you have in mind?"

"You," she said simply. "All to myself." She rose to her feet and offered him a hand up.

His breath caught. "Tamira..."

"I have a sitting room in my quarters, well stocked with books and comfortable chairs. We could continue our discussion about manifestation and consciousness without Tony's interruptions."

"Discussion?" He seemed unsure suddenly.

She smiled. "I've found that the best connections unfold naturally, without predetermined outcomes."

He took her hand and smiled, his face transforming from handsome to devastating. "I would be honored to continue our conversation privately."

They walked the short distance from the dining room to her quarters, a corridor she'd traveled for many years, but tonight everything felt different.

The anticipation humming through her veins made everything sharper—the whisper of silk against stone, the play of lamplight on marble, the sound of their synchronized footsteps.

"The architecture of this place is remarkable," Elias said as they passed by the ornate archway that led to the interior courtyard.

"Lord Navuh spares no expense on our cage," she said quietly, then winced at her bitter tone. "I apologize. Sometimes the resentment slips through at the most inappropriate moments."

"No need to apologize. Acknowledging reality isn't bitterness—it's sanity."

"This is me." Tamira stopped before her door and opened it.

There were no locks in the harem. There was no need. No one entered private quarters uninvited, and that even included Lord Navuh. The monster had a few redeeming qualities, chief among them his love and devotion to Areana.

Tamira's sitting room was her sanctuary, decorated to reflect her evolving tastes.

Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with volumes in dozens of languages.

Comfortable chairs clustered around an electric fireplace that was for decoration rather than function.

There was no need for heating on a tropical island.

Persian rugs covered the floors, and artifacts from various cultures created an eclectic but harmonious whole.

Another redeeming quality of Navuh was never refusing his ladies their hearts' desires.

All she had to do to purchase an item was submit a request to the accountant, and it got approved without question.

Well, except for current literature, or phones that worked outside the harem, or any weapons of any kind.

But she was smart enough not to try that.

"Your room suits you," Elias said. "It's beautiful and interesting, just like the lady who occupies it."

"This is my nest," she said. "Please, sit wherever you like."

He chose one of the chairs by the fireplace, and she took its companion, curling her legs beneath her. For a moment, they simply looked at each other, the possibilities hanging in the air between them.

"Would you like tea?" she asked. "Or something stronger?"

"Tea would be perfect."

As she walked over to the small preparation area she'd created against one wall, Elias rose to his feet and went over to one of her bookcases.

"You have an impressive collection," he said, examining her bookshelves. "Philosophy, science, poetry, fiction...in how many languages?"

"All the ones I speak and a few I'm still learning." She filled the electric kettle with water from a carafe and selected a delicate oolong from her tea collection. It was floral with complex undertones. "Books are my salvation here. Windows into worlds I will never see."

"Which worlds call to you most strongly?"

The question was simple, but she heard layers beneath it.

"The ones where choice exists. Where people can leave if they're unhappy, love whom they choose, pursue their own purposes.

" She poured hot water over the leaves, watching them unfurl.

"I never lived in places like that, never experienced what it's like to be free.

I was always an asset to be traded for goods or for status, and that was even in my country of origin, which was incredibly progressive compared to this.

" She waved her hand in the air. "But my parents traded me for status and favors, and I was too young and naive to realize that I was agreeing to eternal bondage. "

Elias looked suddenly anxious, his eyes darting over the walls of her room.

She laughed. "Don't worry. There are no listening devices or cameras in here. Lord Navuh is paranoid, but he is not a pervert. He allows us privacy in our rooms."

Elias frowned. "Are you sure about that? Because I was under the impression that my room was not as private as this."

"It's not, and neither is Tony's. But you can talk freely here. I promise it's safe."

He still looked doubtful.

"Navuh is a cruel despot and a vile shithead," she said, not loud enough that it could be heard outside her door, but loud enough to convince Elias.

"Now I'm really scared." He looked at the door as if expecting it to burst open at any moment.

"Don't worry. I have cursed at him out loud thousands of times in here. He would not let it slide if he heard it."

She carried the tea service to the small table between their chairs, and he helped arrange the cups and saucers without being asked.

Small courtesies, but they mattered.

"It might be a trick," Elias said quietly. "He might ignore your cursing so you will think that this is a safe place to talk."

She sat in the chair. "Why would he do that?"

"To lull you into a false sense of security," Elias whispered. "So if you ever plot against him, you will do it here, where he could learn of your plans."

She laughed. "I could plot from here until eternity and not come up with anything that will help me escape this place. Even if I managed to somehow get through both fences and overpower the guards patrolling the grounds, where would I go? It's an island. The only way out of here is the last exit."

"Death," Elias said.

"Precisely." She lifted her teacup and blew air on the hot water before sipping her tea.

Could he be right about the listening devices?

It was possible, but since she had no nefarious plans, she had nothing to worry about, and if Navuh was indeed a pervert and wanted to watch her having sex in her bed, it was his prerogative. After all, she belonged to him, and he could do whatever he wanted with her.

It wasn't a pleasant thought, and she searched her mind for something to say that would chase away the bitterness that hovered over her, as it was the last thing she wanted when she was about to seduce an intriguing man and needed to get into the right mood.

"What's your favorite book?" Elias asked. "The one you return to when the world feels too heavy?"

He was so attuned to her that he had guessed exactly what she needed right now.

"Rumi's poetry," she answered without hesitation. "A Sufi mystic from the thirteenth century. His words about divine love and longing speak to something in me that transcends circumstance."

"'Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love,'" Elias quoted. "'It will not lead you astray.'"

The man didn't cease to amaze her.

"You know Rumi?"

"How could a shaman not? He understood that separation is an illusion, that all longing is really for reunion with the source."

"Is that what you believe?" she asked. "That we're all seeking reunion?"

"Yes, that and recognition. To be truly seen and accepted, not for our masks but for our essences."

The words hit her with unexpected force. When had anyone last seen her essence rather than her beautiful exterior? Even her sisters in captivity knew only the Tamira she'd become, not the girl she'd been.

"And if someone sees that essence?" she asked quietly. "What then?"

His gaze held hers, intense and unwavering. "Then we face a choice. To hide or reveal. To retreat or risk. To maintain a safe distance or dare proximity."

Her heart raced. This was moving exactly to where she needed it to go. Some connections couldn't be parsed or paced—they simply were.

"I'm tired of safe distances," she admitted.

He set down his teacup. "Tamira, I need you to understand—there are things about me I can't share. If you want me, you will have to be satisfied with what I can freely offer."

"I'm not asking for your secrets," she said. "I'm asking for your presence. Tonight."

"Tonight?"

She rose, moving to stand before his chair.

This close, she could see flecks of gold in his brown eyes, the sun-kissed strands in his chestnut hair. He looked up at her, and she saw her own hunger reflected there.

"Tonight, I want to forget that we're not free. I want a conversation that goes deeper than philosophy. I want to be touched by someone who sees me as more than the lord's property."