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The Seduction of Seleste

From the world of the mating season

Safe and Free

Chapter 79

"I told you it wouldn't be easy," Wynn said. On the polished marble floor near her foot, Aayan played with his small collection of white spinning tops. The toys were exquisitely made and trimmed in gold. They dazzled in the bright sunlight and emitted soft whizzing noises each time they were spun. Nizhoni sat on the floor with the child, spinning each top at the boy's silent command. Aayan watched the spinning with large, fascinated eyes, and glancing over at him every now and then, LiAnh thought his quiet fascination reminded him a great deal of Aviine.

"You said it wouldn't be easy," LiAnh returned, "you didn't say it would be this hard. I've got aches in places I didn't even know I had."

Wynn laughed. "Leave us please," she said, gesturing a careless paw at Nizhoni.

Nizhoni had been laughing as well but the smile immediately fell from her face. "Yes, your highness . . ." she whispered. She gathered Aayan into her arms. The boy whined and moaned and reached for Wynn, who assured him they would be together later. The boy, however, continued his speechless protests.

"Now, now," Nizhoni chided as she carried Aayan away, "I'll take you to see your father. Wouldn't you like to see him?"

Hearing this, the boy sniffled quietly and nodded. Wynn and LiAnh watched as Nizhoni took him away. They were sitting on a wide veranda, on one of the highest floors of the palace, side by side in white chairs with gold cushions. A table was between them, on which stood glasses of wine and a crystal decanter. LiAnh was clad in a white skirt with gold trim, while Wynn was resplendent in a tight-fitting white gown with transparent sleeves, for only servants were without adornment in Miras Eii.

Wynn's gold tiara was on the table beside the decanter - in fact, the decanter had been placed in the center of it. Small cherries waited in a gold bowl, and the fox queen plucked them with her slender fingers between sipping her wine.

LiAnh cleared his throat. "Aren't you worried that the kid isn't talking yet?"

"Why should I be?" Wynn pulled a cherry from its stem in her teeth, not looking at LiAnh but out at the bright blue sky. Nearby, small blue birds splashed in a birdbath.

LiAnh snorted. "Because it isn't normal?"

"He takes after you, brat."

"He does not . . ." A small gold mirror was also on the table between them, and taking it up, LiAnh frowned at his reflection. The transformation had left him rusty red, though his mane and paws had remained white. He had also taken on the features of a fox: a smaller muzzle and larger ears, as well as smaller teeth and larger eyes. Looking at himself, he dragged his tongue over his teeth and pulled his lips open with one finger.

"And stop preening," Wynn drawled and rolled her eyes.

LiAnh set the mirror down. "Shut up, Wynn."

Wynn laughed softly and took another drink.

"So . . ." LiAnh cleared his throat. "Am I going to have twelve tails?"

"Don't be absurd." Wynn tossed a cherry stem to one of the birds, which hopped down to the collect the prize before swooping away to its nest.

"Now I'm absurd. Explain."

Wynn glanced at him, her green eyes dancing with amusement. "Only the very powerful walk about with fifteen tails, LiAnh - which is, thankfully, the most a fox can have. It would take thousands of years to gain more than three . . . You have no idea how old Sylas is . . . how old his mother was . . . And having been a wolf once - well, you will never be quite as powerful. You may grow three tails at the most."

"That goes for you as well, I take it."

Wynn shook her head slightly and her black curls cascaded. "Oh, no. I live in the palace. I sleep beside the most powerful crystal in Miras Eii. Even though Keme shattered the crystal, with love and care, it will grow back. And it will feed its power to me. This is why the royal family is always most powerful."

LiAnh glowered. "The foxes are drunk on power. That's the only reason they won't let the frost wolves go."

Wynn was silent as she drank from her wine glass, though something sad flashed in her eyes.

"And will I start to glow like your darling husband?" LiAnh teased.

Wynn shook her head again and set down her glass. She settled in her chair, watching as the blue birds splashed in the bath. LiAnh could see the slow, thoughtful blinking of her long lashes around the sweep of her mane.

"No," Wynn answered at length. "You will never glow. The glowing is a testament to the ancient power in my darling husband's blood. It marks him as a son of the royal bloodline. Aayan will glow one day, when he learns to use his power . . ."

"I hope he speaks ones day."

"He will never speak."

LiAnh looked at Wynn quickly. He still couldn't see her face around her mane. She was sitting straight and solemn in her chair, and her white gown swept down to hide her feet. The gold bracelets on her wrists gleamed in the bright blue day. LiAnh wanted to take her paw. He could tell by her stiff posture that his words had upset her.

LiAnh cleared his throat and changed the subject. "How long can we live? Judging by the population . . ." He fell silent. The amount of foxes living in Miras Eii made up a quarter of the wolves populating the outside world. Foxes seemed to breed as slowly as they aged. He still couldn't quite grasp the fact that Nizhoni was, in fact, thousands of years old. If Sylas was more than three thousand . . . and Nizhoni was older than Sylas. . . . he shuddered to think.

"We will outlive Dad," Wynn said quietly, "and our mothers, our siblings and their children and their children's children . . . provided we survive freak accidents and the regular assassination attempts."

"Ah." LiAnh nodded and filled his glass. His paw was almost shaking. "And the magic? When will it come to me?"

"With time. You will find yourself bending spoons with your mind soon enough. Just mind you don't bend the crystal."

LiAnh smiled and nodded. "And what else?"

"The most powerful can mind read, use Glamour to change appearance . . . and then there's destruction magic. Without training, you will be able to use minor destruction spells at the most. I'll have someone tutor you so you don't go burning the place down."

"A hot tutor."

Wynn rolled her eyes.

"Two of them. With big tits."

"What would your Nizhoni say, I wonder?"

LiAnh shrugged. "Can't kill a guy for looking."

"It still hurts . . .?"

"My dick? Yes."

Wynn squeezed her eyes shut. "Ugh. I was trying to be discreet about it . . ."

"You? Discreet?" LiAnh laughed. "But, yes, it still hurts. Nizhoni could have told you that."

"I do not wish to speak to Nizhoni. I wish to speak to my brother."

They fell silent, and LiAnh sipped from his glass.

"Is Zhoni always going to be that beautiful? I noticed even the oldest foxes are still . . ."

"Incredibly beautiful?" Wynn finished for him. "Part of the magic. They don't even get old. They just . . . go to sleep one day. And never wake up."

"In other words, they die still looking young. One day. One day when?"

"Somewhere around ten thousand. Perhaps."

LiAnh gave a low whistle and set his glass down. He stared at Wynn, not knowing what to say. Ten thousand years . . . That was the lifespan of a fox. He couldn't wrap his head around it. Around any of it. He poured more wine with a shaking paw and the decanter clinked the glass.

Wynn noticed LiAnh's shaking fingers and cocked an eyebrow. "I could have them put something in your wine," she said at length, "for the pain."

"The wine is enough."

Wynn nodded, her long black curls cascading around her again. She peered out at the sky quietly, thoughtfully, and though she was now a fox, LiAnh thought she hadn't really changed a bit. He could still see his sister, in her eyes, in her regal demeanor, in the way she smirked and called him a brat.

"So why did you send Nizhoni away? I'm going to marry her, and yet you treat her this way."

"I can not speak freely in front of her."

"Yes, you can," LiAnh said darkly.

Wynn's lip curled. "No. Don't be an idiot."

LiAnh's lips tightened. He glared at Wynn. "You still treat her like a servant --"

"Because she is a servant!" Wynn snapped.

They glared at each other for a beat, then very slowly, LiAnh looked away. Jaw standing out hard in her anger, Wynn reached for the decanter and carefully refilled her glass.

"Now will you shut up, brat, and listen to me?" Wynn said quietly. "I did not send the girl away to familiarize you with the peculiarities of foxes."

"I'm listening," LiAnh returned stiffly.

"When I sent Dad and the others through the portal," Wynn began, "it sent them through time as well --"

"Through time?" LiAnh repeated sharply. He watched as Wynn lifted her wineglass.

Wynn took a sip and nodded. "It's how the magic works in Miras Eii. Teleporting from here means teleporting through time. Still, I didn't want to risk letting them _walk_all the way back."

"So how much time did they lose?" LiAnh wondered.

Wynn swallowed and licked her lips. "Six months."

"Six months!" LiAnh sputtered. He regarded Wynn in amazement.

Wynn laughed. "Be glad I didn't say six years."

". . . and you had to tell me this in private . . . why?"

Wynn set down her glass and measured LiAnh with a somber gaze. "Li . . . I believe Seleste was with child."

LiAnh continued to stare at her, waiting for the point.

"Keme and I," Wynn went on, "we are the last of the shemales. The shemales are of an elder tribe and are respected by the foxes. If anything happened to Sylas or Aayan, the next one in line for the throne . . ."

"Would be Keme's child," LiAnh finished for her. "The child of a shemale . . . a relative of the queen . . ."

Wynn nodded deeply. "Ditto. Keme's child would have shemale magic, shemale blood. Ancient blood. For this reason, Keme's child would be considered worthy to succeed the throne. There aren't any other fox heirs. Kitari made sure of that . . . Aayan is the sole heir. And if anything happened to him. . . ."

"So no one here can know that Seleste is likely about to have Keme's child."

Wynn nodded again. "No one, little brother. No one can know where I sent them to either. If someone were to plan a coup, they need only make our deaths look like an accident . . . go to the village, take the child . . . Perhaps name themselves regent and use the child like a puppet . . ."

". . . you're scaring me."

Wynn smiled. "I want Keme's child to be free, Li. Safe and free."

They fell silent, listening to the birds splashing and singing.

"You could have been chief," Wynn said gradually, "and you would have been a better chief than Keme."

LiAnh snorted. "And you," he returned, "could have kept your tail in the jungle and been a shemale queen. You also could have married Inden - the better mate for you - and yet you ran away to be with Sylas and got yourself caught up in this political intrigue and . . . mess."

Wynn snorted and waved a cherry by the stem. "You will never let it go. You still think to tell me who is best for me!" she cried irritably.

"Damn straight," LiAnh said with a nod and a frown. He bumped his fist on the armrest and pointed at her. "I'm your brother. It's my job. If you left all this behind, married Inden, and became his second wife, it would be the smartest thing you ever did."

Wynn rolled her eyes. "Don't let Sylas hear you say this."

"Why? What would he do? Cry?"

"Shut up, LiAnh . . ."

"You admit it. You admit that he would cry!"

Wynn sighed, the wineglass near her lips. "Anyway, you could have been chief back home - the point being that the better decision was to return. Do you really think to marry the royal nursemaid?"

"Ugh. Being with the foxes has made you a snob, Wynn. Or maybe you always were."

Wynn glared at him.

"I love her," LiAnh darkly vowed. He pointed at himself, his lips twisting bitterly. "Do you understand that? Can you?"

"You love her after what? A month? Two months?" She snorted and her pretty green eyes hooded. "Li, you are a fool."

"I'm a fool? How long did you know Sylas before you decided you loved him? You met him once when you were a child and again later when you were a slutty teenage girl --"

Wynn looked at LiAnh quickly and angrily.

"-- meanwhile," he went on defiantly, "you knew Inden all your life. What you had with Inden, that was real love. And yet you cast him aside!"

Wynn looked away, wearily and slowly. "Enough . . . this is getting sad, LiAnh. Really sad. If you love Inden so much, why don't you marry him?"

"I love Nizhoni," LiAnh insisted. "And I'm going to marry her."

"Alright." Wynn took another sip, staring out at the blue sky, at the white clouds that rolled away to the horizon. "But you understand that she can never be trusted. Never."

LiAnh's nostrils flared. "Why!"

"She's a fox," was the simple reply. She smiled at LiAnh, "You can't have missed it."

LiAnh heaved a breath and took a sip from his own glass. He understood what Wynn was trying to tell him. He understood perfectly - he just didn't want to hear it. A life in court was more dangerous, more perilous than a night spent in the deepest, darkest forest. There was a chance that Nizhoni could betray the royal family without even meaning to . . . a slip of the tongue . . . something written in a diary . . . a mouth that said nothing but a look that said everything. If Wynn and her family were to survive the never ending swarm of political intrigue, they would have to take precautions. Which meant LiAnh could not be one hundred percent honest with his wife-to-be.

"Now that Sylas has shown an interest in freeing the frost wolves, we must anticipate retaliation," Wynn said quietly. "Perhaps in the form of a poisoned goblet." She sighed.

"I had no idea what I was getting into," LiAnh said dryly, "when I decided to stay here."

"No," Wynn agreed calmly, "you didn't."

LiAnh stared out at the sky for a long time, then sighed miserably and took a sip of wine. He blinked when he felt Wynn's small paw smooth over his. Without looking at her, he squeezed her fingers and smoothed his thumb against her fur. They sat thus a long time, paw in paw, in quiet. And in content.

"Do you want to play cards?" Wynn's long lashes blinked slowly as she peered at the sky.

"Are they erotic cards?"

"Yes."

"Alright."

---

"My daughter has a penis, Mom." Keme blinked, trying to digest his own words. His daughter had . . . a penis. He said it out loud again to see if he could make himself believe it. He couldn't.

Sitting beside Keme, Avi laughed. They were sitting together in a tree, in the summer village, looking out at the sky as the sun sank away. Seleste had given birth to a healthy daughter only months before. A daughter who was shemale. Seleste, happy and glowing, was with the child even now, but Keme - as he was apt to do - had gone off to sit in a tree. Where he could worry in private.

"She looks exactly like Seleste," Keme went on dreamily, happily. His eyes widened, "Only she has a penis."

"She's got your eyes," Avi said in pygmy.

"Mom!"

Avi laughed. "You aren't _alone_in this. I will be here to help her with . . . shemale troubles."

Keme sighed and pushed his mane from his eyes. "I feel like she came so quickly. We step out of the portal . . . and Seleste is big as a hut. . ." He glanced at Avi anxiously. "Don't tell her I said that."

Avi laughed and soothingly rubbed his back.

"And all at once," Keme went on, looking out across the thatch roofs of the summer village, the columns of smoke, the torches that winked to life in the streets, "I was chief of this tribe, a father, and a husband. Aaaaallll at once."

"I'm here," Avi repeated. "I'm here as your advisor, as a council elder, and as your mother."

They smiled at each other.

"Still . . . I have every reason to worry, Mom. She's shemale . . . how am I supposed to keep an alliance with the sun wolves . . . when my daughter and heir is shemale? They _hate_us." He glowered. "They would see every last shemale dead if most of them weren't dead already . . ."

Avi lifted her eyebrows. "Don't tell anyone she's shemale? So far, no one knows but your family. Keep it that way, Keme . . . and hope she has a small package."

Keme laughed dryly. "Or maybe Seleste can teach her a magic trick to hide it."

"I admit," Avi said after some time, "that it will be hard to mate her." She frowned. "There aren't many males like your father, Keme . . ."

Keme laughed wearily again. "What are we supposed to do?" He heavily untied his feather cape and let it slip from his shoulders. Avi peered off deep in thought as he laid it over his arm. It was a brown feather cape, with fur trim. Bear fur. He hated wearing the damn thing. The circlet hugging his forehead was equally revolting and he fiddled with it irritably.

"We must plan carefully," Avi said and nodded. She was still speaking fluent pygmy. "Your idea about the magic trick, it's a good plan. We could have a sorcerer teach her to hide. I would advise contacting Yuri . . ."

"Mom!" Keme looked at his mother in amazement. Avi, who was so proud and defiant when it came to her heritage, was now scrambling to hide all evidence of said heritage in her grandchild.

Avi shook her head solemnly. "You may not understand your mother's caution now, Keme. But one day, when it comes time for Tala to marry - who knows, perhaps the child of the sun chief - you will thank me."

Keme smiled. His little Tala marrying Honiahaka's son? That wouldn't be so bad. Some time after Keme's coronation, a letter arrived from the sun village, announcing the birth of Honiahaka and Talisa's twin children: a boy named Yatokya and a girl named Yanaba. They were the pride of the sun village, and a mass celebration arouse in the very streets the night they were born. Yatokya was dark and auburn like his mother, while little Yanaba was silver as her father. At the bottom of the letter, Kel asked after LiAnh - to whom the letter had been written -- and it was with a heavy heart that Keme wrote back, explaining what details were safe to explain on parchment.

"You know, Mom . . . I don't think a child of Honi's would care that Tala was shemale. Not after being raised by Honi, the shemale expert and fanatic . . ."

"But the sun wolves will care, my son," Avi said quietly. "They will care a great deal that a prince of the sun has taken a shemale for wife. In sixteen years, when Tala has blossomed and her true heritage becomes more difficult to hide . . ." Avi looked at Keme sadly. "It takes more than sixteen years to overcome hatred."

". . . maybe I should send her away."

"No," Avi said at once.

"It's not safe for her here --"

"Anymore than it would be were she not shemale," Avi said pointedly.

Keme said nothing. She was right. It hadn't exactly been safe for Seleste.

"So what do I do?" he wondered. "Pft. What am I doing? LiAnh should have come home. He should have come home and Seleste and I should have run away --"

"Keme!"

"I could protect them in the jungle," Keme protested and tossed a paw. "I could protect them from the dangers there with my strength," he said, looking at Avi, "and with my knowledge and experience. But here? In civilization? I am helpless. And my strength . . . it means nothing." He looked away, his face suddenly hard.

"Oh, Keme. . . ." Avi whispered sympathetically. "Don't you understand? You are still in the jungle."

"Teach me how to survive this jungle, Mom. I want Tala to be safe and free. I don't want . . ." His eyes widened as he realized. "I don't want what happened to Seleste to ever happen to her!"

Avi rubbed her small paw soothingly over the tight muscles of his back. She remembered how he loved it when he was a pup. He still loved it now. He blinked and reluctantly began to calm.

"I'm scared for her."

Avi dropped her cheek on his shoulder. "We will not send her to the sun village under any circumstances," she promised. "Ever. And she will learn that she is never to go there. She will know who she is and where she comes from and she will take pride in it as well. She will also, however, take caution."

Keme kissed Avi's mane and saw her smile. He dropped his cheek against the soft gray tresses and closed his eyes. "Thanks, Mom. For being here. I'm too dumb to do this alone."

Avi laughed. "Like father in everyway," she said in common tongue.

Keme laughed with her.

"The sun chief can send his son to rule here and his daughter can stay to rule there," Avi went on seriously and switched again to the pygmy language. "We will hold a gathering in the summer, to which the sun chief and his closest advisors will attend. It is there that we will set the alliance: Prince Yatokya of the sun and Princess Tala of the summer. Also . . . you should think of marrying your other daughters to winter wolf royalty," she added thoughtfully. "Not any of Seleste's children, naturally, but one of Iniwa's. Seleste's sister will have children in power there. Luyua is known to have many sons who need wives."

Keme moaned.

"Keme," Avi scolded, "this is what it means to be chief. Your daughters must marry. The winter wolves will look on in envy that those of the sun have instilled their blood and power here. We do not want the winter wolves to insight hostility with the sun wolves over this village. We must appease them."

"With my children." Keme snorted. "I'm not about to kiss the winter tribe's ass --"

"You will kiss their asses with tongue if you want to keep the peace," Avi said over him.

Keme's face hardened and he swallowed again, feeling like a child. He had to remind himself not to whine. What had he expected? That all his children would remain here? With him? Damn that he'd had daughters . . . Three daughters. Three.

When Keme returned with the others from Miras Eii, it was to find Iniwa large with child. With children, actually. Some time after Tala was born to Seleste, Iniwa gave birth to twin daughters, two gray little girls named Naira and Rayen. Naira had Keme's green eyes, but Rayen had Iniwa's innocent browns.

"If we discuss these things now, in private, and know exactly what needs to happen," Avi went on in a softer tone, "it will be easier to reason with the council. In fact, I am confident they will agree with everything I have said. These are the best precautions to take in securing the independence of the summer village, in securing the peace. I would also advise that Iniwa prepare herself for more pups after at least a year has passed. The council will want more daughters."

_More bargaining chips,_Keme thought darkly.

"If Iniwa is not up to it," Avi went on, "then you will have to take a third wife."

Keme pinched the flesh between his eyes. "You know what, Mom? I was actually naïve enough to think I could change things, that I could improve the world in such a way that my daughters would not have to be bartered off for the sake of the peace. Now I find myself scrambling to protect them from the same world I want to change."

Keme blinked sadly when Avi kissed him on the cheek and whispered, "Welcome to the jungle, my son."