Tag: LitRPG

In this scene from Forever Love, Izzorah and Luc meet an unexpected enemy. Or is this an ally?

Unmasking Secrets

Luc looked from the female to the king. "Who is this?"

"She's a Ceeow, t'hahr." Izzorah inclined his head toward her, ears forward, not down. "She's an outcast among the Kin, but allied to Pietas. She's never been on Tarth before. They've been working together. She knows who you are." He paused, ears flicking to catch minor sounds. "And who I am. She didn't have a reason to like you, but"-- He took another sniff --"she wasn't sure she wouldn't. Or me. Well, until now. She sort of likes us. A little."

Amusement and pride swelled from Luc.

From the female, surprise but also a warning. Subtle. Like the "behave yourself" he often got from his mother when he'd overstepped a boundary.

It dawned on him that Luc had not been asking the question of him, but of Pietas. Rather than apologize, he lowered his ears. To a Kin, it meant submission.

Luc nudged him with his shoulder, and Izzorah tilted back his head to find Luc smiling at him. "Anything else, kosset?"

Not that he'd care to say where the others could hear. Holding the piercing gaze of the female, he swallowed. "That's all I know."

She made a single ear-flick of respect.

"This," Pietas said, "is Teyhahss Ceeow, our newest Changeling. Born the same time as Izzorah."

He'd gauged it properly. A Ceeow who'd allied with Pietas.

Luc nudged his chin her way. "What's she doing here?"

"She's going to be tested at the same time as your new spouse."

Even stronger pride from the female, but without the usual arrogance that Izzorah had come to expect from females. More like... amusement.

Luc squeezed his hand. "But why is she here now?"

"Because, knowing you as I do, my valiant Fire Eyes, I can't believe you haven't told Izzorah the truth. When has General Cyken, the one man to whom I'd entrusted my armies and trusted to guard my back ever avoided preparing for battle? When I met Teyhahss I knew she could help me discover the truth."

"What's he mean, t'hahr?" Izzorah knew exactly what Pietas meant, but Luc had coached Izzorah in what to say. "What truth is he talking about? Who's Cyken?"

"You'll see." Pietas beckoned to her. "Teyhahss, this is Izzorah, whom Cyken has just married."

"Congratulations," Teyhahss gave a small bow. Sincere.

Odd from a Kin female. On Felidae, warriors killed males who liked other males. But then, she wasn't a warrior was she? Teyhahss was an outcast.

Pietas turned toward her. "Has Cyken told Izzorah what he is? Use kahlah and whatever other abilities you might have to tell me the truth."

A chill that went through Izzorah that had nothing to do with the cold. No one could lie to a Kin who got close enough. Not even him, and he was good at hiding.

The only thing to do was remember what his father had always taught Izzorah about hiding his blindness. In a world where any flaw could get him killed, that advice had kept him alive and gotten him out of situations worse than this.

What you fear controls you. Believe in your own truth. When you won't back down, most enemies will. Be the truth you want others to see.

The female looked over at Pietas. "You want me to finn them?"

Finn them? Read their scent specifically looking for lies? Izzorah tightened his hold on Luc's arm.

"Yes. I want to know what lies they've dared to tell their king."

Izzorah stood stiff, frozen in position while Teyhahss walked around them.

Luc's scent gave away nothing. If Izzorah couldn't sense anything, no way she could. But himself? He was a ball of fear. How could he believe in his own truth when he didn't even know what that was anymore? He would never pass any test by a Kin.

He and Luc had practiced, but not for this. Luc had never said anything about there being a Kin to contend with.

Didn't matter, did it? All he had to do was be his own truth. As much as he could, anyway.

When Teyhahss came back to the front and stood toe to toe with him, Izzorah met her gaze without seeking permission. Males were to lower their heads in submission to females. He did not. He stared back at her as if they were equals, even though his stomach did every kind of flip-flop and his brain cried out what are you doing, you idiot?

He needed to make this female understand how much Luc needed his freedom. Izzorah needed to show her what he, himself was willing to sacrifice in order to grant that freedom.

Her scent revealed no change. She glanced at Luc, then returned to Pietas.

"Well?"

"This one"-- She indicated Luc --"No lies. But... with this Kin?" The tiniest ear flick and change in expression told Izzorah her intentions. "You owe me." Teyhahss looked over at Pietas, and shrugged.

Pietas frowned. "Nothing?"

She shrugged again.

If Izzorah didn't faint dead away from relief right here right now it would be a miracle.

In this scene from Forever Love, Izzorah, with Luc beside him, is about to face Pietas and be taken aboard ship to undergo his fealty test. Pietas thinks Luc has taught Izzorah nothing, but in reality, they've practiced every scenario endlessly. As with everyone he meets, Izzorah senses emotions through scent, and to him, Pietas seems evil.

Steel and Shadow

As Izzorah crossed the deck at Luc's side, a cold wind kicked dust into the air. In the pool, white-tipped mini-waves skittered across the surface. A stiff breeze gusted.

A momentary panic surfaced. What if he was blown over the edge?

Luc's reassuring advice came to him, and Izzorah repeated it to himself silently. Fear can't hurt me. It's okay to be afraid. Face what I fear head on.

Uurah, Pietas's android bodyguard, had no people-smell, nor did he have the plasticky, androidy scent Izzorah associated with most mechanical people. Like James and McDoth, he smelled not-human but also somehow not not-human at the same time.

Izzorah had no word for it. Maybe he'd have to make one.

Pietas was his usual caustic self, anger and greed at the forefront of his emotions. As usual, his outside didn't match his inside. He stood there, smiling like he knew some secret he wasn't going to share.

Humans had a word for that, but Izzorah couldn't bring it to mind.

From Luc, a kind of coldness Izzorah hadn't sensed before. Now that they were facing the immortal king, the worry Luc had possessed disappeared. Instead, he'd gotten quiet, all the way deep inside, as if he'd done this so many times it offered no challenge.

Yes, he'd practiced with Izzorah, but this wasn't confidence from that. This was deeper. Much deeper. Scary deeper.

This was Luc the General.

The warrior who'd faced thousands on the battlefield. The utter confidence and quiet within him at this moment shaped into a cold, hard focus sharp enough to drive a noodle through steel.

A resolve that said no matter which way this went, he and Izzorah would be together, and nothing Pietas or anybody else could do would stop it.

Izzorah took Luc's arm and squeezed it. If only he could borrow that strength.

In this scene, Izzorah is recalling a concert where he entertained as the drummer for the rock group Kumwhatmay.

Surrender Love

Izzorah cranked up the hot water and turned his back, head tilted down so it soothed the tension in his neck and shoulders. He lathered Kin shampoo into his pelt, a thick band of long fur covering the upper part of his chest above his nipples, up to the collarbone. Humans likened it to a lion's mane. He always hid his pelt beneath shirts, unwilling to bare his alien nature to fans. It was one thing for them to know he was Kin. Another to flaunt it.

He lifted his face to the water, rinsed everything and turned around again. While the fall of heated water soothed his back, his mind wandered to the past. At their last concert, he'd been tired. He was always tired, but that night had been extra hard. His chest had been hurting him again and it hurt to breathe. He'd psyched himself up by remembering a vid.

He had never seen the audience, but one time, Kory had found a vid of Kumwhatmay on Imperinet and downloaded it to Izzorah's player. It showed Izzorah's drum solo halfway through the show. About ten Praetorian guards had sat on the front two rows, all decked out in the black military uniforms of the Empress, clapping in unison.

To Izzorah's music. The beat of his drums. His drums.

Talk about knocking yours ears off. That cut them off at the base and threw them on the floor. He, Izzorah Ceeow, had played for Praetorian and hadn't even known it.

So the night of the last concert on Kelthia when he was too weary to stick out a claw, he pretended the whole audience was nothing but Praetorian. He'd played better than ever.

The audience had hooted and cheered and screamed. After his solo ended, the others tried to join him on cue, but the audience went crazy. Izzorah fumbled a drumroll, unsure what was happening. When he realized what they were chanting, it shocked him into flat-eared silence.

Humans repeated Izzy! Izzy! Izzy! which was pure out-and-out stellar, but his people, the Kin fans out there, had set up the sustained howl of a speerus kinthu—a spirit of pride. A call to the spirit of the people to come witness. Come judge. It was done so bad things didn't happen without being seen, or to celebrate a wedding, or a birth. Except on that night, you could hear the pride as well as smell it. Chills chased over him even now, prickling his pelt as if he were there.

The crowd was calling for his people to come and witness his song.

If he never beat another drum, he could die with his ears straight up.