The Pearl Savage (41 page)

They were upon her in no time, one
grabbing each arm. And she looked at them both, fear choking her.

Suddenly, Philip was there and spoke
directly to Bracus, “My brother, have a care, would you tear her
asunder?”

They all stood there quietly,
Matthew’s chest heaving, his grip on Clara almost bruising in its
intensity.

Clara watched sanity gradually begin
to seep into eyes that but a moment ago had been wild.

Bracus loosened his hold and his
hand dropped from her arm. Matthew loosened his crushing grip but did
not drop his hand.

President Bowen strode over and
bowed. “I cannot apologize enough for this, Queen Clara. We have
not had a rite in many years.”

Bowen was visibly tense but it was
Clara that spoke, the royal guard at her elbow and surrounding
Philip, Bracus and Matthew, “I gave my word that I would cooperate
in this, and I did. I have not suffered injury.”

However, it was the oddest thing she
had ever partaken in.

She could feel Matthew’s warm
presence at her back and Bracus’ eyes never left her. She would have
quite a path to hoe with these men.

Bowen said, “We have seen what has
happened here,” the clans people murmured amongst themselves but he
continued and the conversations died away and he held up his hand,
“There will be two that will court Queen Clara. We will put this to
a vote. As we are all aware, a secure union between our peoples is
very important, a select guarantees offspring and other benefits.”

What
were those?
Clara
wondered.
She
felt a trifle insulted, as if she were a special oyster in the field
that they would cross breed for a rare color, she spoke, “President
Bowen,” all heads turned to her. “There were four of the Band
that had an unusual reaction to my person. In that group, two were
most profound. A vote is acceptable but it does not predetermine who
I shall choose.”

There was a great silent heartbeat
and then Bowen, with grudging admiration said, “As the Queen says,
so shall it be.”

The tension in the gathering area
was suddenly much less and Matthew released her.

The crowd was loud, many voices
discussing all of it. Finally, Bowen called for silence and a show of
hands were required.

The names were read:

Joseph:
there was a smattering of hands but nothing significant.

Philip
:
twice the hands of Joseph.

Bracus
:
half the hands were raised.

Matthew
:
the remainder lifted their hands until every hand was in the air like
tree limbs of flesh.

Bracus and Matthew would travel back
with she and the guard, and a courtship would begin. Clara had a
brutal choice ahead of her: two of the Band and her childhood friend.
Her heart and her duty on opposing sides.

****

Clara was at the portal to receive
her guests of the clan, thrilled to see Anna and Lillian, as she was
sure that Matthew and Bracus were more than ready to see their
kinsman, Jack.

The guards slid the heavy door aside
and the group entered, Lillian coming to Clara and folding her in a
fierce hug, the taller woman engulfing her. It had been a month since
the rite and Lillian was showing, her precious bundle but a small
bump beneath her skirt, Jack hovering about her, fussing over how
tired she must be. It was interesting to see the fierce warrior so
soft with his mate.

It
was good
.

Anna
and,
there he was!
Joseph had come as well. Clara looked at Anna, she smiled and Clara
knew that all would be well.

They made their way back to the
Royal Manse, the long walk made pleasurable by the company and
Lillian said, “Clara, I must say you do not look like a Queen!”

Clara laughed. “I do not dress as
such except for ceremonial events. It is not who I am.”

Clarence walked beside her. “Some
do not need royal garb to be royal, my Queen.”

She smiled at him for he was always
formal. “Thank you, Clarence.”

“I agree. It is bearing, not
wardrobe, that make one seem royal.”

Lillian looked at her mate amused.
“And how many royals do you know?”

Jack blushed and gave her a quick
kiss on the mouth. “Wench, you will learn your manners!” he said
playfully and all laughed at his teasing.

Finally inside and introductions
made to Peter, he closed the doors of the Royal Manse, sliding the
bolt in place.

“Masters Charles, Bracus and
Matthew will be here to receive momentarily, my Queen.”

Clara inclined her head toward
Peter. “Thank you.”

The group milled about in the huge
foyer looking at all the strange appointments scattered about. Clara
was sure it looked as unique to them as their dwellings had to her.

It was Anna though that startled
Clara with a gasp, her hand going to her mouth. Turning, Clara saw
that she was staring at the stained glass rendering of the mermaid,
Clara’s birth mother.

“Who is this?” Anna asked
through her fingers.

Clara was not yet ready to admit her
discovery so she responded rather vaguely, “It is a rendering after
an actual person. I do not know who.”

Anna stared at it then said, “I
have seen this woman, I know of her people.”

Clara stopped breathing- Anna had
just recognized her mother, she may know her whereabouts.

Clara forced herself to remain
falsely calm and Jack and Joseph looked at her strangely. They were
sensing something. She tried harder to calm herself. “Where does
she hail from?” she asked carefully.

“Her people are of the sea.”

“Do you say they live by the sea?”

She shook her head, looking at
Clara. “Do you not see the throat slits?” she asked pointing at
what looked like seaweed.

They approached the window, Joseph
and Jack beside her, as curious as she. Clara could not see it…

“There!” Jack said. “Do you
not see how the seaweed curls at the neck, changing color into gold
striations?”

Joseph nodded his head, excited.
“This would explain much.”

Clara was lost and then Charles,
Bracus and Matthew appeared.

Jack explained everything to them.

Charles
broke in, “This means, that this woman
,
”
and he looked directly at Clara who had a wave of fear strike her.
Dear Guardian,
say
nothing
,
she thought.

“Exists in the ocean?” he
finished.

Thank Guardian.

Anna
was shaking her head. “No, that is not what I meant. They do not
have a tail and fins,
as
fish
.
They
can breath on land and
in
the sea. That is what we know.” Then she looked at the males of the
Band. “They look as you do, but can breathe in the waters.”

They
were silent, digesting this. But Clara was ahead of them. Summarizing
what it meant to her
.
If her father had loved such a creature, her mother
,
Clara self-corrected, it may explain why she was a
select.
Born
without gills, but an affinity for the water
,
attractive
to males of the Band, as she was attracted to them. She had some
biological lock that they had
the
key for. And at the center of it all was the Guardians. Somehow, they
had known
about
the inevitability of it all.

Charles and she looked at each
other.

She was of both worlds; one in which
they had never known about. They looked up at the window, clearly
seeing how the artist had used “seaweed,” to twine gills
delicately like silver and gold lace against a lovely, pale throat.
It was cleverly done, but if one knew what they were looking for, it
was quite obvious.

Bracus
and Matthew approached her and Charles stood his ground. It had been
a trying month with the three men determined to be her future king.
She admired them all and was glad that she had the excuse of royal
duties and oyster fields to tend so things progressed slowly. But the
males of the Band were impatient for her to choose, and she realized
that it may
be
some time before she did. She needed to discover who she was, where
she came from
.
She would find her birth people; these strange creatures of sea and
earth.

****

She sat at the round table, the
rectangular table long put away, as Clara did not liken to having
anyone at the head of a table. With Bracus at her right and Matthew
at her left, she was left facing Charles dead ahead. Their eyes met
and Clara knew that travel was in her future, as did he. Looking at
Bracus, his hazel eyes softening as he looked upon her and then
turning into Matthew’s intense blue stare, she knew that these men
would be a part of it.

Gazing around her, she recognized
she was the happiest she had ever been, her “mother”, the drunken
Queen, was no more. Her kingdom was ruled with fairness and democracy
as her father would have wanted and an important alliance had been
formed. The Prince had not been seen these past months and it was
safe to assume that he had succumbed to the wilderness. A suitor on
each side, what worry could she have?

Yet…
Clara felt there was more, had to be more. She would journey to this
sea and there
she
would uncover the remainder of her destiny, with whomever shared it
with her.

The
End

Read on for
the exciting first chapter of book 2,

The
Savage Blood

The
Savage Blood

Book
Two of the Savage Series

by Tamara Rose
Blodgett

The Savage Blood

Book Two of the Savage Series

by
Tamara Rose Blodgett

Copyright
©
2011 Tamara Rose
Blodgett

http://tamararoseblodgett.blogspot.com

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All
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1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or
retrieval system without the prior written permission of the
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This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and
incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used
fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to
persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is
entirely coincidental.

All rights are
reserved.

Edited by Stephanie T. Lott

For The Girls:

Aaron, Becky, Evie, Memrie and Shana Benedict

CHAPTER 1

East

Clara discreetly wiped the beads of
sweat that had formed on her brow. The sun hung overhead, its
merciless heat beating down on the group. A trickle of sweat crawled
down the back of her neck and she was all at once through with the
entire day.

Bracus approached with the flask of
water and Clara gave a tired smile, accepting it from his large hand
gratefully.

“Queen Clara,” he looked down at
her upturned face, “take respite.” Bracus shielded his eyes from
the sun’s brightness, gauging the day’s time. “We have traveled
without rest for six hours. It is one hour until dusk. Let us break
for camp.”

Clara looked around at her weary
contingent. They had been traveling for days now and still they
seemed to cover no distance. They had only one map, an amateurish
affair that gave iconic points as an afterthought. No one, save Anna,
had traveled this route.

How had she thought this an idyllic
journey of adventure? What it was was a bug infested, heat laden,
tiresome affair. Normally in good spirits, she found herself frazzled
and not coping well.

She nodded to Bracus, correcting
absently, “Just Clara, Bracus.”

He nodded, giving her a tender smile
she did not deserve and began to bark orders to the rest of the Band.

Matthew’s eyes met hers intensely
and she turned away, undone by the simple look. In all fairness, she
had allowed a courtship to ensue that was like a noose about her
neck, slowly tightening until breath was a luxury.

The forest lay to their left (North,
she corrected) and her Royal Guard, Charles, Clarence and the men of
the Band hauled their travel accompaniments the entirety of the steep
incline. Dragging it behind horses, their belongings bundled atop
leather skins tethered to wooden poles, they made their way.