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He was frowning when he eed from his quarters, hair wet, chest bared, with only a torapped loose and low around his slim hips "Priestess, have you misplaced your Warrior?"

Neferet had lifted her chin and made her voice flint "Warrior, have you h Priestess I expect to be greeted as such"

Artus had lifted one dark brow, but he had co to her "What can I do for you, Neferet?"

"Ah, you do know my name"

"Everyone on San Clemente Island knows your name What can I do for you, Neferet?" he’d repeated

"I am here for a lesson," she’d said

"Your Warrior is a talented Sword Master Why not take a lesson from him?"

Her full lips had curled up and her voice had purred, "Oh, but you misunderstand ive one"

His dark eyes widened as she pulled a leather strap froer she had been hiding behind her Then she tugged at the tie at her shoulder, and her gown slithered down her body Naked, she walked to hi distance "Hold your hands before you and put your wrists together"

"Neferet, what are--"

"I didn’t say you could speak! Do as I command!" When he just stood there, statue-like, she raised the dagger and touched it to his chest

His intake of breath was sharp, but he didn’t h she’d h Priestess" His voice had gone deep He raised his hands, pressing his wrists together

Neferet wrapped the leather strap around the it until she could see that it was uncoan to bead across his ebony body

"Good, but you didn’t obeyme to"

Their eyesand desire "Please, Neferet, punish ed

She had been happy to comply

In her den, Neferet’s body warmed in re Artus, i a sacrificial bull, when Alexander had found the like a heartsick schoolboy Utterly in the throes of ecstasy and pain, she’d whirled from Artus to face Alexander, and dropped the barriers she’d fashioned between them

"See who I really am! See what I really think of you!"

Her emotions had battered Alexander She remembered how colorless his face had been when he’d sobbed and fled the field house

Almost as colorless as it had been when he’d been found the next day after he’d fallen on his sword, ending hislife

She had had to pretend public heartbreak, of course, though not for the first, nor last time in her life She fabricated a story that portrayed Alexander as a disturbed young Warrior She’d sobbed and said she had accepted his oath because she’d believed in her ability to heal him Her concern for his unstable e so much time at the field house--why she had insisted she lead the Warrior Prayers

The High Council had responded with co her for her attempt to heal one who had been so obviously broken That hadn’t been a surprise Neferet was adept at h Priestesses Artus’s response to Alexander’s suicide had been a surprise

She’d gone to hi into his chamber He had utterly rejected her His words had been respectful, but she had seen within hih his subterfuge as cleanly as she had his skin

"Tell anyone why Alexander really killed hih Council about your need for punishment You knohat they would do That’s why you hide your desires with hu for their silence Should they discover you, the High Council would, correctly, believe your need affects you as a Warrior and dismiss you from your post"