style="font-size:15px;"> One of the warriors knocked into her, forcing Marisol to her knees. At first she resisted, her battle instincts kicking in. Then she remembered her mission. As she waited for the warriors’ turn to speak to the ruler, Marisol kept her head bent, letting her hair fall down over the sides of her face, casting a guarded glance around the room.
Other men dressed in similar garb stood around the emperor. Their gold headdresses were not quite as large or elaborate as their leader’s. A woman sat on a bright red cushion at Pachacuti’s right, her head lower in deference to the ruler’s status, her hand draped across his knee.
A presence nudged at Marisol’s consciousness and she shot another glance around the room, searching for the animal pushing into her thoughts. She closed her eyes and looked through the animal’s eyes in order to get a perspective of the room and thus pinpoint the creature.
When she tried to push into the animal’s mind, it shoved back, throwing up a wall of darkness Marisol couldn’t penetrate.
Strange. She’d never had an animal throw up a barrier to her. They hardly knew she was there unless she planted a suggestion. No, this animal sensed her and wasn’t allowing her in.
Marisol opened her eyes and panned the room again, her gaze returning to the ruler and his entourage. This time when she squeezed her eyes shut and pushed into the animal’s mind, she caught a brief glimpse of a woman on her knees in a brightly colored woolen dress, dark hair hanging down over face, her eyes tightly shut.
Marisol gasped, her eyes opening. The animal staring at her stood in front of her, among the ruler’s party. But where? Marisol lifted her head to study the group. No animal stood among them. Then she spotted the woman sitting beside the ruler.
Unlike the other women she’d passed in the city streets, this woman sat up straight, her head held high and proud. Her long black hair fell down her back in a straight black sheet. A gold band circled her forehead, the face of a jaguar imprinted on the gold emblem at the front. She wore a tawny tunic that almost matched the extraordinary gold of her eyes.
The warrior who’d led her little party into the city stepped forward. “Pachacuti, great warrior and leader of the Tawantinsuyu empire, our suyu leader sends word of his progress in the north and with it gifts befitting his great ruler.”
The warrior yanked Marisol up by the arm and thrust her forward.
Marisol stood with her head down, taking everything in through her peripheral vision.
Pachacuti chuckled. “Your leader sends me a scrawny waif? What use do I have for such a creature?” He pushed to his feet, crossing his arms over his chest, the power and confidence of his position emanating from every part of his body. He stepped down from the dais and crossed to Marisol. A man dressed in a white tunic and red robe stepped down with him.
The woman who’d been sitting quietly beside him, rose to her feet with the grace of a cat. Her long legs picked their way down the steps as if she chose each step with care.
Pachacuti’s large brown hand rose to cup her chin, turning Marisol’s face right then left. “Her skin is pale. Are you sickly?”
“No.” Marisol’s answer was short and sweet, the less she said the better.
“Open your mouth, girl.”
Anger rose quickly, and just as quickly Marisol squelched it and opened her mouth.
“She has all her teeth.” He dropped his hand to the swell of her breasts and lifted them.
“What do you think, Kentar?”
“Too old for virgin sacrifice, but not too old for other pleasures.” Kentar’s eyes narrowed.
“Her eyes are different. Not like the people of Tawantinsuyu. Where did you say you got her?” he asked the warrior who’d led her in.
On the spot, the man shifted his sandaled feet. “We brought her from the north.”
Marisol hid a smile. The warrior spoke the truth even if the north he spoke of was just north of the city.
“Eyes the color of jewels.” Pachacuti squeezed her breasts hard enough to hurt. “Hmm. And well-endowed. I might have use of such a woman in my bedchambers.”
The woman with the golden eyes laid a hand on Pachacuti’s arm. “You might consider sacrificing her to the sun god, Inti. Your Inti shaman seems unhappy lately.”
Kentar shook his head. “The shaman holds enough power already. Why credit him with more by offering a sacrifice?”
Pachacuti’s fingers squeezed again as he considered his advisor’s words. “I allow him only as much power as I deem necessary. After all, I am as close to Inti as anyone can come.”
Marisol inhaled deeply and let out the breath, closing her eyes to remain calm. Again a flash of her own image entered her thoughts. Much closer. Close enough to touch her face.
She opened her eyes and stared into the tawny gold, unblinking eyes of the woman on Pachacuti’s arm. Why? She’d never been able to see through another human’s eyes, until now. Why this woman?
“The Inti shaman’s displeasure has dire consequences. If he is happy he will continue to help you in your plans to expand your great empire.” The woman whispered into Pachacuti’s ear, her finger circling the large gold earring suggestively.
Kentar’s nostrils flared. “You listen to the ranting of a jealous woman?”
Red stained Pachacuti’s cheeks. “Imac is more than just a woman. She’s a trusted leader of my elite jaguar warriors. Dare you insult her?”
Imac’s hand dropped to her side and she shot a steady, challenging stare at Kentar, remaining silent. In her silence she won the first round between Pachacuti’s advisors.
Marisol sensed in Imac a deep anger and distrust of Kentar.
“No. I speak no ill will against the warrior. However, she is still a woman, prone to the womanly weakness of jealousy.” Kentar cast a condescending smile at Imac, the equivalent of patting a dog on the head before returning his attention to his leader. “Are you not the emperor of all of Tawantinsuyu?”
A flood of annoyance swept over Marisol, surging through her from another consciousness. Was Imac jealous? No doubt, the woman didn’t want Marisol as a prize for Pachacuti’s bedroom pleasure.
Pachacuti’s eyes narrowed, his back stiffening to ramrod straight. “I am the emperor of all you see and much you do not, and I do not need you, Kentar, to remind me. If I were not already satisfied with the woman who warms my bed, I would keep this one for myself. I am in need of a little entertainment.”
“I will show you entertainment,” Imac purred, her hand skimming over the bare skin of Pachacuti’s forearm.
Marisol’s stomach tightened. On the one hand, entering Pachacuti’s bedchamber might be just what she needed to find the medallion. Then again, she’d rather sneak in as a spy, not be forced into sexual intercourse with the Incan ruler in the name of the mission. And did giving her to the sun god mean sacrificing her in a barbaric ritual?
Imac’s lips quirked as though
