Queen of the Gryphons: Ishtar's Legacy: Books 1 & 2 Read online

  QUEEN OF THE

  GRYPHONS

  ISHTAR’S LEGACY

  BOOKS 1 & 2

  LISA BLACKWOOD

  Table of Contents

  Blurb

  Ishtar’s Blade

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  A BLADE’S BEGINNING

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  BLADE’S HONOR

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Blurb

  Ishtar’s Blade

  It takes a queen to defeat a queen.

  The court of the gryphon king has ever been a dangerous and seductive place where Ishtar’s blessing is both the hot breath of passion and the cold kiss of steel.

  Yet as the childhood companion of King Ditanu, Iltani never doubted her place in either his kingdom or his heart.

  Then duty called her away to complete her training.

  Now, a woman grown and a sword-maiden to the goddess Ishtar, Iltani returns and takes up her sacred destiny to protect the royal line.

  But so much has changed.

  Ditanu most of all. The youth she knew is gone. A stoic, untouchable king now sits the throne.

  Does anything of their once deep bond survive?

  Iltani must swiftly find her place in a court where cunning governors plot treason, trusted advisors orchestrate deceptions, and noblewomen seek to beguile King Ditanu using methods both fair and foul.

  But the greatest threat of all is no mortal adversary.

  Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Underworld, desires to make Ditanu her consort and seize his kingdom for her own.

  If Iltani wishes to protect her king, she must fulfil her destiny…

  And become…

  Queen of the Gryphons.

  Blade’s Honor

  Rescued from her grandfather’s dungeon by the King of the Gryphons, Enkara only wishes to repay that great debt by serving as one of the elite Shadow Guards tasked with protecting the royal line.

  Unfortunately, the gods have other plans.

  She is one of the Goddess Ishtar’s avenging blades, born into the world when danger stalks the royal line.

  While that brings far more attention than she ever wished, she is still happy to serve Crown Prince Kuwari, for he is also her closest friend, and their bond is unlike any other Blade and Prince before them.

  But Ishtar isn’t the only goddess with a desire to claim Enkara as her Blade and Kuwari as her King.

  Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld, is ever jealous of her younger sister, Ishtar, and will do all in her power to snatch them away.

  Even if she must destroy the gryphon kingdom to do it.

  Ishtar’s Blade

  Ishtar’s Legacy: Book 1

  Lisa Blackwood

  COPYRIGHT

  Ishtar’s Blade © 2016 by Lisa Smeaton

  Blade’s Honor © 2018 by Lisa Smeaton

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, and characters are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any print or electronic form without the author's permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Edited by Laura Kingsley

  Proofread by Tracy Vandervliet

  Chapter 1

  Dawn’s light caressed the mountain peaks of Nineveh and shimmered upon the reef-strewn waters surrounding New Sumer’s greatest city-state. The ocean, still restless from the previous night’s storm, tossed white-capped waves toward the vast island’s rocky cliffs and rocked the small skiff Iltani rode in.

  The snap of the sail, the sound of the waves slapping the small boat’s sides, and the stomach-dropping dips and rises of the bow all added to the excitement churning in her blood.

  Iltani hardly dared to believe.

  She was returning home for the first time after four long years of brutal, continuous training.

  In truth, she’d dedicated her entire life to her training, but four years ago, she’d taken the final steps down that path, when Burrukan, the Leader of the King’s Shadows, had taken her on as his apprentice.

  Now, almost four years to the day, Burrukan was returning her to her childhood home, Nineveh, the ruling seat of the Gryphon King. She’d left her island home a girl of seventeen and was returning a woman of twenty-one summers. While she couldn’t guess if she could be considered wiser, she was much changed.

  Four years was a long time. She sincerely hoped King Ditanu would be pleased with her progress and be happy to have her back at his side.

  If he isn’t? The small doubtful voice of her consciousness questioned.

  Her mind shied away from that thought.

  She supposed she’d find out later this day.

  Not wanting to think more on the dark possibility of an indifferent king or worse, she turned from the sight of her childhood home and glanced back at her mentor where he worked the boat’s rudder, guiding them safely past a reef. The wind shifted and two of the ropes tangled.

  With a grumble about needing to replace the fraying rope, Burrukan tied the rudder to maintain course. That done, he stepped over the bench Iltani sat on and started to work on the sail’s tangled rigging.

  She knew better than to offer her help. No one touched Burrukan’s boat. He’d designed and built the swift little boat during the first year of her training, saying he wanted to shave time off the twice-daily trips between the training island and Nineveh.

  When she’d asked why he didn’t just shift into gryphon form a
nd fly, he’d rolled his eyes and said if he did that day after day, he’d be in no condition to beat her into shape and make a proper warrior out of her. Then he’d told her one of a Shadow’s greatest strengths was their ability to remain silent, saying people with loose lips gave far too much away to their enemies.

  She’d frowned, and he’d given her a fatherly pat on one shoulder and told her to go run a circuit around the island. She’d quickly learned not to question him about unimportant things.

  It was probably for the best she didn’t possess a set of wings. If she had, she’d have been tempted to fly back to Nineveh in the early days of her training when her yearning to hear the sound of Ditanu’s voice, catch a whiff of his sandalwood-and-spice scent, or see the hint of a smile hovering on his lips grew too much to bear.

  Sighing, she pushed away her internal musings and watched Burrukan work. That the ropes were in less than perfect condition could only mean the king had kept him busier than usual of late.

  Iltani worried at her bottom lip as she stared at Burrukan’s back. Today, the questions circling her mind were far from unimportant or frivolous. Dare she ask him what to expect? All she knew was that her mentor planned to present her to King Ditanu this day so he could perform the blooding ceremony, thereby honoring the ancient pact between gryphons and humans.

  To most citizens of New Sumer, Iltani was just a human woman training to become one of the King’s Shadows—a group of elite gryphon and human warriors who served and protected the king from all danger. She would have been content with that lot in life, but the goddess Ishtar had chosen Iltani for another role, that of her avenging blade. Only a select few people knew Iltani was Ishtar’s Blade, the embodiment of the eight-thousand-year-old pact between the Queen of the Night and the line of the gryphon kings.

  Iltani had spent the last four years preparing to become a living weapon forged by the Goddess Ishtar herself. One of flesh and blood and magic, but a weapon none the less.

  At least, that’s what Burrukan and High Priestess Kammani had drilled into Iltani from a young age.

  Years upon frustrating years, Iltani had waited for Ishtar to rouse her magic. Even with Burrukan’s reassuring words, she would have given up hope long ago had it not been for the deep indigo and gold birthmark marching down her spine, growing each year, and declaring that she was Ishtar’s chosen weapon.

  Her apathetic magic had finally roused for the first time this morning. Long before dawn, she’d jerked awake from a dream to find the mark throbbing with heat. After a good deal of twisting and turning, she’d gotten a look at it in her small handheld mirror. The mark had glittered with soft gold and indigo power.

  She’d bolted from her bed, pulled on yesterday’s clothing, and ran to the dock where she usually met Burrukan each morning. Her mentor had already been waiting with the skiff, his expression as calm and devoid of worry as always.

  It hadn’t come as a surprise. Burrukan, like any good gryphon parent, missed nothing, always knowing what his brood was thinking, feeling, and doing. Unfortunately, Iltani was the only ‘cub’ in his brood, and as such, she had all his attention. There had been a time or two in her youth when she’d very much wanted less of his eagle-eyed attention, but this morning she’d been more than happy for her adopted father’s all-knowingness.

  Otherwise, she would have paced a hole in the dock if she’d had to wait the two hours for his usual arrival.

  If she was truthful with herself, it wasn’t becoming Ishtar’s Blade which scared her, it was meeting Ditanu again. Her four years on the training island had changed her. How much had those same four years changed the young king? He’d been new to his throne when she’d left. Would there be anything left of their unusual friendship?

  Oh, great goddess Ishtar, I know it is impossible, but please let there still be room in his heart for me.

  The thought had barely formed before making Iltani scowl at her own feeble will’s yearning.

  Oh, damn. Just stop thinking about him like that, she scolded herself.

  It was easy enough to say, but, really, how could she stop thinking about the person who owned her heart?

  Once, she and Ditanu had been the closest of companions, running wild as children. One never to be found without the other until that fateful morning after Ditanu’s coronation, when she was sent from his side for the first time in seventeen years to finish her training.

  The agony of the separation still burned deep in her soul, but she’d grown used to the ache over time until she could almost tolerate it.

  Until now. With Nineveh in her line of sight again the old ache had awoken fully born, and Iltani could no longer pretend she’d mastered her unruly emotions during the four years of her training.

  Her sense of duty hadn’t diminished, only grown—as had the strong emotional need which linked them. It never weakened or wavered in the intervening years since she’d last laid eyes on him. Even when that horrible letter arrived, telling her he’d taken a mate, her stubborn heart wouldn’t relinquish its devotion to him.

  It went beyond all common sense, logic, or reason. More than once, Iltani had wondered if she had been created solely to love Ditanu. If so, Iltani wanted to rail against her goddess’ decision.

  Yes, it might be sacrilegious, but she still wanted to know just what Ishtar, the great Queen of the Night, Goddess of love, fertility, and battle had been thinking when she created her Blade to love the gryphon king so devotedly and then let him take another to mate.

  Well, curse it! It wasn’t like she hadn’t had this particular internal debate a hundred times before, each one as ugly and painful as the first time. She sighed out the breath she’d been holding and stared down at her pack, her mind going back to the only thing that comforted her during these moments of melancholy.

  Surely something of the bond they shared still remained buried in the king who now sat the throne? It was too powerful to simply be gone. Iltani and Ditanu had been together for seventeen years. His consort had known him less than three.

  That hope gave her the strength she needed to face what was coming. Besides, her mentor had trained her well, even if the worst came to pass and every part of Ditanu’s heart belonged solely to his consort—which it probably did since gryphons mated for life—Iltani could endure as long as he still valued their friendship. It wouldn’t be easy, not with her heart desperately craving more, but her soul could live on whatever crumbs Ditanu might toss her.

  After a good wallow in self-pity, Iltani finally looked up from her pack in time to catch Burrukan glancing over his shoulder at her. He held her gaze a moment, and then with a clear evasion, his eyes slid away again.

  There was something in that look, a hint of guilt. Iltani’s gaze narrowed, her mind sharpened, shaking off the internal musings like drops of sea spray. All her senses focused on her mentor as she realized something.

  He’d been unduly silent on the short voyage, not speaking more than ten words since they’d left the training island of New Assur while the sky was still dark.

  She might have thought his silence was brought about by the need to concentrate on navigating the dangerous waters, had he not sailed to New Assur each morning to continue her training and returned to Nineveh each evening to dine with the king and give his report. Burrukan had already mapped and memorized these waters so well, he could probably write his report while sailing the skiff at the same time.

  No, it was as he’d always said. Talk betrayed things to one’s enemies. While she wasn’t an enemy, Burrukan’s silence spoke volumes. There was something he didn’t want her to know. The absolute silence was Burrukan’s version of nervousness.

  As if sensing her regard, his fingers twitched on the ropes, the sail shivering in his grip. His shoulders rose, betraying a slight tension in his body.

  Someone less familiar with her mentor would likely have missed those small involuntary tells.

  Iltani continued her silent study. She could wait. Patience wasn’t a natural
talent she’d been born with, but a skill she’d been forced to learn and master along with everything else.

  Pushing her pack containing all her worldly goods aside, she stretched her legs out in front of her, shifting her position just enough to ease the stiff muscles of her lower back.

  Burrukan remained with his legs braced for balance, attention fixed firmly forward. His right hand reached up and rubbed the stubble on his shaved head. He’d always said a King’s Shadow didn’t have time to fuss with all the tiny braids and hair ornamentation the rest of the court favored. Secretly, she knew it had more to do with Burrukan’s receding hairline than lack of patience. Not that she would ever mention that.

  His hand reached out and rubbed at the stubble a second time.

  Burrukan was very nervous about something. Iltani smiled. She’d get him to tell her what was on his mind eventually.

  With that knowledge a certainty, she allowed her attention to momentarily drift from her mentor back to Nineveh, which had grown in size to swallow the horizon.

  After a final unneeded tweak of the sail, Burrukan returned to the rear to take up the rudder again, smoothly guiding the small boat around the last dangerous patches of water.

  The imposing wall of cliffs gave way to a large harbor. Its calmer waters looked dark and mysterious in the shadow of the stone magnificence of Ishtar’s Gate. Burrukan had told her this one was far grander than the one built long ago in their ancestral desert home of Sumer.

  Just how Burrukan knew that was up for question since he was nowhere near old enough to have witnessed that first gate’s splendor.

  Befitting the Queen of the Night, this newer version of Ishtar’s Gate glittered blue in the early dawn light, bulls and dragons inlaid in gold catching the light and winking it back.