Dragon Hunter

Chapter 25: A New Understanding

"I'm no threat to you, master," Vannea's voice softly replied.

"No? Then what are you doing here, high priestess? Trying to destroy your legacy in the temple by having me deflower you??"

Vannea was quiet for a long moment. Then:

"Just hold me, Cooper, please," she begged in a whisper. "I vow to be no trouble. To you or the protocols."

"You'll tell me why you reassigned Alia, priestess. Or I'll tie you up myself and hand you over to your Guardians," Cooper quickly countered.

"If I tell you, will you hold me the whole night?"

Cooper nearly snorted in disbelief. Was she really trying to negotiate here?? Then a sobering realization pushed its way through to send a chill down his spine.

Vannea, High Priestess for She Who Watches, the Goddess of Shadows, was the most powerful person in the Noriquien Confederacy. Period. She had the power to send operatives into another universe to get him. Cooper should be counting himself lucky that she was negotiating at all. Instead of torturing him in some black site for refusing her advances.

Considering his tenuous position, Cooper sighed.

"Yes. I will hold you for the rest of the night if you tell me why Captain Alia was reassigned to another mission," he carefully said.

The answer was forthright and quick.

"Because she thwarted me, Cooper," she said in a hoarse rush.

"She was protecting you ..." Cooper began to retort in Alia's defense.

"No. She was protecting the office," Vannea cut him off to tautly declare. "Not Vannea the woman. Vannea the High Priestess."

"Isn't that the job?" Cooper asked, somewhat confused. "Isn't that the reason she was made captain?"

"Yes," Vannea replied almost sullenly as if realizing how petty her reasoning was. And, at the same time, stubbornly refusing to back down from her decision.

And in that observation, Cooper realized yet another truth. Vannea, the most powerful person in the confederacy, was a lonely young woman trapped by her calling and forced into denying the powerful emotions and desires of her people in order to be of service to her Goddess and patron.

No friends, no allies, nobody to even confide in. Just a personal bodyguard that made sure she followed the rules. And the responsibility of seeing to the spiritual well-being of countless noriquien. While nobody took care of her.

No wonder Vannea had felt justified in making herself his slave. She was already enslaved by her position. An extremely powerful slave, yes, but one without control over her personal life.

"We have a problem here, don't we?" he quietly asked, deciding the best option was to take this thing head on. No transactional behavior, or putting emotions in a box. And certainly not using Alia's reassignment to dance around it.

Instead of denying anything, the high priestess, sounding a little miserable, answered in a small voice.

"Yes."

"Any idea how we can resolve it?" he then asked, half knowing what the answer would be. So, before she could say it out loud he continued:

"Without breaking the protocols?"

"No," she replied ruefully and with no little amount of frustration after a slight hesitation.

"Okay." Cooper took in a quick breath then rolled onto his back, silently hoping he wouldn't regret what he was about to do. "We might as well remove some negative energy here, first." And he held out a hand towards her.