"Intelligence, tenacity, and resemblance to Khiann."
The irony didn't escape his notice. He'd filled his harem with men who looked like him so he could claim the sons of his concubines as his own. Annani wanted her children to resemble her lost mate, so she chose men who looked like Khiann.
It wasn't the same, but there was undeniable symmetry between them.
She had been selecting for the traits she valued to produce immortals who would serve her purposes. But she'd been doing it with her own body, one child at a time, and choosing each father personally.
He'd also been selecting humans with certain traits to produce his army of immortals through the wombs of the Dormants he'd originally inherited from his father, and then their daughters and granddaughters and so on.
Only he'd selected the fathers in his breeding program for entirely different criteria than Annani. The brutes had beenchosen for size and aggression, then later he had switched to scientists, engineers, and doctors for intelligence.
Each method had its merits, but his tactic allowed for scale while hers didn't. If not for her super fertile daughter, Annani's clan would have been much smaller.
Perhaps fate had something to do with it after all. It leveled the scales or attempted to. His method still produced superior results.
Except, his army was now in danger of fragmenting because Areana had fallen off a cliff and he'd thrown himself after her.
He set the coffee cup down again.
"What about the daughters? I assume that the two who had children produced them with humans. Did they also look for men who looked like their mother's dead husband?"
Areana cast him a reproachful look. "Of course not. I don't know what criteria Alena selected for the fathers of her first thirteen children, but her last one was fathered by an immortal. They named the child Evander Tellesious, or E.T. for short. Sari is mated to an immortal and so is Amanda."
The only immortal males he could think of becoming mates for Annani's daughters were the men in Kalugal's platoon. Finding male Dormants in the general population and turning them immortal was statistically impossible.
"Did Annani's daughters mate with Kalugal's men?"
She frowned. "No, why would you think so?"
"Where else could they find immortals to mate with? I assume that the old taboo about mating within the same maternal line isstill observed, so Annani's descendants couldn't mate with each other."
"Amanda's mate is a former member of the Brotherhood, but he's not one of Kalugal's men. His name is Dalhu."
Navuh didn't remember anyone by that name, which meant that the male had been simple rank and file or a junior commander. Evidently Annani's daughters' standards were not that high. She'd mated a traitor without rank.
Areana was still looking at him hopefully, as if he was supposed to know who this Dalhu was.
"I do not know anyone by that name," he said.
"He is very tall. Six feet seven or eight. He is also a talented artist. He paints landscapes and portraits."
So, Annani's youngest had mated a giant traitor with feminine traits.
He smiled. "Must be a perfect match for Annani's daughter. She sounds as loose with her affections as her mother. No self-respect."
Areana let anger bleed into her eyes. She'd never allowed herself to look at him that way before, and it was just another manifestation of the chasm growing between them.
But no matter how wide that chasm became, he would always be her fated mate, and she could never abandon him.
"Dalhu was tested by fire to prove himself worthy of Amanda, and he passed," Areana said. "He's even gotten Kian's approval, which says it all. Kian detests the Brotherhood."
He didn't respond, but he had to wonder what tested by fire meant in Annani's world. Had he been forced to solve complicated crossword puzzles? Or maybe he had to write poetry that reflected his love for the princess.
Navuh chose not to voice any of those musings because Areana was already angry, and he didn't want to make her any angrier.
Instead, he drank more of his coffee.
13
