“Thank you, Joba.” Then Sambah said something to him in a language that Blue didn’t understand, and Joba went back inside.
Blue licked her dry lips, resisting the urge to drink.
Sambah stared at Niko. “I wonder how it is that a blind man works for the higher authority. They are so particular. You must be very special.”
Niko inclined his head. “No one is more special than another. May I?” He reached toward the glasses. “Lemonade sounds refreshing.”
“And how do you know what I’m offering?” Sambah asked.
Niko ran his hand along the table until he found the lower edge of a glass. “I heard the ice clinking when he set them down. I can smell the freshly squeezed lemons, and I haven’t had anything to drink since this morning.”
Sambah rocked with laughter. “I see which one of you is driving the horse.” He steered his eyes to Blue as he reached for his own glass. “You must be parched.”
“Was that your servant?” She kept her hands on her lap.
After a long sip, Sambah set his glass on the table. “That was my brother. We serve each other in this house. Unlike most prides, we have no rank.”
“But you are their leader.”
Sambah hooked his arms over the back of the chair. “Formalities. It is the women who run this house. I am merely the instrument of their bidding. Not everyone likes taking on all the responsibilities.” He flicked his fingers toward her glass. “Joba is not a servant. But consider this: if you refuse to take what’s offered by a paid servant, you devalue their position. Sitting there, refusing their service, does not honor them any more than taking their offerings dishonors them.”
Blue gulped down half her drink and grimaced at the sour bite of the lemon. There wasn’t enough sugar in there. “And what would you know about being a servant?”
“Nothing. But I was a slave for three hundred years, so I know that accepting or refusing food means nothing. Look every man in the eye—acknowledge their existence. People use money and power as a way to elevate themselves above others,” he said, tapping his glass. “When you truly see a man for who he is and not what he is, only then you can change the world.”
“How can one person change the world?”
“Change germinates within you, and that is where the world begins.”
“And where does it end?” Niko asked.
“In me. In her. In Joba. In the children downstairs and the lions chasing each other on the lawn. In your daughters and sons. Be the example that compels others to change.”
Blue placed the chilly glass against her neck, the icy condensation dribbling down her chest.
“Where are my manners?” Sambah rose to his feet and held out his hand. “Let me take your jacket. The rooftop soaks up the sun.”
Blue lowered the glass and shook her head. She had thrown on a flannel button-up over her tank top, expecting to be indoors most of the day. Shifters usually kept it chilly inside their homes.
“Come now,” he said, crooking his fingers. “Do not drag my reputation as a hospitable host through the mud.”
“You can sit, Mr. Freeman. I’d rather keep my clothes on if you don’t mind.”
A smile touched his lips. He inclined his head and returned to his seat. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s to never argue with a woman.”
There was no hint of a breeze. Blue set her glass on the table and felt her chest beginning to sweat. “This is never an easy conversation to have, but we’re here to inquire about your son’s death. Do you have any questions from what I conveyed on the phone?”
“That the higher authority wishes to stick their noses in our business to find out what else they can control?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“That’s what I heard. I never hear what is said: I hear what is unsaid. In all the years since the higher authority came to be, they have never done anything for Shifters outside of giving us land to keep us quiet.”
“Land is a generous asset. Other Breeds would kill for it.”
Sambah shook his head. “We have numbers, and that makes them afraid. The land offerings were made to conciliate Shifters, but since the recent cage fights, people no longer know what to believe. Their representatives were involved in wicked affairs, and it undermines the trust we had in them. So I am taking a wild guess that they are searching for our weaknesses. Why else would they look into deaths?”
Sambah made a good point—too good.
I need to make him trust me, she thought.
She crossed her legs. “In case you’re having issues with other prides that the Council won’t resolve. In case someone doesn’t have access to a qualified Relic.”
“Perhaps,” he muttered, looking off toward the setting sun.
“I know it’s not easy talking about the loss of a child,” Blue said, softening her tone. “What can you tell us about his death?”
“Less than what I can tell you about his life. I have twelve sons and seven daughters, but King was my youngest. The others were given American names at the request of my mate, but King was very special. He was born to do great things, and that is why I gave him an auspicious name.”
“Was he to inherit your fortune?” Niko asked.
“I would have given the world to King. So smart. So full of joy and honor. All my children are different, and I am grateful I can give them all this. They don’t know what it’s like to belong to someone—to be property. And it’s my intention that they never do. They’ve heard the stories from their elders, but as we old ones begin dying, so will our history.”
“You’re a first-generation slave?” Blue asked. “I’m so sorry for what you went through.”
Shifters could live for hundreds or even over a thousand years, but it wasn’t as common as one might think. Due to fights, battles, and even accidents, many never saw past middle age. The more invincible a person felt, the more reckless they behaved.
“First we were sold to humans. But when the immortals discovered some of us were Shifters, we were sold to the highest bidder. Now imagine a world where you’re free and you must see your previous master walking the streets. None of these men were held accountable.”
“If immortals were held accountable for their sins, there wouldn’t be enough jail cells.”
Sambah paused for a moment in thought. “My tribe was slaughtered and stolen from our home. They killed the old ones and gathered up everyone else—mostly men and young women. Many children were either killed or left behind to die of starvation. We were shackled around the wrists and neck, so we couldn’t shift to fight back. I won’t describe the graphic nightmare aboard the ships. Some fled when their shackles were changed or temporarily removed, but few of them survived. Where is a lion to go in a strange country? They were hunted and killed, so we had to escape in human form in order to survive. So many tribes lived isolated from the world. I had never met a Vampire or a Mage until I came here. Our elders told stories of Chitahs—pale men with golden eyes and skin that would change patterns like that of a cat. But we never saw one. Not until I came here.”
Blue thought about all the people she’d seen in the house. “Is everyone in your home from Africa?”