Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) (46 page)

A split-second was all I needed to make the decision. I yanked Thaelique’s arm and pulled her roughly behind me as we sprinted towards the alcove – and towards the oncoming carriage. The rumble became a deafening roar as we raced for the alcove, it was taking all my resolve not to turn and run away from the carriage. Just a few more metres, just a few more steps and I shoved the Queen roughly off the track as there was a huge whoosh of the steam engines and the enormous bright lights of the carriage as it rounded the curve and rushed towards us.

h shit!” I yelled. I slammed Thaelique into the alcove and forced my body in behind her, and with a thunderous growl the carriage crashed past, scant inches from my back. The seconds stretched like hours as the carriage roared by until finally with a wet spray of hot steam it was gone, chomping up the track through to Lille. I gasped for breath and took a step back from the Queen.

“Oh! It
was
a carriage!” she exclaimed. Full marks for that one, I thought.

“Come on, we have to keep going and get to the end before it comes back,” I said to her frantically as the echo of the carriage faded along the track.

She shrugged. “Okay. Do we have to run again?”

“Yes,” I told her firmly. Taking one of her hands, I pulled her out of the alcove. We ran the next mile of the darkened tunnel until around another bend, a distant hole of light signalled the exit.

“Come on, we’re almost there!” I yelled encouragement as we stumbled towards the light. Where the entrance broadened
I stopped and pressed us back into the tunnel wall. The sun had almost set outside, and the other side of the hill cast long shadows.

From the carriage platform, a street ran out and down to the village of Oakeselle to the right, along what appeared to be a main street – I could see a tavern and beyond that the village square, where the traditional Beltane celebrations should be getting underway. I looked around carefully but could see no obvious signs of life.

“Come on, this way,” I whispered to Thaelique as we crept out of the tunnel and turned left towards the direction of Anna’s safe-house. We kept low in the bushes that edged the street, which soon turned into a beaten earth track. We paused as it forked north away from the hills into the forest, and I listened carefully. I could hear the twilight chorus of birds out further in the trees but nothing to alarm me, so I tugged on Thaelique’s hand and we crossed the track. Almost there, I told myself grimly. Almost safe.

“Oi! What’re you kids doing?”

Oh shit. Out of nowhere had stepped a man, a big, beardy forester type. He opened his mouth to yell and before I knew what I was doing he was frozen in place, his eyes bulging wide. Oh hell, we had been seen! Shit! I yanked on Thaelique’s arm and we ran back in the direction of the village, throwing up a visibility cloak as we sprinted. When we were safely invisible I stopped her and we crept back in the direction of the forester. He was still frozen in place but his face had turned purple. Shit! I threw my Hầұeӣ at him to let oxygen through the immobility shield and he gasped in air through his still-open mouth. Holding the Queen’s hand tightly we snuck around the side of him and stepped gingerly down the track through the forest.

I waited until we were safely in the gloom under the trees and could barely see the man, still frozen in place by the fork, before I let the immobility shield drop on him. We watched him tip forward onto his knees, sucking in big lungfuls of air, before I turned and guided Thaelique deeper into the forest.

I kept the up visibility shield this time until, sure enough, about a mile into the forest, we came across the clearing that held Anna’s safe-house. The little cottage was hardly more than a hut, and it looked to be on the verge of falling down. Its rusty gate hung off its hinges and the garden surrounding it was a mess of weeds and ivy.

We pushed past the rusty old gate and tramped carefully through the remains of the garden to the cottage’s back door. Anna had told me to unlock it with Hầұeӣ so I dropped Thaelique’s hand and crouched down to look at the lock. I pushed my Hầұeӣ into it, feeling around for the mechanism which I finally located, and the door unlocked with a satisfying click.

“Home sweet home, eh Jaseth?” The Queen smiled at me and turned the handle, giving the door a shove with her shoulder until it swung inward. I followed her into the gloom and forced the door closed behind me. I bent down to re-lock the door then straightened, pulling Anna’s glowbe from my pocket. I gave it a shake to start it again, and its pale light illuminated the interior of the hut.

“Ooh look, candles! Jaseth darling, would you mind? I can’t seem to find any matches.” Thaelique had found an ancient candelabra and some candle stubs and set it up on a table. With them lit, we explored the cottage. It was a one-room hovel, with a kitchen area set off in the back corner. Some mildewy couches ran along the walls and the table was surrounded by a couple of chairs in various states of repair. The Queen had taken the candelabra and was trying to open a cabinet behind the table.

“Bloody thing’s locked! Jaseth, can you magic it for me?” I bent down and unlocked the cabinet, and Thaelique pulled it open and began rummaging inside.

“Oh, more glowbes, brilliant. Give these a shake will you?” She handed me two large glowbes that I started and rested on the table. “Ooh look, Jaseth, brandy! Don’t mind if I do!” She pulled an almost-full bottle of brandy from the cabinet and kicked the door closed. She unscrewed the lid, “No glasses though. Oh well, never mind!” She took a big swig, then handed the bottle to me.

As I always said, if a Queen offers you a drink you accept, so I took the bottle gratefully and chugged back the brandy. Hell, we
were safe! Thaelique grabbed the bottle back off me and flopped down on one of the couches. She patted the seat beside her.

“Come sit down Jaseth and have a drink with me. It’s not what we’re used to but, you know, needs must and all that!” She took another swig as I went and sat gingerly on the couch, perching on the edge of the musty old piece of furniture.

“No, sit back properly!” she ordered, and I complied.

“Hell, Thael, what did Anna do to you?”

She giggled and waved her free hand. “Oh, some sort of Psychosolastry I presume. One minute I actually wanted to stay in that godawful city, the next, all I wanted was to be here with you.”

“With me?”

She snuggled into my shoulder and passed me the bottle. “Of course! Who else would I want to be with?”

“Oh.”

She pulled back and swivelled around to face me. “I rather adore you Jaseth, you must know that. Why else do you think I keep inviting you to the castle?”

This was… What the hell did she mean? Did she actually
like
me?

“I mean…” she gave a dramatic sigh, “You’re far too young for me of course—”

“I’m nineteen!” I felt I had to protest. With her face right there, so close, I couldn’t let this moment get away, I just
couldn’t
. She blushed and giggled and took the brandy off me again. Honestly, I had never heard the Queen giggle before. Anna must have done a real job on her, back at the Thistle. And with a quick jolt of remembrance I thought about Thomas and Charlie and the others stuck in the city. I had gotten Thaelique out, but they were all still there, probably dead by now – murdered by an angry crowd. I felt my eyes prickling. Oh hell no, I was
not
going to cry. Thaelique was studying my face and she handed me the bottle. I took a huge mouthful, grateful for the burning liquid fire of the brandy. She retrieved the bottle and placed it on the ground.

“It’s been some day, huh Jas?”

“Er, yep” I muttered, looking down. Her eyes, in the muted light of the candles and glowbes, were far too clear. Her face too perfect. She leaned closer and placed her hand on my cheek. Her cool fingers traced my cheekbone, then my jaw.

“Look at me,” she commanded in her low, honey voice. It was a command I couldn’t refuse. I looked up and was caught by her eyes. Her cool touch felt as if it was burning hot against my face. She brushed my lips with her thumb and I trembled slightly.

“It will be okay, Jas.”

I nodded, unable to break away from those clear eyes.

“It
will
be,” she whispered firmly.

My hands were shaking, clasped in my lap. I unfolded them and slowly, hesitantly brought one up to her face. I lightly brushed her silvery hair back, tucking it behind her ear. I ran my knuckle down her cheek and along her jaw, opening my palm as I got to her long neck. I slid underneath the collar of her robe and stretched my fingers out, applying pressure to bring her face closer to mine. She responded in kind, her long fingers brushed through my hair until she was cupping the back of my head. Our foreheads, our noses, our mouths almost touching, she still held my eyes. This was it. This was the moment I had dreamed about for months. The beautiful, unavailable Queen was so close I could feel her light breath on my face.

“Jaseth?” she whispered.

“Yes?” I was almost totally breathless.

“Is this okay?”

Okay didn’t even begin to cover it. My heart was beating so fast and so loudly that I could feel it in my chest, could hear it in my ears. This was it.

“You’re so beautiful,” I breathed. Her eyes were so big in my field of vision. Her eyes were everything.

“So are you.” She tilted her head to the side slightly and slowly, oh so slowly, pressed her lips to mine.

My hands moved of their own accord. One grasped her face, hooking fingers around her ear, the other tightened and pulled her forward. I needed more of her. I opened my mouth, desperate and hungry, but her mouth, her tongue remained elusive. She
pushed gently at my open mouth with hers, then pulled back slightly. She ran a finger down my cheek and gently touched my bottom lip. I opened my eyes and found myself caught anew. Oh sweet Lilbecz, I loved her. I loved her so effing much. I lifted my tongue and touched the tip to her finger and heard her tiny intake of breath.

“Thael…” I whispered. Her eyes were huge, glowing, filled with wonder.

“Oh Jas…”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I clutched at her face and crushed her to me. There was no hesitation now, her lips parted and she grasped my head to hers with intense ferocity. She opened and we melted and I couldn’t hear or breathe and there was nothing but her, her tongue in my mouth and her hands on my face and the sweetness, the excruciating joy of being with her, actually
with
her.

She pushed me back against the arm of the couch and not breaking away from the kiss, slid her lithe body up and over me, grinding into me. One hand still tangled in her hair, I gripped her shoulder, her neck, her back, pulling her close, crushing her to me. I rubbed my hand down her, forcing every part of her closer, and she stretched and rubbed against me as my fingers travelled down her spine.

She pulled back and straightened briefly. In one fluid motion she pulled her robe up and over her head, discarding it on the floor.

Oh sweet Lilbecz. Sweet, holy Lilbecz. I don’t know what the expression on my face must have said to her, but a brief worried frown darkened her brow.

“Jaseth? Is this okay?” she asked me again.

I couldn’t help myself. “What? Apart from you being too old for me?”

Her lips quirked. “I’m not that much older than you!”

I held my arms out and gathered her to me. “No, my beautiful Queen, you’re perfect. You’re absolutely perfect.”