Cursed by Ice (38 page)

“I’ve known that all along,” he said.

“And … you want me?”

“I do.”

“And you’ll never sleep with Davine or any other woman again?”

He laughed. “I never slept with Davine.”

“I know. I’m just checking.”

“I’ll never sleep with another woman as long as you are alive,” he vowed to her.

“Well … that could be a very long time.”

“I hope so,” he said.

“No. I mean … a very long time. I-I’m a wrena.”

“I know,” he said, although he said it carefully because he had a feeling he was missing something.

“It means I will live in perfect health as long as the wyvern lives in perfect health. Barring any more injuries on either side … well, you realize wyverns live hundreds of turnings, don’t you?”

“I … I do. I just didn’t realize …” He laughed, amazed. “And Dethan was worried about me being immortal while you were mortal!”

“Yes, well … I didn’t learn about the longevity factor until after I became a wrena.”

“Would you have still done it if you’d known?”

“Yes,” she said after a minute. “I needed to save the twins at any cost. It makes me sad to think I will watch them grow old and die, but at the same time … there will be something beautiful about it. About seeing the whole of their lives from beginning to end.”

“And what about …?” He touched her belly.

“I don’t know. Koro says he can talk to her already. I didn’t know that was possible. I’ve never heard of a wrena having children before this. I suppose we can research it.”

“Does Koro know?”

“I suppose he can find out. He can ask one of the senior wyverns. They’ve been around for ages. They would probably know.”

“Did you say … did you say
her
?”

Sarielle smiled. “I did.”

“It’s a girl?” His smile bloomed wildly across his face. “A daughter!”

Sarielle laughed softly. “I would have thought you would want a son. A warrior like yourself.”

“I do. I will. When the time comes. But for now, a daughter is perfect.” He kissed her forehead warmly. Then the tip of her nose. Then he gently kissed her lips.

“Water!” Jona announced, shoving the glass between their bodies, forcing them apart.

“Thank you, Jona,” Sarielle said with barely repressed amusement. She accepted the glass and took a sip.

“So your sister is going to marry me,” Garreth announced to the twins, who squealed with joy. And then just as quickly there were sounds of dismay.

“Are you leaving us?” Jona suddenly thought to ask, her bottom lip trembling in fear.

“I would never leave you, my little loves!” Sarielle swore to them.

“You’re all coming back home with me!” Garreth announced.

The girls began to tear through the house, squealing and laughing.

“I’d say they are quite happy,” Sarielle said with a smile.

“And you? Are you happy? I know I’m pushing you around, but … I have no choice. I have to have you and I’ll do anything to keep you.”

“Well, when you put it that way … I have to have you too.”

Garreth grinned and a sudden lecherous gleam entered his expression. “And it’s been far too long since I’ve had you,” he said.

“Yes, well … the twins,” she said with a pretty blush on her fair lavender cheeks.

“They have to go to sleep sometime,” he said with a raised brow and a chuckle.

“Garreth!”

“Sarielle, come with me,” he said earnestly. “I would bend worlds to have you … live through any curse. And I have. Come home with me.”

“Yes,” she said softly. “I’ll come home with you.”

EPILOGUE

Sarielle was redecorating the mistress’s rooms she had once lived in. They were going to be the nursery for their child.

There had never been such a thing as a coruler in the city of Kith, but they had done away with that notion and now both she and Garreth had taken on the role of joint bennesahs, ruling together.

The people of Kith did not know the wrena and the bennesah were going to be so long lived, but they would figure it out eventually. For now, the rulers were going to focus on other things.

Like decorating a nursery.

The crib had been handmade by some of the best woodcrafters known to man. In a corner of the room was a small statue of Framun, the god of peace and tranquility. Weysa outside their walls was one thing, but the goddess of conflict would understand why they did not wish to bring her nature into their child’s room. Still, Framun was of Weysa’s faction, so she would be pleased overall.

The floor had been covered with a thick-piled rug—a place for the baby to crawl. The outer room had been fitted with a bed for the child’s nanny. But the care of
the child would gladly fall upon the parents’ shoulders. They were not interested in a wet nurse. Sarielle wanted to feed her child herself. She would not share that experience with anyone.

She was afraid of childbirth. She worried for her safety and, through her, Koro’s.

But Sarielle tried to push all of that aside as she focused on directing her laborers in what way she desired things. There was a shelf being installed. A series of them, really. They were to hold the numerous toys the child’s father was constantly buying in anticipation of his daughter using them … even though some of them would not be able to be used until she was much older.

Her aunts had been just as bad, using their pocket money to buy her dolls and clothes. They looked forward to her birth. No doubt so they would have a live doll to play with. They had even put a little more attention to their needlework, a task they normally found tedious, as they made her special little things like a mismatched quilt and a slightly lumpy little pillow. Sarielle had secretly undone the stitching on one edge of the pillow and filled it properly with down. That way the baby could use it and the twins could see her using it … never the wiser to the change that had been made.

“Sarielle!”

Sarielle turned as Davine hurried into the room. She had a little dress in her hands. “Isn’t it divine?” she asked in a breathy rush. “I saw it in the dressmaker’s store and I simply had to buy it.”

“Davine, you don’t need to do that.”

“Yes, I do. If I am to be this child’s nanny, I wish to do the job right.”

“I am simply glad you wish to do it at all. Moyra could just as easily play nanny as she does governess for the girls. You know you don’t have to. Your comfort here is secure.”

“I want to do it,” Davine said with feeling.

“You don’t owe me anything,” Sarielle said quietly. “I have long forgiven you.”

“I do owe you,” Davine insisted. “Forgiveness or no, I owe you for your kindnesses and generosity. For giving me a home when I did not deserve one … and for being my friend when I was such a bad friend to you.”

“You know I don’t blame you for it,” Sarielle said. “What you did was wrong, but your heart was in the right place in the end. You were trying to protect me. Yourself as well. I can’t fault you for that.”

“Well,” Davine said with a lift of her chin, “regardless, I am caring for this child. She will mean the world to me … just as her mother does.”

Sarielle reached out and hugged Davine, who hugged her back desperately. If there was one thing Sarielle was sure of when it came to Davine, it was her contrition.

She believed Davine. Without question. The two had become fast friends once more after there had been apologies and forgiveness. Garreth had not fully understood, but Sarielle had repeatedly pointed out that he had forgiven his brother. Garreth had insisted that was different because Dethan was his brother. Brothers forgave. That was just the way it should be. Davine was not blood. Her fate, he had thought, should not matter to either of them.

But Sarielle had convinced him otherwise. Now he was accepting of the idea of Davine as their child’s nanny … and as his wife’s fast friend.

“I will put these with the others,” Davine said with a smile. She hurried over to the chest that held all the baby’s clothes.

“Oh my. Koro’s here.” Sarielle bit her lip in concern. Koro didn’t usually come to her for no reason. She hurried as fast as she could to the castle wall, out into the blustery cold, and saw Koro there.

Why are you here, my love?
she asked him.

Sarielle watched as he dropped a suit of armor from his claw to the snow at her feet. She jumped back when she realized there was a man inside the armor. A dead man.

Oh no! You didn’t kill him, did you?

Apparently he had. The man had come on a quest to kill a dragon. So Koro had dispatched him … and was now giving the shiny suit of armor as a gift to her baby.

Oh. Well … thank you
. She gave him a patient smile and a pat on his scales. She would have Garreth take care of this particular problem later.
I’m glad you kept him from hurting you, but in the future, I think the baby would prefer very small shiny things. She is very small, after all
.

Koro seemed to think on that a moment. To him, the man in the armor
was
small. But … whatever made Sarielle happy made him happy. So the next time he would pick something even smaller … like maybe a cow …

Meanwhile, he could use the shiny armor in his nest.

Koro grabbed the suit of armor and immediately launched into the air. He looked magnificent as always, but she could swear he had gotten a little bigger. He was growing. Aging. Soon he would not be a child anymore. She did not know what that would mean for their relationship, but she hoped it would not change too much. A little more maturity wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Sarielle went back inside the keep. It was brutally cold, the winter being a particularly hard one. She was shivering when she got back inside.

She hurried to her and Garreth’s room and immediately crossed to the fireplace, trying to warm herself.

“What did you do?”

She turned at her husband’s stern voice. He crossed over to her and put his arms around her, holding her
close to the warmth of his body. “I saw Koro. Did you go out in this weather to see him?”

“Yes,” she said with chattering teeth.

“Sarielle!” he scolded. “You have to be more careful of your health! What if you got sick? Damn!”

“S-stop. I’m fine. J-just chilled.” She gave him a sly smile. “You can warm me, if you like.”

Garreth elevated one brow. He smiled just as slyly and reached a hand to cover her distended belly.

“Are you certain? With the child …?”

“I’ve fallen asleep on you every night for quite some time,” she said, reaching to kiss his warm lips with her cool ones. “I miss you.”

“Hmm,” he growled softly. “I miss you as well. But I do not mind that you fall asleep. I know the child wearies you.”

“Well, I mind.” She turned in his arms so she was fully facing him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled him down to her mouth and kissed him slowly and deeply, enjoying the familiar heat it stirred inside her body. “Come,” she beckoned him on a soft, wispy breath. “Come inside my body.”

This time the growl he released was more ferocious. He swung her up into his arms, and after moving to shut the door with his foot, he carried her over to their bed. It was covered in furs for the winter, keeping the chill from their bodies as they slept. Now they enveloped her softly as he set her down. He followed after her immediately, his body looming over hers.

“I long to take you fiercely,” he said to her. He kissed her deeply, until she couldn’t breathe. “But I fear my daughter is in the way.”

Sarielle smiled as his hand went to her belly and stroked it lovingly.

“Well, you could always approach me from a direction where our child will not be in the way.”

He grinned at that. “I could. Perhaps I will later. But for now, I will take you more tenderly … facing me … so that I may look into your eyes and see your beautiful face. See the full beauty of your body.”

His words warmed both her body and her heart. “Well, I think then you should be my stallion,” she said, her hand drifting down the center of his body until she was stroking him firmly between his legs. “And I should ride you to victory.”

He closed his eyes briefly and groaned. “That is a fine solution,” he said roughly, his eyes opening and looking down at her with a fierce green fire. His hand went to the lacing of her loose gown, pulling it free and exposing her chest and shoulders. “Whatever will I do without you when I must go?” he asked, bending his head to kiss her breastbone.

“No!” she said suddenly, pulling his head back up and forcing him to meet her eyes. “Do not say anything that might be viewed as dissatisfaction by the gods. I will not have them thinking we are ungrateful for all they have given us!”

“Of course,” he said, touching her face soothingly. “You know I feel the same. I only meant to say that I will miss you.”

“Well, at least you will not have to leave until after the birth,” she said.

Both his hand and hers went to her belly. Spring was still some time away and the birth a full cycle of the moon after that.

“I am infinitely grateful for that. We must be certain to plan the timing exactly the same with our next child as well.”