Cursed by Ice (9 page)

As he drew closer, she felt his approach on a level that seemed to penetrate her skin. It was … it was almost like the feeling she got when Koro was approaching. Her heartbeat grew stronger in her chest, her breath more powerful. She felt everything about him, even at a distance.

It unnerved her.

“Please, don’t come any closer,” she said before she could help herself.

“I thought we understood that I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I-I know. I-I just … Please. I need some time to—”

“You’re all out of time,” he said, pushing past her protests and sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I think you know that.”

“Yes,” she admitted in a whisper. “I do. I’ll … I’ll take you to him. But only because … even if you do want to kill him, he’ll die anyway. I have to take the chance that you really do want to help him.”

“I really do want to. We will bring our most talented mem with us and she will use her spiritual healing to cure the wyvern.” He paused. “What does ‘wrena’ mean exactly?”

“Well, it just means that I’m one of the wyvern blessed.”

“And how does one become wyvern blessed?” he asked, reaching to pull an errant strand of her hair free from the corner of her lips.

“That’s … a long story,” she said, fidgeting to tuck her hair back behind her ear so he wouldn’t have a reason to touch it again. But touch it he did. He ran a fingertip along her hairline at the top of her forehead, almost as though he couldn’t seem to help himself. She felt his touch sliding against her, felt it echoing into the pulse of her blood.

“I’ve never seen hair this color before, fira. It’s like your head is on fire. It’s beautiful, really.”

“Thank you,” she said on a whisper.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, his tone dropping deep as his eyes fell to her mouth. He kept doing that! Why? What was so fascinating to him about her lips?

“I’m a slave. We aren’t beautiful.”

“I’ve hardly seen a woman fairer than you are,” he said. And for some reason that pleased her to no end. She felt herself blushing and cursed the reaction. What kind of game was he playing now, she wondered. What was it that he wanted from her?

And then she realized what it might be.

“No!” she cried softly just before he leaned forward and touched his mouth to hers.

She could have plucked him up and flattened him on the ground just as he had seen her do to the bennesah, but she did not. Her hands went to his shoulders, gripping him and pushing against him at the same time.

But no sooner had he pressed against her mouth than he was pulling away and looking into her eyes.

“No?” he asked.

Then he moved in and caught her stunned lips against his again, this time deepening the kiss a little. She had every intention of shouting no at the top of her lungs … until she actually began to taste him, to draw the flavor of him onto her lips. But just when she was starting to get interested, he pulled back again.

“No?” he asked once more. And this time he did not return. This time he waited for her response. Waited to hear her rebuff him again.

“No,” she said. They both immediately knew the difference between the first denial and this last one. This time she was saying no to his no. As in yes. Yes, she wanted him to kiss her again. She didn’t know why, but she wanted more. She knew there was something more to be had, and she wanted it.

It was crazy. Daring. She didn’t know him. Didn’t
trust him. But there was something to his strong, handsome features that just drew her in.

This time it was she who moved forward to touch her mouth to his. Suddenly his hands were up and closing around her head, pulling her tightly to him as his mouth slanted fiercely against hers.

She had been kissed before, but it had never felt like this. Stealing kisses with a kitchen lad had never felt like this. Poor Toaw, young boy he had been, had no hope of competing with this man’s kiss. Drawing in a deep breath, he coaxed her mouth open with his and introduced his tongue. Shocked, she drew back. He saw her confusion and smiled. It was a warm smile. An expression she had not seen on him before this. It creased across his face and lit humor in his eyes, making him even more compelling.

“Have you never been kissed like that?” he asked her gently.

She shook her head.

“Have you never been kissed?” he thought to ask then.

She nodded. “But please don’t tell. I’ll get in trouble.”

“With whom?” he said, a gentle reminder that she no longer had to worry about the rules of slavery under her Kithian masters. “Why would you get in trouble?”

“We’re not allowed … unless our master says we can. And the bennesah would never risk me becoming pregnant and dying in childbirth. I was more valuable to him locked up in this room. He kept me here, hid me from his enemies … and everyone else.”

“Well, that’s over now. If you want to kiss me, you can.”

“I …” She dipped her head and looked at him out of the corner of her eye, a pretty violet blush tingeing her cheeks. “I think I do.”

He smiled again and pulled her close once more. She moaned softly at the immediate feel of his mouth, at
how good it felt. She had been afforded so few pleasures that this one hit her hard. This time when he touched his tongue to her lips, she opened her mouth for him willingly and without question. And she was glad she did. The way their tongues touched—the erotic, wet warmth of it—was like nothing she’d ever felt before. She followed his lead with ease, his actions slow and purposeful. She felt heat begin to spread throughout her body, in certain places more than others.

When she drew back, she put distance between them, as much as the narrow bed would allow for. He let her go, not forcing her to his will in the least.

“I-I think I’d like to stop now,” she said, holding up a hand as if to ward him off.

“Then we will stop,” he said simply.

The reaction surprised her and she knew it showed on her face because he said, “What did you think I would do?”

“Become angry,” she said honestly.

“No,” he said with a shake of his head.

“Oh. Well, thank you.”

“For what?” he asked, amusement in his eyes. She liked the way his eyes lightened with the emotion. When he had been kissing her they had gone dark, but now they were the lightest, fairest green. She had never seen eyes that color before. All Kithians, including the scourge, had blue eyes. Differing shades, but all blue.

“For the kiss. And for not becoming angry. But now …”

“Yes, now we have to get back to the business at hand,” he agreed. “Do you think you can ride again?”

“Do I have a choice?” she asked wryly.

“No, I suppose you don’t. We won’t find him without you.”

“No. And even if you could, he’d run away in fear.”

“In
fear
? That big thing would fear
us
?”

“He’s still just a baby,” she insisted.

“That is a very big baby,” he said.

“You should see the other wyverns,” she said.

That gave him pause. “How big are they? And will they attack us when we intrude on their nesting area?”

“Not with a wrena with you.”

“You were going to explain to me how one becomes a wrena,” he said as he stood up and then bent to lift her out of the bed.

“Was I?” she asked. “I don’t recall …”

“Well, I was hoping you would, anyway,” he said, again with that amusement.

She smiled at him for it. “Well … you have to tend an egg.”

He stopped in his tracks and looked at her. “Tend an egg? Is it that easy?”

“No. You have to find an egg first. And that means invading a wyvern’s nest. An act that usually gets people killed. Then you have to lug an egg roughly the size of a twelve-turning-old child somewhere safe. Usually a cave. At least that’s what I did. Then you have to—”

“And you did all this?” he interrupted her, aghast.

“Yes. I was … desperate.”

“Why were you desperate?” he asked as he took her down the stairs.

Her face clouded over. “Because my mother had just died and we were of no value to the bennesah. He was going to sell me and my sisters off to separate buyers. The only thing I could do was make myself invaluable to him.”

“So you ventured up into the mountains, stole an egg, raised it in the wilderness, somehow keeping yourself alive, and basically gave birth to a wyvern?” He was incredulous.

“Yes.”

“How long did that take?”

“Well … I became a wrena the moment the wyvern
was born and the baby recognized me as its mother. That is when the brand appears.” She absently touched her shoulder. “No one knows why … It just happens. It took only a waning of the moon.”

“And how does that bond form?”

“Well, it’s like any child’s bond to its mother. Only something happens when the wyvern is born that connects its soul to its mother’s, the way I am connected to the wyvern.”

“And just how far does this relationship go exactly? You can get Koro to do anything for you?”

“Mostly. There are some instinctive things that I can’t countermand.”

“Such as?”

She flushed again. “The mating instinct. When a wyvern chooses to mate, you’d best not be in the way … wrena or no.”

He laughed at that. “I can see how that might be,” he said.

“What’s the joke?” Dethan asked as they entered the common room of the keep.

“No joke,” Garreth said dismissively. “She’s as ready as she is going to be. There isn’t much more time.”

“Then let’s be off. Tonkin, fetch our horses.”

“No, brother. You need to stay here and hold the city,” Garreth reminded him. “As long as the mage is out there, we are not safe.”

Dethan frowned. “True,” he said. “But are you certain? This will be a hazardous journey.”

“I am certain. Better to risk only one of us. The city is ours. Soon you can return to your wife and child. Let’s just heal the wyvern first.”

“I still don’t like the idea of this,” Dethan said. “Why do we want a healthy wyvern?”

“For the same reason the bennesah did. So it can protect
this city when needed.” He looked at Sarielle when she tensed in his arms. “Willingly,” he added.

She didn’t exactly relax, but she felt a little better to hear him say it.

“Very well,” Dethan said reluctantly. “But take Tonkin with you. I will feel better if you have a trusted man with you.”

Garreth frowned, but he assented with a tilt of his head.

“My sisters?” she asked.

“I’ll take you to them. But then we must go.”

She nodded and he carried her down the hall. Once they were out of earshot of Dethan, she asked, “Don’t you like Tonkin?”

“I like him fine. Why do you ask?”

“You looked unhappy when your brother told you to take him with us.”

“Mm. That’s more about my elder brother continually thinking I need looking after, when in fact I am stronger than he is right now.”

“How so? He is very big.”

“Size doesn’t always matter,” he said. But then a wolfish sort of grin spread over his features. “In some cases it does.”

“What cases?”

“Ah. I’ll let you find that out for yourself one day.”

He stopped at the door to a room just off the kitchens and kicked it open, carrying her inside. Sitting quietly at a table in the center of the room were her sisters, eating jam and bread. Garreth lowered her into a chair and she held out her arms to them eagerly.

“Come, little juquils!”

They got up immediately and went to their sister. Not running but walking slowly. When they reached her, they leaned against her body, again fully silent, their eyes downcast.

“What is it, my loves?” she asked, shooting Garreth a worried look. He didn’t blame her. These were not like any ten-turning-old children he had ever seen. There was no energy to them. No gaiety.

They didn’t respond.

“I don’t understand,” she said, looking at Garreth helplessly as she stroked their fiery red hair. Anyone could see the family resemblance by just looking at them.

“If I had to hazard a guess, they’ve been sorely misused,” he said gently. “I am guessing they’ve been kept captive just like you.”

“Yes. They were treated well … as far as slaves go … I was only allowed to see them every so often. But even so … they were still happy children. The bennesah knew he had to keep them well and happy if he was going to control me. The twins depended on each other greatly as friends and playmates. But … this is something new. Different.”

“I wish I could explain it,” he said. And he realized he truly did. He did not like to see her distraught. “Give them time. They will come about.”

“I hope so,” she said, petting them once more. “Now, my little juquils, I have to go for a while.” She took each one’s face in her hands in turn and looked them straight in their eyes. “But I will be back. I swear it. And then our days as captive slaves will be done, as they will be done for all Kithian scourge.”

“Do not call yourself that,” Garreth said with a deep frown. “You are no scourge.”

“Yes. Of course,” she said, giving the children one last smile before he scooped her back up into his arms. The children immediately returned to their food, as though she had not come at all.

She was still frowning by the time they made it to their horse.

“They will be fine,” he said encouragingly. “Just give
them time. All slaves will need time to adjust to their new surroundings and new rules.”

“It is a sad day for the slave traders. For they are now out of a job!”

“Indeed they are,” he said with a chuckle. “But I am certain they will find other means of employment. This city needs rebuilding and it will take many hands to do it.”

He mounted the horse just as he had the last time, without breaking stride and with her in his arms. “Now, shall I put you behind or do you think you can ride up front?”

“We can try up front for a little while,” she said. She did feel strong enough, but she had to admit she found it comforting to have his strong arms around her. “But I don’t know what we’ll do once we get to the crags. You cannot carry me the whole way.”

“Can you bring him down to us when we reach the base of the crags?”

“I can try, but when a wyvern is wounded it tends to hide in its nest.”