Heart of Fire (25 page)

The memory of Ertemis’s mouth
pressed against hers was bittersweet, but it was just a memory. He
was gone. Her fingers sought the gems at her neck. Small comfort
knowing part of him had once cared enough to give her such a
gift.

She pushed open the door to her
shared quarters. “All right, off we go.”

Clapping her hands, Fynna spun on
one foot. Jessalyne smiled half-heartedly as she attached her coin
purse to her sash. Fynna cocked her head to one side. “Is something
wrong?”

Jessalyne shook her head, not
trusting her voice.

Squinting, the pixie pursed her blue
lips. “You’re a bad liar.”

A weak smile tweaked Jessalyne’s
mouth. “Just memories, nothing else.” She jangled the coins in the
pouch at her side. “Shall we?”

Fynna bounced several times on her
little blue toes before the pair headed down the long winding
stairs. They exited into the great hall, still bustling with
activity.

“There’s so much going on here all
the time,” Jessalyne said. “I never imagined city life would be so
busy.”

“This is nothing. Wait until nobles
visit for holidays or feasting. Then you’ll see what busy really
is.”

They walked out into the sunny
courtyard Jessalyne had first entered. A group of heavily painted,
over-dressed young women sat to one side, under the shade of two
large oak trees. They drank cold tea from crystal goblets while
they watched some of the prince’s guard practicing
swords.

Fynna grabbed Jessalyne’s hand and
pulled her in the opposite direction.

“The gate is that way.” Jessalyne
pointed to the way she’d come in.

“I know a better way.” Fynna kept
tugging.

One of the girls from the group
under the tree nudged the one next to her, and pointed at Fynna.
“Seems the blueberry is pestering someone new.”

The girl stood, tossing blond
ringlets over her shoulder. She set her glass down and smoothed the
skirts of her lemon-colored gown. “You there,” she called
out.

Jessalyne turned in the girl’s
direction. “Me?”

“Yes. Is that little blue bug
bothering you?”

Fynna crouched behind Jessalyne’s
skirts.

“She’s not bothering me. And she’s a
pixie, not a bug.”

The girl smiled thinly, staring at
Jessalyne with limpid blue eyes. “Whatever it is, it isn’t fit to
keep company with. You know the prince won’t tolerate her kind in
the castle once he’s crowned.”

“That’s right, Salena, you tell
her.” Another of the girls spoke, her freckled nose
twitching.

“He has to be crowned first,”
Jessalyne shot back.

Holding an embroidered linen square
to her nose as if damping out some awful smell, Salena raised her
eyebrows. “Not interested in the prince? Probably for the best. I
doubt he would find your looks the least bit appealing.”

The gaggle behind Salena twittered.
Jessalyne wished Ertemis were here. He would scare the wits out of
them.

Fynna tugged at her skirt. “Please,
let’s go.”

Nodding, Jessalyne felt the tingle
of anger heating her spine. She spun on her heel. Behind her,
Selena cried out. “Ow! Who poured hot tea in my glass?”

* * *

The shops in Shaldar City’s market
quarter shamed every other shop Jessalyne had seen during her
journey. The selection of goods overwhelmed her. She wanted one of
everything.

Fynna’s new tunic was first. But
after trying several clothiers, Jessalyne soon found none of them
carried anything to fit Fynna’s petite figure.

“It can’t be helped. None of these
shops specialize in pixie.” Fynna sighed.

“I don’t give up that easily.”
Jessalyne stood beneath the awning of the shop they had just left.
She smiled when she looked across the street. “I have an
idea.”

The pixie followed her line of
sight. “You cannot be serious.”

“It won’t hurt just to
look.”

“I am not wearing anything with
ruffles or daisies or kittens. Well, maybe kittens.” Fynna crossed
the street with Jessalyne and entered the children’s
shop.

When they left, Fynna was wearing a
new tunic, simply cut from tea-colored linen, and tied about the
waist with a matching embroidered sash. She carried a bundle
beneath her arm with two more tunics, one of lightweight grey wool
and one of earthy green brushed cotton.

She smiled. “Thank you. But I really
only needed one.”

“Nonsense. I can’t have my
quartermate wearing the same thing everyday. It would bore me to
tears.” She winked.

They wandered in and out of the
shops. Jessalyne bought sticks of shortbread dipped in chocolate
from a bakery.

“I can’t believe how yummy this is,”
Fynna mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs. “Chocolate is the most
best thing I have ever tasted.”

“I agree,” Jessalyne said. “I only
just tried it for the first time on my journey here.” She held up a
brown paper sack full of chocolate biscuits. “Hopefully, these will
last more than a day.”

She bought soft cotton sheets for
their mattresses, several colors of hair ribbons, lavender-scented
candles, and two bars of good, fragrant soap.

She bought dinner from a street
vendor. They found an empty bench, and unwrapped the rough paper
holding their meals.

“I never knew shopping could make
you so starved.” Fynna took a bite of crunchy fried
trout.

“Truthfully, I’ve never shopped so
much in my life, but I like it,” Jessalyne said.

They finished and Jessalyne wondered
if they should turn back, but Fynna seemed to be having such a good
time so they continued on. As they were passing a shop window, a
handsome linen shirt caught her eye. She stopped to take it in.
Bleached pure white, it had trailing vines embroidered around the
neck in silver. Ertemis would look so handsome in a shirt like
that. She imagined him in it. Then out of it.

“That’s a man tunic,” Fynna
stated.

“I know. I want to buy it
anyway.”

Fynna furrowed her brow. “For
who?”

“No one.” Before she changed her
mind, she grabbed Fynna’s hand and pulled her into the shop. The
shirt was paid for, wrapped up and added to the other bundles
without Jessalyne trying to figure out the point of buying clothing
for a man she’d never see again. It was too painful to think that
way. Better to imagine him as away for a while than gone for
good.

On the long walk back to the castle,
Jessalyne stayed quiet, content to let Fynna talk. It was not until
they opened the door to their quarters that Jessalyne
spoke.

“Oh, look at it all!”

The boys had finished delivering and
setting up all the furniture and household goods promised by
Mistress Wenda. Transformed from bare to beautiful, the room looked
nothing like it had when they left.

Atop the lush carpet, the canopied
bed boxes were placed against opposite walls. Folded coverlets lay
on each mattress, next to a feather pillow. A rich tapestry hung on
the wall between the beds with a carved wood table holding
candlesticks beneath it. Two lovely upholstered chairs sat paired
with a small game table off to one side.

Jessalyne dropped all her packages
except for the sheets. She unwrapped them and threw Fynna’s onto
her bed. “Here, make your bed and then we’ll put the rest
away.”

When that task was completed, the
pair laid out the rest of their purchases. Fynna put her new tunics
in the wardrobe and then lit the lanterns on their
stands.

Jessalyne unwrapped the shirt she’d
purchased for Ertemis and sat on the bed holding it in her lap,
stroking her fingers across the soft fabric.

Fynna watched her. “Why won’t you
tell me who you bought that for?”

Sighing, Jessalyne shrugged. “He
isn’t in my life anymore.”

“But you bought him a shirt.” Fynna
looked confused.

“I know...I didn’t say it made
sense.” Jessalyne rolled the black pearl between her fingers,
staring at the shirt again.

“Love never does.”

“What did you say?” Jessalyne’s head
snapped up.

“I said love never does make
sense.”

“I’m not in love with him.”
Jessalyne shook her head.

“You bought a shirt for a man who
isn’t in your life no more but you aren’t in love with him? I guess
he isn’t in love with you, either.”

“He’s definitely not in love with
me.”

“Where’d you get that?” Fynna
pointed at Jessalyne’s neck.

“What?”

“The pendant you can’t quit
touching. Did you buy that for yourself?”

“He gave it to me.” Jessalyne bite
her lip, remembering the day he’d put the necklace on her. If she
closed her eyes, she could feel his fingers brush her
skin.

“So, he doesn’t love you but he gave
you a necklace worth a whole heap.” Fynna put her hands on her
hips. “Makes perfect sense to me. Humans.”

“What do you mean a whole
heap?”

Fynna sat next to her on the bed.
“The amethyst alone is something, but the pearl...” She raised her
eyebrows. “That’s a black Thrassian pearl, biggest I’ve ever seen.
Rare and real expensive.”

Jessalyne looked sideways at her.
“How do you know all that?”

Fynna shrugged. “I’ve lived in the
castle long enough and seen enough nobles showing off to know a bit
about this and that.” She smiled broadly. “Plus I eavesdrop a lot
on Salena and her chickens when they don’t know it.”

Jessalyne laughed. “Really? What
else do you know?”

“I know he probably does love you
and if he’s like most men, he’ll come back for a woman he
loves.”

Closing her eyes, Jessalyne sighed
deeply and shook her head. “I don’t think so, Fynna. He barely said
a word to me when we parted.”

“Maybe he’s not the talkative
type.”

“We quarreled the day before.” A
single tear burned down her cheek, her voice cracking. She covered
her face with her hands. “I can’t love him. I loved my mother and
she died when I was little. I wanted my father to love me but I
scared him away. If I love Ertemis, he’ll never come back
either.”

Fynna put her arm around Jessalyne.
“Don’t judge him by your past. That belongs to you, not
him.”

Jessalyne wiped her eyes. “You
really think he loves me?”

Fynna nodded. “Men give cheap jewels
to the women they want to bed and expensive ones to the women they
intend to keep.”

Jessalyne smiled. “You certainly are
a wealth of information.” She laughed. “No jest
intended.”

Fynna lit one of Jessalyne’s new
lavender candles. She started a small fire in the fireplace and
hung a kettle to boil for tea. Jessalyne folded the shirt and
tucked it away on her side of the wardrobe. She splayed her hand
across the fabric before shutting the armoire doors, her mind
elsewhere.

They spent the rest of the evening
playing Fryst on their new game table, eating chocolate biscuits
and drinking tea. They kept the conversation to castle gossip and
the day’s shopping. Finally giving in to sleep, they crawled
between their new cotton sheets as the moon crossed the midnight
line.

Jessalyne dreamed of
Ertemis.

His arms wrapped around her, fingers
splayed over her ribs and belly. Pulling her close, he snuggled her
against the warm muscled length of his body, nuzzling soft kisses
onto her neck.

“Lelaya,” he whispered. “I’ve missed
you so much. Missed touching your warm silky skin, missed kissing
your sweet mouth.”

He turned her onto her back, his
dark eyes wild with want. Smiling, he dipped his head and ran his
tongue across her collarbone. His raven-black locks fell over his
shoulders and dusted the swell of her breasts.

She moaned as goose flesh covered
her skin. Her hands traveled up his arms to caress his bare
chest.

“I love the color of your skin,” she
whispered. Fingertips grazing his chest, she smiled at the feel of
him. He growled in response.

Midnight eyes stormy with need, he
kissed her hard, resting his elbows on other side of her. His hands
tangled in her hair. He kissed her until tremors ran through her,
shaking her...

Jessalyne woke with a start. Fynna
was poised to jostle her one more time. “Get up! Mistress Sryka
will be expecting you!”

She opened her eyes and yawned. “I
was dreaming.”

“That explains the
moaning.”

“What?” She swallowed her
embarrassment.

Fynna held her hands up. “Hurry up
and dress. If you’re late, Sryka will blame me, and I don’t want to
be punished because you lolled in bed dreaming of a man you’re not
even in love with.”

Chapter Twelve

Jessalyne knocked at Sryka’s door. A
voice called out, “Come in.”