Pleasure (24 page)

Guin turned and walked away from the tableau of anguish Acadian had painted. As he strode out of Sanctuary he went faster and faster until he was running through the city.

Malaya hugged Senator Helene in greeting. The Senator was so sweet, her temperament so well suited to the pretty and youthful innocence of her round and pert features.

“Helene, how good to see you.”

“It's so good to be here with you as well,” Helene said warmly and with a smile. “It's so rare to have such a golden opportunity…to use the benefit of your infinite patience and wisdom.”

“Is the entire committee here?”

“Everyone who is important,” Helene replied as they walked toward one of the larger meeting rooms in the palace. Malaya had seen to it the gathering would be well catered, everyone made happy and richly content by palace hospitality. She had even chosen some handsome young men and women to attend as hosts to keep the atmosphere entertaining and very friendly. She had found that details like this appealed to those known for being difficult to deal with, making them far more tractable.

Helene slid her arm through Malaya's, hugging her close and leaning in to whisper, “How is your love life,
K'yatsume
?
Do you already have someone you can toss in the faces of us old nosy bodies and say ‘Love conquers all!' It would make me endlessly happy to know that you did. I would keep the secret to myself, but I assure you I would revel in the knowledge of what was to come. There's nothing I love more than to see people get what's coming to them.”

“Helene,” Malaya scolded. “I never knew you could be so wicked.” The Chancellor laughed as she covered for the blush that tinged her cheeks when Helene's query made her think of Guin. She wasn't in love with him, of course, but he was the sum total of her love life at present. A suddenly heated and voracious love life. She couldn't wait until morning broke and she could be locked away with him in his arms again. Her body ached all over with the desire for more of him, almost like a fevered illness, one she didn't want to be cured of anytime soon.

“You do have someone!” Helene hissed in accusation. “I see you blushing and thinking naughty thoughts.”

“Helene!”

“Tell me. Or shall I guess?”

“Stop it.” Malaya laughed, covering her tattling cheeks. “You are a devil. And it is nothing more than a physical affair, so don't get all romantic about it.”

“I'm going to start guessing,” Helene warned.

“Be my guest. I'm not telling.”

Malaya tossed her hair playfully at the Senator, who laughed in her wake. They entered the meeting room and found the atmosphere just as amiable as Malaya had desired it to be.

“Anai, Ajai,”
she greeted them all as a throng quickly encircled her. Malaya felt Killian at her back and immediately missed Guin's imposing, heated presence. The circled couches, just like those in the room she had danced in, allowed the group to sit close and with intimacy. It helped in warming the environment and she steadily moved toward them. Everyone seemed in good spirits, which was rare for a group not always known
for its pliability. She spent some time exchanging pleasantries, focusing her energy where she felt it would do the most good as far as progress in the meeting would be concerned. While a difficult committee to work with, this was one of her favorite causes. Young children under twelve, those too young for school at Sanctuary, were desperately in need of diversion in these dark winter months when they spent little time in fresh air because of the hostile weather. It was different when they migrated to New Zealand, where they lived aboveground and the winters were not like those in Alaska.

“Shall we get started?” she asked of them after a minute, moving to take her seat.

Just then the door to the room crashed open, startling almost the entire company. Standing there, breathing hard and looking as furious as a bull, was Guin.

“Killian, stand attentive!”

Killian was very familiar with the order to put himself between the Chancellor and as much potential threat as possible. He did so instantly, reaching to hold Malaya to his back and placing her toward an unoccupied corner of the room. Malaya fought him only enough so she could see around him, watching in disbelief as Guin strode into the room like a storm, the snap of his step sharp as he beelined for Senator Helene. With an audible smack he grabbed the Senator by her throat and slammed her back down on the couch where she sat. He raised a knee and braced it against her ribs as he leaned his weight completely on her throat. Helene gagged, her fingers reaching to rake at Guin's arm and chest.

“Is it you? Is this the mask you wear, bitch? Come, unsheathe those claws of yours and show me the true face of evil,” he snarled down at her.

“Guin!” Malaya pushed by Killian and reached to grab Guin by the arm, trying to pull him off Helene. “What are you doing!?”

“Killian, attend to your charge, goddammit!” Guin growled as he shrugged her off.

“His charge has a name, you incredible ass! And she is your queen! You will stop this right now and you will explain yourself!” Malaya spat.

Guin moved the bulk of his weight off Helene, but kept her throat under hand as he turned sharply to search for other familiar political faces. “Angelique!” The name roared out of him and the Senator startled, freezing still as if she'd been struck by light and was awaiting the burn of it. “Don't you move. You're next on my list.” Guin began to search Helene with sharp thrusts of his hand, finally releasing her in disgust when she was clearly unarmed. Helene rolled away and gasped violently for breath and, true to his word, Guin advanced on Angelique.

“Guin, stop!” Malaya cried in horror as he grabbed the second Senator and pinned her to the nearest wall by her throat, ignoring the way she clawed and gasped in struggle.

“By your leave,
K'yatsume
, I'll find the bitch and she will be dead in but another minute or two, I promise you. When that time is gone, I'll answer any query you have.”

“Are you mad? That's Angelique, Guin! She has never done anything to anyone except give them an ulcer! Release her this instant!”

“Your pardon for correcting you,
K'yatsume
,” Guin gritted out through his teeth as Angelique began kicking furiously at his great weight, “but this is very likely the seed of evil known as Acadian.”

Malaya grabbed for his arm, trying to pull him off of the Senator.

“Are you sure? Have you proof? A moment ago you were on Helene! Guin! Let her go! If it is her she will be punished, but you cannot accuse every woman in this room! You cannot be judge and jury here! You'll be breaking the law! Guin! Let go!”

With a hiss of disgust, Guin backed away from Angelique in a sharp movement. He grabbed hold of Malaya, placing
her safely at his back as the Senator gasped harshly for her breath. With luck he had crushed her windpipe and she would die anyway.

But luck was not with him as Helene and Angelique both fought for and recovered their breath. He stood between them and Malaya, his head ringing with his unsatisfied rage.

“Tell me what happened,” he heard Malaya begging him. “Tell me why you are behaving like this!”

Malaya grabbed him at his sides and her hand smeared into coagulating blood mixed with fresh.

“Guin, you're injured!” Now she looked at it she could see he was covered in blood all the way to his boots down his left side. “Please, Guin, tell me what happened.”

He did, in short, clipped sentences that had the committee fluctuating between horror and perverse fascination the entire time. He looked directly into Malaya's eyes when he told her the end result of Acadian's work for the evening.

“Acadian,” Helene croaked, “has taken on our guises to torment you,
K'yatsume!
” She coughed hard, rubbing her rapidly bruising throat. “I do not blame
Ajai
Guin for his rage, but you must believe what you know of me. I would never hurt anyone! I couldn't ever kill a blessed baby. I have no reason to! I will do anything to prove this is a falsehood.”

Guin was living in a haze of red, but even he couldn't help wavering as he saw the woman he knew as kind and giving beg them in fear for her life and reputation. Angelique was a different story. She recovered her breath and then launched a scathing retaliation.

“You barbarian! How dare you touch your betters with violence and not a shred of cause!
K'yatsume! Ajai
Killian should be arresting him and he should be served to our justice!”

“Don't you mean Our justice?” Malaya spat out in return. “Guin is above the law when it comes to my safety and protection. I recognize this is not appropriate, but it is clear the trauma of the evening affects him strongly.”

“The fact is, Guin,” Killian spoke up, “you have no solid proof. What Dae thinks she saw isn't enough and it is flawed evidence to say the very least. I am sorry for
K'yan
Daenaira”—it was obvious in his voice that he was not just paying lip service to the emotion—“and for
M'jan
Magnus, but we can't abuse these women's rights without solid proof here in this 'scape. What you've reported isn't proof enough to justify any further action against any woman here.”

“Ajai
Killian, please accompany Senators Helene and Angelique to their homes and see they get the services of the healers if necessary,” Malaya said gently to him. Guin would not let her approach either woman to offer any more personal comfort or apology, and Malaya was willing to forgo that for his peace of mind. But she did say, “Senators, I hope you will forgive
Ajai
Guin for his rashness. It sounds as though he has been through a terrible ordeal this evening and it has altered his judgment. I know he would never normally accost someone like this unless he felt I was in immediate danger.”

Guin clenched his fists, despising the idea that she could be apologizing for him to Acadian. It was true, there was no real proof, but it made him realize just how close this monster could get to either Chancellor at any time. They were no nearer to identifying her than they had been before.

The bodyguard didn't relax, not even once both women were out of the room. Malaya was trying to calm the others in the room as it buzzed with debate and speculative gossip over Guin's behavior. Still seething with his emotions, Guin wasn't capable of remaining among them another moment, and he wasn't going to leave Malaya within reach of other potential harm. He turned her and clamped hard hands around her waist as he bent to her ear.

“Dismiss them,” he ordered her curtly.

“I can't,” she hissed in a low whisper, “I have to do some damage control, Guin. You've upset—”

“I don't give a single damn if I've rattled their fucking
sensibilities and I don't care what you do later on, but leave this room with me now.”

Malaya had known Guin long enough to know that if she did not do as he asked, he would find a way to make it happen for himself. She quickly and apologetically dismissed the committee, and with the hard clamp of his hand around her wrist she was hustled into the residence and into her rooms. He slammed the door shut in their wake after swinging her inside. She caught her balance and whirled to confront him angrily for his high-handed behavior. She didn't get a single word out because he approached her with the speed of rushing fire and grabbed her hard by her head, pressing her under a swift and harsh kiss until she had no choice but to give him access. She reached for his arms, clinging to his sleeves as she took in his furious kiss.

His hands fell to her shoulders and he dragged her up against himself roughly, using the press of his big hands at her back to hold her tightly to him. He was breathing hard still, and she could almost smell the adrenaline that must be coursing through him in wild overdose. The understanding stopped any resistance she might have offered him in its tracks. She realized he needed her and he could barely control himself as he tried to ride the hormonal rush and the hard emotional journey he must have taken during Daenaira's rescue.

Malaya felt her feet yanked off the floor as he turned and pressed her face first against the wall near the door. The stone was cool and rough, the surface uneven with small flaws she could feel against her cheek. He pressed her hands to the stone, and with a brusque caress of his hand down the front of her body, he pulled her back against him and she heard his weapons fall to the floor. She wanted to protest even as her heart jerked in sudden excitement. She knew he was injured. He should be taking care of it. But as he ground up against her in a slow, erotic thrust of his hips, she could feel herself go silky wet in response.

He didn't speak a word, and somehow that made it all the more arousing. He snapped free the ties on her skirt and it dropped to the floor. The lace cheeky underpants she wore were jerked off her legs, leaving her naked from the waist down. As he pressed against her again, she felt the coarse seams of denim and the rush of his hands under her blouse as he roughly fondled her breasts. He squeezed her tight, pulling her nipples in twisting tugs that came very close to pain, but always stopped right on the border of wild pleasure. Now she was the one breathing hard, her lover's almost barbaric treatment exciting her wildly just as it had the morning before.