Prince of Fire (11 page)

Her Majesty's edict had ended Joryn's indec-sion where she was concerned sexually. Maybe he did want her, maybe he did dream of her, but that didn't mean he would be
ordered
to He with her. Since she was a virgin, she likely wouldn't be any good as a sexual partner anyway. He wasn't missing anything by denying her what she wanted. In fact, the very idea of her needing something he could provide and not getting it gave him great pleasure of a different sort.

So what did it matter that he was hurting as well? What did it matter that he was denying himself as well as her?

They'd marched many miles toward their destination, and made camp on rocky ground near a cliff side that offered a magnificent view of the hills and valleys below. It felt as if they were near the top of the world, alone and safe and without dire responsibilities. Joryn could look out on the seemingly peaceful scene and almost forget that there was evil at work.

He and the Queen had passed the day with very little conversation between them. They discussed food, drinkable water, when and where to rest... and nothing else. It was best that way, but now that they'd stopped for the night, the silence seemed to be a weighty thing that made the center of his spine itch.

He wasn't ready to tell her all that he could do, but since she was powerful in her own way, perhaps she could shed light on some of the mysteries he had faced when he'd last visited the world in-between.

"Do you know of someone named Liane?" he asked.

Keelia's head popped up sharply, and her golden eyes widened. If she tried to deny she knew the name, he would know she was lying. She said she did not lie, but how could he trust such a statement?

"Where did you hear that name?" she asked.

"So, you know it."

"Yes, from a long time ago. I haven't heard that name in many years. Why do you ask about her now?"

She might not lie, but he could. And did. "The Grandmother mentioned it to me before I left her to seek you out..."

"Before you left her to
kidnap
me," she corrected sharply.

"Call it what you wish."

"There's no need to deny what we both know to be..."

Joryn held up a silencing hand. Keelia's shoulders squared at his insolence, but she did quit speaking. 'Truce, remember? Now, tell me what you know of this Liane."

Keelia claimed a place near the cliff's edge, where she could look out on the world Joryn had been studying. She sat, maintaining her queenly air and dignity, not for one moment appearing uncomfortable with nothing but rock as her throne. She wore no crown, and her clothing was dirty and torn. Her hair was slightly tangled, and there was a smudge of dirt on one cheek.

And she still looked very much a Queen.

"Once, when I was visiting with my cousins in the Southern Province of Columbyana, and my mothers and her sisters were having one of their long conversations about times past, my cousins and I overheard a discussion about a woman they called Liane." She looked up at him, and then patted the ground beside her. "Sit and rest. It has been a tiring day for both of us and this is a rather long story."

Joryn sat, so that he could relax and enjoy the view as she did. He was not so close that he could touch her, not without reaching out, and the mood was unexpectedly companionable. Trace, he reminded himself much as he had reminded her.

Keelia spoke for a long while about Emperor Sebestyen and his last empress, Liane, who was the sister of Keelia's Aunt Sophie's husband, Kane Varden. The basics of the story were well known, they were history, but since he was not well versed in Columbyanan history, she told him what he needed to know. Apparently Liane had been kidnapped by Sebestyen's soldiers at a young age and made a concubine, but in her years in Arthes she had risen in the palace hierarchy and finally married the emperor. She'd become his fifth empress, the fifth in a long line of ill-treated wives.

Joryn had never cared for any history but that of the Caradon, but Keelia told him a tale of rebellion and war, of marriages- and betrayal. She told him of a horrid place called Level Thirteen, a place which sounded like a fictional story meant to scare those who misbehave, rather than a true accounting. Still, she told it as true, and he believed her.

"As I said," Keelia continued, "one day a few of my cousins and I came upon my mother and her sisters talking. Since my mother was present and it's impossible to get anything past her for any length of time, we didn't hear much of what they said before being caught, of course," Keelia said, "but I remember hearing the name 'Liane.' Even then, as a child, my psychic abilities were finely tuned and I immediately knew what my cousins did not. I knew that Liane had survived, that she had not been killed as it was believed, and I also knew that she'd given birth to not one child but two. Twin sons. My mother and her sisters knew, too, and they had been protecting Liane and her sons for all those years. I understood that if word spread that they'd survived, they'd be hunted down and killed, so I never said a word about them to anyone."

"You protected them all these years, just as your mother and aunts did."

She shrugged as if it didn't matter, even though mere was nobility in such protection. "The children were innocent, and I didn't want to see them harmed. Eventually, I just... forgot. I put Liane and her sons in the back of my mind. I hadn't thought about them for years, until you mentioned her name."

The spirit who had grabbed Joryn as he'd been leaving the otherworld... he must have been Emperor Sebestyen, and the heirs he spoke of were the children Keelia had protected with her silence. Were they important to the destruction of the evil he and Keelia were fighting together?

Perhaps, but for now he would keep what he knew to himself. He and the Anwyn Queen had reached a truce, yet it was anything but easy and solid. They would hot reach the Grandmother's hut for many days, and until he knew more, he saw no reason to tell his partner everything he had learned.

"Think on them if you can," he said. "Perhaps the children you protected with your silence will play a part in this battle."

"Perhaps."

He heard the hesitancy in her voice, and he suspected uncertainty was not normal for the pampered Queen.

"What's wrong?"

She turned and looked at him, her eyes unflinching. "Nothing is as it should be. My gift has been tainted for months. Months, Joryn. I can no longer grasp everything I reach for, and sometimes when I do have a vision, its wrong. Wrong or impossible to decipher. I am never wrong," she said indignantly.

"Everyone is wrong on occasion."

She looked away from him and sighed. "In making my own personal decisions; yes. I have been mistaken in making decisions for myself, and I suspect that will never end. That is a part of life, one I try to accept But in reaching for knowledge of what tomorrow holds for another, I should not be wrong. So many of my visions have been unclear, or else I interpret them incorrectly, that I have begun to question everything."

He wondered if she was thinking of her interpretation of the prophesy which said the Red Queen would take a Caradon lover. She had deduced that was a metaphor, not a clear fact, but obviously she wasn't certain.

The sun set and darkness fell, and Joryn built a fire. Not for heat, which neither of them needed, but for light, until they slept. His keen sense of smell and hearing told him no one was near, and they would be undisturbed in the night. Keelia had the same fine senses, so she was not concerned about being attacked either. No, their concerns were of a different sort.

He was drawn to her, even though he had decided that their relationship would remain distant. If she'd asked for sex this morning instead of ordering it to be so, they would be lovers, but they were not, and perhaps it was best that they keep their interactions focused on stopping die Caradon wizard who had cursed his own people.

That didn't mean he couldn't admire her body and her scent, mat he couldn't think about what it might be like to lie with her.

Maybe if she begged.

As if that was likely to happen. Keelia was a Queen who was accustomed to having everything she wanted given to her without question. He was a man who could not allow a woman to command anything of him, not even if he wanted the same thing she did.

They ate dried meat and fruit. In a matter of days he would have to start hunting for their sustenance, and that would slow their progress somewhat. The pack he carried wasn't heavy, but it would be impossible to carry enough rations for an indefinite journey. He had no idea what awaited beyond the Grandmother's hut, how long he and Keelia might be traveling companions. When they moved into me forests ahead, game would be easy to catch and cook. Perhaps he'd save the dried food for lean days, or days when they simply did not wish to stop. Neither of them ate much in spite of their arduous trek. Keelia took only a few bites, but she did drink a healthy portion of water. Water would be more important than food in the days to come.

When their brief meal was done, Joryn watched Keelia as she moved away from the edge of the cliff and removed her dress. He should have been accustomed to her nakedness by now, but he was not unaffected. His insides coiled at the sight of her body. His fingers curled and everything in him tightened. He knew what was expected of him, but it was not natural for a man and a woman to be partners in one way, to be constantly together, and yet deny themselves the natural partnership of male to female.

Instead of lying down to sleep, as he had expected she would, Keelia sat cross-legged on the ground and lifted her face to the night sky. Her hands rested on her knees, palms up, and she took a few very even, very deep breaths.

"What are you doing?" he asked, but she didn't respond. It was as if she was no longer aware of his presence.

* * * * *

Keelia had never attempted to put herself in this sort of trance when she was not in her fertile time, but since she had actually been considering ordering Joryn to have sex with her, and he was unlikely to obey, she decided to try. The trance was preferable to begging for what she needed, or being refused and denied in a disturbing way that was new to her. If this fantasy could satisfy her during the heat of her fertile days, it could certainly handle and dismiss the annoying sexual attraction she suffered.

He is not my mate,
she reminded herself. /
am just beyond my time for taking a lover and I'm confused by the disruption of energy in the world.
It was that simple.

She breathed deeply, and very quickly isolated herself from all reality. The world she created, the green meadow where she had nothing to concern her but love and passion, was her reality for now. She inhaled a recent rain on the green grass, smelled and heard the water that ran nearby in a clean, clear brook. The sun was shining, and there was no evil in the world. Not in this perfect world of her own making.

Smiling, Joryn laid her back in the grass. He had rid himself of those annoying trousers and boots, and wore nothing but the silver bracelet. Nothing at all. At the moment she didn't care that she could not read his thoughts. His thoughts did not concern her.

He started where he had stopped so abruptly and rudely that very morning. A hand stroked her breast, teasing the nipple. Another hand stroked between her legs, arousing and promising. Keelia's back arched against her soft grass bed. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensations that shot through her, thanks to Joryn's touch.

It was rather like swimming in a pond slightly warmed by the sun. The sensation was similar to the wash of water against her skin, the pleasure of ripples against her flesh and even beneath her flesh. She thought it could be no more pleasurable, and then Joryn lowered his head to take a sensitive nipple into his mouth. She caught her hand in his hair, winding the long strands through her fingers and holding him there.

"Harder," she commanded, and he obeyed.

A moment later, "Softer." Again, he did as she asked.

She ran her hands down his body, testing the angles and muscles of his form, arousing him as he aroused her. He quivered beneath her touch, and then he rose up just enough to offer her his throat.

Keelia had craved the taste of Joryn's throat for so long that she all but attacked it. She kissed and licked and then bit... very gently, of course. Like her, he healed quickly, so even when she drew a small bit of blood, blood that now marked him as hers, no sign of her attentions remained on his skin.

This encounter was like so many others she had created in her mind, but it was also very different. She knew the true scent of Joryn now, as she knew the true touch of his hands on her body. It was more intense than she had imagined, more real and right.^

Her heart and the very core of her body pounded and then screamed as she spiraled out of control.

Keelia caught Joryn's hair in her hands and forced him to look her in the eye. Green to gold, male to female, soul to soul. "I command you to join with me, Joryn."

As this was her world, he did not protest. Instead he smiled again, wickedly so, and stroked her thighs as he spread her legs wide and entered her body, just as she had commanded. He moved slowly at first, not entering her fully but teasing her. Bringing her to the brink of release and then backing away. Her hips moved with and against his, gently at first, and then more insistently. At her urging he moved faster and deeper, until she raised her hips up off the soft grassy bed and he buried himself deep.

Her release was like no other. Harder, fiercer. It came wave upon wave, until she had no choice but to scream, in pleasure and relief and joy. Her body lurched and trembled, and as her own orgasm faded, she felt Joryn's release.

And then he settled his head on her shoulder, and whispered something in her ear. Soft words. Sweet words. Words she could not quite understand. At the moment, she didn't care. The lightning they created had satisfied her yearnings, and she was satiated. Happy. Content.

She sighed and opened her eyes to reality to find Joryn watching her intently. "Are you all right?" he asked.