He gave his head a short shake. “They’re not coming after the estate. They know it’stoo well-protected for them to breach. Instead they’re headed south and east, toward weaker settlements.”
A fear unlike any she’d ever known assaulted Maven, trickling down through herlike cold water replacing the blood in her veins. Caralon wasn’t safe? Total innocents in unguarded villages might soon be killed? And her husband—her
husband
—had given himself the charge of stopping all this?
The last thought filled her with an entirely new sort of agony, something that pulled on her heart and felt much closer to home.
“But…why must
you
go? Can’t Kells lead the army?” After all, she’d come tobelieve Dane was more of a stern figurehead now, the man who gave the orders, not a man who would ever again need to fight on the front lines.
“This is a serious attack, Maven. The most serious threat to Caralon from the Virgs since my parents were killed. I’m needed and I must go.”
She felt her lower lip begin to tremble as her stomach churned. Why did she even care? In truth, she barely knew him. And as she’d told him so many countless times, shedidn’t like him. What did it matter to her if he went off to war and got himselfwounded—or killed? She could scarcely understand her reaction, yet it felt exactly as if someone she
loved
were being forced into danger.
He tilted his head slightly. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear I saw fear for me in those pretty eyes.” Then he shook his head. “But surely I’m seeing things. Be of goodcheer, Maven. You might get lucky. I might get killed.”
She sucked in a deep breath at the very suggestion, her stomach now tying in painful knots. “I never said I wished you dead.”
This new, shocking sense of panic and worry raced through her more deeply still as her husband stood looking at her. She couldn’t read his expression—she was far too busy trying to absorb the news he’d just given her, trying to decipher why it upset her so.
Dear Ares, he was going off into battle, risking his life, a mere few days after marrying her!
Finally, he drew in a deep breath, looking as if perhaps he’d just surrendered some part of himself, then stepped up and crushed her to him in a hard embrace. As warmth and terror filled her, it was the first time she understood with clarity that her feelingsfor Dane ran deeper than lust.
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At the moment, she didn’t want to rip his clothes off or take him inside her—she only wanted him to hold her, and she wanted for it never to end.
After what seemed a long while, he released her, only to lift his hands to her face. He gazed intensely into her eyes, then pressed a kiss so rugged and wild to her mouth that it was all she could do not to collapse beneath its power.
Upon releasing her, he gave her one last, long look, then turned and walked fromthe room—headed off to war.
Maven’s heart felt as if it were crumbling in her chest. How had this happened? When had she started
caring
about the big beast? What in Ares’ name had he ever doneto
earn
her care?
But that quickly, she began to understand that those questions no longermattered—because much more pressing ones were replacing them in her thoughts.
What if he died?
What if she never saw her husband alive again?
* * * * *
“Dane, behind you!”
Kells’ warning sent Dane spinning, lightning fast, to find a leather-helmeted Virg running toward him, blade raised and ready to strike. Dane threw his spear, aiming for the Virg’s heart, hitting him just below, beneath the ribs, in a swift, clean kill that dropped the encroacher with an “Ooomff.”
As the dirty Virg was pinned to the blood-soaked ground, Dane snatched up the man’s blade and scanned the area for more attackers.
He saw only his own men—outfitted in black—dotting the body-strewn battlefield. “Is that all of them?” he asked, breath labored.
Next to him, Kells, too, breathed hard. “I don’t see any more.”
Dane’s heartbeat began to slow for the first time in an hour as a cautious sense of relief began to set in.
But just then, a vague, low hum could be heard in the distance, drawing his gaze to the northern horizon.
“Ares,” he breathed, “another regiment.”
They could be seen three hills away, a blur of brown leather and steel that glinted
beneath the sun.
“Regroup, men!” he yelled to those around him. “Take cover in those trees!” He pointed to a large line of tall pines that would conceal their presence until the Virgs were upon them.
Hurriedly, the forces in black grabbed up what weapons they could from their fallen enemies and retreated to the copse of trees.
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Dane lay on his stomach next to Kells, looking out over the field of battle, eyes peeled for the first appearance of the troops they awaited.
“Ares, what I wouldn’t give to be in Lonya’s arms right now,” Kells murmured, sounding sad but also determined. “I swear to Ares, Dane, if I get out of this alive, I’m going to take that woman for my wife.”
Dane drew his eyes briefly from the Virg-littered meadow to his friend. “Your feelings for the girl are that strong this quickly? Strong enough to last your whole life?”
Kells nodded without a hint of hesitation. “She’s the one.”
Funny, a few days ago, such words would have shocked Dane, even left him confused. Before a few days ago, marriage was strictly a means to an end—a societal expectation for a wealthy man, a way to get an heir so he’d have someone to leave hisvast estate to, and most of all, for him, a bid for power over Caralon. But as he lay there among the pine needles, the scent of the moist soil underneath filling his senses, herealized that if he died, the thing he’d hate most to leave behind was not his power, nor his estate—but his bride.
Even if she hated him. Even if they were never happy.
The moments when they were joined by sex had brought him more profound gratification than he’d ever known. He hadn’t expected that. He’d not thought itpossible, given her disdain for him. Yet somehow he’d come to feel something deeper for her than mere desire. He’d thought a few days ago about wanting to make her happy, but now that want was more like a need, a compulsion to do whatever it took to make Maven smile. To make Maven feel safe. To fulfill her in the ways in which he suddenly felt fulfilled
by
her.
It made little sense to him, given the very rocky start their marriage had gotten off to, but sense was beside the point at a time like this. It was at moments such as thesethat a man looked into his heart and understood what was important. Now, one word, one name, kept playing over again and again in his head.
Maven. Maven. Sweet, impudent, eager Maven.
He wanted to make her smile.
He wanted to make her scream with pleasure.
He wanted everything with her—everything two people could feel. He wanted what his parents had had, a truly wonderful marriage, a marriage of genuine love and trust and respect. He supposed he hadn’t thought for a long time about his parents, inthat way, before she’d entered his life.
It hit him then—
maybe that was all she was really asking for?
Genuine love and trust and respect. Suddenly it sounded so easy. And he’d made it so difficult, feeling so sure his headstrong bride was trying to change him, trying to take something away fromhim. Feeling so determined to break her will after discovering her stubborn streak.
In that moment, with death and danger all around him, filling his senses, it struck him how unimportant his quest to rule Caralon suddenly seemed. Oh, certainly, if he
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survived this, he knew it would again rise to importance for him, but life was about more than just gaining power and having control.
Ares—knowing Maven, even for so short a time, had softened something in him, opened him to feelings he’d not quite known lived inside him. He’d intended to conquer her, but he couldn’t help thinking she’d conquered something in him instead, and he couldn’t be sorry for it.
Just then, the awaited regiment of Virgs came running over the nearest rise at the edge of the field, swords and hatchets and spears raised, the invaders yelling with all their might.
Ares, but they were a wild, heathenish people—enough to strike fear into his own heart. If, that is, he would allow himself to feel such an emotion. But he wouldn’t. Especially not now. Defeating them was a matter of course, a thing that simply had to be done—no other outcome was possible. And if he’d begun to allow himself to feel a hint of fear earlier in this day, a sense of worry, a modicum of doubt—it was wiped away now by his unflinching determination to return to his wife and make things right with her.
He watched as the ferocious Virgs grew closer to an enemy they couldn’t see, now slowed by the numerous dead in their path, their war cries lightening slightly at thesobering sight of their fallen comrades.
Dane watched their approach, studied their eyes—some of which were beginning to cloud with worry—until they came closer, closer, and he suddenly knew the right moment was upon them.
“Commence!” he yelled, and Caralon’s northern army of Rawley leapt up and charged from their cover, ready to attack their enemies, ready to take back their land.
* * * * *
Days had passed and the only news Maven had heard was that battle after battlewas taking place some miles to the east of Dane’s fortress. As for losses, there were many on both sides, although reportedly more Virgs lay dead than Caralonians. Of the Caralon army, though, no one knew who had fallen, nor even if their leader still stood.
Walking to the second-story window in the chamber where they’d spent their wedding night, she looked out on the vast hills and fields. All lay quiet but for the songs of birds, the occasional cry of a hawk or the voice of a gardener—it was hard to believe war was being waged not far from here. Only since Dane had gone had shetaken the time to notice what lovely lands he lived upon.
She’d moved into Dane’s parents’ bedroom just after his departure, thinking it was right that she slept there, and right that she prayed there, willing Ares to protect him and bring him back to her.
At first, she’d been stunned by her own worry for his safety. But now she’d given up the shock, concentrating only on her fear. She couldn’t help thinking that if he died,
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she would die, too, on the inside. Such intense emotions sounded insane even as she experienced them, but Ares help her, she feared she’d grown to…well, to
love
the big brute.
Was she betraying herself?
Maybe.
But she no longer cared.
A light knock on the door came behind her and Kaelen entered, ready to dress her and arrange her hair.
“Is there any news of Dane?” she asked, drawing her gaze from window to maid.
Kaelen gave her head a sympathetic tilt. “Not today, I’m afraid.”
With a nod and a sigh, Maven sat down on the padded bench at her dressing table before the viewing glass. She silently watched Kaelen brushing her hair, concentrating on the long, smooth strokes, trying not to think of Dane.
But it was impossible. She found herself imagining him at fifteen, losing his parents so harshly, and fighting back without any thought for his own safety. What a brave, virile man he’d become because of it.
A moment later, her thoughts shifted to more recent times—to thrilling memories of his body and hers, melded together. She bit her lip, imagining him kneeling between her thighs this very moment, pushing up her skirt and sinking his skilled tongue into her warm, damp and oh-so-hungry-for-him cunt.
But no, even that vision wasn’t enough—she needed more. She needed his incredible cock pounding into her, making her forget everything but how it felt to befucked by the great and fearsome Dane of Rawley—her husband.
Still peering into the jagged, veined glass, she spied the black leather choker still secured around her neck. It was hard to believe she’d so recently wanted to take it off. Since he’d been gone, having his gift—which had begun to feel almost like a part of her body—to look upon in the viewing glass or to reach up and fondle, had given her asmall bit of solace.
“If he comes back,” she admitted to Kaelen, “I won’t waste our time together— I won’t behave like a silly child.”
Behind her, Kaelen spoke in a soft, soothing tone as she placed a gentle hand on Maven’s shoulder and squeezed. “Your feelings for Dane have changed then, deepened.”
“Yes. Very much so. I’ve been a fool with him, Kaelen.”
The maid shook her head lightly in the viewing glass, lightly caressing Maven’s upper arm. “Not a fool, Maven. You’ve gone through a tremendous change in your life these past days. And sometimes…well, sadly, sometimes it takes a tragedy to help put things into perspective.”