Tempered (A Daughters of the People Novel) (Daughters of the People Series) (28 page)
Read Tempered (A Daughters of the People Novel) (Daughters of the People Series) Online
Authors: Lucy Varna
“I am
considering the day ahead.”
“The day ahead,
huh?”
He urged her on
top of him with gentle tugs and pulls. She straddled his stomach and guided his
hands to her hips.
He held her
there, savoring touch of skin on skin. “How about we focus on the now and let
later take care of itself?”
Later, after
they sated each other in a rush of heat and love, he turned her toward the
nightstand and wrapped himself around her. Her gaze fell on a small white box
with a red bow on top. “What is this?”
He pressed a
kiss to the nape of her neck and slid his hand down her flank, resting it on
her thigh. “Open it and find out.”
She reached a
hesitant hand toward the tiny gift, her heart thumping in her chest, abetted by
the nerves fluttering in her stomach. It was light in her hand, not much more
substantial than air. She sat up, drawing her legs under her, and fingered the
bow.
Aaron settled
behind her, surrounding her with his body, and rested his chin on her shoulder.
“It won’t bite.”
“I know,” she
said, and felt silly saying so. Of course, it would not bite. It was an
inanimate object, a box that might or might not hold the traditional gift of
his people on such an occasion as this, when two people declared their love for
one another. A slight tremor ran through her hand. Could it really be?
“You know, it
kind of ruins the surprise when the giver has to open the gift.”
She leaned her
head against his, touching their temples together. “I am merely savoring the
moment.”
“I thought that
was called
delaying the inevitable
.” He gathered her closer, clasping
his hands together over the butterflies dancing in her stomach. “You’ll never
know what’s inside if you don’t take a peek.”
She inhaled
deeply and tugged gently on one end of the bow. It slithered off, leaving the
box unguarded in her hand. She pulled the lid off, revealing a golden ring
holding a pear-shaped diamond surrounded by rubies. Her breath left her in a
rush and her heart seemed to still absolutely within her.
“Marry me,” he
said, whispering it into her throat. “Marry me and make babies with me and live
forever with my love.”
“Aaron, I…”
“I know it’s too
soon. I know there’s a lot we still need to sort out.” He tugged her around,
cradling her in his arms, and touched his forehead to hers. “I know you still
need time to trust me, but I couldn’t go another day without having this ring
on your finger. I love you so much, more than I could ever show you, and I
swear, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying. Marry me, Hawthorne. Be my
heart.”
“Oh, love.” She
gazed up at him, at the tender-hearted skeptic who had wiggled his way under
her guard the first moment she’d seen him, and not long after, had captured her
completely, heart and body and soul. “I shall happily be your bride.”
“Yeah?” He
hugged her close and grinned. “When?”
“Soon, before
the spring equinox.” She fingered the ring, tracing its shape. Once upon a
time, she had told him of her origins, of the hardest moments of her youth and
the changes she had made to adapt, to survive. He had understood that, even as
his disbelief had cut at her. “I should very much like to marry you under the
name of my birth, if you would have me thus.”
His chocolate
eyes went soft and hot at the same time, and the smile dropped from his
expression. She cupped his nape and tugged him down, close enough to whisper in
his ear, and told him a name only a handful of people remembered, one none had
dared call her since before her father’s death nearly two millennia before.
He drew back and
ran his fingers over the curve of her cheek, along the lobe of her ear, down
the side of her neck. “It’s beautiful. What does it mean?”
“Blessed
treasure.”
“Will you let
me…?”
“Yes, you may,
whenever you wish.”
“I wish. You
have no idea how much.” He plucked the ring from its protective casing, slid it
upon her finger, and tossed the box over his shoulder. “And now, I’m gonna make
love to you until Lali comes running in with her sword to protect you from the
mean ol’ grumpy puppy.”
She laughed and
shifted with him on the bed, threading her fingers through his as he covered
her. For the first time, no memories of past harms intruded between them, leaving
her free to accept his touch, free to return it fully. They made love with the
early morning sun shining in, blessing their union as he whispered her name and
she opened her heart, giving him the love she had saved for the man who forever
after would stand at her side, loving her as she had always wished to be loved.
Lali stared at
the window next to her bed, waiting for the pretty lady to knock, just like she
always did when something ‘portant happened. Nana had told Lali that Airn would
be marrying them soon and that he would be her puppy forever.
Becka was gonna
be so jealous.
Her
puppy didn’t make up the awesomest bestest stories
ever like Airn did.
Her
puppy didn’t stay with her all the time and take
her to the park every day and let her play on his ‘puter. Lali frowned. Becka’s
puppy
did
help her with her bath and read a story to her every single
night while she washed.
Lali decided
then and there that Airn would have to do the same
or else
. He wasn’t a
big guy any more. He was her puppy, and that’s what puppies did. They squirted
stuff in their little girl’s hair and swirled it into funny shapes and read
stories and made everybody laugh. It was just one of those things puppies did,
and since Airn was gonna be her forever puppy now, he had to do it, too.
She blinked
through a yawn. Where was the pretty lady? She should’ve been here by now.
Before Airn had
come to see them, the pretty lady had come through the window and told Lali all
about him, how Airn would love her so much, he’d save her from the mean
cushion. The pretty lady had come that night, too, and reminded Lali to be
brave and follow the ‘structions Nana had told her. How to sneak through the
walls without making a peep and how to open the vault so they would be safe,
only it hadn’t worked perzactly the way it was supposed to. The mean cushion
had still got them, but Airn had saved Lali, just like the pretty lady said he
would.
And a long, long
time before that, the pretty lady had told Lali about Petey, the little boy who
would be her friend forever and ever and ever, just like in the stories Airn
told her.
Lali sighed
happily. And now, Petey had come to her and it had all worked out the way it
was s’posed to.
A rap on the
window startled her out of another yawn. She jumped out of bed and raced to it,
climbing up on the chair she’d pulled there earlier so she could unlock the
window and open it for the pretty lady.
And there she
was, the pretty lady with her long black coat and big ol’ boots and the wooden
mask over her face. Lali skipped out of the way and waited patiently. The
pretty lady climbed through the window and closed it, then knelt in front of
Lali.
“Lali-Alice,”
the pretty lady said. “You have done well, child.”
Lali beamed at
her. “You, too, pretty lady. I gots my Airn and my Petey now, and the mean
cushion won’t never hurt us again, not ever.”
“Then all is as
it should be.” The pretty lady touched one finger to the end of Lali’s hair.
“And I shall not have to visit you again for a long, long while.”
Lali slumped and
held her eyes wide as the sad feelings made her eyes wet. “But I will miss you
so, pretty lady.”
“And I you.
Never fear, child. We shall meet again.”
The door creaked
open behind them and Lali whirled with a gasp. Nana stood in the doorway, her
sword held low in her hand. “Is that so?”
The pretty lady
stood slowly. “I have no quarrel with you or yours, Hawthorne.”
“Yet you do not
hesitate to break into my home and discuss matters with my granddaughter that
are best left to her future.”
“The future is
upon us. Have you not felt its heavy sting? Have you not heard its rush and
sway as it pushes you toward your duty?”
Nana nodded,
though her face looked all empty and mean, like it did when Lali did something
she wasn’t s’posed to do. “Duty is a harsh mistress.”
“Spoken like a
true Daughter of the People.”
“I know my duty
well.”
“As do I. As do
we all.” The pretty lady held her hand out to Lali. “Should we fail, our duty
falls to this one. She shall pick up the mantle of the future and bow under its
unforgiving hand. Would you allow this fate to weigh upon her?”
Nana looked at
Lali and her face went all sad, the way it’d done when Airn went away to visit
his mama in Sampracisco. “I would not. What may I do to spare her?”
“Help the Light
fulfill the Prophecy and break the curse that holds us all in its grasp.”
The pretty lady
pushed her hood back and untied the bows holding her mask on. She lifted it up,
taking it off, and held it in her hand.
Nana gasped and
fell to her knees, and her sword dropped to the floor with a loud clatter. “No.
I know your face. I know that scar.”
The pretty
lady’s hand went to the white mark around her neck. “This was given by a
betraying hand, long before your birth. You know much of betrayal, do you not,
Iriamina of the Iceni.”
“I do.”
Nana bowed her
head, and when she looked up again, her face was all wet. Lali ran to her and
threw her arms around Nana’s neck, holding on tight so she wouldn’t cry no more.
Nanas were never supposed to cry. Everybody knew that.
Nana’s hand held
the back of Lali’s head, as if
she
were the one crying. “You helped my
mother avenge the ones who betrayed her.”
“I did, as I
rode with you and your sister when you brought justice to the ones who had
robbed you of your honor. Duty takes many forms, Daughter. It is the lawmaker
and the rule breaker, the jury and the witness. It is the hand that comforts a
child whose heart has endured enough pain for a dozen lifetimes.”
“That is love.”
“Love carries
its own duties, does it not?”
Nana brushed her
cheek along Lali’s hair. “You sound so sad.”
“I have loved
for far too long, child. My time is coming to an end.”
“No. You must
wait for…”
“I shall endure
long enough for that.”
Lali twisted
around in Nana’s arms, resting her head on Nana’s shoulder, and bit her lip to
keep herself awake. It wasn’t time to go to sleep yet. The pretty lady always
tucked her into bed and sang a song.
“Not tonight,
Lali,” the pretty lady said. “Tonight, you will return to bed and dream of the
days yet to come.”
“Okey dokey.”
Lali’s eyes drifted shut as she yawned big. She blinked and blinked and
blinked, trying to stay awake for just a little while longer. “I can do that.”
The pretty lady
tied her mask back on and went to the window. She stopped with her hand on the
lock and looked over her shoulder at them. “I shall be watching.”
Nana nodded, and
then the pretty lady opened the window and was gone. A cold wind blew in and
Lali shivered. Nana scooted Lali off to bed and shut the window, then tucked
her in and sang a song to her.
When Nana was gone
and the lights were out, Lali drifted into sleep, her mind filled by the days
yet to come.
Stay tuned for
the next book in the series!
In All Things,
Balance
(Daughters of the People, Book 4)
Coming February
2015
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As
a bonus, newsletter subscribers gain access to exclusive stories:
- “No Good Deed,”
a
Daughters of the People short story. Varin must protect a fragile copy of
the Prophecy of Light from the Eternal Order in this historical fantasy. - “Trick or Treat,”
a
Daughters of the People short story. Dierdre Bellegarde goes
trick-or-treating with her almost-sister Amelia Terhune and Amelia’s boyfriend,
Johnny Linton, and discovers that hope comes in many forms. - “The Christmas Surprise,”
a
Daughters of the People short story. Dani Nehring meets Dave Winstead’s
family and gets the surprise of her life. - Plus
bonus and deleted scenes
, like the
original Prologue for
Light’s Bane
(Daughters of the People, Book
2), cut before publication.
These
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Thank you for reading
Tempered
(A Daughters of the
People Novel). Please consider leaving a review for it at your favorite online
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Dedication:
For Laura and OhSoon,
whose strength has seen them through.
Acknowledgments:
Many thanks to Traci
Burrell and Lee Carpenter for their expertise on DragonCon. All errors in
interpretation and fact are my own.
About the Author:
Lucy
Varna lives in Georgia, surrounded by her large, extended family. Visit Lucy
online at
her website
or
Facebook page
, or visit
the Daughters online
.
* * * * *
The Daughters of the People Series
Immortal Amazons unjustly cursed,
struggling to save their People, and their hearts.
The Prophecy
(Book 1)
Maya Bellegarde journeys to Sweden on behalf of the
People. There, she meets James Terhune, an attractive language expert.
Together, they must uncover the secrets of the grave and protect it from an
ancient enemy, and Maya must decide whether or not to trust James with
her
deepest secret.
Learn more
Light’s Bane
(Book 2)
When Daniella Nehring teams up with Dave Winstead to
track down and recover stolen artifacts, her task is complicated by the
attraction she feels for the stalwart undercover FBI agent, and by her own
sinister heritage.
Read Light’s Bane now:
Learn more
The Enemy Within
(Book 3)
Indigo Dupree and Bobby Upton are drawn into a deadly game involving the
Prophecy of Light, forcing her to choose between her duty and her heart.
Read
The Enemy Within
now:
Learn more
Tempered
(Book 3.5)
For Hawthorne the Chronicler, a strong arm and a
sharp blade have always been her primary recourses against a cold and callous
world. When her untrusting heart is tempted by handsome comic book illustrator
Aaron Kesselman, Hawthorne learns that those may not be the best weapons in her
arsenal, particularly when her family is targeted by a member of the Eternal
Order.
Read
Tempered
now:
In All Things,
Balance
(Book 4)
Moira Firebrand
is intrigued by Tom Fairfax, the man her mother tasked with sorting through the
IECS Archives for clues to the near-mythical Sanctuary. Nothing is ever as easy
as it should be. The Archives is in disarray, odd artifacts show up in the
strangest places, and Moira’s own past wedges its way between her and Tom, the
one man she believes may have the strength to capture her heart.
Coming February
2015!