The Guild of Assassins (6 page)

She was glad for the break as she stayed on top of him, changing her grip to hold him by the wrists, leaning over him so that she could catch her own breath. Her hands still felt numb from his earlier grasp, tingling as feeling slowly returned to her fingers.

She looked down at him. His shirt had opened wider from the fight, the sculpted muscle of his chest so impressive even in his relaxed state. Seeing him at this angle made her feel too aware of his body against hers. She knew it was the wrong thing to focus on in a fight, but it was so hard to forget the way he had looked at her earlier, his bold gaze reaching under her clothes. She clenched her teeth, angry at herself for falling for such a simple trick. Men had tried this on her before, but it had never worked. There was no reason it should be any different now, however good he was at this tactic.

The position they were in was awkward. He showed no intention of continuing the fight, and yet she couldn’t afford to let go. If he used the gap to spring into action again, she would be in trouble. He was bigger, and he would definitely try to use his weight against her, just like before. She had to save her strength to counter it. She balanced her weight on top of him, enjoying a short rest and trying to force her thoughts away from how close their bodies were, every inch of his muscle toned against hers.

She waited for another long moment, but nothing happened. Finally, she glanced at his face.

His blue-gray eyes held none of the mockery he had showed before. He looked at her with a mix of fascination and longing, so intense that she shivered. As she made contact, she could no longer turn away.

Her mind screamed caution. Was this a trick? Or did he just show her a possibility she had never considered before?

And why did she suddenly feel so tempted to believe it?

Her tired arms didn’t want to hold her anymore. She needed rest, and she tried to tell herself that was all it was as she leaned down into his chest until his face was mere inches away. His gaze trapped her, the promise in his eyes so overwhelming that she felt her head spin. Was she imagining it?

Was he trying to trick her?

She turned up her face. Inadvertently, her lips brushed against his.
Dear Shal Addim, I didn’t realize we were so close.
She shivered, dizzy with his barely perceptible smell of pine, with the way he looked at her, with the feeling of his body toned against hers.
His lips. Did I do it on
purpose? Or
did he?
It didn’t seem to matter anymore. Even if it was a trick, she no longer cared. The pull was so strong that she couldn’t possibly resist it.

Her mind retreated as she leaned down and kissed him.

His arms closed over her, moving against her back in a slow, powerful caress. She shuddered and drew deeper into his embrace, strong enough to break every bone in her body if she didn’t match it with the strength of her own.

It was a violent feeling of passion beyond control that came out of nowhere and crept up on them unawares. They struggled in each other’s arms, hovering on the border between roughness and tenderness. It was fierce, but after a while it no longer seemed enough. They broke apart to pull off their clothes, so that nothing could possibly be in their way. She got on top of him and he drew her into his arms. She grasped him, drunk with the warmth of his smooth skin against hers, with the way his body yielded to her touch until there was nothing left between them.

He was so strong it was frightening, a lethal fighter at the edge of control, and this thrill of danger drove her on, making it impossible to hold anything back. She moved on top of him until she found his hardness below and opened up to let him inside. She shivered as he entered her, digging her fingers into his skin, arching her back so that he could go in deeper. A moan escaped through her clenched teeth and her head fell backward, letting it out.

His hands lifted her as if she were weightless. He shifted her and rolled over, so that he was now on top, thrusting into her. She wrapped her legs around him, urging him on.

The world around them was slowly collapsing, leaving nothing but his body moving against hers, his strength that made this wild passion seem breathtaking, like a fight, an ultimate form of closeness that transcended life and death in its perfect balance. He was like her, an unmatched warrior, a lover whose passion was the essence of his incredible skill. She sensed him as if he were a part of her, every move, every beat, every thrust that left her gasping for more until she was breathless, and beyond, into a void that left her disoriented. She shuddered in his arms, but his hold was steady until, in a last thrust, he released all of his strength into her. She gasped and screamed, grabbing on, her fingers digging into his flesh, their bodies intertwined so much that they felt like one.

The world shivered and went still around them. There was nothing left.

He lifted her against him, rolling onto his back and easing her on top. She relaxed over him, unable to move or even fully understand where she was. His arms enfolded her, gentle and tender as he held her close against his chest, his warmth easing her shivering as she clung to him with the last of her weakening senses.

She didn’t remember how long it was before she was able to move again, to lift herself up just enough so that she could see his eyes, the deep tenderness in his gaze making her breath catch in her throat.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. It went against their entire training and who they were.

And yet – it felt so
right
.

She lifted up higher against his chest so that she could look him full in the face.

“What just happened?” she whispered.

“Something worth dying for,” he said quietly.

She looked at him for a moment longer, then relaxed against his body. She felt so weak that it seemed that she needed his strength next to her just so that she could keep on breathing. He put his arms around her, holding her and gently stroking her hair.

She didn’t know what would happen now or what they were going to do. But she knew that she was never going to let him get killed. Whatever the future held, they were bonded now. If he died, she’d have to die too.

“Just think, Your Highness,” Egey Bashi said. “What makes you capable of resisting the Kaddim power?”

Kyth thought about it.

“Focus,” he said. “Their power seems to make everything scatter. I am not doing it on purpose, but somehow I feel that by staying focused I can make it flow around me without affecting me.” He thought some more. “It feels like a blade,” he said. “A very sharp blade over the top of my head that slices their power like a net, making it fall to the sides without enfolding me.”

The Keeper nodded thoughtfully. Everyone else sat around watching in fascination, except Alder, who crouched at the side of the glade over his spiders. They ate fresh meat and could catch and kill small rodents. Kyth preferred not to dwell on what was happening right now next to his foster brother.

“I know the feeling,” Ellah said. “When I use my gift, I see colors, blue if someone says the truth and red when they tell a lie. It took many lessons with Mother Keeper to bring this ability under control.”

Kyth frowned. He couldn’t control his gift much. Except for the fact that he was always immune to the Kaddim, his ability just came and went, seemingly on its own. The Keepers told him his power was in elemental magic, a rare ability that had all but disappeared since the times of the Old Empire. True, he could sometimes focus the power of the wind or water to aid his swordplay, but overall it wasn’t as impressive as it sounded.

“What about when you protect others?” Egey Bashi asked.

Kyth glanced at Raishan. He and Mai were the only two people he had ever protected from the Kaddim to enable them to fight. “It’s kind of the same,” he said. “I imagine an invisible spearhead I can control, which cuts through their power like a knife through a net. It takes effort to slice their power away. When I first tried to do it I had no idea it would work so well.”

Lady Celana cleared her throat in that special way of inborn royalty, drawing everyone’s eyes without saying anything or making any loud sounds.

“Prince Kythar,” she said, “was able to draw away all the Kaddim troops during the battle in my father’s castle. It looked quite different from what you describe, Your Highness.”

Kyth raised his eyebrows. He’d almost forgotten about that incident – not because it was insignificant, but because it was too traumatic to think about. Back then, the Kaddim had cornered and almost killed Kara. And Kyth hadn’t been able to do anything to save her, until it was almost too late. He shivered as the memories flowed in.

The person who had saved her back then was Mai, who was somehow able to overcome the Kaddim power in the middle of the fight. Kyth had no idea how he was able to do it. And now, unwittingly, he remembered Nimos’s words.
His feelings for her
... Could Mai have overcome the Kaddim because of his
feelings for Kara
?

Was this why Kyth was immune too?

He forced away the thought. Nimos was their enemy, trying to wedge discord among them. He would never give in to that.

“You are right, my lady,” he said to Celana. “That was different. That time, I was able to use the Kaddim power the same way I use the elements – to help me fight. I focused their power against them. No imaginary blades involved.”

It was fascinating to watch how this refined royal lady blushed every time he looked at her directly. Did she really find him attractive? He found it hard to believe. She looked so much more impressive than him, her heart-shaped face, porcelain skin, and clear green eyes accented by rich auburn hair, its waves flowing around her head like a flame. Even her riding outfit, a plain pants suit of deep forest green, looked like an exquisite royal gown, simply because of the refined way she wore it. Next to her, Kyth in his plain clothes – as well as just about everyone else in the group – looked downright shabby.

“Still,” Egey Bashi said. “It’s all part of the same power. We must identify a common element in all this, and develop it. Aghat Raishan,” he turned to the Majat. “What did it feel like to you when Prince Kythar protected you from the Kaddim?”

Raishan appeared to consider it.

“It did feel kind of like a blade,” he admitted. “As if I were enfolded in a fog and then a blade descended and cut the fog away.”

Kyth nodded. “Yes, fog sounds right. Except I could see the strings this fog consisted of, making it seem more like a very thick and wooly spider’s web.” Inadvertently, he glanced at Alder crouching on the ground. His eyes slid further, to the furry shapes crawling at his feet. The spiders were nearly as big as the rodents they ate. He shivered. Being the emissary from the Forestlands came with a price; he just hoped his foster brother was happy with it.

“I wonder,” Raishan said, “how Kara and Aghat Mai were able to acquire this resistance on their own?”

Kyth’s heart quivered as the subject was brought up again. He glanced at Egey Bashi, expecting to see a puzzled look. His heart sank as he met the Keeper’s intense gaze.

“You know, don’t you?” he asked quietly.

The Keeper nodded. “Yes, to the extent I can pry into a Majat’s mind. Their training develops very deep focus on its own. It takes less for a Diamond Majat to cover the gap and acquire the necessary level of focus to resist the Kaddim. Much less so than for an ordinary person.”

His feelings for her.
Kyth forced Nimos’s words to quieten in his head. “Can Raishan learn to do it too?”

“I hope so. This is why we are rushing these lessons, Your Highness. If you and Aghat Raishan can work this out by the time we reach the Majat Guild–”

Ellah’s look cut him off.

“There’s something you are hiding, Magister, isn’t there?” she said. “You know more about it than you lead Kyth to believe.”

The Magister frowned. “Whatever else I know is not relevant here. I know lots of things. Telling the Prince everything I know would do nothing but confuse him.”

Ellah shook her head. “No, I can sense something different, Magister. The way you sound... it seems like a lie. Sorry.”

Egey Bashi sighed. “Your training is good,” he said. “But you are wrong in this case. I am not lying. It’s just that, in some situations, knowing all the details can only make things worse, believe me.”

“Worse?” Kyth asked.

“Can’t we just leave it be, Your Highness?”

Kyth shivered. “It’s about feelings, isn’t it? What Nimos said about Mai. He was telling the truth, wasn’t he?”

Egey Bashi’s shoulders sagged. He didn’t hurry to break the silence.

Kyth’s eyes darted to Ellah. “
Was
he telling the truth?”

Ellah hesitated. “I don’t think my ability to sense the Kaddim–”

“Was he?”

“Yes.”

Kyth receded into his seat. He felt numb and angry, as he looked back at the Magister.

“You knew, didn’t you? And you weren’t going to tell me.”

The Keeper sighed again. “Telling you wouldn’t have served any purpose, Your Highness. Besides, it’s not even important.”

“
Not important
?”

“Kara does not share these feelings. She is not aware of them. And, knowing Aghat Mai’s self-control, it is very likely she never will be.”

Kyth felt a weakness in his stomach. Deep inside, he knew Egey Bashi was right. And yet, thinking of Kara out there, chasing a man who had feelings for her, seemed like too much. He prayed Mai was moving too fast for Kara to catch him on the road.

Egey Bashi sat up. “I guess now that we’re talking about it, I can explain further. The only thing I know so far that could give a Diamond the necessary focus is being in love. Kara was in love with Prince Kythar when she first encountered the Kaddim. The way it was described to me, how she initially wavered under their power and then recovered, suggests that she probably realized it in the middle of a fight.” He looked at Kyth, clearly hoping for a reaction Kyth was unable to give. She
was
in love with him. She
had
been
, once, before she broke up with him so that she could run off with a man, who... who...

Kyth’s lips twitched. “What about Mai? He wasn’t immune to the Kaddim when I first defended him against them. I know he wasn’t pretending. They nearly killed him that time. They would have cut off his arms if I hadn’t interfered in the nick of time.”

Egey Bashi shrugged. “Not that it matters, Your Highness, but I think I witnessed the moment when he realized he was in love – during the fight in Illitand Hall, when he stepped into the stream of Kaddim power to save Kara.”

“In love,” Kyth echoed.
His feelings for her.
Nimos was right all along. And Egey Bashi
had known
about it and hadn’t said anything.

The Keeper watched him intently.

“I fail to see why this upsets you so much, Prince Kythar,” he said. “She acquired her resistance to the Kaddim because of her love for
you
. I don’t think you have any reason to worry on Aghat Mai’s accord.”

Kyth lowered his eyes. Most likely this was true. And yet, the way Kara looked at Mai, the way she receded into his company whenever she needed comfort, had made him feel disconcerted on more than one occasion. Mai had a way of stirring these feelings in many women, but to Kyth’s knowledge there was never any reason behind it, besides Mai’s natural glamour that women of all stations somehow found so irresistible. His apparent lack of interest in women was what made him trustworthy in Kyth’s eyes where Kara was concerned. To know that he was
in love
with her...

He felt intensely uncomfortable now, with the way everyone was looking at him uneasily, but worst of all was Lady Celana, whose deep green eyes held such compassion that he felt he had earned it already. He had nothing to worry about, he told himself. Mai’s station in his Guild made it impossible for him to act on his feelings, even if he ever dropped the control that made him such an unmatched fighter.

It was all Nimos’s fault. The Kaddim had stirred up these doubts in Kyth’s mind. It felt no better to think that this was probably the main reason for his appearance on the road, to wedge this doubt and force Kyth to think of Mai as a rival.

For this reason alone, he should control his feelings and never let himself act differently toward Mai. Besides, all these doubts were probably foolish. Kara had never given him any reason to think she fancied Mai – or anyone else for that matter. While Kyth knew he was not her first man, he believed himself to be the first she felt bonded to, and they would share this bond no matter what the future held.

“Let’s all get some sleep,” Egey Bashi said. “We need to start early tomorrow.”

Raishan glanced at the sky. “Tomorrow we should reach Middledale.”

Alder looked up from his spiders. “I hope we can spend the night there. Their inn is built on hot springs and has a private bath in every room.”

Kyth could see both Ellah and Celana lift their heads in anticipation. A bath
did
sound good after nearly ten days of non-stop riding.

But the Keeper only shook his head. “Tomorrow’s the last day of the Lantern Festival. Every house and inn in town will be fully occupied. I believe we should camp just before reaching town.” He noticed the ladies’ forlorn expressions. “We can go there in the morning to make a short stop for a bath without spending the night.”

Raishan nodded. “True. I once passed through Middledale on an assignment during the Lantern Festival. Despite the enormous credit the Majat Guild runs with their inn, I had to sleep in the stable.”

Egey Bashi rose and went to the heap of bedrolls, picking out his own.

“If we sleep early both days,” he said, “we should make perfect speed.”

Kyth nodded. It made sense, just like everything else Egey Bashi had said this evening. In all the time he had known the Keeper, he had learned to trust him unconditionally. Only someone like Nimos could wedge doubt into this trust, and he was determined not to let the Kaddim Brother’s words affect him.

If only he could be certain the Keeper was right about everything else. He looked at the terrain ahead, thinking of Kara, out there by herself, following Mai into their Guild. Was she as tired right now as he felt?

Did she manage to overtake Mai and ride with him?

He forced the thought away.