Vengeance Born (The Light Blade #1) (23 page)

“Why would a
Na’Reish
do that?”

“She’s
Na’Chi
, not
Na’Reish
.”

“A half-blood?” His brows pulled down low. “They’re a myth.”

“Not anymore. She carries a Light Blade amulet. Her mother was one of us.”

Arek listened as Kalan shared Annika’s story. When he finished, he leaned back in his chair and gave his friend time to absorb the facts. The only sound in the room was the crackling of the fire.

“She drinks blood. She has the strength of a
Na’Reish
warrior. She’s the
Na’Rei
’s daughter.” Arek ticked off the facts on his fingers. “She’s still a threat.”

Kalan held back a sigh and rubbed tired eyes. He’d hoped for some understanding from Arek but wasn’t surprised by his lack of sympathy. Having lost both parents to the
Na’Reish
as a young baby, he harbored a deep, abiding hatred for demons. Being raised by his maternal grandfather, a man embittered by the tragedies, hadn’t helped.

“Do you think I’d bring her into the heart of our city if she was such a risk?” he asked.

“Their nature has been proven time and again on the battlefield.”

“You judge too swiftly, my friend.”

A muscle ticked in Arek’s cheek. “I also find it hard to believe the
Lady
would share a rare healer’s Gift with a demon.”

Kalan ground his teeth together. Challenging his decisions or risking his anger was part of the warrior’s job. That he would do it despite the close friendship they shared was what made Arek such a valuable Second. But his stubbornness tested Kalan’s patience.

“Annika,” he called. Arek stiffened as the door to Kalan’s room cracked open. “Could you come out here, please?”

Reaching across the table, Kalan claimed the dagger and sliced open the skin on his forearm. The wound was shallow but it began to ooze blood. His gaze met hers.

“Would you please demonstrate your Gift?”

“The
Lady
frowns upon this sort of display.
Her
Gifts aren’t for show.”

“I think
She
’ll excuse us just this once.”

She shot Arek a narrow-eyed look. “Are you going to attack me if I approach Kalan? I have to touch him so the healing can work.”

Her challenge earned her a deadly glare. Her chin lifted as she met the glare head-on. Kalan admired her grit and determination.

“It’s all right, Annika,” he assured her. “He’s just going to watch.”

She came over and placed her hands above and below the cut. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. Through the touch they shared, he felt the familiar surge of raw power as she drew on her Gift.

A warm tingling began around the site of the wound then spread deeper. The bleeding stopped, the skin healed over. In less than a minute there was no evidence of the cut.

“Thank you.” He looked at his friend and lifted an eyebrow. “You felt it.”

His statement was met with a sharp nod and folded arms. “Ever since the
Na’Reish
started taking humans as blood-slaves, rumors about half-blood children have existed.” The corners of Arek’s mouth pulled downward. “Why haven’t any records confirmed their existence?”

Kalan shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe there are some annals we aren’t aware of.”

“Secret records?” He shook his head then snorted. “That would mean years of hiding the truth.”

“Do you think the historians or the Blade Council would reveal something like this to our people voluntarily? Rumors can be dismissed, facts cannot.”

“Even from the
Chosen
?”

“Perhaps. Depending on who they were.” He shared a pointed look with Arek. “It’s certainly worth investigating, don’t you agree?”

“I’ll have Jole begin searching the library tomorrow.” The warrior scrubbed a hand over his face. “Whatever the case, her presence will cause chaos.”

“I’ll handle it,” Kalan promised. “Just remember, Annika has my protection. Make sure no one dishonors that agreement.”

The blond warrior’s brow dipped. “I won’t compromise my responsibilities.”

“I don’t expect you to, but Annika isn’t a threat.” Kalan hardened his tone of voice. “Do you doubt my word?”

Arek did little to hide the fact he wasn’t happy. “No, but there’s more here at stake than just your word.” Suspicion and doubt shadowed Arek’s gaze as he glanced at Annika. His lips thinned. “She has your protection… but I shall remain vigilant.”

“I expect nothing less, my friend.” Kalan relaxed, knowing that like any Light Blade warrior, Arek never gave his word lightly. “Thank you.”

“I’d feel better if she slept elsewhere. I can arrange guest quart—”

“No. She stays here.” Kalan rose from his seat, went to the door of his apartment, and held out the dagger. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Arek collected the blade from his friend, his fist curling so hard around the hilt his knuckles whitened. “Will you at least let me post a guard outside your door?”

“Good night, Arek.” Kalan closed the door behind him. He raked a hand through his hair as he turned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect any of my warriors to learn of my return until tomorrow.”

“He’s your friend.” Annika’s quiet reply held no condemnation. “I was frightened by him, but he was only doing what he thought was right. His concern was for you.”

She deserved some sort of explanation. “Arek lost both parents when he was young. The
Na’Reish
captured his mother. His father couldn’t reconcile her loss.”

“I suspect many warriors have lost someone close to them. Being angry over those losses is only natural. And finding me here had to have been a huge shock.”

“You handled this situation far better than I’d have, Annika.” His gaze slid slowly over her and for the first time he noticed what she was wearing. “My shirt looks good on you.”

Clearly not expecting such a comment, her cheeks flushed with color. He wasn’t about to tell her that standing in front of the fireplace made the material sheer enough to see the outline of her body. He grew instantly hard as he realized that she wore absolutely nothing beneath it.

Sucking in a sharp breath at the pleasurable sight of her rounded curves and sleek limbs, it didn’t take much to imagine untying the laces of the shirt and slipping his hands inside to cradle and caress her warm breasts. She was a passionate woman but would that quality extend to intimate relationships? The idea of being the first to find out made his entire body burn.

Annika’s nostrils flared and her startled gaze lifted to meet his. The scent of his arousal had to be strong for her to pick it up across the room.

“Bath, bed, sleep,” he muttered. A frown creased Annika’s brow. “It’s what I should do. Right now.” It was difficult to focus on the present when he wanted to strip his shirt from her body and touch and taste the tawny skin beneath. He headed for the bathing room. “We’re going to need rest before meeting with the Blade Council.”

Tomorrow was going to be hard enough on her without losing what little sleep she could get now. He knew the Councilors and what to expect from them. She didn’t.

Pausing in the archway, he glanced back over his shoulder, unable to resist a final look at her. The shirt barely covered her to mid-thigh. She fiddled with the hem, the slightest tinge of blue in her eyes. An encouraging sign but one that tested his resolve.

Smothering a groan, he turned away. “I’ll see you in the morning, Annika. Sleep well.”

Chapter 15

“W
HAT are you doing out here? It’s barely an hour past dawn and cold enough to freeze the horns of a furry-bleater.”

Kalan’s sleep-roughened voice came from behind Annika. She jerked in surprise, so totally absorbed in watching the people in the garden below she’d missed hearing the balcony door open.

She had to take a deep breath at the picture he presented standing in the doorway. In the pale dawn light, the cloak wrapped around him had been hastily tied. As he adjusted it she saw plenty of bare skin and partly laced breeches riding low over his ridged abdomen. Some of his hair had pulled free of its tie during the night and her fingers itched to smooth it back off his face.

Seated on the wall, wrapped in her cloak, she gave a shrug. “I couldn’t sleep.”

There was something very appealing about a man just roused from sleep. She looked away, over the compound, not willing to let her eyes betray her thoughts.

“Why not?”

She heard a smothered yawn, and the sound of the door closing. “Strange place, unfamiliar people.”

His boots crunched on the thick layer of frost on the stone balcony a moment before he appeared beside her. He blew on his hands, and his breath steamed into the cold morning air, dissipating slowly.

“Instead of waking you with my restlessness, I headed out here.”

Kalan leaned right beside where she sat on the balcony ledge, his shoulder pressing against her. His presence was peaceful, comforting, something she’d only ever felt around Hesia. Something she could easily let herself become used to with him.

“What are you watching?”

“The people down there.” She pointed with her chin, fascinated by the sleek, dapple-furred animal that followed them. “They’ve been walking a
lira
around the garden.” It was smaller than those she’d seen stalking prey in the forest. “I never thought something so wild could be led on a leash.”

“If you raise one from a kit it’ll learn that the family is its new pack.”

A tamed carnivore. She shook her head and watched the man walking it. He actually talked to it and the small predator’s pointy ears flickered as if it was listening to him. Its graceful gait slowed so that it could arch and rub its body against the man’s leg.

“So, do you always perch on balcony ledges?”

“Not always.” She shot Kalan a sideways glance. The pale mauve sky silhouetted his strong profile. “Usually I sit on the pitch of a roof.”

His eyebrows rose and the changing expression on his face said he was trying to work out if she was joking. She wasn’t. He was curious but she knew he’d never question her, not unless she continued the conversation. He gave her the choice to share her past with him. Another thing she was coming to like about him.

With her fingernail, Annika scraped a design into the frost coating the stone beside her. “I was chased up into one of the fortress towers by some
Na’Reish
children once. I think I was eight or nine at the time. They were several years older than me and considered it sport to try and catch me. The winner got first-rites.” She smiled crookedly as his brows dipped. “They got to hit me first before the others joined in.”

He issued a soft, vehement curse. “Did that happen often?”

“Two or three times a week.”

In her mind’s eye, Annika could see her father’s angry face as she’d dared complain the first time it happened. Inwardly she cringed remembering the sharp sound of the blow as he backhanded her, the pain just becoming the freshest ache in her body.

You deserve whatever you get! Maybe it’ll teach you to run faster, think smarter.

She stopped scratching the ice and took a deep breath. “Getting caught in the tower, hearing them charge up the stairs and knowing what awaited me if I didn’t escape forced me out the window. My limbs shook so badly as I pulled myself over the eave I thought I’d fall before I reached the pitch of the roof,” she said softly. “After that I learned every hidey-hole, every dark corner, and possible escape route around the keep.” She pointed to several places around the compound. “I’ve counted six good places here already.”

She sensed his gaze on her and tried to remain unaffected by it, but the intensity increased the longer the silence went on between them.

“You’re safe here, Annika.”

She trembled at the deep tone of his voice. “Am I? I know last night Arek was acting on instinct but what if it happens again, with someone else?”

“I think I’d better explain something to you,” he said. “My protection means you’ve been given sanctuary and the protection of my house. You’re free to go anywhere, do anything I would, without fear of being harmed.

“Arek mightn’t like my decision but he’ll ensure everyone’s told. Offering sanctuary and protection are traditions we hold dear. Anyone who breaks with them risks death.”

This time Annika stared at Kalan, searching his gaze for any hint of untruth. She was so used to doubting everything said to her. Her cheeks heated as his eyebrows arched high, as if he sensed her disbelief. He deserved better.

“What’s wrong?”

She bit her lip. “Why would you stand against your own kind to protect me?”

“Isn’t that what you asked for back in the dungeon?”

She blinked then shook her head. “I thought you might help me show them I’m not a danger. I don’t expect you to kill anyone for me!”

“You saved my life. Twice.”

“So you feel like you owe me?”

“Earlier I would have. Now? No, not at all.” His mild response was at odds with the sincere look in his eyes. “Why would I do anything less than what you did for me?”