Warrior (17 page)

“Me too. I wouldn’t have wished to wait.”

“One-half of your roots belong to the desert. You are home.” She leaned in and hugged me, enveloping me in the scents of sunshine and sand. “These are your people. No matter where you live, you will always have a home here, with me.” She slowly stood. “Now, I must go. I need to see to our evening meal with the other ladies. Come to the center of the camp when you are ready. They’ll be an open fire pit which we all eat around.”

“Okay.” With Silas leaning over my shoulder, I continued to gaze through the portraits so carefully drawn. When I was done, I clutched it to my chest. “My family. I have more than I ever thought possible.”

“You do, and it’s getting late. How about I set up the pelts as a mattress to sleep on, and then we’ll be able to rest as soon as we’ve eaten?”

“Great. I love that idea.” I scrambled to my feet and tucked the album away in the crate. Silas made a neat stack, four thick in the center of the room. I tossed two of the pillows we’d sat on to the head of the makeshift bed. “I feel hot and sticky. I’d love a change of clothes.”

He scratched his nose. “I’ll have to pillage some more from Silvie.”

“Please.” I pressed my hands to his chest and kissed him.

“If my sister finds out I’ve raided her wardrobe, she’s going to believe I’ve taken up cross-dressing.”

“Then don’t let her catch you.” I stepped back, and he gave me a devilish grin before he flashed away, one that may have matched mine.

Shoving the tent flap aside, I stared out. All was quiet, most of the tribe likely helping with the meal as Elizara did. This compound would have to run smoothly with so many living here.

“Here you go.” To one side of the tent, Silas positioned a small metal tub half-filled with warm water. He passed me a towel tied around a bundle of clothing. “I’ll return again soon. Unlike you, I’m happy to clean up at home.” He promptly disappeared.

I tugged off my gritty clothes and tossed them aside. In the tub, I stood with just enough room to cup the water and drizzle it over me. Not the best, but it would do. After I dressed in the white miniskirt and soft-pleated cream blouse with silver buttons he’d brought, I tipped my toes into Silvie’s flat leather sandals. It was lucky we were the same size.

Waiting for him, I perched on the pelts, running my hands over their furry surface. My thoughts turned to all I’d learnt, and the predominant one that I could now merge with Silas from a distance raced through my mind.

This changed things between us. Being with me because he’d accepted that as his only alternative was no longer the case.

I could survive without him. Indefinitely, as Elizara had said.

A swirl of air lifted the strands of my hair and fluttered over my skin. Looking as delectable as ever, Silas wavered into sight. His hair was damp, and he’d changed into tan pants and a short-sleeved, white-collared shirt.

“While you’ve been gone, I’ve thought about this mind-merge through our telepathic link.” I stood.

“Me too.”

“What do you think of this?” Nervousness made my stomach clench, and I clasped my hands. Because of our bond, I was driven to give him what he truly desired. He still had to come first.

“Hey, just tell me.” He took my hands, pulled them apart and held them firmly within his.

“You drew the short straw.” My heart thumped so loudly he must hear it. He’d definitely feel it.

“No, I don’t wish to speak of that. Not this soon.” He tugged me outside where it was dark, the night sky twinkling with a million diamond-like stars. Oil lamps swung high from metal rods pushed deep into the ground. The beaming light provided just enough coverage to guide our way.

Silas led me toward the center of camp, where the sounds of others carried on the breeze.

“You still need to listen.” I kept pace with him.

“No, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“We need to discuss what’s happened tonight. You never had a choice, and now you do.”

“I said no.” One full-on glare.

“Silas, stop.”

He swiveled around, hands on his hips. “Katerin Sol merged with another and took control of his mind. The man died. Do you want to merge with someone other than me?”

“No, and I’m not suffering from a mental illness as she did. I can control my reactions. I’ll never take over another’s mind because I have no desire to merge. That only comes with you.”

His lips thinned into a tight line.

“We need to consider our new options, Silas. I can connect through our telepathic link and we need never even speak. You’ve already released me, and I you. That decision can still stand. Ours is a non-relationship, remember?”

Arms crossed, he stared at me, his eyes deepened to the darkest blue. “You want me to leave?”

To make sure I wouldn’t reach for him, I shoved my hands behind my back. “I want to give you the chance to change the course of your life. It doesn’t have to be with me. You could make that faceless image of the woman real.”

He was stone-cold quiet.

A pin could have dropped in the sand, and I swear I would have heard it.

He pointed over my shoulder, and I turned to find we were the center of attention. At least two-hundred people gathered in the large clearing around a roaring fire thirty feet away, a fat pig turning on a metal spit in the center, watched us.

Whoa. How had I missed that?

“If you still want me to go, I will.” His fists clenched and un-clenched at his sides.

I slowly nodded. I had to see this through. “I want you to have this choice.” It was the honest truth, and he couldn’t miss seeing that.

“Then let’s try this. Perhaps I’ve even been waiting for just such an opportunity.” Giving me a curt bow, he clipped his heels together. “Goodbye, Hope. A long life to you.”

His form wavered and blinked away.

I stared at where he should have been. Was he really gone?

Ice crawled through my veins, freezing me in place.

He’d really left? Just like that?

My chest ached, the center deepening to such a throbbing ball of pain I wasn’t sure I could stand it.

I shuddered as someone’s arm came around my shoulders. Elizara.

“He’ll return. That man looks at you in a way even he doesn’t understand. You gave him a choice, and not many would. I’m proud of you for that.”

“W-we’ve not had an easy time since we met.”

“Not all mated couples do. The bond is a given, but we must work at the relationship.” She led me to the closest group, and motioned for me to sit between Maslin and his grandmother, Merie.

“You heard?” Tears welled in my eyes and Maslin’s image blurred.

He bumped his shoulder into mine. “Hard not to, but you did the right thing.”

I wanted to curl up and cry. “I had to set him free. I think it’s what he’s always wanted.”

“You’re better off among your own.”

Tears leaked out and I swiped at them. I was. I must never forget.

The fire crackled, and a few of the men dressed in desert robes of white moved to bank the edges of the roaring flames and taper them inward. Further away from the fire, mothers led their children to a wide mat and handed them plates.

“Wait here. I’ll get you some food.”

I wasn’t up for moving, or even talking, so I did.

Maslin returned and set the plate in my lap. I stared at it, although a watery film obscured the food. I would stop crying. Right now.

Tears dripped onto the pork and dribbled down the mound of potato. Letting Silas go was the only way. I just wish it didn’t have to hurt so much.

Where was he? Had he returned home?

A mumble of words came from far away, and Maslin took my plate from me. I blinked to bring him into focus. “Did you say something?”

“Yes. You’re obviously not going to eat, and you’re clearly not up for company. I’ll walk you to your tent.”

“You will?”

“Up.” He stood, pulling me to my feet. “You need to rest. It’s been a long day.”

“The longest ever.”

With a hand at the small of my back, he guided me through the maze of tents to Elizara’s. At the entrance, he dipped his head. “I’ll see you in the morning. Goldie requested I stay, and I will.”

He disappeared into the dark, and I raised the flap and trudged inside.

Bone weary, I fell over the pelts in the dark, right into the middle of them.

I lay where I fell, my chest heavy, as if a rock was wedged between my lungs, preventing me from drawing a decent breath.

Such a wretched burn.

For him.

I wanted Silas here.

That was impossible, now.

Argh, protectors. I hated them.

Chapter 7

“I cannot believe you loaned me such a skimpy string-bikini.” I fanned my exposed middle.

“It’s just us women. Come and help me with the lamps,” Elizara called from near the ladies bathing in the compound’s oasis. “Anyway, the bikini suits you.”

“Yeah, it’s lily-white, like I am.” The next evening had settled and at least the deep basin of water surrounded by palm trees kept out prying eyes, a definite bonus.

“I’ll come,” someone said. Four women helped her string a line around the perimeter of the spring. Young girls sat at the edge, dipping their toes in the water, and in the distance, a trail of lights bobbed as more women made the short trek from camp.

Several teens dropped their towels into a pile as I negotiated around them. One by one, they waded into the water and dove into the deepest center.

Oh, now that’s where I wanted to be.

My mouth watered at the thought of a swim.

“Don’t worry.” Elizara waved me away. “I know that look when the water calls. Go and enjoy yourself.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

I splashed in then dove. With arms outstretched, I kicked until I ran out of air and had to surface. Bliss, and I was almost in the center.

Silas would love this oasis. No fast-moving current here. I should tell him.

Ah no, I couldn’t.

Damn, why had I said we need never even speak?

Right. To give him the chance to move on.

Someone’s hands clasped my ankles from below, making me gasp. With a tug, I was towed under.

Oh, that someone moved fast, a blur of yellow swallowed within the dark beneath. Then another as well, no more than a wisp of red, and gone too.

Where was the culprit who’d sunk me? I swam, but found no one.

As I popped to the surface, a circle of older girls, all with sweetly innocent expressions, smiled at me.

“It wasn’t me,” Herianne said. I’d spoken to her on the walk out. She was eighteen, as I was.

Megein, beside her in a yellow swimsuit, grinned. “It was. I helped her.”

Herianne splashed her with a wide arc of water that came out of nowhere. All she’d done was lift her hand and the water had flown and smacked Megein in the face.

I laughed. “You have the water skill.”

Right, I’d get Herianne back. Slinking under the water, I grabbed her legs, only a slippery substance made it hard. I tried again, wrapping my arms right around. This time with more traction, I yanked and took her down, and darted away at the last moment.

She gave chase. Those with the water skill were faster, stronger and far sleeker in their movements within their element.

I was dunked more times than I could count as the older women joined us.

It was just what I needed.

Exhausted after so much play, I slogged to the water’s edge and crawled onto the sand and fell flat on my face. The younger ones giggled.