“Any sign of Makki’s fleet?”
“His flagship had raised anchor and sailed through the Narrows even before I arrived at the docks,” Ceti said. “We have the night to prepare for the attack, at least.”
“So you must go,” she said.
“No,” he said firmly. “I have done all I can for now. I want to be here with you until you leave.” He reached out his hand. “It may be the only chance we have.”
“Are we alone?” she asked.
“Dinah and the others are in my workshop, making plans. She knows I came out here to see you. The soldiers are on guard below us, circling the bottom of my hill.” He paused. “We are as alone as we can be.”
“Then we should make the most of it.” She ran her fingertips up Ceti’s arms, memorizing all the corded muscles, marveling at the tiny, dark hairs along his forearm, so different from any of her people. His face, too, held the same hint of a beard that had appeared when he’d been held captive in Shorakapkok.
She wondered idly why Romans kept themselves clean-shaven if they could grow hair on their face. She’d seen some men with beards on her tour of Manhatos, but not on any of the soldiers. They might be taking their cue from Tabor. Or perhaps soldiers weren’t allowed to grow beards.
Ceti’s stubble had felt soft against her cheek when he’d kissed her above the cliffs. She reached up and stroked his face. The stubble felt more bristly now. She asked why.
“It was over a day’s growth, then.” He closed his eyes as she stroked his cheeks with her fingers. “It’s just started tonight.”
She nodded. Strange yet again that it grew so quickly. She kissed the edge of his jaw, flicking out her tongue to feel the stubble. He smelled...nice. She’d expected to smell dirt and sweat.
Romans liked to be clean, that was apparent from those baths. “Have you washed?”
“I needed to wash the blood off.” He bent his head down to kiss her nose. “You smell like the earth and the night.”
She smiled. “Those words are worthy of a storyteller.”
“Words.” He shook his head. “Enough words.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It was far less tentative than their earlier embraces. But then, it was past time for hesitation. They knew what they wanted.
This was their chance. There might never be another.
She wrapped her hands around his neck and surrendered to the connection that had been building between them since he’d fallen at her feet only days ago.
This time, she was falling.
She lay back, pulling him to the ground with her. Her hands grabbed his tunic. He stopped kissing her long enough to pull it over his head and toss it aside.
The first rays of moonlight rippled over his naked chest. There were those wiry, dark curls again in the middle of his chest. She reached out, entranced, and wrapped one tiny curl around her little finger.
He shuddered and slid his hand under her deerskin vest. She untied the laces, revealing her breast. He gasped.
“You are a goddess.” He kissed the skin between her breasts.
“That would make you a god,” she said.
He shook his head. “No, that makes me a mere mortal worshipping at your feet.”
“Our gods do not have mortal lovers,” she said. “I’m only Sky.”
“And sky is endless,” he said.
“If I am sky, you are earth, strong and solid.”
He kissed her, and they did not speak anymore, letting their hands do all the talking for them. She felt the grass under her back and the soft night wind caress her face and thought that Ceti was right, this was a glimpse of how it felt like to be god-touched.
His mouth closed over one of her breasts. She nearly cried out with the pleasure of his tongue on her nipple but instead closed her eyes and kneaded his shoulders with her fingers, lost in the moment.
He pushed down her leggings and tossed them aside. She reached down and guided his hand over her wetness.
“I want you,” she said.
“Gods, Sky.” He nuzzled her breast. “This is so fast. I want days and days with you.”
I want a lifetime.
“Tonight will have to be enough,” she whispered. “Time closes in.”
He slid his fingers inside her. She bucked against his hand and bit her lip to prevent a moan. She did not want anyone interrupting them or interfering.
This union belonged to them alone.
He traced kisses over her breasts and then up to her lips again. She closed her hand over his erection. His body shuddered, much as hers had earlier. He kissed her for a long time as she stroked him. More than once, their kisses smothered his groans.
Finally, he rolled them to the side. “Ride me, Sky. I want to see you against the aquila’s wings.”
She straddled him, gladly, and rubbed her wetness against him, teasing him. His hands covered her hips. Such large, powerful hands but they only stroked and brought pleasure tonight.
She took him inside and started riding as he commanded, rocking back and forth, gently.
He grasped her hips harder. She looked above their heads and saw the painted eagle of the aquila and, beyond that, the moon rising in the darkness. She closed her eyes, threw back head, and began to soar.
No ground, no Manhatos, no world anywhere but Ceti’s touch and his self inside her.
He entwined their fingers. Under her, the strong muscles of his hips thrust him deeper inside her. She felt it inside, caressing places that no one had ever reached before.
She felt it build within her and rocked faster and faster until the orgasm ripped through her and traveled into Ceti, making them into one.
Ceti pulled her down against his chest, kissed her, and thrust one last time to come with her. Their rhythm slowed and they clung to each other, bound together.
When it had slowed and she could breathe properly again, he wrapped his arms around her. She let her head fall against his shoulder.
“I love you, Sky,” he said. “Marry me.”
She raised her head. “I love you.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
She rolled off him and sat up, reluctantly leaving the safety of his arms.
He sat up and took her face in his hands. “I would give my pledge to you now. Would you give me yours?”
She entwined their fingers and held their hands in her lap. She could see his frown in the moonlight and, beyond that, feel the muscles in him tense at her failure to respond.
But she could not accept his offer.
“Among my people, a promise between the couple is all the ceremony needed for a marriage.” Sky’s voice shook. She felt a single tear run down her cheek. “But for the promise to be binding, for the couple and their children to be accepted by the clan, it must be sealed by family.” She took a deep breath to steady herself. “My mother would not agree to seal us, Ceti, at least not yet. And if I went against my mother’s wishes, I would be clan-lost.”
She would not be considered one of the People any longer. She would be considered as much of a stranger as Ceti or any of the Romans. She could never go back home again.
“You disobeyed them to come to Manhatos with me,” he said.
“But that is a temporary decision,” she said. “You’re asking for an irrevocable one.”
“Yes, I am.”
She nodded and swallowed hard to clear the lump from her throat. “I can give you my personal pledge that there will be no other man until I receive permission from my family to bind myself to you.” Her voice started to shake again. “I love you, Ceti the engineer.”
He pulled her into his lap. “I love you, too.” He stroked her hair. “Would you take a Roman oath? It would be considered binding among my people.”
They were being separated in the middle of a war. Either or both of them could die. He wanted, no, needed to know they were bound together somehow. So do I. What would it hurt?
She nodded. “If that’s what you wan
t, yes.” She took a steep breath and steadied her voice. “How do we do this?”
“Normally, a couple is considered married when they move in together, if they publicly state their intention.” He pulled her into the shelter of his arms. “But we can make a simple oath to each other and then have it written down and witnessed.”
“Written.” She licked her lips. “Words on your paper?”
He nodded.
“All right. Give me the right words.”
“I’m no poet or scholar, Sky,” he said.
“I don’t want you to be.”
“I give you this simple promise. I love you, I will have no one but you. I swear to survive this coming storm to be with you.”
“Simple promises are the most profound,” she said.
He could not guarantee his survival. It was not under his control. But he’d promised anyway. She took a deep breath, pushing aside all thought of what her family would think. Lake Wolf would see the truth of this bond, even if none of the clan laws had been violated.
You will see his value in time, as I do, Mother.
“I love you, Ceti the engineer. I accept this bond under your Roman laws.”
She felt more tears slip down her face. He brought her hands up to his mouth and kissed them.
“And I pray that we may do this in the sunlight, in the grove near my village, someday.” She flung her arms around him and clung to him until Dinah summoned them.
Chapter Twenty-One
Ceti could barely speak as he watched Sky board the longboat with Laughing Dog and Licinius. He’d always thought “heart in one’s throat” an odd expression, but now it made absolutely perfect sense to him.
His wife was walking away from him.
His wife.
Yet she didn’t consider him her husband. He closed his eyes against the pain, against her leaving, against this sense of impending doom. She had to go. He had to stay. They couldn’t truly marry until the world changed.
If only he could be certain that she would be safe, he wouldn’t feel so...lost. But she was walking into as much danger as was camped out on his doorstep.
And he could do nothing about any of it.
He opened his eyes and saw her in the prow of the boat, near the head of the dragon. She waved one last time. He held her gaze while the boat slipped off the sands into the river, until the light of the lanterns on shore no longer reached the long boat.
Dinah put her hand on Ceti’s shoulder, likely to comfort. It did nothing to relieve his tension.
“The best way to ensure you see her again is to make certain that you survive,” Dinah said. “Focus on that. You can’t control anything else.”
Ceti nodded and they walked back up the beach and into the city, through the small gate on the west side. It clanged shut behind them. Ceti ordered the guards to blockade the gate with rocks and whatever debris they could find. All the other gates were being similarly covered. By sunrise, no one would go in or out of Manhatos.
The city was as prepared for a siege as it could get within a night. He heard the hammers against wood, part of the furious building of the catapults and other old-style siege engines. It was eerily quiet otherwise. Those not working were boarded up in their homes.
“Dinah, you and Gerhard should go home to Seneca,” Ceti said. “If Manhatos falls, you’ll be needed there.”
“Gerhard already pledged to Tabor to do what can be done with the longboats against the fleet,” Dinah said. “The Romans aren’t expecting Viking ships. Baldor and Ragnor oversaw the covering of our prows with steel, just below the dragons.”
Steel covering the wood of the longboats? “Gerhard wants to ram the imperial ships?”
Dinah smiled. “It suits him, doesn’t it?” Her smile faded. “But it will only work if the longboats can get past the imperial cannons.”
“That is unlikely.”
She shrugged. “We shall see.”
“Will you be on the longboat with Gerhard?”
“There’s a way out of the city through the aqueducts built into Tabor’s villa. And that means there is a way in. I have to make sure all the secret exists are guarded. Ahala may have found and marked them for assault.”
“Can’t someone else do it?”
“I’m the only one who knows all the tunnels well.”
“You and Gerhard should be together,” he said.
“Yes, we should.” She nodded. “But we go where we’re needed most. As you will.”
“How do you stand the fear?” Ceti asked in a quiet voice.
“Because I must.” She smiled. “Gerhard will come to me through the tunnels tonight. We have a little time left to say good-bye before he goes back to his command.”
“What if we all die, Dinah? What if all this is for nothing?”
“It’s not for nothing,” she snapped. “Already, most of the non-combatants are being moved to the villa. If we keep the tunnel exits clear, many of them will be able to flee to the safety of Seneca.
“The imperials will find it hard to attack that fortress with any success, especially after the losses we inflict on them here. Ragnor and Sif are capable of leading my people and guarding my children. Copper Knife and the other Mahicans will stand with them. And the Seneca city council knows what to do.”
Ceti shook his head. “Who protects Sky’s people?”
“If the Lenape needed our help, they should have asked before it was too late,” Dinah retorted. “Besides, by fighting the imperial soldiers here, you ensure they are not attacking her there.”
Dinah sighed and Ceti heard the exhaustion in her voice for the first time.
“I’m sorry for my doubt, Dinah. I shouldn’t question you.”
“Yes, you should,” she said. “I’ve made mistakes. For one, I should have killed Ahala when I first saw him. Then Tabor would not be as he is.”
“Tabor ordered you not to do so.”
“Yes, well, he’s not always right either.”
“Regrets will gain us nothing but doubt,” Ceti said. “I think that’s a quote from Homer.”
She grinned and punched him in the shoulder. “It is not.”
“No.” He cleared his throat. “Dinah, I pledged myself to Sky.”
Dinah caught what he wasn’t saying. “And she didn’t pledge herself to you?” She looped her arm around his.
“She gave me a pledge good enough for Roman law,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean the same among her tribe. For our union to be formalized by her clan, she needs permission from her mother and the other elders. Without that permission, Sky and any of our children would be outcast.”
“She had no choice but to stand with her clan, Ceti. She has a responsibility to her people, especially now,” Dinah said. “She could no more turn away from them than Tabor could turn from Manhatos.”
“I know. But will you draw up the papers and ensure that our marriage is legally binding here?” If his work survived but he didn’t, Sky would know what to do. More, he suspected she would be driven by the desire they both shared to fly. His aquila would be in the right hands.
“Of course.” Dinah dropped a hand off his shoulder. “I’ll send it with Eric, to Seneca, tonight.”
“I thought you said the longboats were staying?”
“We’re sending one as a messenger. Baldor insisted that it be Eric’s boat.”
Baldor, of course, would want to make sure his only son was safe. As Dinah was certain her sons and daughter were safe, at least for now, and the community she’d built would have a fighting chance, with or without her.
“What will Sif think of you letting Licinius go with Sky into the unknown?” he said.
“When Sif let Licinius come with me, she gave him leave to make his own choices. She said it was time.” Dinah shook her head. “Besides, Sif never liked being cut off from her Lenape kin. If Licinius can build a bridge to her mother’s people, it will heal that grief.” Dinah smiled. “That might have occurred to Licinius. He li
kes making his mother happy.”
Ceti nodded. It was all settled, then, save for the waiting and the fighting. How could he stand this infernal waiting? Vaguely, he realized they’d reached the foot of the hill below his workshop. “Dinah, the night before the battle for Seneca, how did you feel? How did you get through it knowing what was ahead?”
“I was half out of my mind with wound fever.” There was a hint of humor in her voice. “That took the edge off, not to mention that I lost track of time. Besides, I thought Gerhard was dead. Whatever happened to me didn’t seem to matter. What about you, Ceti? How did you feel in the fort? You set in place Tabor’s plan without knowing if his promised army would ever arrive.”
“I was terrified,” he said, “but not as afraid as during the original retreat to the fort in the battle where the Legion was overwhelmed. I thought I was dead then, several times over. This was a different fear. I was afraid I’d fail.”
“And tonight is yet another fear,” Dinah said.
He nodded. “I wish Sky and I could have fought together. This not-knowing will destroy me.”
“No. What will destroy you is losing her. The not-knowing is bearable. Remember that.”
“I will.”
Ceti nodded and bade his leave to Dinah as she took the road to Tabor’s villa. He did not feel like going back to the workshop and being reminded of Sky. Instead, he walked down to the east wall, to check on the gate closest to the fleet’s approach.
Before Tabor’s injury, the situation had been dire enough. But without the legendary commander to steady the men, Ceti didn’t know how long they’d fight, especially the civilian volunteers.
At least the soldiers knew and trusted Breda and some of them were veterans of the battle for Seneca. They’d hold as long as they could.
Yet even Dinah seemed to be making plans for losing. That could be her natural need to have five or six contingency plans. It could also be cold logic. From Sky’s account, Legate Makki had three fully equipped legions on board his ships, plus a full contingent of sailors.
Manhatos had three-quarters of a proper legion and lacked many supplies. Tabor had called for all able-bodied men and women to help defend the walls, but Ceti had no illusions about them. Many trained warriors fell back at the sight of a Roman attack. Civilians could not be expected to do any better.
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