by C. L. Wilson
“The cards weren’t signed.”
If Amaryllis heard the curt edge to Gabriella’s tone, she gave no sign of it. “Nobody told me you had deliveries this morning. But why did you have them put all the flowers out on your balcony?”
Summer whirled to glare at the glass-paned doors leading to her balcony. She’d been so seduced by the beauty and fragrance of the flowers, she hadn’t even stopped to wonder how they had gotten there.
Dilys Merimydion had been on her balcony.
In the middle of the night.
While she was sleeping!
She clutched the lapels of her robe. Had he peered through the glass? Had he come inside her room? Maybe stood beside her, watching her as she slept? Maybe even touched her. Cupped her breasts? Put his mouth on her while she, caught deep in the erotic wanderings of her dream, had slept on without waking?
Helos damn her for her depravity, but the thought made every intimate part of her flush and throb in heated response.
Angry at her arousal, she shoved the thoughts out of her mind and scowled at her maid. “It doesn’t matter who sent them or when they arrived, Amaryllis. After you finish helping me dress, I want you to dispose of them.”
“Oh, but—”
“All of them!” Summer snapped. “I don’t care how. I don’t want a single flower in this room when I return.”
Amaryllis’s friendly open face went blank with shock, then after a long moment turned wooden. She swallowed the rest of her objections and bobbed a stiff, obedient curtsy. “Yes, ma’am. As you wish.”
“Good. And here.” Summer swept the shreds of Dilys’s notes off her dressing table and handed them to Amaryllis. “Dispose of these as well.”
The shreds of notes disappeared into Amaryllis’s apron pocket. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Amaryllis. I think I’ll wear the white linen today.” She poured herself a cup of tea while Amaryllis disappeared into the wardrobe.
White was cool and icy, untouched and untouchable. Hopefully, Dilys Merimydion would get the message.
Apparently, Calbernans didn’t understand the language of colors.
Dilys Merimydion, who was waiting for her at the bottom of stairs as she headed down to breakfast, took one look at her snowy-white gown and, instead of keeping his distance, made a beeline for her. His gaze was fixed on her in a way that might have made her blood heat up all over again had she not been busy gaping at him in horror.
“Did I do that to you?”
His light blue shuma and silver torque did nothing to hide the mass of cuts, scrapes, and purple bruises that covered his body and made his iridescent tattoos practically glow by contrast. He had a dark bruise under one eye that ran all the way down to the ulumi-lia tattoo on his cheekbone, and another on his jaw.
“This?” He gestured to his battered frame. “Ono, moa halea. I was invited to partake in a wrestling match yesterday afternoon.”
“A wrestling match with whom? Kukuna the Stone God?”
His grin flashed, then faltered as the gesture tugged at his split lip. “It was a very intense match. And you have been reading the legends of my people. You are curious about Calberna. This is good.”
She grimaced. “Don’t jump to conclusions. I read most of those legends before I met you so I could teach the children at the school about Calberna.” Then, because curiosity got the best of her, she asked, “So which one of Wynter’s men beat you to a pulp?”
His brows rose. “I am unpulped.”
“Not from where I’m standing. Or are you saying the other fellow looks worse?”
He cocked his head to one side, as if considering, then gave that charming half grin again and said, “About the same. We declared it equal contest.”
“Who did you leave unpulped then?”
“It is of no concern. We had our match. We tested each other’s skill and resolve, and came away with a new understanding of each other.” His easy expression sobered to something much more serious. “Gabriella—”
“Don’t call me that.”
He continued as if she hadn’t interrupted. “I have been waiting for you here this last hour. I came to apologize to you yet again.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “It seems that I am forever putting my feet wrong with you. I rushed you yesterday. I pushed when I should have been patient.”
She could feel her cheeks growing hotter by the second. He was too close. His warm, tropical, masculine scent was enveloping her. She swallowed and stepped back. “Look, Sealord Merimydion—”
“Dilys,” he corrected.
“Sealord Merimydion,” she reiterated, “there’s no need for you to apologize to me for anything. What happened yesterday was a mistake, but it’s over now. In the past. I’ve forgotten it, and so should you.”
His brows rose. “You have forgotten? This, I do not believe.” He stepped closer again. She retreated up another stair. “What passed between us was not forgettable. I am not forgettable. Not to you.”
“You have a high opinion of yourself.”
“No higher than deserved. But I know when a woman looks at me and likes what she sees. And I know when she wants more.”
She did, gods help her. She was already melting, her hands itching to touch. She wanted to soothe his wounds, kiss them better. And then she wanted more of what he’d given her yesterday.
Summer retreated another step and, when he started to advance again, held up a hand as if to ward him off. “Is this your idea of not pushing?”
“I did not say I was not going to push. Only that I regretted pushing too much yesterday. Still, I know things between us happened faster than either of us anticipated. It has left you wary and me not as patient as I normally would be. So I retreat for the moment. You see?” He took two steps back and smiled disarmingly. “If you prefer, we can both pretend yesterday did not happen, and we will start anew, with today as the first day of our courtship.”
“There isn’t going to be any courtship.”
“Of course there will be. That’s why I came to Konumarr. So, moa halea, did you enjoy the flowers I left for you on your balcony this morning?”
“No,” she said shortly. “I didn’t. So don’t send me any more. And we are not courting.”
“Tey, we are.”
“No, we’re not.”
“Tey, we are. How can you doubt it after what we shared in the grotto? I thought I knew all the secrets of ililia nua, but I doubt the gods themselves have ever known such incredible pleasure.”
Her cheeks went beet red. “Would you stop!” she hissed.
He smiled tenderly. “There is no need for embarrassment. What happened between us is proof that our bond is strong. I should have led us there more slowly, but when I touched you and I kissed you, all I could think was . . . more. I think we both needed it, tey?”
“I certainly did not!” she exclaimed.
His brows arched. “An intimacy of my choosing is the price for each lie you tell me,” he reminded her. “Since you keep lying, I can only assume you are asking me to kiss you again.”
“You are impossible,” she huffed. “Out of my way. I’m late for breakfast.” She tried to skirt around him, but he caught her arm.
“Wait. Please.” The easy affable smile left his face. “There is an important matter we must discuss. I meant to talk to you about it yesterday, but you distracted me so deliciously.”
She arched her brows, trying to affect the same withering haughtiness Autumn had mastered. “I shall endeavor not to do so in future. Now, let me go this instant, or I will call the guards.”
“Give me two more minutes of your time.”
“This is not a negotiation.”
“Two minutes. It’s important. It’s about keeping you and your family safe.” When she sneered at him in disbelief, he said, “You’re the liar, moa kiri, not I. Apart from my comment about milked tea, I’ve spoken nothing but truth since the day I arrived.”
Well, that stung. “Oh, really
? What about the lies you told Khamsin about killing Lily’s father?”
His smile was filled with smug satisfaction. “So you do remember that it was you.”
“Oh!” She couldn’t believe she’d walked straight into that one. She glared at him. He was even sneakier than she’d thought. And if he wasn’t using that sneakiness against her, she might even have felt a grudging admiration for it. “Fine. Let go of me, and you’ll have your two minutes.” She stared pointedly at the hand on her arm until he removed it. She folded her arms across her chest. “So talk,” she commanded.
He moved a little closer and dropped his voice so low that no one within two feet of them could have heard it. “The power you wield—your Siren’s gift—have you spoken to anyone about it since I told you what it was?” Gone was the charming, seductive suitor. This Dilys was all business, his expression grim, his tone brusque and no-nonsense.
“No,” she admitted.
“Good. Don’t. Don’t tell anyone. Not even your sisters.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. “Why not?”
“Because if people find out what you are, you and everyone you love could be in grave danger.”
“Well, it’s a little too late to keep it a secret. According to you, every Calbernan in Konumarr already knows. And so does Lily.”
“Tey, but my men would suffer the torments of Hel before betraying your secret. And I made sure Talin took care of Lily’s memories. She remembers the same story I gave your family—that I killed Lily’s father because he attacked you.”
Summer’s heart missed a beat, then started pounding furiously. She’d known Lily believed the story about Dilys killing her father, but she’d assumed that was because of the blow she’d taken to the head. “Talin ‘took care’ of Lily’s memories?” Her voice had started to rise and get louder. He shushed her in alarm, and she lowered her voice back to a harsh whisper. “You mean he can manipulate minds, too? Can all Calbernans do that?”
“Nothing close to your degree, but yes. Susirena is one of our gifts from Numahao.”
A hand crept up to her throat. “All these weeks of courtship . . . have your men been using magic to win over our women? Have you been using it on me?”
“No!” The shock on his face seemed too genuine to be faked. “A Calbernan would never use susirena to win a liana. Calbernan males dedicate their lives to being worthy of a woman’s love. Do you think we—any of us—would settle for some false pretense of it manufactured by magic?” His hands slashed the air. “The mere suggestion is an insult. Only a worthless krillo lost beyond all shred of honor or redemption would take what must be given freely.”
“Yet you admit Talin used magic to alter Lily’s mind.”
“To erase the memory of a secret she should never have learned. To protect you—and her.” He drew in a deep breath and visibly calmed himself. “Gabriella, you must understand, what you are—what you can do—is a treasure beyond price. Evil men once slaughtered tens of thousands of my people and nearly drove us to extinction because they both feared the gift you possess and wanted its power for themselves. When they couldn’t get it, they stopped at nothing to destroy it. And they succeeded. They wiped Sirens from the face of Mystral for over two thousand years. You are the first born since the Slaughter, Gabriella. The first Siren to Sing in twenty-five hundred years.”
“What does that mean, exactly, to be a Siren?”
“It means that you possess the strongest magic in all Calberna. That, among other things, that you can kill with your Voice, as you killed that krillo who attacked you, and bend minds to your will. As you did when you erased my memories of our first kiss.”
His eyes were too intense. His words too disturbing. She looked away and gave a forced laugh. “Well, clearly, I’m no Siren then, since my efforts didn’t work.”
“As it happens, I have a measure of immunity against your power. Both because I am Calbernan, and because—though you insist on lying about wanting me—the Siren in you recognizes me as your mate.”
“It’s not a lie. I don’t want you.”
He moved so quickly she barely had time to gasp before he lifted her off her feet, fused his mouth to hers, and kissed her until her brain melted. Then he set her back on her wobbly legs and said, “That was for the lie. And for future reference, myerina, wrapping your legs around a man and Commanding him to pleasure you is not an effective way to illustrate your lack of interest.”
Her face flamed. “I think your two minutes are up. Have a good day, Sealord Merimydion, but have it somewhere far away from me.”
“Little coward,” he said, but he held up his hands and stepped out of her way. “Fine. Run away again, if you must. But promise me you will keep everything we discuss about susirena to yourself. There are people who would stop at nothing to get their hands on you.”
“Right now the only man who seems willing to stop at nothing to get his hands on me is you,” she snapped.
“Oh, I want much more than just my hands on you. I thought we’d already established that. The difference is, with me you would be safe, protected, and loved. I would devote my life to your happiness. The men I’m talking about would use you—and use any means necessary to control you—including hurting you and the ones you love. So, please, promise me you will say nothing, at least not until we are wed and back in Calberna where I can ensure your safety.”
“That’s easy enough. I wasn’t planning to say anything anyway, and since we will never wed”—she smiled sweetly—“I can honestly promise to take the secret of this so-called Siren power of mine to the grave.” She stuck her nose in the air, whirled on one heel and marched down the hall to join her sisters for breakfast.
Her haughty exit lost a little of its dramatic effect when his laughter rolled out in her wake.
“Challenge accepted, moa leia,” he called after her retreating back. “This is my solemn vow: before my time here in Wintercraig is up, you and I will be celebrating our forthcoming union. For now, enjoy your day. I will spend mine finding something besides flowers to tempt you with tomorrow.”
Chapter 13
Rebuffing a determined Calbernan intent on courtship was much easier said than done. Especially when that determined, intent Calbernan was Dilys Merimydion.
In addition to the deluge of intoxicatingly fragrant blooms delivered to her balcony each morning, dozens of little notes and romantic gifts found their way into her presence. There was no telling when or where the gift would come, as no place in Konumarr and no time of day seemed off limits to Dilys Merimydion’s campaign to win her over.
She’d go to pick a book from the library, and a card that read “Claim me as thine” would fall from the pages. She went to the garden to trim the roses and found a small, folded, perfumed note inside her gloves. The front of the folded note read, “Claim me as thine,” while the inside of the card had been inscribed with a verse from one of her favorite poems. She went for a walk through Konumarr’s shops, and a trio of charming children gathered on the street corner and began to sing as she drew near, their childish voices pure and crystal clear. Summer and everyone else who’d stopped to hear them sing clapped when they were done, but when Summer stepped forward to give the children a golden coin to thank them for their performance, each of them pressed a small card into her hand in return. Three more small cards, each bearing that now-familiar scrawl, “Claim me as thine.”
And every morning at breakfast, there was a beribboned box waiting for her on the cushion of her chair. One morning, the box held a bracelet of the brightest, most beautiful sapphires she’d ever seen—each surrounded by a ring of oval diamonds shaped like the petals of a daisy. She closed the bracelet back up in the box and handed it to a servant. “Please see that this is returned to Sealord Merimydion.”
The servant bowed and carried the exquisite gift away.
The next morning, another box awaited her when Summer came down to breakfast. This one contained a small golden pin shaped like a t
rident, symbol of House Merimydion. That, too, she returned. And on it went.
The sixth morning, thinking to thwart him, she had breakfast delivered to her room. But when her maid lifted the domed lids off the breakfast plates, Summer found not one but three brightly wrapped and beribboned gifts nestled amongst the muffins, fruit, and sitting alongside the small ceramic boat of creamy scrambled eggs. Each contained a tiny flower fashioned from perfect, sparkling gemstones mounted on a miniature golden stem. A fourth box, hidden in the sugar bowl, contained a crystal vase no bigger than her thumb, the perfect size to hold the three jeweled flowers.
Unable to help herself, Summer placed each of the three jeweled blooms in the vase and sat it beside her plate as she ate. Sunlight streaming in from her south-facing windows made the tiny blooms sparkle, and cast bright prismatic rainbows across the snowy white linen the maid had laid out over the table.
The exquisitely worked vase with its miniature jeweled blooms was the most enchanting thing she’d ever seen. But when she finished eating, Summer put each piece of the tiny arrangement back in its respective box and handed the boxes to her maid, Amaryllis.
“See that these are returned to Sealord Merimydion.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Amaryllis, giving a short, bobbed curtsy.
The following morning, Summer rejoined her family on the terrace for their regular breakfast. And there, on the private family terrace, sitting on the chair reserved for her, was a large yellow box, about three cubic feet in size, its removable lid wrapped with green satin ribbon and a matching bow.
“That box is huge!” Autumn said. She gave Summer an eager grin. “Hurry and open it. Let’s see what’s inside!”
“You have to give it to Sealord Merimydion,” Spring said. “When he sets his mind on something, he doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“Oh, I wonder what it is today,” Khamsin said with a little clap of excitement.