I grimaced at her but refused to be self-conscious. Instead I turned back to Harlan and kissed him. “All that matters to me is that you’re alive. Why don’t you wash the blood off and have something to eat. Then we’ll be on the move.”
He wasn’t completely mollified, but nodded, grimacing at the dried blood that saturated his trousers. Standing, he stretched, joints popping, muscles flexing.
“Here.” Ami offered him the canteens and a glorious smile. “Refill these while you’re at it.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” He took them, seeming amused by her.
“No ‘highness’ for me,” she corrected. “Just ‘princess,’ or better, stick with Ami.”
His gaze flicked to me with an ironic and intimate smile, reminding me how I hadn’t let him call me by name. It made me feel better, to see some of his concern dissipate. Grabbing one of our packs for fresh clothes, he strode down to the stream.
Ami watched after him, speculative and admiring, then gave me an unabashed grin and lifted one shoulder. “I’m impressed, Essla. I never imagined there could be someone who could not only stand up to you, but give back as good as you dish out. Now, quick, before he comes back—tell me how this happened.”
“I’m not gossiping about my love life with you.”
“Yes, you are. You owe me for all those years of zero interest in anyone at all. I was starting to think there was something wrong with you and—What? What did I say?”
“Nothing.” I shook off the tinge of sick at her words. I was over all that. “Here’s the story in a nutshell.”
Harlan returned before I entirely finished, falling on the food Ami offered with gusto. He took Astar and played with him while he ate, the baby cradled in the nest of his lap, absurdly tiny in comparison and wildly happy to be there. Ami and I packed up the horses as I finished the tale. Leaving out a number of more private details.
“How is it you’ve not told all this yet?” Harlan glanced at the high angle of the sun.
“I had to hear Ami’s story first.”
“And our auntie Essla has only been awake a short time herself,” Ami added, taking Astar with an oof and bundling him back into his carry pack.
“Essla?” Harlan grinned at me, unabashed by my glare.
“Ami’s baby name for me,” I told him, turning the reproving look on her, with a similar lack of success. “She seems to have reverted to infancy just because she has her own now. Ready to load up?”
“Why have you only recently awakened?” His face had settled into that implacable look, and he scanned me. “You were injured, too, and you didn’t say. Come here and let me see.”
“Barely at all.”
“Lost buckets of blood,” Ami cheerfully spoke over me. “A couple of times I couldn’t find her pulse. I was frankly terrified.”
“You don’t sound terrified,” I said, intensifying the warning look, which she continued to blithely ignore, cooing at Astar.
“You didn’t die and I’m making a practice of counting the blessings of the moment. But your man should know what you gave up for him. What a near thing it was that you had Ash heal him instead of you.” She gave Harlan an angelic smile that fooled no one. “So he’ll appreciate you.”
Harlan stood and went to his stallion, unstrapping one of the packs again. He grabbed one of the canteens, took my hand, and tugged me away. “We need to discuss this privately.”
“I’ll be right here,” Ami called after us, well pleased with herself. I would deal with her later.
“We need to get going,” I protested. “We’ve lost too much time as it is.”
He didn’t answer right away, but his hand stayed vised on mine. When he stopped just inside the shadows of the forest and turned to face me, his pale eyes slow burning in rare anger. “Undress.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Disrobe so I may tend your wounds.”
“They’re not that bad, and—”
“Then it won’t take long. Undress yourself or I’ll do it for you.”
I put my hands on my hips. “I’d like to see you try.”
“You’re so pale you’re transparent,” he snapped. “I’m kicking myself for not seeing it before.”
“You had other things on your mind,” I pointed out in a dry tone.
“What did you give up—besides being healed yourself?”
I returned his scowl. “Nothing you need be concerned about.”
“I do need to. You had no right. No right at all to put yourself in jeopardy for me.”
“Oh, it only goes in one direction?”
“Yes.” He wrapped his big hands in my shirt. “Because you’re more important than I am. Now, the very least you can do is let me tend to you. Do I rip this off or will you undress?”
“Danu!” I broke his hold with a sharp maneuver. One that I did not want to admit lagged several beats behind my usual speed and made my head swim, then throb. “I’ll undress. But let’s make this snappy. We have ground to cover. Ami took care of the worst of it.”
He didn’t reply to that, silently retrieving supplies from his bag. I leaned against a tree to get my boots off. Fortunately for his continued good health, he did not comment when I got a little dizzy and had to sit, just gave me that accusing stare.
Heaving a sigh, he sat beside me, unwrapping Ami’s bandages and running his hands lightly over my skin as he examined my many bites, lacerations, scrapes, and purpling bruises. “This is the worst one?” He prodded the wound on my thigh and I steeled myself not to wince.
“Yeah, pretty much. I think that’s the one that really bled.”
“No surprise. Nicked the artery.” He poured some liquid over it, raising brows when I hissed at the sting. “Not so cocky now?”
I clenched my teeth. “Finish it.”
Without further comment, he doctored my other open injuries, then worked in some sort of liniment around them, massaging it into my aching muscles. The man had magic hands—as he knew and used from the beginning to seduce me, I realized—and gradually my body loosened, my eyes closing of their own will, though I fought to stay alert.
“Swallow this.”
I opened my eyes and wrinkled my nose at the open bottle he offered. “What is it?”
“It will help replenish your blood.”
“You should have some, then.”
“No.” His voice had that deep, eerily calm tone it did when he was supremely pissed. “You’re going to drink it all. Do it, Ursula.”
“Danu, you’re bossy all of a sudden.” I snatched the bottle, hardened my stomach because the stuff smelled truly awful, and chugged it. “You know, if we’re going to stay together, you’re going to have to accept that I’m a warrior and I’ll get hurt from time to time.”
“I accept that about you. I love that about you.” He didn’t seem any less angry. “But I’ll not let you sacrifice yourself for me. You think it’s your duty to take care of everyone else, no matter what it costs you. Not with me. Don’t ever think you have to pretend to be strong for me or hide your injuries. If we’re to stay together”—he paused, for some reason amused to throw my words back at me—“then you will let me take care of you. I insist on it.”
“Look, mercenary, you nearly died. You thrice-damned needed me to take care of you. I don’t care if it wounds your pride.”
He sighed, ran his hands over me, and tugged me onto his lap, enfolding me in the protection of his body. “It’s not pride, precious Essla. I’d just far rather die than lose you.”
“Well . . .” I trailed off, unutterably moved, remembering the dark despair of the night before. “I can understand that. When I thought you were dead, I wasn’t sure how I could go on without you.”
“I’m sorry.” His voice muffled against my hair. “I’m sorry to put you through that.”
“As well you should be. Don’t let it happen again. I’m holding you to that command.”
“I hear and obey.” He touched the backs of his finger
s to his forehead in the Elskastholrr, eyes grave. Now that I knew what it meant, the gesture drove into my heart that much more, laying me open so that I had to look away.
“Can I get dressed?”
Laughing, he let me go. “Much as I love to see you naked, it’s probably for the best.”
We were able to get Ash onto his horse without waking him by the simple expedient of Harlan lifting him into the saddle. Ami took up the other end of a long length of string tied to his wrist, to wake him should we need him, she explained.
“He sleeps through a strange warrior putting him on his horse, but a bit of string on his wrist will wake him?” Sounded highly dubious to me.
“You’d be surprised,” Ami replied, in a wry tone she’d adopted along with her newfound steel. She checked him one last time with such tender regard and care that it surprised me. The terribly scarred, hard-edged man was the last I’d have expected her to choose, the total opposite of everything Hugh had been. But perhaps that explained it all right there.
We rode hard and fast for a while, following Ami’s direction this time. She’d come to know the area quite well during their days of chasing Terin in circles. We paused fairly often, however, usually when Astar began fussing. Ami tersely informed me she had zero intention of nursing at a gallop and she’d latch the baby onto my nipple if I wanted to know how it felt. Harlan took advantage of the breaks to check my injuries and make me rest.
“I can’t imagine how I managed to rest and heal before you came along,” I grumped at him.
“Me neither,” he retorted. “It’s a wonder to me that you weren’t in worse condition when I met you than you were.”
Traveling in those frequent short bursts did have the advantage of letting us continue riding through the night, which meant we made the beach by dawn and—to my considerable relief—quite a bit farther south than where we’d turned inland a few days before. So far as I could tell, as the morning had dawned moist and foggy, obscuring most of the landmarks. I’d know more once it burned off, but perhaps we could make the cliff city within half a day. Andi had been in Terin’s hands for far too long, and it ate at me, what we’d find when we caught up to them.
“They won’t hurt her,” Harlan said, changing the dressing on my thigh. The wound looked considerably better, which at least got him off my back some. “Terin needs her.”
“That’s what I keep telling myself about Stella.” Ami looked down at a happily nursing Astar, her face showing the strain and worry she’d hidden under the saucy attitude. “I wonder if she’ll even know me when I finally have her again.”
“Of course she will. She nursed from you before we lost her. You’re her mother. She’ll know that.”
Ami shrugged a little, giving me a sad smile. “I hope so.”
I studied Ash, still asleep. “Should we wake him? Seems like he should have food and water.”
“No, he wouldn’t thank us for that.” Ami shook her head at some memory. “I did that once and he nearly took my head off. He should wake soon, though, and then he’ll be hungry and thirsty.”
“I only nearly took your head off because I figured you for a bratty spoiled princess,” Ash spoke up, opening his eyes, the green of them bright in his corrugated face. He stretched and climbed off the horse, surveying the landscape with the keen gaze of a seasoned fighter, then nodded at me. “Your Highness. Good to see you survived without my help.”
“A near thing.” Harlan stood and greeted Ash. “You should have healed Her Highness first, or instead.”
Ash sized him up in turn. “You were in no condition to give orders and she was.”
“True.” He bowed. “Then take my thanks. I owe you for my life.”
Ash’s light green eyes flashed as they flicked to me and away again. “No you don’t. The debt lies elsewhere.”
Harlan’s jaw firmed, but he simply nodded to Ash and returned to me, finishing the bandage and massaging the thigh muscle that had stiffened during the ride. “We shall discuss this further,” he said under his breath to me.
I didn’t reply. He could think what he liked. My business was my own. I’d made the agreement in extremity, yes, but I wouldn’t go back and change it, even if I could.
Ash was wolfing down some food—another good reason we headed back toward the cliff city, as our supplies were growing thin—when I caught an unusual movement in the water. Large animals cutting through the swells, sleek black hides shining through the mist. “Heads up,” I said softly, gratified that both men came on instant alert, flanking me as I stood. The Star in the hilt of my sword grew hotter as Ami moved up behind and to the side of me, squinting out at the water as she quickly strapped Astar into his carry pack on her chest.
“Stay behind us,” I told her.
“No argument there,” she muttered, but she also drew her dagger, her soft beauty sharpening with a ferocious edge.
The animal shapes disappeared and several Tala emerged from the water, standing up as if birthed from the waves. The woman in the lead, as tall as I and rangy with it, raised empty hands. “Cousins!” she called out. “Thank Moranu you’re safe. We’ve been looking for you.”
34
If the Tala woman thought we’d relax our guard at that, she was mistaken. Her cheerful smile, however, did not wane. Stopping well out of range, she bowed. “The fearsome woman with the sword must be Her Highness Ursula and the mother tiger is Princess Amelia. I’m your cousin Zynda. We’ve come to help.”
“It would have been nice to have this help you offer back when we were beset by Terin’s company and nearly killed,” I commented.
Her smile dimmed considerably. “Moranu,” she swore, taking in my bandaged thigh, visible below the pants I’d cut off to make Harlan’s doctoring easier. And less invasive. “You’re wounded. Are they still about?”
“I think we killed all the ones within reach. We haven’t been bothered again. Until now.”
“If you think to lump us with Terin and his ilk, think again. We”—she gestured to the several men and women standing in their own V formation behind her—“are loyal to Queen Andromeda.”
“And King Rayfe?”
She grinned, not in the least bothered by my icy tone. “Him, too. But the women of Salena’s line share a special bond. Beyond that, our family tends to stick together. We’ve long regretted not knowing Salena’s daughters and it’s a relief to find you well.”
“Don’t relax too much. Queen Andromeda is Terin’s captive.” I watched her closely as I said the words, looking for culpability or prior knowledge.
Instead she turned grim. “And King Rayfe?”
“Went after them. There’s no word?”
She shook her head. “We thought they must be with you still, as they had not returned. What of the royal guard?”
“Dead, missing, or changed loyalties,” I replied. “We were encircled without warning.”
“Zyr, Chalo,” she said without turning her head, and a man and woman stepped forward. They resembled Zynda, all with the long and wild black hair of the Tala, but with more deep red in it, like Andi’s, their eyes a blue so dark it nearly matched her storm gray. Cousins. We had cousins. “Check out the situation, would you?” Zynda asked.
They nodded. The man, Zyr, it seemed, smiled at me and Ami. “I hope we get to meet again, Cousins.” And he flashed into the shape of a large, sleek dog, as did the other woman. Both took off with lightning speed, following back on our trail.
“Weren’t they some sort of water animals just now?”
“Seals, yes. Most of our family boast several forms. Everyone in this group does, which is how I chose, for best advantage.” She hesitated, as if broaching a delicate subject. “You and Princess Amelia . . . cannot?”
Behind me, Ami snorted with amusement. In that, she and I understood each other. We were happy for Andi, finding her place and her magic, but neither of us felt the lack. “No, none of the four of us can. So if we’re going to the Heart of Annfwn, it won�
��t be by swimming.”
Zynda’s face darkened. “Why do you think that’s where they’ve gone?”
“Terin said as much. I believe they planned to take Andi and the infant Princess Stella there.”
She scrubbed her hands through her long hair, wringing it out with a long breath of resignation. “Ah, Terin. You fool.”
It seemed mete to accept the truce they offered, though Harlan and Ash both kept a wary eye on our new companions. After introductions, our Tala cousins changed into horses, to better keep pace with us in our race back to the cliff city. Nobody seemed to know—or, if they did, would not say—where the Heart of Annfwn was. If it could be reached only by a shape-shifter that could take multiple forms, then it must be in an environment survivable only by certain animals, not by humans. Which meant high in the air or deep in the water.
Scanning the warm, calm sea, aquamarine again under the bright midday sun, I figured water for it. Probably deep water, since different sorts of fish lived at various depths. That’s how I would hide something from shape-shifters, anyway.
Unfortunately, it would also render me and my blade worthless to Andi. The frustration ground at me, so much so that when Ami insisted on a pause to tend Astar, I growled at Harlan’s attempt to make me rest and chose to pace instead. Zynda had sent several of the cousins ahead for news and had shifted to talk with one who’d just returned in bird form. I wanted to hear for myself, except that they spoke in the Tala language. I’d have to wait for the translation, which didn’t ease my annoyance.
Harlan folded his arms, positioning himself to keep an eye on both me and the cousins. Ash had escorted Ami behind a stand of palm trees for a bit of privacy to nurse. “We could ride ahead,” he suggested. “Leave your cousins to guard Princess Amelia.”
“No.” I glanced in Ami’s direction, catching the bright glint of her hair.
“You don’t trust them?”
“Not particularly.” I sighed. “But it’s not that. It’s only that we keep getting separated and I have a bad feeling about . . .” I trailed off when he grinned at me. “Don’t give me that. I’m not thinking I’m the only one who can protect her.”
The Twelve Kingdoms Page 33