She'd handed it over without the least bit of reservation. It didn't make any sense to him. How could she have given away that kind of power?
She placed her hands over his. "I understand you now. The sword speaks to the worst part of you. To the animal that wants only to consume and kill others." She looked up at him from beneath her long lashes. That open, honest look burned him. "Let go of it, Kerrigan. For once, stand here with me without the sword whispering to you."
The sword cursed him in his head and demanded he hold tight to the hilt.
Kerrigan had always listened to it.
For once, he didn't. He let go of the sword so that it fell against the stone floor, then cupped her face in his hands.
Seren trembled as Kerrigan claimed her lips. His scent invaded every part of her while he explored her mouth with his. Their breaths mingled as she ran her hands over his back.
Giddy with her victory, she pulled back so that she could hug him close.
Until her eyes fell to the floor where the sword lay.
His foot was on it.
"Kerrigan!" she castigated as she pulled away. She put her hands on her hips before she looked back up at him. "You cheated."
He offered her a wicked grin. "A man can only do so much," he said unabashedly.
She shook her head at him. "You really can't let it go, can you?"
"I spent the whole of my youth hungry and beaten, wanting and aching for things that were beyond my grimy grasp. So long as I carry Caliburn, I know that no one will ever be able to mock or belittle me again. No one."
She heard the anguish in his tone. The pain that not even the centuries could erase. "But that sword is cold comfort on a lonely night."
"There you're wrong. It comforts me on a level unimaginable."
"And I would offer you even more comfort. If you would take it. Put your weapon away, Kerrigan. For one afternoon."
She knew the sword was still whispering to him. Somehow she could hear it now.
Stepping into his arms, she embraced him again.
Kerrigan couldn't think as Seren reclaimed his lips. The taste of her mouth nourished him in a way that defied description. She pressed her body closer to his as her tongue swept against his.
He could feel her nudging the sword away from him with her foot. It should anger him, but it didn't. It only amused him. Pulling away from her, he kicked the sword up from the floor and placed it in the brackets that were embedded in the stone above the bed. It would be within arm's reach, but not in their way.
He turned back to find Seren pulling her tunic over her head to bare her body to him. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the puckered tips of her small breasts.
Using more magic than he should, he conjured a large gilded tub of hot water and placed it before the hearth.
She gasped as it appeared.
"I thought you might wish a bath," he said as he closed the distance between them to help her remove her breeches.
"Aye, thank you."
As she stepped out of them, Kerrigan paused. He was kneeling before her with his gaze level on her belly. Deep inside her, his child was already growing. His child. A tiny part of him and her…
He looked up to find her staring down at him with a tender smile on her face as she played idly in his hair. In all his life, he'd never known anything like this one quiet moment.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, fingering the frown on his brow.
"Nay." He rose up from the floor so that he could pick her up and place her into the tub.
Seren sighed as the hot water lapped against her cool skin. Kerrigan kissed her lightly on the lips as he gently stroked her breasts with his cool hand. She wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him closer to her.
His breeches melted from him an instant before he joined her in the tub.
"Careful, my lord, you're expending your strength."
"I know, but I didn't want to wait for you."
She tsked at him. "Some things are best when savored."
"And others are best when devoured."
Seren bit her lip at the wave of desire those words conjured.
He sat back in the tub, then pulled her forward to straddle his waist while he soaped a small cloth.
Seren leaned forward to nibble his chin. His whiskers scraped her lips, making them tender, and yet she loved the prickly sensation against her tongue. Nothing had ever tasted better than her demon knight. As he soaped her breasts and teased them, Seren closed her eyes and imagined what she wanted for her future.
How she wished she could keep Kerrigan with her, like this. Just the two of them.
But she knew that she couldn't, and she didn't want to think about the future right now. In the past, she'd always known her plans. To become a journeywoman who owned her own shop and to find a decent man to marry.
Now…now she didn't know what the morrow would bring. She couldn't even begin to conceive it. She would be a mother to a powerful child that she would have to protect. Seren had no idea how she would even begin to manage such a new life.
Scared, she held Kerrigan close. He was an anchor for her. He was solid and real, and at least for this moment, he was keeping her safe.
Kerrigan held Seren close as she hugged him with a fierceness that astounded him. It wasn't a sexual hold, it was one of comfort. Her cheek was pressed against his as she held him in a death grip.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm frightened, Kerrigan. I don't want anything else to change."
"Everything changes in time, Lady Mouse. It is the way of things."
She sat up with her expression imploring him. "Can't you take your powers and make it stop? Can't you find some way to lose us here in this one moment for eternity?"
How he wished. But that wasn't possible. He cupped her cheek in his hand. "Nay. Those are far beyond my abilities. I don't know of anyone who can do such a thing."
"How I wish I could," she breathed. Then she fingered his lips, her face tender as she studied his features. It was as if she were trying to commit them to memory. "You are so beautiful. Were you always like this?"
"Nay. I used to be warm." And then he realized as he spoke that for the first time in centuries, he was warm again. Warm in a way that didn't make any sense.
His heart pounding at the thought, he kissed her deeply. Her hands skimmed his body as she returned his caresses. Unable to bear the separation, he lifted her up and placed her on top of him.
Seren moaned as Kerrigan filled her with his thickness. He leaned back against the lip of the tub to stare up at her. "Take your pleasure from me, Seren."
She wasn't sure what he meant until he lifted her up ever so slightly, then slid her back down on him. She hissed at the sensation of his long, deep stroke. Taking his cue, she rode him slowly, deeply.
Seren knew how limited their time together was and it sweetened the moment all the more. For all she knew, this could well be the last time she was with him. Morgen could take them at any moment. War and necessity could force them apart.
They could even die…
She shivered in fear as she considered all the things that could happen.
Kerrigan ran his hands over her breasts as they kissed and she continued to stroke his body with hers. He didn't know why, but in her arms, nothing else seemed to matter. He didn't care that there was an army outside waiting to separate them.
Didn't care that Morgen wanted him dead or that an angry god wanted her sword back.
None of that mattered. For the first time in his life, he could see beyond himself. This wasn't just about him and his needs. It was about Seren's.
The baby's.
He didn't just want to take his pleasure from her and leave; he wanted to give it back to her in return. Closing his eyes, he savored the sensation of her breasts on his chest, the feeling of her warm, soft skin sliding against his. She nipped his lips playfully before she pulled back to smile down at him.
His heart hammered at the seductive sight o
f her. Wanting more, he lifted his hips, driving himself even deeper into her body.
Seren groaned in pleasure as Kerrigan pierced her. She lifted his hand from the water to hold it in hers. His hand was so much larger. So strong. Her hand looked almost childlike in comparison. How she wished she had beautiful hands…like a lady. But her hands showed the scars and cuts of a peasant who worked hard for a living.
Yet Kerrigan didn't seem to care about any of that. His eyes blazing, he lifted her up and pressed her back against the opposite lip of the tub. Still inside her, he knelt between her legs as he took over thrusting for her.
She let go of his hand to hold herself up in the water. With her hands braced on the side of the tub, she leaned her head back as he moved even quicker.
Kerrigan growled at the sight of Seren open and inviting. The water pooled around her breasts, the peaks of which jutted up. Unable to stand it, he leaned down to capture one in his mouth. He teased the soft nipple with his tongue as he moved in and out of her body.
Seren buried her hand in his hair an instant before her cries of ecstasy filled his ears. He smiled in satisfaction as she came for him. He watched the pleasure play across her face as he continued to ride her.
She was truly beautiful.
And then he allowed himself to find his own piece of paradise. Burying himself deep, he shivered as his body burst into a thousand spasms.
Kerrigan didn't move for several heartbeats as complete satisfaction engulfed him. This was the most perfect moment of his life, and he wondered what it would be like to have more afternoons like this. To be able to stay with a woman and not have to worry about her deceiving him or trying to take his power from him.
Seren only gave. She asked for nothing in return.
Amazed by her, he got up and carried her from the tub to the bed.
Seren smiled as Kerrigan picked up the covers and joined her in the bed. Completely content, she lay on her back while he lifted himself up on his arms to tease her lips with a playful kiss.
He pulled back to stare down at her. "I'm growing weaker, Seren." His tone was angst-ridden as he confided that to her. "I won't be able to hold the shield past tomorrow."
Her stomach clenched at the thought of what would happen to them once the shield was gone. "What will Morgen do to you?"
"You should be more worried about yourself. Morgen won't need you once that child is born and, knowing her, she won't wait until it's born. She'll most likely cut it from you the instant it's able to live on its own."
Seren sucked in her breath at what he described. Surely not even Morgen was that cruel. Was she?
She felt tears sting her eyes at the thought of never seeing her child alive. Of never holding him in her arms. "I won't be here to protect him?"
He shook his head.
Anger scorched her. How could this be, and yet she knew of their magic. Knew of Morgen's cruelty.
In the end, this wasn't just about her. "Then promise me two things. Please."
Kerrigan had never made a promise in his life to anyone. At least none that he had any intention of keeping. Most likely, he wouldn't keep these, either, but he was curious as to what she'd ask of him.
"Aye?"
"Promise me you will protect the baby for me. That you will make sure no one ever hurts him."
Her request baffled him. "Why is that so important to you?"
"Because it's what a mother does."
Kerrigan still didn't understand the request. But there was no need to deny it, either. "And what is your other request?"
"Marry me in secrecy before I show my pregnancy."
Kerrigan stared at her in complete stupefaction. That had been the last thing he'd expected her to ask. "Marry you?"
She nodded grimly. "I won't be here long enough for you to worry over and I don't expect you to honor the vows. But I want my child born in wedlock. I don't want him to be stigmatized by something he had no part in. If Morgen takes him early, no one need know that he wasn't legitimately conceived." She reached up and closed his mouth, which he hadn't realized was gaping open. "Please, Kerrigan."
He didn't know what to say to her. The last thing he wanted to tell her just then was that he wouldn't be around much longer himself. Once the child was born and lived, Morgen would kill him, too, and hand his sword over to the child to wield.
"Seren—"
She placed a finger over his lips to silence his words. "Please, Kerrigan," she repeated. "For the child who won't be able to fight for himself."
He nibbled the tip of her finger, before he pulled it away from his lips. "I won't do this for the child, Seren. But I will do it for you."
Those words brought tears to her eyes. Kerrigan stiffened as the tears fell down her face.
So his strong little mouse did indeed cry. Not for her lost freedom. Not for her sacrificed virginity…
She cried over mere words.
Before he could move, she seized him and pulled him down for a kiss that left him dizzy.
He'd never tasted anything like it, and it caused his body to stir again. Aye, if these were to be his last moments of freedom with Seren, then he wanted to spend them inside her for as long as he could.
Just as he slid his knee between her legs, a knock sounded on his door. "What?" he roared.
"I need a word with you."
Kerrigan growled in frustration at the sound of Blaise's voice. Now the mandrake made an appearance?
Now?!
The last thing he wanted was to leave this bed, but Blaise seldom made such requests. It must be important for Blaise to disturb him. "Give us a moment."
Seren kissed his cheek before she scooted out from underneath him so she could dress. Normally Kerrigan would flash himself back into his clothes. But the last thing he needed was to drain any more of his powers. He'd used enough removing their clothes.
He pulled on his breeches and then noticed that Seren held the red tunic in her hands. A slight smile hovered at the edge of her lips.
"You were wearing it?"
He nodded.
Her smile widened. "Then I hope it brings you good luck. The same luck that brought you to me."
He snorted. "I wouldn't count that as luck, mouse. More like ill fortune and madness."
"Nay," she said with a shake of her head. "It was a great day." She moved to place the tunic on the bed next to him. "I'll wait in the great hall."
Kerrigan nodded. He was trying to fasten his greave on his right leg when she opened the door to the hallway. Every time he came close to lacing it, it slipped. Holding it with his hand, he was trying to tighten the laces, which were at an awkward angle. This was a lot harder to do by himself without magic.
"Having problems?"
Kerrigan pulled the sword from the wall into his grip. "No. Why?"
"You look like you're having problems. You know, all you have to do is insert tab A into slot B and buckle or lace."
"Shut up." Kerrigan balanced the sword on his leg while he struggled with the armor.
While he worked the first one, Blaise pulled the red tunic from the bed where Seren had placed it. "Ooo, look," he said in a playful tone. "It's really soft. Red, what a different look for you, oh dark one who always wears black."
Kerrigan paused to frown at him. The mandrake was acting most peculiar. "What has gotten into you?"
There was an amused gleam in Blaise's violet eyes. "If you're so low on power that you're not even using it to dress, then I know you won't take a shot at me or choke me. I may never get another chance to taunt you again without risking bodily injury. Therefore, this has become a moral imperative."
He narrowed his gaze on the mandrake. "I really hate you."
"I know." Blaise put his arms into the tunic. "Now watch me closely. Here's how you dress. You put your arms in like this, pull it over your head, and settle it onto your body."
Kerrigan glared at the fool. He didn't know why, but the thought of Blaise wearing the tunic Seren had made for h
im moved him toward violence. "Take that off. Now."
"I don't know. I kind of like it." He batted his eyelashes at Kerrigan. "Does the color look good on me?"
"It looks like shit. Now take it off."
Blaise tsked at him.
Kerrigan picked the sword up from his knee. "You know why armies wear that color red, don't you?"
"Never knew they did."
"They do, and there's a reason for it."
"And that is?"
"It hides bloodstains." Kerrigan let fly his dagger as he spoke.
The dagger flew straight to its target…Blaise's shoulder. But instead of penetrating the fabric and wounding him as Kerrigan had intended, it stayed in place, vibrating back and forth.
Both men gaped as Blaise reached out to touch the wobbling dagger.
Kerrigan couldn't breathe. It couldn't be.
"What the hell…?" With his sword in hand, he crossed the room to pull the dagger from Blaise's shoulder. He stared at the dagger, half expecting a trick, but the dagger didn't appear damaged.
How odd…
"I knew it," Blaise said under his breath.
"Knew what?"
"Your little mouse is a Merlin."
He shook his head in denial. It wasn't possible. Originally bred from the Adoni, Merlins were always ethereally beautiful. They were powerful. Seren's beauty was inside, no doubt, but she didn't have the physical perfection of their breed. Never mind their magic.
Blaise nodded slowly. "Aye, Kerrigan. Think about it. What is able to weave a cloth so strong that no mere mortal weapon can penetrate it?"
"The Loom of Caswallan." It was one of the thirteen sacred objects that had been given to Arthur when he'd been king of Britain. Each one enchanted, those objects had given the ancient king the power he needed to rule his people and bring peace to his kingdom.
After Arthur's fall, the Penmerlin had returned the objects to the Waremerlins, who watched over them and sent them out into the world to hide them from Morgen. Since that fateful day, Morgen and their court had been trying to find the missing objects and return them to Camelot.
His sword had been one of those objects. It was why Morgen had tolerated him to live. She needed his bloodline to have full control of it.
Now another Merlin had been found, along with the object that her bloodline commanded. No wonder the prophecy had said Seren's child would be the next Penmerlin. Seren herself held those powers.
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