lost their parents. Be gone from here. Never come back.”
“There is something I have to tell-”
“I don’t CARE! Get out of here!” Disgust filled her stomach to the brim. Disgust at herself for her lenience, and disgust at the sight of him. Morghiad would never have allowed her murderer to live, and that could only mean that she was weaker. For the first time since that morning, the creature stirred in her mind. She stamped down as hard upon it as she could with her delight that the battle was over. Perhaps Mirel had been right about her inadequacy, but Artemi could not fight any more battles today. She simply did not have the energy or will to do it. Now that her children were safe and her wolf returned, there was no point to any more fighting.
look into a space where a fireplace should be, and have no fire in it. Silar had always thought that Artemi had intended to construct one in his rooms when Gialdin was made, but had simply forgotten to do it. Not that one was needed when the buildings heated themselves, but it was odd. Even after all his years here, he still felt the absence of flames flickering within a well-tended hearth. The general glanced to the corner of the chamber, where Kalad was moping again. The boy was in his teen years now, and increasingly his attitude demonstrated his years. Though, he did have a
reasonable excuse; he had only recently read the letter from his father.
“You should go and see your mother. She’ll be missing you.”
“Why didn’t she kill him when she had the chance, or torture him?”
The wolf stirred at Kalad’s feet with the words, and then rested his grey muzzle upon his giant paws. There was no question that the animal had adopted Artemi’s youngest as his most important pup.
Silar bit down upon a sigh and went to sit before the boy. “She was thinking ahead, and she knew that Dorlunh’s death would gain her
nothing. And she does not torture people, though she thinks often of it... She also knew that Dorlunh would be there to help you out of his guilt, should you ever need it. She was thinking of the three of you.” And she’d had the problem of a missing arm to contend with. That had looked very odd until it had grown back.
Kalad frowned at the floor, his jet hair falling across his eyes. It was a little longer than Silar remembered it being on Morghiad at the same age, but the resemblance was undeniable.
“Go and see your mother, Kal. She has given up a great deal for you.”
And still she had never forgiven herself for the boy’s eisiel blood, even if it did render him invulnerable to both Blaze and pinh. She ought to have been grateful for it.
Kalad made an odd sort of huff and stood, adjusting his scabbard at his side. It always amused Silar that he wore the thing at all given his obvious dislike of any sort of sword lesson. It was clear that the pressures and expectations of his family weighed heavily upon him. “I’ll see you later, Si.”
The general gave the boy and his wolf a nod and turned his eyes back to
the blank wall. No fire. The sight made him feel cold, even if the air around him was not. He closed his eyes and thought of the kiss he had shared with Kalad’s mother five years before, a thought that always warmed him. True to form, he had ruined things - utterly destroyed them afterwards. Talia had been following him closely in just about every duty he’d taken to re-organise the moved city after the battle. One would have thought that a five-mile shift would cause few problems, but the chaos that ensued from the event was incredible. Rivers no longer flowed where they should flow, farms no
longer had the customers they required, and the city no longer had the roads to feed it. It had been a nightmare of logistics, if worth it for the battle’s outcome.
On one evening he had been dealing with a particularly irate manager of merchants, who claimed that the move had destroyed his profits. Silar had been close to telling the pompous idiot exactly where he could put his blazed profits, when Talia had stepped in with a surprisingly placatory series of words, “Be thankful for your life, Master Ozbirn. That is what Calidell’s army is here to protect, and protect it
we shall. Your business is your own affair. Perhaps you should see your exclusive, advance notice of the events to come in order to make even more money, if that is what you’re interested in.”
Master Ozbirn had twisted his mouth, and some sort of recognition had flickered in his eyes. From that moment Silar knew that the manager of merchants would be an extremely rich man, and would contribute enough taxes to keep the entirety of Gialdin fed. But he did not know what would become of Talia. Nothing about her was ever predictable. And as soon as
the merchant had departed, she had planted a kiss of her own upon Silar’s lips. Worse, Artemi had seen it happen. The general opened his eyes and stood to kick at the nearest item of furniture. Damn fate! Why was it that all of the events he could not control or foresee always seemed to be the most important!? He kicked at the chair again. The pain of it was still as fresh as the heat of his moment with his queen. Silar prepared himself to punch something, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Odd. He had not expected anyone to visit. Mentally he scanned through a list of potential
visitors, but none were immediately evident. And that could only mean one thing: the person at his door was someone unpredictable.
He walked to it, opened it and forced a smile as Talia beamed at him. “I’m back from the patrol,” she said excitedly.
A thousand different images popped into his mind from her, and he could not discern which one was more likely to occur. “Good to see you.” He managed to keep his smile fixed to its position. It wasn’t that he disliked her at all; she was just impossible to manage.
She strode into his room without waiting for an invitation, and seated herself upon the armchair that had just been receptive to his abuses. Her black-clad legs swung onto the arm and she leant nonchalantly back against the wing. “I saw something very interesting while I was in the Cadran forests, general. It’s something you would be very, very keen to know about. Can you read it from me?” She grinned at him and twirled a finger amongst her dark red hair.
More games. This woman liked her bloody games. Silar drew another chair to sit opposite and studied her
closely. Yes, she was pretty in a windswept, glass-cut sort of manner perhaps more than pretty, but not Artemi. He rubbed at the roughness on his chin, for once finding it free of stubble. A sigh escaped. It was no good. “Tell me then.”
Her smile deepened, and her eyes smouldered at him from beneath their dark eyelashes. “I don’t see why I should make it that easy for you, General Forllan.”
His insides tensed. “Where is this going, Talia?”
She flung her legs elegantly from the chair, and clambered onto the arms
of his seat. She was only a step away from straddling his lap. “Take me to your bed, and I will tell you a secret that will blow your mind.”
“I do not make deals like those.”
She ran a finger down his chest. “You will learn of my discovery in a few years, no doubt, so I have no reason to tell you of it now. But I know how much you like advance knowledge. I have that knowledge.”
He arrested her travelling hand with his own. “Perhaps I already have this knowledge.”
She raised her eyebrows, and leaned back a touch. “Oh, no. You
most certainly do not. Take me to your bed. You have nothing to lose through it.”
“As I’ve told you before, I care for your sister. Whatever you hope for – it cannot work.”
Talia tilted her head, allowing the light to catch the light sprinkling of freckles across her nose. “I know you love her, but I do not mind it. I can give you what she cannot.”
And what could he offer her? A cold heart? Endless disappointment whenever she sought pleasure? “You would be better off finding another man to make your deals with.”
“There’s no other I desire.” Her knees slipped either side of his thighs, and he could feel the warmth of her bottom on his lap.
; “I will only disappoint you, and you will be hurt.”
She shook her head slowly. “Silly man. You think you know so much about the future. Agree to my terms. You will not regret it.”
He was more than a little tempted to lift her from the chair and drop her in the hallway outside. When had he ever implied it was acceptable for her to approach him in this manner? Silar was becoming angry again. He
took a deep breath to calm himself, and met her eyes. “You really want to try this?”
Her grin widened.
“Fine then.” She would have to learn the hard way that he had nothing to offer but upset and hurt. Perhaps it would finally dissuade her from this foolish infatuation. Silar clasped his arms underneath her, and carried her through to his bedroom. Her kisses upon his neck were pleasant, but when he reached the unmade bed, he found himself confused about what to do next. He loosened his grip so that she could stand before him. “The bed...
ah, it needs the sheets doing.”
“Oh.”
Thy examined the pile of linen for a moment, contemplating the work that needed to be done. At length, Silar made his move. “Just wait there while I... while I sort this out.” He set about placing the under-sheet across the mattress and moved the pillows to the correct positions. And he hated wrinkles in the sheets. There had to be none of those... He looked up at Talia, who wore a very strange expression.
She did not comment, however, and set about aiding him in his work. As they pulled the second sheet of pure white across the bed, Silar paused. What was he doing? When had he ever bothered about the blazed state of a bed when there was a woman in it? He dared not admit his thoughts, however, and instead went to Talia to begin removing her clothing. The coat and boots came off her easily enough, but the bodice beneath was a nightmare. His fingers rapidly became entangled in the lacing.
She blinked wide-eyed at his ineptitude, and began undoing the clothing with her considerably more deft hands.
At least he was capable of
undressing himself. The general removed his coat and hauled off his boots, but a third disaster hit. He became trapped in his shirt. Bloody blazes! When had he become such a clumsy oaf? A bemused-looking Talia was there to help him remove it. She invited him for more kisses, and soon they lay beside each other on the halfmade bed. But, yet again, not much stirred for Silar, and he knew how it would end. How many times had he seen that expression on a woman’s face: somewhere between pity and offense. It’s not you, he’d have to explain, and she would claim she
understood. And then she would promptly leave.
But Talia refused to do any such thing. “It’s time you stopped forcing your own fate, and allowed me to take charge,” she whispered. “Tell me what you like.”
He traced his fingers over her body, which he could find no fault in, and he thought. “Say dirty things to me.”
“Oh, things like... I’ll make you beg for mercy, and plead for escape?”
Silar mulled the words over in his mind. No. Nothing at all.
She clambered on top of him. “I
am going to force you to – no...” she smiled and tilted her head. The woman seemed to be measuring him again. “You cannot have me tonight.”
“What?”
“I will entertain you, tease you and lie here with you. But you are not permitted to do anything more with me.”
“But... I thought you wanted – I thought this was what you-”
Talia leaned forward so that her breasts pressed against his chest. They did feel rather good there. “You will still have the news I bring for you, but you will not have me.”
Not have her? After all this embarrassment? And she thought to deny him his pleasure? That was not... it was not... his thoughts began to lose focus as something else happened. Need, desire and hunger awoke within him as if aroused from some eternal sleep. In those short seconds he had become very, very hard indeed. “We’ll see about that,” he muttered, and rolled their knotted bodies over so that he was the one with control.
In spite of her protestations of modesty, Talia gave in to his demands before he became wound into an insensible frenzy, and all awkwardness
was gone. In a few short moments he quite forgot that he had been without female company across so many decades, and he utterly forgot every mission she had ventured upon to irritate him. Instead he reclaimed a part of himself that had long ago desired nothing more than to seek pleasure. Talia was beautiful, and sleeping with her was more than exquisite.
His arms kept hold of her until the morning, when golden summer sun bore in through the windows, and the rumpled sheets caught the light with their glittering fibres. The sight of the effervescence mixing around their
bodies made him smile. Talia’s light blue eyes fluttered open while he watched.
“You’re still here.”
“Did you think I would leave?”
She read his face momentarily. “You’re a busy man.”
“Staying here was a better use of my time.”
Talia’s smile was radiant, as brilliant as the sun that washed across them both. It was a happy sight for him, and also infuriating. There was simply no telling what she would do or say next. She rolled onto her back and stretched her arms out. “I have decided that you are not ready for my great secret yet.”
“Oh?” For some reason, Silar found himself struggling to care about that part of their deal.
“No. And especially not when I told you that nothing more than kisses would be permitted last night, but you decided to take more from me, anyway. That was very bad of you.”
He grinned. “You didn’t complain.”
“No.” She frowned at the ceiling. “Well, there is only one solution: punishment.”
“Punishment?”
Her eyes lit with excitement, and she sat up to address him. “Yes. Stay there.” She hopped off the bed with the nimble legs of an assassin.
Silar did as he was told, and presently Talia returned with several of his belts. He blinked in surprise. “Ah... what...?”
His new lover proceeded to tie each of his limbs to the four spears at the corners of the bed, and tightened the straps firmly with simple knots beyond his reach. He was snared, if not unpleasantly so. At first he had expected her to tease him, or perform some other sexually entertaining act,
but instead she went to her clothes and began dressing herself. His brow creased in puzzlement as he watched. “Talia?”
She finished lacing her bodice and shrugged into her coat with a wry smile. “You will stay there today. I have a training session to attend.” And with that she strode swiftly from his rooms.
The general was confused. Did Talia desire him or not? He wriggled in his restraints and waited. No one came back through the door. Another thirty minutes passed, and Silar began to worry. Had this all been a game to
humiliate him? He pulled at his arm ties. They were tight, and impossible to undo. If he strained, he could probably crack one of the spears, but he did not especially want to break his bed. He waited again, and thought carefully about his situation. No matter how he turned it about in his head, he could not work out Talia’s intentions towards him. Unmanageable woman!
The sound of an opening door in the next room reached his ears, and relief flooded into him. Finally! “At least you’ve decided to return-”
The redhead who walked into his bedchamber was not Talia. Silar felt his cheeks colouring to fierce shades of crimson and scarlet.
Artemi folded her arms and raised her eyebrows. She leaned back against the door jamb quite nonchalantly. “You’re late for your duty, general. I had become concerned about you.”
His words were barely a whisper. “Would you release me, please?” Humiliated. This had to have been Talia’s plan.
The queen seemed to be mulling over his request incredibly slowly. After an inordinately long pause, she approached the bed. “I won’t ask who
did this to you, but rest assured that I shall re
mind you of this for the rest of the millennium.” Her serious face spread to a grin, and she leaned across to untie his left wrist. A soft wave of her scent reached him as she did: wisp root and some other perfume. Oh, now was not the time to become amorous again. He was far too embarrassed for that!
His arms ached as soon as they were released, but he found better employment for them in concealing his modesty. Bloody, blasted D’Avrohans! What was he to say to her?
“I’ll wait through there while
you... tidy yourself up, Lord-General Forllan.” Her tone was far from reverent but, true to her word, she marched coolly from the room.
Silar worked quickly to undo the belts at his feet, and even faster to pull his clothing on. In a matter of moments he was dressed, unshaven and ashamed before his queen. “Let’s go,” he muttered, and they left the room to make for the castle’s offices.
The journey was completed in utter silence while Silar considered his new problem. Talia had awoken his desire like a lightning bolt splitting open an ancient rock, and she had given him
The Fireblade Array: 4-Book Bundle Page 122