Baltair pondered his response for a time, and eventually decided to confide all in Alysa, in case something happened to him. He had been trying to shake this overpowering sense of doom, but could not. If anything happened to him and to Alric, Alysa needed to know the truth so she could flee to King Bardwyn for help.
Alysa’s blue eyes grew large’ in astonishment as she listened to the news of Isobail’s travels around the land and the events at Daron’s castle. “What can we do, Baltair?” she asked. “Father is not well yet, and cannot escape her evil grasp.”
“For now, Princess Alysa, you must do and say nothing to alert anyone to our discoveries.” He told her how he planned to get Piaras to help him until the right moment came to approach King Bardwyn. “If we go to your grandfather without proof, the people might resist us. She is cunning, Alysa, and she has completely fooled too many people. You must keep your eyes and ears open. Tell me everything you see and hear, and I will do the same. Beware of Earnon, for I fear he is as dangerous as his mistress. Be careful whom you trust.”
“Dear Baltair, can things get worse? If only we could find warriors of our own to hire, honest and brave warriors whose faces are unknown here,” she said, eager to test his reaction to her plan.
“I saw a stranger near Daron’s castle following the deadly attack,” he said absently. “His garb was not of our land, and his aura was that of a powerful and mysterious warrior. He did nothing but observe the bloody battle from the cover of the forest. Perhaps he was one of the raiders, a lookout, perhaps even their leader. After the brigands left and our people returned to Daron’s castle, he mounted his golden horse and rode away. It was very strange…”
“He rode a golden charger? What was he doing there? Describe him to me, for I think I have seen him before.”
After Baltair described a man who could be no one other than Gavin, he asked, “Where have you seen him, Your Highness?”
“I saw him near the village that was attacked a while ago, during your absence. He was doing the same thing, watching silently from the woods. Later I asked Sir Beag about the stranger, and he said no one who fit his description had been in the village when they arrived. How curious that he is around at such times and remains hidden… What does it mean?”
“I do not know, but we must watch for him. It was odd, but I did not feel threatened by him. There was something special about him, but I cannot explain my perception.”
“Could he have helped those under attack if he wished to do so, Baltair?”
“Perhaps he could have slain a few raiders and saved a few peasants, but it would have cost him his life. He was wise not to intrude on such insurmountable odds. But be wary of him, too, Alysa.”
Guilt touched her because she had not told Baltair the entire truth. “If I see him again, I will be careful,” she said, “but I will try to learn more about him. If he is not a brigand, perhaps he will work for us.”
“You must not approach him!” Baltair spoke sharply. “A man like that can be dangerous. Warriors who roam other lands seeking adventures cannot be trusted, and they cunningly mislead innocent young girls. Remember your rank, your highness.”
“Do not worry about me, Baltair. Father did not birth a fool or a weakling as his heir.”
Baltair embraced her and said, “Do not speak of our talk to your father. His mind is filled with worry for you. He is angry and frustrated because he is so weak. If he thinks you are endangering yourself, his panic will increase and might compel him to act rashly.”
“We will work together, and tell no one. Father must think of nothing except getting well. Will you warn him about the food and wine?”
“I will tell him to accept nothing that does not come from Leitis’s hands. I must keep your part a secret. I will go to him with this warning now, before Earnon learns I am here and places a guard at his door against all visitors.”
As she was leaving, Alysa turned to entreat her trusted friend, “Guard your life well.”
Returning to her chambers, Alysa curled into an over-large chair. At least she had help now, someone who would allow her to assist her father, and who thought she was smart enough and brave enough to help. Consternation filled her as she pondered the things Baltair had told her, and she realized they had no choice but to battle Princess Isobail. She must tell Granmannie nothing about her work with Baltair, or the old woman would be frantic. Her father should be safe for now, with Leitis and Baltair watching over him.
Kyra sneaked to Earnon’s chamber to relate an alarming tale: Guinn had told her that Alric was out of bed today and doing nicely. Added to that news were the discovery of the server’s death days ago, the arrival home of Baltair, and the impending return of Isobail. “We must do something quickly, my love, or all is lost,” Kyra urged.
“Do not upset yourself, my beautiful lady, I will tend to Alric myself. A trusted servant cannot be replaced without time and study. You must watch Baltair with a hawk’s eye and a mole’s ear. I must know everything he does and everyone he sees. We shall delight your mother with our cunning and successes.”
“After you take care of the prince, return to my side to spend the little time we have left together.” Kyra had to make certain of her hold over the sorcerer before Isobail’s return. She began to nibble on Earnon’s neck as her hands brazenly roved his body, sparking it to fiery life. She felt his response and heard him moan.
“There is much to do, my beautiful lady, and danger of discovery,” he protested weakly, closing his eyes as he savored her touch.
“Mother will arrive tomorrow, my love. Our time is short and precious. She will keep you busy and close at hand. We will be lucky to find one hour a week to be together. Please do not deny us this last day of pleasure.” Kyra sank to her knees, parted his blue-black robe, and soon removed any resistance he had.
Alysa went riding to place a note in the tree marked by Gavin. She could not endure this mystery surrounding him any longer. No matter what she learned about him, she had to learn something. She told him it was urgent that she see him immediately, and she would check the tree for his answer each day. She started to go to Giselde’s, but changed her mind. She could tell the woman nothing at this time, and she feared Giselde would read deceit in her features.
Though Alysa did not visit Giselde, Piaras was heading in that direction. The aging knight, who trained others in the skills he could no longer carry out to his best, felt he had to inform Giselde of Baltair’s return and clever plan.
Giselde was both pleased and worried over the man’s words. If Alric was getting better, that meant he was not ingesting her herbs. She fretted that Alysa had uncovered her ruse, as her granddaughter had not visited her in a week. Then Giselde chided herself for her silly fears. After all, she had ordered Alysa to stay away from her.
Baltair’s information also told her about Isobail’s crafty and sinister behavior during her travels. Two lords had been slain and replaced with her loyal retainers, leaving only two who were known to be loyal to Alric. Piaras also revealed that Baltair had sighted a mysterious stranger near the site of the brutal attack at Lord Daron’s. Giselde realized he spoke of Gavin, and that she could expect him to return with Isobail tomorrow. She decided to leave Gavin a note, urging him to meet with her the moment he was back.
It was mid-morning when Alysa made her way back to the secret tree to check for a message from Gavin. There she discovered that the hole was empty! Her hand searched it once more and found nothing. She wondered why if Gavin had found the note, he had not responded. If he had not taken it, then who had?
Alysa leaned against the dying tree to ask herself a distressing question: Had she been discovered, or betrayed?
As her face grew moist, Gavin stepped into her line of vision. Their eyes locked searchingly, hungrily, evocatively. For a long time all they did was look at each other, as if their expressions could reveal everything inside. The dreamy aura that surrounded them was laced contrastingly with serenity and tension, angui
sh and joy, doubts and confidence. They felt like strangers, yet had never seemed closer than they were this moment—as if they had always been together, as they had been in their enchanting dreams. Neither seemed able to move or speak for a time. At first sight hearts that had begun to throb slowly, almost painfully with thick emotion, steadily increased their pace until both Gavin and Alysa feared their hearts would burst. Their throats became as constricted as their chests were, and their labored breathing could have been heard if the lovers were not so enthralled with each other. At this close proximity the warm glows that teased over their flesh rapidly burned brighter and hotter, until they seemed to fuse into one roaring blaze. Without awareness, their dreamworlds fused with reality and took control of their senses.
Of their own volition, Gavin’s hands captured her face between them, and he bent forward to kiss away her tears. His lips brushed her skin ever so lightly, causing both of them to tremble. His mouth drifted across her cheek to her ear and whispered, “Do not weep, m’love; I am here to protect you from all harm. Ask anything of me and it shall be yours.”
His gentle touch was too much for Alysa, and she flung herself into his arms. “It seems as if you have been gone forever,” she murmured against his tuniccovered chest.
Lifting her head and looking deeply into her blue eyes, he smiled and replied, “Yea, m’love, it feels that way to me. I returned as quickly as possible. I missed you and could not wait to see you again.” He drew her close and tight. He inhaled the fragrance that came from her brown hair and soft flesh, and sighed peacefully.
Alysa cuddled into his strong and compelling embrace. She loved the feel of him, the manly smell of him. She ached to have more of him. “I missed you too. I missed you terribly.”
Gavin’s mouth roved her face with sheer delight as she snuggled to his pleading body. He did not need a woman as much as he needed this particular woman. Many emotions filled him, unknown ones, conflicting ones, powerful ones, frightening ones…
Sinking to the grass, they caressed and kissed, pleading mutely for an unbridled union. At that moment’ it did not matter who they were or what was facing them. They pressed more tightly together, and their hands roamed wildly and freely. Their mouths locked and their tongues danced feverishly. They seemed to breathe, to work, to think as one, and their bodies urgently demanded to join as one.
Alysa was wearing a short over-tunic and kirtle, and both were moving upward steadily. Gavin had not removed his tunic, and her hands eased beneath it near the wide sleeves and caressed the hard muscles of his shoulders and arms. His body felt strong and sleek beneath her quivering fingers. It was intoxicating, enlivening, to touch him and stimulate him. His smooth flesh was a soft golden covering for an enticing physique which had been hardened and toned through years of training and fighting. She knew his naked body had to be splendid, and she longed to admire it with her hands and eyes as she had done in her fantasies.
Gavin’s lips traveled down her throat, sampling her flesh as they wandered about aimlessly but directly. They passed over her rumpled garments to tantalize the hardened peaks that revealed her enormous desire. As his mouth labored lovingly there, his hands journeyed lower and lower, kindling her passions to an uncontrollable wildfire. Skillfully he untied her undergarment and eased it out of his way. His hand moved beneath it and sought another peak which was ablaze with desire. As his hand absorbed the heat of her womanly domain, one finger slipped carefully and gently within her to create almost mindlessly blissful sensations.
When Alysa inhaled sharply and arched her back, the warrior’s mouth and hands strove to increase her rapture. Her right leg was trapped between his, and it could feel the height of his arousal. She could not stop herself from touching him there, causing him to groan as if simultaneously assailed with agony and ecstasy. The knowledge that she could provoke him to such painful pleasure sent her mind spinning. She did not want to halt this sensual episode, which she had craved since ‘their first meeting. Yes, she admitted honestly, since that first look and touch.
Although she was tempting him and thrilling him beyond mercy or control, Gavin knew she was an innocent. He knew he had to move slowly and tenderly, at a pace that sorely tested his self-control. He could not believe how happy he was to be taking possession of her, and wondered how he could hesitate so long before slaking his carnal hungers with her. But then he realized again that this woman was unique; she was all he needed and wanted. Somehow he must find a way to keep her forever, even if marriage between them was impossible.
Gavin’s lips claimed Alysa’s and they kissed in every way imaginable. He loosened his loincloth and tossed it aside. He moved between her thighs, pausing briefly to make certain she was willing to carry their passion to its limit. His intense gaze fused with hers as he asked huskily, “Do you want me, m’love?”
The question was simple and direct, and the love-ensnared Alysa responded likewise, “Yea.” She had to finish what her dreams did not.
Gavin sealed their mouths as he carefully pierced her maidenhead and slipped within her moist and receptive body. When he was fully inside her, he halted to allow his torrid manhood to adjust to such a blissfully devouring setting. He prayed he could master the urge to ride her wildly and freely, as she rode her energetic stallion. She had stiffened for a moment and had seemed to hold her breath, but then relaxed, and her passion had rekindled quickly. Surely that meant he had “taken her without excessive discomfort.
Soon their bodies worked in unison as Gavin guided her along this first journey to ecstasy. He knew how to give a woman great pleasure, but he tried harder to please Alysa than he had ever done with another woman. He called on all of his control and knowledge to make this the most magical moment in their lives. He could tell, from what little she knew, that Alysa was doing the same, and learning quickly.
Alysa matched Gavin’s loving pattern. She kissed him deeply, caressed him boldly, and followed his lead instinctively and willingly. She sensed an intense force building within her, a force that caused her heart to beat swiftly and her body to ache. She knew there was more to this union than the pleasures she was experiencing; she realized a blissful storm was about to break over and around and within her, and she beckoned it eagerly.
Both shuddered when the climax to their loving act began. Heat and tingles raced over their united flesh. They clung fiercely, devouring and savoring every drop of love’s nectar. They continued to labor rhythmically until every spasm subsided, leaving them limp and sated.
Gavin’s lips traced over her damp features as they leisurely returned to reality. His fingers drifted lightly over her skin as a cloud across a blue sky. He sighed peacefully, closing his eyes to press this moment into his memory. When she cuddled against him, he smiled. Their naked flesh seemed to cling together, as if reluctant to part.
Propping his elbows on either side of her head, he was careful not to pull on the wavy brown hair tumbled around her head. His eyes danced sluggishly over her serene face, where no hint of remorse or fear was visible. He warmed to the expression in her sea blue eyes, one of appeasement, trust, and… love?
Alysa’s voice asked him two questions she had asked herself not long ago, “Who are you, Gavin? Will your restless heart ever allow you to be happy in one place, with one woman?”
Fearing an untimely confrontation coming on, Gavin shifted nervously and pulled his troubled gaze from her probing one. She held silent as he pondered many things. Then his eyes returned to hers and he replied, “I am the man who has rashly stolen your heart and wits before I can make promises to you that I can keep. Each day I am near you causes my heart to calm a little more and to ache for you alone. Give me time, m’love; that is all I can say for now.”
Alysa’s eyes softened and glowed as she smiled up at him. She caressed his jawline, then allowed her fingers to wander into his tawny hair. “For now, my heart’s desire, that is all I need to hear.”
Gavin was surprised and pleased by her reaction. Sudden
ly he recalled her note. “You said it was urgent to see me. What trouble could possibly entangle one as gentle as you, sweet Thisbe?”
Alysa ignored the name he called her. “You are a warrior for hire, and I need help.”
“What kind of help, m’love?”
“Forgive me if I hesitate, for I no longer know whom I can trust,” she replied candidly. “No matter what has happened between us today, we are nearly strangers. There are so many dangers tormenting me and my land that I hardly know where or how to begin.”
Gavin remembered what Giselde had told him about Thisbe and Squire Teague, and he wondered if she was confused over which man to choose. From her point of view a future lord and knight had more to offer her than an adventurous warrior, if Princess Isobail would allow such a match. “Tell me what troubles you so, my sweet. You can trust me with your heart and life.”
“Can I, Gavin? Baltair, Prince Alric’s seneschal, saw you hiding near Lord Daron’s during the raider attack. What were you doing there, sneaking about in the forest?”
“Have you forgotten our talk and why I have remained here?” he reminded her. “I told you I was going to travel your land, observing it. How else can I decide if it is safe or wise for me to find work here? Did Baltair tell you it would have been certain death if I had tried to help them, just as it was near the village with you?”
“Yes. Still, I cannot help but wonder why you are always around when the raiders are… Or where Isobail is,” she added quietly. “You must realize how curious these episodes appear to me, and to others.”
Gavin watched her intently. Considering the trouble in this land and the short time they had known each other, he could not blame her for her doubts. Yet those feelings did not run as deeply as she imagined, which he pointed out by saying, “If you truly believed I was one of the brigands or Isobail’s hirelings, you would not be lying with me this moment, flushed with contentment. Nor would you say such things to me.”
Wild Is My Love Page 18