Sarah had no such compunction about keeping that part of Clara's life private. Between the serpent prince and her vile “mother” she had suffered much. He asked her now from a point of educated knowledge. He hoped to surprise her into telling him even more.
“Sarah has told me that the prince may still live.”
Clara looked up at him sharply, his golden eyes hooded in a face devoid of expression. She took a deep breath. “She has, has she?” she whispered, offering nothing.
He frowned. He had hoped that it would go easier, that the words would come.
“I do not see how this is relevant. I do not speak of my time with the prince,” she replied as evenly as possible.
“I would protect you,” he said.
“Any of the Band would,” she replied.
“Did Matthew dispatch him with finality?”
Clara looked down then met his eyes. “He was startled by the appearance of my gills. It made his blade waver.”
“Gills?”
Clara thought. “Throat slits.”
Ah, a most curious thing, that. “My blade would not have wavered.”
“You do not know what your blade would have done in the middle of battle with a female you supposed was one thing, only to find out that she was entirely something else.”
He smiled. Matthew of the Clan of Ohio was obviously something of a question amongst all the Band. Quiet and brooding, he kept to himself. But his devotion to Clara was clear to all that bothered to notice.
Edwin was noticing. It was not a successful tact to take with Clara, he could not disparage Matthew to gain her trust.
He switched his tact. “You are right, I am sure that I cannot know all.”
Her face softened at his verbal retreat and they resumed their walk. “Let us walk to the spring. You still wish to bathe?”
She nodded. “I was to meet Anna there.”
“Excellent, I shall accompany you. How many sentries do they have guard this day?”
Clara thought there were three she told him.
“More than enough. One cannot be too careful of our females.”
Clara knew this to be true. Even now her heart sped when she neared any spring. It was there that Matthew had taken her. She knew now his intent had been all mixed about with his life's experience and his newness in understanding her as a female of the select. Regardless, that was part of the fabric of her life. Her memories. Its nearness made her anxious.
Edwin stilled beside her, sensing her discomfort. “What is it?”
She shook her head, trying to clear it of the unease. “It is nothing. Sometimes, I feel ill at ease when I am at the spring.”
He frowned, taking her by the upper arms and drawing her closer. Clara gasped at his nearness, at once drowning in the physical closeness. Desperately wanting the contact and feeling intensely frightened about it.
Edwin loved the feel of the select in his arms. There was no comparison. The ordinary female of the clan was great company and of course, lust would always rear its rightful head. The truth was, his body already felt mated to her. It mattered not that she had not chosen. His body had chosen for him. His heart was slipping toward her as well. In his mind's eyes, he saw her hand the depository for his love, he held it away from her with the last of his free will.
“Please...just let me...” he bent his head to hers and Clara tried to pull away, she felt wrong with his intent hanging above her. It was too soon. But he pressed his lips to hers and as her mind told her body not to respond. She stayed stiff in his arms, the liquid fire from his point of contact on her mouth spreading through her like an open flame.
He determinedly worked his mouth over hers softly, with an urgent intensity that shattered her. She understood in some dim way that this was biology at work and she needed to fight it. Tears brimmed on her eyelashes as her arms circled his neck and they fell, staining the face that he was kissing.
Edwin felt her resistance falter just as the wetness began to soak their skin. What was this? He pulled away from her, looking down upon her swollen mouth, her lovely eyes luminescent in the gloom of the forest.
His heart fell. “Why do you cry?” he asked bending down and scooping her jaw into hands that cupped her whole head. He brushed the tears away with the pads of his thumbs, his gold eyes searching hers.
She shook her head violently, her hair falling forward like a bronze curtain. He let go of her chin and crushed her to him. “I cannot abide your sorrow. Tell me what is wrong and I will fix it.”
“It is me!” she cried. “I am a horrible female without tact, without remorse.”
Edwin smiled, putting her away just enough that he could tuck the hair behind her ears. “You are select. You are meant to respond to males of the Band. It is quite natural for you to do so.” He hugged her to him again, loving the way the smallness of her body fit so well against his larger one.
She pushed against him. “I am weak. If I were the woman that everyone thinks me to be, I would not be a wanton thing. Kissing whomever I court.” She pushed against him weakly again, her self-hate riding her body like a loathsome smell.
He took her face in his hands, looking at her intently. “Hear me, Clara.” She reluctantly looked at him, disbelief flooding her face. She was not wanting to listen, her mind made up about herself. “You are brave and fierce as the lion. Do not be other than what you are.” His eyes gazed into hers and she cried in earnest then.
Clara wanted to be just a woman. She was tired of being queen, being a select. Being savage. And foremost, she hated that she was not woman enough to shoulder it all. She thought of Evelyn and the other females that depended on her. She sighed, her breath blowing the fine wisps of hair away from her face.
She looked up at Edwin with determination, choking back the tears in her throat. This is what her father had meant when he said to rule was the hardest thing to master. She was not mastering anything well presently. She could not even command her emotions.
“I will not kiss you again unless I wish it.”
“You seemed as if you did wish it,” Edwin said with a small smile.
Clara glowered at him. “You press your advantage over me. We have not even had a Rite in which to determine your suitability as a Potential.” She huffed, crossing her arms.
Fast as a snake, Edwin clamped onto her arms and enveloped her again, giving her no time to respond he clamped down on her lips, forcing them apart. He moved one hand to the small of her back and the other to the back of her head. She held stiff for such a long time Edwin almost begged off his assault. Then slowly, she kissed him back, her hands fisting into the back of his tunic her tongue licking his bottom lip.
Clara had no warning as Matthew barreled into Edwin and they rolled into a tangle of limbs, their bodies rolling down the incline toward the spring, as she stumbled backward.
Good Guardian, what had she done? Clara stood up and ran after them, her skirt an encumbrance. She jerked it up to her knees and sprinted.
Edwin had straddled Matthew and was striking him in the face. She saw his fist strike Edwin's nose in a fierce jab that caused blood to spurt. Clara threw herself onto Edwin as Matthew's fist came forward and he checked it at the last second.
“Clara!” Matthew roared. “Stay as you lay!”
Edwin rolled on top of Clara, his arms a cage above her body as Matthew went for him. He grasped him by the shoulders, tearing him off of her. Edwin had time only to see she was stunned but unhurt before Matthew struck him in the deepest part of his gut, the breath leaving his body. Edwin used his head like a battering ram and launched himself forward. His throat slits stung with their need for oxygen just as his head connected with Matthew's torso. The Bandsman was ready and took him about the neck, further constricting his airways and wrapped them both up and threw him to the side, letting go at the last moment. Edwin rolled and as he came to a stop he watched from upside down Matthew advance on Clara, his face as thunder.
Would he hurt her?
Edwin shook his head, the air sucking into his throat slits like precious water and sprung to his feet, running to where Clara was.
Clara looked at Matthew as he threw Edwin away from his body, the muscles bulging and constricting as he did. He turned and looked at her, his face a mask of rage.
She cowered in fear. There was nothing more frightening than one of the Band when they faced you in anger.
But it was Matthew.
Matthew had come upon her kissing Edwin. She jumped to her feet and ran, the blood from Edwin covering her face. Matthew came crashing after her.
She felt his breath on her neck before his fingers bit into her shoulders and hauled her back against him. He turned her around and the rage had been replaced by concern. He searched her face and body frantically. “Did he harm you?”
What? “No, he did not!” she cried.
“Why are you covered by blood?”
“It is his blood which covers me.”
He grabbed her and pressed her into his body. “I could not have borne any harm coming to you again, Clara.”
“Nor I,” Clara said into his tunic.
Edwin came upon them. “Do you protect her or harm her, Matthew?”
Matthew turned with Clara in his arms. “I may ask you the same, Edwin. What I came upon looked as if she fought you while you laid your intentions upon her.”
Edwin shifted his gaze to Clara and she flushed a deep red. “Did you wish for my attentions, Clara?” he asked in a low voice.
Matthew looked into her eyes, begging for her to answer him in the way he wanted.
She could not. “I did not wish for his attentions.” Matthew's face lit with triumph and Edwin's expression darkened. “Nor was I able to resist him.” Clara looked down at her hands, embarrassed beyond any measure she had ever known.
“Do you not care for me?” Matthew asked. Clara looked up at his searching gaze. “You know that I do,” Clara whispered.
He looked at Edwin. “You know what it is like for a select. They are meant to respond to us. You are forcing her hand. You cannot take an unwilling female and manipulate her biology.”
Edwin's eyes narrowed on Matthew and he spit a wad of blood onto the moss. “I do not have the advantage of time with Clara. I have not rescued her, or attempted to,” he gave Matthew a look and a shadow of doubt crossed Matthew's face. “She must see that another could make her just as happy as you. And,” he tapped his head, “your captain has bowed out of the race. He has his prize in her mother.”
“Do not talk of her such!” Clara railed against him.
He looked at her. “It is the truth. The blood which pounds through your veins, does runneth in hers as well. Why do you think he responds as strongly to her as he does to you? Do not be naïve, Clara.”
“When will this be over!” Clara cried.
“When you consummate the union of your choice!” he yelled back, his composure finally slipping.
Clara's surprise shocked him and he turned to Matthew. “Have you not told her? That when a male consumes her she shall no longer feel the pull of the others?”
Matthew shook his head. “We did not want that to be a part of her choice-making. She should not be swayed by that.”
She turned on Matthew. “I do not like critical information being revealed in the eleventh hour.”
Edwin saw his chance and approached her, Matthew moving to put her behind him.
“No. Edwin is no threat to me.” She looked between them both then said, “Please leave me. I would bathe and not have the two of you within thirty horse lengths. Please leave.”
“Clara,” Edwin began.
“No,” she said with thinly veiled disgust. “You have rode a fine length of deceit. Telling me only what assisted your motives.”
Matthew smiled at him and he glared back.
“And you,” she turned to Matthew. “You must stop attacking everyone who touches me. And we will never be together if you are not completely honest with me. I need all facts. Not the ones which others think I need to know. What they think I can manage. I am queen, I must manage that which I care not to.”
She put her back to them and walked down the trail to the spring. Looking forward to a male free place in which to confer with Anna.
His eyes watched the red-haired female make her way to the pool where the female bathed and thought she must be something special for two of the Band to fight over. His eyes burned into her back and she faltered, spinning to look directly at him. His form was buried in the shadows and he did not move, he knew he remained unseen. He had a very good look at her face and found it striking. He had never seen a female like her. His throat slits flared, catching her scent.
Select, his senses translated. How he recognized the scent without having ever encountered one was a mystery.
Perhaps it was instinctual.
When he had his way with the traitorous female in the spring, he would take this one and play with her.
Savor her.
He smiled as a new plan unfolded before him.
Clara felt eyes on her and whirled around, fully anticipating Matthew or Edwin coming after her but there was nothing save the soft noises of the forest. Still, she could not stop the feeling of eyes crawling over her. She searched the trees, many with deep holes of blackness between them.
She shook her head at her unease. She was shaken by the encounter with the the males. It was only residual. She turned away, the creeping feeling clinging to her uncomfortably.
*
Anna waved when she spied Clara moving toward her. They had the spring to themselves. Actually, it had been a manipulation on Anna's part. She knew this point of the day was not used overly and thought it would be wonderful to have some feminine respite. She had grown quite fond of Clara and felt almost like herself again. The memory of the attack a black stain she had all but eradicated from her mind. She was very happy with Joseph and looked forward to her mating ceremony upon their return to the clan. She sighed. She did not look forward to the five weeks of travel which awaited them. Rowenna had made mention that they could not leave a moment past the first of October if they were to get ahead of the cooler weather. Anna shivered. It would grow fierce and she did not want to be caught outside the comfort of the clan.
Clara disrobed and Anna watched her as she moved into the water, sinking into it like a lover's waiting arms.
Anna thought Clara beautiful. In fact, Clara did not see her own beauty. She was self-conscious of her size and thought her skin too pale. But it was not. Her skin was a rich, polished ivory, it glowed like the pearls she farmed. Anna smiled. It was not so bad to be ruled by someone that was not consumed by themselves. She noticed the dried blood on her face and asked her of it.
“It is Matthew and Edwin,” Clara said and explained the interchange.
Anna smiled a knowing smile. “It is typical male behavior of the Band.”
Clara arched a brow. “Truly?”
Anna nodded. “It is like that with the females of the clan. I do not know what it would be with a select.”
“Worse, apparently,” Clara said in a droll way.
Anna passed the soap to Clara and she lathered her head into an elaborate turban on her head and Anna giggled. “You look silly.”
“Yes, I know,” Clara said. “I do so enjoy it when no one is about to see.” She looked at Anna from beneath her lashes and they burst out laughing.
They visited about her mating ceremony with Joseph and Clara listened thinking how wonderful it would be to have a clear choice and nothing weighing on it but her will. She became more relaxed as she and Anna chatted and realized it was exactly what she had needed.
They decided it was high time to get out when their fingertips were as prunes. Clara and Anna toweled off, grabbing their undergarments. Anna asked Clara to help with the loose stays which bound her breasts. Clara put her back to the forest and tied the last, unreachable tether. Anna turned and thanked her.
It
was her face that told Clara there was something to fear. A fist connected with the back of Clara's head. Stunned, she fell slowly, her image of Anna a sideways tumble, her vision blurring together.
Clara lay on her side, her head throbbing as a male who she did not recognize loomed in front of Anna. Grabbing Anna he threw her to the ground, she screamed until her throat was raw and he slapped her across the face. Blood flew and hit Clara from Anna's wound.
Rage took hold of Clara and cleared her head. She crawled to where the male tore at Anna's undergarments, his intent obvious. Clara knew he was not from any Band that she knew and instantly remembered that the male that had attacked Anna had been shunned.
Was this he?
His hands wrapped Anna's slender neck, his goal to make her unconscious and then what?
Clara got beside him and he did not notice, his fervor to rape Anna consuming him. She made her hand a weapon and gritting her teeth, she used the stiffness of her fingers and stabbed him deep in his throat slits.
She wished for salt.
She flattened her body on the moss as he screamed in agony after she tore her hand out of his gill. Her hand came away with sinew, blood and other bits covering her fingers to their first knuckle. Anna squirmed out from underneath him and ran.
Leaving Clara but a horse length away from him.
Where were the Band? Clara raged in her head, scrambling on all fours to escape. He grabbed her ankle and she kicked backward, but his hand was a vice about her, crushing it against him and she cried out. He used her foot as a tool and twisted it until she flipped over on her back. She saw his fist rear back.
It was a dark moon sailing down to her.
A crushing pain erupted at her temple and her vision tripled, narrowing to black.
Clara fell into an abyss of darkness.
CHAPTER 23
Anna burst out of the wood and saw two of the Band lay unconscious and screamed for help. Her hands and legs shook so badly she fell to the sand. The entire Band would have heard her.
The Savage Blood (Savage Series, Book 2) Page 17