Lexin's Quest (Knights of Kismera Book 2)

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Lexin's Quest (Knights of Kismera Book 2) Page 20

by Tamara H Hartl


  “I’ll have two of the lasses move your things to Lord Lexin’s chambers, my lady, if it pleases you?” she questioned, already snapping fingers to several girls hovering on the outer edges of the huge room. They were off in a flash.

  Cerise glanced at Lexin who gave a slight nod. “Yes please, Estelle. I would appreciate that. Thank you,” she answered as Lexin placed an arm around her waist.

  “I have your chamber ready for you, sorceress. We just need to open the shutters to air it a bit,” Estelle said, moving toward Riordan with purpose. “Now, young man, I think Cerise’s chamber will do for you as soon as her things are removed.”

  She turned a suspicious eye to Ki and Drace. “The last young warrior brought into this house came just before a war. That would not be the case now, would it? I best be preparing if it is.”

  Ki shook her head in amusement. “No, Estelle. There is no war to be fought to my knowledge.”

  “Thank Arahtok,” she breathed. “Now Merrick, I think you need a room and a hot bath in the castle as well. You look rather worn, man.”

  Merrick began to protest but one stern look from Estelle halted any argument from him. “As you say, mistress,” he replied humbly, nodding in her direction.

  As people began to disperse, Riordan went to stand in front of the great hearth, looking up at the shields above it. One was black, emblazoned with a white dragon taking flight. The other was black as well, but a crimson lion graced it. Each bore the marks of blades, but the latter was seriously dented. To be hung as they were, they honored the warrior who had carried them, Most likely now deceased, Riordan figured.

  He felt a presence beside him and turned to see Ki’s bond mate. Riordan tipped his head slightly. “You are the Dark Lord?” he asked quietly.

  “Yes, they call me that,” he answered, looking up at the shields as well.

  “I have heard of you as far as the Burning Wood. People speak of you in whispers. They say you tamed the Lady Ki and defeated a Blood Dragon. They say you come from lands no one has heard of.”

  Riordan turned to him, nearly as tall as the darker man. He waited patiently for Drace to speak.

  Drace kept his gaze on the shields for a moment more before meeting Riordan’s gaze coolly.

  “I don’t think tamed is the word I would use to describe my relationship with Ki. Maybe mellowed, but never tamed.” Drace braced his feet apart and clasped his hands behind his back. “As to the Blood Dragon, yes, I did defeat one. That’s how my shield got so damaged,” he said, nodding in the direction of the dented one.

  “As to where I came from, that is a discussion for a long winter’s night,” Drace said, placing one hand on the hilt of his sword in a relaxed manner.

  He changed the subject. “Let Estelle spoil you. It’s one of the things she loves to do.” Drace gave a low chuckle. “I’ll show you to your room. It’s on the way to mine. The girls should be getting finished clearing Cerise’s things from it by now.”

  “Lead on, my lord. I am ready to wash away the dust of the road, and I could eat an entire bison beast,” Riordan stated as they went up the stairs.

  Drace laughed out loud at that comment. “I know that feeling well.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Sitting around a table with a nearly finished meal of bison steak and numerous vegetables and breads, Lexin completed the tale of their journey. By now he had revealed all of his mother’s crimes as well, including his parentage.

  Now he sat anticipating Ki’s reaction to his story, waiting for a violent response due to her reputation of having an explosive temper.

  Instead, she sat with a rather dazed look upon her face. “Sweet Tala,” she breathed at last. “My brother.”

  She rose to hug him and looked up into similar tawny eyes. “Then I am blessed. Another brother. His mate is with child as I have just discovered that I am as well. And the lost child of Yeager is found alive and well.”

  Ki went to Drace next. “I believe we are the most blessed clan in all the lands of Kismera, my love.”

  Drace smiled indulgently down at her. “Indeed we are.”

  Lexin was shocked at Ki’s response. “You are not upset?”

  Ki sat next to him. “If this knowledge had come to me two winters ago, I may have thought differently. I have discovered what it is to have a love that is so much a part of me that I would be devastated to lose it. Our father took solace when he was unthinking in his grief. I hope I never have to face that, but I can understand it,” she said.

  Ki paused as she chose her words. “A child has no control over a mothers’ choices. As small as my son is, I know what I do even now reflects on him as he grows to be a man. I do not wish him to look at me when he is a man grown with contempt in his eyes. But I was born into a family with good ties and much power and wealth. Our mothers were not as lucky. Perhaps that clouded your mother’s thinking.”

  Lexin placed a hand over Ki’s where it lay on his knee. “Thank you, Ki. You are repeating some of the words of others, but it means so much to hear them from you. I have always loved and respected you.”

  Drace got to his feet and disappeared into his study, reappearing moments later with a glass bottle containing an amber liquid.

  “Oh no, Drace,” Cerise said in a surprised voice.

  “Why yes, Cerise. This is a special occasion. We are celebrating tonight.” He poured a small amount in the men’s empty glasses. “For you ladies expecting, I think it best that you skip this beverage. Vashti?” he asked, pointing the bottle in her direction.

  “I will sample a bit of this...what is it called?” she asked, accepting a small portion in her empty wine glass.

  Drace straightened proudly, holding the bottle close to his chest. “This is whiskey—brought from the land of my ancestors.” He took a sip and enjoyed the burn as it made its way to his stomach.

  Vashti took a tentative sip. “Oh my word!” she gasped, her eyes watering.

  The men followed her example, but each took a larger swallow. There was a chorus of coughs and gasps.

  “By Arahtok’s Mane, brother, this is fire in a bottle,” Cearan choked out.

  Drace drained the rest of his glass. “This is some of the finest whiskey in all of Scotland,” he said. “It’ll put hair on your chest.”

  “Well then, my lord, I believe I will let you gentlemen become as hairy as you wish and I will pass on the rest,” Vashti said and rose from her chair. She bid everyone good night and left to go to her chamber.

  Ki and Cerise retired to their chambers. Lexin followed shortly after, eager to sleep with his mate in a comfortable bed for the first time in a long while. Riordan leaned forward in conversation with Drace and Cearan.

  “What is it like?” Riordan asked, his question abrupt as the three men sat in whiskey-induced relaxation.

  Drace extended the bottle in question of refill. At Riordan’s nod, he poured.

  “What is what like?” he replied, leaning back in his chair.

  “This place. These people.” Riordan took a healthy swallow of whiskey. “I guess I ask also of the responsibility of it all.”

  Drace glanced at Cearan who inclined his head slightly to indicate it was Drace’s question to answer.

  Drace thumbed back a lock of dark hair, tucking it behind his ear as he considered his answer. “That’s a tough question,” he mused, taking a sip and then balancing his glass on his knee. “I didn’t come from these lands, which you know,” he began and glanced once more at Cearan, a silent question in his eyes.

  Cearan shook his head. Nothing of Drace’s past had been passed onto Riordan.

  Drace gave the barest of nods in acknowledgement and then cleared his throat. “It was very hard at first for me—I was an outsider and an unwilling one on top of that. But I’ve come to love these people and these lands. I have had the love and the guidance of a wonderful woman.”

  He fell silent for a moment, thinking, placing his glas
s on a low table. When he spoke again, it was with a reflective tone. “I feel the weight of every decision. It is more than just having a good sword and a strong arm for others’ defense. It’s their happiness and wellbeing as well. It is not just Ki and I and our son. It’s a large number of people I never would have thought would look to me for their very existence. So yes, it’s overwhelming at times, but oh, so rewarding too.”

  Drace continued to look thoughtful as he looked at Riordan. “I guess the best answer is for you to find this out for yourself.”

  “Well said, my lord,” Cearan murmured and then rose, a bit unsteady on his feet. “I think I will retire gentlemen, if you will excuse me.”

  Riordan and Drace bid him goodnight, watching in amusement as Cearan bounced off the door frame, muttering, “Oh sorry there,” and then lurched onward.

  Drace returned his gaze to Riordan. “I can’t tell you what to expect when you meet your father, Riordan. I know that weighs on your mind. I’ve not met the man myself,” Drace said softly and then reclined once more against the back of his chair.

  “Winter will be here soon and travel to Bellmore will become hazardous,” he added. “You’re welcome to stay until spring if you wish. For that matter, you can stay as long as you like.”

  Riordan stood after setting his own glass next to Drace’s. “Thank you, my lord. I am thinking that I would stay a while to learn my new family and friends; perhaps see the countryside and your people.”

  He tugged the hem of his tunic down and squared his shoulders. “But I think delaying much will not make meeting the king…” he hesitated over his next words, …my father….” He cleared his throat. “It will not make it any easier. And perhaps I can bring him some comfort in my presence.”

  Drace stood and placed a hand on Riordan’s shoulder, squeezing companionably. He smiled. “Agreed, my lord, but you don’t have to do anything tonight but rest. Tomorrow I’ll take you around.”

  Lexin leaned on the paddock fence as he watched Drace work with the big colt he had given Lexin at its birth. Riordan stood beside him, awed by the beauty of the young horse and how quiet and well-mannered it was as it trotted around Drace in a circle.

  “Lord MacKinnon is a horse master like none other,” Lexin explained. “The only man who comes close is Cearan.”

  Riordan made a sound that Lexin interpreted as agreement while he remained intent on the young horse. He had been at Oralia for four days, and had been escorted over much of the surrounding country seeing the land and its people. It was an impressive holding.

  “I know what you wish to ask me, Lexin,” he said softly, turning to look at Lexin as Drace finished with the black colt and led it back to the stable.

  Lexin smiled in amusement. “You do, do you?”

  “You want to know when I will leave for Bellmore, I think.”

  “True, but I do not wish to hurry you,” Lexin replied. “I actually was going to make a suggestion.”

  Riordan leaned against the fence, raising an eyebrow at Lexin’s statement. “Oh? And what is that?”

  “I had thought to ride there myself and tell Yeager of your presence. I feel that I should tell him of what my mother did as well. I thought that you might like to stay here for the winter and continue to Bellmore in the spring.”

  Riordan continued to look at Lexin and a smile spread slowly across his face. “I was thinking something similar.”

  He pushed off the fence and clasped his hands behind his back, beginning to walk back to the castle. Lexin fell in step beside him.

  “I grew up thinking that Deverell was my father,” Riordan began, walking slowly, head bowed. “I knew that Yetta was not my true mother, but it made no difference for she has treated me as her own. In here…,” he moved a hand to place over his heart. “…she is my true mother.”

  Riordan came to a halt under the large tree that stood at the entrance to the kitchens. “I had friends among the Wilder elves but they were not family. They are so very different than me and Deverell.”

  He lowered his hand and turned to face Lexin. “I find myself looking forward to meeting Yeager, to know the man who sired me, but yet I find that I want to spend more time here with what I have always wanted. A big family.

  “I have watched the relationship between Lord MacKinnon and your woman. I see how the Lady Ki and Cearan are with each other. It is different than what is between parents and their children. I want to savor that for a time before I journey to Bellmore and the responsibilities that lie there.”

  Riordan’s gaze drifted toward the stables where Drace was heading in their direction, his dark head bent as he listened to a young man just beginning his training as a warrior.

  Riordan looked back at Lexin. “I feel something I did not expect to feel here,” he admitted, sounding somewhat baffled.

  “And what is that?” Lexin asked as he stepped aside for Drace to pass by.

  Drace gave Lexin a good-natured swat on the shoulder as he passed and soon disappeared inside, the youth that had been at his side veering off in the direction of the barracks.

  “That I belong. I can be myself, although at this point in my life I’m not sure just who I am for certain.” He chuckled under his breath. “I would stay for the winter, and travel to my father in the spring.”

  “Would you like me to pass on some message?”

  Riordan appeared thoughtful for a moment, brushing absently at a hair blown by the evening breeze into his eye.

  “Tell him when the grass turns green again I will make the journey to Bellmore where I hope to start a new life with my father.” He gave a sharp nod at his words, turned and vanished inside.

  Lexin let amusement tug his lips. It would be a new beginning for Riordan as well as a new beginning for himself and Cerise. He went inside to find Cerise. There was something he needed to discuss with her before he left for Bellmore. If he left in the next day or two he could make the journey and return before the weather turned.

  Lexin found Cerise in their chamber brushing her hair and dressed for the evening meal. He crossed over to where she sat on a low stool next to a table already cluttered with her feminine frippery.

  Slipping his hands on her shoulders, Lexin leaned in to nuzzle along her exposed neck. “You look beautiful tonight, ehmar. How do you feel?”

  Cerise laid the brush on the table and turned into his embrace. After a kiss that helped speed up her heart rate, she answered him. “Right now I feel absolutely wonderful.”

  Lexin moved away from her to the wash basin, pulling off his linen shirt as he went. He tossed it to a vacant chair and began to wash for dinner. He splashed water on his face and then looked up at her, beads of water on his tawny lashes. He grinned smugly at her for a moment and then his expression changed to a more serious one.

  “What?” Cerise asked, seeing the change.

  “Do not fret, my love. I just look at you and think, how is it possible to feel so much for one person? My heart overflows.”

  He dried his face and hands on a piece of cloth and came to squat in front of her.

  “I plan to ride to Bellmore to let Yeager know of our success. Do you feel well enough to travel with me?” he asked as he took her hands in between both of his.

  “Lexin, I’m pregnant, not ill,” she said with a laugh.

  “I know, ehmar, but we have only just returned and I know the trip tired you. I can make the trip in two seven-days, maybe three at the most. I would be back before winter sets in.”

  Cerise smiled down at him. “I know, but I would like to see Bellmore and meet the High King. I assume that you would introduce me.”

  Lexin stood and pulled her to her feet. “I would be happy to introduce you to King Yeager, but I must ask you something first.”

  Cerise tilted her head up to gaze at him with curiosity. “And what is that?”

  “I would ask you to be my bond mate if you will have me,” he replied. “Many have guessed
us to be mated, but a bond mate is much more.”

  “Like Drace and Ki?” Cerise asked, understanding that he was asking her to make a much deeper commitment.

  “Exactly,” he returned, gazing down into her eyes, hope reflected in his own. “I want to introduce you as my bond mate.” Suddenly he chuckled and released her.

  “What is so funny?” Cerise asked, puzzled at the amused expression he wore seconds after asking her to be his formally.

  “Something Yeager said to me just before I left there.”

  “And what was that I wonder?” Cerise mused as she moved about the room, picking up Lexin’s discarded shirt and placing it in a basket she kept for dirty clothes.

  “He told me if I wanted you and you did not feel the same that I should just take you. I believe I mentioned that I valued my life too much to do something so foolish or something to that effect.”

  Lexin turned back to her. “I do not believe you have answered me, ehmar.”

  Cerise came to him and put her arms around his waist, placing her head on his shoulder. “I can think of nothing I want more.”

  “I can think of one thing that might make you even happier. I have already spoken to Ki and Yeager about this. Once Riordan is safely arrived at Bellmore, I will no longer be Yeager’s war chief. I will return to Oralia to serve here. So to be my mate, you will not have to leave your kinsman.”

  The thought of having to live at Bellmore had crossed Cerise’s mind, worrying her more than she had realized, apparently as his words registered. She tightened her arms around him. “Thank you, Lexin.”

  He rubbed his cheek against her soft one. “This news pleases you?”

  “Oh yes, it pleases me very much.” She looked up at him. “But I would be happy anywhere so long as I’m with you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Two days later, Lexin rode once more for Bellmore, Cerise at his side. Merrick went as well along with a contingent of four other warriors from Oralia.

  In two weeks’ time of hard riding, they rode through the huge gates of the fortress of Bellmore. It was a beautiful structure of pale gray stone, built in a similar fashion to Oralia, but twice as big. It was colder here, being closer to the northern country and with many more trees. Cerise noted that in the areas surrounding the fortress, the land had been cleared and was now dormant fields of hay and crops. The fortress itself rested on a huge hill overlooking the countryside and far off northern mountains like an eagle: large, regal and capable of being a lethal entity.

 

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