by K. C. May
She followed his gaze and saw the fear in Jilly’s wide blue eyes. She went to the child and put a calming hand on her shoulder.
“It’s safer for you if I leave. I’m sorry.” He headed to the door.
“Gavin, wait,” Feanna said, hurrying after him. “Children, stay here.” She glanced back at the house to make sure the children were obeying. They crowded at the window and door, watching as she and Gavin walked to the road.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come. My presence here put you and the children in danger.”
“No, that’s not true. You saved us. If you hadn’t been here, I tremble to think what would’ve happened to us.”
At the road, they stopped. He faced her, standing close. “If I ha’n’t come, they wouldn’t’ve either. Everywhere I go, beyonders come. They’re drawn to me.”
“What makes you say that? We’ve had beyonders before.”
“When was the last one?”
She rolled her eyes skyward. “About two months ago. Gavin, this wasn’t your fault.”
He searched her eyes, then lay his palm against her ear to gently stroke her cheek with his thumb. “I got to tell you something about me. There’s a lot you don’t know. A lot you need to know.”
She smiled. “I know what kind of man you are, and for now that’s all I need to know.”
Gavin’s brow rose slightly, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Then his hand slipped around behind her neck. Slowly, deliberately, he lowered his mouth to hers, maintaining eye contact until the moment their lips touched.
Feanna felt like she was falling. She closed her eyes and sank into his kiss, hungry for the warmth of his lips. They were softer than she expected, and hotter. His other arm circled her waist and clutched her body closely against his. She wrapped her arms around him, splaying one hand over his smooth, warm skin. Her fingers found and stroked the hairs on the back of his neck.
Gavin moaned softly as his mouth moved over hers, pushing her lips farther apart.
A flood of spicy warmth spilled into her most private region, radiating upward across her belly, her breasts where they pressed into his hard chest, into her arms, her neck, her face, her lips. Never had she wanted the kiss of a man like she wanted this. His tongue, soft but demanding, slipped into her mouth and sought hers. They danced together, a slow, erotic dance that surely must have been what heaven was like. Nothing she’d ever experienced before had prepared her for the intensity of what she felt now. The physical sensations set her insides on fire. The strength of his caring and the depth of respect and longing drew her in closer. The thought of ending this kiss, this delicious communion of man and woman, was excruciating. Everything she’d lost could be found here, in this moment, in their future together. This was what she’d been looking for, and now she’d found it.
Then Feanna realized she was shifting.
She jerked, stiffening. Gavin loosened his arms and pulled back with a question in his eyes. Feanna didn’t know how to explain to him what she’d done, but she was sure it was wrong. After all, those were his feelings, not hers. She’d merely stolen them and enjoyed them with him. The experience had been immensely pleasurable, certainly, but what had she felt? She pushed away from him, and reluctantly, he let her go.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I didn’t mean to... do what I did. It was wrong of me. I’m sorry.” She smoothed the front of her dress and cast an embarrassed glance at the house. The children were smiling. Tansa waved, nodding enthusiastically.
“I thought it went well. Didn’t you like it?”
“More than you know,” Feanna said softly, lowering her gaze. She fought the strong impulse to step back into his arms where, for that luxurious moment, she’d felt cherished and desired for perhaps the first time in her life. “But I shouldn’t have... It’s hard to explain.”
“Well then, I guess we both have something to confess.” Daia walked toward them leading two horses, saddled and dressed in leather armor. Iriel sat upon Gavin’s huge, dappled gray gelding wearing a smile that nearly split her face. “Look, I really need to tell you something before I go. I’m—”
Feanna put a finger across his lips. “Tell me next time. And I’ll do the same.” She went up on tiptoe and pulled his head down to place a soft kiss on his lips.
Gavin took the leather thong from around his neck and pulled it off over his head. His wooden warrant tag dangled from it. “I swore never to take this off. I want you to wear it until I come back.” He slipped it over Feanna’s head.
“Won’t you need it?” She grasped the tag in her right fist and felt his emotions almost as strongly as though she’d touched him directly — concern, regret... and affection.
He smiled. “No. I’ll tell you about it next time. Feanna, listen. If you need me for any reason — any reason — send word to the Elegance Inn in Tern and I’ll be here as fast as Golam can run.” He placed a warm, lingering kiss on her lips.
Even after he’d pulled away and gone to his horse, the feel of his lips remained.
Iriel patted Golam and waved as she backed away. Daia nodded with a pleasant smile. “Miss Feanna.”
Feanna stroked Gavin’s warrant tag where it lay against her chest, still feeling him acutely. “Miss Daia.” She put a hand on Iriel’s shoulder, and they watched as Gavin pulled on a clean shirt and donned his leather cuirass. He and Daia mounted their horses. Feanna caught her breath at the noble sight of him sitting tall in the saddle with the jeweled sword on his back. Roughened though he was, there was more to him than met the eye. Far more.
He waved at the children. When he looked back at Feanna, the expression in his eyes was intense and longing. “I’ll be back soon. I promise.” He rode away with Daia at his side.
Chapter 22
“What’s wrong?” Daia asked as they rode away. “You certainly didn’t look like a man eager to get back on the road. Is that blood on your trousers?”
“Yeh. Beyonders. Three o’them.”
Guilt stung her like a hive of bees. He could have been killed. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go there alone.”
He shot her an annoyed look. “Do I look like I lost the fight?”
True, he didn’t look like he’d fared poorly except for the fresh scars on his forearm and wrist. “Beyonder blood isn’t usually red, Gavin, so don’t pretend the fresh scars on your forearm aren’t from that beyonder attack. I’m glad you heal quickly, though.”
His face showed surprise, but he didn’t press the matter. “I think they’re drawn to me.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Wherever I go, they ain’t— aren’t far away. You heard that armsman in Tern say there’s been more beyonder attacks in the city during the last week — ever since I got there. They came through in the city square only minutes after I was at the armorsmith’s. Feanna said she ha’n’t seen a beyonder in months, but when I came, three o’them turned up — not to Rogan’s where you were but to Feanna’s where I was.”
It did strike Daia as strange that they’d encountered so many beyonders lately. Perhaps it had something to do with Gavin receiving King Arek’s magic. It was just as well they were on their way again. With evidence that Brodas Ravenkind was killing Gavin’s relatives, Daia felt a desperate need to leave Rogan’s property to keep Gavin’s location secret. That Cirang might still have been in the area concerned her.
She followed Gavin to his brother’s farm where he tried again to convince Rogan to take his family into hiding. She didn’t think a man could be more stubborn than Gavin Kinshield, but Rogan held fast to his decision to stand his ground against Ravenkind’s threat.
“You don’t want your boys growing up without their father,” Gavin said.
“We got Dona and Nasharla here. Besides, Ravenkind’s made his point. He’s hungry for power, not for blood.”
“You don’t know him,” Gavin said. “He escaped with five of us against him. The two guards won’t give you much more tha
n an early lead if he comes here. You heard Daia say she thinks one o’his spies is still in Saliria.”
By the lines in Rogan’s wrinkled forehead, the caution appeared to sink in. “Where would we go?”
“To the Elegance Inn in Tern,” Gavin said. “At least send Liera and the boys. If you want to be a fool, do it at your expense and not theirs, though they’ll be hurting without you.”
“I’ll think on it,” Rogan said.
With an exasperated sigh, Gavin shook his head. He bid his brother good-bye with a long embrace, but didn’t seem to have many more words left to say that he hadn’t already tried.
“Don’t worry, Little Brother. At the first sign that somethin’s amiss, we’ll be on the road.”
Gavin climbed back into the saddle, but the defeat was gone from his posture. In its place was the confidence of a new conviction. “I’ll be right back.” He trotted to where Dona was walking through the trees on the outskirts of Rogan’s property and returned with her, riding double on Golam’s back. Once they’d stopped and Dona had dismounted, Gavin said, “Sorry to do this, but I got to. Dona, you’re witness to this. Rogan, pack your wife and sons, make arrangements for the care o’your animals, and go to Tern. You’ll leave by nightfall tomorrow. As King o’Thendylath, I command it.” Without waiting for a response, he trotted off.
While Rogan shouted a string of curses and objections at Gavin’s back, Daia exchanged a nod with Dona to confirm she would see the king’s command carried out. She hurried to catch up to him.
The sun was high in the sky by the time they merged onto the main road leading west, though the tall pines and cedars, oaks and ash created a canopy that shaded much of their travel. Squirrels and chipmunks darted across the forest floor, and birds sang merrily from their perches above as the riders made their way toward the Lucky Inn.
“You had to do it,” Daia said. “It was for his own good.”
“Yeh. Doesn’t make it any easier, though. He’ll be plenty red about it.”
They rode on for a few hours, making light conversation. Judging from the way Gavin’s expression changed periodically from a drawn brow and mouth pinched tight to a relaxed gaze and easy smile, Daia suspected that his thoughts see-sawed between concern for his brother and his budding relationship with Feanna. Although Daia would have delighted to see one of her sisters marry the king, she didn’t truly think he would be drawn to either, especially after meeting such a lovely woman as Feanna.
“Don’t worry about Rogan,” she said. “Dona and Nasharla will see him safely to Tern. With so many Sisters around, he’ll be safe.”
“That doesn’t ease my concern for the rest o’my family. Uncles, aunts, cousins — they’re still in danger. I’ll stop and warn my aunt in Ambryce, though she took her husband’s name when she married. Ravenkind may not know of her.”
“You didn’t tell Miss Feanna where we were going, did you?“ she asked.
Gavin shook his head. “She doesn’t know anything yet, aside from I live in Tern.”
“You haven’t told her you’re the king, either?”
“I didn’t want to ruin my chances with her afore she got to know me.”
Daia thought his worries were unfounded. Women would be throwing themselves at him when they found out his bride would become Thendylath’s queen. “I doubt she would reject you for that alone.”
He shrugged.
While Feanna didn’t have the bone structure that set the standard of beauty among the nobility, she had a pleasant face and beautiful eyes. Two of her front teeth had grown in at awkward angles, but they gave her smile a certain charm that Daia was sure would resonate with the common people over whom she would rule as queen. Like Gavin, she wasn’t a perfect doll-like icon of nobility but a real person with true compassion. Both were the sorts of people Thendylath needed on the throne. “She’s a lovely lady,” Daia said.
“Yeh.” A small smile curved his lips.
She wondered if the pang she felt was jealousy toward Feanna or envy for Gavin. There was a time Daia would have liked to have a family of her own, but such things didn’t fit well into the life of a Viragon Sister. The thought of a king’s champion waddling around with a huge belly or babe suckling at her breast nearly made her chuckle aloud. No, that path was lost to Daia for good. She’d embraced her life as a swordswoman and accepted the sacrifices that went with it. “She seems kindly, what with the orphans and all.”
He regarded her with his brow drawn. “Do you have a problem with Feanna? Because if you do, I don’t want to hear—“
“I don’t have a problem with her, Gavin. Why so defensive?”
“I seen you sitting with her, measuring her with your glance. Who I court ain’t your decision to make.”
“Isn’t my decision. You misunderstand. My intention was to get to know her so I’ll be better able to champion her against anyone who attempts to dissuade you or challenge your choice. I happen to think she’s a good match for you, and I look forward to getting to know her. Did she tell you about her power?”
“Huh?”
“She tapped into my conduit when we first met. She didn’t mention it to you?”
He shook his head with his brow scrunched in thought. “She wanted to, I think. We ran out o’time.”
“Well, this morning while you were courting our future queen—”
“I never said I was going to marry her,” Gavin said.
Was that blush in his cheeks? “You didn’t have to. We all saw it the moment the two of you set eyes upon each other.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He was blushing deeply now, though he tried to hide his face.
Daia couldn’t hold back her smile. She’d never imagined Gavin Kinshield could be embarrassed about anything. “No need to be abashed, Gavin. It’s wonderful. When two people are right for each other, they know it. I’d say everyone who was in the vicinity knows it. We expected you to sweep her up and carry her off right then and there. Your sister-in-law couldn’t be more pleased.”
“No doubt.”
“Anyway, this morning I asked Rogan about any items he knew of that could be of use — things that were passed down to your father that he might have stored away.”
Gavin looked at her now, the redness fading from his face. “Did he?”
“He had a small chest tucked away with a few odds and ends, including a key. It didn’t fit the chest, and he didn’t know what it was for. It has a bit of rust on it, but it’s in fairly good condition.”
“You have it, then?”
“I do. What’s most interesting about this key is the head. It’s quite ornate.”
“I wonder if it could be for the palace.”
“That was my thought as well, but if your vision was true, then a key isn’t going to make any difference. Ritol wouldn’t have let a mere lock stand between him and King Arek’s magic.”
They stopped and dismounted to stretch their legs and let the horses graze for a moment. Daia pulled the key out of her pack and passed it to him.
“It doesn’t look familiar. Help me for a second, will you?”
Daia reached for Gavin with her conduit, felt him take the connection. His eyelids fluttered as his eyes rolled back. At first, he tugged at her with his usual gentleness, but the sensation intensified as though he couldn’t quite grasp what he was seeking and needed to pull more from her. She remembered the time Jennalia had grasped her conduit with such strength, it frightened her. She was reminded of that sensation now, like sitting on a terrified horse without reins to control its frenzied gallop. The pressure around her chest felt like a giant fist squeezing the air from her lungs. She concentrated on her breathing, deep and steady, while Gavin pulled harder. Something within her felt like it was ripping away. It was all she could do to hold on. If she let go, would she ever come back? Fear bubbled up from deep within her survival instinct. I trust him. He won’t hurt me. I trust him. She knew she had to conquer this fear to help him do what h
e needed to do, but it grew ever closer to panic. It took every bit of her will to keep from yanking herself back and shutting off the connection. A small sound, like a child’s terrified whimper, escaped her throat.
Then she was free. She gasped for breath, knowing even as she did it that her lungs had never been without air.
“I couldn’t get it,” he said. “Could be Ronor never owned this key. You awright?”
“Yes. I’m sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t give you anymore. We can try again later if you want.” Next time, she would try a little harder to feed him what he needed. After all, she would be no good to him if she couldn’t master her fear enough to grant him the very strength he needed to defeat Ritol.
Once they were mounted and on the road again, Gavin said, “Let’s talk about this fear o’bats you got.”
“No, let’s not.” She would never have confessed such a thing to him, especially knowing how he would tease her, but her nervousness had gotten the best of her one night a couple of weeks ago, and he’d managed to guess its cause.
He chuckled. “You’ve no humor.”
“I’ve plenty of humor. Let’s talk about how you lost that eyetooth.”
“Oh, that? I was at the Lucky Inn, eyeing a comely wench who just finished rebuffing a buck. So I went over and started flirting. Turns out that other buck was her husband. Hit me in the mouth with a pewter tankard.”
“Kinshield, you are so full of— tales.”
He laughed. “Know any traveling songs?”
Daia was taught to sing as a child, but she’d never enjoyed singing for an audience. “No.”
“In Tern lived a poor, starving lass,” he sang loudly. Though his voice was deep and rich, his off-key notes were cringe-worthy.
Golam nickered and shook his head.
“Set out to the fair on her ass.”
The warhorse snorted like a bull.
“She said to the donkey, in a voice that was on-key...”
Golam stretched his head out and began to squeal.
“...you’ll fetch a fine pielar, alas.”