by Isabo Kelly
Althir stepped out, using their focus on each other to move up behind the minion in silence. With Mina’s short sword, he sliced the man’s throat as smoothly and quietly as he’d killed the first minion.
When he looked up from the collapsed carcass, Mina’s eyes were wide, her nostrils flaring and her mouth slightly opened with her rapid breath. She met his gaze but didn’t bother to mouth any comments. They didn’t have time to waste.
Althir stepped over the body, took her hand and hurried toward their exit. He paused before rushing out into the night, listening for signs of ambush from outside or that the alert had been raised inside. When he was sure their exit was safe, he pulled her into the streets. They raced back toward the road Mina needed to get them to their second hiding spot.
Once well clear of the storage hold, though, Mina jerked him to a stop and pulled him into an empty building. He was about to protest, but she put her fingers over his mouth to silence him. The contact was more of a shock than any real impediment to speaking, and he couldn’t manage to form a coherent sentence even if he’d remembered what he wanted to say.
Instead, all he could think was that her fingers were warm and held that very faint but elusive scent that defined her. And that it would be very easy to pull one of her fingers into his mouth to taste her. He was surprised at how desperately he wanted that taste. He held her gaze for a long, charged few heartbeats before she finally dropped the touch.
Motioning him farther into the dark entryway, she stopped when they were well out of sight from any of the windows. He glanced around quickly, taking note that they’d ended up inside what seemed to be a house, then he focused on her again.
“There’s no one here,” she affirmed in a whisper. “I wanted to… With this detour for your weapons, we aren’t going to reach the next place I wanted us to hide before dawn. We took too long.”
When he would have commented, she raised a hand.
“I’m not complaining. We couldn’t have done that any faster with so little complication.”
He raised his brows at the “little complication” comment.
She ducked her head. “About that. Thank you. For…”
When she trailed off, he smirked. “For not letting him kill you? If I’d done that, who would watch me to make sure I didn’t turn traitor again?”
She kept her head down so he couldn’t see her expression clearly, but he did catch her slight flinch. His satisfaction with the reaction mingled with another emotion he didn’t entirely recognize in himself and so didn’t bother to analyze.
“Well. Anyway, I do thank you.” She held out a hand and finally looked up to meet his gaze. “My sword, please.”
He wanted to mock her for the “please” too but didn’t as he handed her blade back.
She sheathed it then gestured at his sword hung looped through his belt. “We’ll try to find you a scabbard in our travels. That will be too hard to get at if we find ourselves in a fight.”
He just stared.
Flicking her tongue out to wet her lips, she said, “Since we won’t make our original hiding spot, I have a backup we can head toward. It’s closer but a little out of the way given our ultimate destination.”
“Fine.”
The glint of moisture on her lips from that quick pass of her tongue captured his attention. How this woman managed to irritate and entice him all at once, he couldn’t begin to guess. But at the moment, he didn’t really care. He was too busy wondering what that full mouth of hers might taste like, and if she’d still stick her sword in his gut if he tried to kiss her. Maybe not, since he’d just saved her life. Though he suspected he’d still get a sound slap for his efforts. He smiled, just a little, certain the sting of that slap would be worth it.
She sucked in a sharp breath and his gaze dropped to her breasts. Ah, but this woman made him forget where they were, what they were doing, the fact that she hated him, that a part of him resented her. Everything that should have put a halt to his growing desire got swept away under the need to touch her. To fill his hands with her full breasts and taste the skin along her throat, searching out her sweet flavors.
He didn’t think he moved, not even to step toward her and act on his growing fantasies, but she made a sudden sound and jerked backward a few steps. He met her gaze without even an ounce of guilt for staring at her breasts or considering all the ways he’d like to taste her.
Her pulse was actually visible in her throat, and he could hear the increased speed of her breathing in the otherwise silent room. She was affected by him. That was obvious. Despite her own distrust and hate.
Maybe she wouldn’t slap him too quickly if he moved in for that kiss…
Before he could, though, she said, “We need to move. We won’t reach our new safe spot if we linger here too long.”
“Then why did we stop?”
Her expression shifted through a series of emotions he couldn’t follow before she settled her gaze on his shoulder. “I wanted to tell you about the change of plans.”
“You could have done that while we moved.”
“And I wanted to pause long enough to thank you. For…”
“Saving your life,” he finished for her, amused that she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.
“Yes. Exactly.”
“You could have said that once we reached the safe spot.”
“It needed saying sooner rather than later.” She straightened her shoulders. “Let’s move.”
Without waiting for his response, she returned to the door she’d so recently dragged him through, studied the street beyond, then slipped out into the night, leaving him to follow.
He didn’t let her get too far away before joining her. He had no intention of letting her get too far away from him for the next several days. More often than he should, he caught himself watching her rounded ass as they skirted close to the buildings and down darkened streets. He might still get slapped, maybe even end up with one of her swords in his gut, but he would have the kiss he so desperately wanted.
Sooner rather than later.
And if she didn’t kill him, he had no intention of stopping at just a kiss.
Chapter Five
Mina was so overly conscious of Althir’s gaze on her, she moved stiffly, awkwardly, feeling oddly uncomfortable in her own body. Her skin felt too tight, her clothing too confining. A jittery tingle of awareness kept her nerves so alert to his presence, it was almost pain.
She hated Althir. Hated his kind. Resented his masculine beauty that she found so hard to ignore. So why did she suddenly feel this…need? Why couldn’t her anger and hate overcome the growing twist of desire tightening in her stomach?
She didn’t even like him! He was arrogant. Rude. Presumptuous. Mean.
And he’d saved her life.
Swallowing hard around the thickness clogging her throat, she led him into the former tavern that would be their hiding spot for the day, then motioned him toward the stairs at the rear of the common room.
“Check that floor,” she murmured.
As he disappeared up the stairs, she shook her head in an attempt to clear it so she could pay attention to their surroundings.
She searched the ground floor and made sure the place hadn’t been used since her last visit. She didn’t take advantage of this particular spot very often, so it wasn’t as clean as some of her other hideouts. But the dust wasn’t thick enough to give away their presence if someone made a pass through the ground floor. From her search, it appeared no one had bothered to enter this building for some time.
Once she was confident they’d be safe for the day, she followed Althir to the second level, the floor with the rooms the former tavern owner had let out to travelers and the occasional overly drunken customer.
Althir met her at the top of the steps. She tried not to react, to give away her growing awareness of him, but he continued to stare at her with the same focus and intensity as he’d kept on her during their entire jour
ney here. And it was getting more and more difficult to breathe normally under that scrutiny.
“This floor is clear,” he said, his voice deep and quiet in the silent hallway. “Nothing but a few scurrying mice to keep us company.”
She nodded, surprised to find she couldn’t seem to speak. He was close enough she could feel his natural heat. It sparked a visceral memory of standing pressed tightly against him in the narrow gap across the street from the weapons storage building. The hard muscles of his chest had felt surprisingly wonderful against her breasts. So much so she’d wished they had less clothing separating their skin. The thought of rubbing her naked breasts over his chiseled physique left her lightheaded.
The fact that she had such thoughts about Althir humiliated her, made her feel weak and vulnerable.
If only he would stop looking at her that way! She needed time to herself, to get her head straight and purge his scent from her nostrils.
“I’ll take a room near the front of the building,” she managed to say around her dry throat. “You take a room at the rear. That way we can keep watch over more of the area. I’m not as confident of the security of this spot as I was the previous one.”
He straightened a little, seeming to loom larger and more formidable before her. She didn’t back down, even managed to return his stare, but she could tell he was about to argue with her. She just couldn’t allow him to stay anywhere near her for another day. Not if she wanted to retain her sanity.
Fortunately, she’d presented him with a valid and logical plan. Unless he wanted to put them at potential risk, he had very little room to debate her strategy.
With a slight frown and an irritated grunt, he said, “I’ll stay near the room you choose. I hear well. You won’t have to speak loudly to alert me to trouble.”
Her shoulders dipped in relief. Afraid he’d notice, she skirted around him and ducked into a room looking out over the street in front of the tavern. She went right to the window and tried to ignore the fact that he’d followed her rather than going into one of the other rooms.
When she could no longer ignore his stare, she faced him and raised a brow, trying for irritated but unaffected.
“Did you really think I would let that minion kill you?”
He asked so quietly she had trouble reading his tone. “It never crossed my mind one way or the other. Before it happened, I hadn’t thought to be in a position where you might need to save my life. During… I was too busy trying not to get killed.”
“And after? You were surprised.”
“I was relieved.”
“You were surprised.”
She huffed out an annoyed grunt. “Maybe. I still haven’t really thought about it.”
“You thought about it enough to know you wanted to thank me quickly.”
“I… I didn’t want you to think I was ungrateful for the help.”
“Why not? Why would you care?”
“Why do you? Why are you pushing this? And what does it matter? Someone saves your life, you thank them. That’s it, all there is to it. It’s done. Now go mind the back of the building. Or would you prefer a patrol sneaks up on us while we argue?”
“I’d hear them coming.”
That made her frown. “Your hearing is that good?”
“Minions are that noisy. But yes, my hearing is also that good.”
Damn. That meant he could hover in her doorway for as long as he liked and she had no real excuse to send him away.
She needed him gone. “I can’t hear that well so I need to concentrate. You’re distracting me.”
His intense stare didn’t waver but another of his very slight smiles lifted his lips. She didn’t trust that expression. There was something too…purposeful in the look. Like he knew something she didn’t and intended to act on it.
A slight shiver tickled her spine. He knew, she realized. He could tell she was having trouble controlling her attraction to him. She wanted to curse, long and colorfully, but didn’t want to give him any more information about her state than he’d already uncovered.
“Althir, go away.”
“Why are you so intent on being rid of my company? You were yesterday too.”
“Because I don’t like you well enough to keep your company.”
He actually laughed, a surprising reaction that made her cheeks heat—even more surprisingly.
“You like me much more than you want to admit.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No,” she insisted with an edge of desperation making her voice rise. She quickly swallowed back her need to screech and lowered her voice when she said, “I’m tired. I can’t rest with you around and still keep watch. You talk too damned much.”
“So I’ve been told. We still have much to discuss.”
Her temper pushed almost beyond her control, she decided to change topics. If he wanted to talk, she would learn more about what they needed to do to finish their mission. “Fine. Tell me about this vessel that holds the List.”
His brows rose sharply. “I thought you wanted me to go away.”
“I do. But you aren’t. So you may as well answer my questions.”
He moved from the doorway to the only chair in the room and turned it so he could sit facing her. She glanced around. If she wanted to sit, she’d have to take the narrow bed. The very last place she wanted to be was on a bed while alone in a room with Althir. So she remained standing by the window and turned her gaze out to the street. The rising sun covered the surrounding buildings in gentle, soft colors and darker shadows as the gas lamps winked out.
“The vessel,” she prompted when he remained silent. “You said it was bespelled, using the Sorcerers’ blood. So if one of them tried to open it, their names would be…whispered magically to the others. What if someone besides a Sorcerer tries to open it? A minion or human slave?”
“All the minions and slaves are tied by blood to a specific Sorcerer, marked as theirs. They can’t access the vessel either. They wouldn’t leave such an easy loophole in the spell.”
“What about the traitor elves? Are they…marked for a specific Sorcerer?”
“Ah,” he said. “That’s an interesting point.”
She heard the chair groan a little under his weight.
“Marking an elf would involve a Sorcerer passing some of their power to the elf. They can’t tie us the way they can humans. The necessary blood-sharing has the potential to leave a Sorcerer vulnerable to an elf because an elf can’t be completely controlled by the bond.”
“So, then, why doesn’t one of the Sorcerers get an elf to help them get the List? No blood tie to worry about.”
“For the same reason they won’t make the blood tie. They can’t control what the elf would do once the List was recovered. They certainly couldn’t trust elves who turned traitor against their own kind with the knowledge of the List, nonetheless access to it. No, trying to use an elf that way would too likely backfire. The Sorcerers are many things, but they aren’t stupid.”
She considered this new information, and what he’d told her yesterday. “But the Sorcerers have started to share their power with the traitors. Does this…form a tie?”
“You are such a clever woman,” he murmured. “As a matter of fact, it does. And if the Sorcerers have started imparting their powers to all the traitors, then not only have they formed a blood bond with them, they’ve taken care of any possibility of those elves accessing the List without all the Sorcerers learning of it.”
“Do you think they’ve started passing power for that reason? To tie the elves and protect the List?”
“I’d have to ask a Sorcerer that. If this move is to protect the List, then they’ve learned something. They suspect the List is in danger. But since very, very few know about it, and even fewer know why the Sinnale might want it, I think there’s another reason for their move. Perhaps it’s simply that they’re losing the war and they need to more securely hold the traitors to them.”<
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She nodded and tapped her fingers on her thigh. Caught up in consideration, she faced him to ask, “You haven’t said how we’ll break the spell on the vessel. Do you know what has to be done? Or are we to take the whole thing back to Sinnale territory and hope we can break the spell from there?”
His gaze was unwavering. “I know how to break the spell. As it was forged with blood, so must it be destroyed with blood.”
She raised a brow.
“A lot of blood,” he said. “And all of that blood will have to come from one individual, despite the fact that the blood of many went into making it.”
Realization sank in. “That’s why the blood ties to the servants and minions prevent the Sorcerers from using their humans to open the vessel. It’s not just a matter of being marked as a Sorcerer’s property. The blood those humans would use to get at the List is…linked with a Sorcerer.”
He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, looking almost smug.
“How much blood? You said a lot.”
“From a human? Virtually all of their blood would be required.”
“Someone has to die to open the vessel?” Her chest tightened. Who would do that? Who would they get to make the sacrifice? And how could they ask that of anyone, given what all the Sinnale had suffered during the war? “Does the council know this?”
“Not yet.”
“You never told them? Why?”
“They didn’t need to know yet.”
“But someone will… This can’t work, Althir. How could we possibly ask someone to sacrifice their life like that, even if it meant an end to the war?”
“The Sinnale people sacrifice their lives every time they go into battle. Why would this be any different? A noble way to die, as far as I can see.”
“It is different,” she murmured, though she couldn’t say how or why. It just was.
She wouldn’t want to be the one responsible for asking this sacrifice of any of their people. The worst part was she knew someone would step forward. One of her people would allow themselves to be bled to death if it meant a final end to the occupation. The very idea made her heart ache. She blinked as moisture filled her eyes and turned to face the window so Althir wouldn’t see.