by Rinelle Grey
So it wasn’t about her. Brianna felt relieved and disappointed at the same time. “I will help you if I can, but that is all I can offer you.”
“So what we had together, what you said at home about staying, all that meant nothing?” Lyall demanded.
She couldn’t blame him for being angry. How could he understand? “I pretended to be dead when I left here, Lyall. When no one thought I was alive, I could ignore my responsibilities and the law. But now that I’m back, I can’t just disappear again. I’m sorry.”
“No.” Lyall strode across the tent and stopped right in front of her. “I won’t accept it. The law is on my side, our side, in this case. No one can object to our relationship.”
She refused to let his nearness intimidate her, or weaken her resolve. “And what about Mianna and Terion?”
Lyall shrugged. He actually shrugged as though it weren’t important. “I told you, I don’t care about your sister. The same situation you have here can stand. She can pretend to be married to me and still sleep with that other man on the side for all I care.”
“Do you think the village is going to accept that? It’s not that simple,” Brianna said furiously. “I will not allow it.”
“It’s not up to you.” Lyall’s words were quiet, but they shocked her nonetheless. “The law is clear.”
“Your law. Not ours,” Brianna retaliated.
“I have control of your village right now,” Lyall reminded her.
“Only because my people are scared of your magic. If I tell them the truth, that your magic won’t work inside the village walls, then we’re on even footing again.” Brianna shook with anger, half hoping he would push her so she could show him.
“You think that you’re a challenge for eighty trained soldiers, even without our magic?” Lyall said scornfully.
“Do you want to try us?” Brianna challenged. “Even if you do ultimately win, there are going to be losses. And none of that is going to help you figure out what is going on here.”
She hoped it would work, hoped Lyall hadn’t changed so much that he wouldn’t care about the loss of his men.
She was relieved to see him check. “How will you do that without admitting that you too, are a mage?”
Brianna shrugged. “I’ll just tell them I overhead you talking about it.”
Lyall stared at her for a moment, and she stared firmly back.
“So that’s how it’s going to be?” Lyall asked. “If I tell them about us, you’ll tell them about the shield?”
Brianna nodded. “I will.”
Lyall stared at her for a moment, then sighed. “Fine, if that’s the way it has to be. Just until I find out what is going on and a way to get rid of that shield. But I am not going to forget about this, Brianna. When I leave here, you’re coming with me.”
“We’ll see about that,” Brianna shot back. “I’m not a little girl who can be bullied around.”
”No, you’re my partner. For life. Nothing can change that.”
Lyall’s words shook her more than she cared to admit. What had she done? She’d had no idea, when she slept with him, that the consequences would be so far reaching. And he had neglected to tell her. He’d trapped her, essentially, even though he had known that she wasn’t ready for a commitment.
That had been the reason he’d held back for so long, knowing that he was making a huge commitment, wanting to be sure he’d made the right choice. He should have told her and given her the opportunity to make the same choice.
Would she have slept with him if she had known? Probably not. He was right, it was a bigger commitment than marriage, one she wasn’t free to make. But she couldn’t bring herself to regret it, couldn’t regret that wonderful night they’d spent together. And if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have Lylis.
She turned blindly towards the entrance to the tent, her only thought to get away from him. She needed to clear her head, and she couldn’t do it here in his presence.
Lyall caught her around the waist before she made it that far. She twisted in his arms and raised her face to glare at him, to yell at him to let her go.
His lips crushed hers before she could get a word out. Anger flared. He still thought he could just kiss her and it would all be forgotten. She raised her hands to his chest, intending to push him away, but they just wouldn’t obey her. In fact, they were itching to reach up around his neck and pull him closer. Her body craved his, even if her head didn’t want to admit it, especially when he lifted his head to stare intensely down at her.
“You are not leaving tonight. I’ve waited far too long to see you again.”
Lyall’s words shocked her out of her trance. It seemed like power had gone to his head. “Yes, I am leaving. I have people waiting for me. Let go.”
His hands didn’t loosen around her waist. If anything, they tightened, pulling her up against his hard body, making her achingly aware that he wanted her. And she wanted him.
“They can wait until the morning,” he said roughly.
“What, you think you can order me to stay with you?” Brianna demanded, using her anger to dampen the desire that coursed through you. “Have you come so far that you think your position means you can command anyone you want? Well I won’t be commanded. Let go of me!”
Her last sentence fell flat as he had released her before she even finished it. He stared at her, shock written on his face. “I didn’t mean it like that, Anna. You know I would never… force you. I thought you wanted it as much as I did. That the only thing holding you back was loyalty to your sister and your village.”
He looked so bewildered that she felt the urge to go to him and hug him. But she held herself back. “Yes, loyalty to my sister and village is what is holding me back,” she said softly. “And their loyalty to me. They look up to me to lead them. If I don’t return home soon, they will make plans to come look for me.”
Lyall shrugged. “Let them come. They won’t reach us, I can assure you. If it makes you feel better, you can tell them I kept you here against your will.”
“You underestimate how determined my people can be,” Brianna told him. “They won’t give up until I’m safely home. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, on either side. Once we reach that point, there can be no cooperation between us, no working together to find out what is going on here.”
Lyall hesitated, indecision written on his face. She could see his responsibilities warring with how much he wanted her to stay. The exact same war played out in her head. He took a step towards her and rested his hand against her cheek. It was a feather touch, barely there, but it sent eddies of feeling through her body. “Will you stay, just for a little while?”
His soft, gentle request was almost her undoing. Her body swayed towards his hand, her eyes threatened to close just so she could focus on his touch. It would be so easy just to say yes, to stay even for a little while.
“Sir,” Urster’s voice at the entrance to the tent saved her from giving in to temptation.
“What is it?” Lyall growled. His hand dropped from her cheek.
Urster eyed her knowingly. Had he interrupted them deliberately? She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or annoyed.
“Sir, I need to discuss something with you. In private,” he added.
“It can wait.” Lyall’s voice was short. His eyes were on her, not Urster.
“With respect, sir, it can’t. It’s a security issue.”
Brianna snapped around at his words. Had Mianna and Terion already planned something? Had someone been hurt? Urster’s rocky face gave no indication.
Lyall stared at the man, anger flashing in his eyes. “I think I may know what you’re talking about, and it is not an issue,” his voice was tight.
Her? Was Urster talking about her? She could have laughed at the thought. Though perhaps he had a point.
Urster was unruffled by Lyall’s murderous stare. “It’s about the barrier.”
Lyall brow furrowed, and his eyes narrowed. He stared
at Urster for a few moments, before nodding curtly. Then he looked down at Brianna, regret in his eyes. “You’d best return home. I will see you in the morning.”
As Brianna slipped out of the tent and made her way back to the village, she was aware of a keen disappointment. If Urster hadn’t interrupted them, she wasn’t sure if she could have stayed strong enough to keep Lyall at arm’s length. Her body ached with denying the need.
But it was dangerous. Lyall wasn’t the man she had left behind on Isla de Magi two years ago.
He had changed, and so had she.
16
Secrets
“This had better be good,” Lyall growled, once Brianna had left the tent, “and not just an excuse to interrupt me.”
Urster ignored his threat. “We can’t complete the barrier.”
Lyall’s eyebrows shot up. “Can’t complete it? What do you mean? Is the magic shield affecting it?”
“I don’t know, sir,” Urster said, unruffled. “We set the barrier up just outside where the magic seems to disappear, as you said, and it was working until we reached the cliffs at the back of the village. There’s a point there where it just won’t form. We can’t reach it on foot, so I don’t know if there is magic there or not.”
Lyall frowned. “Is it because of the cliffs themselves? Maybe there is something in the rocks.”
“I don’t think so, sir,” Urster said. “They seem just like ordinary stone to me, and stone shouldn’t stop the barrier.”
Lyall nodded agreement. The only thing the barrier couldn’t pass through was living tissue. But then again, he’d never heard of a way to remove magic from an area either. “Well, so long as the areas you can’t cover are impenetrable, then I don’t suppose it matters at this point. We’ll investigate more thoroughly in the morning.”
“Yes, sir,” Urster agreed.
That should have been it, their conversation was finished, but the old man didn’t leave.
Lyall sighed. “Go on, out with it.”
“You need to be careful, sir. I know you care about her, but she’s shown already that she can’t be trusted. Her presence here just indicates that she must be involved with them somehow. It is the only explanation.”
What he said made sense, even if it didn’t agree with the truth Lyall felt in his heart. He wanted to insist upon it, but to argue with Urster would only make him look careless. “I’m aware of that,” he said tightly. “But accepting her ruse gives us the chance to get closer to the villagers that gives us more chance to find out what is going on. Right now, we have no idea what’s preventing our magic working within the village, or why a community of mages have been hiding away here all this time. Once we get to the bottom of that, I can decide what to do about her.”
“You have to keep her alive,” Urster reminded him. “Without her, you’re as good as dead.”
As if Lyall needed reminding. The old woman rotting in his father’s dungeons was reminder enough. Once you were bonded, there were no other options.
He didn’t want to think about that. “Tell me about the measures you’ve taken to secure the village,” he asked instead. Talking about the security measures would keep Urster busy and hopefully make him forget about Brianna.
Unlike Lyall, who could never forget her.
*****
No one attempted to stop Brianna as she wound her way through the tents and back to the village wall, but she felt many eyes boring into her back. She shrugged, trying to remove the pressure, but it remained. She had no doubt they all knew who she was.
Was she going to be able to hide the truth from Mianna? Her sister was perceptive and the bond they shared as twins only accentuated that. Keeping her feelings about Lyall a secret, wasn’t going to be easy.
Nor would keeping Lylis a secret from Lyall.
She had been tempted to return to Isla de Magi when she had found out she was with child, sure Lyall would be just as thrilled as she was. But she couldn’t leave Mianna. Even though the trolls had stayed away since that fateful day, the reprieve was only temporary. One day they would return, and though Mianna had shown courage and bravery in the fight, she didn’t have the skills or tactics to defend the village. If Brianna left, she would be dooming them all.
And possibly the rest of the mainland. Because if they weren’t there to stop the trolls, who would?
She’d had no choice but to stay then, and she had no choice now. If only Lyall could see that.
If only her heart could.
She let herself into the quiet house. Strange that most of the lights were off. Surely Mianna hadn’t gone to bed?
“Bri, is that you?” Mianna spoke in a whisper.
“Yes, of course it’s me. Who else would it be? And why are you whispering?”
Brianna lit one of the lamps and stared around at the crowded room. Her sister, Terion and half a dozen warriors stared back at her, their faces all a picture of relief. “What’s going on?” Brianna demanded.
“We were making plans to come and rescue you!” Mianna said indignantly. “Before that monster did anything to you.”
“He’s not a monster.” The words were out of Brianna’s mouth before she could stop them.
Everyone in the room stared at her.
“He’s a human being, just like the rest of us,” she said, a little less forcefully.
“Human beings can commit atrocities as well,” Terion said quietly. “Just because he doesn’t look like a troll, doesn’t mean he is any less dangerous. I saw the way he looked at you.”
Brianna’s face heated. How could anyone miss the desire in Lyall’s eyes?
And it looked so different to all of them. They didn’t know of their past. To everyone else, it looked bad. And if they thought Lyall would hurt Brianna, then blood would be shed, one way or another. She had to deal with that before it was too late.
But how could she explain it without giving away her previous relationship with Lyall?
“He wants to get his hands on a set of twins,” she said roughly. “Just like anyone who comes here. But we’re already married, so he’s too late.” Her heart wanted to deny the words, but she ignored it.
“Not if he kills me,” Terion said softly. “That’s what he was planning on doing, right before you arrived, I’m sure of it.”
Brianna knew the truth, that Lyall had simply been trying to find out whether Terion was a mage or not. Another thing she couldn’t explain. “I won’t let that happen,” she said softly.
Her twin’s face was white. “But how can we stop him? He’s a mage, Brianna. A mage! How can we fight that?”
If she hadn’t made that deal with Lyall, she could tell Mianna that inside the village walls, Lyall was just a man like everyone else. But if she did, he would tell her sister that they had been involved.
How could Mianna understand that she had loved a mage? She didn’t see Lyall as Brianna had, as a man first, then a mage second. All she would see is the man who invaded her village and threatened her children.
And if she did see past that, then she would feel guilty for keeping Brianna from the man she loved. What was the point in putting that on her sister, when there was no way around it?
Instead she said, “He isn’t here for us. He just wants our cooperation. He’s looking for some rogue mages, and for some reason, he thinks they might be here. Once he realises they aren’t, he’ll leave, just as he has left all the other villages.”
“Mages? Here?” Mianna was surprised enough to laugh out loud. “It shouldn’t take him long enough to realise that he’s on the wrong trail. There are no mages here.”
If only she knew.
*****
Despite his tiredness, Lyall was awake early the next morning. He wanted to rush into the village just to see Brianna, but he made himself wait. He checked the troops and horses and inspected Urster’s barrier from the outside.
Urster was right, the barrier wouldn’t close over the cliffs. In the daylight however, Lyall saw somethi
ng that his commander had missed under the cover of darkness. “There’s a pass through the mountains.”
Following his pointing arm, Urster’s eyes narrowed. “So there is. Couldn’t see that last night,” he admitted. “It’s narrow and high, I’m not sure anyone could pass through it.”
“If they can, then we just might find an empty village this morning,” Lyall said grimly. The mountains had been an impenetrable barrier all the way along, it hadn’t occurred to him that there might be a break here. An assumption he should not have made, and one that might cost him not only his advantages over these mages, but Brianna as well.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Urster admitted readily.
“It wasn’t your fault. I was careless.” Lyall refused to let someone else take the blame. “Ready a dozen men, we need to find and secure that pass, if it’s not already too late.”
As he strode up to the gates, he was sure it was. If they had another way out, there was no reason for anyone in the village to stay. But everything was business as normal as he walked into the gates. A man walked by with a hoe slung over his shoulder, and two women walked to the well with empty buckets, chatting calmly.
They threw uneasy looks at Lyall and the soldiers behind him as he walked in, but no more than he was used to. He began to breathe a little easier. Perhaps the pass was less navigable than it looked.
He ordered the men to look for the pass, while he headed straight to Brianna’s house. He knocked on the door, but an answer was a long time coming. Had the few villagers remained to buy the twins more time to leave?
The door jerked open and Brianna glared at him. He was stupidly happy to see her, despite her expression. “Good morning.”
“It was,” she rejoined quickly.
He heard a gasp of indrawn breath behind her, enough to indicate that they weren’t alone. He wondered, idly, what the other person would do if he stepped up and kissed Brianna. Probably hit him over the head with a frying pan.
“Can I come in?” No, that was too civil, asking politely. The villagers were going to think him soft if he started being polite, and when they thought him soft, they were more likely to fight back and cause problems.