LadySmith

by Rhavensfyre

  “Please?” He held out his hand, grasping at the air above him in one last, lonely attempt to save himself.

  “No.” White teeth and blue flames flashed into scorching pain. His screams lasted long after his voice gave out, but no one heard a sound in the waking world.

  Leaving behind a shredded soul and a harmless mind, Alex ran into the night. She had to find Rohanna.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Rohanna woke up in an altogether too familiar place, surrounded by the sweet smell of hay and horses

  “Christ, how many barns am I going to wake up in?” She plucked a few pieces of dusty hay from her hair and then sneezed. Standing up a bit unsteadily, she brushed the worst of the dust off of her, then climbed down from the hayloft attached to the main barn. The aisle was brightly lit, but even that light couldn’t bite far into the night. It pressed through the wide entranceway at the end of the barn, thick and oppressive and not the least bit inviting to venture out into.

  “Can this night get any stranger?” Rohanna asked, her voice echoing hollowly in the cavernous building. A few nervous nickers answered her, their muted timber suited to the late hour. The horses were wiser than she. They knew better than to invite attention from things that hunted at night. She shivered against the feeling of déjà vu as remnants of her nightmare started to trickle through. The night had been strange enough as it was, why would she invite more strangeness into it?

  Rohanna shook her head ruefully. This was the second time she had dreamed about Alex. She couldn’t seem to shake her attraction to the tall blacksmith, not even in her sleep. “So real.” Rohanna spoke aloud, brushing her hands down the front of her body. Her breasts felt full, her nipples sensitive and raw against the smooth fabric of her bra. She couldn’t ignore what her body was telling her. Had she really met with Alex for dinner last night? If she had, then what about the rest of the night?

  The lines between dream and reality blurred for a moment, sending Rohanna to her knees.

  “No, no, no,” Rohanna cried out, refusing to accept her memories as true ones. Crouching in the dirt, she held her hands in her head and squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could. Her mind stumbled and tripped through the jumble of images crowding her vision as she tried to make sense of things that made none and offered no logical explanation.

  Something warm snuffled against her ear. Rohanna squeaked and fell back, awkwardly landing on her backside. She scrambled back, crablike, away from the shadow standing over her. Her heart climbed up into her throat, suffocating the startled scream that tried to escape. She looked up, then started laughing uncontrollably.

  Ro recognized her laughter for what it was. It was that maniacal sort of laugh you do after something scares the crap out of you and then you realize that there wasn’t anything to be afraid of in the first place. Ro scrambled to her feet, then took a few deeps breaths to calm down. A tall black horse stood in front of her, watching her compose herself. It took a little longer than she expected. She was jumpy as hell tonight, and her nerves felt as tattered and frayed as an old horse blanket. Only when she was sure she was done giggling like an idiot and jumping at every sound did she approach the strange horse. It was rule number one in her book. Never approach a horse with fear or anger in your heart.

  “Now, what are you doing loose and running about, eh?” Rohanna asked, stepping sideways to get a better look at the mare. Pitch black and without a single white marking, the horse was impressively muscled and tall, almost a good seventeen hands. The elegant head and mane made her think of the Friesian breed, but she lacked the feathering and draft like thickness she associated with them. Some kind of warm blood, then? Ro thought, comfortably falling back into more familiar territory. She didn’t know and she certainly would have noticed such an impressive animal out on the field yesterday. She made poor Galileo look absolutely plain in comparison.

  Throughout Ro’s examination, the black mare stood there, watching her without attempting to move away.

  “As weird as tonight has been, I wonder?” Rohanna reached out to touch the black hide, stroking the velvet fur along her neck. The horse arched its neck and stomped one hoof softly, then went completely still. “I wonder who you belong to. You are beautiful.”

  Rohanna sighed. She would have loved to ride such an impressive creature.

  As if on cue, the tall horse bent its knee and bowed its head, lowering the front half of its body in invitation. The soft brown eye rolled back and looked directly at her, as if waiting for her to mount. Rohanna’s jaw dropped.

  “Okay, that answers one question,” she whispered. She must still be dreaming. A dream horse in a dream world had no owner—she was free to ride if she wanted to. Jumping onto the broad back, she had just enough time to tangle her hands into the thick mane before the mare surged upright.

  The mare snorted once, her unshod hooves struck the ground, sparking like flint on steel before leaping into the night, taking Rohanna for a wild ride through the fairgrounds before taking an even bigger leap. With nothing but the sky and stars to guide them, she urged the black mare on. The wind whipped past them as they thundered along paths that blurred into so many pinpoint lights she couldn’t say whether they were galloping along a marked path or The Milky Way arcing across the blue-black sky. She couldn’t see much past the tears streaming across her cheeks, but she couldn’t break the sensation that they were travelling at a great height. The air was too cold and crisp for a summer night, and she tucked closer to the mare to borrow some of her body heat.

  Finally, Rohanna had enough.

  “Enough!” she called out, and the horse slowed to a trot, then a walk. They stopped on a sandy hill by a small stream. Rohanna slid down off the mare and looked around. A full moon sat low on the horizon. In stark relief, large upright shapes loomed nearby, their height seeking the moon above them. As her eyes adjusted to the moonlight, her heart skipped a beat.

  They were at the stone circle on her farm. But here and now, in her dream—the stones stood tall and proud and three times the size they were supposed to be.

  “Well now, since it’s my dream, they can look anyway I want them to, can’t they?” she asked herself, bravely marching up to the stone circle. She fingered the Faerie stone around her neck. This was the place she had found it, and she had nothing to fear here. She caressed the stone, standing in the shadow of the gateway just as she had so many years ago. The stone grew hot beneath her touch. Like a living being, it thrummed with energy. Her palm started to tingle, and then burn. The moon dimmed and pulsed, fading into the background as the stones around her drew in the light until they glowed.

  “Beautiful,” Rohanna whispered in awe as electric blue-white light made its way around the circle until it found her. Her head snapped back with the power that raced up her arm and through her body. She snatched her hand away from the stone and the light vanished. Vigorously rubbing her arm, she backed away from the stone circle and ran into something solid. It was the black mare. The comforting presence of a horse, dream one or otherwise, calmed her. She pressed her forehead against the warm hide and took a deep breath in, expecting the familiar scent of horse and hay or perhaps, this being a dream…no scent at all. What she didn’t expect was a newly familiar scent of sandlewood and cinnamon. Pushing away from the mare, Ro backed a step away and almost stumbled on the rough ground behind her.

  “Alex?” she stuttered. The mare’s head swung around and faced her, blue on blue eyes blazing at her, the same blue-white blaze that had stolen the light of the moon.

  ***

  “Alex?” Rohanna struggled in Alex’s arms.

  It was early morning and the pale pre-dawn light was trying to find its way inside. Alex was curled up behind Ro, holding her in an intimate embrace. The tangled blankets had slipped from Alex’s upper body, exposing her bare skin to the morning chill. She barely felt it; in fact, she was lending her warmth to Rohanna.

  “Shhh,” Alex whispered in her ear, stroking her arm to r
eassure her. “I didn’t want to wake you, but you were calling out in your sleep.”

  “In my sleep? I was dreaming?” Rohanna twisted her upper body to look at Alex.

  “I was just dreaming.” Relief flashed in her eyes a second before she smiled. Alex’s pulse quickened at the drowsy, half-lidded gaze of the woman smiling up at her. She almost chuckled. With all the strangeness of the night, and all that she had learned, all it took was a look and a smile to refocus her energies back on the physical. Even tousled and half asleep, Rohanna was a difficult woman to resist.

  She dropped her gaze down to Rohanna’s lips before looking back up, directly into Rohanna’s eyes. She was willing to believe her, the look in her eyes said so...but it pained Alex to keep the lie going.

  “But I’m not dreaming now?” Ro asked, running one tentative finger down Alex’s cheek before tracing her lower lip. Alex captured the errant digit between her lips, sucking it gently before releasing it.

  “No, you are definitely not dreaming now,” Alex said. Her lips found the sensitive skin at Rohanna’s neck and traced a hot line of kisses along her shoulder. Pressing her forehead against the bed, Rohanna moaned in the most delightful way, her body moving restlessly beneath Alex as she continued her campaign. Alex was intent on igniting Rohanna’s passion. She continued to plant tantalizing kisses along Rohanna’s back and didn’t stop until she reached Rohanna’s backside, licking along the soft curve of her spine and teasing the firm flesh of her buttocks with her teeth. Rohanna squirmed under her touch, then cried out when Alex reached between her thighs and found her already wet and ready for her. “Fuck,” Alex growled, not expecting her to be so primed. She changed her mind and changed direction, even though her mouth watered at the thought of her tongue gliding through such sweet nectar. Curling up behind her, she wrapped her free arm around Rohanna’s waist before slipping her fingers inside. She loved this position, taking a willing woman from behind like this, feeling her move against her without being able to see their face. Her only guide was how they moved against her and the sounds they made. It made it more intimate and decidedly more exciting, learning to read a lover this way.

  Her lips and teeth found Rohanna’s flesh, tasting salt and desire. The added pain was a goad that sent Rohanna into a frenzy. The response was immediate. Rohanna whimpered, spreading her legs a bit wider to allow Alex more access.

  “Oh God, Alex,” she sobbed, her breath going ragged. “More.”

  She rolled her hips onto Alex’s fingers with each deep thrust. Alex curled around her, trying to ignore what Rohanna was doing to her with each backward thrust. It didn’t matter. When Rohanna threw her head back, crying out in ecstasy, Alex found herself thundering along the same wild path as the woman writhing against her.

  A few minutes later, Rohanna stirred against her. Alex kissed sweat dampened hair and carefully withdrew her hand. “Are you okay?”

  “Mm. More than okay. Starved, though.”

  Alex smirked. “I’m afraid dinner is done for.” There was no saving the meal she had planned last night. All of her hard work had shriveled into barely recognizable blobs of charcoal after being left on the coals while other appetites had been explored. It was a fair trade, and one for which she would gladly miss any meal for.

  Rohanna blushed when she saw Alex’s face, then coughed. “Um, I…”

  “You’re cute when you blush like that,” Alex teased her, then threw off the blankets and rolled out of bed. “I’ll find us something to eat…and drink. I’m sure you’re parched after last night.”

  Rohanna’s blush managed to deepen to a lovely shade of pinkish red and she had to look away from Alex’s backside before she disappeared into other parts of the trailer.

  She was more than thirsty…and no wonder. She felt like every ounce of moisture in her body had been drawn out of her in a haze of passion. She shivered, not because she was cold, but because her body kept reminding her of how everything that happened last night-and this morning-felt.

  “It’s getting late. Don’t you have to be at your booth soon?” Rohanna asked as soon as Alex returned from the small kitchen at the front of the trailer.

  “No, I don’t have a forging demonstration until later. And you? Are you showing Galileo this morning?” Alex handed Rohanna a cup of coffee then rejoined her in the bed. Rohanna had managed to salvage one of the blankets from the tangled mess on the floor, and was now sitting up in the bed with the woven fabric tucked around her.

  “No, my practice hour in the arena isn’t until noon. I do have to swing by the stallion showcase as some point, but that can be anytime this afternoon.”

  “And Shyann? Won’t she be worried about you?”

  “If anything, she’d probably be thrilled that I finally jumped into bed with someone.”

  “Oh?” Alex raised an inquiring eyebrow. Just not me, I bet.

  Rohanna’s pale cheeks flamed a lovely shade of pink almost instantly and she buried her face in her coffee.

  “I’ve embarrassed you.”

  “No, not at all. I…” Rohanna started, then stopped to lick her lips. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I have to admit, this isn’t like me.” Rohanna waved her hand between them, taking in the room, the disheveled sheets, everything.

  “I don’t understand. What isn’t you?” Alex asked.

  “I asked you what was happening between us, last night. I had a reason. I’m not usually so out of control, not with anyone, not for anyone. It isn’t me.” Rohanna licked her lips again before repeating the oft practiced excuses she had for everything, only this morning they didn’t sit well on her tongue. “I have responsibilities. My farm. The horses. They come first. Before me or anyone else.”

  “Is this your way of telling me you had fun last night, but it’s over now?” Alex asked.

  “No! That’s the problem. I don’t want that at all,” Rohanna admitted. “I barely know you, but I can’t stop thinking about you, and that’s scaring me to death. You make me consider doing things I’ve never considered doing, wanting things I never knew I wanted.”

  And don’t forget doing…Oh, God…and that, too. Rohanna drew a ragged breath and waited. She had half expected Alex to call her a coward, instead she sat back and regarded Rohanna silently for a minute before leaning forward again.

  “Look, Ro. There are things you don’t know about me.”

  “I know you’re into a pretty heavy scene,” Rohanna said. “Shyann made sure I knew what this meant.” She ran her fingertips across the wide leather bracer still laced on Alex’s left wrist. “I think she was trying to scare me away from you.”

  “But, she didn’t succeed?” Alex asked, her face carefully blank. She held her breath, waiting to see what Rohanna would say next. The unexpected direction of their conversation held a level of promise in it she hadn’t expected.

  “After what we just did, you have to ask?” Rohanna laughed. “When we met, I thought you wore it to protect your arm from the forge.”

  “I do, but sometimes things don’t always look like they appear, nor do they always mean what people think they do.” Alex cringed at how cryptic that sounded. She had come as close as she could to the truth, and for the first time, she wished she didn’t have to. She understood Shyann’s position all too well; she was honor bound to keep certain secrets.

  Rohanna nervously picked at the blanket wrapped around her.

  “I have to admit, I don’t know a lot about who you are.” Suddenly shy, she dropped her gaze. “But, I would like to learn more…if you will let me.”

  The sharp rush of desire that those words released in her shocked Alex. They generated a deep hum that vibrated inside her skull like a well-plucked harp string. It coursed through her, finding its way along already primed paths and reigniting passions she had thought well satiated. The leather bracer felt like a firebrand against her skin. Somehow, the lie had become the truth. Or, perhaps it had always been there, waiting for the right person to awaken that particular desi
re. Tamped down, half realized…but always there. Not the right person, Alex thought, correcting herself. Rohanna is Fae even though she doesn’t know it…as Fae as I am and that means no holding back…no need to worry about going too far or letting my true nature come out and play.

  Running her index finger softly along Rohanna’s cheek, Alex realized just how much she was caught within this mutual trap of attraction. Rohanna looked up. Her half-lidded gaze smoldered, capturing Alex with the promise of imagined pleasures.

  “Perhaps later. But not now and not here.” Alex regretfully declined the offer. Despite Ro’s eager offer, Alex didn’t think she was ready for what she was asking for.

  Rohanna’s hurt expression made Alex careless with her next words. “When you ask me again, we’ll discuss it.”

  And by then, I will have spoken with GranMere. I need to be released from my vow. Rohanna deserves to know the truth.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Alex checked her rear view mirror to make sure the road was clear behind her before slowing down and turning right onto the small, unmarked dirt road no one ever noticed but had been there for more years than most of the locals could remember. Deceptively non-descript and more than a little dangerous looking, she was sure most people thought it was a dead end utility road and ignored it. She was deep in the boonies, in an area about as isolated as you could get in a world that was rapidly shrinking, on an equally non-descript road that was rarely travelled upon—but it never failed.

  The minute she needed to slow down, some idiot would be right behind her, crawling so far up her rear it became a heart-stopping event. They would pull out and speed by, more concerned with applying their horn than the brakes in their misplaced anger. She didn’t care about the middle finger flashed her way as much as being circumspect. She didn’t need someone looking twice at the overgrown area surrounding the dirt road and taking note of it. GranMere would not be pleased if a group of hunters showed up unannounced one day, just because someone thought they had found a convenient back way into the woods that hid their trucks and campfire from the prying eyes of the local game warden. Worse yet, they might bring tales back to town of the small community of women living there, with all the speculation and sordid talk of mysterious communes tucked in their back yard. It had happened before, and in this county…curiosity like that was never a good thing.