by Diana Bold
His destrier surged up an incline, and Rhoswen dug her fingers into his arms, clinging for dear life. Her unease made the horse shy nervously.
“Be calm,” he murmured, as he gave the animal’s powerful neck a soothing pat. “You are upsetting the horse.”
“I’ve never ridden one of these animals before.” Her voice quavered with what seemed to be genuine fear. “We’re so very high off the ground.”
“I will not let you fall.” He wrapped his arm securely around her waist, but her words piqued his curiosity even more. Surely she had ridden at least occasionally. How had she and Trevelan traveled so far on foot?
How far had they traveled?
She melted against him, the tension leaving her in a rush. "Thank you, Sebastian. For saving my life in the first place, for keeping me safe from your men, and now for coming to my aid yet again."
He hugged her, his earlier distrust vanishing in the wake of her sweet affection. Somehow this odd, amazing creature had slipped beneath his defenses and made him want to live again. Despite everything, he could not regret meeting her.
"It is I who should be thanking you. Before you came into my life, I cared about nothing.” The admission came hard, but he felt better for having said it.
He was suddenly very glad he had left with her. If he’d had to watch her ride away alone, it would have been a blessing to die of the plague.
“Oh, Sebastian,” she whispered. “It pains me to hear you say such things. You must know how very special your life has become to me.”
"Did you mean what you said earlier?" he asked, his voice hushed. “Will you tell me everything, now that we are away from the castle?”
"Of course.” She ducked her head and played with the frayed edge of the robe. “It’s just hard to know where to begin.”
“Tell me,” he whispered. “Please, tell me now, Rhoswen. Put my mind at ease.”
“Yes.” She searched for his hand and squeezed it tightly. “I owe you that, at the very least.”
He bent forward and kissed her, uncertain whether he thanked her for her trust or postponed the revelation of secrets that would change his life forever.
After a long while, he drew back, his blood rushing through his veins with fierce arousal. He pushed back her cowl, revealing her silky blonde hair. The sun caught in the pale strands, giving her an angel-like glow.
If he had ever seen anything more beautiful, he could not remember it.
“I am mad for you, Rhoswen. I fear if you told me you were the daughter of the devil himself, I would happily follow you into Hell.”
She smiled. “I’m not the devil’s daughter, though my father does rule the place I come from.”
“You are a princess?” He shook his head and choked back a strangled laugh. Of course. He should have known. “I knew I aimed too high when I dared touch you, but I never dreamed how far beneath you I truly was.”
“Never think that,” she chided. “My people do not adhere to a class system. Everyone is equal. There are very few of us, so each person is needed in order to make our civilization run smoothly.”
“Sounds like paradise.” He nudged his horse onto a seldom-used path, then urged him to a faster pace. Though he had seen no sign of pursuit, he felt the need to put as much distance as possible between them and the castle.
“Perhaps.” She sighed, looking troubled. “I’m afraid I haven’t always appreciated it. Many times I’ve wished I could trade it all for what you have — the sun, the stars, the sky…” Tilting her head back, she gazed up, looking at the sky as though she’d never seen it before.
She lived somewhere where there was no sky? Confused, he simply stared down at her, waiting for her to continue. With every word she said, his unease grew. Perhaps he did not want to know where she came from, not really. He was not certain what remained of his faith could survive whatever she meant to tell him.
With a sigh, she met his gaze. “I know I said you I’d tell you all, but I really don’t know how to explain my home to you. Perhaps it would be easier to show you. But I fear if I take you there my father will be furious.”
“I do not want you to risk your father’s wrath for me, Rhoswen.”
She reached up and ran her fingertips over his face, as though she wished to imprint his features in her mind for all eternity. “How can I risk anything less than you have? Perhaps bringing you there and letting them see what an amazing man you are is the only way to help them get over their irrational prejudice.”
“Are you fey?” The question had haunted him, and this seemed as good a time as any to ask.
She shook her head and gave him a brief smile. “No, though I believe my people may have spawned those stories. There’s a little bit of truth in every legend. But we don’t have any supernatural abilities. We are human, just like you.”
He gazed at her with rapt fascination. “So you are human? Somehow I find myself a little disappointed.” He returned her smile. “I had thought your answers would shatter my world.”
She pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. “Well, don’t be too disappointed. I may have something earth-shattering in store for you yet.”
* * *
The door of Trevelan’s small chamber swung open with a crash, rousing him from an uneasy sleep. He scrambled to a sitting position, grunting in pain as his many aches and pains protested the sudden movement. Blinking through the gloom, he found the lord of the castle’s immense shoulders blocking the doorway.
“Where are they?” Lord Simon’s furious voice echoed off the stone walls, hammering inside Trevelan’s pounding head.
Trevelan narrowed his gaze, biting back a furious retort. If he’d been just a little groggier, he might have destroyed Sebastian’s story and endangered them all.
“The girl and my brother,” Lord Simon demanded once again. “Where did they go?”
Rhoswen and Sebastian were gone? Fear sluiced through Trevelan’s battered body. Rhoswen had promised her barbaric friend would free them both.
How could she have left without him, abandoning him to his fate?
“I know you understand me.” Lord Simon advanced toward him with quiet menace. “And I do not believe you are incapable of speech. So if you wish to have a prayer of surviving this day, I suggest you tell me exactly how that cursed witch ensorcelled my brother.”
Anger chased away the last of Trevelan’s fear. Despite their recent argument, he’d always considered Rhoswen his very best friend. He’d loved her most of his life, had risked everything to come here and rescue her, yet she’d apparently abandoned him for her barbarian lover.
The sick feeling that had taken root in his stomach the moment he’d first seen the two of them together blossomed to full-fledged nausea. She’d looked at that heathen in a way she’d never looked at him, not in all the years he’d known her.
The urge to answer Lord Simon’s question, and damn them all, was nearly impossible to resist. But somehow he held his tongue.
Lord Simon stalked across the room, glaring down at Trevelan as though he were a piece of refuse. “Do not be a martyr. If she gave a damn about you, she would not have left you behind.”
Though Lord Simon’s words were undoubtedly true, Trevelan remained silent, even when the first of what would undoubtedly be countless blows rained down upon him.
And he vowed that if he somehow survived this night, he would find them himself. Once the council heard what Rhoswen had been up to, she’d find herself banished from her home, condemned to a life of poverty and despair on the Surface with her precious Sebastian.
* * *
Rhoswen and Sebastian traveled hard all day, not stopping to rest until night had fallen. Sebastian said he feared the horse would come to harm if they proceeded in the dark, but she sensed he would rather have continued. They stopped in a small clearing ringed by towering trees.
She couldn’t control the soft moan that slipped from her lips as Sebastian lowered her from the destrier’s tall back to the
ground. Her legs buckled, and she grasped the saddle, biting her lip as she struggled to remain standing. Her entire body ached; the long ride had used muscles she hadn’t even known she possessed.
“Are you well?” Sebastian swung down beside her, peering into her face.
“I’m a little sore,” she admitted.
He gave her a half-smile, then gestured to a nearby stump, just visible by the dim light of the moon. “Sit down and rest for a bit. I will get a fire started and make us a pallet.”
She moved to do as he’d instructed, glancing around the looming forest with wary distrust. Who knew what sort of wild animals roamed these woods at night? Gratitude for Sebastian’s reassuring presence swept through her. She’d have been terrified to face the dark, unknown forest all alone.
Within moments, he had a merry fire burning and had spread several furs upon the cold, hard ground, creating a cozy nest. She knelt gratefully upon the pallet, accepting a cold meat pie and a flagon of pale ale with trembling fingers. She needed to eat in order to maintain her strength, but all she wanted was to curl up beneath the warm furs and sleep.
“You did well today.” Sebastian sank down beside her and stretched out his long legs. “Traveling by horseback for so many hours is taxing, especially if you are not used to it.”
She appreciated his attempt to make light of her weakness, but felt the need to own up to it. “There were moments when I thought I’d die if we had to go another mile, but there’s no faster way for us to reach the coast, and time is of the essence.”
“Eat your meal,” he urged. “When you are done, I will rub your sore muscles.”
She raised an eyebrow, a little of her exhaustion fading. “That sounds wonderful.”
He smiled, and then took a long drink from the flagon. “By the time I am finished, you will feel much better, I promise.”
Needing no more urging than that, she finished the horrid pie as quickly as possible, then stretched out upon her stomach in front of the fire. The night was chilly, but the fire and the heavy robe made it bearable.
Sebastian took another drink of wine, then slid his hands beneath the edge of her robe, unfastening her slippers. When his warm fingers squeezed the arch of her foot, she sighed in sheer bliss.
Gazing into the flickering flames, she gave herself up to Sebastian’s magical hands. He kneaded and caressed, working his way from her feet to her calves, soothing the aching muscles and leaving her pliant with desire.
“Mmm, that feels so nice. You truly are a sorcerer.”
“I am glad it helps. Shall I go higher?” His voice was low and husky, proving he was not unaffected by the sensual, intimate act. As he spoke, he pulled down her trousers and closed his hands over her thighs, kneading the abused muscles with gentle firmness.
She sighed and spread her legs a bit, hoping he would take the hint and touch her where she wanted it most. Instead he continued, easing the ache from her thighs, then moving to her sore bottom.
Pressing her face against the furs, she closed her eyes and arched into his touch, drawing her knees beneath her and lifting her hips, offering herself in wordless entreaty. His breath quickened, and he used his fingertips to delve into her teeming wetness, making her gasp with pleasure.
He continued to ready her, but she felt him move behind her, heard the rustle of fabric as he pushed her robe up over her hips, baring her to the chill breeze and his hot gaze.
She shivered a bit, but not from the cold. She couldn’t wait for him to take her, here beneath the dark sky with the gentle breeze and the crackling fire.
“Make love to me,” she whispered. “I want to feel you inside me.”
His strong, hair-roughened thighs pressed against her, and she felt the hot, blunt head of his cock, seeking entry. Then he was inside her, so full, so wonderfully huge and carnal.
“Don’t be gentle,” she begged. “Don’t hold back. I want all of you. Your body, your heart, your soul.”
Sebastian grasped Rhoswen’s slim hips, gritting his teeth as he plunged home, deeper than he had ever imagined she could take him, until he knew he must be brushing her very womb.
“You feel so good,” he whispered harshly, leaning forward and nipping the back of her long, slim neck with his teeth. “I love being inside you.”
She pressed back against him with a soft moan, and his control snapped. He came over her in a frenzy of lust, still unable to believe she was truly here, that she wanted everything he had to give.
Within moments she convulsed around him. Her sweet cry shattered the stillness of the forest, driving him to thrust even harder and faster, until he was nearly sobbing with the beauty of it.
He wanted their lovemaking to last forever, but his own release came far too quickly, whipping through him with incredible force, making his toes curl and his own cry drown out hers.
Collapsing next to her, he turned her toward him, covering her lips in a hot, hungry kiss. Words escaped him. He could not articulate everything she had come to mean to him, could not explain how much he dreaded the dawn and the necessary trip to wherever she came from.
He feared whatever tenderness she had felt when forced to depend upon him for her very life would disappear when she was safely home. How could he possibly compete when she was back among those of her own kind, who surely surpassed him in every possible way?
For endless moments they kissed beneath the stars, oblivious to anything but each other. After a long time she pulled back, smoothing the hair from his eyes with a trembling hand.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I loved it. Every moment of it.”
“Me, too.” With a soft sigh, he tucked her beneath the blankets, then slipped in beside her, pulling her tight against his chest. In this small, wooded grove, he felt like a king. The woman in his arms had gone a long way toward rebuilding everything he had lost in the desert, and he never wanted the night to end.
Chapter Thirteen
“Trevelan. Wake up, my friend. Please, please, wake up.”
The soft, tear-filled voice roused Trevelan from blessed unconsciousness, thrusting him back into the shattered shell of his body.
He reached blindly for something to hold on to, encountering a small, cool hand. The same hand that had tended him so tenderly during the last few days. Miranda’s visits had been the only point of brightness in this dark hell. They’d come to mean everything to him.
And she’d just called him friend.
He’d never thought to use that word in relation to anyone from the Surface, but it soothed him to hear it from her lips. Made him feel as though he wasn’t totally alone, after all.
“Miranda,” he whispered, his voice a hoarse, unrecognizable rasp. “Miranda. You came back.”
The moment the words left his mouth, he realized his mistake. Somehow he’d managed to hold his silence through all the torture Lord Simon had put him through, yet Miranda had loosened his tongue with nothing more than a few gentle words.
“You can talk.” A ragged sound, somewhere between laughter and tears, escaped her as she lifted his head into her lap, brushing the hair off his sweat-dampened forehead. “I always knew you could.”
A cough tore through him, and the resulting shaft of pain left him breathless for a long moment. Frustration built within him.
Now that the damage was done, he desperately wanted to talk to her. During all those lonely hours he’d rehearsed lengthy conversations with her, hating the bitter charade Sebastian and Rhoswen had forced upon him.
“You will be fine, lad,” she whispered. “Just breathe slowly. In and out.”
He concentrated on the sound of her voice, until some of the pain receded, and he could breathe again. “Sebastian told me I must pretend to be mute. He promised that if I did, he’d be able to arrange for Rhoswen and me to leave.” He shook his head in renewed grief and disbelief. “It seems they had a different plan, one that didn’t include me.”
Another fit of coughing wracked him, but after a few more
minutes, he was able to continue. “Lord Simon came today to tell me they’d escaped. He nearly killed me in an attempt to make me talk.”
“I thought he had killed you.” She leaned down to press a gentle kiss upon his cheek. “The guards were gone, and you lay so still. As still as death.”
“The guards outside my door are gone?” He tried to look up at her, but his eyes were so swollen he could see nothing but the hazy halo of her vibrant hair.
“They probably thought there was no need to stand guard over someone who had been beaten unconscious. Or perhaps they were simply needed elsewhere, since so many of the knights rode out with Lord Simon.”
“They’re after Rhoswen and Sebastian.” He tried to push himself to a sitting position, but she held him firmly in place. “I have to get out of here before they come back.”
“Are you mad? You are not going anywhere. You are lucky to be alive.”
“If I’m still here when that beast returns, he’ll finish the job he started.” He squeezed her hand tight, trying to convey his desperation. “I don’t expect you to help me, Miranda. But you wouldn’t stand in my way, would you?”
“Even if you managed to get to your feet, which I highly doubt, where would you go? You are too weak to make it very far.”
Which didn’t exactly answer his question.
He had no idea how much of her loyalty lay with Lord Simon, or whether he could claim some of it for his own. But he had to put his faith in someone. Otherwise, he was doomed.
“I need only make it to Titania’s Tower.” This time he managed to free himself of her soft clutches and push himself to his feet. “Can you please just help me down the stairs?”
“Sir Sebastian’s tower?” She shook her head and slid one arm around his waist, bracing him when he began to sway dizzily. “What good would that do? The door is ensorcelled. You will never be able to get in.”