by Sharon Green
The smile she sent him before rising to begin dressing was a mischievous one, a teasing between friends rather than between lovers. Vallant chuckled as he lay there watching her, knowing that under other circumstances she would have taken his complete attention.
But under the current circumstances, his mind slipped past her to center on Tamrissa again. It wasn’t that Tamrissa was more beautiful than Jovvi, because both women were equally beautiful each in her own way. It was just that there was … more to Tamrissa in some way, something inside her that called out to him in some way. It wasn’t possible to define the attraction in any other sense, at least not in words.
Thoughts, however, were another matter. Vallant put his hands behind his head and thought about Tamrissa, how she would look lying beside him, how she would feel in his arms, how soft her lips had been during that too-brief kiss. Being with her would be ecstasy beyond description—if nothing happened to stop it…
* * *
Jovvi had grabbed up a wrap before leaving her bedchamber, and was so intent on getting to the bathhouse that she almost collided with Tamma in the front hall. The other woman had just hurried out of the library with a book and a wrap cradled in her left arm, apparently at least as distracted as Jovvi felt. They both nearly greeted one another with smiles, remembering only at the last minute that they were supposed to be in the middle of feuding.
“You’d better learn to watch where you’re going,” Jovvi said as quickly as possible, now aware that two people, both out of sight, were watching and listening. “If you don’t, you might actually end up bruised.”
“If I end up bruised, I won’t be the only one,” Tamma returned defiantly—but with a quiver in her voice. “And I was watching where I was going, which happens to be in the direction of the bath house. If you’re heading in the same direction, you’ll just have to wait.”
“I’m not in the mood to wait,” Jovvi drawled, looking Tamma up and down in the most insulting way possible. “It’s rather easy to tell that you need a bath more than I do, but you’re still the one who will have to wait.”
“I refuse to wait,” Tamma spat, the trembling in her voice showing that she now forced herself to respond like that. “This is still my house, and I’m tired of everyone trying to push me around. I’m going to the bath house to soak and read, and don’t intend to let anyone stop me!”
“And I’m going to wash and swim, and don’t intend to let anyone stop me,” Jovvi returned just as defiantly. “Just stay out of my way, and we may both end up surviving.”
Jovvi ignored Tamma’s gasp of outrage and marched off toward the back of the house, pretending to be unaware of the way Tamma followed immediately with shaky determination. The two unseen watchers were amused, one of them only faintly with a good bit of impatience behind the ridiculing laughter. Both, however, had decided against following, small nodes of cautious fear causing the decisions.
It took Jovvi only a couple of minutes to reach the bath house, with Tamma hurrying along only a few small steps behind. She walked inside with senses extended in all directions, but their privacy was actually complete—at least for the moment. For that reason she waited until the door was closed again, then she turned to Tamma with a grin.
“If we manage to survive this mess, I may one day audition for a part in a play,” she said softly. “We’re no longer under observation, so we can forget about clawing and pulling hair. How did your … relaxation go?”
“Definitely not in the direction of relaxation,” Tamma replied with a laugh despite her immediate blush. “Lorand is a love, but I know you already know that. How did … your time go?”
“Vallant and I spent a ridiculous amount of time bewailing the fact that you and Lorand were together,” Jovvi answered frankly with a wry smile. “After that we enjoyed lying together, but once the enjoyment was over our thoughts returned to you two. If you think he’s any less anxious now to spend the night with you, you’re in for something of a very big surprise.”
“What I think is that he may end up disappointed,” Tamma admitted ruefully, studying the wrap and book that she held. “I won’t let that stop me from lying with him, though, because I have to know for certain. Jovvi … do you think it’s possible that I … ‘set a man’s blood on fire?’ Lorand said I did, and I’m not sure whether or not he was joking.”
“Well, of course, why didn’t I think of that before?” Jovvi said, definitely annoyed with herself as she led the way toward the benches. “It isn’t only your beauty and air of innocence that attracts all those men, it’s also the fact that your aspect is Fire. Allestine’s aspect is Fire, and it served her so well that she was able to open her own residence.”
“Jovvi, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tamma protested as she followed. “Are you saying that Lorand wasn’t joking?”
“Of course he wasn’t joking,” Jovvi replied, turning after setting down her wrap and beginning to undress. “I tend to forget that those who are unfamiliar with courtesans are usually just as unfamiliar with certain truths. The two most desirable aspects for courtesans are Spirit and Fire, with Spirit being slightly better because of our ability to adjust emotions. Fire can’t do any adjusting, but you don’t really need to. That sense of ‘setting the blood aflame’ makes a courtesan with Fire magic more than simply popular.”
Tamma now stood with her mouth open, the wrap and book held by her left arm apparently forgotten. Her mind felt stunned, which convinced Jovvi not to show her vast amusement.
“If I’m not mistaken, Vallant knows as little about that as you do,” Jovvi said in place of chuckling. “That means he isn’t very likely to know what’s in store for him, which in turn means he ought to be more than a little impressed. Are you still worried that he might be disappointed instead?”
“Yes, but not as much as I was,” Tamma said with a short, breathless laugh. “Oh, Jovvi, I wish I knew how to make it happen on purpose! Did Allestine learn to control the ability?”
“I don’t think she ever knew that control is possible,” Jovvi replied, tossing her underthings on top of the pile of her clothes. “Most courtesans simply let it happen, but I met one once just before I joined Allestine’s residence, who had learned to make it happen. She was really sweet and told me all about the life, except for being part of a residence. She wasn’t, and was all but rolling in gold and influence. Most of her patrons were from the nobility, and none of them dared to hurt her because of what the others would do if deprived of her services. Controlling the ability was her way of staying safe.”
“I wonder how strong she was,” Tamma mused as she rid herself of the wrap and book and began to remove her clothing. “Maybe you have to have a certain strength before you can establish control, but what about touching the power? Will a full grip on it help you with control, or simply add to the strength of the ability?”
“A full grip on the power could well leave you with a pile of ash instead of a living man,” Jovvi warned as she slowly entered the beautifully warm water. “I don’t know enough about it to give you advice, but using caution is always a good idea when trying something new. You want Vallant impressed, not carbonized.”
Tamma didn’t answer in words, but Jovvi couldn’t have missed her shudder from a mile away. That picture, at least, should make the girl cautious, which was all anyone could ask. Jovvi submerged herself briefly but completely, pushed back her sopping wet hair, then began to swim back and forth a bit. She had her own anxieties to work off, at least for the time being.
Tamma had already finished washing when Jovvi decided she’d had enough of swimming, so Jovvi did her own washing quickly and then took the headrest next to Tamma’s. She’d been watching with her ability to make sure they remained unobserved, and since they still had their privacy she decided to mention an important point that hadn’t yet been discussed with Tamma.
“I know you’re busy thinking about Vallant, but there’s something we need to talk about,” she said, draw
ing Tamma from what was more than half daydream. “What makes the subject easier to discuss is the fact that you’re a different person when you fully touch the power.”
“I know I see me differently, but I hadn’t realized that the rest of you would find seeing the same so easy,” Tamma replied. “What was it that you wanted to discuss?”
“It has to do with your … purpose in the Blending,” Jovvi responded carefully, trying to find the best way to put it. “I’m sure you know how much more … aggressive your power-enhanced personality is, and I think there’s a very good reason for it. You’re most likely the one who will … lead and direct our Blending in attack during the competitions.”
“Attack?” she echoed with raised brows, her emotions suddenly turning uncertain. “I know they had me doing attack-like things in order to qualify for my mastery, but no one ever said it would be part of the competitions. Are you sure that that’s what we’ll have to do?”
“Nothing else makes any sense,” Jovvi replied as casually as possible, trying to calm Tamma. “And of course they never said anything about it. The last thing they want is for us to be fully prepared, but it isn’t something you have to worry about. Your other self will be in charge during the time, and it’s for her to worry—if you think she will.”
“No, I don’t expect that she will,” Tamma replied with a faint smile. “I’m slowly learning to be like that when I’m not touching the power, but I’ve something of a long way to go. She likes the idea of starting a fight, while I still try my best to avoid one. Hopefully I’ll make a bit more progress by the time the competitions begin.”
“Well, don’t make too much progress,” Jovvi said, surprising Tamma again. “It has just now come to me that your … easily observed reluctance to fight is probably the reason you’re in this group. They can’t be pleased with how strong we are individually, so the fact that the member of our group who is supposed to be most aggressive isn’t that at all must be reassuring to them. If they find out what you’re like when you touch the power, they may decide to break us up.”
“They could use the excuse that we haven’t yet Blended, which is the truth as far as they know it,” Tamma said, sitting up at the urging of the disturbance inside her. “That means we have to make it official tomorrow, so they won’t have that particular excuse. And now I think I know what that so-called Lord Carmad meant when he commented about me.”
“What comment was that?” Jovvi asked with a frown, searching her memory. “I can’t seem to remember one.”
“When he called me forward first and I went to stand in front of him, I was nearly petrified with fright,” Tamma explained. “Only a blind man could have missed how I felt, and he sneered out something about how my reaction was to be expected, considering the way the testing authority liked to do things. He knew I was supposed to be aggressive, and his sneer was for the fact that I wasn’t.”
“So now we can wonder why he sneered,” Jovvi said thoughtfully. “We’ve already decided that he was there to give us the help that Twimmal wouldn’t or couldn’t, so why would he be cynically amused to think our Blending was crippled even before it formed?”
“Maybe … maybe some organization of commoners sent him, to give the common Blendings a better chance against the nobility,” Tamma suggested hesitantly. “If he was supposed to visit all the common groups, he could have been disappointed that his help would be wasted on us.”
“And that produced the cynical reaction,” Jovvi agreed with a nod. “Yes, that’s perfectly possible, even if none of us has ever heard about such an organization. They would have to keep their existence extremely secret, or the nobility would root them out and destroy them. That ought to mean he probably won’t be back.”
“If he does come back, I’m going to make sure he doesn’t see the other side of me,” Tamma said, this time surprising Jovvi. “I’ve learned a certain cynicism of my own from my father, which tells me that one visit from the man means he’s on our side, but two will mean he’s working for our enemies. They would expect us to decide that Carmad is on our side, from the way he helped us. Then, when he reappears, we let him in on any secrets we may be hiding from the authority.”
“You know, that makes more sense than I like to think about, and I’m surprised I didn’t come up with it myself,” Jovvi decided aloud. “As suspicious as I usually am I should have, but the way he was almost caught by Twimmal distracted me. Even if he comes back in two days rather than tomorrow, we’d better stick with our suspicions. Not knowing our secrets won’t harm him even if he does happen to be on our side, but the reverse could certainly harm us.”
“I’m tempted to feel that not telling him will keep him from sharing what we need to know if he is on our side,” Tamma fretted, still not relaxing back in the water. “That doesn’t necessarily hold true, but it’s certainly a possibility. If he does come back, do you think we can use the Blending to find out the truth?”
“Since I could probably do that part of it myself, I don’t see why not,” Jovvi replied with only a short hesitation. “I really hate the idea of taking advantage with my ability, but if the man’s a secret enemy, he doesn’t deserve to be treated fairly. And if he’s a friend, he ought to understand the reason for our caution.”
“What I really hate is living like this,” Tamma said, finally sinking back to the headrest. “All this intrigue and doubt, lying and being spied on, sneaking around and pretending all the time… Sometimes I wish the competitions would start tomorrow, just to put all the rest of it behind us.”
Jovvi made a sound which suggested commiseration, but in full truth she didn’t agree. The longer it took for the competitions to begin, the better their chance of winning. Which probably meant the competitions were scheduled to begin any day now. They still hadn’t been given that unimportant little detail, a lack which suggested that the announcement was meant to come as a shock. Anything to throw them off balance…
A sigh escaped Jovvi, showing how weary she herself had become of the game they were caught up in. But their futures and possibly even their lives were at stake, so weariness was a luxury she couldn’t afford. Vallant meant to meet with the small ex-groom Pagin Holter, Jovvi knew, so she had to remember to tell Vallant that they needed to ask about “Lord Carmad.” And to pass on a warning, just in case the man really was an enemy.
The warm water was deliciously relaxing, but Jovvi’s mind simply couldn’t rest. Now that she’d laid the groundwork with Tamma, it ought to be easier to break the news to the girl that she was considered to be the most important one among them. And after they all saw what their Blending was capable of, she might have to work with Lorand and Vallant on their problems. And with Rion’s lady in the house, would it be harder for the man to concentrate? And come to think of it, could his Naran be one of the enemy herself?
All those questions and problems threatened to make Jovvi’s head spin, but she firmly resisted the inclination. Their first chore would be to see about Naran, and Rion had to know in advance what they intended. Honesty was one of the most important things they owed each other, but how was she supposed to broach that delicate a subject? What words could she possibly use to keep from breaking their group completely apart…?
CHAPTER THIRTY
When my mind refused to stop fretting, I gave up on the idea of soaking and left the bath. Jovvi was so deep in thought that she didn’t seem to see me, so I used a bit of the power to heat all the moisture from my body and hair, got into my wrap and picked up my clothes and book, and left the bath house. Actually I pretended to run out of the bath house, also pretending that I’d been driven out of it by a sharp-tongued enemy.
For that reason I reached my apartment rather quickly, wondering all the while if anyone had seen my play-acting. Not that it really mattered. It was just something to think about to keep me from thinking about Vallant. For all intents and purposes I’d promised to spend most of the night with him, and the conflict in my emotions was driving me i
nsane.
I looked at the book I’d chosen to distract me from my thoughts while I soaked, and was forced to admit that it wouldn’t have done the job any more than it was currently doing. The conflict bothering me was that I really wanted to become involved with Vallant, but because of the danger to him couldn’t allow an involvement to develop. In the face of that, no book ever written could have distracted me.
Ignoring the sitting room, I carried my burdens through the bedchamber and disposed of them properly. I was very much in the mood to drop everything in a heap and then turn my back on the heap, but that would have been too much like running away from my problems. Turning your back and forgetting about things is easy—until the giant pile of problems you’ve built topples down on your head.
So I put the book on a table and the worn clothes with the rest of my things needing washing, then lay down on my bed to think about my problem with Vallant. The plan I’d come up with, to let my power-enhanced self annoy him to the point of making him walk away, might not work, but it was the only thing I could think of. That was probably because I didn’t want to think of anything else, not when it would end any relationship even before it began.
But ending things was in Vallant’s best interests, so I knew I’d just have to keep trying. If only thoughts of being with him didn’t distract me so badly… I turned over onto my back to push those personal thoughts away, but they refused to go. Platinum blond hair and pale blue eyes above a devilish grin forced their way in front of my mind’s eye, then drew me along into the realm of marvelous daydreams.