It was perfect.
“Looks good on you,” a voice spoke up from behind. She twisted and aimed the bow at the newcomer, temporarily forgetting that she didn’t have an arrow notched in it. An elf hovered just inside the doorway, leaning on the door jamb and propping the door open with his foot. He had a smirk on his face and she felt his eyes slowly running down her frame.
“Something interest you?” she snarked.
“You have no idea,” the man replied, releasing the door and entering the armory to greet her.
She wanted to wipe that sneer off his face. Why was he looking at her that way? She grunted and looked away. Letting loose the chord, she carried the bow in her left hand as she began to make her way to the leather armor arrayed to her right. “Better be talking about the bow.”
The elf snickered.
Fingers gently ran over a set of black leather armor, the tips of her forefinger sliding over the black studs covering the pauldrons. Gripping the leather tightly and bending it, she could see that it was of a finer make than what she was currently using, but she didn’t know how she would feel breaking in new armor right before a battle. She’d have very little time to loosen it up, to test how restrictive it’d make her shots, and temporarily thought of just sticking to what she already had.
“You won’t find better anywhere else,” the elf spoke softly just beside her ear, and she startled. How’d he sneak up on her that fast? Her guard had been up since he had entered, and she hadn’t heard a sound.
“Is there something you want from me?” she asked, purposely keeping her gaze forward and slowing her breathing. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he’d caught her off guard. After another snicker, she knew that she’d already failed at masking that.
“Not really. I was with the envoy announcing Earhen’s arrival and thought I’d check out what Erik’s been stockpiling in here; get to it before my kinsman do,” he answered as he slid past and began looking at the chainmail.
The elf was tall with tan skin, long ears, and bright green eyes. He already wore black chainmail and there were two thin swords strapped to his back. Long knives were sheathed just below his hips on both legs and the belt around his waist had hilts for at least two dozen throwing knives. Two weapons she’d never seen before were held to his chest and she was sure she saw the hilt of a knife protruding through his pants behind his right ankle. This man was armed for war.
He caught her impressed look and she turned away, blood rushing to her cheeks. The thudding of her heartbeat pounding against her rib cage startled her. What was wrong? Was she coming down sick?
“Doesn’t look like you need any more weapons,” she offered after a pause, her attention now drawn to a set of beautifully made long knives. She hefted one experimentally and found it well balanced, the hilt felt like it had been made specifically for her hand.
Gathering a pair, she set it on top of the black leather armor and slid the bow underneath. Her hands snaked out and began pocketing arrow tips as well.
A laugh erupted near her right elbow. “Why don’t you let me give you a hand with that?”
She shrugged off his reaching hands and turned to glare at him. She found herself struggling for a rebuttal, but it died in her throat as she looked into his eyes. There was something there, calling to her, and she quickly stepped aside, diverting her gaze away.
“Seriously, let me help or make another trip, otherwise you’re going to be fumbling all the way to your chambers. Have you figured out how to get the door open yet?” the elf asked, and she inadvertently glanced that way, then down at her overloaded hands.
Sighing, she let him take the armor and the knives, a grunt involuntarily sneaking out. “Thank you,” she finally managed.
The warrior bowed his head and grinned wider. “Don’t mention it,” he smirked. “Or if you do, try not to make it out like I’m one of your servants. Though, if you want me to go back to your room, you can definitively—”
The look she shot him shut him up.
She finished picking through the arrow tips and stepped towards the door, securing them in one of the pouches around her waist. “Not getting anything for yourself?”
“They don’t have any charcoal or sulfur. I’ll check with the blacksmiths after I help you back to your room,” the warrior answered casually.
She wanted to ask what he would need that for, but instead she walked quickly towards the door and snapped it open. It was best not to get caught up in a conversation with the man; her nerves were already firing, her stomach uneasy.
As she led him down one of the palace hallways, he whistled softly behind her. “In the palace huh? What are you, an elven princess? Because honey, you don’t look like one.”
“Call me honey again, I’ll show you how unlike a princess I truly am,” she snarled, her anger getting the best of her. His voice was melodic, and she hated the rebellion she felt in her mind to his presence. She was craving more of it and didn’t know why.
He chuckled. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
She was at her door and she flung it open, setting the items she carried just inside the door. Turning briskly, she snatched up her new armor and weapons from the elf, causing the man to grin even wider. “Thank you for your assistance, but I can take it from here.”
He shook his head and laughed. “You live up to your reputation ranger. I’m going to one of the nearby taverns, the Five Oaks. Let me buy you a drink.”
Even though every bone in her body told her to take him up on it, she resisted violently. She could hear the shrike waiting impatiently for her on the balcony and there was no way she was going to let this man in her chambers with her emotions so out of her control. Who knew what might happen then? Then again, not even she had any clue. She had never been intimate with anyone, much less someone that she’d only first met in passing. There had never been time and she didn’t like to be pinned down. Constantly on the move; her love life had been non-existent and a purposely avoided part of her life.
“Ah, I can see by your expression that you’re going to pass. That’s too bad. I’m too much of a loner to know anyone else to pass the time with, and I just thought, with you being one as well, that maybe we would have something to talk about,” he explained. “Two outcasts laughing at the world that shuns us.”
As she looked into his face once more, she could see the sincerity behind his words. She sighed. “I need to attend to my companion first, then I’ll be out,” she countered, reluctantly giving in. She just couldn’t seem to help it and had no clue what was happening to her.
“Companion?” he asked curiously. “Wait, I don’t want to step on any toes here.”
She eyed him suspiciously, not believing it for a second, then she slowly slid the door open and allowed him a view into the room. From the doorway, he could see through the open balcony doors the roost beyond, and his mouth dropped at the sight of the massive bird glaring at him.
“Oh. Right,” he stammered. Looked like they were even. He had startled her, now he was the one at a loss for words.
“Let me make sure he has everything he needs and then I’ll be right back,” she told the elf, the anger leeching away as she slowly gave into her baser instincts. He turned his eyes towards her and once more found them enveloping her entire train of thought; making her focus only on him. She visibly shook her head in an attempt to clear it and shut the door on his slick smile. “Shit,” she cursed. What was she getting herself into now?
II
Kylee awoke at dawn, her pounding head not allowing her to sleep any longer. Her stomach felt like emptying itself yet again. She had vague memories of hunching over a chamber-pot and her throat felt raw as she cleared it, making her wince. Her hand fell on her forehead and her fingers worked at the throbbing blood vessel, trying to get it to loosen up.
Opening her eyes, she squinted at the piercing light and realized she’d left the drapes open when she returned to her room the
night before. Shifting her body, she felt gravity starting to pull her to the left, and she immediately snapped awake; someone was in her bed.
“It’s way too early to be up. Go back to sleep,” a male voice moaned from her side and she was immediately up and out of bed.
Cold air hit her body and horror dawned on her—she was naked. Her hand reached out and snatched a pillow to cover her front just as the elf sharing her bed turned to look her way through half-open eyes. Her face flushed, adding to the blood already rushing through her head and nausea set in with the sudden movement. Her stomach began to heave, and she had to gulp to force it back down. It burned like hell, but she didn’t care. Where the hell were her clothes?
“What are you doing? Come back to bed,” the male told her, and she recognized him instantly as the guy she’d gone drinking with the night before.
How had they ended up in bed together? Never had she drank so much she couldn’t remember what had happened. Not to mention the fact that until this moment, she’d never been naked with a man before in her life. Eyes flashing to the floor, she saw no sign of her clothing and only after looking at a nearby bureau did she breathe a sigh of relief to find them piled up on top of them. Inching slowly that way, she kept her eyes on the elf rising to a sitting position in order to watch her, a curious smile upon his face.
He grunted. “What’s the point of the pillow? Not like I didn’t get an eye-full already,” he commented and that was the end of her resistance against flight.
She darted to the bureau, her ass exposed, her mind beyond giving a shit as she went into the bathroom and quickly shut the door on the laughter following after. Standing in front of the mirror, she looked at her flushed face and her heart beat heavily in her chest. In under a minute, her clothes were back on and though they felt disheveled, they at least covered her up. Now she could go kick this man out of her room without being exposed before him. Stepping free of the bathroom, she was surprised to see that he was already dressed and was pulling one of his shoes on. He laughed at the look on her face. “You don’t remember last night at all, do you?”
She shook her head, trying to find the words to ask what had happened, but she couldn’t do anything but grunt. “Uh—,” she ventured, but she went blank on his name. Had she even known it before taking him to bed?
The elf looked at her with a smirk. “You really don’t remember? Not even my name?” By now he was standing and making his way around the bed, coming to a stop right before her, a hand reaching out to caress her arm.
She instinctively jerked away.
Chuckling he retracted his hand and put it on his hip instead. “My name is Morgan, Morgan Longsteel. And as much as I enjoy how uneasy you look right now, I can’t make you go through this any longer. Yes, we were both naked, but that’s because you threw up all over our clothes and we’d set it out for the servants to wash.”
By the Gods, is that the smell coming off her shirt? No wonder it fell tacky. She wanted to reach down and yank it off and had to grit her teeth to keep from following through.
“We slept. Nothing happened—I promise. I wouldn’t take advantage of you in a state like that. If something like that does happen between us, I want you to remember every second of it,” he advised, stepping forward and softly kissing her nose.
It scrunched up in response and he shook his head with laughter.
The relief that flooded through her was glorious and even though he’d seen her naked, now she could look him in the eyes and not feel disgusted with herself. She had never planned on anything like this ever happening, hadn’t even looked at another man in that way unless out of jest. In point of fact, the only naked man she’d ever seen was her new brother-in-law, and she had purposely avoided focusing on his genitalia the best she could. To think that all that was needed were some jugs of ale to make all her inhibitions shatter like that was appalling.
He could see that she was still speechless, and he nodded his head as if understanding exactly why. “Look, I’m going to the training grounds for a while. I heard that there is a black knight here that thinks she’s the best warrior within the castle walls. I aim to prove her wrong. Your friend’s knighting is probably happening right now and if you want to attend, I’d bathe and get out of those clothes. When you’re done, come find me, I’d enjoy your company in the daylight as much as I did in shadows last night. Until then, Princess Kylee,” he bowed his head, then reached out and grabbed her hand. He brought it up to his lips, planting a kiss on the back with an even wider smile. It was an odd, yet pleasing feeling, and for one brief instant, she entertained the thought of throwing him on the bed and doing what she already thought she’d done the night before.
Barely holding herself back, she simply nodded and smiled.
Laughing, the elf slid out the door and left her standing there flushed, butterflies rippling through her stomach, and in very rank clothing. She peeked out the door long enough to tell a passing aide she needed a female servant to help her, then retreated in the bathroom and instantly slipped out of her clothing, piling them up on the floor by the door.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she tried to imagine herself clothed and crowned like her sister had been during Tristan’s knighting ceremony. She just couldn’t see it. One of the stewards came in and a bath was prepared. Heh, Princess Kylee indeed.
Sinking into the warm water, she tried to forget everything that had just happened, but kept coming back to the warmth in his eyes. She was not going to be able to dismiss it that easily. In the privacy of her bathroom and with the steward gone to clean her clothing, she slowly slid her hand down her stomach and closed her eyes, picturing every second that followed her getting out of bed in exact detail.
III
By the time she reached the Knight’s Hall, Kore was already knighted and standing proudly at the receiving line, his new silver armor well-polished and gleaming in the morning light. Not as many showed as had for Tristan, the lack of support for the king’s choice in inducting Kore into the Knights of the Realm evident by their absence. Still, there were more than enough to still make a rather large gathering and she slipped by in her new armor, her weapons strapped in place, as she pushed to come up behind him.
Erik smiled at her as she held Kore’s arm and showed her support for the honor being bestowed upon him; he deserved it. The orc seemed oblivious to the division in the knights’ ranks and his face was beaming as he embraced each elf with a warmth she hadn’t known possible. He smiled down at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. Merlin had appeared out of nowhere and after congratulating the large warrior, immediately disappeared back into the shadows from whence he came.
Reyna was absent, but that may have had to do with her uneasiness with the knights and their code of valor, with which she obviously considered herself an exception, and was probably at the training grounds dueling Morgan right now. Even though she fought it, she couldn’t help but feel an urge to rush out there and watch him fight. The way he moved in his armor, the frame of his body, the slender flow of his cheek bones, it all made her uneasy and what she imagined a teenage girl would feel with her first crush.
Was that what this was? How did she know? Who could she even ask? Willow was still on her honeymoon and wouldn’t be back until the following day. Could she wait that long without seeing him? As her legs moved her away from the knights and towards the door, she already knew the answer. Her body unwillingly drove her into the hall and towards the training grounds beyond.
She stopped by the kennels on the way and Rourke let her take the Direwolf pup with her as she headed on to the training grounds with a quickened pace. The pup licked her palms, her mind reaching out for hers. She let the surface of her thoughts welcome the curious pup’s mind and let it mingle with her own. She segregated everything that happened earlier that morning, the young mind unable to comprehend what she was going through yet, and not wanting to subject her to the same uneasiness that she was experiencing as she stepped o
ut of the woods and looked upon the training grounds with intense scrutiny.
Morgan had found Reyna, and the two of them were squaring off on the right side of the grounds, several knights watching and taking bets. Morgan wielded a katana in each hand and was a whirl of armor and steel. Reyna parried with her longsword, using her shield to block the other weapon as they drove each other from offensive to defensive positions. Even though the elf was faster and stronger, the black knight was clearly holding her ground, the training she’d been forced to go through as a child making her a formidable opponent.
The pup in her arms whimpered lightly as her eyes followed the frame of his body, admiring the fluidity of his strikes and counterstrikes. She absentmindedly stroked the pup’s head, focusing on one of the ears, and realized that she’d brought the Direwolf along to act as a buffer should Morgan’s attention be drawn her way. Trying to think of something else other than the elf, she purposely walked towards the targets used for archery practice nearby, the sounds of conflict so attuned to her ears that even though she wasn’t watching, she knew exactly what blows were being exchanged by who.
She was going to tell the Direwolf to stay put as she practiced with her new bow, but she realized she hadn’t even named her yet. The pup’s eyes were glued to the clouds overhead, her ears perked as she searched the heavens with keen interest.
Skye? The pup looked up at her and she felt a click within her heart. The Direwolf’s tongue slid out and she looked overjoyed with their new companionship. Skye, I’m going to practice some, I need you to stay by my side. Do not wander off, she instructed the pup and got that same loving look back. She knew the pup understood and she hoped nothing caught her attention and made her forget what she’d been told.
The New Age Saga Box Set Page 83