Part 10 (2/2)

”No, I don't want to be laughed at,” I said, the sour taste of almost having lost control strong in my mouth. ”You win, High Master, and I lose. You insist on no brooding, so I'll certainly stop immediately. Now go away and leave me alone.”

”You seem to have trouble remembering who gives the orders around here,” he said, the observation mild and faintly amused. ”If you're not going to be brooding any longer you don't need to be alone, but it is getting late. Since there are a lot of things waiting to be done tomorrow, we'll both go to bed.”

His hand left my face to close around my wrist, and then I was being pulled off the ledge and across the room after him. I tried to pull free, even tried to trip him with a kick, but his Power wasn't letting it happen. I was hauled behind him into the apartment's bedchamber, and half the candles in the room flared alight at the flick of his finger.

”Comfortable,” he commented as he looked around, nodding at the lace and silk in various gentle, blending colors. ”A little too frilly to be perfect, but definitely comfortable. Stop here a moment.”

”Here” was a round table half way to the large, canopied bed, and he didn't wait for me to do the stopping. He pulled me over to the table, reached down to unstrap the swordbelt I still wore, then took it and put it on the table.

”Don't worry, the weapon will be safe here with mine,” he said, now in the midst of removing his own swordbelt. ”You go ahead and turn the covers down, and then I'll be there to help you with your clothes.”

”What are you talking about?” I demanded, hating how confused I felt. ”Why would I need help undressing? If you intend to humiliate me after all - ”

”No, girl, you're missing the point,” he interrupted with a faint grin. ”I'm not putting you to bed, I'm taking you there. I have nothing in my own bedchamber that can't be left alone, so I'm spending the night here. And you don't need help getting undressed, but you'll be getting it anyway.”

”Oh,” I said, feeling very foolish, especially with the way his grin had widened. ”You must be thinking I meant it literally when I said you won and I lost. I was referring to our argument, which isn't the same as a physical fight. You can't take that as an Earning.”

”Are you trying to suggest I need another Earning?” he asked, hard blue eyes suddenly pinning me where I stood. ”As I understood it, a man Earns a woman for a full moon. At the end of that time he either releases her or makes the mating permanent, but he doesn't have to Earn her again and again. Are you telling me I'm mistaken?”

I would have enjoyed cursing silently under my breath, but with the way he was looking at mehe would certainly have noticed. I hadn't realized he'd found out quite that much about my people, and that changed things.

”I don't know why you're staring at me like that,” I protested, trying not to show how uncomfortable I felt. ”I wasn't saying you needed another Earning, I was just pointing out that you hadn't gotten one. And considering that you're using your Power, you wouldn't have gotten one even if you'd needed it.”

”Why not?” he countered, immediately back to looking amused. ”A man is ent.i.tled to use any natural ability he has, and for me the Power is natural. If I'd never learned to use a sword, would that make another man's using one unfair?”

”If he tried to use it against you, yes,” I answered, turning away to be certain my expression didn't show how disturbed I felt. I would have preferred to be alone, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. ”And now that you mention it, why do you know how to use a sword? Most men of Power are like Lokkel, out of shape and uninterested in changing. What made you do it differently?”

”Walk a little faster,” he directed from behind me. ”I'd like those covers turned down before dawn. You want to know why I developed my physical prowess even as I learned to summon and use the Power? If you think about it, the answer should be obvious. As you pa.s.s through life, there are situations that will require the use of your mind and others that require a physical response. If you choose one area and neglect the others, the day will come when, no matter how good you've gotten with your choice, you'll be facing defeat because your choice is temporarily useless. The Kenoss are great fighters. Do they rely on fighting skills alone and ignore the use of the mind?”

”How can you be an effective fighter without using your mind?” I asked, turning again to send him a frown. ”The body and mind have to work together, one deciding what needs to be done, the other seeing to it. If you don't learn to coordinate the two, you end up losing both.”

”Exactly,” he said, pulling his tunic off and putting it on the table with his robe and sword. ”If you don't let the mindless scream of a berserker frighten you, you find it unbelievably easy to cut him down. Once, when I was very young, I saw a High Master almost killed by a woman with a dagger. She was protected from his Power by a rival High Master, and even though he had the time to stop her physically he didn't do it. He was paralyzed through having failed to stop her with his mind, and so just stood there and let her put a dagger in him.”

”And she still didn't manage to kill him?” I said, frowning up at him where he'd come to stand near me. ”Was she blind, or just badly crippled?”

”Neither,” he answered with a sudden grin. ”She just didn't know how to use a dagger. She stabbed down at him, probably aiming for his throat, and managed to strike his collarbone instead. The collarbone did break, but first it deflected the blow enough to save his life. You have to remember that there are people in this world who haven't been taught to use weapons as soon as they learned to walk.”

”That means she was crippled,” I said, finding his grin irritating. ”When you aren't able to do something you should be able to, you're crippled. Not being able to because you're physically hurt isn't the same. It's d.a.m.ned unfair, but you're not crippled.”

”You know, I like the way you look at things,” he said, his grin softening as his hand came to my face. ”I've never known a woman whose opinions so nearly matched mine - but who, at the same time, was incapable of turning down a bed. Are you trying to say you'd rather sleep on top of the covers?”

I came close to growling at him at that, especially since I could feel the points of warmth in my cheeks. It was clear I'd forgotten about turning down those stupid covers because that would have been too much like inviting him, something I certainly had no interest in doing. I might have had to let him use me, but I didn't want him mistakenly believing it was my choice.

”I know,” he said when I didn't comment, his arms coming up to circle me. ”With all that Shadowborn and Kenoss training, you never had the chance to learn how to turn down beds. I'llbe glad to show you how to do it - as soon as we get rid of these clothes you're wearing.”

He leaned down to kiss me then, at the same time putting his hands to my belt. It was one of the most awkward situations I'd ever encountered, and I couldn't keep from pulling back from both his hands and lips. He blinked at me in surprise, but didn't get angry the way I'd more than half expected him to.

”What's wrong?” he asked. ”Why did you pull away?”

”I pulled away because I don't enjoy feeling stupid,” I answered, also feeling the warmth in my cheeks again. ”Do you expect me to just stand here like a carving, wondering what to do with my hands and feet? I'll get out of my own clothes, and then you can - ”

”No, no, no,” he interrupted, stopping me from reaching to my belt, and then suddenly he scooped me off the floor into his arms. Two heartbeats later I was down on the bed, with him leaning over me.

”I apologize for making you feel stupid,” he murmured, one finger trailing up my cheek. ”I think you'll find it easier this way, at least for a while. And if you don't have what to do with your hands, you can always put them on me.”

Then he began to kiss me again, lightly but in a lingering way, his hands flat to the bed on either side of me. After a short while I thought he'd forgotten about my clothes, but he hadn't.

He whispered to me to kick off my boots, and once I had he took care of my belt.

If I expected him to be just as fast with my tunic and trousers, that just showed how little I understood him. He spent half of forever lifting the tunic away, kissing what he uncovered before uncovering any more. My entire body tingled before he was done, and I couldn't quite control the rate of my breathing. When he began on my trousers I discovered that my hands were touching him, and had been doing so for quite some time. The muscle in his shoulders and arms was so deliciously hard, the flesh so firm and warm... I wanted to touch him, but he was moving out of my reach. I tried to follow but he refused to allow that, instead making me lie flat to accept what he gave.

And what he gave were sensations I'd never experienced before. The bedcover beneath me was lace and I clung to it with eyes shut tight, moaning at the touch of his lips and tongue. If I'd had to defend myself right now I would surely have died, and seriously thought I might anyway.

”Do you like this?” he asked suddenly in a murmur, the stroke of his tongue leaving no doubt as to what ”this” might be. ”I'm certainly enjoying doing it.”

”I'm going to die,” I whispered back, the flames in my blood burning so high they should have ignited the lace. ”Please, I'm going to die.”

”Nonsense, you're only just beginning to squirm properly,” he said with a chuckle. ”We'll do this for a little while longer, and then we'll turn down the covers. You should be ready by then.”

Ready to pa.s.s out, he must have meant, and I certainly was. My breath was coming in squeaking gasps by the time he stopped, and at first I didn't know he had stopped. My first inkling came when he pulled the covers out from under me, covered me again, then slid in under the covers with me.

”Now comes the part we've both been waiting for,” he whispered, moving between my knees.

”Are you ready?”

I didn't know that was what I was ready for, but when he thrust his great desire into mine I certainly found it out. I received him like sand receives water, drinking him in with ecstasy and immediately demanding more. I held to him as he gave me more, all that I wanted to the end of time, and when the world exploded in searing flames I exploded with it.

Chapter 12.

n't quite the first one out onto the porch the next morning for breakfast, but that was hardly surprising. After Fearin had gone back to his own apartment, I'd had to find some clear waterto wash in before I put on the clean clothing he'd left. Tight but flexible cloth trousers in dark green, a silver tunic of the same material, the soft, dark gray boots now a dark green... I had the feeling Fearin had been trying to say something about me admitting to be Kenoss, but I couldn't understand what. It was only during a fight that it wouldn't have been fair to mention what I was, and the presence of my new sword strapped around my hips should do well in cutting down on fights.

”Good morning, Aelana,” Lokkel said when he saw me, a faint smile appearing on his face around his chewing. ”The food is fresh and very tasty, so do help yourself.”

”I fully intend to do just that,” I said with an answering smile before turning away from him. I'd also looked at him rather closely, but there wasn't a single sign of the drinking he'd been doing the night before, not even the shadow of a hangover. It came to me that there must be a definite benefit in being a Healing Master if you were the sort who liked to drink; a small spell before or after, and the next morning no regrets.

I filled a plate with the food Fearin had created some time this morning wondering, as I reclaimed the chair I'd had the day before, where he'd gotten the strength. When he'd finished with me the previous night I'd fallen immediately asleep, and hadn't awakened until I'd felt his hand stroking my bottom. It was somewhere around dawn, I'd noticed, and then I hadn't been able to notice anything but what he'd begun to do to me...

I didn't quite sigh as I took a bite of the salted egg in my hand, followed by a cautious sip of the hot tea from the cup I'd poured. I had no real interest in the sort of thing Fearin was doing to me, not that it wasn't pleasant, of course, it was certainly that. A pleasant diversion that wasn't meant to be taken seriously, especially not by someone like me, but I felt very confused. I still didn't understand why he was doing it, or at least why he was doing it with me. He couldn't be seriously interested, not someone like him with an ugly ex-slave - ”Well, that's certainly an improvement,” a voice came, and I blinked back to where I was to see Talasin sitting down in the chair grouping with a plate of his own. ”Yesterday you refused to look at the food, but today you're definitely looking at it. Possibly by tomorrow you'll progress from staring to eating.”

”It so happens I am eating,” I answered, raising the bitten-into egg to prove the point. ”Just because I don't swallow things whole the way you do doesn't mean I'm not eating.”

”It must be all that light and warmth out there that's improved both your appet.i.te and your mood,” he came back, gesturing with a grin toward the new day. ”Or maybe it was that bit of exercise we had after dinner. I happened to see your swordwork, and if there was any doubt about your being Kenoss the doubt is now gone. You weren't joking about your women being just as good as your men.”

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