A Kiss of Fire: A Kiss of Magic Book 2 (3 page)

He shouldn’t have kissed her like that. Like the philistine she thought he was. She was a woman of culture and refinement. She required lovemaking. Tenderness and thoughtfulness. He was capable of those things. He was. It was just that she was like fire in his blood. The fire that his hands could create was nothing compared to it. His blood had boiled the moment he had led her to touch him. The feel of those long graceful fingers through the material of his pants had blinded him to everything.

He knew what he wanted to do. What he had to do. It didn’t matter that it might very well be an act of war to do it. If he did it right it was possible to avoid that.

Possible. Not probable.

He didn’t need this, he reasoned with himself. He had enough troubles at home without creating more for himself. It could be just the excuse others were looking for to move against him.

No matter. He would commit to his course. He would have her. Whatever the cost.

He would have her.

Chapter Three

Two months later

Ariana laughed as the children all reached for her as a single entity, crowding and pressing against her, their hands outstretched. Some were turned palm up in expectation of the sweet she had just promised them, some were taking advantage of the forward press to touch her. She felt little hands clinging to her dress, stroking her skin.

Her aide Mariah helped her put a sweet popum candy into each begging hand, not minding those who put both hands out in an enterprising way of getting more than one treat.

“All right, you may go now,” she said.

The children scurried away as a single entity, some lagging behind. One child stood looking at the candy in her hand with wide eyes and then looking up at her alternately.

“Hello,” she said to the little orphan.

She had come to read a story at one of the orphanages in the city, something she liked to do when she was feeling a little whimsical. She never planned these outings, she simply grabbed Mariah and a light guard and headed her carriage into the city.

The snow would come soon and when it did travel in the city would become more difficult. She was taking the opportunity to get out while she still could. Oh, there would be sleighing and other such winter pursuits, but mostly it was about keeping indoors and staying warm. On St. Haulbruck’s day, the day the first real snow fell, there would be the impromptu celebrations welcoming winter. She always looked forward to that. Then there would be the High Winter celebrations at the mid-point of the season, when the winter carnival began. She looked forward to that too.

Mostly she would be working by the fire, seeing to her daily duties and the support of their country. There was always work to be done. Always.

She wished for the first time since becoming a triumvir that she could take a vacation. Go off somewhere and be free of work and all her many responsibilities. To be able to relax without worrying about how much tax to levy or how many new schools must be built. To not worry if orphans like these or those who were homeless had warmth and shelter from the winter.

Although she might possibly be able to take time away to clear her head, she would never be able to stop fretting about one thing or another to do with her rule. There was simply no such thing as a vacation from her life.

“Hullo,” the orphan returned her greeting shyly after many moments of silence, which was a good thing because her thoughts had run away from the orphan for a minute.

“What’s your name?” she asked, lowering herself onto her knee. The child was incredibly small, though not a toddler by far. She had to guess about five autumns old.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Don’t got no name,” the child said with a shrug.

“Jun!” One of the warren mothers came forward and put her hands on the child’s shoulder. The child flinched at the touch. “His name is Jun. You’ll have to excuse him. He’s only been here a few days.”

“That’s not my name,” the child said with a grave shake of his head.

“Well if you would tell us your real name we would call you by it,” she scolded gently. “Now come away.”

“I tolds you my name. You don’t believe me.”

The mother paled. “Come away.”

“What’s your name?” Ariana asked, holding up a hand to stay her from herding the child away.

“Bastard,” the little boy said plainly.

Ariana felt a touch of cold on her heart. She suddenly knew it was the truth. Instead of a name, someone had given this child a derogatory word to be called by. The abusiveness was unpardonable.

“I think I like Jun better, don’t you?” Jun was a very common name. Extremely common. It seemed to be the name mothers picked when they didn’t know what to name their child.

“I don’t like it.”

“Well, perhaps we can choose a name you do like,” she suggested.

He considered that for a moment. She realized then that he had very wise, aged eyes for such a small child. The mother reached out to stroke his hair and again the child flinched. Ariana was beginning to realize that the child was used to a very different type of touching. The kind that goes along with a name like ‘bastard’.

“I like your name,” he decided.

“But my name is for a girl, not a boy,” she pointed out. At his disappointed expression she added quickly, “But we can make it a boy’s name. What do you think of Arian?”

The boy visibly brightened, then immediately looked around with furtive eyes, as if should someone see the emotion on him they would take it away.

“I like that,” he said.

Ariana looked up at the warren mother. “This child’s name is Arian. See that everyone is introduced to him by the name.”

“Yes my lady,” the mother said with a bright smile. “He’s barely said a word to anyone since he got here. You’ve got the touch my lady.”

Ariana smiled slightly. It was one of the times where her importance had made a difference in a single life. She was glad of it. Glad the child had deemed her trustworthy enough to speak to simply because of the title she held.

“Arian,” she said, making him beam at the use of his new name, “have you got your sweet?”

He nodded and held out the hand which had it clutched so tightly it was probably going to melt.

“Why don’t you go with the other children and enjoy it?”

He shook his head. “Can you tell me another story first?”

She glanced up at the clock and then at her aide. She had not told anyone where she was going and someone might come looking for her wondering where she had gotten off to. She didn’t want anyone to worry after her.

“Perhaps just one more,” she said. She lowered into a cross-legged position and settled the child onto her lap. She began to tell him her story. It didn’t take long for the other children to notice and before she knew it they were all seated around her on the floor once more, listening to her with rapt attention.

“One more!” Arian demanded when she was through. She put him onto his feet and rose to hers, her bottom feeling a little numb for have sat in such a way for so long.

“I’m sorry I cannot. But I do promise to come visit again soon,” she said.

Arian didn’t look as though he trusted her word on that. “I will come on St. Haubruck’s Day and we will play in the snow together,” she promised him. The children clamored and cheered. Before she left she gave Arian a little hug and made arrangements for a donation to be made to the orphanage. “To be used for your St. Haubruck’s Day celebration. All the sweet drinks and cakes and favors you can manage,” she said.

“Yes my lady,” the mother said eagerly.

Ariana took her leave. She pulled her warm woolen cloak tightly closed in front of her and made certain her hood was up to shield her identity from those passing her by on the street. It was late afternoon, bitterly cold and windy. She regretted not bringing the coach with her to the orphanage, but it had been warmer and sunnier when she had struck out and she had needed the walk.

It had been thoughtless of her. Now Mariah and the guards must suffer the cold where she…she never grew cold. She could simply raise her body temperature or warm the air around her. She pulled Mariah close enough so that she could share in the warmth of her body and the air. It was no mean trick to exhibit that kind of control, to warm without catching fire. But she was more than skilled enough to accomplish it. She only wished she could do it in a wider radius, including the guards in the warmth.

They were walking down an alleyway, heading toward the main streets when someone suddenly leapt from a doorway and struck her front guard hard over the head, rendering him immediately unconscious. Ariana swung sharply around toward the second guard, only to find him under similar attack. The guard had enough warning to reach into the mind of his attacker and begin to attack his brain. The attacker cried out, his hand going to his head. But then the guard jerked as though something had grabbed him and collapsed to the ground. The attacker sagged with relief and Ariana was aware of a third man, dressed in a cloak, stepping forward. Ariana shoved Mariah away from her, struggled to free her hands from her cloak, and then created a fireball between her hands. She reached and flung it forward, but before it could hit her target the fireball changed direction and was absorbed by a fourth man in a cloak. The first cloaked man turned to face her and she thought she recognized him from somewhere. Though she couldn’t place where. He walked up to her and simply said:

“Sleep.”

Ariana felt a powerful mind breeching all of her mental defenses and a sudden wash of undeniable sleepiness cascaded over her. Her knees went weak and she began to sink toward the ground, her eyes rolling back in her head. But before she hit the ground she was caught against a powerful, hard body.

She fell asleep before she could identify who it was.

Sin looked at Lindo, who nodded succinctly. Ariana was asleep and would remain so as long as the Jadoc was in charge of her mind. Sin scooped Ariana up into his arms, emanating warmth onto her because it was so cold and now that she was asleep she would not be able to do it for herself.

He turned to face her aide.

“Her name is Mariah,” Lindo said before he could ask.

“Mariah. You have a choice. Either you stay here or you come with your mistress. The journey will be hard and long. Though I expect you’ll both spend most of it asleep. However, if you stay behind we will incapacitate you as we have done with the guards. It is a cold day to be lying unconscious on the ground.”

Mariah didn’t even hesitate.

“I will go with my mistress.”

“Then sleep,” Lindo said.

She did.

Hundor, who had recovered from the guard’s attack on his mind, stepped forward to catch her before she hit the ground. Lindo walked ahead of them, altering the perceptions of anyone they came across. No one would see them carrying two unconscious women into the carriage that awaited them.

Chapter Four

Ariana stirred when a particularly hard jouncing awoke her from her sleep. The first thing she noticed was that she was cold. Very cold. The conveyance she was in jounced again and she tried to make out what she could in the near darkness. She began to warm herself by reflex as she strained to see around her. There was a small square window of sorts set high atop the conveyance. It let a little light in.

And it was a conveyance. It was a coach, but unlike any coach she had even been in before. She quickly created a ball of fire and brightened the interior. The first thing she saw was Mariah lying curled up on the seat across from her. The other woman was shivering in her sleep and Ariana immediately switched sides of the coach and sat near her to keep her warm. The older woman’s shivering eased and Ariana smoothed back a strand of Mariah’s honey blond hair, tucking it back behind her ear. Once she was certain Mariah was warm enough, she stood up in the coach, wobbling as the coach struck some sort of rut in the road. She stepped up on the coach seat across from Mariah and, reabsorbing her fireball, she grabbed for the bars of the tiny square window with both hands, trying to pull herself up to see out of it. The window made it just to the level of her eyes if she stood on her tiptoes. She looked out and could see nothing but vast stretches of land, some wooded, some not, sprawling out around her. She could see it was nearing dusk. They couldn’t have been traveling for very long then, she thought. It had been dusk when they had been attacked. Provided it was the same day. That thought made her heart sink. How long had she been asleep?

She dropped down into a sitting position again and created another fireball for her to see by. She looked at the structure of the coach. If not for Mariah she could simply set the coach on fire, burning it to ashes around herself, walking free of the burning embers unscathed. But as she looked at the walls of the coach she began to realize that, with the exception of the cushions she was sitting on, the coach was made completely of iron.

She was powerful, potentially powerful enough to melt iron, but that would take just about all she had and, again, there was Mariah to consider. Even if she could melt the iron around her, dripping scalding metal was very different than burning wood. She wasn't sure she could walk away unscathed from that. Even she could be burned under the right circumstance. And if she did burn her way out of the iron coach, she would likely have nothing left with which to fight those who were outside of the coach. She certainly wasn't powerful enough to go up against an Aspano majji, which was what the first cloaked man had obviously been.

She regretted the impulse that had had her leaving the capitol with only two guards. But she had always thought she would be powerful enough to defend herself against anything. But all the firepower in the world meant nothing when someone could simply enter your mind and take control of it. It was why she always took an Aspano guard with her. To counteract any such attacks. But clearly the Aspano who had attacked them had been far more powerful than her guard had been. He had felt extremely powerful as he had entered her mind and bid her to sleep.

But he had looked so familiar. She should be able to place an Aspano with that kind of power. He had the power to rival Dendri Adiron, the most powerful Aspano majji on their continent. But she would know of another majji of Dendri’s ability, wouldn’t she?

“Unless he isn’t a majji,” she said aloud to herself.

Then recognition blossomed in her mind. She didn’t know his name, couldn’t remember it, but she knew who he was. She had sat across a table for him for a week two autumns ago as he had provided aide to…

No. It couldn’t be! He wouldn’t dare!

Oh, but he would, she realized with cold, sinking dread in her belly that she could do nothing to warm. Raja Sin’s aide. That was who he was. And if his aide was involved in this than it was certain that Sin was a part of it as well.

He must be mad! Kidnapping the leader of the Saren world? It was insanity. It was an act of war! It was…barbaric.

She ignored the flutter of anxiety—was it anxiety?—curling in her belly. Yes. It had to be anxiety. It most certainly was not excitement. Anticipation? But not an eager anticipation, she told herself sternly. It was an apprehensive anticipation.

A blinding memory of his kiss that night in the gardens came screaming at her. The heat…oh, the heat of it. She had been burned for the first time in her life. Burned in such a way that she had smarted from it for days afterward. For weeks afterward. In fact, she had just finally managed to make it through a day without thinking about it once. Well, not more than once in any event. The rawness of it came back to her now though. Along with the understanding that she would see him again soon. If they were bringing her to him, she would see him again very soon.

She told herself that didn’t excite her as much as it did frighten her, but that didn’t ring very true. There was very little she was afraid of, but since she wasn't willing to be honest with herself right then, she put it down to fear.

Oh but what kind of man would do something like this? Something so heinous and utterly wicked? And once he had her, what was he planning to do with her?

She pushed away the immediate answer that sent more heat blooming beneath her skin. What was wrong with her? This was a violation, pure and simple. And he had dragged Mariah into this as well. She would never forgive him for endangering her and the guards who had been protecting her.

How long had he been waiting for her? How long had he been lying in wait for the perfect opportunity to snatch her away? One month? Two? Oh why had she made it so easy for him? Why hadn’t she gone out with a full contingent of guards like she was supposed to?

Because she hated feeling like she needed protecting from her own people. Because she had felt safe among them. She had never considered danger from a source outside of her own people. Well…perhaps she had considered it, but she had also considered that anyone who would be damned fool enough to do so wouldn’t for risk of creating a war.

However, if anyone were fool enough it would be Raja Sin. He had gone to war for land. He had thought little of throwing lives away in the goal of what he had wanted. He would easily do so again. And now that they had their land, the borders between their countries were much increased. They would have an even stronger foothold than they had when first they had gone to war. Now here was Sin doing whatever he wanted to get whatever he wanted and damn all the consequences. He would be throwing away lives both Kiltian and Saren and for what?

For what?

What did he want with her really? This couldn’t possibly be about…Raja Sin was many things, but he was not a fool. This was a foolish act. It was impulsive and poorly thought out.

Then again, maybe not. He might have been planning this for a lot longer than she realized. Maybe this had nothing to do with that kiss in the gardens and everything to do with wanting more land. During their initial bargaining he had wanted the entire Triagle Territory. In the end he had settled for half. Still that half had increased his country in size by half. If he had gotten the entire territory it would have double Kilt’s size.

Regardless of his reasons, they were rooted in selfish greed. He thought to satisfy his own needs and to both hells with everyone else. It made him a terrible leader.

She had misjudged him. She had thought him to be, regardless of his barbarity, a thoughtful leader. A man who was looking out for his people’s best interest. But now she realized he was none of that. He was barbaric, plain and simple. No complexity. No intelligence. And certainly no moral right or wrong.

Well, he wouldn’t get away with this. Her fellow triumvirs would move the heavens aside in their search for her. When they found her they would do the same to reclaim her. Sin may have her now, but it would not last.

That is…if they could ever discover what had happened to her. They were no longer in the city, so clearly they had made it that far. But once news of her abduction reached the right ears the city would be locked down and all roads leading away from it would be searched for clues to her whereabouts.

They hit another rut in the road and it knocked her off her feet. She sprawled back onto her bench gracelessly and when she caught her balance she threw a little frustrated tantrum.

“Oh! I’m going to burn him to a crisp when I get hold of him!”

Only she wasn’t going to be able to do that. He was just like her. Impervious to fire. Able to call fire with his bare hands, transforming the raw majic channeled through them. And he had an Aspano majji—no wait, they called them Jadoc shamans—with him and was thus controlling her mind using him. Her defenses of the mind were as adequate as any majji of her ability, but it was clearly not enough to stand up against this shaman.

That last jolt had been strong enough to awaken Mariah. She blinked blearily and then focused through the dimness to see Ariana sitting across from her.

“My lady!” she cried, sitting up quickly. She swayed a moment, her hand going to her head.

“Easy,” Ariana soothed. “They’ve been using very powerful mind majic on us. Being a non, it will leave you with some after effects.”

Mariah was a non, what Ariana’s people called those who cannot use majic. Something in a non’s genetics kept them from being able to create majic. These nons usually served to fill many menial or proletarian jobs. Ariana could have asked for a majji for a lady maid and hundreds would have fallen over themselves for the opportunity even if it was a servile position, but she had chosen sweet little non Mariah and had been grateful for her every day. Mariah had always been discreet and a very good listener and friend. Mariah knew things about her that even her most intimate acquaintances did not know. And Mariah was loyal to a fault. She did not gossip like many other servants did. She did not speak out of turn or betray any confidences. Ariana had depended on her greatly for being the sounding board in her life where she could show any and all emotions, share her worst moments, share her most unattractive qualities which she kept strictly hidden from all those who would judge her.

Whenever she began to feel fake or devoid of her own character as she smiled and acted the part of the perfect triumvir, Mariah had been there to remind her of herself. Of who she was on the inside…and how valuable it was to keep in touch with herself.

And now this was the thanks she was getting. Being kidnapped and dragged…who knew where. Kilt, she thought. Where in Kilt was anyone’s guess, but she had no doubt Sin was going to bring her into the safety of his own borders.

“Mariah, I’m sorry but I think we’ve been kidnapped.”

“I know,” she said as the women were jounced yet again.

“I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t be any part of this. It’s me they want.”

“I know that too. But they asked me if I wanted to come with you, and I said yes.”

Ariana looked at her maid with bald shock.

“You
volunteered
to come?”

“Yes my lady,” she said softly. “Was that wrong of me? Should I have stayed behind so they could ask me about what had happened?” she asked, her accent, common among the lower classes, grew thicker with the words of anxiety.

“You should have stayed behind because you don’t deserve to be taken from your home like this! Bad enough it is happening to me!”

“Ah no! I couldn’t let you be taken by these barbarians with not a friend in the world by your side!”

Ariana felt grateful tears burn at her eyes as she reached across and grasped Mariah’s hands with hers.

“You’re a good friend Mariah.”

“Do you know who has us? Where we are going?”

“I’m not certain, but I suspect almost positively it is Raja Sin and his men who have done this and that means we are headed for Kilt.”

“Kilt! But that is almost two weeks of travel to the border in a wagon like this!”

“And then who knows how much further in beyond them.”

“And we are to be taken in this…this prison the entire way?”

“So it would seem.” Ariana sighed. “But they have to stop and let us out sometime to tend to our basic human needs. For instance, I could use a bathroom.”

“So could I.”

“Well, let’s see what kind of demands we can make, shall we?”

Ariana stood up and, grasping at the bars of the window she pulled her mouth up to level with it and shouted, “Hey! Hey out there we need to stop this very minute!”

There was no response. The carriage merely lumbered on.

“We need to…” Ariana flushed. She wasn’t used to talking about her bodily functions where everyone could hear her. Especially, no doubt, with what was a group of men. “We need to relieve ourselves!”

After a moment, the carriage came to a halt. Ariana stepped back from the door as it was unlocked—it sounded as though there were heavy chains involved as well—and the door opened. Both women flinched as sunlight came streaming into their dark cubby. After blinking her burning eyes for a moment, she focused on the man she had seen earlier, when she had been taken. The Jadoc shaman. What was his name? She couldn’t remember.

“One at a time,” he said, his tone brusque and deep.

Damn. That meant that if the opportunity arose for her to escape, she would have to leave Mariah behind. But maybe they would let her go once she was gone and they no longer had any use for her.