Bound in Darkness (30 page)

“It will serve no good purpose if you do. You have other things you need to focus on. In two days' time you will be facing the god of pain and suffering in a deadly battle. All of your focus must be on that if you intend to win. Practice using the cuff. That is what is most important. I will not have you unprepared.”

Maxum shook his head and held her tighter. “Not tonight.”

“Yes, tonight. Because tomorrow night will be ours and I will not have your focus split. You will make love to me with no distractions. For those hours I will be your only focus. Then, when you leave me, you can put me aside in your mind and focus on the battle to come.”

“Put you aside?” He laughed a hollow sounding laugh. “I do not see how that is possible. In so short a time, in such an absolute way, you have become part of my mind…and my heart and my soul. I fear there is no separating you out any longer.”

Airi's throat went tight and her heart soared to hear those words. It meant everything to her that she meant so much to him. It made facing the future somehow easier.

“Well then, hold me closer. Draw on the strength I can give you. Use the love you feel for me as your ultimate weapon in your fight against Sabo. Because he will not have that advantage. When he fights you, he will not have the knowledge that he is loved beyond all reason by someone. That will make all the difference.”

Maxum hoped it was true and, hearing her speak of her love for him made him feel it was true. He felt the strength of it in every fiber of his being.

“Now,” she said with soft encouragement, “practice using the cuff.”

He nodded his head and did so.

A
iri had waited for him with anxiety crawling through her stomach and tension knotting up her shoulders. They had made it to the city unscathed and, as far as they knew, unhunted. After a trip to the bank they had found out which was the very best inn in the city and gone to stay there. Airi had carried her bags up to what would be her and Maxum's room with a heavy heart. She had bathed while she waited, and even primped a little in the looking glass. She had looked down at the filmy nightgown Maxum so loved on her and in a moment of sheer panic thought she should have gone to buy something new…something exciting and fresh…something special for what could be their last night together.

She had started to dress to go out and look for something, knowing there would still be vendors open in a city like this and that she still had some time before Maxum returned, but in the end she decided it didn't matter what she wore. The night was already tainted. She almost wished she hadn't asked for it. Almost wished he would go to Meru's temple and get it over with. The not knowing was killing her. But then in the very next thought she had felt tears threatening because she knew this one night would never be enough.

At juquil's hour she called the tavern's servants to her and had them change the bath for one with fresh hot water. He would be there soon and she knew he would be soiled. The lake they had passed on the way into town was frozen over, making it impossible for him to bathe the remnants of his curse away. So she would do it for him.

She knew he would not dally, that he would come straight to her the very instant the ground coughed him up. And she was right. She was tipping the maid who'd dumped the last bucket of hot water in the tub when he arrived. She shooed the maid off and closed the door behind her. She stood facing the door for a long moment, her back to him. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then schooled her expression into one of ease and contentment. She felt neither, but she would not waste her time with him making him feel guilty for her pain.

She turned to face him, a small smile on her lips…hardly the effort she'd meant to make. She lifted her chin and smiled wider. There. That was better.

“You came back quickly,” she noted as she crossed over to him. She could feel the cold on him, emanating from him like dead ice. His lips were blue in spite of his warming up on horseback as he traveled to get to her. She shivered as the cold crept beneath her robe and the thin gown beneath it.

Still, she reached out and took his hands in hers, the iciness of his fingers penetrating her.

“Come,” she said, “let's get you into this bath.”

“A man has never laid eyes on a more inviting image than this,” he said, his eyes roaming over the room with its large poster bed, blazing fireplace, and copper bathtub with steam rising from its waters. Then his gaze fell to her and he looked at her from head to toe, taking in her freshly washed, loose platinum hair and her white satin wrapper. It gaped at the neckline and he could see she was wearing the gown he favored on her. Of course she would do that, he realized. She had proven herself to be thoughtful and, now that she was wealthy enough to buy a good-sized town or a small city, she proved herself to be just as generous to a fault as he was. This was why Meru had chosen her to bear the Dagger of Truths. As selfish a creature as she purported herself to be, he had seen her softer side. Airi had the uncanny ability to put herself in the shoes of another and figure out what it was they needed or wanted.

Just that morning she had divined that Maxum needed to finally explain to his men what was going on. They deserved the truth, had proved their loyalty to Maxum and to Airi time and again. It was far past time. But Maxum had realized that the one remaining obstacle keeping him from doing so was Kilon. He had not wanted to bare his soul in front of a man unworthy of trust. Airi had recognized where his thoughts lay and how difficult it was for him to let someone in. The only reason she'd gotten in was because Meru had exposed him to her. If she hadn't done that…who knew where they would be right now? With his stubborn, guarded nature…who knew?

So she had supported him when he'd called a halt to their progress, and had finally told them everything. The men had seemed only mildly surprised by any of it. Doisy had said, “Well, I rather thought there was a bigger reason for all of this treasure hunting, but not quite that big!”

And that had pretty much been the size of it. The men heard, accepted, and then moved on as if nothing had changed. They had not deserted him or gone their separate ways, although they had both the means and right to do so. They had not complained or exhibited fear over being so close to someone so cursed. They made it seem like it was nothing to them.

So Airi had proven herself wise and empathic. She was the perfect bearer of the dagger, and the perfect bearer of his heart. He didn't know when he had fallen in love with her exactly. It could even be possible it had been that moment when he had realized she'd had the balls to pick his pocket, leaving him hard and wanting. But it was more likely to be the day he had seen her leap onto the head of the hydra, fearlessness and outrage in her eyes. She had never been more beautiful.

Except perhaps now, when she was trying to be so strong and brave in the face of devastation. Yes, by all the gods, he loved her. And by the end of the night tonight she would know it with every ounce of her being.

Airi looked up into his eyes and the feeling she saw there was bald and easy to read. Her heart fluttered in her breast in response to his naked emotion.

“Come, let's get you cleaned up. You're covered in dirt and ice cold besides,” she said. She pulled the tie to his heavy winter cloak and it sheeted down to the floor around his boots. Her fingers then went to the ties of his shirt until the neckline was gaping wide, showing the peppering of dark blond curls there. He stripped his shirt off over his head, leaving him bare chested. The only thing he wore on his body now was the cuff, the talisman, his rings, and a fine layer of dirt.

She urged him to sit on the bed then knelt at his feet in a graceful movement. She then worked off first one boot then the next. He stripped the woolen socks from his feet. She rose up higher on her knees and, settling her breasts into his lap, she began to untie his breeches. Once they were loosened she stroked a slow hand down over the ridges of his abdomen until she reach the thickening line of curls left exposed by his loosened pants.

He caught her hand and lifted it away from his body, then he grasped her beneath both arms as he hauled them both up to their feet.

“Bath first. Then I'm going to explore every inch of you.”

“You like doing that,” she noted. “Perhaps I should draw you a map so you don't have to keep rediscovering me.”

“I would burn such a map to ashes. I would much rather be forced to refamiliarize myself every chance I get.”

“Come to the bath, your hands are like ice,” she said, shivering a little.

He let go of her and dropped his pants to the floor. Kicking them away he went to the large copper tub that stood before the roaring fire. He tested the water with a finger, but realized it was a useless gesture because his cold hands would register the water being hotter than it was. He decided to just risk it and stepped into the wide tub and lowered himself into the hot water. It was the perfect temperature to his mind and his body began to warm in leaps and bounds.

Airi meanwhile had knelt beside the tub. She grabbed a sea sponge from a small dish on the floor that held a pearly looking blue soap. She placed the sponge on his chest and began to wash him, but his hand stayed her instantly. “That isn't going to make me smell like dusk roses now is it? I have a battle tomorrow and I don't want to go into it smelling pretty.”

It was an attempt at levity, but it fell flat. Only because he had spoken aloud of the elephant in the room. He let go of her hand as she washed him again, playing the game. “It's jimsof leaf soap. A very manly fragrance. You will smell positively unbeatable.”

He gave her a small chuckle. “If I'd known that I wouldn't have put us through all the trouble of getting this…and these.” He pointed to the cuff on his arm and then the rings

“Or this.” She stroked a finger against the talisman hanging around his neck. “You never did tell me the story of how you got this.”

“Ah. Nothing too exciting. I had to trick a mage into giving it to me using just my charm and my wits.”

“How did you do that?”

“Almost the same way you got the cuff.”

“But I used flirtation and a woman's wiles…” She trailed off and understanding lit her features. “You didn't!”

“Of course not,” he said with a chuckle. “He had a predilection for brawny, warrior types and I pretended to have one for magi. A little flirtation, a little trickery and pickpocketing and the talisman was mine.”

“Pickpocketing! You stole the talisman and then I stole it from you?” She laughed uproariously. “One would think you would have seen me coming, having used the same ploy yourself to get it!”

“Do not think I wasn't wholly embarrassed by that. You should have heard me. Doisy will tell you. I called you every name in the book. But even so, I had to admire you. Damn you.”

She chuckled. “Well, it is done with now and all to the better. It was the most valuable thing I've ever stolen in my life,” she said, her tone softening with her emotion as she looked into his eyes.

“Yes, it was, wasn't it?” he said softly, reaching to stroke warm fingers down the side of her face. “Catching you outside that jewelers was sheer dumb luck…and my luck has been spot-on ever since then. Let's just hope it continues.”

There was that elephant, trumpeting into the room again. It felt as if the beast was standing on her chest.

She went back to her task of bathing him, covering his chest and shoulders and back with swirls of soap, every so often going back to dip the sponge in fresh soap. She washed away all the soil and grime left behind. She traveled the length of his legs, scrubbed between his toes. She worked her way back up his legs and his inner thigh until she found him beneath the water hard and wanting her. Their eyes met and held as she washed him in a variety of strokes. Maxum broke eye contact with a groan as his eyes rolled back in pleasure.

Gods how he wanted her.

He opened his eyes and reached out to stroke two fingers into the neck of her wrap and gown.

“Take this off,” he said, pulling at the wrap.

“But then I'd have to stop touching you,” she said with a frown.

“I'll touch myself in your absence,” he said, making her eyes widen. She licked her lips and looked down at the clouded water that would keep her from seeing him do that. She frowned again. “Do it,” he said, his hand going beneath the water to take her hand away from his body. She kept her hand next to his just long enough for her to encourage him to wrap his fingers around himself and together they stroked him several times. Once she was satisfied he had taken over, once her entire being seemed to be humming with sexual arousal, she pulled back her arm and stood up at the side of the tub. She undid the tie to her wrapper and let the heavy silk slide down her arms and off her body. It settled into a silky pile at her feet. Then, without him bidding her to do so, she stripped off the gown as well, leaving her standing there womanly and naked and all his.

His. She was his…as much as so independent a creature can belong to anyone. His woman. His lover. His soul mate. And he believed that…that they had been destined for one another. And it was the one and only thing he had to thank his curse for. If not for his immortality he would have been dead bones two hundred full turnings ago. If not for him being driven to end this curse he would never have stolen that talisman, never have stopped at that inn and never would have met her.

She stepped into the tepid water of the bath and lowered herself along his body, their chests pressed together, their legs tangling in the confined space. Water sloshed over the sides of the tub with her every movement until she was settled at last. Then she took his hand from around his shaft and resumed her strokes. She worked him from root to tip, over and over again, first slowly, then quickly, then slowly again. The varying paces were maddening…and wonderful. But if she thought their first coupling of the evening was going to consist of just her hand on his body, she had another think coming.