Dark Warriors: A Dark Lands Anthology (Darklands) (34 page)

“Come with us!” one of the women said urgently. “Degalt and Rega will keep you safe.”

“Oh, thank you!” Dey gushed. Ideally, she would have gone back to help Roac, but common sense told her that she’d be of more use drawing Dybell away. If he was forced to look for her, he couldn’t stay and fight.

Grimly, she decided that she and Keg would have a long talk. She did not want to spend the rest of her life as a target.

Thanks to the generosity of her temporary protectors, Dey made it home quickly, but had to wait for Keg and Dagon to return. The servants told her that they’d rushed out in response to his mother’s distress call. Dey listened intently to the chief servant’s description of Beast communication devices and vowed to get one. No telling when it would come in handy.

Less than ten minutes later, Keg strode in. First he ran his hands over her, checking for injuries. Then he kissed her so vigorously she nearly swooned.

“What happened?” he demanded, breaking off as suddenly as he began. “Is Dybell an enemy of yours? What did you do to piss him off?”

Dazed from the rapid change of subject, she blinked. “Er…yes and everything?”

His eyes narrowed. “Define everything.”

“But what about your family? Are they all right? How’s Roac?”

“Bloody, but standing,” Roac answered as he strode in the door. “And I’d like to know why I just got into a small war for you.” The women followed him in and stared at her, followed by Dagon.

Faced with an angry mob, Dey tried to smooth the waters. “I’m sorry I left you there to fight, Roac. I’d have gone back to help, but I figured it would be better to draw Dybell out after me.”

Angry color flushed Roac’s face. “You’d better never dare! If you ever put yourself back in danger after I got you out, I’ll spank you myself! Your job is to run.”

“You’d have to beat me to it,” Keg warned.

She frowned, confounded. The idea of letting others fight for her was alien. At least she didn’t have to worry that he thought her a coward.

“But you still haven’t said what Dybell has against you. Saints! It has to be bad. He’s signed his death warrant for firing on a woman.”

She tensed. “He’s still out there?” A glance at the windows showed them to be too close. Cautiously, she moved deeper into the room.

“Nothing he has can penetrate the protection on those windows,” Keg assured her. “Not that he’ll escape for long. Harming a woman, or attempting to, is punishable by death here. But you still have something to tell us.” He took her arm and led her into the family room. Servants came running with medical supplies and helped his mother to clean Roac up.

Dey watched for a moment, then looked away. “I used his soldiers as my private hunting ground. After I witnessed him sacking one village, I felt he deserved it.”

“What happened?” Keg looked at her intently, as if he could see inside her head.

Without looking at him, she crossed her arms. Her thumb moved slowly back and forth over one bicep. “I don’t know how you Beasts make war, what rules you use, if any, but what I saw of him inspired hate. There were no prisoners taken, male or female. Most of the men were slaughtered outright, and the women died slowly. The children were killed as they found them.” She looked at him, through him. “I hunted his men like animals, and didn’t cry over the bodies. When I was done, only three men still rode with him.”

She looked at him then, deadly ice in her gaze. “If I’d had a rifle today, I would have finished him off.”

Keg drew a deep breath, but didn’t flinch from her gaze. “Normally, only men are killed. The women are rounded up and taken home. Unhurt.”

She stared at him. “And the children?”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “The females are kept. The boys are shot.”

She looked away. It hurt, but at least he hadn’t lied. In spite of what she’d said, she knew full well how Beasts made war.

“It will go the worse for him for firing on an unarmed woman,” Roac said, gritting his teeth from the pain of his wound. “You’re Keg’s now, and the council will never stand for him shooting at you.”

It was too much. Dey turned away, walked purposely from the room.

“Where are you going?” Keg made no move to chase her…yet.

“To rest. I’ve had a busy day.”

Vana looked up from Roac for the first time. “I’ll walk you to your room.”

Not bothering to protest, for Vana looked determined, Dey set her jaw and braced for a verbal assault, fully expecting to be denounced in the most hurtful way possible. Many in Vana’s position would feel they had the right.

Instead, they walked in silence for a bit. Spotting a stray silk scarf belonging to one of her daughters, Vana scooped it up with a smile. “So many children, so little time.”

Forced to make small talk, Dey nodded, aware that her expression was grimmer than the subject warranted. “All those daughters and only two sons.”

“I used to have more,” Vana said softly. “Your people are fierce fighters.”

Dey slowed to a halt, facing the woman. Hate she could deal with. This soft hurt was something else. She searched Vana’s eyes, wondering when the condemnation would come. Instead, she saw compassion and a desire for peace.

“The war is all but over, Dey. Don’t let it live inside of you. Don’t lend it immortality in your heart.” She nodded in farewell, then left, her daughter’s scarf draped forlornly over her arm like a banner of mourning.

Lost brothers and lost sons; in all the bloody fighting, could Dey honestly say she’d lost anyone she loved?

Keg watched Dey go, trailing invisible blood.

It hurt. The last thing he’d wanted for her was more pain. He couldn’t take away the last few years, but he wanted to fade them.

As the son of a Beast leader, he’d grown up knowing how desperate their people were, how slim his chances of ever having a wife were. Vana had been a welcome addition into his life, for his own mother hadn’t wanted him, the least of her many sons. Vana had adopted him, and he’d grown up treasuring what so many young men lacked.

When the fruit that allowed for the birth of daughters was discovered, he’d known it would still be many years before he could hope for a union. As a boy, it hadn’t mattered so much. As a man, it galled him to see the Symbionts refuse the generous offers to purchase the land where the plant grew. He’d gone to war freely, unwilling to let his people die. He’d had the privilege to serve under good men, and had risen to be a leader. Efficient and a skilled warrior, he’d ensured that the women and children his men captured were treated with care; or as much care as could be expected under the brutal conditions. While sickened at the waste, he’d dispatched what men and boys remained with swift mercy. As hardened as they were against the Beasts, they would have only grown into a fresh crop of enemies, spawned new wars.

The brutal work had aged him in spirit. It had been a relief when he’d been reassigned to investigate Dey and Luna. Dey had been a welcome surprise, and her village, so far from the ravages of war, had refreshed him. He’d been so glad to meet her that way, where the armor he wore wouldn’t kill her attraction.

And then she’d been exiled into the heart of the war.

“Don’t dwell on what you can’t change,” Dagon advised, quietly putting a hand on Keg’s shoulder. He could still move silently after all these years. “Give her new memories, powerful ones. And if need be, apologize.” He grimaced. “There’s not a woman born who won’t find favor with that.”

Smiling at his brother’s attempt at humor, for Beast men never apologized for wars or winning them¾Keg nodded. His problems weren’t solved, but it was good to know that other men had faced them and prevailed.

He waited long enough to honor her need for privacy, and then sought her out.

She was in her quarters, gazing at the stars, wearing a pensive expression.

He took her hand, kissed her knuckles, and slowly brought it to his cheek. “Am I going to have to let you go, Dey?” he asked softly. It would never happen, but he needed to hear her answer, to know where they stood.

She looked back at the moons. “As if you would.” She was silent for a while. “My father was a chieftain’s son.”

He frowned, wondering where this was going. “I didn’t know.”

“No one knew. He ran away from the settlement he was raised in to escape punishment for his crimes, dragging my mother and me behind him.” She paused reflectively. “He didn’t love her. He just liked to have someone he could intimidate. I tried to stay out of the way.”

Keg stroked her hair away from her face. “I’m sorry.”

“He beat her. No one knew, because her symbiont healed her right after.” She laughed without humor. “Did you know that? A symbiont is the perfect tool to hide abuse. Mother used it often.”

Defiant now, she faced him. “Over and over I heard women like Megin say of Beast atrocities, “‘A Symbiont man would never do that.’” She sneered. “I saw our men do worse. My father did worse. A man should protect what is his, not fling his woman against the wall and beat her beyond recognition. Our men are not gods,” she finished bitterly.

Somehow he was missing the point of her argument. Since it seemed to be part of the inner battle she was waging , he concentrated on what he could do, which was slide an arm around her waist. Anything more and he sensed she would pull away. “Did he hit you, adajah?” he asked softly, hoping it was not so.

She bowed her head. “He never even saw me. He’d wanted a son, and I wasn’t that, so he pretended I didn’t exist. Of course, I was bright enough to run when he was in a hitting mood.” She didn’t protest when his arms tightened around her, merely sighed as if her fight was done and rested her head against his chest. “I am no traitor for choosing a Beast man over my own kind.”

Ah. Now he understood. “Do you choose me?”

“I’m thinking about it,” she said grumpily. “Compared to my father, you’re a saint.”

If she was trying to overlook his bloody past, he was more than willing to let her. “I have always wanted you, Dey, even when I wasn’t supposed to. You have no idea how hard it was to walk that fine line. I needed to do my duty, to spy on you, yet I wanted you, too. I didn’t care about your silly laws about waiting until a woman hits her ‘maturity’. You were ready in my eyes, but I couldn’t take what I wanted, not while I was still deceiving you.” He growled in remembered frustration. “That day on the boat, when you were going through the change…that scrap of black silk you were wearing over your swollen breasts…I wanted to rip it off and lick your breasts until you begged me to make you mine.”

She swallowed hard. “You did stare.”

He looked at her in disbelief. “With that humidity, it looked as if it were painted on. I could see your nipples…” Lust made him stare at the breasts in question. Sweet memory reminded him how well they fit in his mouth. By the look in her eyes, she was feeling heated, too.

It was time. Too many wasted years had come between them. War had taught him that life was too uncertain, and never to take such moments for granted. Suddenly he was afraid to wait one more minute.

Before she could tell him no, he’d swept off her shirt and cupped her naked breasts in his hands. Her moan as he took one jutting nipple into his mouth only encouraged him. Pinching the other, he enjoyed the softness of her skin and pebbled texture against his tongue. So sweet…

“Mine!” he growled the word against her mouth as he lifted her, kissing her with sweet promise. Instinct had taken over. It was time to finish this.

In ancient times, a warrior first claimed his woman, and then joined his friends and family to celebrate the union. There were no elaborate ceremonies, only the promises exchanged in the heat of the night, solemn words of passion and love. He gave them to her now, laying her on the bed amidst a torrent of heartfelt words he’d been waiting a lifetime to utter.

Dey heard them. Even through the haze of pleasure, she understood the foreign words, for she’d made it her business to know her enemy’s tongue. A tongue that feverishly trailed over her skin, exciting her passion as he melted her heart with a lover’s vows.

“Adajah, my queen. I will possess you, and you will hold me forever. I will love you with body, mind and heart. Mother of my children, my lost soul…”

She couldn’t concentrate. Naked, she writhed on the bed, returning his wild kisses, clutching his back and arms with hands and nails. And when he mounted her…

“Aiiee!”

Embedded to the hilt, he reared back. “I’m sorry!”

Stilling his lips with her fingers, she waited as her symbiont flowed down from her wrists to the site of her injury, healing the burning.

Keg gasped, then laughed. “That tickles!”

She giggled, wiggling a little as the living metal flowed back to its accustomed place. “Welcome to a Symbiont husband’s first bedding. Had you possessed your own symbiont, they would have come together and…um, let’s just say it’s supposed to be very pleasurable.” By the heat in her cheeks, she was blushing. His purr made her tremble, for she felt it where they were joined. She shifted with longing.

“Hm. I didn’t think I was doing so badly, even without a symbiont. But just so you have no complaints….” He began to move in a way that soon had her gasping for more. Pleasure built in waves, and she cried out as she climaxed, nearly blacking out from the pleasure. His matching cry of pleasure was smothered against her neck.