Jayne Castle [Jayne Ann Krentz] (42 page)

It was the same inner fire he experienced when he enflamed the steel of Countervail and when he

sheathed himself in Kalena's soft, sweet, welcoming body. It throbbed in him, pulsed in his veins, ignited

his passion and blazed with the promise of the future.

The fire was life.

Hewas her natural opposite. Her mate. The man with whom she had created new life.

The Key trembled in Kalena's grasp as she looked at Ridge across the leaping flames. The promise of

fulfillment, ecstasy, power and triumph vibrated within her.

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But above all there was the promise of life, the life they had created together.

His eyes blazed at her, hotter than the flames in the pit of fire. "You aremine." His face was stark with the

lines of his inner battle. He held the Dark Key as if it were both talisman and weapon.

Kalena felt the desire to surrender battling with her equally powerful desire to resist. She felt as if the

conflict would rip her apart. "I belong to no man, Fire Whip. I have no need of a man."

"When I take you again I will teach you that you will never be done with me. I have made you mine. I

will do so again. If you wandered to the ends of the world you would not be able to rid yourself of me. I

am a part of you now"

The babe. Did he know about the babe? Did he sense the life within her? The Light Key burned more

brilliantly than ever. Kalena's mind whirled with the memory of the woman struggling through childbirth

alone, her husband downstairs in the tavern. It would never be like that for her, Kalena knew. This man

would never abandon his wife and child. He would walk through the fires of the Dark end of the

Spectrum for them. He would confront the Light end itself if necessary. She was his, just as he was hers.

On the other side of the fire Ridge stared at her as he stood in the grip of raw wonder.

"I am a part
of you,"
he repeated. The dawning realization was there in his eyes, and Kalena was certain

he knew about the life they had created together. Somehow he had sensed it.

"Ridge." His name was torn from her, but she could say nothing more. Her mind spun with startling

images.

It was as if he had touched her. She could almost feel his hands on her body, stroking her intimately,

claiming her passion for his own. Kalena closed her eyes as the exquisite sensations poured over her.

Calloused palms grazed her sensitive nipples, urging them into full flower. Strong white teeth nipped the

inside of her thigh with a gentle savagery that made her tremble. Golden eyes flared with an exciting

hunger that stoked her own desire. The weight of him was a throbbing force that at once subdued and set

free the energy of passion that sailed through her blood.

Dizzy with the effects of the sensuality that reached across the fire to embrace her, Kalena struggled to

maintain her balance. She couldn't open her eyes. A soft moan escaped her. She could feel him holding

her still, capturing her wrists in his large hands, anchoring her writhing legs with his own muscled thighs.

His mouth covered hers, his tongue thrusting into her in a way that emulated another kind of possessive

thrust. Her blood sang even as she surrendered to the silent embrace.

He was fire and she was ice. The dangerous flames that burned in him could only be quenched by her

soft, welcoming femininity, cool and clear as crystal. He would bring her passion and she would bring him

peace. Together they could create a future.

Her legs were being parted. The heavy, pulsing weight of him was between her soft thighs, seeking

entrance to the hot, damp core of her. She could feel the powerful, blunt force of him pressing into her,

demanding admission as if it were his right. She had no choice but to yield. But she longed for no other

choice. She was his. She wanted to yield; to take him within her, trap him, chain him, and make him hers.

Only in surrender could she win this unique battle. In surrender she would find victory.

In victory, Ridge would learn the meaning of surrender.

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It was the way of the Spectrum. The way of male and female.

And then he was there, forging into her, laying claim to the gentle territory he would master. Kalena cried

out in the moment of complete possession and dimly heard an answering shout of passion and masculine

surrender mingled with triumph. Now they were one. Male and female joined together in a whole that

was greater than the sum of its parts. The Paradox of the Spectrum in its most glittering manifestation.

Opposites that could attract. Opposites that could destroy. Opposites that could meld into a union so

powerful it could create new life. The wonder of it stopped the world for a timeless instant.

And then Kalena opened her eyes.

Ridge was still standing on the other side of the fire, his whole body taut with triumphant satisfaction, his

eyes lit with the wonder of losing himself in his woman.

Kalena knew then that he had shared the strange lovemaking with her in his mind. It was over, yet he still

fought a savage battle. She could see it in every inch of his lean, powerful frame.

What battle was he fighting? Kalena wondered silently. Then it came to her with violent impact that he

fought to control his Key, just as she must struggle to control hers. If they did not control them, they

would destroy each other and the new life they had created. Their survival depended on the battle they

must each fight with the Keys.

The reality of what she had come close to doing with the Light Key shook Kalena to her heart, cutting

through the intense sense of exultant power. Some of the glittering effects of the trance that gripped her

wavered.

A part of her distantly realized what was happening. If she used the Key, she would not merely humble

Ridge, she would destroy him completely.

She could not destroy the man she had come here to save. He was the father of her child, her husband,

the man to whom she had bound herself. Her destiny.

What was she doing? She had not come here to hill him.

Dazed, she watched as he gripped the Key he held in both hands. She knew the thing was causing him

pain and she sensed that he was fighting to control it. The Light Key shimmered with energy, demanding

to have that energy released. The heat of the Key was reaching out for her, acting on her, consuming her.

Soon it would control her totally.

Unless she controlled it first.

But that was unheard of. No one could control the Keys. That was why they had been locked away for

centuries. The wisdom of the ages was useless now. The Keys had been freed, and unless she found a

way to handle hers, Kalena knew she would wind up killing Ridge. She fought for breath and put both

hands around the flaming handle.

The heat was incredible. It was alive, turning on her, trying to dominate her, consume her. White heat

flared along her nerve endings. She had to cool the Key or it would blaze completely out of control. She

was an untrained Healer, but she could look inside herself and find the answers she needed.

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No Sand burned to light her way, but the Key contained within it all the power of all the Sand that had

ever existed. Kalena closed her eyes and breathed in the heat that filled the air around her. The world

shuddered. There was a dazzling veil waiting to be lifted. She must find a way to lift it. Inside her mind

Kalena reached out to grasp the veil and pull it away. For an instant there was resistance. She didn't think

she could manage the feat. And then the veil disappeared.

The answer was evident at once.

The only solution was to cool the white fire of the Light Key the way a Healer cooled a fever, the way

she had more than once cooled the raging anger in Ridge. She was the daughter of the House of the Ice

Harvest. Deep within her was the power of ice, the power to drain the heat from the fire. It was her

heritage to control the Key, not be used by it. Eyesclosed, Kalena began to concentrate on the flaming

Key.

Raw energy arced between the two Keys and traveled up the arms of those who held them. Lightning

flashes of fire and ice flared and flashed around Kalena and Ridge. The glass chamber shook with the

sound of a scream, but the anguished protest didn't come from either Ridge or Kalena; they had no

strength left to spare for anything but controlling the Keys.

The shriek echoed eerily through the cavern and was quickly followed by another. Kalena opened her

eyes to find herself looking directly into Ridge's golden gaze. He had circled the fire and was standing

only a short distance from her now. The Key in his hand was changing color. Kalena could see that

Ridge was trembling with the force of the energy he sought to contain.

She didn't know who had screamed. Vaguely she realized that the cries must have come from the

members of the cult; certainly Ridge had not made a sound. Ridge's mouth was set in a thin, determined

line, and his eyes were gleaming with the fire that raged within him. Even as Kalena watched some of that

fire seemed to touch the icy black Key in his hand. It began to glow faintly with the same hue as the sintar

when it reflected Ridge's temper.

Kalena caught her breath as the Key she held flared for a moment and then began to coalesce. Slowly

the white flames congealed, leaving behind a white metallic object that was noticeably cooler.

The screams came again, and this time Kalena knew they were screams of rage. But none of the hooded

men dared come forth. Apparently, the power of the Keys was enough to keep them at bay.

"You will not deny us our triumph!" Griss' agonized cry filled the room. "Destroy her, Fire Whip. It is

what you are meant to do. It is the only reason you have been spared. Set the Darkness free to consume

her and the Key.
Set it free!"

Ridge was watching Kalena, his eyes fastened on hers as if she were the only important thing in the

universe. She could not tear her gaze from his as they both struggled to restrain the power in the Keys.

"I don't know how long I can control it, Ridge." Her husky words came through dry lips.

"Long enough," he said hoarsely. "Just long enough." He forced himself to turn to one side, moving with

obvious effort back to where he had dropped the black case. The short walk seemed to have exhausted

him. He fell to his knees, the Key held high overhead in his clenched hands. His mouth was set in a grim

twist and the fire in his eyes was molten.

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"By the Stones!" Ridge cried, his shout drowning out the sounds of rage filling the chamber even as he

drove the Key point down into the black glass floor.

A sudden, violent cracking sound exploded in the room. "No!" Griss screamed as if he had been

personally attacked. "Damn you to the end of the Spectrum, no!"

Kalena, still struggling with her Key, watched in horror as a long, thin crack appeared in the center of the

floor. It began at the point where Ridge still knelt, his shoulders hunched as he gasped for breath. It

seemed to pass directly through the bowl of fire and continue on the far side, snaking toward Kalena.

Ridge staggered to his feet, snatching up the black case. With what was obviously one last burst of

willpower, he thrust the Key into the case.

Kalena had just time enough to see that the Dark Key was still glowing faintly with the warmth Ridge

had infused into it before the lid snapped shut with an awful finality.

Shouts of rage and a curious, truly horrible agony ricocheted around the glass chamber. Hooded figures

lurched toward Kalena and Ridge, coming as close as they dared. But it was clear they could still not

touch either of them. Kalena clung to her Key, aware that the driving force in it was finally fading. She

could and would control it. She sought with her toe along the floor for the silvered box. She found it just

as Ridge shoved his Key, case and all, into the bowl of flames that burned in the center of the room.

Instantly, there was another sharp splintering sound and the long jagged line in the floor began to widen

as several smaller, spidery lines grew outward from it. There was nothing but endless darkness in the

major crack. A deep cold seemed to reach upward from the bottomless pit below.

"Run, Kalena, the room is going to shatter!"

"Not without you, Ridge. I'll be damned if I'll leave without you after having gone through all this!" Her

foot collided with the silvered box and she grabbed it, thrusting the now cooling Light Key inside and

snapping shut the lid. Almost at once she felt completely in control of herself again. The relief made her

dizzy.

Another harsh, fracturing noise filled the room. Kalena looked down to find herself straddling the far end

of the deep crack that stretched beneath the fire pit. Cowled figures moved forward, hands outstretched

to take hold of her.

"Ridge!"

"Hold on to the Key. They can't touch you as long as you've got the Key" He was racing toward her