The Battle Lord's Lady (23 page)

“Go ahead and eat. I’ll eat when I return,”
he told her. “Berta will be back in a bit with warm water for your
bath.”

Atty glanced around at the room containing
only a bed, a table and chair, and a bureau. Yulen saw the
confusion on her face and smiled. “The tub’s in the next room.”

Her eyes widened. “You have your own
bathroom?”

“I have my own suite,” he laughed, enjoying
her reactions. An instant later he became coldly serious. “Don’t
leave here without me, Atty. Not until I feel it’s safe.”

“Can I snoop?”

“Snoop?”

“Open doors. Go through drawers. Peer into
places I’m not allowed. You know.”

“Go ahead and snoop to your heart’s desire.
Just don’t go outside these rooms.”

He left her, and to Atty’s astonishment he
didn’t lock the door behind him. He trusted her to obey his
command, a command he had given in order to protect her.

Of course, she made good on her promise
to snoop. She was in an inner sanctum very few were privileged to
enter. The first thing she had to investigate was the master
bedroom and the huge bed that could easily rest four people, with
its down-filled mattress, sheets, and
two
quilts. Atty lifted one of the three large
pillows and buried her face in it. It smelled of soap and fresh
air. After tonight, she smiled, it would smell of him.

She grabbed a piece of meat off the tray and
knelt in front of the bureau, beginning with the bottom drawer.
She’d learned people never hid anything in the upper drawers.

To her surprise there were several wooden
boxes in the bottom compartment. She pulled one out, setting it on
the floor, and opened the lid. What she found filled her with a
warm sense of wonderment. It was a collection of oddities that only
a young boy would feel valuable enough to keep, or a grown man
would treasure for their memories: a green feather, a chunk of
amethyst quartz, a length of leather string, a piece of paper
folded twice. Atty opened it, holding it up to where there was
enough light to read the note.

Good luck on your trials today, Son.

I’m proud of you. Dad

These were memories from his childhood she
had yet to learn about. Memories belonging to a man who had lost
his father the same way she’d lost hers. Atty looked down to find
herself clutching the note to her chest. She and Yulen had so much
in common, and yet they had grown up worlds apart.

She replaced the one box and was reaching for
another when she heard footsteps coming upstairs. Quickly closing
the drawer, she perched herself on the edge of the bed, in the
shadows next to the pillows, expecting the servant with the pots of
warm water.

To her shock, a beautiful woman entered the
room without so much as having the courtesy to knock first. Atty
froze where she sat. There was only the one lantern lighting the
room, and it hung from a hook on the wall by the door. If she
remained perfectly still, chances were the woman wouldn’t spot her
until she got right next to her.

It was clear from the moment the woman came
through the door she knew her way around the room. She paused at
the tray, made a little noise of acceptance, took something from
one of the dishes and popped it into her mouth before disappearing
through one of the doors leading to another room. Atty glanced
around. There were three other doors, besides the one that led to
the main hall. She wondered where the beautiful woman had gone when
there was a knock on the outside door. A second later the beautiful
woman emerged from the side room to answer it.

“Ah, Berta! Good. You brought warm water for
a bath. I’m sure Yulen will be anxious to get rid of the filth from
these past few weeks. Go ahead and fill the tub for us,” she
instructed, stepping aside.

Burdened with an armload of fresh towels, the
servant woman paused just inside the doorway, and Atty could see
her scanning the room, knowing the Battle Lord had left the Mutah
girl inside. If there had been another light in the room, Atty was
certain she would have been spotted, but at the moment she was just
another shadow against the far wall. The servant went through the
same door the woman had, followed by four more pairs of staff
carrying enormous buckets of warm water that had been attached to
beams and hoisted onto their shoulders. She could hear splashing
sounds, which told her the tub was made of metal instead of wood.
Presently the servants re-entered the room and departed out the
front door. The strange woman closed and locked the door behind
them.

It wasn’t until the woman began to take her
clothes off that Atty’s eyes grew larger with surprise. Without a
doubt this was the mistress Yulen had thrown in her face. Well, she
had asked him so she could be prepared when they returned. And from
the woman’s actions, it was crystal clear what she had planned for
him that evening. Plus she had no knowledge of Atty’s
existence.

The woman continued to strip down until she
wore only a thin white shift that ended right below her pert
buttocks. Atty wondered how far down in front her modesty extended.
There was no way the shift was something she normally would wear
underneath her dress. But Atty couldn’t deny the fact that the
woman was breathtaking.

And Normal.

There was a rattle at the doorknob, followed
by a quick knock.

“Atty, open the door.”

The woman tiptoed over to the door and
unlocked it, opening it to a very surprised look on the Battle
Lord’s face. Giving him a big smile, she reached up to him and
pressed herself against his body.

“Yulen, it’s
so
good to have you back home again!” she
breathed huskily. She ran her hands over his chest, pausing to
tweak his nipples beneath the fabric of his tunic.

Atty watched as the Battle Lord brushed her
hands away and stepped quickly inside the room, closing the door
behind him. His eyes swept the room, looking for her, but the woman
was effectively blocking him.

“Come! I know you’re tired, so lie down and
let me rub those knots out of your shoulders,” the woman purred,
taking his one hand and trying to lead him over to the bed.

“Tandra, what are you doing here?” Yulen
asked her bluntly. The coldness of his words chilled her warm
welcome. The woman hesitated, and Atty wondered if she’d ever
gotten that kind of response from him before.

“What do you mean, what am I doing here?” She
gave a half-hearted laugh. She finally noticed the long wound on
the side of his face, and she reached up to gingerly touch it. “Oh,
my sweet love, you’ve been injured!”

“Tandra, put your clothes on and leave. Now.”
He looked down at her. “Now.” His voice was soft, but there was the
darkness of an underlying, unspoken threat in the clipped
tones.

The woman took a step back. As easily as she
had slipped out of her clothes, she slipped out of her mood and
gave him an equally cool once-over. “Are you tossing me out,
Yulen?”

A smile came over the Battle Lord’s face, but
it held no warmth or humor. “Think of our arrangement as being
permanently cancelled, Tandra. Now, are you going to do as I
ordered, or do I need to get someone up here to help you?”

From where Atty sat, she could see a hardness
come over the woman’s face. It turned her beautiful features into a
bitter mask. Atty could easily imagine how the woman would look
twenty years later in life.

“I thought the rumor about you bringing a
Mutah woman back here was just a joke. I thought that, even if you
did, it wouldn’t affect what we had,” she said angrily.

“Tandra, I’m sorry if I’m hurting you, but
you know there never was anything between us,” Yulen conceded.

“Then the rumors are true? You and
this...
Mutah
woman?”

He gave a deep sigh. He didn’t want to pursue
this issue any further, but he had no choice. “Tandra—”

The sound of her slap was like a clap of
thunder. Yulen flinched at the pain. Fortunately she’d struck the
unwounded side of his face.

Grabbing her things, she raced back into the
bathroom. It was less than a minute later when she slammed open the
door and hurried out, completely dressed, passing Yulen without
another word before racing out the room. He closed the door behind
her with a loud sigh. The room stilled.

“Atty? Where are you?” he asked softly.

She stood up next to the bed, and he caught
the faint movement in the shadows. “I came back because I’d
forgotten something,” he explained. “I’m sorry she had to intrude,
but it’s a good thing I returned. Are you okay? Did she say
anything to you? Or do anything?”

“She never saw me.” Atty’s eyes darted toward
the door. “She didn’t know I was here.” Biting her lip, she asked,
although she already knew the answer. “She’s your mistress, isn’t
she?”

“
Was
, Atrilan. She
was
my mistress.” He watched for the expression
on her face, waiting to see how she was feeling, what she was
thinking. Atty wore her emotions on her face; her soul reflected in
her eyes. She would never be able to hide anything from
him.

“And how long before you tell
me
to leave?” she whispered almost
too softly for him to hear.

“Maybe after fifty or sixty years,” he
whispered just as softly. She remained back against the shadows on
the other side of the room. “Atrilan, do you remember what I told
my mother downstairs?”

She didn’t answer, but he knew she was
listening. Remembering.

“These next few days are going to be sheer
hell. I won’t deny it, nor will I try to hide it. My people are
going to be calling for your blood. There may even be a few
scuffles, but don’t worry. I’ll have you well guarded as long as
you do as I say. Do you understand me so far?”

She nodded silently.

“I came back because I had to ask you one
very important question. I need to know if what I’m getting ready
to fight for is going to be worth it. I mean, I need to know from
you if...” He placed his hands on his hips and bowed his head.
“If... Atrilan, I can’t explain what I’m feeling for you, because
I’ve never felt this intense kind of... Dammit, Atrilan. I love
you. I love you so strongly I almost can’t breathe when I’m around
you. And when I’m not around you, I’m one massive ache, needing to
be with you again. What I’m trying to ask is for you to give me
your heart, Atrilan. Pledge to me your heart as I’m pledging mine
to you. Now.”

“What happens if I do?” she asked him,
cautious. Afraid. She knew she was about to make a commitment that
would affect her for the rest of her life, and it terrified her.
Yet, at the same time, her heart told her it was the right thing to
do. The only thing she
could
do, because she had known from the moment he approached her
in that tiny soap shop that their destinies were meant to be
intertwined, just as she knew their bodies would eventually
become.

“I’m asking you to marry me, Atrilan. I
want you to be my wife. You told me you love me. Can you accept me
enough to consent? Can you accept
me
?”

He watched her step out of the shadows like a
forest spirit taking shape and form. In the lantern light, her hair
was a blue flame framing her face. “What kind of life will I have
here if I do?”

He shook his head. “I can only promise that
I’ll love you with my whole body every day that you’re with me. Or,
as long as I can be with you, I don’t care where we share a life.
Do you want me to take you back to Wallis?”

Atty took several steps closer to him, until
she was standing directly before him. Placing a hand on his
gore-splattered chest, she could feel the rapid beating of his
heart.

“I don’t care where you go, or where you are,
as long as I can be with you,” she admitted. “Just never leave me,
Yul. Never tell me to leave you. That’s all I want. You don’t have
to make me your wife it that would be too much for your people to
accept. Besides, your mother would never allow it.”

“My mother no longer has any control
over me
or
my desires,” Yulen
growled softly. He forced himself to keep his hands away from
touching her until he was sure of her answer, even though his body
trembled with anticipation.

“Perhaps, but she would try.” Atty looked up
into his eyes, pleading. “I’ll be your wife in every way but name,
Yulen. I’m ready to give you my heart and my body, and I do it
because I love you so much it hurts. But until I can freely walk
out among your people, and until they can accept me without hate or
fear, I can’t allow you to make that sacrifice of marrying me. Yes,
I’ll pledge my heart to yours, my love. I accept your offer, as
long as it’s on my terms.”

“Then I accept your terms,” he murmured as he
also accepted her soft kiss and the promise of her body leaning
against his.

He held her tightly, aware of her shivering.
Whether it was from the chill in the room, or their embrace, he
didn’t ask. Her hands clutched the back of his tunic, and he could
sense her slowly relaxing. She was in a very hostile environment,
and she was willing to remain here solely because of her love for
him. Yulen kissed her fragrant hair in gratitude.

He allowed himself another long moment in her
arms before reluctantly breaking away. “It may be a long night, my
love. Eat something and enjoy a hot soak in the tub. If I’m not
back before morning, don’t be worried. Eventually I’ll return.”

She gave him another kiss, this time on the
scar on his cheek as she felt his hands slide away. And when he
left, she knew no one else would be disturbing her for the rest of
the evening.