The Twelve Kingdoms: The Mark of the Tala (17 page)

I didn’t look at Rayfe. I didn’t have to—his body spoke of his annoyance. Hugh nodded somberly.

“Now I shall keep the rest of our bargain.” Rayfe raised his voice. “We decamp immediately.”

With a cumulative shout of acknowledgment, the Tala pulled back and began preparations. At the far edges, some troops already streamed away, walking, trotting, and riding over the horizon. Birds arrowed off in vees and on their own. Some remained, keeping a watchful eye from above. It seemed some smaller creatures almost melted into the ground. Rayfe nodded at Hugh.

“Those prisoners we took have already been returned to you, yes?”

“Yes.” Hugh thinned his lips.

“Shall we depart?” Rayfe inquired formally.

Abruptly, I felt at a loss. This was it. I looked around for Dafne. Right there, by my side.

“I like him,” Dafne said in my ear, taking my free hand.

“What?”

“You heard me. Rayfe. I like him. He’s good for you.”

I sputtered at that. “How can you possibly say that? You’ve barely met him.”

She shrugged. “With some people, it doesn’t take long to have their measure.”

“I’m really going to miss you.” I searched for more words.

“We’ll see each other again, I’m sure. Take care of yourself, Princess. Stop looking like an abandoned puppy. Oh, and enjoy tonight.” With a salacious grin, a wink, and a curtsy that barely skirted the correct form, she left.

“Amelia?” Hugh spoke against her hair. “Andi is saying good-bye.”

“No!” she cried against his chest.

“Ami.” I put a hand on her shaking shoulder, Rayfe obligingly going with me. “Don’t cry. This is just like when you married Hugh and went off to Windroven. We’ll see each other again soon.”

“It’s
not
like that!” She tossed her hair back to give me a tearful look, then blanched to see Rayfe so close. “You’re wed to that—that
beast
and it’s all my fault!”

My heart tore. “It’s not. It’s not your fault, baby sister.”

She simply buried her face again. Hugh shrugged, uncomfortable. “She’s distraught.”

“Yes.” I stroked her hair. Sighed. “She is. Take her back to Windroven. Take care of her.”

He nodded, grave. “I always will.”

“I know.”
And I used it against you.

“Rayfe of the Tala.” Hugh lifted his chin. “I charge you with the same. Take care of Princess Andi. If she comes to the least harm, a moment’s distress, I shall hold you personally responsible.”

“No more than I hold myself so,” Rayfe responded in kind, then squeezed my hand. “Shall we?”

Rayfe led me away, to the large black stallion I’d seen from the towers, waiting saddled and bridled. Several grooms waited to assist us and I soon discovered why. With much effort, they managed to help us onto the horse, still tied together. I would have said it couldn’t be done, but I ended up sideways on Rayfe’s lap, perched on his muscular thigh. They untied my cloak briefly and he lifted his arm over my head, snugging me up against his chest. It meant I had to cross my own arm tightly across my breasts, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. The grooms retied my cloak, rearranging it around me with Rayfe’s arm inside.

“It would be far easier to simply untie us now.”

He shook his head, looking out over the decamping army. “Not yet.”

“You know, in the Twelve Kingdoms, the men don’t have to tie up their brides to keep them from running off.”

“Don’t they? Perhaps the women are more biddable there.”

I opened my mouth to retort but couldn’t come up with a good answer. “How long, then?”

“The ties must remain until our marriage bed.”

“Wait—when will that be?”

He glanced down, amusement sparking through the dark blue of his eyes. “Anxious, my sweet?”

“I’m thinking more of the inconvenience in the interim,” I answered drily.

“Soon,” he answered my question. “Once I’m certain all are on their way, there is a place we can be together. Once I’m buried inside you, we can undo the wrappings.”

His words reawakened that heat, and I felt my cheeks burning. He chuckled. “I hadn’t thought you’d be shy.”

I hadn’t thought so, either.

He cuddled me closer, a warm hand on my thigh, nuzzling the small hairs at my temple. “You smell delicious. I like the feel of you on my lap. Kiss me.”

“No.” I refused to look at him. “No one can think that I’m eager for you.”

“And are you? Eager for me?”

I didn’t answer.

“There was a kingdom once, conquered by a mighty warrior. To cement his triumph, he married their queen, in a public ceremony before all her people. Then he stripped her and consummated the marriage while all watched, so that they would know her defeat as theirs. After that, he kept her alive, but as a collared slave who knelt next to his throne. Thus the people were daily reminded of their own servitude and his mastery of them all.”

He fell silent. A troop of horsemen, wild looking, with streaming hair, rode past and saluted us with cocky grins.

“I have never heard this story,” I finally replied.

“The kingdom was far on the other side of the Onyx Ocean. And it happened long ago. It’s not surprising your minstrels wouldn’t know it.”

“But yours do?”

“Ours know different things. Annfwn has been . . . insular, if you will.”

I turned that over in my mind, tying it together with the hints about border crossings and lack thereof.

“Why would you tell me such a story now?”

He cupped my cheek in his free hand and tilted my face up so I’d look into his eyes. His fingers were chilly against my hot skin. Bits of ice swirled in the air now, and the ocean roiled under a freezing fog.

“There are brutal men in the world. I am capable of a great deal, but I am no brute. I tell you this story so you’ll recognize the difference. However, you are mine now, and I will have everyone know it.”

“I thought we agreed to be bound to each other. I’m not a horse you purchased.”

“True enough,” he agreed easily. “I am also yours. You are welcome to kiss me also, if you wish.”

His lips curved in a tempting, taunting smile. It bothered me that I wanted to. That, despite it all, I was apparently eager for him, my woman’s center burning to be touched.

“I don’t wish to.”

“I think you are lying.”

“What happened to her?”

“Who?”

“The queen, the one who became a slave to her enemy.”

He frowned thoughtfully, his thumb caressing my cheekbone. “I don’t know. I don’t think the stories ever said.”

Of course they didn’t.

“I should point out that you have not defeated Uorsin.”

“Not yet.”

“You’d be foolish to try. You might be many things, but I don’t believe you are a fool.”

“I have what Annfwn needed, what Uorsin hoped to deny us. I’ve won this round.” He seemed about to say something more and stopped himself. He dropped his hand from my cheek and tucked the luxurious cloak around me to seal off the drafts. “It grows cold. Soon we’ll be able to leave.”

The game, it seemed, would not end here. Just as I was on my own journey, we were moving into the next phase of history, written or no.

A
t last, the final ragged edges of the Tala army had retreated from the vast plain and the armies of Windroven had withdrawn inside or returned to their homes and stations.

Dafne rode off with Hugh’s retinue early on, so they could settle Amelia, turning to give me a last wave. Rayfe finally had seen enough and wheeled his horse around, and we set off at an easy canter into the forested hills. We rode in silence. Though I remained pressed against him, he felt far away now, deep in his thoughts. It was better than the alternative.

As we climbed, the trees broke the wind and the ice crystals became fat snowflakes. The ground disappeared under the fall of white, all sound but ours muffled.

Unfortunately the call of nature pressed hard upon me and the jogging of the horse made every moment more excruciating.

Finally I had to break our tacit truce, with the most banal of requests.

“I have the same need,” he replied. “I apologize. Usually the bride and groom go directly to the marriage bed, so this is normally not an issue. We are nearly there, however, if you can hold out. I fear that if we dismount it will be too difficult to mount again.”

“You could just cut the bonds now,” I pointed out. “That’s the simple answer.”

“No, the ceremony must be completed.”

“It’s not like anyone is going to know. I won’t tell.”

He was studying my face, but I kept looking out at the falling snow.

“Are you so casual of blood magic, then, that you would play with the truth of it as easily as you lie about your desire for me?”

Ouch. I floundered, embarrassed that he saw so much. But for what? I had nothing to be ashamed of. I was out of my depth as much as if Ursula had thrown me in with her best swordsman. No wonder I kept misstepping. I simply needed to master new skills.

“I have little experience with either,” I replied, “and all with you on both counts. How should I know where to draw the line between what is real and what is not?”

He laughed, looped the reins around a peg on the saddle, and cupped my cheek, urging me to look at him. I caught my breath at the hunger in his face.

“Trust me, my queen, all of this is very real.” His mouth descended on mine, surprisingly hot, lips moving over mine with a tender ferocity that made my head swim. The flames in my groin roared to life, burning me with relentless need. The lightning in my blood, made of claws and beaks and fangs, tore at me with renewed urgency. Before him, no man had kissed me, so I’d wondered if perhaps I would respond this way to any kiss, any desiring touch. Or maybe just to someone else with Tala blood.

Somehow I didn’t think so.

His hand moved into my hair, winding it around his fingers as he continued to kiss me. The horse slowed to a walk, following the narrow path through the woods. I sank into the red velvet heat that Rayfe spun around me, letting him shower kisses over my cheeks and closed eyes, then return to my mouth to feed on it like a hummingbird visiting a flower over and over.

I could almost believe in his desire for me.

“And we’re here.” His voice penetrated my fog, rough and amused. “Were you sufficiently distracted?”

I flushed—again, still—and realized we’d halted at a cabin. Lights glowed within and spicy woodsmoke promised a warming fire. We managed to slide off the horse without too much trouble and Rayfe led me into the trees, soft snow sinking around my ankles. Such a good thing I hadn’t worn those satin slippers.

“It’s best to do this out here,” he explained, “since the indoor privy would be more difficult to manage.”

He guided me behind a tree and turned away as best he could while I squatted in the snow. I kicked more snow over my stain, then waited, trying not to listen while he accomplished his business.
Such is the crashing intimacy of marriage,
I thought. In some ways I could see the wisdom of this method. Like jumping into the cold lake instead of easing in, toe by toe. We were intertwined with each other now. Slow or fast, the sting is the same. I was no longer only myself.

The physical ties just demonstrated it.

We cleaned our hands in the snow and took care of the horse together. It was an odd companionship, finding the ways to work together to accomplish these small tasks. Once his stallion was tucked in the stall in back, happily munching hay, I was grateful to get out of the chill.

Rayfe undid the knots at my throat, his handsome face intent as he plucked at the cords with fingers clumsy from the cold.

“It seems you spend a lot of time either putting cloaks on me or taking them off again.”

He slanted me a wicked grin. “Any time you need assistance removing your clothes, I am delighted to provide it, my lady.”

“Just as long as you’re willing to help me dress again. There are no servants here?”

He shook his head, shrugging out of his own cloak. “For at least tonight, it was best that it be just the two of us. But here, we have wine, some meats, cheeses, fruits, if you’re hungry. I realized I have no idea what you like to eat, so I asked for as many things as I could think of.”

I surveyed the groaning bounty of the little table, the elaborate bed tucked in the corner, its covers invitingly turned back while candles blazed in every nook. “How did you assemble all this so fast?”

“I’ve had nigh on four seven-days to prepare this place for us.”

“You couldn’t have known how the siege would end.”

“Oh, but I did.” He drew me close, weaving his fingers with mine, free arm going around me to rub up and down my back under the long fall of my hair. The touch warmed and alarmed me, as did the implacable certainty in his face. “I knew I would win you or die trying.”

I searched his fierce visage, wondering what drove him so hard. He wasn’t Hugh, to sacrifice all for true love or a noble ideal. “Why did you want me so much?”

“Isn’t it enough for you to know that I do?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.” I bit my lip, uncertain.

“Let me do that for you,” he murmured, brushing my lips with his, then tugging on my lower lip with his teeth. I gasped at the surge of desire. “If you’re not hungry, perhaps we should complete our marriage?”

“I’m not hungry,” I whispered.

“I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that, Andromeda.”

“Mostly I’d like to have the use of my arm again.”

“Is that all it is?” He trailed hot, hungry lips over my cheek and nipped under the corner of my jaw. The tender skin there sparked at the touch, the sensation arrowing through my body to my groin. He nibbled down my throat, licking here and there, spreading that melted feeling through me.

Then he was tugging me toward the fireplace and the white fur rug in front of it. He sat me in a chair and began working the laces of my boot, his shining black head bent over the task. Soon he’d have all my clothes off and would be inside me. No going back. I scanned the room, not really looking for escape. Just to settle myself. The fire blazed with welcome warmth and the fur looked soft.

“What has white fur that’s this big?”

Rayfe glanced up, dark-blue eyes glinting. “To the north are great white bears. Lethal hunters.”

More stories come to life. He slipped the boots off my feet and smiled that wicked half smile at me. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Andromeda.” He stood, urging me to my feet, and swept his free hand over my hair. “Would you help me with my boots?”

I understood the hesitation in his voice when I knelt at his feet to pick one-handed at the wet knots. Though he’d performed the same service for me, I felt oddly subservient. The image of the long-ago foreign queen slipped through my mind, forever kneeling at the throne of her conqueror while her people glared at her with accusation and pity.

“I wonder what you’re thinking about,” Rayfe mused. “Not about the bears of the north, I think.”

“Perhaps I am. Or about lethal hunters in general.”

“Is that how you see me?”

I looked up to see that he’d leaned forward, tails of hair that escaped from the knot at his nape falling around his sharp cheekbones.

“Trying to choose the right words?” He sounded amused and I remembered Ursula teasing me the same way, standing in the exercise yard a lifetime ago. I could see the echoes and layers around him, just as I’d seen around her that day.

“I see the wolf in you. And the raptor. I see—” him dead in the snow, surrounded by a circle of crimson blood. I willed the image away.

“What do you see?” he urged, curiously intent.

I shrugged, abruptly self-conscious. “Dreams and visions. It’s of no matter.”

“Visions were one of Salena’s gifts. If they are yours, too, you’ll have to learn to wield this ability.”

I stared at his boots, the black scuffed and worn. “What about shape-changing?”

“That, too. Have you ever?”

“No.” I shook my head, confirming it to myself. “But I
feel
. . .”

“Most learn as children,” he told me in a gentle tone. “And even for the most experienced, it’s far more difficult to accomplish away from Annfwn. I’ll teach you that, too.”

“But not tonight. My mind and heart can only stretch so far, so fast.”

He slipped his fingers under my chin and raised it, brushing my lips with a kiss so sweet my heart turned over in my chest.

“No. Not tonight,” he murmured.

Flustered, I slipped the loosened boots off his feet. The sight of his long, slender feet, almost elegant toes, struck me. Had I ever seen a man’s feet? They looked oddly vulnerable, attached to this man who unsettled me so.

“Come sit on my lap,” he invited in a gravelly tone. I settled myself on his muscular thighs, in the same position we’d ridden in for hours. No cloaks divided us this time. It seemed like I could feel his hot skin burning through his clothes. Not giving me time to settle, he captured my mouth with his again, kissing me long and deep.

I let the warm tide take me over. Rayfe’s hand roamed my body, stroking me like one might a cat. I could imagine myself purring, while he plumbed the depths of my mouth, learned the contours of my hips and waist. Then his hot hand slid up my calf, smoothing the skin up to my thigh. The longing intensified, my woman’s center growing heavy, burning.

When he stood us up again, I murmured a protest, swaying a bit on my feet.

“This will go far better with fewer clothes.” He spoke in my ear, tugging on my earlobe with his teeth. I blinked my eyes clear and saw he held a small silver knife. “This is a lovely gown—will you grieve to see it ruined?”

I shook my head, bemused. “It was Amelia’s. But will I have anything else to put on?”

He flashed that wicked grin. “If I had my way, no. But yes, I have clothes for you, for when we ride out again. Hold still.”

Deftly, he slipped the little blade under the cuff of my sleeve and worked it upwards. The fragile silk peeled away like a butterfly wing, leaving my arm bare. He cut through the shoulder and the fabric fell down, the bosom of the dress loosening, the fire suddenly warm on my skin. Reflexively, I put a hand up to stop it from falling off. Then realized how silly that was. Rayfe watched me with gentle patience, and I knew then he’d let this take as long as I needed it to.

But, in the end, I would be naked in front of him.

With a sigh, I let the dress go. It slithered off me like a snake’s skin, leaving me bare and vulnerable. I busied myself with stepping out of it. Couldn’t stand it anymore and looked at him.

Rayfe reached out and brushed my long hair back over my shoulders, then took his time surveying me, his hooded eyes roaming from my toes up my naked body to my face and down again. My mouth dry, it was my turn to wonder what he saw when he looked at me. Not the most beautiful woman in the Twelve Kingdoms. That was certain.

I fixed my eyes at a point over his shoulder. “I’m sorry I’m not Amelia.”

“Why would you say such a thing?”

“It’s just—it must be disappointing not to get the beautiful daughter. Especially now that you’ve seen her.”

He stroked a hand over the crown of my head, trailed it over my cheek and down my throat. He paused to trace my collarbone, then cupped my breast. I gasped at the sensation. When his thumb brushed my nipple, my knees weakened. Rayfe stroked it again, blue eyes blazing into mine.

“You are far more beautiful than any woman I’ve ever known, Andromeda.”

“That’s kind, but I know it’s not true. A thousand poets can tell you otherwise.”

He shook his head, giving me that mysterious half smile. “They didn’t see you. They didn’t know you like I do. The woman behind those storm-gray eyes that see so clearly.”

“You don’t know me at all,” I protested weakly, because the things he was doing to my breast made it impossible to think.

“Oh, but I do. I know you better than you know yourself.”

I gazed at him, bemused. Aroused. I didn’t know how to assimilate that.

“Would you like my clothes on or off?” he inquired, just as he’d asked if I was hungry.

“I have a choice?”

“Some gentlewomen of the Twelve Kingdoms prefer not to be offended by the sight of a man’s body, so I’m told. It can be done that way.”

“You didn’t offer me the choice to keep my clothes on.”

That wolfish grin. “No, I didn’t.”

I lifted my chin. “Off, then.”

Gravely, but with eyes sparking, he presented me with the hilt of the silver blade. “As my lady wishes.”

“Turn your head.”

Without hesitation, he did so. As if I’d never used a blade against him. I severed the tie that held his hair back so it spilled loose around him. Like in my dreams. I followed his method, starting at the cuff of his dark red sleeve and slicing up. The cloth parted, revealing the strong muscles of his forearm and upper arm. His shoulder gleamed in the firelight, with gorgeous masculine lines. The impulse to bite it seized me. I resisted.

It moved me in a way I hadn’t anticipated, to cut his garments away and see him revealed before me. I forgot my own nakedness as I discovered his chest—whole and unscarred—his flat belly with fine black hairs arrowing down to where his manhood would be. I set the blade in the waistband of his pants.