Warrior Lover (Draconia Tales) (30 page)

Thank the Goddess. Lily hated the white dress almost as much as she hated staying in this house with haunted women and Marshene’s evil whispers. If Enar wanted her to go live in the woods and eat ants, it beat staying in this place. As long as she remained with him, he could go wherever he wanted.

“A journey?” The knapsack dangled from Ayla’s hand as she stared at Enar.

“I have business with the Draconi.”

Lily pressed her ear tighter to Enar’s chest, the steady thump-thump of his heart a balm for her nerves. Ayla continued to stare at him like he had sprouted another head.

Enar cleared his throat. “And I wanted to take Lily along. And she needs to be logged in.”

“You didn’t take her yesterday before you dropped her off?”

“What?” Lily looked from Ayla to Enar. Yet another custom in this place she didn’t understand.

“I wanted to wait until today.”

Pity flickered across Ayla’s face. “As you wish, but it won’t help. You must accept that. I will have this,” she shook the knapsack, “ready when you return.” Nodding to Lily, Ayla turned on her heel and marched out of the room.

“What do you mean logged in?” Lily asked as Enar escorted her through the door.

Lifting the iron bar on the outside of the door, he spoke with a grunt. “All claims must be presented and logged in.”

The bar fell into its metal brackets with a clang and she felt the reverberations in her bones. Who was he presenting her to? What would they do when they saw her coloring? Lily swallowed. Why had she eaten so much for breakfast? One more swallow and she managed to look Enar in the eye when he grabbed her hand.

Emotions flashed through his eyes, almost too fast to read, a mixture of nervousness, excitement and fear. Fear? Since when did Enar, her fearless savior, show fear?

“Listen to me, woman. In this town, you are nothing but mine. You will walk behind me, you will keep your eyes down. Do not speak to anyone, no matter what they say. Do you understand?”

“Yes, but why?”

“I will explain later. Please, follow the rules.”

He looked so serious, so fearful she might not follow his rules that her breakfast turned into a leaden weight. She gulped at the bile sticking in her throat and tried to get her panting back into a normal breathing pattern. What would happen if she didn’t do what he said? Although she knew Enar would never lay a hand on her, she saw the bruises left on the other women. Her time in his village showed her a side of humanity she wished she’d never seen. Living here frightened her more than life in her village with fanatical priests.

At least then she knew the rules. Here, she didn’t understand why women were kept sequestered, why they were abused, why Enar left her in a house with other claims instead of keeping her with him. Why did the other Watchers need to see her? A chill darted down her spine and lodged in her gut, adding more threat to her tenuous hold on breakfast.

Taking a deep breath and wiping her hands on her washed-so-much-by-its-previous-owner-it-was-now-almost-see-through white dress, she followed behind Enar, eyes focused on the beat of his boots against the packed dirt. If only she had her cloak to pull the hood over her head. What if the men here found her as appalling as the priests in her own village had?

Despite Ayla’s introductions, Marshene’s views spread around the house of women like a foul odor on a hot day. So far only Ayla had talked with her.

If women in the same predicament as she wanted nothing to do with her, what would the men do?

In through your mouth, out through your nose, Lily.

Self-talk didn’t help much when her breakfast wanted to reappear and her body shook despite the warmth of the sun.

Get ahold of yourself.

Enar walked with her. He might leave her in a house full of women who hated her, she doubted he knew their feelings, but he would never let anyone harm her. Time and again he’d proven that.

She had nothing to fear with him by her side.

Despite the knowledge, the fear remained, weaving a path through her marrow, charging her heart until it pounded an erratic rhythm. Buildings passed by as they marched along the dirt road and she managed to venture little glimpses, daring to raise her eyes. Nothing exploded, no one yelled at her, nobody came running to reprimand her for those stolen glances.

Maybe Enar was being overly cautious when he told her to keep her eyes on the ground.

They entered a courtyard ringed by white stones similar to those of the women’s building, but standing only a man’s height. Men sat in front of the stones. Cold men, with eyes frozen and unrest flowing out of their pores like blood from a wound.

After one brief glimpse, her gaze dropped to the ground. Maybe a hole would suddenly appear in the dirt and she could dive in. What were the chances of that happening? Slim to none. No escape for her. She’d rather face Marshene’s villainous stories than stand before these men.

How dare Enar bring her here. Couldn’t he have left her where she was and logged her in by himself? What was wrong with the man? He brought her into the midst of a bunch of misogynists.

Despite her lowered gaze, the nape of her neck tingled from the stares of the Watchers. Questions like stones flew at them as the Watchers shifted to ogle her.

“Hey, Enar. You have a claim?”

“Never thought I’d see that.”

“She’s the perfect claim. Are you sure she’s yours?”

“Of course she’s mine. You think she’d be following me around if she wasn’t?” Enar came to a halt in the middle of the courtyard, Lily stepping as close to him as she could.

If she melted against him, no one could see her.

One hand reached for her, pulling her to stand beside him, dashing her plan of hiding. He ran a hand through her hair, caressing her spine, his hand resting on her low back. The gesture should have felt comforting, instead she felt like a slave on display.

“This is Lily, my claim.” Pride laced Enar’s voice as some of the men stood to peer closer at her, like she was an animal for sale. Please Goddess, let her not be for sale.

Lust like a palatable wave smacked into her. Enar must have felt it too judging by the way his hand stiffened on her back. Lily raised her eyes enough to note the men shifting toward her. What would keep them from killing Enar and taking her?

Now why did she have to go and think that lovely thought? As if being brought to stand in front of these men wasn’t scary enough, she had to go and add to the fright.

“Where did you find her?”

“Cautasia.” Caution replaced the pride in Enar’s voice.

“Any more like her there?”

“We’ve never seen one like her before, only heard about them.” Yet another voice.

Some of the tension eased out of Enar as his hand relaxed. At least one of them felt better. “Only saw her.”

“Maybe we should go check it out.”

“Check it out yourself, I already have a claim.” This new voice received laughter, although Lily didn’t understand the humor.

Banter she didn’t follow ensued. Her attention focused on Enar, who stood to her left and back a step. Although she couldn’t see him, she felt his emotions as if they were her own. He was at ease in this group, but something seemed wrong about his demeanor. She darted a lower-lidded glance at him. Instead of looking at the men gathered around them exchanging talk that would have made her ears burn if she had been paying attention, Enar scanned the periphery of the courtyard.

Wonder who he looked for. Whoever it was didn’t show and she felt Enar’s body sag on an exhale.

Maybe now he’d get a move on and take her away from this courtyard. If her heart pounded any louder the men would hear the thumping.

Take me away, take me away.

And miracle of miracles, Enar heard her thoughts.

“Now that you’ve seen my claim, I’m going to take her back to where she belongs.”

One hand grasped her by the neck and guided her, keeping her in front of his body, sheltering her from all the ogling. She blocked out the ribald jests and focused on the entrance to the courtyard.

Five steps, four, three, two, one and now they were through the entrance.

Praise the Goddess, she lived.

She turned around, side-stepping so she faced Enar. “What—”

“Quiet. Eyes lowered. Walk fast.”

All right. She’d give him an earful later. Probably better that way too.

Lily wiped her sweaty hands on the thin fabric of her dress and walked as fast as she could to keep up with Enar’s long strides.

The trip back to the Claims’ House didn’t take as long as the journey to the courtyard, thank goodness. Enar yanked the iron bar out of its brackets, shoved her through the door and followed behind her, slumping against the wall.

“That was fun, eh?” He grinned at her, his eyes not believing the words.

“Fun? Are you crazy?”

“Ah, you have returned. Here is your bag.” Ayla walked into the room holding the knapsack. Ayla’s glance ran from Lily’s head to her feet, clearly checking her for injuries.

Enar grabbed the bag, hoisting it over his shoulder. “Thank you. We’ll return eventually.”

Not if she had anything to do with it.

Lily walked over to Ayla and gave her a hug. “Thank you for your kindness.”

Ayla held her a little longer than necessary. “Take care. We’ll be here when you return.” As she pulled away, Ayla ran her hands down Lily’s arms, grasping her hands.

Lily looked down to their clasped hands and noticed something she should have seen yesterday: a big black smudge on Ayla’s forearm.

“What’s that?” Lily nodded in the direction of the mark.

Ayla released Lily’s hands, one hand covering the mark, a finger rubbing the stain. “It’s nothing but a birthmark.”

“What?” Enar stormed over, removed Ayla’s hand and stared at the mark. He looked at his arm and then back to Ayla’s.

Lily followed his gaze. Unlike Ayla, Enar only had a small black circle on his forearm, barely noticeable. And here she thought she’d covered every inch of his body with her tongue. Obviously covering it with her tongue didn’t mean looking at it with her eyes.

Enar cursed and dropped Ayla’s arm. He stepped back, his face red, his eyes wide, looking like he couldn’t decide on anger or shock as a dominant emotion. “Why didn’t you show this to me before?” It looked like anger won.

Ayla’s hands started to smoke and her mouth opened, then shut as she clearly tried to break her own rule about not speaking back to a Watcher for fear of repercussions. Lily took a step back. Getting in the middle of a family argument was not her idea of a smart move.

“Oh? So I’m supposed to show you all my marks? I have one on my bum, you want to see that one?”

Lily took another step back until she pressed against the wall. Smoke poured off Ayla’s hands as flames brushed her fingernails.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mother. This mark,” he pointed to the one on Ayla’s forearm, “is the only one of concern.”

“Well, maybe if you paid more attention to me you’d have seen it earlier!” Flames licked up Ayla’s palms, turning her hands into balls of fire.

“Stop it!” Enar yelled and Lily felt the words repeat in her mind, freezing her muscles.

The balls of fire that were Ayla’s hands withered to puffs of smoke as the woman froze in place.

Lily tried to move and got nowhere. The echo of his words died from the room, but still reverberated inside her, controlling her. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear her heart beating, couldn’t feel the pulse of life coursing through her veins.

“Son of a goat! Breathe!” Enar hollered, but the command was a weak cousin of what he just yelled.

A small breath entered her lungs, not enough to fully inflate them, but enough to stop her from dying. And once she took one breath, more followed in gasps. She dropped to her hands and knees, sucking back air like a starving man ate food. Lily saw Ayla in the same position and then Enar knelt in front of her, eyes wide, face white.

“Lily! Breathe!” He shook her. She slapped weakly at his arm.

“Stop it! You’ll break...my neck. Ayla?”

Enar gathered her into his arms and pivoted on his knees to where Ayla struggled to sit back on her heels. One hand rested against her throat and she stared bug-eyed at Enar.

“I don’t know what happened, what I did. I’ve never...I would never hurt you...either of you. Nothing like that has happened to me before.”

Ayla coughed and swallowed and blinked, but the fear remained in her eyes. “The command was inside me.”

“Me too,” Lily chimed in.

“Only Draconi...Son of a goat. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That you have Draconi blood.”

Lily counted her heart beats, and made it to five, before Ayla moved. The older woman burst out laughing, doubling over.

“Oh, oh, oh. You’re hilarious.”

“I’m serious. You carry the mark of the Draconi. You belong with them.”

The laughter vanished from Ayla, although tears still trekked down her cheeks. “What? The Draconi sent your father’s band of Watchers to my village to kill me for possessing magic. They want nothing to do with me.”

“What? Father knew you were Draconi and still claimed you?”

“Of course he knew I had magic! He decided to claim me and told them I died in the fight so they wouldn’t try to kill me themselves. Sometimes I wish he’d let them have me.”