Warrior's Rise (28 page)

Willow and Logan turned their attention over to where a menacing-looking man with white hair was pulling a bound Cyrcinus into the courtyard by a rope around her neck. Even though her words were vehement, Willow couldn’t mistake the tremor in her voice or the fear in her eyes.

Without even thinking, Willow stood and strode over to her, striking her hard across the face with the back of her hand. It was hard enough to split her lip and draw a startled cry from her. “You’re not a queen anymore,” she snarled. “You’ve tormented my people long enough.” She turned her gaze up to the man holding her captive. “You have my thanks, sir.”

He bowed his head regally. “I will rid you of this burden.” He indicated Cyrcinus. “I have my own business with her. Please allow my men and myself to rest here for the night.”

“Of course. You are welcome to whatever you like.”

He gave a courteous nod. “I thank you.” He gave a harsh yank on the rope and started to pull Cyrcinus after him towards the stables.

Logan met Cyrcinus’ eyes and his own narrowed in a threatening manner. He pulled out a dagger of his own and held it up in front of her face. “You seem to like this weapon,” he growled. He placed the point under her chin. “Does it make you feel powerful? To watch innocent people suffer? To hurt people who have done nothing to you and only wish to be left in peace?” He snorted. “You know something? I used to be just like you once. Only out for myself, for what I could gain out of others. Loved the thrill of power I got off of thinking I was all that.” He shook his head. “Know what I learned? The bigger you think you are, the harder you fall when someone knocks your pedestal out from under you.” He snatched her arm and sliced a gash similar to Darien’s from her wrist to her elbow, making her whimper and recoil. It wasn’t as deep as Darien’s had been, not life-threatening. It was just enough to cause pain and make a point. “Not so strong when the roles are reversed, are you? That’s for my brother.” He shoved her backwards, then flung the dagger away as if it disgusted him. He turned his attention back to Fangborn. “Keep her out of my sight or I can’t guarantee I’ll keep my end of our bargain.”

Fangborn nodded, then met Logan’s eyes with purpose. “We will rest here for the night. We leave in the morning.”

Logan dipped his head in a nod. “I understand.”

As Fangborn toted a mewling Cyrcinus away, Willow wrapped her arms around Logan’s waist from behind and rested her head against his strong shoulders. She felt him sigh and he turned toward her, enveloping her in his arms and holding her close.

“Thank you, Logan,” she whispered. “You have done everything I could not. Everything I didn’t know how to do.”

He took her face in his hands and looked down into her eyes. “You are a peaceful and kind Avari woman. I am a dominant, aggressive Alveda d’Kai warrior. We are complements now as our ancestors were generations ago. It is my duty and honor to protect you and your people.”

His velvety voice made a shiver run through her and she looked up into his eyes. They were stormy, turbulent, almost tormented and she couldn’t help herself. Despite the situation, and despite the fact that she needed to tend to her people, she raised herself on her toes to press her lips to his.

His mouth greeted hers eagerly and his warm lips filled her with hope. Hope for a future. For the first time in her entire life, she felt like she could actually see light on the horizon.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It was quiet in the tent Logan was in. Everything was quiet. The Avari people had been quiet and the Kaleydia were quiet. Even Cyrcinus was quiet, but he imagined that Fangborn had managed to scare the noise right out of her. It was like a hush had fallen over the entire village, as if the Avari were in shock over the events that had taken place. He couldn’t blame them. They had been running and hiding for decades. To suddenly know that you didn’t have to hide anymore, that you were free… He imagined it was just as shocking as finding out that you were suddenly a slave.

He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, realizing for the first time that he was in the tent he’d been led to on the night of the First Warrior ceremony. Had that only been three days ago? It felt like a lifetime. He felt like he’d aged twenty years in only a month.

“Logan?”

The flap on the tent opened and he looked up to see Willow enter. His heart lurched in a peculiar way. Half elated, half painful. He held his arm out to her, needing her presence, needing her touch.

She crossed the room to him and he pulled her up onto his lap, gathering her close and tangling his fingers in her soft hair. Her arms went around him and they just held one another in silence for several long and blissful moments. He closed his eyes and let his senses fill with her, memorizing everything so that he could recall it when he was alone. It was cruel to never know love, never know what it really felt like to care for a woman, then receive it and have it brutally yanked away. For a moment, he wished he’d never had Izzie get him the community service sentence. If he’d been sent to jail he never would have met any of these people. He wouldn’t be feeling the pain he now experienced…

But as soon as the thought came to his mind, it vanished. No, these people had changed him, changed his entire existence. They’d given him a life when all he’d been living was empty nothingness. He would rather know what it was like to love, to be loved, and to be greater than he’d ever thought possible, and then have it ripped away. He would rather know the pain of loss than remain ignorant. He could carry memories of Darien, the kids, and Willow with him in his heart. He would never truly be empty. Not like he had been before. He would never give that up. For anything.

He gave a soft sigh and stroked Willow’s hair. “How is everyone?” he murmured.

She pulled away and sat next to him so that she could look at him. “They are well. Tiyenen is seeing to the needs of those whose homes were destroyed in the attack. Everyone seems a bit shell shocked, but…” She shrugged.

He reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I imagine it’s strange for them, knowing that their enemy is suddenly gone.”

She gave a thoughtful frown and nodded. “Yes, I think so. The Avari have known fear for so long…” She sighed and looked down. “I never really knew how to be a ruler… How to be a leader.” She met his eyes again. “No one did. My father didn’t. My grandfather didn’t. My people were slaves. They’d been slaves forever. When they suddenly found themselves free, they didn’t know anything about ruling themselves. They dubbed my grandfather king because he was smart, because he knew how to keep them alive. He was not confrontational. None of my people are. He wasn’t a warlord, or a strategist. He was just a man. A man who hid his people to keep them safe because it was the only thing he knew. It was the only thing my father knew, and in turn, it was the only thing that I knew. It was the same for Cyrcinus, I imagine. She did what she knew, what her parents taught her. Hate the Alveda d’Kai. Enslave the Avari.” She shook her head again. “We all only did what we were taught. None of us deviated from that.” She looked up at him. “Not like you.”

He frowned.

She smiled tremulously. “You always fight. You don’t know how not to fight. You don’t know how to just give up. Hiding is not an option. It’s not a solution. You search and search until you find an alternative. So many Alveda d’Kai were like you, but you possess more courage than any living person I have ever known.” She ran one hand up his arm and shoulder, then slid her palm to his cheek. “You fight when others would surrender. You fought an enemy for people you barely knew. You fought a poison that threatened to take your life. You fought your own fear when faced with what you thought was impossible. You fought your own limitations and pushed past them.” She stared at him with a kind of awestruck wonder in her eyes, then gave a small laugh and looked away as her cheeks turned a faint shade of pink. “The only thing I knew how to fight was my feelings for you.” She laughed again. “Actually, I think I did a pretty good job of fighting with you all the way around.”

He grinned and his heart warmed at hearing her laugh. “We have had a few crazy times, haven’t we?” he teased.

She nodded and giggled again before her face sobered. ”I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I’ve always been alone except from my brother. I didn’t know how to trust you. I didn’t know how to let you in. All I’ve known my whole life is not to trust anyone. When you swaggered into my office you reeked of distrust.”

“Willow, when I swaggered into your office I was no better than your enemy. You had a right to distrust me.” He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “You never did anything wrong. I know you think that all of your choices have been the wrong ones, but they haven’t been. You kept your people safe for as long as you could the only way you knew how. You distrusted me and held me at arm’s length because you should have.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t a good man.” He trailed his fingers along the lovely contours of her face. “You have to stop doubting yourself. You are a smart woman. You are a good woman. Stop second guessing everything you do.”
I won’t be here to reassure you,
he thought to himself.
You have to trust your own judgment.

She gave a soft sigh and a small frown creased her brow. “How did you know the Kaleydia would help us?”

He smirked. “We got a lead in Lucy’s mythology book. The rest of the information I got from my father.” Her eyes widened and he nodded. “Only good thing he ever gave me.”

Mixed emotion flashed in her eyes for a moment before she slipped her arms around him again and pressed soft, lingering kisses along his collarbone and neck. He closed his eyes and sighed in bliss, his skin tingling where she touched.

He chuckled and pulled back slightly so that he could look down into her eyes. “And what could a jaded old warrior like me teach an Avari royal like you?”

Her eyes were soft and warm. “To love,” she said quietly. “To love someone other than those I’m responsible for…” She swallowed. “To love a man… To trust.”

He rested his forehead against hers and sighed. “I’m afraid I can’t teach you those things, Willow,” he murmured. “I’m still learning them myself.”

She let out a breath that was shaky, letting him know that their conversation was difficult for her, foreign ground. “I feel myself falling for you,” she whispered. “It’s scary.”

He nodded and closed his eyes. “It is.”

She ran her hands up his chest and across his shoulders in a slow caress. “I don’t know how to just let go.”

His heart squeezed painfully tight. She was trusting him with her innermost feelings, showing him her vulnerability and confiding it in him. She was opening herself up for him and in the morning he would leave her alone. He would break her heart. He would break his own. It hurt more than anything else he had experienced. Worse than being stabbed. Worse than being shot in the arm with an arrow. Worse than being poisoned.

Wrapping her in his arms, he rolled so that she was lying down on the bed and he was cradling her and staring into her uncertain eyes. “Willow,” he said softly, “I cannot promise many things, but I can promise you one. You found a shallow and worthless shell of a man. You breathed life into him and made him more than he ever thought he could be. I had no heart before I met you. Just an empty chasm where a heart should have been.” He splayed his fingers across her throat and jaw, feeling her pulse beat against his palm. He smiled and tried to keep the sorrow out of his voice. “That heart you gave me will always belong to you… That, I promise.” Emotion filled her eyes and it nearly killed him. He never wanted to give up looking into her eyes. It was too much to ask of him. He had endured everything else up until this point, but never looking into her eyes again… Never touching her skin… Never kissing her lips… It was going to kill him.