Pixilated (26 page)

"Then why are you laughing?

"Because I—Namar's tears, I don’t care what
folks say." He swung her around in the moonlight. "I'll speak to
Rian. Maybe we can do the banding thing they do. Although, I don’t
know how in the hells I can answer those questions, and that's a
solid fact."

"Don’t you want to ask to my father for my
hand?"

Pressed as she was against his chest, she
felt more than heard his chuckle. "I am not that brave on my best
day. I rather present it as a fait accompli. Let's find Rian." Kree
headed for the ballroom, but Kayseri tugged on his hand until he
stopped and looked at her.

"Don't you want to ask me something?"

Kree threw his arms wide, complete
surrender, hers for the taking. "Marry me Katie Mae?"

Kayseri walked into his wide-open arms. "I
thought you’d never ask."

Rian not only agreed with the idea it made
him downright giddy. "Of course we can do it. I’ll speak to the
ancient right now." He started down to the hall, only to rush back
and catch Kree in a crushing embrace, quickly broken. "Forgive me,
Kree Fawr. I know you asked me not to touch you, but this is the
most wonderful news!"

The witnesses gathered upstairs in the
ladies drawing room, Aimery Duncan, Chana and Kevin Falconer, the
twins, Eoin and Eamon, Sandahl and Kayseri. Garen remained below
playing host to Rian’s guests. The twins sat on the sofa playing
rock, paper, scissors. For some reason they loved the stupid game.
Kayseri and Sandahl giggled and hugged. Kree wished Rian would
hurry. He needed the ceremony done before every ounce of his
courage leaked away, and his troopers were no help in that quarter.
One would think he had asked them to witness his execution, Duncan
particularly so.

Kree had been keeping company the man’s
sister-in-law. He beckoned his first lieutenant aside. "I’ll speak
to your sister-in-law. I won’t leave to clean up my mess."

"Sir?"

"That’s what’s troubling you, isn’t it?"

"Not at all. It is just—well, I am ashamed
to admit it, but I do not wish to be a kinsman redeemer. I do not
relish the idea of fathering a child I cannot claim."

So that was it. "You didn’t think I would
get her with child, did you?"

"No sir, but there was talk. Should she
marry out of the family my problem goes away." Duncan shrugged. "I
should not have listened to gossip. This is your wedding night,
sir. Your bride is beautiful, and you are mad for each other. Do
not concern yourself with my family troubles."

Kree chewed on his lower lip for a moment.
"I don’t want to lose you over this. I don’t want the garrison to
lose you."

"Lose me, sir?" Duncan laughed. "Where would
I go? Do you know of another garrison captain anywhere who has the
means and the intestinal fortitude to support my appetite for black
powder?"

It seemed a hundred years before Rian
returned with the old woman. Sure enough, she had another length of
fine silver chain in her hand.

"Come here, children." In spite of her
endearment, she did not sound motherly. "Let me get a look at you.
Rian tells me you are bound to this human. Is it so, child?"

"Yes, ancient," Kayseri said.

"What's she talking about, Katie?"

"He took you without ceremony?"

"Katie?"

"It’s nothing, Kree." Kayseri touched his
arm quieting him. "No, Ancient. I don't know how it happened. It's
a mystery."

The old lady pursed her lips and turned her
stern amber eyes on Kree. "Do you know what you've done human?"

"I don't have a clue."

"Do you understand once the ceremony is
done, the band cannot be broken?"

"I believe that is the general idea," Kree
said.

"Kneel down, both of you." The old elf woman
placed the chain around their necks.

"Kree Fawr, speak your house gift?"

"I don’t have a house. I don’t have a gift
or a talent beyond my will to fight. He turned his gaze to Kayseri.
"I promise I will love you every minute of every day of my
miserably short life. I will keep you near me. I will not die on a
far away battlefield. I will die in your arms and nowhere else."
Pulling a small knife from his arming harness, he slice open his
hand held it up dripping blood. "Is my blood oath enough,
Kayseri?"

Sparkling eyes beamed at him in full
understanding of what he did. Kayseri snatched the blade from him,
sliced her own hand, and pressed it against his open palm. "It is
more than enough, Kree."

The ancient hesitated and glanced to Rian
before saying the words that sealed the band.

Kree felt the enchantment crawl over his
skin for the space of a heartbeat or two while the band sealed,
then, following a purely human tradition, he pulled Kayseri into
his arms and kissed his bride.

Chapter Twenty

Kree sat with Rian and his inner circle
drinking wine and swapping tales, long after the celebration broke
up. Hours ago a group of delighted Nhurstari ladies spirited
Kayseri upstairs to prepare. Whatever that meant, but Duncan was
the real surprise of the evening. He had stayed behind when the
rest of Red Fist returned to their camp. The first lieutenant had
served with the garrison for nearly three years, and Kree could not
recall seeing him take more than one drink on any occasion. The
other officers teased Duncan for his temperance, but tonight the
twins had conspired to get Duncan blind sock-eyed drunk and they
had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

"Seriously, Aimery Duncan," Eoin said.
"Eamon and I want to come to Qets. We want to be cavalrymen. We
want to be part of your Red Fist."

Kree grinned into his glass. The Nhurstari
twins had fallen madly in love with his reluctant first lieutenant.
He chuckled to himself. Goddess! He never seen his man foxed.

"I serve at Captain Fawr’s pleasure." Duncan
belched. "We all do. If you want to soldier in Qets, you must speak
to him."

The twins turned their eager amber eyes in
Kree's direction. "Qets is a garrison of cavalry. Do either of you
ride a horse?"

"We can learn."

Duncan laughed so hard he choked.

"We are excellent archers."

"I’m sure you are, but can you shoot
straight from the back of a galloping horse?"

"How hard can it be?"

Duncan found this question hysterical. He
could not stop laughing. Kree worried his man would
hyperventilate.

"Oh, sir," Duncan gasped out, pounding the
table with his fist. "Take them. Please. Please take them."

"Would your people welcome them?" Rian
asked. "I would let them go if they would be welcome."

Kree pressed his arms into the air in a huge
stretch. "My people are soldiers, Rian. If I tell them to welcome
Nhurstari, they
will
welcome Nhurstari."

"That is correct, sir."
Thump
.
Duncan’s head hit the table.

"Duncan?" No response. "First
Lieutenant?"

Unfocused eyes turned toward the sound of
Kree’s voice. "Sir?"

"I think you’ve celebrated enough."

The First Lieutenant lurched to his feet.
"Yes, s-sir," he said. Then he fell flat on his face.

"Go to your chamber, Kree Fawr. Your bride
waits upstairs." Rian laughed. "The terrible twins will care for
your beautiful first lieutenant."

"Yeah? That's what I'm afraid of."

"Be off with you! I give you my word. My
cousins will not ill-use your officer."

Kree climbed the stairs slowly. How would
Kayseri respond to him after her experience with the mercenary? He
knocked on the chamber door before opening it. Goddess, he wanted
everything to be so perfect for her.

The room was filled with roses from…the
Goddess alone knew where. Candles glowed on every flat surface,
lending the Rian’s masculine chamber a sense of romantic softness.
Kayseri jumped up to greet him from the overstuffed chair where
she’d dosed curled up like a kitten. Kree doubted she had thought
of the candles. One of the Nhurstari ladies must have lit them.
Just as one of them must have loaned her the slinky bronze wrapper
she wore. One thing for sure, he had never purchased such a thing
in Arbala. Most of the candles had burned half way down reminding
Kree he had stayed downstairs far longer than was acceptable. Even
the damn fire needed tending.

"Your pardon, sweetheart." Kree hung his
saber on the doorknob. "Time got away from me."
Stupid. Stupid.
Stupid.
She looked small and fragile, reminding Kree what a
truly large a man he was. He sat down and pulled off his boots,
making himself a whole half-inch shorter.

"Have you been drinking with Rian and the
others all this time?"

Kree shook his head. "Talking mostly. The
twins want to join the cavalry. Can you imagine that?" He tossed
his jacket on the chair. Kayseri turned her back on him.
You
stupid arse
.
She doesn't want to talk about the
twins.

"I was afraid you weren’t coming."

He padded up behind her in his stocking feet
and put his arms around her waist, flexed his knees compensating
for her height, and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Why would you
think that? You are my bride."

"I thought maybe... I don’t know... Maybe
you had second thoughts. Maybe you were... sorry."

"I am sorry. I'm sorry I kept you waiting."
Kree pulled her against him so she stood between his bent knees.
"And I have hundreds of second thoughts, but not one about you.
You’re shivering. Do want me to stir up your fire?"

She shook her head.

He turned her around so she faced him. "I
would never force myself on you, Katie. You don’t need to fear
me."

They needed to sit down. He was too damn
tall, too, damn broad too, damn everything with a foolish case of
nerves. Kayseri had known him all her life and she had never given
him a reason to think his size intimidated her.

She trailed her fingertips down his strong
jaw. "I’m never afraid when I'm with you."

"What is wrong then?"

"I don’t know what you expect. The ladies
all said..."

"Ah." She may have known him all her life,
but this was different. It was different for him too. She had never
seen the honorable scars he carried on his body or the furrowed
ruin of his back. What if she found him ugly? He bent to kiss her
lips, butterfly light. His knees and calves protested his prolonged
half-crouched posture. He needed to get her to sit down with him or
better yet lie down with him.

"I expect—I
hope
to make love with
you, but it doesn’t have to be tonight. Nothing happens in this
room tonight unless you want it to happen. I came so close to
losing you today. I am content just to hold you."

"Kree, Colt—"

"He is dead, sweetheart. He died the moment
he touched you. Forget him."

"But I need to tell you what happened."

"Hush. There is nothing men do to their
captives you need to tell me. On some level, I know you’re sorry he
died because the sod-rotted bastard stole your bond. But I’ll make
it up to you if it is the last thing I do, and if there is a child,
I will love it as my own. It’ll be a part of you, and that’s all
that matters."

"Stop it! Listen to me!" Kayseri pounded his
chest with her fist. "Colt didn't rape me. I kept him busy with
mischief. He hit me, and yes, he would have raped me given the
chance. But you didn't give him the chance. You didn’t fail me. You
never fail me."

Kree wanted to laugh and cry at the same
time. Scooping her up in his arms, he deposited her on a soft fur
rug spread before the dying fire and rained hungry little kisses on
her lips. Soon they were both breathless. Kayseri snuggled into his
chest and for a while, he held her thinking he must really be the
luckiest son-of-bitch alive

"You smell wonderful," Kayseri
whispered.

Hearing her say such a thing made him laugh.
"I’m glad you think so."

"I can feel your heart beating."

"You can’t hear it?" Kree gave her his
crooked smile. "With those ears?" His tongue teased her sensitive
ear-point and when he blew a breath across it, she shivered in his
arms. "Are you sure you don’t want me to stir up your fire?"

"Yes please." Kree’s hands stroked her
breasts and his lips followed his fingers, teasing her nipples
until she arched her back giving him greater access. "The fire,
Kree," She gasped.

"I'm working on it." He trailed more kisses
down her taut stomach and across her hips to the tender skin inside
her thighs.

"You said… Oh!" His tongue flicked across
the cleft at her core. "Oh! That feels— Oh! It feels good!"

Kree raised his head, chin wet with her dew
and smiled. "We’re just beginning. Sweetheart," he whispered.

It was amazing. Kayseri lay cradled in the
circle of Kree’s arms her cheek resting on his chest, a contented
smile on her face. There had been a moment when she'd first seen
him that she feared it would never work. But everything worked just
fine. It worked better than fine, actually. Had there been pain?
The women told her there would be but Kayseri did not remember it.
Nor did she remember how they got from the floor to the bed or when
exactly Kree shed his clothing. Evidently, her beloved captain had
his own mischief.

"Can we do that again?" Kayseri felt him
chuckle under her cheek.

"In a little while, my passionate pixie. I
am a mere human."

"Did they teach you deflower virgins at your
temple?"

The breath rushed out of him. "You can't ask
me such questions."

She leaned on her elbow and gazed into his
eyes. "You said I could ask you anything."

Kree rolled his eyes, grinning. "So I did,
but that one is a no win sort of question." She punched him in the
ribs. "Phrase it in a way that won’t get me in trouble with my wife
and I'll answer it."