A Kiss of Magic: A Kiss of Magic Book One (14 page)

“You’re a good soul with a kind heart. Anyone would want to be friends with you Bess,” Yasra said with feeling.

Bess blushed under the compliment and reached to cover it up by pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“Well, I don’t know about that, but we’re good friends and that’s all that matters.”

“Wil is like a brother to me. He even vexes me like a brother,” Dendri said with a crooked grin. “But if I am cross with him one moment, it is gone in the next. I want you to consider him a friend as well. Both of you. If you need help or even just a shoulder to lean on…in my absence you should feel free to use him.”

“We will,” Bess beamed at him. “Won’t we Yas?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Tudman entered the room just then, a silver tray on his fingertips. He lowered the tray to Dendri and a letter sealed with wax was folded upon it.

“Thank you, Tudman,” Dendri said, picking up the letter and reading the seal and signature on the letter. There was an almost imperceptible wrinkling of his brow. “Excuse me, ladies,” he said, getting up and leaving the room with the letter.

Dendri walked out of the morning room and broke the seal on the letter. The missive was from triumvir Mason, pressing Dendri for a response on the matter of the rogue majji they had discussed. Dendri tapped the missive against his fingertips in uncharacteristic irritation. He didn’t like to be pressed like this. He understood the critical nature of things…he understood that it wasn’t just about a single rogue majii.

Delongo was gathering an army of degenerates, becoming a genuine risk to the comfort of the triumvirate. If he should decide to act even more aggressively than he already was, it could mean an act of civil war. Sarens fighting against Sarens. True, the Sarens in question were most likely unworthy of the title, but that was splitting hairs. It was possible that any discontented majji or nons might flock to Delongo’s banner…not taking into account the monster they would be siding with.

No. The sooner he was put down the better. Dendri understood the triumvirate’s impatience.

But he had yet to have a discussion with Yasra on the extent of their connection…and the risk involved to them both if he decided to go after this rogue. He would not make a move without her full understanding and her full agreement.

He walked to his study and wrote a short missive, pressing the triumvirate be patient. That he would message them with his decision before the day was done.

He would have a long talk with Yasra today while Bess was away.

Chapter Eleven

Yasra was pacing back and forth in the music room. Dendri had sent her a note asking her to meet him there to begin their lessons for the day once Bess had left for their bedsit. Tudman, he had said, would inform him she was waiting for him.

She had been waiting for the better part of fifteen minutes, anxiety finding a deep home in her belly. She didn’t know why she should feel anxious. But she did have this sense that things were going to be difficult once he arrived. She didn’t know why, she just did.

He walked into the room a minute later, his presence invading the space like a storm…dark, powerful and intense. He crossed to her in three long strides, reached for her arms and grasped them, jerking her body up against his. He swooped in for a searing kiss, his mouth like a brand against hers, his tongue delving deeply. Darkly. It was pure, unadulterated hunger. Hunger for her.

After long, aching minutes, he broke off his mouth from hers and set her back to arm’s length.

“That was what I wanted to do before Bess interrupted us this morning.”

“Oh,” she breathed.

“Actually, that’s an incomplete statement. That was
one
of the things I wanted to do to you. There is a host of others riding hot on its heels. However, before I can indulge in that, we have other things we must discuss.”

“All right,” she said, feeling a little dizzy from his words and all their sultry meanings. “What would you like to talk about?”

He regarded her for a minute, then reached up to brush back one of her dark tendrils of her hair. He did it so softly, so thoughtfully. It was clear there were heavy things on his mind. She reached up and wrapped her fingers around his wrist.

“What is it?” she pressed.

“Do you understand, in entirety, what it means to be part of a Gestalt couple?”

“I…I don’t know. I have hardly had any opportunity to absorb the shock of it. I was going to find some reading material on the subject, but I haven’t had the opportunity. And anyway, any information I found would be a hundred years old at best. That was when the last Gestalt couple existed.”

“This is very true. But I have done extensive research on the topic. I once wrote a dissertation on the subject of Gestalt coupling and the reasons why I believed we had not seen one in such a long time. It was an arrogant piece of fluff in the end,” he said, waving it off. “What did I really know about it? No one knows. No one alive anyway. No one but you and I.” He reached up with his thumb and traced the gentle line of her jaw, stroking her softly. “But I do know this much…for it was in all the material I ever found on the subject. Once a Gestalt couple connects, once their power meshes and is given birth, they become forever interdependent on each other from that moment on. It is called the Nature.”

“Interdependent?”

“It means that, should I die, it is very likely that you will die shortly after. And the reverse is also true. The stronger the Gestalt connection, the truer that becomes. If I am injured severely, you too will become debilitated. If you fall ill…”

“You will fall ill as well?”

“I will weaken.”

Yasra stared at him wide-eyed. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to think. She had not expected this kind of revelation. Now she knew why she had had that feeling of foreboding in her belly.

“But that’s not fair,” she whispered at last. “Why should you be punished just because I grow weak?”

“It’s not about what’s fair, sweetheart. It’s about two people being so connected on a visceral level that each cannot thrive without the other.”

“You mean like a parasite living off a host,” she said bitterly, Olla’s words from the night before coming back to haunt her.

“No. Not at all. It is more like a symbiosis, Yasra. Neither of us is stronger than the other as far as this connection is concerned. We are equally committed.”

“That’s not true! You are a hundred times more powerful than I am! You are far better able to protect yourself than…oh my god. Is that why you have me under such a close guard? Because you know if something happens to me it will weaken you?”

“No! Do not think that for an instant!” he ground out fiercely. He grabbed for her hands, grasping them tightly. “The guards are for your protection, not for mine.”

“But it’s true that now you have an exploitable weakness. Any one of your enemies will know the fastest way of hurting you is to hurt me!”

He wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t. She could see that in his eyes.

“You have to be patient with yourself,” he said gently. “You cannot expect to know everything about how to protect yourself--how to manage your majic--all at once. I don’t expect it. Are you now, as you say, an exploitable weakness? Yes. For the time being . But that won’t always be the case. Given time—.“

“Time! How much time? How long before I can defend myself and protect you by doing so? What will you do in the meantime? Hope for the best? Hope I don’t fall into the hands of an enemy? You must have some. All powerful majji have enemies. I know my parents do.”

“Yes. I have enemies,” he said quietly but firmly. “I will not deny that. But we cannot live in fear of them. We can just be wise and careful and protect you during this nascent time. That is one of the reasons why I will not have you going anywhere without me or without someone to guard you. Not to protect myself,” he said quickly, “but to protect you. I will not have anyone using you as a means to get to me. I am sorry…I wish…I wish this could be different. I wish I could come to you as clean of burdens as you are coming to me. If anyone is to be held accountable in this, it is me. You worry about how little you bring to this joining? I worry about how much I bring to it. It is grossly unfair to you that you should be burdened with the flaws in my life.”

Yasra softened when she saw the heavy regret in his eyes. She reached up, pushing back a lock of his long dark hair where it had escaped the tie at the back of his head, tucking it behind his ear.

“What a pair we are,” she said quietly. “We are so very mismatched. This Gestalt makes no sense. You deserve a powerful partner. Someone who can protect herself.”

“You will be able to given—“

“Time,” she finished for him. She sighed. “I know you say I have to be patient, but it scares me to think you could be hurt through me.”

“The reverse is also true,” he said pointedly.

“But you are powerful and can protect yourself. You have no one to fear.”

“That isn’t true. No one is all powerful. There are those who could easily hurt me if they had a mind to. My power does not make me invulnerable.” He paused. “And there are times when…when I am asked to do things that are actually quite dangerous.”

“Asked? By whom?”

“The triumvirate.”

“The tri--! The triumvirate asks you to do things for them?” She was all agog.

“Yes. They have many of the most powerful majji available to them for a variety of reasons.”

“What kinds of things do they ask you to do?”

“Well…in a few days’ time I will be helping in the negotiations of a peace treaty between the Sarens and the Kiltians.”

Yasra gaped at him. She hadn’t even considered the things he did for others. But what had she expected? He was the most powerful Aspano majji on their continent. Who else would the triumvirate go to? How else would he be making his fortune?

“There is something else they wish me to do for them,” he said hesitantly. “But it is far more dangerous than sitting and making certain the Kiltians are negotiating in good faith.”

“What is it?”

“There is a rogue Aspano majji…Fenri Delongo. They want me to hunt him down and bring him to justice.”

“Y-you’re a rogue hunter?”

“No. I’m not. This is a special instance. I am the only one with the level of mind majic necessary to make it past his tricks of the mind. He has the power to obfuscate his presence from others. The power to take over their minds. The power to make them hurt themselves if he so wishes it. No one else can get close to him. I’m the only one powerful enough to do so.”

All the blood drained from her face and she swayed. He took her by the elbows and urged her to sit down. Once she was seated he kneeled down in front of her.

“I told the triumvirate I would only do this if I had your blessing. There is a real possibility I could be injured in a fight with Delongo. And if I am injured…”

“I will weaken.”

“Yes. And if I am killed…”

“I will die.”

“More than likely, yes. It is by no means a guaranteed thing. But you would live a half a life. A life of little strength if you did survive. While this connection is so young there is less of a likelihood you will be harmed overmuch, but the closer we get, the more we use our majic, the more brutal a severance would be.”

She swallowed noisily, something large lodged in her throat. “Wouldn’t the best solution be to keep as far from one another as possible from the outset?” she asked desperately. “So we don’t become anymore connected than we are right now?”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“How do you know?” she snapped. “This hasn’t happened for a hundred years! Things may have changed! Things might not be the same. We could be wrong!”

“That may be true. But it isn’t likely. And to deny this joining would be like spitting in the face of God. It is here for a reason. We need to relish it…take full advantage of it. It would be wrong and selfish of us to turn our backs on such a gift just out of fear. I am not willing to deprive myself of you.” He reached out and brushed back her hair, making a long lock of it join the rest as it flowed down her back. He then cupped her face in one of his large palms and drew her forward until her mouth touched his gently. His kiss was like majic, powerful and dark and mysterious. She couldn’t help but be drawn into the spell he wove. He made everything sound so compelling. He made her feel as if anything were possible. As if she could do anything as long as she put her trust in him.

It was asking a lot.

“If I say I don’t want you to hunt this rogue…you won’t?”

“I won’t,” he said firmly. “But before you decide, you need to understand the breadth and width of what this man is doing. You see, he has a small army of degenerates that follows him under his banner. They are moving town to town, raiding and pillaging…raping. One of Delongo’s favorite pastimes is the rape of young women and boys. In body and in mind. This army is gaining momentum. If they should get it in their heads to attack the capitol…”

“Attack the triumvirate?! He wouldn’t dare!”

“He is drunk on power and there has been no one to stop him thus far. With all of our resources focused on the Kiltian border, there is nothing left to bar his way.”

“But we’re in a ceasefire,” Yasra said.

“For now. If these negotiations fall apart, as they have often done in the past, we will be back at war. The triumvirate will be in jeopardy. If we pull troops away from the borders to go after Delongo, we risk losing the border to the Kiltians. If we keep the troops at the borders, we risk losing more towns and possibly even the capitol to Delongo’s advancement.”

“That’s terrible,” she whispered. “How can you possibly say no? There’s really no choice.”

“There’s always a choice. If you tell me not to go then I won’t. They will simply have to find another way.”

“From what you’re saying there is no other way.”

“No other easy way. I’m the most logical and easiest choice. There might be harder choices. Harder methods. Other rogue hunters perhaps.”

“And you’d go do this alone? All by yourself?”

“I was planning on bringing a couple of rogue hunters I know with me. We will infiltrate Delongo’s camp quietly, cut off the head of the beast and watch his army disintegrate without direction.”

“No one will take his place?”

“Someone might, but he won’t be an 18
th
level Aspano. It will allow other rogue hunters to go after them.”

She was quiet a long minute as she churned through this in her mind. How could she say no? It would be selfish of her…cowardly. She did not follow the news as well as she should, so she had not known about this rebel army. But Dendri had known. He had a close relationship with the triumvirate. And understanding that still boggled her mind. The three most powerful majji in their world and they turned to Dendri to solve problems for them.

“I would like to meet these rogue hunters,” she said at last. “If I am going to entrust your life—and thereby my life—to them, I want a good look at them.”

“That can easily be arranged. Give me a moment to send messages to them and we’ll get them here as soon as possible. It would be unwise to delay. Delongo has done enough damage already and the triumvirate is expecting an answer by the end of the day today.”

He rose up to his full height, his hands catching hers on the way and pulling her to her feet. He quietly led her out of the music room and down the hall a short distance. The room he led her to was one she had not seen as yet. It was very masculine in its appeal, with its honey-colored wood furniture and dark cushions and carpeting. The main object in the room, outside of a small conversational grouping of couches in front of the fireplace and built in bookshelves, was a large, ornately carved wooden desk. On it sat stacks of open missives and other papers. There was a letter in the process of being drafted. Right above it was the dual inkpots and the quills he used.