A Soul for Vengeance (15 page)

“I’m not a damsel in distress, and it’s barely a scratch, you overgrown baby.” She pointed to the bloodstained tear in his tunic where his arm stung.

“If I hadn’t knocked you away, you would be wearing an ax in your skull right now.”

She scrambled to her feet, her face red. “If you hadn’t knocked me away, I could have finished off that soldier that almost ran you through.”

The gall of that woman
. “So this is the thanks I get for saving your life?”

“I wouldn’t have needed to be saved if you hadn’t charged out of the bushes like a madman.” She tilted her nose up. “Besides, I still don’t think you needed to knock me all the way down the hill like this.”

“Will you quit yelling at him and thank him?” Parros growled as he sidestepped down the steep hill. “He got that scratch from the ax meant for you.”

Her jaw snapped shut, but her cheeks remained red, although perhaps for a very different reason now. “I didn’t see a soldier with an ax.”

“But I had a clear view of everything that happened from up in my tree.” Parros leaned forward on his knees, catching his breath. “Gave me such a start, I fumbled the first arrow I grabbed to fire at him.” Then he cracked a grin into his weathered face. “But the second arrow took him out.”

She looked at Parros, then at Kell, her chin tilting down as she said, “Then it seems I owe you my life.” She extended her hand to him. “Thank you.”

He took it, his back and knees cracking as he stood. Another groan rose from his throat. Damn, he was more banged up than he first realized. “Just don’t thank me with a black eye.”

Her eyes widened, and her nostrils flared. She snatched her hand back. “You are such an arrogant—”

Parros interrupted her by clearing his throat. “Remember who you’re talking too, m’lady.”

She closed her mouth, her glare speaking loud enough for now as she stomped back up the hill.

Parros held out Kell’s sword. “Don’t mind her, Your Highness. She’s just a bit upset that her plans didn’t include one of those Thallian warlocks. Thank the Lady Moon you knew how to take him out when the rest of us couldn’t.”

Kell slid his sword into its sheath. “That’s because the only way to fight magic is with magic.”

He caught a glimpse of the old knight’s pale face before he hiked up the hill, stopping a few steps behind Zara as she bent to pick up her crossbow.

“You know you shouldn’t joke about using magic with some of these men,” she said while she inspected her weapon, her voice flat. “The laws forbidding it are still considered to be in place.”

“I understand they are—at least, for now—but did you see me cast a spell?”

“No.” She watched him with suspicion now glowing from her eyes. “But I know there’s an explanation why your sword managed to wound the warlock when the rest of our weapons failed.”

“There is, and perhaps I’ll give it to you later.” Right now, he was so wound up and bent out of shape from their close encounter that it felt good to withhold some information from her for a change.

****

They’re getting too good at this
, Zara thought as her men hid the bodies with a speed and precision that rivaled their bow skills. Once the bodies had been hidden behind the brush, two men swept the snow, covering up the bloodstains and the footprints, while the other two rolled the log back into the ditch so the wagon would be able to move forward. Then they retrieved their horses from deeper within the roads, returning ready to go. It all had taken only a few minutes, but each step had been carried out methodically without her telling them what to do.

Well, almost all of them. Kell stood back and watched, wincing as he flexed his back. He limped to the back of the wagon. “What’s inside here that we were willing to risk our lives over?”

She followed him and threw back the flap. Inside the covered wagon stood stacks of dull gray metal bricks.

Kell let out a low whistle. “Think about the arsenal we could make with this.”

“Precisely, which was why I was willing to risk my life for it.” She mounted her horse and waited for Kell to do the same. “We need to get going if we want to be under cover by nightfall.”

“Good idea.” He crawled into the back of the wagon. “Wake me up when we get there.”

She dug her fingers into her gloves. Of all the nerve! But she swallowed back the slew of insults that sat on the tip of her tongue and struggled to maintain a calm exterior. She’d already lost her composure around him more than once today. “Very well,” she said before riding up to Parros in the driver’s seat. “Make sure you hit every bump, every rock, every fallen log you can get this thing over.”

“Yes, m’lady,” he replied with a grin.

As the afternoon passed, she replayed those moments at the bottom of the hill before Parros interrupted them. Sweet Lady Moon, what had possessed her to act that way? Maybe it was the rush from battle still flowing through her veins. Maybe it was the sudden realization that she was still alive. Or maybe it was the seductive weight of Kell’s body against hers that made her pull his lips closer to hers. All she knew was that she wanted him to kiss her—badly.

Almost too badly, which was why she resorted to the only emotion she could think of to hide her embarrassment—anger. By the time the argument was in full swing, she’d forgotten all about the ache between her thighs.

And that was the way it should be. She needed to keep pushing him away—not pulling him toward her—if she knew what was good for both of them.

The sky had turned into a swirl of deep pinks and purples by the time they reached an abandoned farmhouse on the edge of the woods and stowed the wagon in the ramshackle barn next to it. While the men secured their spoils and began camouflaging it, Zara set off to find some wood for a fire.

She didn’t expect Kell to climb out of the wagon and follow her.

“I don’t need any help,” she said as she swiped a sturdy branch off the forest floor.

“I know, but you shouldn’t be out here on your own.” He picked up another branch and laid it in her arms. “I’ll come along to save you from any men wielding axes.”

She rolled her eyes and plunged deeper into the forest.

“I’m sensing there’s a little tension between us,” he said, staying within a few steps of her.

That would be an understatement
. She focused on gathering enough wood for the night as quickly as possible. The longer she was alone with him, the more dangerous things got by the moment.

“By your silence, I’m going to assume you agree with my assessment.”

“Or it could just mean I’m ignoring you because this discussion is nothing more than a delusion brought on by your arrogance and not worth my time.” She swiped a low hanging branch out of her way, releasing it just in time to make sure it swatted Kell in the face.

He sputtered in annoyance for a second. Then a firm hand grabbed her by the arm, knocking the wood she’d gathered out of the way, and pulled her smack against his oh-so-tempting body. “It’s kind of hard to have a conversation with you when you keep walking away from me.”

“And it’s kind of hard to have a conversation with you when you’re—”
When you have me this close to your kissable lips? When your holding me in such a way that I want to forget every shred of common sense and be completely reckless, starting with removing your clothes layer by layer until I can run my hands over your bare skin?
She gulped, the lurid fantasies in her mind coming closer and closer to being reality.

“When I’m what?” he asked, his voice low and intoxicating, his face inching toward hers.

Somehow, she managed to break free of the seductive spell he’d cast on her. “When you’re holding my arm hard enough to leave bruises,” she lied.

“Oh, you think I’m being too rough?” He released her arm, but not her. He ensnared her in an embrace that made her head swim and her blood burn. “Is this better?”

She squirmed against him, all too aware of the way her hips pressed against one particular ever-hardening ridge of his body. “Not particularly.”

“Then explain to me what happened today in the forest between the two of us.” He dropped back into that whiskey-smooth voice of his. “Or do we need to recreate the situation to help refresh your memory?”

Sweet Lady Moon, if he did that, she might not be so lucky to have Parros pull her from the brink of insanity this time. “That won’t be necessary.”

“You’re shaking.”

I am?
She concentrated on stilling the trembling in her hands, her chin, her very core. “Do I need to remind you what happened last time you tried to take liberties with me?”

That was all it took to make him release her. He backed away, his hazel eyes clouded with confusion. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”

“Perhaps you should get used to disappointment.” Her legs wobbled like saplings caught in the fury of a storm, but somehow, she managed to add some more space between them without falling down. “Just because you’ve had your fair share of women eager to jump between the sheets with you doesn’t mean that every woman feels that way.”

A shadow of melancholy flickered across his face. “So I’ve been learning.”

Something behind his pained words both tugged at her curiosity and made her want to comfort him like she had that night a month ago. It spoke of loss, of heartache, and was so very different from the confident rogue he seemed to be seconds before. “What happened with her?”

“With whom?”

“Your yellow-haired witch? The one you chased after to Gravaria?”

His jaw tightened, and the knob in his throat rose and fell with the slowness of someone painfully swallowing. “Her heart belonged to someone else, and I was foolish enough to think I could sway her from him.”

The anguish of his confession bled into her conscience and made her wish she’d never asked him about a subject that was obviously still a fresh wound to his heart. She reached forward, hoping she could soothe his pain with the gentle touch of her hand on his cheek, all the while knowing it would fall short. “No, she was the fool to turn down a man like you.”

He covered her hand with his own, the light returning to his eyes. A weak smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “Thank you, Zara.”

They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity, their gazes locked in a form of intimacy reserved only for lovers. And then the situation turned awkward again, crawling up her spine like a dozen spiders. She dropped both her hands and her eyes before she revealed any more of her conflicted feelings about her future king. “We’d better get back before Parros gets worried.”

“Agreed.” He retrieved the sticks that had fallen from her arms and added a few more for good measure. As they began their way back to the abandoned farmhouse, he said, “May I ask you one more question?”

She raised her armor, preparing for a deeply personal question she feared he’d ask. “You may, but I may not answer it.”

“If I kissed you again, would you react the same way?”

His teasing question ambushed her and left her flustered, unable to form a coherent response for a few seconds. Would she give him another black eye? Would she surrender to him like some wanton woman? Or would it be something in between, something light and fragile that would blossom into something even greater? Maybe she could finally help him forget about that yellow-haired witch and satisfy her own curiosity in the process.

But when her tongue was finally able to move, she replied in the same lighthearted tone, “There’s only one way to find out.”

Only this time, she looked forward to him trying.

Chapter 13

For the last week, Kell had been working up the nerve to kiss Zara. Her response in the woods that night dared him to try. Unfortunately, it left no hint to the outcome. If she’d just come out and answered him one way or the other, his curiosity would be sated, and perhaps his desire would be, too.

He played with his dinner while Bynn droned on and on about all the things that had happened while he was gone, none of it important. A quick glance across the table showed he wasn’t the only one not listening. Zara was staring at him through those sooty lashes of hers, her bottom lip caught between her teeth in a way that managed to be both coy and saucy at the same time.

What I wouldn’t give to have her lips caught between my teeth
.

As though she knew exactly what was going through his mind, she released it, darting the tip of her tongue over that now red and swollen piece of flesh. It was so plump, so inviting, that if she didn’t stop, he might have the answer to his question in a matter of minutes.

“Kell, are you listening to me?”

The sound of Bynn’s impatient question snapped him from his reverie, but not before he caught the laughing grin on Zara’s face. The little minx had been teasing him the whole time for her own merriment. He turned to see the darkened scowl on his best friend’s face, so very different from the expression he’d been mesmerized with across the table. “I’m sorry, you were saying?”

“I was asking what you thought we should do with the ore you brought back. I think we need more swords.”

“And I say more arrows.” The flirt was gone, replaced by the seasoned warrior princess. “Swords are only useful in hand-to-hand combat. Arrows allow for many different types of confrontations.”

Bynn rolled his one eye. “Like the sneaky little raids you favor.”

“They’re working, aren’t they?” Zara stuck her chin out as she added, “Or were we not talking about the wagonload of ore I managed to capture by using one of those sneaky little raids?”

“Your techniques are useful at this stage in our plans, but they won’t work if we want to successfully drive out the Thallians.”

Kell had seen that same shade of red creep into Zara’s cheeks enough times in his life to know it was best to stay out of this argument, especially when he saw the matching color climbing up Bynn’s neck.

“It will, too, work, especially if you let me carry out my plan.”

“It’s suicide, Zara, and I absolutely forbid it. Not while we have other options.”