Aislin of Arianrhod (Land of Alainnshire) (15 page)

“She has no say in the matter. I’ve talked it over with my council elder. We believe that Jariath is a danger to us, and it’s in our best interest to help you take back your kingdom. However, we want to ensure the safety of our people as well.”

“Who are you? Why are you afraid to show your face?”

“That’s none of your concern. Do you wish to continue on to Wyndham, or do you want to spend the rest of your days in this cell?”

Roderic thought about Gwen and the others in the cave, and knew Aislin would want him to get help for her family. Still, he wasn’t comfortable leaving her behind.

“I want your word that you won’t hurt her.”

“She will not be harmed as long as you stay to your task. If you betray my trust, you’ll never see her again.”

Roderic persisted. “Swear to me you won’t hurt her. She means a great deal to me. She’s invaluable to Arianrhod.”

“I swear to you I will not harm her.”

It wasn’t much of a choice at all, but Roderic knew the kind of devotion she felt for her kingdom and her family. He took a deep breath and nodded. “Aislin would want me to do this.”

“I have a bath and clean clothes prepared for you.” The man removed the chain from the wall. “Follow me.”

Roderic returned to his cell feeling like a new man. Cleaned up and shaven, he waited for nightfall. He slept a little, but mostly he stared nervously at the ceiling. He wished he could see Aislin one more time, but he instinctively knew the man wouldn’t allow it, so he didn’t ask.

Just let me make it to Wyndham safely, so we can get her back.

He hated the thought of leaving her here alone, at the mercy of men who wouldn’t reveal themselves. Lying to her was a bad idea. If she ever found out she’d been left behind, the hooded man would have a fight on his hands.

The noises Roderic was hearing outside his cell meant it was time to go. A shadow passed over the door, and he heard it open.

“You must be as quiet as you can possibly be. No one must know you’re leaving,” the man whispered. Roderic nodded.

Down several winding hallways, through several iron gates, they finally stood out in a clearing in front of the village. The moonlight brightened the landscape just enough for Roderic to see the horse that awaited him.

“Take this.” The man handed Roderic his deerskin backpack and the sword with which he’d started the journey. “The horse’s name is Delphas. She carries packs full of food and water for you. You should be in Wyndham in a day or two.”

“Please take care of her,” Roderic said, a catch in his voice.

“I will. I swear.”

Roderic slung the sword and backpack across his shoulders. “I guess I should thank you,” he whispered, extending a hand. “Is there anything else in this forest I should fear?”

The man clasped his hand and shook it vigorously. “You have already met the most fearsome thing in these woods and lived. Ride with haste and be safe!”

Roderic swung himself onto the back of the horse, and with a hesitant backward glance, rode off into the moonlit landscape of Blackthorne Forest.

Chapter Seventeen

T
HE VORTEX DID NOT SAVE me. I am not back in my bed at the manor house. I feel like I’m going to die.

Aislin sat on the floor the next morning with her face in her hands, her head pounding like a blacksmith’s hammer on an anvil.

The door of her cell creaked open. She knew if she looked up she would see an elf, and the elf would be Tristan, so she kept her face safely buried in the palms of her hands.

“I warned you elven wine was strong.” She could hear the smirk as Tristan took note of her misery.

“Please. Be quiet.” His voice set her teeth on edge, and she had a sudden urge to throw something at him.

“I have your breakfast here unless you’re too sick to eat it.”

Her stomach lurched at the thought of food. “Not right now,” she said through her fingers.

“Well, I’ll leave it here. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve overdone it a couple of times on Colven’s wine.”

“It doesn’t make me feel any better,” she moaned. “Please... just leave me alone. And take the food with you. It smells terrible. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

“I had something I wanted to show you today, but I can see you’re not up to it. I’ll come back later.”

Nodding her head miserably, she gave silent thanks. She could hear his disappointment, but she’d never felt so sick in her life.

Aislin slept for hours, well into the early afternoon. When she finally woke up, she felt a little better. She dozed on and off until she heard Tristan open the cell door.

“I thought maybe you’d feel better after another hot bath. I’ve also had a meal prepared for the two of us if you feel up to it,” Tristan said.

Aislin eyed him suspiciously. Yesterday he had dragged her around on the end of a chain, snapping at her, prepared to do battle over nothing. Today he was offering another hot bath and dinner to boot. What had changed?

And they say women are confusing!

She probed him with her gaze for several moments. He gave her a blinding smile that disarmed her completely, sending her heart lurching sideways in her chest.

“Are you going to tell me you wouldn’t like another bath, Princess?”

She’d be a fool to turn down another hot bath, but she couldn’t quite decide if this was just a ploy to get her to drop her guard. Promise the girl a bath, and then hold her head under the water? Would he
do
that to her? She was human, after all.

Tristan extended his hand to her. Her eyes quickly darted around, looking for the hated chains. Not seeing any sign of them, she returned her eyes to his face. He smiled again, offered the hand. Against her better judgment, she put her hand in his.

Aislin was anxious to see what he had to show her, so she didn’t linger too long in the warm water. She dressed in the dark purple tunic he’d left hanging on the hook for her and emerged into the sitting room.

The same devastated look she’d seen yesterday shadowed his face again. But this time she saw it in his eyes: a warm glow of...desire? It was gone now. She hugged her elbows to keep a small shiver at bay. Surely she was seeing things!

“Come with me,” he said.

She followed him along a hallway off the sitting room of his apartment, and down a long, winding set of marble stairs. As they reached the bottom, he stopped and turned to her, his eyes bright, and reached for her hand. She put her hand in his.

Tristan slowly drew her off the bottom step and out into a lush forest. Aislin was speechless. The dark green grass was thick under her feet, and the spreading trees were tall and shady. Beautifully perfumed flowers grew here and there, and lovely flowering vines wound their way up the trunks of the trees. A large waterfall splashed down the side of the cliff that surrounded one end of the clearing in an arc, making the air feel humid and tropical. Bees and beautifully colored birds and butterflies flitted here and there among the flowers. A long table had been set in the middle of the clearing, and she could see that a lavish meal had been prepared for them.

“Where are we?” she asked.

Tristan looked around proudly. “This is my private garden. Only a few have ever seen it.”

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said breathlessly.

Smiling warmly at her, he led her to the table. He bowed low in front of her. “Will you do me the honor of dining with me, Princess Aislin?”

She returned his smile and the bow. ”I would like that very much, Tristan.”

They shared a lovely meal, and then he gave her a tour of the garden. She dipped her head many times to inhale the sweet perfume of flowers she’d never seen before. He pointed out unique trees, and other one-of-a-kind flora to her. He seemed impressed that she shared his love of plants.

As they walked, Aislin saw several targets, standing on tripods off to the side of the garden. “Are you an archer?”

“I am. How about you?”

“No. Unfortunately, my father never taught me archery, or any other defensive skill for that matter. My brother was a first-rate archer. He could turn around on a horse, and shoot without taking aim.” The memory of Fionn on a horse made Aislin smile. “It’s something I should have learned, but didn’t. It might have come in handy.”

“Would you like to learn?”

“I...I don’t know.”

“I could teach you. I teach all the young Sylvan to shoot the bow.”

“As you wish.” Aislin privately questioned the wisdom of teaching a prisoner to defend herself, but said nothing. He was being disarmingly kind, and she was enjoying it.

They finished the tour and sat down on the edge of a rock near the waterfall. Aislin inhaled deeply. “I must admit I didn’t take you for a botanist.”

“My mother loved trees and flowers. She started this garden, and I grew to love it too.”

“Where did you get some of these plants? They aren’t native to Blackthorne, are they?”

“No. We brought many of them with us from Elinbourne when Colven, my father and I moved the Sylvan here.”

“You came here from Elinbourne? That’s quite a journey! What made you bring your people here?”

She thought it was a perfectly innocent question, but it triggered a volatile reaction from him. He snorted...
snorted
...at her, his nostrils wide, his lips tight. Something moved in his eyes, and it made the hair on the back of her neck prickle. He was suddenly tense with barely controlled violence. Aislin held her breath, wishing she had kept her mouth shut.

“It’s none of your business. I don’t wish to speak of it; certainly I don’t wish to tell a
human,
” he said curtly.

Somehow, she’d hit a nerve. Something awful had happened to the Sylvan at the hands of humans, and it was still very raw for him.

“I’m sorry. You have obviously had an unpleasant experience in the past with humans. I didn’t mean to bring it up and cause you further pain,” Aislin said, hoping an apology would defuse the tension.

He lunged at her with the same vicious black look on his face that she’d seen when he mentioned his sister.

Before he could grab her, Aislin jumped up and stumbled back away from him. Tristan’s face was twisted, his eyes luminescent with a crazed anger she didn’t understand. Terrified, she spun and ran for the stairs, but she slipped in her haste and went down to her knees. She was quickly up on her feet, but it was too late.

Tristan caught her roughly by the shoulders and dragged her up close, his hands a painful vise around her upper arms as he glared down at her.

“Unpleasant? Is
that
what you think it was?
Unpleasant?”
He was forcing every word through gritted teeth. “It was
not
unpleasant—it was
horrible
! To see so many die...the Sylvan are practically extinct because of humans! I watched that bitch drain the life right out of her, and I didn’t get there in time!” He shook Aislin hard and screamed at her. “
Do you hear me?
I didn’t get there in time! I couldn’t get there in time!”

Aislin went completely still, her face inches from his. His eyes bored into hers, but he didn’t seem to be looking at her. Whatever had happened to him, he seemed to be back in that place and time, reliving it all again.

Slowly, Tristan came back to the present, staring down at her as if she were an insect he wanted to crush. “Humans. You’re all an abomination to this land. You deserve to die, and I should have killed you the night I caught you,” he said in a low growl. He shoved her backward away from him and headed toward the steps that led up to his apartment.

“Why do you do that?” Aislin called after him.

Tristan turned back toward her. “Why do I do what?”

She walked briskly up to him, her arms crossed as she stepped in front of him. “Why do you assume all humans are the same as the ones who hurt you?”

His eyes widened; his mouth dropped open. She got the feeling that no one ever challenged the volatile and obstinate Sylvan chieftain about anything.

He’ll either listen to me, or he’ll kill me, but I can’t stop now.

“I ask to be judged on the things
I
have done, not the evil done by others. I don’t know what humans have done to you, but I hope by now you can see that I’m not like that,” she said.

He opened and closed his mouth several times before he answered her. “You don’t understand...”

“Then
help
me to understand.
Tell me
what happened to you!” she pleaded.

He turned away and said nothing.

“More than half of the people in the village of Arianrhod died almost eleven years ago. I held my own brother in my arms as he died from the sickness. Granted, that’s not the same thing as having intentional evil done to you, but that helpless feeling of knowing things are beyond your control, that you can’t fix it, that you can only hold on as tight as you can until it’s over...well, I’ll bet that feels the same.”

He stood silently with his back to her for several minutes. She held her breath as the tension in his body gradually eased. Turning around to face her, Tristan took her hand in his, and asked, “Can we start over?”

“I think that’s a good idea. I’m not your enemy, Tristan.”

He reached out and softly touched the marks that were beginning to show on her arms. “I’m so sorry.”

“Why don’t you give me my first archery lesson?” she suggested, hoping for a smooth change of subject.

He lifted his eyes up to hers, and she felt her heart slam into her ribs yet again. She was totally unprepared for the flood of feelings that rushed over her as she looked into his face.

By the gods, when was the last time I felt like this? I can’t...it’s not...
Her mind stuttered as it tried to steer back to rational thought. The brick wall she’d built around her heart had served her well over the years. She now had a disturbing premonition that it was in serious danger.

“I’ll be right back!” Tristan sat her down and ran up the marble steps to his apartment.

When he returned several minutes later, he carried with him two bows and a quiver full of arrows. He’d also changed his clothes, and his khaki brown body was completely bare except for a soft suede loincloth.

Aislin stood as he approached and began to back away. “What...are you doing?”

“Is something wrong?”

“You...changed...your clothes.” She tried not to look at him, but her eyes were drawn to certain...things. She didn’t fail to note that he was extremely fit, his stomach rippled and lean. The loincloth revealed the muscular curve of his buttocks, and those muscles transitioned in a very sensuous way to long, powerfully built legs. He’d been undeniably beautiful before, but now he exuded an animal magnetism that scared her to death.