Dark Throne, The (11 page)

Setta pulled away and looked up into the grizzled features
of her husband's handsome face
. "I never thought of it that way.”

"Well, you must
. She
is not the child we smuggled away. You must get to know her as she
is now. Allow her to be what she has become and do not try to
change her.”

"I never would
.” she
snapped and then glared at him, when he merely cocked a brow. "For
God's sake, Henrik. I wouldn't try and change her. I'd
teach
her and allow her to learn about her new role, there's a
difference, you know. Mearth only knows what Maylar and that plane
have crafted her into, she will be in no fit state to act as a
Queen.” Henrik's lips twitched. "If you say so. I shouldn't think
Jender will mind, dearling. It will soon be at war.” He sighed and
the sound was heavy. "A kingdom at war, I'd hoped not to have to
live through another one.”

"Well, don't be getting any ideas of missing it,
Henrik
.” Setta warned. "I'm
not finally having my husband free from his 'mistress' only to lose
him to death.”

"I'm still use for something, then, am
I?"

She smiled at the twinkle in his eye and slowly rose to her
feet
. "Oh yes, sweetling. You
certainly are.” She reached for his hand and entwined her fingers
in his. Gently, she tugged him away from the center of the salon
and the fussy furniture that was deemed appropriate for a Queen and
towards a room that was Setta's and Henrik's alone.

Her sleeping chamber
.

He'd always been able to charm her
from her moods.

****

"There is only the one doorknob left,
Fade
. Surely it can wait until
the morning? We need to rest, don't we?" Heather's words were
muffled, because they were entwined with a yawn.

They were in the downstairs hallway
. Fade was crouched before the door to the utility
room and Heather was slouched against the opposite wall, watching
him.

She'd decided that the best way of getting to know the man
working tirelessly before her was simply to sit with him in the
vain hope that eventually, he would talk to her
.

She'd been wrong
.

He rarely talked at all
.

She'd never been one for silence
. Always preferring the noise of the city to anything
else, but this year and the loss of her aunt had changed her in
ways she would never have imagined. The tranquility in the hall
didn't bore her and hadn't done for the remainder of the day and
evening. It had left her with her thoughts, some of which didn't
bear contemplating, and only now as the early hours of the morning
neared, did she feel anything. And that emotion was
fatigue.

She yawned again and when he still
hadn't replied, she asked, "Are you always this rude?"

Fade's head spun around so quickly that his center of
balance was overshot and he fell in slump of arms and
legs
. The still unattached
doorknob chose that precise moment to jerk free of the mechanism
Fade had started to screw it down to and plopped on his
head.

The sound made Heather cringe, but she was grateful that
the knob had had something soft to land on
. Had it touched her tiled floor, then it would have
undoubtedly shattered. The solid, oddly-colored marble ball was
untouched however, but it was damned heavy and Heather jolted
upright and rushed over to him to see if he'd weathered the hit
well. "Are you all right?" she asked, her concern evident in her
voice.

Fade glared up at her and rubbed the place the doorknob had
hit
. "I was perfectly fine
until you maligned my character.”

"I wasn't exactly maligning your character,
Fade
. It's just you have a
tendency of not replying to questions when I ask them.” she
retorted quickly. She grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his
head and studied the already red and swelling flesh of his scalp.
Heather did not fail to notice that as soon as her fingers had
brushed his, he'd already been pulling away from her.

Did she have cooties or
something?

"Perhaps you shouldn't ask stupid questions,
Heather
. Then I would reply.”
He brushed her off and moved his head back so that she couldn't
look at the bump without actively bending over him.

"For God's sake, stop being so touchy
. I have questions and I would like answers,
otherwise I wouldn't bloody ask them. If you weren't so damned
dour, then you could ask me anything you wanted too. Hell's bells,
we're supposed to spend our lives together. Surely we have to start
getting to know each other now. Or do you expect me to fuck you
simply because my mother says that's the only way we can get
home?"

"I don't expect you to do anything and if I recall
correctly, your mother didn't phrase it that way
. She said that was the only way
you
could get home.”

Heather stilled
. "You
wouldn't be that big a jerk.”

Fade's eyes flashed to hers and away
again
. "Unfortunately, no, I
wouldn't. But you needn't talk as though coupling with me is
something that could occur in your worst nightmares.”

"I didn't phrase it that way at all
. Don't be so damned touchy.”

"I'm not touchy
. Not
in any way.”

"Yes, you are
.
Incredibly so. And it makes you a pain in the God damn
ass.”

For a moment, Fade just stared at her
. His eyes, those peculiar golden amber orbs,
pierced her to the core. She could sense his fury. Sense his
distaste at her words and behavior, something she could only assume
were very Earth-like, instead of Mearthen, as she supposed he was
accustomed to and the way she ought to behave, if her formative
years hadn't been spent in so peculiar a plane as was
Earth.

She felt scorched by his glance and raked with his scorn,
but he surprised her
. Rather
than attack her with hot, angry words, he laughed.

It was a mixture of a chuckle and a chortle and amusement
suited him
. She'd seen him in
varying states of annoyance, unhappiness, anger. She'd seen him
laugh, but never so freely as he did now.

"You shall make quite a Queen
.”

His words shocked her and she tilted her head to the side
in almost subconscious query
.

He replied with a shrug and the answer, "You have the calm,
serenity of a Queen and yet, the tongue of a
viper
. A rather charming
combination, I find.”

"It is peculiar that you talk of me as being Queen and yet,
you're the one that can make me so
. Have you resigned yourself to your fate?"

A
faint huff escaped his chest, which was still covered with
armor
. How the hell he managed
to be so damned limber with half a ton of metal covering him, she
didn't know. "I resigned myself to it, when I read the words
'mating heat'. I know of this and have seen a few men suffering
from it. It has yet to hit me, but I can sense it is near. Almost
like my blood is on low simmer. It will eventually come to the boil
and I will want you more than I want my next breath.”

His words did something peculiar to her
. Her pussy began to ache. Ache was a strange
choice of word, but it was the only way she could describe
it.

"How much time do I have?"

"For freedom?" He shrugged again
. "I can't say. Already my cock stiffens in your
presence. Soon, I imagine. Perhaps you will now understand why I've
been terse and why I'm hesitant to go to bed.”

"No, I'd imagine having a hard-on within that metal
contraption is like torture
.”
At the twitch of his lips, she smiled as well. "Why don't you take
it off? I'm sure I have some sleep-shirts that would fit
you.”

"Sleep-shirts?"

"I go to sleep in them
. They're men's shirts and they're far too big for me.
Maybe you'd like to try. . . .” Heather broke off and bit her lip.
"I just remembered. Your wings. I'm sorry. They probably wouldn't
fit.”

From his awkwardly slumped position against the door, he
lifted a hand and cupped her cheek
. His fingers swept over her chin and brushed against her
lip, tugging it free from her teeth. "Don't be
discomforted.”

"I'm not
. I'm just
sorry I forgot, that's all.”

"I have to say, you're handling all of this very
well
.” He grinned at her, but
there was a puzzlement to it. "You talk of wings as though you come
into contact with them on a daily basis.”

"I won't deny I'm a little lost, Fade
. But at the same time, I feel. . . . complete.
It sounds weird, because I expected little out of my life. Nothing
as major as this. But I guess I've been waiting.” She shook her
head, brow puckered as she explained, "It's strange, because
throughout my life, I've had dreams. Just like anyone. I just
figured they were odd dreams. I'm a pretty creative person and I
just thought my imagination was running away with me. But the more
I think about it, I wonder if they were scenes from my past. Maybe,
subconsciously, I've been waiting for this to happen. I think
that's the only thing that could make any sense.”

As he'd worked through the late afternoon and into early
evening, the silence between them had encouraged her to think about
things she'd always shoved to the back of her
mind
.

Dreams
. Or what had at
first been nightmares.

She could recall her auntie May rocking her to sleep at
night, when she'd been nothing but a little girl
. Heather tried to discuss the nightmares, but
May wouldn't let her. Instead, she'd bought her a dream catcher.
She'd explained the rules of the contraption to a bewildered but
enchanted Heather, who had immediately placed all of her faith into
the webbed and befeathered decoration. Time or the dream catcher
had transformed her nightmares into dreams. And the dreams had
gradually become a part of her sleep. So much so that it was rare
for her not to have one and as such, not of any importance in her
day to day routine. If she'd seldom had them, then Heather would
probably have analyzed the occurrences. As it was, they'd become a
part and parcel of her sleep. Something to ignore, rather than
puzzle over.

"I wonder if you're as ready as you believe yourself to
be
,” he murmured.

"I don't know and I won't find out until we get to
Mearth
. I'm as ready as I'll
ever be, I guess.”

"Are you ready for the consequences of
the bond?"

"Now that, I can categorically answer
. No. I'm not, but I'll press on with it
regardless.”

"Why
? You're willing
to have sex with a stranger? You do realize that we will actually
have to have sex to bind?" His frown had deepened at her
dismissiveness.

"I wonder if I explained it to you, if you'd
understand
.”

"I doubt it, Heather
.
You have a peculiar way of thinking.”

"I've never had sex with a man before,
Fade
.” She wrinkled her nose.
"I've had anal sex and oral, but never. . . . you know. . . . I'm a
virgin.”

"So shy and so brazen and all at the same
time
. You are a contrast,
Heather. In Mearth, I would expect a woman of your stature to be a
virgin, but at the same time, from your reaction, I suppose it is a
rarity in this plane?"

"Yeah, you could say that, Fade
.”

"That you are willing to experiment bodes well for the
future of our relationship
.”
There was a gleam in his eye that had her whacking his arm with the
back of her hand.

"Don't tease
.”

"What
? I'm not.” He
grinned again.

"You are
. Mockery is
not the best of ways to woo your future wife.” she warned, but
laughed a little. "Anyway, I was explaining my situation to you.
I've felt arousal before. Of course, I have. I've even been lucky
enough to have an orgasm. But there's something about you. I get
the feeling that when this mating heat hits you, you won't be
alone. Plus, the fact I'm even talking to you about this, is
insane. I never talk about sex. But with you, I'm safe. I don't
understand it. It doesn't make sense, but then, a lot about today
makes no sense. I'm just going to roll with the punches,
Fade.”

"You are not alone with that desire
. I feel that I too will have to simply allow myself
to be shuffled about by Mother Mearth's will.”

She cocked a brow at the quaint turn of phrase, but said,
"Are you going to show me your wings?" At his immediate stiffening,
she managed to assume the answer was not
affirmative
. "Don't be edgy
with me, Fade. I'll have to see them sometime. Unless you intend to
walk around with armor on all the time?"