Earth Borne (6 page)

Though Thereus said nothing, his appreciative stare raked her body hotly and she warmed from his hunger.

She frowned. The one time she longed for a man to look at her with longing, and he had to be the one she couldn’t have.

They approached the Portal and crossed together. As they strolled to the atrium, Thereus insisted on threading her arm in his.

At the door, she paused. “Are you all right, my Lord?” She glanced at him sideways. What must be going through his mind? At least he seemed eager.

“I’ve never been better.” He bent and kissed her cheek. With a most determined clenched jaw, he strode past her and marched into the atrium.

Melita’s heart fluttered inside her chest as she followed.

***

There, inside the atrium, the centaur child played with his nursemaid. Thereus’s heart pounded. No,
his
centaur child.
His son.
Thereus couldn’t suppress the grin that exploded on his face each time the thought passed through his mind.

With dismay, he glimpsed his hands, empty of any gift with which to greet his son. Children were often timid around strangers and a toy would have aided his cause. It pained him to be an outsider to his son.
No longer.
He would devote his every energy to winning the affections of his family. In winning his son’s, his mother’s might come more easily.

He well remembered how it was to be a centaur child. He’d been so wild, he’d have periodic changes in nursemaids. More than one was dismissed in tears. Until Alkippe. She was one feisty centauress and had reined in each of his unruly behaviors. Well, at least as a child. As a man, no one had been able to tame him.

Kalliste’s fingers brushed his arm and he focused on the present. He clasped her hand and pressed it firmly. She squeezed back. The reassurance meant everything to him. Together they approached Lucian.

“Mama!” He wrenched free of his nursemaid and scrambled into Kalliste’s outstretched arms.

“Lucian, my darling.” She combed his hair with her fingers and kissed his forehead. “My love, there is someone I’d like you to meet.” At his mother’s words, the lad peered at Thereus, curiosity brightening his eyes. They were green, precisely the same shade as his.

He cast an awkward smile at his son and wished he knew the protocol for such a situation. Clearing his throat, he fought back a pang of jealousy that his son would not run into his arms, as he had Kalliste’s. His wife rescued him again. She whispered a few words in Lucian’s ear. The lad glanced at her for reassurance and edged from the safety of her arms to approach his father.

Acting beyond his years, Lucian stuck out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, milord.”

He chuckled. His son was an intelligent, well-mannered, not to mention beautiful, child. Even so, he refused to have such formality between them. He crouched to Lucian’s level and grinned at him. “It’s an honor to meet you, son.” He nearly choked on the last word, torn between crying and laughing. Since he never cried, he let out a chuckle instead and pretended the laughter was what caused his eyes to mist. He grasped his son’s hand, but instead of shaking it, he held it, savoring the weight of Lucian’s small hand in his. “Please call me Pappas, if you like.”

The lad beamed and sprinted into his mother’s arms. “Oh, yes, Pappas!” The room echoed with the sweetest laughter Thereus had ever heard.

He glanced at Kalliste, but she burrowed her face against Lucian. Every mother desired a good father for her children. With time, he would become just that. He would begin now.

Thereus strode to them. “My Lady, might I spend some time alone with Lucian?”

She smiled at him. “An excellent idea. In fact, well, I was hoping…”

“Aye?”

“Ah, he is having difficulty transforming into human form
clothed
. I’m afraid he’s taken to running in the hallways nude, which the elderly staff find quite horrifying.” She pressed her lips together as though trying not to laugh.

Thereus chuckled. “My brothers told me stories, things I did, the likes of which surely traumatized our servants. I’m afraid, my Lady, it may be something he’s inherited from me, and therefore, beyond correction.” He smiled inwardly. How many of his traits had he passed on to his offspring? The notion filled him with such pride, though in the future he might experience more exasperation than gratitude. For now, he was simply thankful to have a future.

“Oh dear, I shall prepare the servants, then.” This time, her laugh rang clear and light.

He grinned at her before bending to Lucian. “I do wonder, Master Lucian, if you might give me a tour of your charming garden?”

Ignoring his question, his son eyed him. “You’re dressed strangely.”

“Aye, that I am,” he conceded. “Can you guess why?”

He frowned, his small face scrunched up. “You look like a pyrate. Are you a pyrate?” His eyes widened in excitement.

He dipped his head. “Indeed, I am. Mind your manners and go and give your mother a kiss goodbye, or I’ll force ye to walk the plank!”

The lad giggled and eagerly ran to do as he was told. Kalliste left them, pausing a second at the doorway before gliding away.

Lucian trotted to Thereus. “Oh, it’s not my garden, ’tis Mama’s.” He tugged on Thereus’s arm and, holding a hand to his father’s ear, whispered, “She sneaks in here in the night, when she thinks I’m asleep.”

He raised a brow.

“She sits there and cries.” Lucian pointed to a stone bench set under an arbor of exotic flowers.

Ah, the honesty of children. Did she shed tears because of him? “Why does she cry?”

“Lasses like to cry,” Lucian offered.

He laughed. “Indeed they do, son. Should you ever cause one to do so, it’s a good idea to present her with flowers.” How much he’d missed, and how much he still had to experience. Offering his son advice about courting women was only the beginning. Aye, fatherhood agreed with him immensely.

Thereus studied the atrium. It was a spectacular combination of rugged wilderness blended with the warmth of a hearth. The atrium radiated a cheerfulness suiting Westgard perfectly.

His son expressed little shyness. Once he’d begun talking, Lucian hardly stopped to take a breath. The little centaur possessed a wealth of knowledge about the workings of his castle, and Thereus found his expertise most helpful in catching him up on the last few years. His home was so different from how he’d left it. Westgard was thriving.

Though his son ought to resent him, Lucian heartedly accepted this stranger into his world. Children were so resilient. Too bad his wife was an adult and understandably wouldn’t trust him as easily. Still, he was making progress. Each smile, each gaze, each touch, brought him a little closer to entering her heart.

Chapter 6

Warmth spread through Melita as she sipped her afternoon tea. Thereus’s acceptance of Lucian meant more to her than she could ever express. Deep in her heart, she’d gained the knowledge that should she ever be punished for her crimes, Lucian would never again be an orphan.

Her fingers brushed the cheek Thereus had kissed before she stopped herself and diverted her attention to her guest. The wife of Hector, Thereus’s eldest brother, was visiting. She pasted on the obligatory smile all the while guessing the Lady Delia called upon her to gather gossip. Melita had nothing against her companion, but she hated to be under the scrutiny of others. When she could, she blended into the background. Part of it was her nature, and of course, the other part, her desire to keep her secrets.

Delia had never met Kalliste, so she was safe on that account. Unfortunately, she also possessed a voracious appetite for gossip—something the Lord of Westgard’s return had no doubt whet. Delia wouldn’t relent until she’d witnessed how the reunited couple interacted.

Melita bit down on a biscuit. How much longer could she explain her husband’s absence? She didn’t wish to interrupt his time with Lucian. Although,
several
hours had passed. A quick peek wouldn’t hurt. Besides, if Delia witnessed Melita, or rather Kalliste, and Thereus acting as a courteous couple, she’d be at least satisfied, and she’d have nothing of serious consequence to report.

“Come, Delia. Do you fancy a stroll? Let me show you a new plant I’ve acquired for our atrium.” With angelic blonde hair and hazel eyes, Delia was undoubtedly a beauty. Did her beauty permeate her surface? The Lady was even more frigid than Kalliste had been.

She offered her companion a tolerant smile before she opened the doors to the atrium and swept her arm for Delia to enter.

Melita stepped up beside her. A grimace of horror and shock twisted Delia’s features.

Squealing, Lucian bolted past them, in human form, and nude. She opened her mouth to apologize, but it wasn’t Lucian’s nudity capturing Delia’s attention.

Shouts of “Avast ye scurvy bilge rat!” and other pyrate speech echoed in the sun-drenched chamber, followed by peals of Lucian’s laughter as Thereus chased his son around.

Had that been all, she might have been warmed by the scene.

Instead, she was painfully hot. Her husband was also in human form, and as unclothed as his son. She fought the urge to fan herself as her skin flushed.

“Magnificent,” she whispered, unable to contain the word. His large, powerful body was composed of hard, lean muscle. Her survey drifted down to the part of him that was utterly male. Heat pulsed into the corresponding area on her body, as she was reminded of
that
night.

Just as surely, it also flooded her with the memory, the shame of what she’d done. Her guilt was enough to churn her fiery blood to ice. The passion of the moment and its circumstances were no excuse for her actions. Every day she breathed, she lived with the iron shackle of her shame around her chest. It didn’t matter that what she’d done had been in her nature, as a nymph. It was still wrong. So wrong. She clamped her lips, grateful for the reminder. Her guilt gave her the strength to resist him.

Melita fought to contain her rising hunger, refusing to admit how deeply he affected her. She would stop drinking him in so greedily. Immediately. This second. She would look away. This instant. Very well, any moment now.

At last she succeeded in fighting her primal urges, and she loudly cleared her throat. Bold Delia did not remove her leer from Thereus’s form, though he seemed aware of their presence. An unwelcome jealousy flared in Melita because another woman gawked at her husband. How absurd.

Thereus unabashedly performed the
morphos
to his centaur form, the puff of dissipating shimmering air all that indicated the use of powers. Seeming completely unrepentant, he greeted his brother’s wife with a kiss on the cheek. “Delia, how lovely to see you again.”

Before she sputtered a response, he faced Melita. “Forgive me, my Lady. I’m afraid the boy and I were caught up in our game.”

“Yes, I can see your lessons are going extremely well.” Seizing her lust, she molded it into a much more useful emotion. Anger.

Ignoring her curt manner, he grinned at her. “I warned you I used to be as wild as he. I’m afraid I might not have outgrown it. None have been able to tame me, yet.”

She caught the challenge in his voice. Did she wish to rise to it? Could a man like him ever be tamed by a woman like her?

No, she did not, could not. She had so many sins remaining to atone for, she simply refused to commit any more. Ignoring his comment, she strode to Lucian to chastise him on his state of undress.

***

Thereus crossed his arms as he regarded Kalliste. Well, that went somewhat differently from how he’d envisioned it. She was an enigma. One moment her face flushed with interest, the next she iced up as dispassionate as before. Did the woman not possess a shred of humor? If not, Zeus help them both. He loved his tricks, enjoyed making women and men laugh. She hadn’t smiled, not even a little. Frigid wench.

Had he come upon her under the same circumstances, well, no. It was true. He wouldn’t have laughed. Forcing aside the lascivious image of Kalliste’s nude flesh given modesty by a handful of green leaves, he clenched his fists. He didn’t deny how badly he craved her, but perhaps he might quench his thirst for a while.

He’d frolicked long enough. There were estate matters to attend to. The time had come for him to resume his role as Lord of the castle. He strode to Lucian and promised to visit him again later.

“If you’ll excuse me, ladies, I must take my leave.”
Ugh.
Hector’s wife had finally erased the leer from her face. He hadn’t missed it. No, in fact, nothing disgusted him more. His brother Hector was
bonded
to her.

What of Delia? Females didn’t suffer from the mating bonds. They were free to ogle whomever they chose. It was a jest Aphrodite, the goddess of love, played on descendant males.

Thereus did not find it amusing.

His brother’s situation was also a sharp reminder of what he’d be undertaking with Kalliste. How would it feel to be devoted to one female, when
her
eyes might wander? Wasn’t that part of the reason he’d deserted Westgard? Five years earlier, the idea terrified him. His parents’ ideal marriage ought to have encouraged him. Instead, it served to add to his fears. Such love was surely rare and therefore unattainable.