Nightshade (28 page)

“Jess!” she hissed, as loud as she dared.

Jessa spun around, her body twisting to the side in mid-step. Her bare feet caught in the fabric of the dresses she carried, and she slipped with a strangled cry and fell to the floor in a heap.

Darry laughed. “Brilliant.”

Jessa sat up and Darry swung a leg onto the stone of her balcony rail, then toppled over onto the smooth stones.

Jessa covered her mouth to stop her laughter and glanced toward the divan where Radha was snoring. She scrambled to her feet and hurried over the threshold as Darry got up. “What are you doing?” she said. “Have you lost your mind?”

“We have established that, yes?”

Jessa’s blood was racing at the sight of her, her body suddenly alive and extremely focused. Darry had not been at dinner and Jessa had regretted her absence, especially because she was no longer wearing her veil and felt exposed.

“How was your day?”

“You climbed my balcony to ask me how my
day
was?” Jessa asked.

“Yes, and no.”

“
Shivahsa essa
, Darry, you
are
mad. How’d you do that?”

Darry chuckled, glancing over the balcony as well. “It looks much higher from up here,” she said. “So how was your day?”

“Fine,” Jessa lied.

“I saw you in your sable dress. The color matches your eyes. Did you plan it that way?”

“Of course.” Jessa was glad for the darkness, knowing it would hide the blush on her cheeks. “It’s what women do. Why was your vest at the fête made of such a golden color if not for your hair?”

“It was the cheapest fabric,” Darry said with a grin. “I was running out of coin very quickly.”

Jessa laughed and glanced back into the room, searching for any sign of Radha. When she turned back Darry was reaching in her jacket. She pulled forth a flower with broad petals that Jessa recognized at once as the sunsdrop glory, a red desert flower that bloomed only in the sandy earth of Lyoness.

Darry held it out, fixing one of the bent petals. “I thought you might be missing your home.”

Jessa took the flower by its thick stem. “Where did you get this?”

“The gardens at the Temple of Jezara. The Goddess is very fond of red.”

Jessa’s emotions rose at the sight of the broad petals she knew as well as her own flesh, lifting the flower to her nose. She closed her eyes as the scent of her homeland filled her senses, a swirl of unexpected joy born within the presence of a very old friend. Though she rejoiced each morning that the Jade Palace was a thousand leagues away, she had not realized until now that she did in fact miss Lyoness.

“And here is chicory for the Lady Radha’s karrem,” Darry said. Jessa was beautiful in the moonlight, her skin tanned and dark against the white of her shift, her hair a thousand strands of loveliness about her shoulders as a stray braid clung to the skin of her throat. Darry had to force herself not to push it aside.

Jessa took the small leather bag, her eyes finding Darry’s. “Thank you.”

“Are you…please don’t cry, Jess,” Darry said, panicked at the unexpected emotion. “Don’t, don’t do that.”

“No. It’s just that…I was missing my home.”

“It’s all right, you know.” Darry held her eyes for a long time. “It’s your home and you’re far away.”

“Yes,” Jessa said.

“I should go.”

“Where? Why?” she asked. “You’ve only just gotten here.”

“I have six more saddles to clean tonight,” Darry said.
And maybe this wasn’t such a good idea
.
I hadn’t counted on seeing you dressed as you are, or undressed, as the case may be
.
Amar’s mustache
. She closed her eyes, but the sight of Jessa’s body so scantily clad would not disappear.
What in the seven hells are you doing, Darry?
She had not considered the consequences of her actions, only that she wanted to make Jessa happy. “Longshanks is angry at me for being a princess.”

Jessa grabbed Darry’s arm as Darry lifted her left knee to the railing. “Take the bloody door, Darry,” she said, loath to see her go no matter which way she went.
I hadn’t thought to find what I was looking for
.
But by all the gods, for the first time in my life I understand.
“Take the door,” she said again.

“And tip on my toes past the Lady Radha?” Darry asked with her rogue’s grin, her dimple making an appearance. “Not on your precious life, Jessa, not on your life.”

Jessa let go as Darry swung over the edge and lowered her body into the air. Jessa reacted quickly and covered Darry’s hand, everything inside her pulling at her, begging her to lean down and kiss her. The thought startled her. Darry’s lips looked so soft.
I would taste you on my tongue, Akasha.
And at that thought she caught her breath, feeling a deeper stirring that she recognized from her most sensual dreams. “If you fall, I will never forgive you.”

“Not to worry, Princess. I do this all the time.”

“Climb balconies when the moon is high and give flowers to women in their night clothes?”

Darry laughed. “Well,
no
,” she said as she started downward. “Though it’s not a bad idea.”

“Come back,” Jessa whispered, stretching over the rail and catching hold of Darry’s eyes as she glanced up. “Come back again tomorrow, Darry.”

“Yes…yes, all right.”

“And the night after that as well.”

“Perhaps I should find a ladder?”

Jessa tried to hold her quiet laughter in but it broke free. “Do you have other plans then?”

“Well, yes. I’m going to a party for Lucien.”

“Lucien?”

“One of my men.” Darry gripped more tightly with her right hand and shifted her weight. “It’s his birthing day.”

“I see.”

“Would you like to come with me?”

Jessa couldn’t speak.

“Sorry.” Darry grinned. “Not proper, I suppose.”

“No, it’s not,” Jessa said softly. “But I like being asked.”

“Jessa?”

“Yes?”

“If I don’t climb down now, I might be falling soon.”

“
Shivahsa
, Darry!” Jessa bent farther over the rail. “Yes,
go
.”

The material of Jessa’s shift had slipped, revealing more than just a pleasing hint of her breasts.
Well worth a fall, I think
. Darry leapt from the wall and landed safely, then looked up to see Jessa still stretched over the stones.
You will pull the moon down, my sweet Jessa, looking so in its light.

Jessa raised the flower to her nose. “Go,” she whispered through the petals. “Go while I can still let you,
Akasha
.”

Darry waved before she turned away and disappeared into the night.

*

“The timing could not be better, Mal.” Marteen Salish’s brown eyes were bright with satisfaction. “Will she summon your father?”

Malcolm stared at the embers glowing in the fireplace across the room as if the small bit of light they provided could still hold back the night. “Yes.”

“Then this is the perfect play. Stop brooding.”

“It shall cause her a great deal of pain,” Malcolm said, though the comment was meant more for himself than Marteen. “She doesn’t deserve that.”

“She’s your mother and you love her, I understand that. But she is the past, do you agree?”

“Of course!” Malcolm snapped. “Is this not
my
plan?
My
play? This country has been sitting upon its laurels for nearly forty years. No one understands the need for young blood better than I. Try sitting in council with those old men day after day. They smell of boredom and bed death. My father must step away from his power now, before their inaction drags him down completely. At this rate the Durand name will fade into nothing but a footnote in history…all while Lyoness is ripe for the picking.”

“Then you must
own
it, Mal. Very soon you will be the High King of Arravan. You may make amends to your mother when you sit on the Blackwood Throne.”

“I need no lecture, thank you. Do not forget that my son shall sit upon
two
thrones when I am dead and gone.”

“She’s a beautiful whore, I will give her that.”

“She is no
whore
, Marteen, of that I am certain. Though another woman must play her part first.”

“So we make our move?”

“Have you spoken with her?”

“She will select her moment wisely. You needn’t worry.”

“She had better.”

“This is her chosen field of battle, Mal. She is more deadly with her tongue than anyone I have ever known. It shall never be traced back to you.”

“You seem overly fond of her,” Malcolm said. He lifted an eyebrow, eyeing his First Councilor with suspicion. “You always have been, actually.”

Marteen laughed. He dipped his right hand in his goblet, then reached out, staining the sheets red as he slid his hand along the soft skin of Malcolm’s belly, pushing beneath the silken sheet. “Are you jealous?” he said, looking up at Malcolm from the middle of the bed.

“Should I be?”

Marteen wrapped his wet fingers about the shaft of Malcolm’s cock. “Of course not.”

Malcolm lifted their shared goblet and brought it to his mouth, then drank the last of it before setting it on the bedside table.

“It will all come together, Mal,” Marteen said softly. “You’ll see.”

Malcolm relaxed back into the pillows, his eyes drawn to the movement beneath the sheet as Marteen stroked his shaft with a familiar touch. He could feel it within his thighs and his muscles tightened, his stomach filling with heat. The blood vessels beneath his flesh began to throb and his testes ached as Marteen stroked him faster, throwing the sheet back as he drew closer.

Malcolm’s left hand slid up the back of Marteen’s neck. “You will take it all this time…yes?”

“
Yes
,” Marteen whispered, breathing quickly as Malcolm seized his neck in a grip of iron.

Malcolm smiled, his heart pounding as Marteen’s mouth closed upon his cock, the heat and texture of his tongue fairly burning Malcolm’s flesh. And then he began to thrust, his hips lifting then retreating with ever-increasing speed as Marteen held on, taking in the length of him until Malcolm spent his seed in one last, perfect thrust.

Jessa leaned against the fence in the early-morning dawn. She was dressed in an Arravan skirt and simple tunic, one of Radha’s black shawls about her shoulders. It was yet an hour or more before the first watch bell would ring, and she had risen early for want of a walk.

She had lain awake into the night before, waiting for something that never came—for Darry to scale the balcony so that she might be alone with her. She had waited for one more opportunity to touch her, though in what manner she had not wondered. Perhaps just to brush her arm or to feel the strength of Darry’s hand as she slipped her own within it.
Or to see your dimple, Akasha
.

She had waited, but Darry never came. She knew Darry was at a celebration for one of her men, but still she had hoped. When she had finally fallen asleep it was late and she was alone, with not even Radha’s steady breathing to ease her into the land of dreams.

Jessa had found no respite there either, her waking thoughts pushing into her mind and turning her dreams odd and frightening. She had felt a hand at her throat and she could not breathe. She had heard Darry’s voice and felt fear at the words she did not understand. She was certain that Darry was in danger but was helpless to protect her.

She had awoken with her shift soaked through with sweat. Her hands had trembled and she wanted to cry out in rage, though she swallowed it down like bile and collapsed back onto the bed instead. She had spent the next hours fighting sleep, feeling the pull of the dream on the edges of her mind. She must have dozed at some point. When she rose with the sky still dark, Radha lay snoring gently on the divan.

Jessa had washed and dressed and left their rooms. At first she thought only to walk, but as her feet found the path to the stables and barracks she knew what she sought. She had watched the horses in the paddock moving along the fences and stretching their legs. She had smiled at their joy and trailed a hand against the white painted planks as she was drawn toward the barracks.

She had no intention of entering, but she wandered past the doors and farther south until she reached the fence about one of the practice yards. It was there that she found exactly what she was searching for.

Darry moved through the yard wearing brown trousers and a tight homespun shirt that hugged her upper body in a manner that broke all the rules. Sleeveless and cropped at her stomach, it was the garment that Jessa had first seen at the garden pond.

Her hair was held by a strip of rawhide at the back of her neck and it spilled down between her shoulder blades. Her sword flashed in a smooth arc as her body turned in a fluid manner. She moved through the discipline, her sword spinning in a deadly circle, whisking past her ear but an instant before it shaved the air beside her feet bare in the dirt of the yard. Her movement was constant yet measured, using only the energy that was needed.