Nightshade (43 page)

“When may I have my hands on you?” Jessa slid her cheek back along Darry’s until their lips met. “I must know when I might touch you next.”

Darry’s mouth clung to hers and then she pulled back, a shrewd smile upon her face. “I’ve discovered your secret.”

“What secret?”

Her hand moved in Jessa’s hair and she pulled forth a thin braid. She drew her fingers along its length until she held its end, a small but plump round seed woven within the strands. Darry brought it to her nose. “Jasmine.”

“You’re too clever for your own good, Akasha.”

“I’ve been told that before. Usually right before someone hits me on the head.”

Laughter bubbled into Jessa’s throat and she tried to push it back down.

Darry kissed her. “You see?”

“I’ll not hit you on the head.”

“How lovely.” Darry grinned. “It shall be a pleasant change.”

Jessa moved her hand down the front of Darry’s tunic, pulled it open, and pushed her hand within. She glided her fingers on the skin of Darry’s stomach. The muscles quivered beneath her touch.

“When, Akasha?” Jessa pushed her arm deeper beneath the shirt as they kissed. She moved her hand up the small of Darry’s back and dipped low beneath the waist of her trousers. The feel of Darry’s flesh incited her lust and she pushed farther, grasping and pulling her closer. Darry pressed her to the wall, her hands strong as she held Jessa’s hips and rocked against her. Jessa moaned and dragged her mouth away. She let her face brush against the soft skin of Darry’s neck and took in her scent, feeling wonderfully lost. “When?”

“Tonight. When the moon reaches Attia’s spear. I’ll wait for you.”

“Jessa? Are you well?” Cecelia asked, smiling at the expression upon Jessa’s face. It was a mixture of many things, but mainly she recognized the heady look of desire.
I was right
.
Are you my daughter’s lover, Jessa? Is that what I see in your eyes?

Jessa’s thoughts cleared as she pushed her hair back over her shoulder. “Yes, I’m fine, my Lady,” she said. “Are you sure you’re well enough to ride?”

“More than well enough, Jessa, and aching to see a bit of country. Let us go, shall we?”

“Yes,” Jessa said, and followed.

“You enjoyed your walk in the gardens?”

“Very much, my Lady. Its beauty is a gift. In my country such excess is not permitted.” They passed beneath the arch and into the great hall. “The ground in Lyoness can be bitter and many flowers do not like its taste.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way before.”

“I like your foxglove very much, and your
Fallon-oosh
? The purple flowers that flourish within the rest?”

“Periwinkle.” Cecelia nodded.

“Yes, they do not grow in Lyoness.”

“They’re Darry’s favorite. When she was a girl I would go into her room and find them everywhere. Petals and flowers strewn about the bed and chairs. I would ask her what she was doing, and she would always say that she was making a garden.”

Jessa laughed. “She is fond of the gardens, yes.”

“Has she shown you the maze yet?” Cecelia asked as they passed through the patio doors and onto the lower balustrade.

“Yes. And I’ve never seen before, what I saw within.”

“Owen’s great-great-grandfather Boris was a sorcerer of sorts, or so they say. I’ve seen enough within that bloody maze to believe without a doubt.” Cecelia’s tone was rueful. “It contains dangers as well as beauty. I almost lost one of my children there once, to one of his…well, I’m not sure
what
to call it, but I was not well pleased.”

Jessa’s heart beat fast in remembrance of Darry’s
Cha-diah
mother, feeling again the weight and size of the panther and Hinsa’s purr vibrating into her bones.

As they neared the stables Bentley came forth leading two steeds that were saddled and ready to be ridden. One was a magnificent white mare that was the Queen’s own favorite named Dancer, and the other was Vhaelin Star.

“Bentley Greeves.” Cecelia greeted him with a knowing smile. “Is this not a bit early for the likes of you?”

He bowed his head as she neared. “Times have changed as of late, my Lady,” he said, without a hint of his usual charming smile.

Cecelia remembered his words and his expression of betrayal and outrage as he had confronted her. She took the reins with a pang of regret. “Thank you, Bentley.” She rubbed Dancer’s soft pink nose and the mare huffed at her and pushed forward.

The filly pulled suddenly at the reins and Bentley was forced to let go. Vhaelin Star stepped to the side with a wild toss of her head.

Jessa stepped forward without pause and held out her hand. “
Barrosha
!” she said, and the filly stretched out her neck, her nose blowing as she took in the scent. The animal stepped forward and lowered her head. Jessa smiled at the greeting.

“She cannot ride her, Bentley,” Cecelia said. “She is but green broke and needs to be ridden more. She’s too wild yet for—”

“She may ride whom she pleases,” Darry said, walking from the stables. “She’ll always be wild, my Lady, but she gentles to a hand she trusts. She would run into the ground for that hand unless she be mistreated.”

Jessa’s heart doubled its beat as Darry approached. She could see the struggle at once. Darry’s eyes were hard upon her mother with a look that Jessa had never seen from her before, a violent anguish that Darry seemed to be trying very hard to hide.

Cecelia rubbed at Dancer’s nose, Darry’s words striking true. “Then we shall have a spirited ride.”

Bentley moved about the beautiful mare and held his hand out. “Let me help, Mum?”

Jessa gathered the reins and moved to the saddle as Darry neared.

“You don’t have to go with her.” Darry spoke for her ears only.

“I would not have said yes, Darry, if I did not wish to go. A hand, if you please?”

“Of course, Princess, my apologies.”

Jessa accepted the lift and dropped into the saddle, then reached back down to adjust a stirrup that needed no adjusting.

“Anything else, Princess?” Darry said.

“I’m sure I will think of something.”

Cecelia looked down from her saddle. “We will see you at lunch, Darrius?”

Darry spared her but a cold glance. “I practice with the spear. Some other time.”

“I will expect you for dinner then, Darry,” she responded, a flare of frustration tainting her words. She regretted it instantly.
No, Cat, don’t.

Darry turned on her and Bentley stepped smoothly in between. “I will see that she’s not detained, my Lady.”

Cecelia held Darry’s furious gaze and some part of her reacted instinctively as the mother she was.

Darry pushed Bentley aside. “Is there something you wish to say, my
Queen
?”

Cecelia was suddenly trapped and she knew it. “Please don’t take that tone with me, Darrius.”

“Or what?” Darry said. “You’ll take my sword away next?”

Vhaelin Star screamed at the scent that filled her nose, and Jessa maneuvered her to the side with an expert hand. Dancer shied as well and Cecelia pulled the reins as they backed away.

“Will you tell your husband I’ve been a disobedient child?” Darry said, Hinsa’s blood rushing within a heartbeat. It was heady and dark, and it felt clean and right. It was as if she could wrap her arms around the world and crush it if she wanted. “Perhaps he can think of a more fitting punishment this time for his deviant offspring, yes? Lock me in the dungeons until I go blind and swear to change my ways? A marriage to some weakling Lord? Perhaps all I need is the prick of a man’s cock, yes? Perhaps he can
fuck
me into being who you want!”

Bentley pulled Darry away from the mare. “
Ride
,” he ordered Cecelia in a hard voice.

Cecelia jerked the reins and Dancer obeyed, spinning to the left and then bolting at the touch of a heel. Bentley turned but Darry was walking along the barn, yanking her jacket off as she went. He looked up. Jessa was tense in the saddle as she watched Darry round the corner of the stables and disappear.

“You must go with the Queen, my Lady.”

Jessa studied his face, his hand on the stirrup. “Where is Darry going?”

“The yards. She’ll try to stop it, but most likely it’s too far gone. I’ve never seen her so easily pushed before, my Lady. She’ll have to fight it out.”

They stared hard at one another and Jessa saw his absolute devotion to Darry. He, in turn, clearly saw all of her passion. Neither could hide even the smallest part of their affection nor deny their love in the presence of the other. Without a word their bargain was struck.

“If I find but one fresh mark on her body, Bentley Greeves, you will answer to me,” she said with confident menace. “Do you understand?”

Bentley smiled at the threat. “I shall do my best, Princess. I swear upon my love for her. Or should I swear upon yours?”

Jessa saw the true depth of his famous charm. “Either will do,” she answered, and turned Vhaelin Star. The filly jumped forward in compliance.

*

Cecelia walked among the grove of poplars as a pleasant breeze washed over her. Jessa strolled behind her at a short distance, seemingly content at the silence between them and occupied elsewhere. She would kneel in the tall grass and study the wildflowers that bloomed. Or she would walk off to the side, intent upon some goal that Cecelia could not fathom. When after a time Cecelia sought her out, she found her sitting with her back to one of the poplars, gazing up into its foliage.

Cecelia sat in the grass close by and Jessa said, “This is a very peaceful place. It seems to know you.”

“It should. I’ve been coming here for many years.”

“What is it called?”

“The Queen’s Grove.”

Jessa glanced up into the leaves. “Yes, of course.”

“When I’m feeling lost, it always seems to find me.”

Jessa said nothing, thinking that perhaps Cecelia wanted to talk and wondering if she had been summoned for that very purpose.

“I used to come here every day, after my daughter died.”

Jessa hid her surprise at the unexpected revelation and pulled slowly at a long blade of grass.

“Her name was Jacey Rose.” Cecelia paused. “She was four years old when she was taken by the marsh fever. She had dark eyes like yours and hair as black as pitch. Very much like yours as well, actually.”

“I had a sister once, or so I’m told,” Jessa replied, thinking that she could share in kind if only a little. This was Darry’s mother, after all, whether they saw eye to eye at the moment or not. “But she was killed when I was very young. Radha says I was but one or two when she was born.”

“She became ill?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jessa considered the blade of grass she held. “Sometimes I wonder what she might’ve been like. If we might have been friends.”

“I’m most certain you would have. You would have made a fine older sister.”

“Like Emmalyn.”

“For certain. But you have other siblings as well. Twelve brothers, Jessa. It is a large family.”

“They are many, this is true. My father had four, no, five wives before my mother. They are but half blood to me.”

“But not a one to be your friend?”

Jessa did not answer.

“And Joaquin?”

“Joaquin is closest to me in age.” Jessa tossed the blade of grass aside and chose another. “He is my keeper.”

Cecelia frowned at the word.
There’s no love between you, that I can see.

“When my father saw I had a sort of value, for men found me to be beautiful, he appointed Joaquin to be my guardian until he could find a suitable use for me. This has never pleased Joaquin. He sees no opportunity to advance in our father’s eyes with such a weight about his neck.”

Jessa’s graceful fingers folded the delicate stem of grass. She was indeed stunning, and the thought that Bharjah considered her as nothing more than chattel pricked hard at Cecelia’s temper.

“How old was Darry, when your Jacey died?”

“I became pregnant within the same year, actually, and it was too soon, perhaps. I’m afraid that a burden was placed upon my Cat that no one should have to endure.” Cecelia found it sinfully easy to talk to Jessa.
And you should know these things, if you will love my daughter.
“Owen took his grief strangely. When Darry was born it was very difficult for him to leave her. He was extremely protective, which I understood, but he found it difficult to show his affection as well. Even though he loved her desperately from the start.”

“He was afraid?”

“Perhaps. He was nearly broken when we lost Jacey Rose. He had doted on her so. Jacey looked so much like him and he would take her everywhere, even to his council meetings. She would sit quietly in his lap while he discussed land contracts and Gamar knows what else. When she eventually started talking, discussing nonsense most times, he would listen very intently. He would let a room full of Blooded men wait until she and he finished their conversation of dresses and dolls and pretty flowers.”