Pixilated (25 page)

Sandahl looped the silver chain around
Rian’s neck and handed the two ends to the ancient. The ancient
pulled gently on the chain until the young Nhurstari lord lifted
his face to hers.

"Rian, speak your House gift?" The old
woman’s voice was smooth, cool as silk.

"Healing."

"What is your talent?"

"I am a blood talker."

"What do you offer?"

"Hope." Rian raised his right hand.

The ancient turned to Sandahl, looping the
other end of chain around the princess’s neck.

"Sandahl, speak your House gift."

"The Thallasi nation," Sandahl answered
without hesitation.

"What is your talent?"

"Diplomacy."

"What do you offer?"

"Hope." Sandahl pressed her palm firmly
against Rian’s palm.

With a whispered word of power, the ancient
touched the point where the chain looped across itself, one point
with each hand. Kree felt the hairs on his arms stir. His skin
tingled as it always did in the presence of magic. The ends of the
chain melted, leaving only thin silver bands, without beginning or
end. The ceremony complete, Garen draped Rian’s robe around his
brother’s shoulders.

Holding tight to Sandahl’s hand the Rian led
his Thallasi child bride back to the lodge. The guest held their
lamps high lighting their passage and cheered their young royals.
Kree hung back hoping to have a word with Kayseri now that the
ceremony was complete, a chance at the very least to tell her how
beautiful she looked, but she took Garen’s proffered arm, and the
tall Nhurstari escorted her inside.

Kree's instincts urged him to rush after
her, but his participation in the banding ceremony had made him
approachable. Like Pixies, the Nhurstari were a naturally curious
people. There were new friends to make here, and his duty to his
patroness in Elhar demanded he make them. In a manner reminiscent
of the ceremonial hindering, Nhurstari after Nhurstari turned Kree
aside for a bit of conversation.

By the time he reached the hall Rian and
Sandahl had retired, but he spotted Kayseri near the raised
platform set up for the Majority Apparent and his new queen deep in
conversation with Garen. She tossed her head, laughed at something
the tall elf said. Trust her to target the biggest one of the
bunch. She looked gorgeous and happy in this shining throng. The
Nhurstari swain attended her every word and somehow managed to
smile with his whole body. Even at a distance, Kree could clearly
see Garen had lost his heart to Kayseri. Did she feel the same?
Garen could give her a long life filled with the love and
enchantment she deserved. He could share her mate bond, and most of
all, Garen could give her children while Kree... Hell, he could do
none of those things. He'd just made up his mind to do the right
thing and slip away unnoticed, when Kayseri turned her head and
looked straight at him. Their gazes locked. Her face lit up. The
radiance of her smile was so bright it was a wonder Garen didn't
see his shadow. To hell with the right thing, Kree changed
direction.

"My lords and ladies," Garen addressed the
assemblage. "Captain Kree Fawr, honored troopers, It is my great
pleasure to present Rian,
Majority
Apparent." Stress on
majority brought wild applause from the guest. "And his present and
future bride, Sandahl of Thallasi-Nhurstari, Regina."

Blushing, Rian waved to his guests and
hugged his brother. His youth was never more evident to Kree’s eye.
The young lord had changed into a cloth-of-gold shirt topped with a
hip-length leather vest dyed carmine and tooled in a gold leaf
pattern over gold leggings. Soft carmine boots turned down at the
knee completed his outfit. The colors echoed those in Sandahl’s
grown. A circlet of leaves, this one fashioned of beaten gold, held
his hair off his brow. Sandahl stood beside him cool and regal,
accepting the Nhurstari accolades as her due. Again, Kree marked
the difference between the two elfin races, one free and natural,
and the other staid and proper. Bringing their people together
would not be an easy task. No indeed there was a world of hard work
ahead of Rian and Sandahl. Kree wished them good luck.

Sandahl Regina! The Nhurstari shouted while
Kree worked his way toward Kayseri. He reached her just as the
quartet struck the first chord. Music swelled. Rian led Sandahl
onto the dance floor stepping through a smooth dance resembling a
waltz. At one of the hesitations, Rian passed his bride to Kree,
and swept Kayseri into the dance. The dance floor soon filled with
couples. Time and again, Kree tried to claim Kayseri’s hand, but
someone always beat him to her, all too often, Garen.

"You’d better let me dance with My Captain
soon." Kayseri smiled up into Rian’s laughing amber eyes. "I’m
afraid this game of cat and mouse is eroding his temper. Believe
me. You don't want to see that." She nodded to where Kree stood
against the wall surrounded by his troopers. "Look at him. Any
minute now he’ll start chewing the legs off the Red Fist."

The young elf laughed, delighted. "Why would
he?"

"Because he isn’t foolish enough to chew on
you."

They swept past the spot along the wall Red
Fist had commandeered as its own and overheard the captain
grumbling. "Bird, dance with your lady. Duncan, why are you
standing around like a dunce? Dance with some of these beautiful
elves. They are swooning for you, my man. Why can’t you see
this?"

"Well, my lady." Rian laughed again. "This
is a celebration. We can’t have violence breaking out, can we?" A
little skillful maneuvering left the couple in front of Kree when
the music ended. Placing Kayseri’s hand in Kree’s, Rian bowed and
turned to find another partner.

The next set began. Kree took Kayseri in his
arms and moved her through the steps.

"I was beginning to think you weren’t going
to dance with me," Kayseri teased.

"I was beginning to suspect a conspiracy to
keep me from it," Kree growled.

Kayseri stifled a giggle. "What kind of
conspiracy would it be?"

He made a weighing motion with his head
while his gaze drifted to the right. "Nhurstari, without a doubt. I
know I’m not the first to say this, but you make that gown look
amazing. You have grown up into a beautiful woman, Katie. No.
Tonight, you look very much like a Kayseri."

Grown up, she might swoon. "And you, with
your blessing-braids and shiny boots look every inch the Captain
Fawr I used to know."

"You may call me, Kree."

His aura churned molten silver. "Thank you.
I believe I will."

Kree seemed to have run out of conversation.
His face wore such an expression of woe Kayseri hardly knew what to
make of it.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Kree
said.

With a toss of her hair and a coquettish
glance from under thick lashes, Kayseri pulled a little pout. "Here
I thought you were foaming at the mouth to dance with me."

He smiled again, his charming crooked smile,
there and gone. She cast about for something else to say. "I didn’t
know you played the piano."

He looked at her as if she were speaking a
foreign language. He blinked. "Also violin and flute. Music
disciplines the mind. It makes for clever fingers. Both are useful
to a soldier."

"Oh." She had hoped for a different story or
at least a longer one. They glided across the floor, floating
together on the music. She tried again. "And you dance and sing.
You are a perfect marvel, Kree."

He shook his head. "I never sing. Except in
three circumstances; too much drink, my Matriarch commands it, or
I've lost a challenge at the bonfire." His gaze came to hers, and
he gave her that intense puzzled look she had seen once or twice
before. "Do you want me to sing for you, Kayseri? Because I will
make it a fourth circumstance."

The music was too loud, but the pounding of
her heart was louder. It was difficult to hear Kree’s velvety soft
voice. Then he stopped on the dance floor, brought her hand in
against his chest.

As if he had read her mind, Kree said, "I
can’t talk to you here. Come outside with me. Come away from this
noise, Katie. Just for a minute."

She let him lead her through the crowd.
After the heat and press of bodies inside the air was cool on the
veranda. She shivered, but Kree did not notice. He started pacing
almost at once.

"I didn't mean for this to happen."

Kayseri forced herself to sound calm when
she wanted to scream. "You said that before. What is it you didn't
mean to happen?"

He came back to her, took her hands and
quickly let them go. "All my life..." And he was off again, pacing.
She pictured a large caged animal.

"I am a soldier." His expression was enough
to wilt flowers. "That is all I ever wanted out of life, and I’m a
damn good soldier. You’d think I’d be happy, but all my life
dissatisfaction sat on my heart like stone. You stepped off that
coach, Katie, and with one chaste little kiss, rolled the stone
away. Just like that." He snapped his fingers. "Lathan Bruin’s
daughter, who'd believe it?"

He did not sound very happy about it.
Kayseri’s stomach clinched. She had hoped for the confession of
love Rian promised her she could expect. Kree was giving her grief
so raw she could not bear it.

He stared through the double doors at the
colorful swirl of dancers and said nothing more for what seemed an
age. When he did speak, his voice was so soft Kayseri had to lean
forward to hear him. "I’ve spent the years since Molly’s death
learning to do without emotional attachments. I thought I could do
without you, too, and I could have as long as I pictured you in a
place like this, among people like these, whose beauty never fades.
But when I heard that elf say you’d sold yourself into a lifetime
of horror— and that you’d done it for me. Namar's tears, how you
humbled me." He sat on the stone balustrade holding his head with
both his hands. Kayseri could not bear to cause him so much grief.
Better, she had never come home at all. She put her hands on his
shoulders wanting to comfort him.

"The idea of that fellow touching you was
worse than death to me, Katie. Why did you do it?" His hands moved
up her arms. He looked up. "I’m not worth it."

The answer was so simple, Kayseri responded
without a second thought. "You would have done it for me."

Kree stood, paced away. "It is my fucking
job! What could the sod-rotted bastard do to me that someone else
hasn't already done?" He appeared very close to tears, an alarming
prospect, Kayseri shivered again. This time he noticed. "You're
cold?"

Not trusting her voice, Kayseri shook her
head.

Music drifted out from the great hall.
Dancers whirled by the windows in time with the sweeping tempo.
Kree drew her close warming her with his body, and moved slowly
into a waltz.

"Do you remember the night in Arbala when I
said I didn’t love you?"

Kayseri dropped her gaze. "I’m not likely to
forget it. You broke my heart."

"I broke mine too." Kree’s aura changed,
filled with a trembling rose hue. "I’ve always loved you, Katie.
You are the best birthday present I ever got. But you came home all
grown up, and it was plain to me I couldn’t spend time with you
anymore. My feelings changed so fast. I thought there was something
wrong with me. Don't you see? I couldn't be your captain anymore.
So I lied. I had a hundred good reasons to do it. You are so young.
Your father will kill me. I am so mortal. Your father will kill me.
You’d be throwing away your life, and your father
will
kill
me. But mostly, I didn’t trust you to know your heart, because I
was so busy denying mine. It all comes down to this, Katie, I am
afraid."

His expression was so raw nothing she could
say would sooth him. She scarcely dared to breathe.

"You’re speechless. I don’t blame you.
Imagine how I feel. I like to think I'm fearless, but you terrify
me. You do. I am scared to death one day you will look at me with
those beautiful brown eyes and tell me you hate me." Kree paused in
their slow dance, pressed his open hand over his heart. "I won’t
survive it. Stay here with Sandahl and Rian, they're good
people—good elves. Bond with Garen Nhurstari. He wants you."

Kayseri found her voice at last. "But I
don’t want Garen. I love you. I've always loved you. I
will
always love you."

His answer was a crooked smile touched with
winter. He held her closer while the music moved them around the
porch that had become their private ballroom, their private
world.

"Kree." Kayseri’s voice was just above a
whisper. "What happens to us now?"

He pressed a kiss on the top of her head.
"Don't poets speak of tears and a journey?"

Kayseri's heart turned to ashes. "My tears
and your journey?"

Kree looked as if she had slapped him. His
aura flashed black. "This is your opinion of me? Already? I was
right to be afraid."

"My opinion of you was fixed when I was six
and you plucked me out of a tree. It has never wavered."

His aura warmed, ablaze with silver and
roses. "I can’t think why. What’s in it for you? I’m no hero in a
romance ballad who can promise three hundred days of bliss. I can’t
promise a demon won’t eat us. Holy crow! Sweetheart, I have just
proven I cannot keep you safe from a common hooligan. What good am
I to you?"

Kayseri laid her palm against his cheek with
utmost gentleness. "Did you ever stop to think I might be some good
to you?"

Kree crushed her to his chest. "Ah, Katie.
Look at us. Look at me. It’s bad enough now, but what will people
say when I’m raising sixty?"

"They’ll say, isn’t Captain Fawr lucky to
have such a beautiful and devoted young wife." Mischief danced in
her eyes. "We'll turn heads everywhere we go."

"That’s not funny."