Temperance (24 page)

In all her imaginings—and she’d had a lot on the silent ride there—nothing had prepared her for this. It was early dawn, at least she thought it was, and even though she saw no sun rising, there was a muted light pushing through a thick fog.
 

Illuminated in the distance, across a narrow footbridge, was a lofty tower that seemed to reach for the sky as it loomed over the peaks and arches of the castle beside it. It was clear the structure was old, and as Naeve let her eyes move up the cylindrical-shaped building, she knew she was
way
out of her comfort zone.

She looked to the man beside her who was seated on his horse as if he’d been born there.
 

“What do you think?” he asked.

Huh.
She hadn’t thought he’d care one way or another about her opinion. But when she saw the green vines twisting around the gates and the burgundy flowers blooming to life, she heard herself saying, “It’s beautiful.”

The horse’s hooves clattered as Kai steered him in close to hers.

“See that red flower there?”

Naeve nodded, and when he took her chin to turn her face to him, she froze.

“Don’t touch it. The crimson creeper is one of our deadliest plants here in Arcania.”

He’d said it in a way that made Naeve think that maybe he was starting to believe what she’d told him. That she was from somewhere far, far from home.
 

 
Before she could voice her thoughts though, he leaned towards her and said, “The men call it the siren’s song. It lures you in, but one touch and you’re dead on the ground.”

Her eyes widened as she let them move over his large frame, and then she cocked her head to the side. “Are you trying to scare me? There seems to be an awful lot of things that can kill you here.”

“That’s true. There are,” he agreed. “But no, little rabbit, I’m not trying to scare you.”

The soft, almost gentle way he’d said that had Naeve asking, “Why?” Then she saw one of his dark brows rise above his grey eyes.

“Why?”

“Yes. Why aren’t you trying to scare me? You didn’t care when we first met, and since then, you’ve made it abundantly clear that I’m nothing but a pain in your…” she trailed off, not quite wanting to think of
that
part of his anatomy.
 

But, of course, he didn’t let it go. “A pain in my what, exactly?”

“Nothing.”

Suddenly, Kai reached for her horse’s reins and tugged her closer until their legs were brushing. “A pain in my
what
, Naeve?”

Oh, wow…
 

That was the first time he’d ever used her name, and the effect of it rolling off his tongue was as potent as his lips had been earlier.

“Naeve?”

There it was again, deep, sexy, and—as strange as it was in all of this confusion and chaos—comforting.

“A pain in your ass.”

His brows dipped into a deep V as he frowned at her and then asked, “Why would you think you’re a pain…there?”

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head and let out an exasperated breath. “I don’t mean it
literally
. It’s a saying,” she tried explaining, but when he merely stared at her, she tried again. “Where I’m from, if someone’s annoying, we call them a pain in the ass.”

Kai’s eyes shifted over her, and when she realized he was looking at her ass, she clamped her lips shut. An embarrassing silence surrounded them, and Naeve couldn’t help the flush that crept up her cheeks at the absurdity of the conversation and his brief inspection.
 

Here she was, God knows where, discussing with a man she barely knew—and ninety percent of the time feared—the meaning behind what she was feeling in her own posterior as she sat on a horse.
 

A horse!
Absurd is the exact right word.

“I don’t know this place you say you come from. But judging from the way you dress and the things that come out of your mouth, I’m thinking it’s somewhere I’d like very much.”

Naeve heard a snort of laughter escape. The thought of him in Wilmington was utterly—
yes
—absurd.

Her eyes moved over him, and then she replied, “No way. You’d never fit in.”

“Why do you say that? I’m just a man, no worse than any other. You’re still alive and untouched, are you not?”

Naeve looked over her shoulder to the men behind her. Dressed from head to toe in black, they looked like an army from Hell. She then turned back to their leader and, not for the first time, wondered if he was the devil himself.
 

“I am. But that isn’t why. You just…wouldn’t fit in,” she ended lamely.

He handed her the reins and, when she took them, said, “Well, that’s nothing new. I’ve always been somewhat of an outcast.” Then he nudged his horse’s flanks, and as it began to move away, he said over his shoulder, “Welcome to Claremont, little rabbit. Where the only things you need to fear are the flowers.”

Baffled by his shift in mood and the way he’d welcomed her almost
kindly,
Naeve decided that her best course of action was to keep her mouth shut and her arms in tight so she touched nothing she shouldn’t as she followed the man into his home.

As she was halfway across the cobblestone bridge, she glanced up at the castle ahead of her. That was when she reminded herself to be careful and not trust Kai just because he’d shown a hint of kindness.

After all, she’d read somewhere not so long ago that even the devil himself had once been an angel.

* * *

Ry’Ker made his way down from his chambers the following morning and outside to the courtyard. He was on a mission. There were several things he needed to do this morning, and the first was to find their healer and naturalist, who he knew was likely out by the stables.

He acknowledged several of his men as he crossed the grounds, and when he stopped in front of a water trough, he found himself looking up to the window of the East tower, curious for the first time ever about the well-being of the sensualeer.

Did anyone take food to him this morning?

Knowing he had more important matters to take care of, he pushed that one aside, figuring that Si’Bastian’s father would have made sure his own son was fed.
 

He turned back to the stables and made his way inside, squinting into the shadows. The sweet scent of the hay mixed with the pungent smell of horse shit wafted up his nose as each of the horses moved to the front of their stall to check out the newcomer.

“Ai’Den,” he called out as he made his way past his own mount, Storm, and gave him a scratch between his ears.

Hearing movement to his left as he looked down the row of horses, he saw a dark head of hair pop up three stalls down.

“Ai’Den,” he said again, and this time, the man turned and looked over at him.

“Ry’Ker, what are you doing out here?” he asked as he made his way out of the stall and slung the ropes in his hands over the railing.

Ry’Ker gave Storm a final stroke down his nose before he walked over to meet the young man halfway. Ai’Den had come to L’Mere five years ago, when the Empress’s curse had reached his village’s water supply.
 

Like with all the surrounding areas, the second the water had been tainted, the women had become diseased. Seraphine had been clever though. The water wasn’t fatal to the females, but as soon as ingested or bathed in, they became deadly to the men. Which effectively ended all physical contact between the two.

Seraphine’s reasoning:
If I cannot have the one I desire, why should anyone else?

“Li’Am has requested that you take a look at the women we brought back yesterday.”

Ai’Den brushed his hands down the sides of his breeches and nodded. “Of course. Do you need me immediately, or can I finish up here? I still have to check on one of the mares, but after that, I’m free.”
 

Ry’Ker told him that that was fine and to take as long as he needed. “Just make sure that you check on them at some point this morning.” Then he left, making his way back to the kitchen.
 

Next stop, the women.

* * *

Naeve dismounted and stood aside as one of Kai’s men stepped forward to take the reins of her horse.

“Oh…oh, thank you,” she stuttered, trying to remember that she did have manners.
 

It was just that, up until now, she hadn’t had a reason to speak to the men who’d accompanied them, and she’d secretly been hoping she never would.
 

They were frightening.

“My pleasure, rabbit.”

When she heard the nickname Kai had given her, her eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock. Then a slight snicker came from behind the man’s mask and she was perilously close to demanding he stop.

“Rabbit?” she questioned to make sure she’d heard right.

“Yes. That’s what we were told to call you. Since you like to run.”

Completely taken off guard by the fact that this man was even speaking to her, she had no response. It probably also had something to do with the fact that she was busy thinking what an ass Kai was.

Did he tell
everyone
that I tried to run away? And failed?

Spinning on her toes, she marched over to where the giant of a man stood in his long, black cape. “Rabbit? You told them to call me
rabbit
? I have a name, you know.”

Once he’d removed and tucked his gloves under his arm, he took off his mask and pushed the hood back from his head. “I know. But they don’t need to know it. So yes, for now, they can call you Rabbit. It will also remind them not to let their guard down around you.”

This time, as the irritation welled inside her, she balled her fists by her sides and gritted her teeth.

“Gonna stomp your foot too?”

“No,” she snapped as if she were a ten-year-old.
 

His mouth curved into an arrogant smirk as he leaned in a little closer to her and confided, “That’s a pity. You look cute when you do.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned her head to the side and blew out a breath, hoping to convey not only her boredom, but her displeasure at being so close to him.

“You smell like a horse,” she told him.

Instead of moving away or becoming annoyed by her, Kai took a step closer and brushed his nose up against the hair by her ear. When he took a deep breath, Naeve sucked in hers, horrified that her words seemed to have had the opposite desired effect.
 

Then he gently blew it out and whispered, “So do you.”

Whipping her head around, she glowered at him. “You’re impossible. I thought I wasn’t a prisoner here.”

“You aren’t. You just can’t leave.”

He walked towards the huge wooden doors Naeve had admired when they’d gotten close enough to see, but she was beyond taking in the sights right now—she wanted some answers.

Marching after him, which was becoming an annoying habit, she told him very matter-of-factly, “That’s the same thing.”

“No, it’s not,” he replied without bothering to look at her. “If you were a prisoner, you’d have been shown straight down to the cells in the dungeon.”

That brought her steps to an abrupt halt. “You have a dungeon?”

Kai looked over his shoulder and gave a slight incline of his head. “I do. And if you misbehave, I just might chain you up down there.”

She was sure it had been meant as a threat and she should be terrified, but the heated stare he was aiming at her—
excited
her.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

He showed his teeth in a false grin and asked, “Wouldn’t I? Now, are we done with all the questions? I, for one, would like to take a bath. As you so graciously pointed out, I smell like a horse.”

He turned away from her and reached for the huge brass knockers on the doors, and Naeve remained several steps behind him. When the doors swung open and the enormous room beyond them came into view, anything she might have been about to say disappeared from her mind.

* * *

Kai walked through the double doors and stopped to watch Naeve’s reaction. He was starting to really enjoy that about her—her sense of discovery.
 

Everything new she saw, she found some kind of wonder in, and for someone like him who’d lost all hope in his land, it was amazing to be seeing it again through this stranger’s eyes.

“Come in,” he invited, waiting to see what she would do.

She wrapped the blanket he’d given her back at L’Mere around herself and took several tentative steps forward until she was in the center of the entryway. Then she tilted her head back to look up above her, and a shard of light shone down over her hair as she whispered, “Is this all yours?”
 

He stood directly in front of a stone staircase, which swept up and around the wall to the left. It ended on a balcony that led off to the second floor, then it circled up to the third, the fourth, and all the way to the final floor, which was the sixth. It was a gigantic piece of construction up the center of the castle, which his ancestors had built, and to this day, it remained an awe-inspiring feature of Claremont.

After shrugging the cape from his shoulders, he handed it to Marcus, who took that and his gloves from him before leaving them alone for the first time since the hallway at L’Mere.

“Yes. Claremont has been in my family for a little over a century.”

Naeve continued looking around. Then she brought her awe-filled gaze back to his and smiled—something he was sure she didn’t even realize she was doing.

“It’s so big.” She gave a little laugh. “Everything here is big.”

It’d been so long since he’d heard the light, carefree sound of a laugh that he found himself wanting to close his eyes and absorb her moment of joy like the rays of a warm sun on a cool morning. But he didn’t.
 

Instead, he unbuckled the weapon belt from around his waist and pointed out, “Maybe you’re just tiny.”

Her face turned serious, as if he’d reminded her of something, and then those blue eyes, which had just been filled with wonder, changed as a heavy sadness crept in.