The Ritual (40 page)

“I bet they’ll try,” Zash said grimly, scanning the alley in both directions.

“They may try, Black Eyes, but she’s right, they
will
have a hard time pinning this on us,” I panted, grinning. Zash took a breath, but I forestalled him by raising a finger. “Point one, he was quite clearly an elf, and he was quite clearly holding the dagger that killed the king. Point two, whatever magic that dagger still holds, it was all put in there by Azerev. Not by Mior, not by Shani, but by Azerev, and he’s too dead to spill the beans about anything that happened. The most likely conclusion they’ll draw is that Siander ordered Azerev to create a magical dagger for him, because let’s face it, who’ll believe that Siander was working for him rather than the other way around?”

Zash opened his mouth, then closed it again as he thought over what I had just said. “Well, am I right?” I asked, grinning even wider.

He rolled his eyes, then smiled and pulled me into his arms. “Clever girl,” he murmured. “I knew there was a reason I kept you around.”

“Hmm. I always make sense, remember?”

He chuckled, then bent his head and closed his mouth over mine. His hand drifted to my hair as he deepened the kiss, and I sighed in bliss when our tongues met each other.

“So, what do you think really happened?” I asked when he drew away for a moment.

“Hmm? Oh, I don’t know. Mior?”

“Residual magic,” Mior replied immediately. “Some remnant of that ritual, I’d say. I bet he got far enough into it that it didn’t dissipate entirely. I didn’t see what happened after I broke it though, I was busy.” He smiled at Shani and went back to kissing her, burying his hands underneath her tunic when she wrapped her arms around his neck.

I thought about Mior’s words as Zash nibbled at my bottom lip, and then it came to me. “That flash of lightning!” I exclaimed.

“What flash of lightning?” Zash asked, now moving his lips along my jaw.

“The one from Azerev to the dagger, just before he died. Remember it?”

He lifted his head, now looking pensive. “Yes, I do,” he muttered. “Do you think that maybe Azerev transferred his energy into that dagger? That it was actually him who killed Sovander after all?”

“Well, judging by Siander’s face it certainly wasn’t him,” I said. “So yes, maybe Azerev put his, I don’t know, his soul into that dagger.”

“And maybe
that’s
what leapt across to Sovander and killed him,” Zash finished. “Went straight through the ward and knocked him dead. It’s possible, I suppose.”

“I guess we’ll never know for sure,” I murmured, then gasped when Zash buried his face into my neck and licked my collarbone. “But the king is dead anyway.”

“Hmm, and the elves are in disarray, since it was one of them who killed him,” Zash said. “I think it’s probably best if we lay low for a few days, see what happens.” Then he went back to nibbling at my lips, and for a long while I lost myself in his caresses, paying him back in kind.

“I can handle laying low,” I said eventually, sliding my hands into the back of his trousers and pulling his hips tightly against mine. “Where did you have in mind?”

“It’s going to be the ground right here if you don’t let go of me soon,” he groaned.

I reluctantly removed my hands
again. “Right, then where?”

“I know where,” Mior said, raising his head. He looked extremely dishevelled, and his arms were buried up to the elbows under Shani’s tunic now. I smirked at him and he gave me a quick grin before looking at Zash. “Remember that little shepherd’s hut outside the city towards Fennar? It looked like it was empty most of the time, probably only used during lambing season.”

“Which was three months ago,” Zash said with a grin. “Perfect.”

“And how far away is that?” Shani asked, sounding a tad breathless.

“About a measure and a half once you leave the city, no more,” Mior said.

I grabbed Zash’s hand and yanked him with me. “So let’s not stand around here then,” I said resolutely. “I have better things to do.”

*   *   *   *   *

We stopped by the inn to pick up our belongings, then made our way out of town. Zash tried to keep us out of sight and away from the steady stream of people moving the other way, following the rumours that had begun to spread, but once we were away from the outskirts it quietened down and we walked in the open.

Zash seemed wary, constantly scanning the environment around us, but his hand was steady and warm in mine and the gloom that had hung over him for the past few weeks had gone. I could not stop looking at him, and when he seemed happy that we were safe – at least for the time being – he turned to me and asked, “So, how did you know?”

I gave a nervous little laugh. “Gods, where to begin?”

“Wherever you think you need to, Rin,” he said. “We have some time to kill, and I’d like to know everything.”

“
Fine, but tit for tat,” I said. “I don’t want any more secrets between us, Zash.”

He ran his fingers past my face and smiled at me. “There won’t be, I promise.”

“Right.” I took a deep breath and glanced at Shani, finding her watching me with an encouraging smile. Mior nodded at me, his face curious, and I looked ahead, gathering my thoughts before I started speaking.

It was slow going at first, but once I started Shani helped and it all came out. Our initial mistrust and the overheard conversation. The constant feeling that they’d been hiding things from us, Shani’s suspicion about their marks and her subsequent consult with Pailev, and the conclusions we had drawn from that. Both Zash and Mior kept quiet throughout but for the odd question, and when I finally finished speaking Zash nodded thoughtfully.

“Clever reasoning, and mostly correct,” he said, sounding ashamed. “We did want you along so you could take our place. Ow! Fine,
I
did,” he added when Mior jabbed him in the ribs. “Mior just wanted Shani to stick around. Though I feel I need to make it clear that it was Mior who planted the idea in my head.”

“Only because I know how your  mind works,” Mior said. “You were pissed off at everything and everyone at the time, Zash. Nothing positive I could have said would have worked as quickly.” He ruffled Zash’s hair affectionately until he batted his hand away, and Zash pinched me when he saw me smirk.

“So how did you get to that point then?” I asked. “How did Azerev catch you out?”

Zash kicked at a stone. “I was arrogant, overconfident and overeager,” he said. “I was so happy that we could finally work on our own, without Milarev dictating our every move, that I jumped at the chance Azerev offered.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “We’d heard that someone was looking for an exceptional thief to steal something from the king, so we sought contact. I told him we were the best, and he said in that case we should prove it. Paid half the money in advance too, and promised us a second job if we got this one right.”

“I wonder where he got the money from,” Shani interjected.

“Probably enchanting items for the underground market,” Mior said. “A sorcerer of his calibre could have created pretty much anything. Explains why he had a house as well, and I guess Siander was his cover.”

“Anyway, after we’d stolen that dagger and delivered it to him he agreed that we were good,” Zash continued, “and before we realised it he had us marked and bound.”

I squeezed his hand in sympathy, and he kicked at another stone. “But that’s not when you found out he wanted to sacrifice you, surely?” I asked.

Both Zash and Mior shook their heads. “We heard that from Siander,” Mior said. “The little shit came after us with that piece of news, saying that he’d help us find some substitutes if we gave Azerev’s entire reward to him.”

“So we told him to go fuck himself and that we didn’t need an elf to solve our problems for us,” Zash added. “Can’t say the relationship improved much after that.”

“No, I can imagine,” I commented, and saw his mouth curl into a smile.

“Hey, there’s the hut,” Mior said, and Zash let go of my hand to force the door.

The hut was everything it needed to be – secluded, sheltered and it even had several rooms. It seemed intended for shepherds to spend the night among their flocks, with a small cast-iron stove to cook on in a tiny kitchen, a few items of cutlery and crockery in a cupboard, and three rooms containing several beds each. They were basic, with moth-eaten blankets and straw mattresses, and the whole place smelled of mildew, but it was better than we often had to make do with while travelling.

“We’ll take this room,” Mior said, tugging his shirt off as he pushed Shani into the room on the right. I smiled, then met Zash’s blazing eyes and my heart skipped a beat. He pulled me towards one of the other bedrooms, and my arms were around his neck before he even closed the door behind us. His mouth crushed on mine as he pushed me up against the door and I lifted my legs, wrapping them around his waist in my sudden, frantic desire to get as close to him as I could.

“Finally,” I breathed, trailing kisses along his jaw to his earlobe. “I’ve finally got you alone somewhere.”

“Mmm,” he crooned, lifting me away and tugging at my tunic. “And what are you going to do with me now that you have me alone?”

“Love you,” I simply said, and felt him go still for a moment. Then his mouth returned, with even more fervour than before, and all I could do was bury my hands in his hair as he swept me away on a wave of passion. When he finally drew away again he rested his forehead on mine and cupped my face in his hands, so tenderly that I nearly melted.

“I love you,” I whispered, because not saying it was impossible.

“I never thought I’d enjoy hearing someone say that,” he confessed.

“But you do?”

“Gods, yes… Coming from you it’s intoxicating. Say it again.”

“I love you.”

He smiled. “Again.”

“I love you,” I repeated, wrapping my arms around his neck.

This time he kissed me, long and thoroughly, then looked into my eyes and grinned. “One more time.”

“I love you,” I said, grinning back. Then I moved a hand to brush the hair away from his forehead and added, “You’ll get bored with this before I do, you know. I could tell you I love you forever.”

“I doubt I’d get bored with that, Little Firelocks.” He lifted my chin and brushed his thumb over my lips. “But you’re not asking me to say it back.”

“I don’t need you to,” I said, nipping at his finger.

“You don’t?”

I took in his baffled look and smiled. “You’ve told me once, and I believe you. Just promise me that you’ll tell me if you ever change your mind.”

He was quiet for a moment more, looking at me in wonder, then he gave me another long and thorough kiss. “Well… I do, and I will. And you are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”

“See, you say other things that are just as good,” I murmured. “It’s one reason why I love you.”

“Well, you can’t love me with your clothes on,” he said, putting me down and pulling up my tunic again. I lifted my arms to help him, then got to work on his trousers as he cupped my breasts in his hands.

“I’ll love you any which way you come to me, Black Eyes,” I said, my breath hitching as he ran his thumbs over my nipples. “But I agree – naked is best.” I pushed his trousers down and he swore as they got stuck on his boots. I took a step back while he crouched down and struggled with them, and chuckled. “You’d think that by now you’d learnt to take your boots off first,” I commented.

“Like you gave me the chance,” he grumbled, ripping off first one, then the other boot and kicking his trousers aside as he stood back up. His cock rose up proudly, rock hard and ready, and the sight of it was more than I could bear. I sank to my knees and took him in my mouth, and heard his sharp intake of breath which turned into a moan when I slid my lips further around him. For several heartbeats his hands clasped my shoulders, his fingers digging into my skin almost painfully, then he pulled me up and into his arms.

“Too much,” he muttered, his lips against my mouth. “Not just yet, right now I can’t take it.”

“But I need you,” I moaned, wrapping my hand around his cock instead. “Gods, Zash, I want you, I need you so badly…”

He was panting like a bellows now, and spoke through clenched teeth. “Rin, I want you too, but keep that up and I’m going to come in your hand.”

I glanced up at him through my lashes and gave him a wicked grin. “Really?”

He swore again, grasped my wrist and pushed me away. “You’re enjoying this far too much for my comfort,” he growled, pulling his shirt over his head and flinging it away before pushing me towards one of the beds and sitting me down on it. He quickly loosened and tugged off my boots, then stripped me of my trousers, and I lay back, my breath shallow with anticipation.

I saw him shiver, saw the lust burn in his eyes, then he knelt on the bed, settled his weight on me and entered me in one sure, deep stroke. I gasped at the feeling, pulled him close, and for several moments we stayed like that, locked together. His heartbeat thudded against my chest, and his breathing was ragged in my ear, and I knew that my own heart and breath echoed it.