Warrior's Dawn (Fire and Tears) (22 page)

The commander’s gaze jumped between them before she motioned Mina closer. “Mina Dawnswealth. I knew your brother once upon a time. I was very sorry for his loss.”

Mina swallowed and nodded. The comment hit a still painful wound that kept her from speaking.

“You have his eyes. And I’ve seen you at the council’s meeting hall.”

Relief made Mina’s shoulders sag just a bit.

The commander glanced back at Althir, and Mina felt a new wave of tension.

“Althir,” the woman greeted as if they knew each other.

“Commander Reginaldson.” He gave a slight bow. “You seem to be doing well here.” He gestured at the half-collapsed building.

She barked out a sharp laugh. “We’re fortifying our position in what used to be Sorcerer territory, so, yes, we are doing well. Thank you for noticing.”

Her response brought an answering chuckle from Althir.

“Samuel Brightarrow said to look out for you. Didn’t say why, but I assume you’re helping and not hindering our efforts?” She didn’t bother to hide the suspicion in her tone.

“Helping, Commander, I assure you. And if you have a way we can get back to the council as quickly as possible, we might be able to help sooner rather than later.”

She gestured two soldiers forward from the opposite side of the damaged room. “Take them to the rear lines.” To Mina and Althir, she said, “You’ll have to make your own way through Noman’s Land. We can’t spare even two soldiers for long enough to get you all the way home. Good luck.”

With that she turned back to the map and those standing around the table. Mina and Althir were led out the hole in the building’s façade and taken to the rear of the Sinnale army.

Seeing how far forward her people were holding the line sent a rush of pride through Mina. They would win this war, drive the Sorcerers out and take back their city.

At the edge of what had been Noman’s Land, their escorts left them and returned to the fighting.

“You know the way back from here?” Althir asked as they trotted down the dark streets.

“I do.”

Beyond the light and noise of the battle, Noman’s Land felt like a black, still wasteland. Mina slowed to a walk when the quiet and shadow closed in, making her feel she’d finally reached safety. They wouldn’t be safe, not really, until they crossed into Sinnale territory. But they wouldn’t run into any minion patrols here tonight.

Althir must have felt a similar sense of relief because he stopped walking altogether and pulled her into a tight hug. The gesture startled her so much she stood stock still for two heartbeats before wrapping her arms around his waist.

“See,” she murmured as she pressed her face against his chest. “You didn’t need to sacrifice yourself to get me to safety.”

“Not yet,” he murmured.

But he spoke so quietly she wasn’t entirely sure she heard him right. She wanted to ask what he meant, then decided they’d have time for that later. “Apparently your notoriety served you well too. You knew the commander?”

“She was one of the soldiers allowed to question me when I started handing your people information.”

“Lucky.”

“Probably not. I’d bet the council scattered the commanders who would recognize me all along the lines just in case we managed to do what we did. She knew who you were too.”

Actually, she’d known Mina’s brother, but since Mina didn’t want to talk about her brother, she kept silent.

“Your family name is Dawnswealth,” he said into her hair. “I’ve heard of them. Renowned for their chocolate and pastry.”

She smiled but didn’t look up for fear he’d see the wetness filling her eyes. “Yes we were.”

“Many Sinnale have names related to their profession. Why Dawnswealth for chocolatiers?”

A few tears leaked over her cheeks as she grinned wider, thinking of the old family story. “Years and years ago, one of my ancestors invented a truffle so spectacular it sold out before dawn every time she made it. One of the old nicknames for chocolate was king’s gold, so…”

“Gold…wealth. Dawnswealth.” He chuckled. “I like it.”

She hugged him tighter and soaked in his heat, glad for the moment of peace, grateful he’d brought up a pleasant memory of her family to counter all the death, madness and heartache of the last few days.

They remained quiet for several long minutes, then he pulled back and lifted her chin so she was staring at him. She assumed he wanted to say something so waited for him to speak first. Instead, he just stared down at her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked after the silence stretched her nerves too tight.

“When we get back… I don’t know what the council intends for me once we return. I’ll probably go back into my luxurious little cage until they’ve cleared my release with the king and queen.”

“But you’ve done what you promised. Why wouldn’t they simply release you?”

“They still have to open the vessel.”

She frowned, her brow lowering as she considered how that could have anything to do with Althir. Then she remembered what he’d said about getting through the magic to the List. “You think they’ll make you… Against your will?”

“Not against my will.” He raised a hand to her cheek, running his fingers across her cheekbone as his gaze roamed her face.

“You planned from the beginning to use your own blood to open this? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What would you have said? You assumed Ulric would sacrifice so much, risk his own life. Why are you surprised I’d be willing to do the same?”

“Ulric’s been…” She cut herself off when she realized her previous arguments no longer applied now that she knew what Althir’s motives had been from the beginning.

“I wouldn’t have believed you were serious before,” she admitted. “That’s the only reason I thought of your brother. It never occurred to me the man I assumed you were would bleed to help my people.”

“Which is why I didn’t bother to tell you.” His lips closed over hers gently, but before she could fully take in his kiss, he raised his head again. “I want you to know now because…because I’ll have to open the vessel immediately. That List is my only hope of getting out of the cage. So…”

His lips compressed into a line before he finally said in a rush, “I didn’t want you to think I’d just disappeared and forgot you existed. I…I won’t ever forget you, Mina. I just needed to tell you that. Before we get back.”

His admission stabbed into her heart, surprising her with the combination of pain and bittersweet joy. “Are you saying goodbye to me already, Althir?”

She waited so long for his answer she finally decided she wouldn’t get one and started to pull out of his embrace. He jerked her close again, his muscles bunching.

“Not yet,” he said. “No goodbyes yet.”

And then his mouth was on hers, hard and demanding.

Chapter Eighteen

Althir’s kiss was the kind of kiss that overwhelmed instantly and swept Mina in before she could begin to think. The heat and passion, the edge of desperation, called to her own growing sense of loss. She pushed him against the nearest wall and splayed her body across his, leaving no room between them.

The elf-fire rose immediately, and all the fear, tension and horror of the past days fed the call, turning her need into a living, breathing beast too hungry to be denied.

Althir shifted the pack on her back, stripping it down her arms and tossing it over one of his own shoulders. Then his arms were around her again. She gasped when he turned her so her back was to the wall, but she didn’t stop kissing him. Running her hands over his chest, his shoulders, up into his hair to hold his head close.

His tension was her tension, the flex of hard muscles a complement to her soft curves, the darkness around them a blanket of comfort that only made each caress, nip and kiss more intense. His lips on her throat started a shiver down her spine. His hand closing over her breast made her arch into his touch, grinding her hips against his erection.

The speed, the angry insistence of her need, might have scared her if she wasn’t more worried about letting him go. If knowing this was goodbye wasn’t so devastating.

Part of her wondered when all this had happened. When had she gone from hating him to wanting him so desperately? When had that hate turned into feelings she couldn’t begin to face because she knew her heart couldn’t take them? That part of her still wanted to hate him—for making her feel anything but anger again, for forcing these emotions on her. She wanted to blame him, the elf-fire, the war…

That edge of confusion and blame only added to the fire raging through her, making her touch rough. She wanted him in her control, all hers for a few hours more. She demanded his complete focus with every caress, every kiss. She sucked at the skin where his throat and shoulder met, then bit down, and he groaned, grinding against her hard enough that the wall scraped her back. She didn’t care. She wanted that reaction from him, she
needed
him to be as out of control as she felt.

“Inside,” he muttered, his lips nuzzling the soft skin under her ear. “I don’t want to fuck you on the street.”

She wanted inside too. Because she wanted to do much more to him than she could do up against a building. His mouth closed over hers, a momentary distraction, then she dragged her mouth away and looked around. She knew where they were in Noman’s Land. And she knew a building not far from here that they could escape into. It didn’t have a comfortable bed to take advantage of, but it would be empty and open and warmer than a brick wall at her back.

She grabbed his hand from her breast, despite his mild protest, and tugged him the block and a half they needed to go.

“No beds,” she muttered. “Might still be a couch…” She couldn’t concentrate enough to remember. The fact that she could think at all was something of a surprise.

“I don’t care,” he said, his voice gravel harsh. “Just inside.”

She nodded to the building, so caught up she didn’t take the time to study her surroundings. The entire Sorcerers’ army could descend on them now and she’d never see it coming.

Even that knowledge wasn’t enough to jerk her out of her erotic haze. She did open the front door to the building carefully, focusing just enough attention on safety to assure herself the place was empty. It had once been a small house but was now stripped bare and deserted.

“Hear anything?” she asked Althir, knowing he’d hear more than her even in his current state.

He shook his head, closed the door with a firm click and pulled her back into his arms. She melted against him, as if the few minutes of separation had been years. With the silencing buffer of walls, Mina felt the outside world fall away. Nothing existed to her now but Althir’s hands and mouth, his scent and taste.

She’d never wanted a man more, needed the feel of him inside her so desperately. She knew the elf-fire was feeding these feelings with Althir, but somehow it was more than that too. She couldn’t imagine ever feeling this way with any other man. The reality of that tightened her throat, and her kisses grew frantic, her need to memorize every inch of him driving her.

She tugged at the quiver strap along his chest until he stripped off his weapons and the List pack, but he didn’t set them aside immediately. With a hand around her waist, he moved deeper into the house’s entryway, kicking open doors until he found a room that, while unfurnished, did still have a half-decent rug across the wooden floor. He set his bow and quiver down just inside the door, gently settled the pack next to the quiver, then pulled her to the rug.

To her surprise and pleasure, he dropped to his knees in front of her and stripped her scabbard belt from her waist, moving away enough to set the swords on the floor beyond the rug. Then he was back to her, still on his knees, stripping her trousers down over her hips. The care he took removing her boots, her trousers and panties was belied by his shaking hands. She knew she was trembling too but didn’t care. Having Althir on his knees in front of her was one of the sexiest things she’d ever seen.

He leaned forward and set his lips gently against her lower abdomen, still covered by her tunic. Irritated with the clothing, she reached down and pulled the material over her head in a single move. He smiled up at her before kissing the skin just above her navel, then below it. As his lips moved over her, deliciously light, wet caresses, she unwound the material holding her breasts in place and tossed it aside. He approved the move with a sharp nip of the skin across her hip. She jumped and moaned, bracing one hand on the side of his head to keep from falling. He wrapped his arms around her, his hands moving to squeeze her ass and hold her up all at the same time.

Slipping lower, he nuzzled her thighs farther apart, his breath hot against her heated wetness, sending her body twisting tight with so much tension she thought she might break from it. When his mouth closed over her and he licked into her, she shuddered, clenching her jaw against a scream. The gentle, insistent caresses of his tongue pushed her to the edge so quickly she couldn’t begin to slow down. Without thought, she brought her free hand to her breast and squeezed, pinching her nipple into a tight bud. His appreciative growl vibrated against her sensitive skin, dragging out a gasp.

Too soon, too soon, she thought, but couldn’t pull back. And she didn’t really want to. She wanted to come against his mouth, even if it was the only orgasm she got tonight. His hands on her ass flexed, pulling her closer, his tongue moved inside her once, and then he closed his lips over her clitoris, pressing his tongue against her with exactly the right amount of pressure. Mina clenched her eyes shut as the tension broke open and shattered her, jerking through her body in a hard wave of devastating release.