A Kiss of Fire: A Kiss of Magic Book 2 (24 page)

“Then she should ask him to walk about in the gardens. We can hide in the copse that hid Ariana’s rescuers so well. She can bring him to the point just before it. She should send him a note, rather than ask him to join her in person, so that no Jadoc can read her mind and put Vich on his guard against her,” Lindo said.

“A good idea. Very well…let’s do it.”

Raj Vich walked out into the frigid gardens with impatience. His mother’s note had been enigmatic and strange. She had asked him to come and meet her in the gardens alone. It was much too cold and miserable to be out in his opinion, so it was clear his mother wanted to meet clandestinely for a reason. What that reason was was beyond him.

He saw her pacing before a stand of trees and he hurried up to her.

“Well, what is it that has you calling me out here in this godforsaken place?” he demanded of her irritably.

“A warning,” she said.

Vich’s brow raised. “A warning?”

“Your brother knows you sent Mordol to kill the Saren woman.”

Vich felt his stomach drop. That was impossible! How would he know that? “I am certain you are mistaken,” he said cautiously. “I know nothing of which you speak.”

“You did not send Mordol to kill the Saren woman?”

“No Mother, of course not.”

“Then you have no designs on your brother’s throne?”

Designs? Of course he had designs. He had been the one to arrange that little meeting in the wilds between Sin and the bandits. They had been commanded to shoot first and give no opportunity for either to escape them. For all he had known, the Saren woman was already breeding his brother’s child. And with that would come the end of his inheritance. As long as Lindo, the Jadoc who was always in Sin’s pocket, was around, there was no way of getting close to him. His daily rides with the woman alone were the only opportunity to gain advantage and see them both killed. But they had failed him. The only thing in his favor had been that none of them had survived to be questioned. That and the fact that Sin was laid up with an injury that allowed Vich to exercise his rightful role as leader of his people. His brother was weak…allowing a woman to rule his head. He did not deserve his crown. He proved that with every action he took. The only thing he’d managed to do of any worth was to gain land for them. But he had settled for too little at too great a price. Had it been Vich in charge, he would have brought the Sarens to their knees and taken everything they had wanted. They would have gained the entire Triagle Territory…doubling their country’s size, and done it at little to no cost to the Kiltian people.

The only way to fix the problem was to take his brother’s place as leader. Now that the Kiltians had occupied much of the new land, it would be impossible for the Sarens to retake the land and they would stop paying the yearly tithe. There was no way for them to enforce the tithe. They could not afford to go to war again, now could they? They had proven that by not bringing war to their doorstep over the capture of the Saren woman. Instead they had simply recaptured her for themselves at little to no cost for themselves.

He was glad they had taken her back. It would have been better had she been killed. Knowing his brother, he would not rest until he had her back, but if his mind was preoccupied with getting the woman back, that would leave him exposed to other attempts on his life…which Vich would see were made. But each attempt risked exposure. Each attempt had to be carefully planned.

He realized he was taking too long to answer his mother, so he hastened to say, “Of course not, Mother. I know my place.”

“Do you? Because you often speak out against your brother. You try and undermine him at every opportunity—“

“Mother, I only try to point out the ways in which he can improve his reign. If I did not question him then who would? He would become a careless dictator with no one to keep him in check. I do what I do to make a better ruler of him.”

“I have always thought this to be so. I am glad to hear you say it.”

“Of course. You fret over nothing. If someone has made scurrilous accusations against me then I will meet them face to face and prove to my brother I mean him no ill will.”

He would have to make certain his Jadoc were with him at all times. In fact, he very suddenly felt exposed. He backed away from his mother.

“If you will excuse me, Mother, I will find my brother and confront him. I do not want him to think I have anything to hide.”

“Your brother will no doubt find you first. And he will be glad to hear you mean him no harm.”

“He can be assured of it.”

Schooling his thoughts, Vich took his leave of his mother. He kept his thoughts perfectly controlled until he was back within reach of his Jadoc compatriots.

Little did he know it was far too late already.

A part of Sin was crushed by his brother’s betrayal. Sure, they had had their differences over time. Many differences. In fact, they had constantly disagreed on how things should be done. But Sin had always thought that that was his brother’s way of making him a better ruler. Much in the way he had claimed to their mother. It was one of the reasons why he had always allowed him free voice against him in public as well as in private. He had not wanted to be surrounded only by people who would agree with him on every point.

In the end he had felt they were brothers. Family. There for one another when it was most needed. To think that his brother had taken his animosity so far as to make attempts on his life and on Ariana’s was unforgivable.

Especially because of the danger to Ariana. The threat to himself was inconsequential to the danger Vich had put Ariana in.

Ariana.

He owed her a great debt. If not for her he would never have known to look to his brother for the source of the danger they had been in. Now, what to do next? He obviously had to remove the threat, but how? Imprison his brother? Kill him? His brother had a loyal following of subjects, those who disagreed with Sin as well on many topics. He could be excommunicating himself from them by taking such a drastic action. And what of Vich’s wives and children? Could he deprive them of their husband and father?

He would not kill his brother. He would not do to him what his brother had planned to do to Sin. He would not sink to that level. He would imprison his brother until such time as he felt his thoughts were reformed. Until his goals became pure again. Several years without freedom should see it done. In the meantime, Sin would take a wife and create an heir.

But for that he needed Ariana back.

For no other woman would do.

Just as he was about to arrest his brother, his brother disappeared. Somehow he had gotten wind of the coming arrest and had made his escape. But Sin’s trackers were hot on his heels. It was only a matter of time before they caught up with him. His brother was used to living a comfortable life. He would not do well in the rough cold country he would now call home. He would give up and come back and live imprisoned in luxury. It was only a matter of time.

So that left one other thing to contend with.

Ariana.

He had to get her back. But he knew this time there would be no hope of taking her the way he had before. He had to come up with another way. But he couldn’t go after her in any way until he was healed and his brother was caught. He couldn’t leave his kingdom unattended, and with his brother no longer able to take over for him, that left the running of the country to his mother in his absence.

He would go after her. He couldn’t bear a future without her. He loved her. He had loved her for so long. Hadn’t she seen that? Didn’t it mean anything to her that he would devote himself to her entirely? That he would do anything for her? The only thing he wouldn’t do was exactly what he was asking her to do. To give up her kingdom. It was an untenable situation. What was the solution? There had to be a way.

He hoped he would find the answer by the time he was healed enough to go after her.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ariana walked through the capitol building, impervious to the cold in temperature but unable to get warm all the same. There was something cold and bereft inside of her, as though a part of her was missing.

She didn’t have to think hard as to why that was.

She had been back home for a month and every day she wondered what he was doing. Had he healed? Was he missing her? Was he safe from his brother?

Was he coming after her?

They had ridden hard and long, the travel bleak and wearying on the way back. By the time they had arrived she was saddle-sore and bone weary. Mariah, who had never sat a horse, had fared little better.

As they had ridden home Dendri had told her of her sister’s maneuvering, how she had made moves that might threaten the Saren people with civil war. How hungry for power she was.

News of Ariana being alive and well had reached the Saren capitol in advance of her, but her sister had refused to believe the reports of a lone messenger. The message was almost two weeks old, she had said. For all she knew Ariana was dead since then at the hands of the barbarian raja.

Ariana had arrived in Capitol City shortly after. She had not even taken a moment to herself, to regain her strength after her hard journey. She had called her sister to her in front of Mason and Jutsin.

Gretha had been commanded to appear before the triumvirate without being told the reason why. When she arrived she saw Jutsin and Mason.

“I assume you have called me here so precipitously because you have come to realize recovering my sister is impossible? That it is time for me to take my seat among you as triumvir?”

“Triumvirate means three, Gretha. And we three are all here.”

Ariana had made the remark as she had stepped out of the shadows. Gretha had gasped and her eyes went wide in shock. Then color flushed over her, fury building in her eyes. It took a great, monumental effort, but Gretha got herself under control enough to say woodenly, “Sister! How good it is to see you! And you are unscathed. To be honest I had not thought it possible you would survive being the guest of that barbarian.”

“He is no more a barbarian than you are,” Ariana said icily.

Gretha took it as an insult.

“I am nothing like that beast! And look at you! You are thin and pale. You are certainly worse for wear since leaving here.” She said it as though leaving had been a conscious action for Ariana. “No doubt he ravaged you with his savage attentions. I am sorry to see you so abused, Sister.”

“I am not abused. In fact, I was quite well taken care of during my stay in the Kiltian court. If I am thin it is from traveling the hard road back.” She had not had much appetite since leaving Sin…not that they had had the luxury of stopping to take decent meals. Not until they had gotten closer to Capitol City.

“I am glad to hear that,” Gretha said, not sounding very glad at all.

“Well, you see I am alive and well before you. You have no further claims to your inheritance. And let me say this,” she said carefully. “If I ever think that you are doing anything that would serve this country ill, I will disinherit you.”

“You can’t do that!” Gretha exploded. “This is my right by blood and law!”

“Laws can be changed. I am triumvir. I make the laws,” Ariana said, her voice cold and final. “And my blood tie to you grown thinner by the second. You couldn’t wait to declare me dead and buried, making not even the slightest effort to recover me.”

“I knew Felone and Hittite were doing everything in their power to find you. Any efforts I made would have been superfluous. I was staying out of their way.”

“Very far out of their way,” Ariana said bitterly. “But that doesn’t matter now. Now that I have seen your true colors. I must consider carefully where I will leave my part of this triumvirate if indeed something should happen to me.”

“Ariana you cannot take my inheritance from me! It is my right!”

“As I said, I can do whatever I want,” Ariana said, her tone flat.

“I will fight you on this!”

“You will fail.”

“We’ll see if anyone wants to follow you now that you have been that Kiltian savage's whore!”

That brought Ariana’s temper up short. She gritted her teeth and stepped into her sister’s personal space.

“You say that as if you have personal knowledge of what has transpired between Raja Sin and myself.”

“She does,” Dendri Adiron said from the corner of the room he had been standing in. He was scruffy looking and just as weary from the journey as she was, but she had begged him to stay for her meeting with her sister before giving him leave to see his wife and child. And this was why. “She has had a report from the Kiltian court that you and Raja Sin were lovers. Voluntary lovers, rather than a victim of forced copulation. She knew you were alive and well before coming here. That you were, indeed, flourishing in the Kiltian court.”

“And yet you came here intent on taking my place as my heir as if I were dead. Your power mongering knows no bounds Gretha. I have heard enough. I know what action to take.”

“You can take no action! You have no other heirs. There is no one else!”

“For now. But perhaps it is time I took a mate and had a child. A child that would be heir to all that I have.”

“A mate.” Gretha scoffed. “Who will have you now that you’ve been sullied by that Kiltian beast?”

Ariana did not dignify her remarks with a response. She turned her back on her sister and waved a hand of dismissal. Two guards came and escorted Gretha from the building.

Ariana had sighed and rubbed at the ache in her temples. She was exhausted. She needed to eat and to sleep.

“Dendri, go home to your wife and child. I am going to my rooms. I will speak to you both when I am better rested,” she had said to Mason and Justin.

“Of course,” they had both agreed.

That had been weeks ago…and still she felt as tired now as she had then. No amount of rest was helping. Every time she closed her eyes she saw a roughly handsome face with nearly black eyes gazing at her with love and passion. And he had loved her. She did not question that. She could question a lot of things, but she could not question the fact that he had believed himself to be in love with her. But that had been a romantic image he had had of her. She was not really what he needed. He needed a woman who would give him heirs and be by his side forever after. Whose loyalties were not torn between two countries. And her loyalties would be torn. Saren would always be at the core of her heart and now…now she felt an equal kinship for the Kiltian people. She knew them better now, appreciated their strength and fortitude, respected them for all they had done to survive.

Had she been someone else, she could have found a home in Kilt.

A home with him.

Tears, inexplicable, burned into her eyes. She dashed them away with temper. This wasn't her. She didn’t cry. She didn’t moon over men. She didn’t lose focus on what was important.

What was important?

Her people. They were important. They should be the only thing that mattered. She had enjoyed her time in the Kiltian court, she was very surprised to realize, enjoyed the simplicity of it and the relaxation of not having to be on point every minute of every day. Of letting someone else take the reins. But now it was time to come back to reality and to focus her attention where it should have been all along.

Only…focus seemed impossible.

As hard as she tried she couldn’t clear her mind. She couldn’t bring herself to pay attention for more than two minutes at a time. She had gone into state meetings, met with the Heddah—those leaders of the provinces—and diplomats from trade countries and all she kept doing was losing track of the conversation. Or, in negotiations she found herself acting as the Kiltians would, making suggestions based on all the methods of trade and commerce she had learned there. Not that that was a bad thing. It was serving her well. It allowed her to see solutions to some of their governmental issues that she hadn’t been able to see before. But each time she did this she was brought back to wondering what was happening in Kilt. She was brought back to wondering how he was doing. He should be completely healed by now. What had he done about his brother? Was Lindo keeping watch over him? Keeping him safe?

Again, frustrated tears burned into her eyes. She had to stop this. She turned around and walked back toward the residences, heading back to her part of the living quarters in the capitol building. She went into her dressing room and found Mariah there hanging some of her gowns after they had been pressed. It had seemed strange, getting used to so much clothing again. The flow of Kiltian garments with their less restrictive cuts and lack of underclothes was something she was surprised to realize she missed. Saren gowns went straight to the floor from snug, empire waists. The had long sleeves in the winter that ended a little past the cuff of the wrist. They wore breast jackets in winter, jackets that buttoned snugly across a woman’s breasts. They wore drawers and chemises and petticoats.

It all seemed so heavy now. So restricting. Of course, that was the point. The Sarens believed the harder it was to get out of your clothes, the more discretion you would use in whom to undress for.

A silly idea really. It was not frowned upon to take a lover…but it was frowned upon to take a rapid succession of them…and to bear children out of wedlock. That didn’t mean it didn’t happen, but it did give Sarens a reason to pass judgment on one another. Sarens enjoyed passing judgment on one another. And Gretha had been right about one thing, she would be seen as somehow sullied by the Kiltian ruler. Not that it was general confirmed knowledge that they had become lovers. But it was clearly assumed that he had forced her into his bed.

“Mariah, I will take a bath,” she said, moving into the bath adjoining her dressing room. Mariah immediately set about filling the in-floor tiled tub, the decorative mosaic of tiles depicting a stallion rearing, its beautiful body in silhouette. It reminded her of the strong Kiltian stallion that Sin had taken her out on during their rides in the countryside of Kilt.

She had noticed Mariah was a bit quieter since their return as well. She wondered why that was.

“Are you well, Mariah?” she asked.

Mariah was surprised by the question, clearly. She paused in the action of filling the bath with scented bath oils. At one time she had preferred roses. Now she had found and used one that reminded her of wildflowers.

“I am fine, my lady. Why do you ask?”

“You are unusually subdued since our return from Kilt. Or perhaps I am just reflecting my own feelings onto you.”

Mariah finished pouring the oil then put the stopped back in the bottle. She set it down thoughtfully.

“Do you miss it a great deal?” she asked her mistress.

“Not at all,” she lied. “I admit it had some charms, but I much prefer the civilization of home.”

“And what of him? Do you miss him?”

Yes. Terribly. Painfully. She missed him more that she wanted to admit to herself, but she admitted it just the same.

To herself.

“He was an intelligent, intriguing man. He has left his mark. But I don’t know that I would say I miss him.”

“I wish I could say the same,” Mariah said quietly.

That brought Ariana’s attention to her lady maid with surprise.

“I beg your pardon?” She missed Sin? Had the girl formed some kind of crush on him? Had she longed for him herself?

The flash of jealousy that burned through her was fierce and brutal. She had to clench her teeth and balled her hands into fists to keep from slapping her maid.

“I miss him. Georg.”

Who in hells was Georg? Understanding dawned on her and the rush of relief was embarrassing. “You formed an attachment to a Kiltian man?”

Mariah nodded. “He was very kind to me. He showed me where everything was. How best to navigate the places and people in the temple. He made certain I felt welcome in spite of my being a foreigner from a country that many had lost kin to during the war.”

It was strange, but she never thought about the Kiltians being prejudiced against the Sarens. The Sarens had not been the aggressors in the war. It didn’t seem right that the Kiltians should bear ill will toward the Sarens. But everyone had their own perspective. The Kiltians had thought the Sarens selfish for not wanting to share land that clearly was far from being settled and was entirely superfluous to the already large country. A wilderness of fields and forests that they had not needed with anywhere near the desperation the Kiltians had.

“This Georg…do you love him?”

Mariah turned pink across the bridge of her freckled nose.

“I think…perhaps I could. I didn’t have enough time to find out.”

How selfish she had been, Ariana thought suddenly. She hadn’t even thought to ask Mariah if she had wanted to go home. She had simply assumed. She had forced the girl away from someone she was growing to care for without a second thought to her feelings or his.

“I’m sorry Mariah. I didn’t even think to ask if you wanted to leave,” Ariana said contritely.

“Oh, I wouldn’t have wanted to leave you, my lady.”