A Kiss of Fire: A Kiss of Magic Book 2 (28 page)

She hugged Ariana once more and then turned to lead her into the temple.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Sin sent runners to every corner of his land to drum up troops for the defense of the temple. There were some there, but not enough to repel an invading army. Now the race was on, to see if Sin could garrison the temple before Vich could arrive and lay siege. Sin’s first instinct was to send Ariana away.

“No. My place is here with you,” she said stubbornly. “I will not leave when you need me most.”

“I would protect you,” Sin said, equally as stubborn. “Think of our child if nothing else.”

“I am not made of glass,” she said with exasperation.

Sin had been uncommonly gentle in his treatment of her. That included their lovemaking. Not that she minded gentility, but she was missing the desperate fire with which he had wanted her in the past. The trouble was, no matter what she did, she could not coax the beast out to play. Apparently her well-being trumped his animal passion for her. But at least he had not stopped making love with her altogether. He had threatened as much already and only a consultation with both a midwife and a doctor had assured him that it was safe to have coital relations while she was pregnant.

A very good thing too or she would have been hard pressed to seduce her husband beyond his limits every night…and then he would have felt guilty for it in the morning. She wondered if he still did in spite of the doctor’s reassurances.

Sin had also ordered the best Saren doctor be delivered to the temple with all haste. He realized that the Sarens had far more advanced skills in medicine than the Kiltians did and he wanted the best available at all times.

Just in case.

This kid glove treatment meant he was being overbearing in all other ways as well, all in the name of protecting her or caring for her. Until finally she threw up her hands in exasperation.

“I am not leaving and that is my final word on the matter.”

“You are leaving,” he argued adamantly.

“Don’t you think I would be safer here? Protected by a large amount of troops, rather than traveling about with an under-protected household?”

This gave him pause. She leapt on his hesitation.

“Don’t you think I would be better off under your watchful and protective eye rather than out of sight where you cannot know from one moment to the next if I am being properly cared for?”

He gave her a mean look.

“You’re playing me,” he accused her.

“Is it working?” she asked playfully.

“Yes, damn it, it is. And don’t look so victorious about it. You won’t like being under my protection if you do stay. I will positively suffocate you.”

“I would expect nothing less,” she said. “Now won’t you come take your poor, lonely wife to bed?”

Sin growled. “I know that look,” he said hotly.

“Good. Then you know I am not wanting to go to bed because I am tired.”

He ringed an arm about her waist and yanked her up against himself. His hand splayed across her fanny and he fondled her in a heated slide of his fingers.

“Damn but you smell good,” he said, his voice low and rough as he put his nose to her neck and took in a deep breath through it.

“I smell good in other places too,” she said silkily.

She ran her hands up his chest, then back down again, her fingertips skimming down the buttoned fly of his breeches. She then cupped him through the gloving material. “I like the way you smell too,” she said, touching her nose to his chest and taking in a deep breath of his clean, masculine scent. “And I really like the way you feel.”

“And I like the way you feel me,” he said with a chuckle. Then he sighed. “But I have to do a few things before I can come to bed.”

“I must be losing my touch,” she said, fondling him again, feeling him grow harder in her hand. She began to unbutton his fly and then slid her hand inside so she could wrap him up in her fist.

He groaned and thrust his hips into her touch for a brief, glorious minute. But then he cursed and grabbed hold of her wrist, removing her hand from him. “We can finish this later,” he said. He pressed a heated kiss to her frowning lips. “I promise.”

She pouted as he stepped away from her and he released a blue expletive at the expression. “Don’t make me feel guilty,” he begged her.

“I don’t want you to feel guilty,” she assured him before grabbing him up into a hot kiss. “I want you to feel lonely. So lonely that seeking out your wife is the only comfort you can have. That way you will rush into my arms all the quicker.”

“There is nowhere I’d rather be but in your arms,” he promised her.

“Tell me where you are going and what is so important. Perhaps I can help.”

He looked doubtful and she narrowed her eyes on him. “Barely married a fortnight and you are already forgetting to treat me as your equal in your rule? I won’t be mollycoddled or treated like a pretty figurehead. I will be useful or I will be going back to Saren where I am needed and respected.”

“No! You are very much needed here. And I respect you deeply. Please do not threaten to leave me. It terrifies me.”

She immediately felt guilty for saying the one thing she knew he feared most. He was not a man of many fears, but when it came to her he was full of them. Fear for her safety. Fear for her happiness. Fear he would never deserve her. He told her this constantly and it was unfair of her to use it against him.

“I won’t leave you,” she reassured him with dulcet sincerity. “I love you. My home is here now. With you and the child we have created. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I simply don’t want you to forget that I am a woman who can rule. My opinions and my actions can help you. Please use me to your advantage.”

“Then tell me what you would do…would you send troops to intercept him on his march toward us, leaving us vulnerable in the absence of protection, or would you wait for him to come to us and keep all of our soldiers protectively about us.”

“He should not be allowed to get close to Temple City. The city is made up of buildings most of which are only half built. They would provide little to no protection to the citizens and you have no city walls built as yet.”

“They are in the plans, but we have not yet had opportunity to begin them. The only protective walls we have are the ones around the temple itself, and even those are not finished. Besides, walls cannot keep out the attacks of his shamans.” He sighed, touching his forehead to hers. “We are of like mind on this. But I worry about leaving you here, as you pointed out, poorly protected in my absence.”

“Your absence?” she echoed, not liking the feeling of dread that was stealing over her.

“Yes. I intend to lead my army against my brother.”

Ariana felt a knife of cold dread and panic slice through her soul. “No! You cannot put yourself at risk! What if you should be killed or taken captive? What would become of us then? Your brother would not hesitate to—“

“I know. You see why I wanted you away from here? If you are in anonymous hiding he cannot find you. If something were to happen to me, you could then travel back to the safety of Capitol City in Saren lands. I know Jutsin and Mason would see you safe and one day, if you give birth to a son, they would help you to place him in his rightful throne.”

“And embroil the Sarens in a Kiltian war of supremacy? You think much of Jutsin and Mason.”

“I think they are honorable men who care for you a great deal. And I know you would care about my people and your son’s heritage. You would do everything to see him seated where he belongs, a true raji-mother.”

“Stop,” she whispered frantically, as if speaking the words aloud might make them come to pass. “Please don’t put yourself at risk. Send Lindo or one of your other trusted men. Stay safe with me here.”

“I wish I could,” he said regretfully. “But I cannot ask my men to do anything that I would not do for myself.”

“You did not fight in the wars! You sent others to—“

“I did fight in the wars,” he corrected her gently. “Every major battle had me at its head.”

She looked at him, aghast. “Please don’t do this,” she whispered frantically. “Please don’t leave me.”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry. I will have Lindo with me at all times. He will have my back.”

“Take me with you! Don’t leave me here alone!”

“You will be with my mother. You will be protected.”

“Not adequately. You said so yourself. You will be taking troops with you, away from us. I would be safest with you!”

“Ariana,” he said softly. Scolding. “This is why I wanted to send you away from the temple. But you said you wished to stay.”

“I wished to stay
with you.
I did not know you would be leaving!”

“Come now, I have made up my mind. Let’s not argue about it any longer.”

Tears of frustration burned inside of her. She could tell by his resignation that he would not be swayed. She had grown used to seeing that stalwart obstinacy every time she tried to get him to relax in their bed and let his animal nature come out to play. In this he would not be moved, and for the same reason as that. To keep her ultimately protected.

“There must be something I can do to at least help you,” she said desperately. “Some way to protect you.”

“Protect our child. It will protect me to know you are both safe. Then my attention will not be torn between you and the battle ahead.”

She sniffed back her tears and lifted her chin. “Your child will be safe. I will protect it with everything I am. If anyone thinks to come closer I will rain fire down on their heads.”

He smiled grimly at that. “I hope it will not come to that. But I know you will not be an easy target. If my brother is wise he will steer clear of you.”

“Tell me…what of his wives and children?”

“He took his first wife and his son and heir with him, leaving the rest. I have had them under guard, but I will not punish them for being attached to my brother. It is not their fault that he decided to turn against me.”

“They are not to be trusted,” Ariana said with a frown.

“And you are not to go near them.”

“What can they do to me? No. As you said, it is not their fault your brother turned against you.”

“But as his wives and concubines their first loyalty should be to him. Just as yours is to me.”

“Their first loyalty should be to their rightful ruler. But I can see how their loyalties would be torn.”

“I mean it, Ariana. You are not to go near them.”

She reached to kiss his mouth. “I promise I will not go near them while you are gone.”

“Thank you. Now let me see to some missives and then I will join you for dinner and bed.”

“When will you leave?” she asked, unable to weed the anxiety out of her voice.

“The last of the troops should arrive tomorrow. I will leave the following morning provided they are well outfitted and prepared. My last reports put Vich very close to us. Four days’ march. We will meet him about a day’s march out. It will be too close as it is. There can be no delay.”

It all seemed so real so suddenly. She didn’t understand why she was having such a problem with this. She was a leader. She had sent men off to war before. She had seen her own father go to battle when she was much younger. She had loved him no less. But this was different. She had no foothold here. If something were to happen to him, she would be on the run…with an army between her and Saren. But more importantly she loved him as she had never loved before. The thought of losing that, of losing him…she knew she would never recover. Only for the sake of her child could she ever survive the loss of him.

She walked away from him, numb. It was hard to believe that mere months ago she had hated him. She had been wrong to do so. Now she loved him and this felt wrong. Sending him away felt wrong.

Well, she wouldn’t cry about it now. She would wait until he left and she was alone in the privacy of her chambers before she fell apart. He needed her to be strong. And she was strong. She was a strong woman. She was used to people looking to her for strength and it would be no different here. No one would see her as weak. She would own her new position here. Even though she as yet did not have one of power, she was not yet raji, Sin was treating her like she was and was expecting others to treat her equally so. So far all had done as he had asked. But would that change once he was gone?

She would not let it change. She would act as raji. She would command this household. She would also see to it she was ready to flee at a moment’s notice. The safety of her child was paramount, and she would not be caught at the under guarded temple. She knew Vich would not tolerate her to live. And since she wasn't showing yet, no one knew she was breeding save Mariah and Fatima. They were waiting until after his brother was caught before making any such announcements.

Ariana came around the corner and stopped suddenly. She saw Mariah there, her body trapped against the wall by the body of a man. He had one hand braced above her head and the other was drawing a slow, lazy circle on her chest where it was exposed by the square of her neckline. Mariah was pink across her cheeks and her body language suggested she was receptive to the attention.

Ah. This must be the man she had grown an affection for, Ariana realized. It made her throat ache to see it. If they had to run, it would tear Mariah away from her new romance. Unless he came to Saren with them, and that would be asking a lot of a man who was only just beginning to find flirtation with a woman. Mariah noticed her before she could turn and walk away. She pushed the man away and stood up straight. Flushing guiltily, she stammered, “M-my lady. I was just seeing to your bath.”