Akira Rises (16 page)

Dimitri wished she had not teared up. He was on the edge of being aroused. It dampened any thoughts of trying to get her in the same state, despite the comedy of errors. “I humbly apologize Suraj.” He rolled off her cautiously in case she should attack him in retaliation. He stood up and offered her a hand up off the floor.

“Are you unharmed. Are you hurt?” he asked as he grabbed a blanket off the bed and offered it to her.

“I just told you, I’ve a splinter in my ass.” She stomped her foot angrily. “Of course I’m not unhurt! Are you deaf as well as rude and ill mannered?” Sucking up her tears as best she could, she pulled the blanket tightly around herself. She was trying desperately to gain composure and some shreds of dignity.

“Are you truly named Suraj?” Dimitri looked at her intently as he asked. “Perhaps you are someone other than a beautiful young girl from Nunya, not Suraj, a shy young man on a mission with a message to the white robes?”

Akira's eyes widened. Had he guessed her identity? She managed to look puzzled. “No, I’m Suraj. And where I’m from is none of your business.” She lied. Was this a man who would return her to the man she hated to admit was her father? Had word spread fast by pigeon carrier? She suppressed a shiver of fear. It would not be the first time the baron had his reach extended with gold. Messages could travel faster by wing than a horse could travel.

The defiant look was back in her eyes. Nobody ever called her beautiful before, except her mother, and all mothers' thought their offspring were beautiful. Was he trying so hard to be nice, or he was near sighted? He even smiled when he mentioned Nunya. It was till none of his business.

“And why is a beautiful young woman travelling alone, disguised as a boy and heading up the mountains?”

“Because it would be stupid to travel alone as a girl” Akira pushed her hair away from her face. She knew that was not the answer he was looking for.

“A girl? How old are you?”

“Seventeen.” Akira realized suddenly that she was a young woman in his eyes. Of all the times she had wanted to be recognized as an adult and did not need someone making choices for her like marriage to some old bag of bones her father wanted an alignment with, this was not the most opportune time to be recognized as an adult. He had looked at her body as if he liked what he saw. Akira shivered involuntarily. Her virginity was still intact. She had feared minutes ago it would be lost. She was still not sure she was safe.

“A young woman travelling alone would be stupid.” Dimitri agreed. “So why were you stupidly doing so?”

“I was not travelling as a woman.”

“Point noted.” Dimitri paused for a moment. “You are running to someone, or from someone.” He watched her expression for a clue into the mysterious beauty in front of him. “Perhaps you are following a lover?” The quick and unmistakable look of disdain on her face told him that was not the case.

“I’m seeking sanctuary with the Order of the White Robes.” Akira, looked him in the eyes. “There is no man on earth worth chasing after.”

“|Then you haven’t met the right man.” Dimitri knew that sanctuary would be given. She had the mark. He felt suddenly disappointed. He was bound by honor to protect her. He would have relished trying to change her mind about a man worth chasing after. It would be a refreshing change to do the chasing. Alas, as long as she was vulnerable and in need of protection, she was definitely off limits. However, he was enjoying the view. In fact, he was rather enjoying her discomfort. It served her right, considering her deception. It occurred to him that as deceptive as she was, and had been, perhaps she was the girl he had been sent to fetch to the mountain.
I will bet my horse this is the girl I was asked to rescue,
he thought. If she was the girl they had been looking for, he would not have to return to the mountain empty handed. He was tempted to call her a liar, to challenge those blue eyes that sparked with indignation.

Akira's knees suddenly felt weak. She sat down on her bed then quickly jumped back up, a curse escaped her lips. The man in front of her frowned. She glared at him anew. She had a stinging problem. She swallowed. She tentatively touched her bottom and there was evidence of bleeding. She could feel a wetness trickling down the back of her leg. “Would you kindly remove the splinter from my butt cheek?” She paused, “It hurts like Hades.”

“Most certainly, since it is my fault it became lodged in your bottom.” He had wanted to say deliciously ripe looking bottom, but her glare and his duty kept his comments polite and contrite sounding. “How shall we go about this?” She looked like she would rather be beating him over the head with the bucket rather than asking for his assistance.

Akira mulled it over. He'd already seen her naked. How much more humiliating could it be to part the blanket and expose her stinging cheek to him long enough to pull the offending splinter out? “I shall lay across the bed and uncover my ass. You shall pull out the splinter. And that will be that.” Akira draped herself across the bed.

Easier said than done,
thought Dimitri. She looked like a siren draped across the bed. He sat beside her on the bed as she pulled back the blanket. The splinter was definitely deep. He felt remorse that such a beautiful piece of her anatomy had come to harm at his hands. He touched her bottom very tentatively. “This is going to hurt. I’ve to squeeze it up to grab it.”

“Then get on with it!” ordered Akira. She shuddered involuntarily at his touch. She braced herself, knowing she could take the pain. It was nothing compared to some of the beatings she had endured before she had learned to act obedient.

Dimitri pushed at her firm flesh, squeezing the offending piece of flooring out to where he could grasp it and pull it. Finally, it pushed up. Not a whimper came from the lips of the owner of the beautiful curves. “Got it!” he exclaimed.

Quickly she pulled the blanket over herself. She would handle the rest of the cleaning of her wound by herself.

“Good.” Akira made a point of not saying thank you.

“I shall take my leave.” Dimitri walked to the door. The lock was broken. “I shall trade rooms with you if you like. Your door is broken.”

“Imagine that,” Akira answered acidly. “Some raving lunatic kicked it in. Never mind. I’m leaving. The snow is coming and I need to get up the mountain.”

“No, you are not leaving just yet. You are going to get a good night's sleep while my men enjoy their ...” he was about to say something else and decided to end his sentence with “evening.”

Akira bristled at his orders. “No, I’m not staying. I shall hire a guide and leave when I’m ready.” She knew as soon as she spoke her words were foolish, but she would be damned if she was going to be told what to do.

Dimitri folded his arms across his chest. “The mountain is dangerous. We shall all leave early in the morning at first light so we have enough daylight hours to traverse the pass. My men have supplies to take to the White Rose monastery. You will stay in this room until morning and travel under my protection. Be reasonable.”

“I decline your protection sir.” Akira tried to sound haughty and clearly dismissive.

“You have no choice in this matter.” Dimitri saw the look of rebellion in her eyes. It seemed her eyes got colder, icier, blue as the glaciers they would pass. He sighed. He put her chair against the damaged door. She was pissed. She would run, and he knew it. He knew defiance when he saw it. He sighed. They would be sharing her room. If this was the girl he had been sent to fetch, he was not letting her out of his sight. He knew he was not going to get a good night's’ sleep.

“Get dressed.”

Akira's eyes widened as he spoke. He wasn't leaving! He had just put the chair against the door. Her heart sank.
What to do?
“Turn around and give me some privacy,” she demanded, looking for something else to bang over his imperious, overbearing head.

“Um no, a bucket bashing attempt on my head is not going to happen a second time. I shall hold your blanket up and you can dress behind it.” Dimitri gave her a look that made her want to smash his handsome face. She snatched her clothes, clearly frustrated and angry. She walked up to him and handed him the blanket, daring him to move his eyes from hers until the blanket was hiding her body. His eyes bored into hers.

Dimitri admired her spunk. If he had not been so tired, he would have been amused. She dressed wordlessly behind the blanket then tore it from his hands. Her loose blouse did not hide her femininity any more. She obviously saw no need to continue with her disguise. She donned another pair of men's breeches. This time, the clean breeches hugged her curves in all the right places to wet a man's appetite. If she was the girl he sought, he could not afford to lose her now. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he was. She had the mark, the mark the girl would most likely have. This had to be the girl. He would bet a month's wages on it. Whoever considered this slender apparition in front of him a girl and not a young woman needed to have their eyes checked. He had just enough doubt about her identity that he dared not call her out as a liar. It would seem ungentlemanly and add more insult to injury. She was angry enough already.

Akira had no idea how beautiful she looked to his eyes. She had been so used to her unflattering disguise, she thought of herself as a dull average looking girl. It wasn't so. There was a rosy flush in her cheeks. Her hair unbound, clean and shining, almost black as a raven's wing, hung down her back in a delightful disarray. The man observing her every move for his own safety's sake, wished he could run his fingers through the wild tresses, pull them back so he could see the pale curve of her exposed neck and run his tongue along her soft looking skin. He wondered what she would taste like. She was just tall enough, her head would come up just under his chin. It would be so easy at that height to tip her face to his and kiss those pouty lips. He indulged himself in those erotic imaginings. He had long been without a comforting beautiful woman.

He watched as she untangled the mass of damp hair and started braiding it. He wondered how he was ever deceived into thinking she was anything but a young woman. Dirt, hooded cloak, and by the looks of the binding material on the floor near the bathtub, tightly bound breasts, was how, he answered himself.

She was running from someone or something. She had denied running after a man, and he believed her. Her eyes did not lie. He intuitively knew she would run from him at the first opportunity. He sighed. It was going to be a long night.

“We shall share the bed. I’m too tired to go chasing after you.” Dimitri watched the distrust and anger building in her. “I shall not touch you. I shall tie one of your hands to the bedpost. If you need to use the chamber pot, do so now. I will hold the blanket for you.” He watched her hesitation. She was giving him the silent treatment. Hopefully, the silent treatment would allow him to get some sleep. What was she plotting behind her silence?

Akira glared at the man she was quickly coming to hate with a passion. She shook her head back and forth to say no to needing the chamber pot. A crazy thought about wetting the bed to make his night miserable and uncomfortable crossed her mind. She dismissed the idea as quickly as she had thought of it. She would be wet and smelly and uncomfortable too. She wished she had not opposed him so adamantly. Faked obedience, faked submission and weakness would have served her well. What was it about the man in front of her that irritated her so much more than most men that she abandoned her very practiced and accomplished skills of faking compliance?
Is it because I was so close to freedom and escaping the tyranny of men that I made such a big mistake in opposing this man? What have I done? It was his fault. But I should have acted submissive. At least I don't seem to be his type. He would not have asked me to get dressed if he wanted to take advantage of me. I will not think of rape. I will not think of rape. He has not found me an attractive female. Thank the gods he is tired and if I’m very quiet perhaps, he will sleep, and soundly.

Akira held one of her hands up. It was time to act submissive. Perhaps she could pull the chamber pot out from under the bed with one free hand and accomplish what she failed to do with the bucket.

Dimitri looked at her warily. He grabbed a length of her bindings from the floor and to her dismay tied both of her hands together.

“What happened to only one hand tied to the bedpost?” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Being submissive didn't seem so smart of a plan. He wasn't playing fair. The typical high handedness of men.

Dimitri apologized, “I saw that look in your eyes. I don't trust you.” He smiled.

“You don't trust me? I guess we both feel the same way.” She forced herself to smile back at him. She looked at the bed. The light from the small window was fading fast. Despite her clothes, she shivered. She was tired. Climbing onto the bed, she said with the false tone of resignation, “The least you can do is pull the covers up over me.”

Dimitri sighed with relief. She was coming to her senses. He lowered himself onto the bed and stretched out beside her after pulling the blankets over her. Careful not to touch her on the small bed, he wondered if he dared to sleep. Her hands were secured. He could sleep lightly. It could be done. He tried relaxing but the clean scent of her, the fresh memory of seeing her naked lithe young body had him wound up tightly as thread on a spool. It was safer to sleep on top of the covers because his body ached to respond to hers. A deep sigh escaped his lips. If only she had remained Suraj, life would haven’t complicated itself, and the three ales he drank would have made for a good night's sleep.

Thinking of battles, deliberately thinking of the long winter ahead finally cooled his body as did the night air, and sleeping without the benefit of bed covers. He shivered and finally fell asleep. At what time in the night he would finally unconsciously crawl beneath the covers and spoon shape his body to his reluctant bed partner he would never know.

But Akira did. She awoke with a start as he curled into her. Her heart thudded against her chest. He snored. Another reason to never want to sleep with a man. She breathed a sigh of relief. He was sound asleep. She dared not wake him. His warmth was sort of an unexpected bonus. Perhaps there was some benefit of having a man in a bed. The thought did not last long. The snoring was annoying. A dog would serve better to warm a bed.