Dark Lord of Kismera: Knights of Kismera (14 page)

He stood between her knees and removed his pants and drawers, kicking them to the side. Time and again he teased and aroused her, taking his time in pleasing her over and over. “Ki, I could die like this, loving you,” he gasped, watching her as he finally let himself build towards his own end.

Ki threw her head back and her legs tightened around him, pulling him deeper. When she spasmed hard around him yet again, he was lost and in a few powerful strokes he found his own release, coming deep inside her, his big hands gripping her hips hard.

He was still for a moment then he stroked the high bones of her hips as he caught his breath. “God, Ki. I love you,” he whispered after he had lay down beside her and gathered her in his arms

He felt something damp on his shoulder. “Hey, what’s this?” He moved to prop on an elbow and tipped her chin to see tears sliding down her cheeks. A spear of panic shot through him. “Ki, hon, did I hurt you?”

Ki closed her eyes and sniffed. “No, you did not hurt me, although the pins in my hair are stabbing my scalp.”

“Baby, I didn’t think,” he sat up and helped her to pull out her hairpins. Her hair cascaded down and Drace knew the tangles would be hell to deal with tomorrow.

They lay back down and Drace held her close. ”Okay, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” He rubbed her back in a soothing manner.

“I am sorry to worry you. I think I weep with happiness. It is just that,” she placed her hand on his chest and felt his heartbeat, “I have been so confused over my feelings for you. It is a feeling like none I have known before. Then, tonight, just now, something happened here and I just knew,” she touched her own chest over her heart. “I never thought to have someone like you and then you said…,” she hiccupped through her tears. “You loved me.”

Ki began to cry in earnest and Drace smoothed her hair.
What do I do now? Ki is emotionally involved too. What’s the right decision?
The thought of leaving her made his chest hurt and he felt the burn of tears behind his own eyes. He felt a surprising surge of anger at Nimbus for putting the two of them in this emotional tangle. “I love you, Ki Lionblade, and I don’t have a clue what our future holds right now, but as long as you’re with me it will be alright.”

Ki laughed and wiped at her tears, “I hate to cry,” she admitted and gave him a lopsided, watery smile. “It pisses me off.”

“My, such language from a lady. I see I’m a bad influence on you.”

Ki gave him serious look, “Drace, I do love you as well. When did you know?”

“Yesterday on the trail, right before I saw the unicorns. They were like some kind of sign, saying it would be alright.”

They lay quiet for some time, savoring their new emotions. Then Drace remembered something he had wanted to tell her. “I have to take Pride over to Lord Len Ra’s tomorrow. He has two mares in season that he asked to be bred to Pride. He paid me a stud fee in silver for the both. So, my dear, I am now a man of means, although poor Pride may die of exhaustion if I want to be rich.”

Ki made a noise and Drace looked at her, “That was a giggle. I can’t believe I heard that from you.”

He tickled her to hear it again and soon they were wrestling around in play. Sometime later they lay in exhausted contentment after play turned into loving.

“Do we have to get up early tomorrow?” Drace asked with a yawn.

“Pride needs to be measured for his armor some time tomorrow, but you can do that on the way to Lord Len Ra’s There is no set time for that, why?” she replied sleepily.

“You’re wearing me out is all, but it’s worth it, darlin’, it’s
so
worth it.”

Ki let Drace go for his appointments by himself. He rode bareback, his saddlebags slung over Pride’s shoulders. His stops included Jaron’s for Pride’s measurements, the tailor’s to pick up his clothing, and Lord Len Ra’s for Pride’s task.

He left the elf leader’s home on a tired but happy stallion. Riding through the village he stopped to ask someone for a jeweler and made one last stop. He left the shop whistling and returned to Vashti and Ka’Ril’s house in good spirits.

Drace was in the stall with Pride giving him a good brushing when Ki found him. She leaned against the stall door, crossing her arms over the top of it.

Drace looked over Pride’s back and winked at her, continuing with his brushing. He hummed under his breath as he worked.

“You seem to be in a wonderful mood this afternoon,” Ki commented, watching him work, “Quite happy indeed.”

“I am,” he answered, not slowing his brush strokes.

“And why is that?” she asked, laying her chin on her crossed arms.

“I have a good horse, a good woman, and some money. What else could a man want?”

“I see I rank behind the horse,” she complained then smiled.

“I just happen to be standing next to the horse. You’re way over there,” he teased.

“Where I intend to stay as you happen to reek of the horse,” she retorted. “I take it you boys had a big day.”

“It was good. I have something for you.” He walked behind Pride to the stall door.

“And what would that be?” She straightened and looked up at him.

Drace gave her a quick but fierce kiss then released her to exit the stall. “It’s a surprise. You’ll just have to wait, my dear.”

Much later, after Drace had bathed and the group had gathered for supper, the pair retired to their room. They sat cross-legged on the bed, after a playful bout of lovemaking. Drace was braiding a lock of her hair. “I find myself in a bit of a dilemma,” he said, keeping his eyes on the braid.

“What is that, my Lord?” She leaned back on her hands to look at him.

A section of his dark hair fell over his eyes and he peeked at her through it then dropped his gaze. “I know how I feel about you, and if I were in my own world…I think…no…I know, how I would go about this relationship.”

“Oh?” Ki noticed a slight, nervous tremble of his hands. “How would you proceed?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

“Well…,” he began. He picked up another lock of her hair and started a second braid. “I would date you…I mean court you,” he corrected “…and I would jump your bones every chance you gave me,” he confessed.

“What is ‘jump my bones’?” Ki asked. She moved the hair from his face to better see his eyes.

“Make love to you. Mate, if that pleases you. I would make you fall in love with me so deeply that you couldn’t stand it. Then I would ask you to marry me.” He let go of her hair and leaned back against the headboard. “I would then hope with everything in me that you would say yes. Then we’d move to my farm, have a couple of kids, raise some horses, and grow old together.”

“I do like this story however…I do sense a but…. Pray, do go on.”

Drace smiled wanly. “Yeah, I’m afraid there is a ‘but’,” he admitted. “But…I’m not in my world and I may have to go back there when this,
thing,
is done. I have family there…and the farm. It’s a bit complicated…but I honestly don’t know what to do about it.” He looked at his fingers steepled between his bare knees and slowly raised his gaze to meet Ki’s.

She caught her breath at the confusion and pain in his eyes.

“I love you, Ki and I’d like to be…,” he searched for the words, “…I’d like to be bonded to you, but I don’t know if we will be able to have the forever that I wish for.” Frustrated, he ran a hand through his tangled hair. “Christ, I’m blowing this,” he grumbled. He leaned over to the nightstand, opened a drawer, and pulled out a cloth bag.

Ki sat up straight, wondering what the bag held.

Drace leaned forward, pulled the drawstring, opened the top of the bag, and spilled the contents into his palm. “I went in search of a ring to give you, and could not find one that spoke to me. Then I saw this and I had to have it for you.”

Drace lifted the necklace and held it up for her inspection. The light from the one-lit candle gave the wren-sized, tiger-eye stone a warm appearance and the gold of the fine chain glimmered. “Will you be my mate, Ki…for whatever time I have here?” he leaned forward and fastened the chain around her neck. “I can’t promise not to hurt you, but I’ll do my damnedest not to. I do promise to love and cherish you for as long as I live, no matter what happens.”

Ki sat stunned for a moment, fingering the stone that was warm from his hand. It lay just above her breasts.

“I would be honored to be bonded to you, Drace,” she told him, tears swimming in her tawny eyes. “I hope that it will be for a long time, but I understand, although the thought pains me that you may wish to return to your home someday.”

“Come here,” Drace whispered, feeling emotion choke him. He pulled her against his chest. He stroked her hair as she sat between his knees. He felt the tug of anger and hurt again for being forced to choose. “Is there some sort of bonding ceremony?”

“Not really. If we decide to pair then my people accept our wishes. The Werre are sometimes very simple in their ideas. The elves have a ceremony for a bond and become husband and wife. I have seen one before. It was rather beautiful.”

“Vashti and Ka’Ril’s?” Drace asked. He slid both of them down to a more comfortable position for sleeping.

“Oh no, they were married long before I was even born,” she stated.

Drace gave her a puzzled look, “You must be mistaken. Vashti is your age.”

Ki laughed.

“What’s so funny? How old
is
she?”

“I think, though it is impolite to discuss a lady’s age, about four hundred and twenty-five,” Ki said, seriously then smiled.

Drace cocked an eye at her, “You’re kidding, right?”

“Oh no, you may ask her if you do not believe me.” She lazily stroked his chest.

Drace settled his head back on his pillow, “No, I believe you.”

“We can talk to Vashti in the morning about the elves’ ceremony if you would like.”

Drace kissed her forehead as he brushed loose hair from her face. “That would be nice.”

Ki settled more comfortably against him with a sleepy sigh while Drace mumbled to himself, “Four hundred and twenty-five. I’ll be damned.”

DRACE WOKE WITH A GASP. He lay on his stomach and raised his head, trying to clear the nightmare from his mind. His breath was ragged and his skin was slick with sweat. The red dragon still haunted him even after he had come awake. He could almost feel the heat of its breath as it came at him.

Drace rolled over and flopped on his back, suddenly realizing he was alone in the room. He rose up on his elbows and listened intently. All he heard was the thundering of his heart in his ears. He took a few breaths to calm himself and heard footsteps at the bedroom door. He turned his head towards the sound and saw Ki, standing in the doorway. She was illuminated by a single candle; then was plunged into darkness again as she blew it out and closed the door.

Something’s wrong.
He could feel it. He sat up in the bed. “What is it?” he demanded. “What’s wrong?”

Ki sat on the edge of the bed. “I can smell fear in here. What happened?”

“Bad dream. I’m okay…and don’t change the subject.” He suddenly felt testy.

Ki sighed and Drace heard a catch in her breath. “I started my flux and I cramp very badly. I have always been irregular and Vashti says that may be one reason for the pain. I just saw her for some tea she makes for me that eases it.”

“Is it better now?” Drace asked her, concerned.

Ki crawled back under the covers and lay with her back to him, curling up into a miserable ball. Drace curled up behind her, letting the heat of his body seep into hers. He could tell by the tension in her back that she was still hurting.

“I hate this. Until I met you I sometimes wished I had been born male. I hate being weak and I hate that tea. It is nasty and it makes me sleep,” Ki groused.

She suddenly sounded young and vulnerable to him. “Why didn’t you wake me? I could have gotten Vashti,” he spoke into her hair.

“I knew you were tired. It eases now,” she replied; her words were a bit slurred.

Drace felt her relax.
That must be some damn good tea,
he thought, and closed his eyes. He willed the dragon from his mind and drifted back to sleep.

Ki was still asleep when Drace woke the next morning. He could see tension in her face and knew she still had some pain. He dressed, shaved, and went to find Vashti. She looked up from her work in the kitchen. Herbs were chopped and in neat piles.

“She will not drink it,” Vashti informed him when he asked about more tea. “I am surprised she drank it last night. She must have been in much pain,” Vashti looked at him studiously. “What is it you wish to speak about with me?”

Drace told her about bonding with Ki and the indecision he faced and of the compromise he and Ki had agreed upon for the time being. He also asked her about the elven ceremony

Vashti looked at him then with a bright smile, “So,” she said, and popped something green and fragrant into her mouth. “You are mated. I had thought that might happen. It was not our intent to find a mate for Ki when you were brought here but…,” she searched for the right words, “Someone who would stand at her side and help protect her lands and people.”

Vashti resumed her chopping as Drace leaned a hip against the table. “I think sometimes Ki is, or was, lonely,” she said. “The weight of her responsibilities is a heavy burden to bear by herself.” She looked up at him again. “I have never seen her happier, and you look rather cheerful yourself.”

Drace straightened up and searched a sideboard; he found a piece of cheese and an apple. Vashti handed him a cup of cider and he started to attack the apple hungrily. He swallowed a bite. “I am happy. I never thought I would say this, but this world is a wonderful place,” He shrugged his shoulders and took another bite of the apple.

Drace and Vashti talked for a while longer, with her agreeing to help with a ceremony and the decision to see Nimbus for advice on Drace’s other problem.

“Hey. I’m outta here. I have to go back to Jaron’s for a fitting. When you see Ki, would you remind her that’s where I went? I should be back soon.”

“Of course I will, my Lord,” Vashti said and resumed her chopping. Drace snatched another apple and breezed out the door.

When Drace arrived at Jaron’s, the armorer had Drace’s chain mail shirt finished. Drace tried it on and found while it was still heavy, it was more lightweight than any other one he’d owned. Jaron assured him it was stronger as well. The shirt hung to mid thigh, the sides split from the hips down for riding and fighting. The sleeves covered his wrists and it had a light hood.

Jaron also had his helm ready. Drace pulled on the padded linen hood, the chain mail shirt’s hood and then the helm. It fit like a glove. His old helm from the show had a nasty habit of pinching one ear and sometimes the bridge of his nose. He lowered the visor and was amazed how much more visibility he had. He had requested the eye slits be a little bigger than his old helm. He would rather chance losing an eye than his head.

Drace raised the visor and removed the helm. Cleverly mounted on the back on the helm was a thick tail of black hair removed from Pride’s mane and tail. Engraved on both sides of the helm was a prancing replica of Pride. It was a beautiful thing. Jaron had done all the armor in black metal to honor the Black Knight.

Drace thanked Jaron and walked back to the house, hoping Ki was up and feeling better.

Ki was up and feeling somewhat better, but by her own admission felt grumpy. Drace knew enough about women to know when it was a good idea to steer clear, so he spent his evening with Cearan, Zol, and Tren, practicing in the back courtyard.

When darkness fell everyone retired to his or her room after a filling meal. Drace was soaking in a tub, relaxing tired muscles, when Ki came and sat in a chair next to him, curling her legs underneath her. “I watched from the window for a while. You are a master now,” she commented.

Drace looked at her with serious intent, “I have something worth fighting for now.”

“Tell me, my Lord, of your world,” she asked, making herself more comfortable in her chair.

Drace propped a foot on the side of the tub and scrubbed industriously on his toes, “What do you want to know?”

“Anything…everything.”

“Well, that narrows it down,” he quipped. He thought for a moment, and then told her of vehicles, trains, and airplanes.

“So you can fly great distances in a short period of time. But do they fall?” Ki asked, enthralled with the idea of long distance travel by air.

“Sometimes, but not very often,” he answered, switching feet.

“And you have flown in these metal birds?” Ki asked, her eyes alive with curiosity and excitement.

“Many times.” He reached for a metal pitcher on the stool by the tub, and dipped it to fill with rinse water. “I’ve even had horses in them.” He poured the water over his head then another over his body.

“What?” she exclaimed. “Impossible!”

“No, it’s possible. Pride was in one when he was brought over from Holland to the U.S.”

She shook her head in wonder. “Why did you not ride him to your U.S.?”

“First of all, I actually don’t own him yet. I was in the process of trying to buy him. That’s one of the things I’m concerned about. Anyway,” he said, rising from the tub and grabbing a towel. “You can’t ride from Holland. There is an ocean…a great sea, and it’s maybe…,” he stopped to ponder for a second as he toweled off. “A couple thousand miles across.”

Drace stood buck-naked towel drying his hair then wrapped the towel around his lean waist; his long hair stuck up in all directions. “It’s not all wonderful. There are also terrible things in my world,” Drace said, grabbing a comb and working on tangles.

“Such as?” Ki asked, taken in like he was telling ghost stories around a campfire.

“Well, these vehicles and planes and all create what we call pollution. The very air we breathe, a tiny bit at a time, is poisoned. “There are weapons like nothing you could imagine. Guns that send a little piece of metal into someone’s body from very far away, but it’s the people who use them that are the worst,” he stood there thinking, looking a bit sad. “Some people invented a bomb, which they took up into a plane and dropped on an enemy. It destroyed every living thing in the city and the city itself. Mankind has developed some that are even worse, ones that may affect the entire world.”

“Every place has good and evil,” Ki said, “it is the natural balance of things.”

Drace threw his damp towel at her and pulled on a pair of linen drawers. “I wish I could see that simply. Sometimes the world feels out of balance…and evil is ahead.”

“Let us not talk of these things anymore tonight. I am tired,” Ki yawned. “As soon as Jaron is finished, we should be on our way. Vashti told me today that you wished to speak with Nimbus. We can go to see him first, and then we need to return to the stronghold. Harvest is upon us.”

Drace sat on the edge of the bed, his elbows on his knees and arms out. He studied his nails for a few seconds then looked at her, “Aren’t you forgetting something?’

Ki smiled at him, “No, my Lord,” she rose from her chair and came to stand in front of him. She took his hands in hers. “I feel honored to become your wife and mate. I have not forgotten a bonding ceremony. Vashti and I worked on that this afternoon while you were trying to bash my brother,” she said and gazed down into his eyes. She felt her love for him like a living thing inside her.

Drace took his hands from hers and pulled her close to him, resting his cheek against her belly.

Ki stroked his damp hair. “I love you, Drace, and I would face even your airplane monsters if it meant I could be with you.”

Drace laughed against her belly.