Hers to Choose (19 page)

Ari’s stern face remained turned to Doral. “Take a Blue Dagger or two with you.”

Fleur covered her mouth to hide her smile at the irritation that crossed Doral’s face at Ari’s suggestion. Even though his duties now stretched to governing all Verdantia, a part of him would always be a predator who stalked the night alone, a solitary, adept assassin.

“Do it for me
—please,” Ari snapped.

Their
stares dueled silently until Doral rolled his eyes in acquiescence.

“
Glad you agree,” Ari said with a sardonic smile. His gaze strayed over the two of them and then into the empty bedroom. Fleur could almost see when his thoughts changed from “defend and protect” to “plunder and pillage.”

“We have several
uninterrupted hours before ten. We are all in one place—a rarity these days. Sari has the children, and look in there—huzzah! An unoccupied bed.” He crossed to their apartment door and slid the bolt home.

“Edmond, disturb us and you die,
” Ari called out.

A muffled
but amused, “Understood, Sir,” was audible through the door.

Turning,
Ari unbuckled his sword belt. It fell to the floor with a clang. He yanked at the lacings on his breeches, then pulled his shirt over his head as the loosened breeches slid to the ground. His shirt floated to the floor in a voluminous white cloud, covering his sword belt and blade.

Stirrings of erotic sensation
began warming Fleur’s groin. Her nipples pebbled against her gown. The heavy muscles in his back rippled as Ari strode up to Doral and grabbed a handful of his heavy blond hair. He pulled Doral in for a searching, punishing kiss. Ari growled in Doral’s face. “Your disregard for your safety would try the patience of a saint, Visconte. As you know, I’m not a saint. Don’t push me on this.” He bent in again for another passionate kiss. Pulling apart long moments later, his breath coming in heavy gasps, Ari tossed over his shoulder, “Strip, madam, and get on that bed. You have two lovers who wait impatiently.”

She gave a most un-queenly
gurgle of pleasure and scampered into the bedroom, pulling her clothes off, helter-skelter, as she went. She launched herself at the wide expanse of their bed, landing in the middle with a “poof” of soft bedding. Her screams of laughter were muffled by the silk comforter as two heavy male bodies landed on top of her. She didn’t spare a moment’s thought for what Edmond was certain to hear. He was the soul of discretion.

* * *

Fleur felt Doral’s body roll away from her and she moaned in protest at the loss of his heat. A few minutes later, his soft lips pressed a kiss on her bare shoulder. “I’ll be back in an hour or so. When
he
regains consciousness, tell our nursemaid that I took a Dagger.”

“Be safe, Doral,” she whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, m’Lady—and I will.”

* * *

Ari read aloud to his queen the note that Edmond had delivered in spite of Ari’s threat of immediate death.

Krakoll returned Allegra to Verdantia to infiltrate the shield wall. They plot the capture and ransom of Sophi and the occupation of Sh’r Un Kree. Allegra knows of DeStroia’s mission to escort Sophi back to Sylvan Mintoth, of his route and his numbers. She left Sylvan Mintoth with a mercenary band over seven days ago to intercept Sophi.

The Haarb have attacked
Sh’r Un Kree. Primus G’hed sent a courier to request aid. Contradina intercepted the woman and killed her. Eric’s squadron of horse was attacked and decimated by the Haarb. Commander DeStroia dispatched a courier from Silver Grove when he re-entered the garrison with Sophi, requesting aid for Sh’r Un Kree and additional guards for Sophi. That messenger, too, was intercepted and killed.

According to
my cousin, Sophi and Eric should have ridden into Sylvan Mintoth yesterday or the day before. I believe Allegra Contradina now holds Sophi.

I am taking Rickard and
the Daggers. We ride hard for Sh’r Un Kree. I must find Sophi before she falls into Krakoll’s control. I fear for her sanity if they take her again.

Doubtless,
you will set out for Sh’r Un Kree with the military might of Verdantia at your back upon receipt of this message. I will rejoin you there.

Tell Fleur I love her
—that goes for you, too, you heavy-handed devil’s spawn. Your love play will make for some uncomfortable days in the saddle. I look forward to returning the favor.

As ever, I am yours,

Doral

Ari sat against the headboard and cursed loud and long before throwing back the bedcovers and
jumping to his feet, snatching up the clothing adorning the floor. With a voice that could be heard in the courtyard below, he bellowed, “Edmond! Summon my commanders. Sound the ‘call to action’.”

Fleur clutched the covers to her breast, stunned. “Wait, I’m coming with you!”

He rounded on her furiously. “Absolutely not. I forbid it!”

Fleur narrowed her eyes and silently watched as Ari slammed through the door.
You forbid it? Really?

* * *

Eric felt as if he wore boulders on his feet and he cursed the thick leather of his riding boots. Leading his exhausted horse, he refused to stop for even the barest of rest. The exposed skin of his neck burned in pulsing waves as the sun baked his shoulders and head.
What I wouldn’t give for one of Sophi’s robes. Sophi.
Agony lanced through his soul.
I’ll make it right. Whatever has happened, I will make it right.

He pulled at the reins of his weary mount, encouraging him to
step a little faster. A blind man could have followed the trail left by her captors—a trail of rotting and bloated horses and discarded equipment. By his reckoning, the column was a day or two ahead. The piles of manure he passed had not dried completely.

He had seen individual soldiers on the horizon from time to
time but their apathetic listlessness at his approach indicated they had been abandoned rather than left as outriders to guard the column’s rear. It worried him. Desperate men made for desperate measures. His animal staggered and went to its knees. Its shoulder rammed Eric’s shoulder blades, knocking him to his hands and knees. After both regained their feet, Eric patted the sweat-streaked neck of the animal. “I’m sorry, old man, perhaps a short break, eh?” Looking around, he pulled his reluctant horse into the shade of a scrub tree. Fatigue shattered his body as he loosened the saddle girth. He flipped the reins over a low limb and collapsed at the base of the tree.

Several days had passed since he
had ridden through the shield-wall gate at Silver Grove in pursuit of Sophi’s captors—several days of no sleep, no rest, little water and less food. Strands of his hair clung to the resinous tree bark as his head lolled in exhaustion. Its sharp, pungent scent stung his nostrils. The skitter of rock down a nearby pile of boulders yanked his eyelids open and sat him bolt upright. The sight and sound of three men sliding carelessly down the rocks launched Eric toward the scabbard of his saber. His hand closed around the sword’s tailored grip as if shaking hands with a familiar friend.

With a
guttural yell, he whirled and met the downward slash of one attacker with a blocking parry. Twisting to the side, he disengaged and with a reverse motion swept back in a vicious counterstrike. A severed hand, still clutching a sword, dropped at his feet. His attacker screamed and fell back, clutching the stump of his wrist as arterial blood arched into the air. Made cautious by the shrieks of their companion, the other two men paused, holding well-used blades before them. One of them edged cautiously closer.

“We need his horse, Keller
, and he’s got food and water. We can take him. There’s two of us.” The gaunt, grimy soldiers wore Verdantian military dress.

“
You know the Capt’n’s rules, Tolly, every man for hisself. If I kill de rider, I get de horse.” He circled the tip of his blade in front of him, baring his teeth in a snarl. As if on some unspoken signal, both men sprang forward with a cry.

Eric ducked beneath the belly of his
startled horse then lunged around the animal’s chest, surprising one of his attackers from the rear with a bone-deep, slashing stroke to the man’s upper thigh, severing his hamstring. With a shriek of pain and surprise, his attacker collapsed, clutching the back of his leg.

Whirling away
, Eric retreated again to the other side of his anxious animal.

“You’re Verdantian,”
Eric panted as he and the last man faced off across the back of his unsettled horse.

“What of it?”

“We’re on the same side.” Eric ducked toward the tree, getting clear of the two men moaning on the ground.

His attacker spat on the ground. “That’s for Verdantia and
Queen Constante.” With a savage cry, he sprang at Eric.
Swhing!
Their blades crossed and slid to the hand guards.
By the gods, he’s a bull.
With a grunt of effort, Eric threw him back and they faced each other again, two
Fell
wolves circling, searching for a weakness. The points of their blades traced patterns in the air.

“Contradina’s a bitch but she didn’t take our homes
and livelihoods.” His opponent leapt at him with a roar.

Parry right!
Swhing! Parry Left! Swhing!
Eric blocked two ferocious slashes and sprang away, his sword arm vibrating from the tremendous force behind his opponent’s blade.
Damnation, he wields a heavy hand. I need to end this.

“You ride for House Contradina,” Eric said.

“Use to. Now we ride for who pays us.”

As
the soldier rushed him yet again, Eric ducked, hitting him with a knee-high body block. Straightening abruptly, Eric flipped the ox of a man over his head. His opponent grunted in pain as he landed heavily, spread-eagled on his back. Eric sprang forward, pressing his blade tip to the man’s throat. “Don’t make me kill you.

Drop your weapon
.” His peripheral vision caught the flash of the soldier’s blade as the soldier attempted to swing upwards. With a quick lunge, he trapped the man’s wrist beneath the arch of his boot. Blood trickled from the incision made by his saber point, still at his attacker’s throat.

“Drop it. Now!” Eric growled
. He put all of his weight on the foot, grinding the man’s wrist into the stony ground. With a grunt of pain, his attacker’s hand opened and the sword fell from his fingers. “Get on your knees. Slowly,” Eric ordered. “Face away from me.”

Eric bound the man’s hands tightly
with the soldier’s own belt and then backed away, picking up all three of his attackers’ weapons. He mounted his horse and moved away from the two men moaning and cursing him.

“Your woman captive. Where did you take her?”

The bound soldier’s stony face betrayed no emotion. His lips remained tightly closed. Eric pulled a knife from his waistband. “I’ll leave this knife if you answer my question.”
He shrugged. “It’s anyone’s guess if you can free yourself before the smell of blood draws the desert predators.” Looking at the groaning men, bleeding to death on the rough scree, Eric added, “Your friends can’t help you. They’ll be dead soon.”

He relaxed in the saddle and waited
—and waited. With a tired sigh, Eric stuck the knife back into his waistband and turned his horse toward the road. A croaked response turned him back.

“Amboy C
rater. Contradina takes her to Krakoll at Amboy Crater.”

Eric lobbed the knife to a point halfway between them.

Tracking its flight, the gaunt soldier looked back to him with a grunt. “I recognize your face. We killed you.” His bound attacker squinted at him uneasily. “What kind of perverted creature are you?”

Eric shook his head. “
Just a man. Like yourselves. You’d better work on your accuracy with a crossbow. You only thought you killed me.”

A disbelieving snort followed hard on the heels of Eric’s
statement. “Look at yourself, you twisted spawn of hell. You glow.”

Eric glanced at
the faintly luminous hands gripping his reins.
What in the name of the gods?
For a brief second, fear at what
She
might have made him struck through him. He’d never seen his skin glow before. He was certain he would have noticed. He shook himself mentally.
I don’t have time for this. Whatever it is, I’ll deal with it.

He blessed his time with the
Oshtesh
women. He knew of a much faster way to Amboy Crater than this road. As he pulled his mount off the well-worn track and struck off into the wastelands, it occurred to him his fatigue had vanished.
How....unsettling. What am I?
His eyes wandered down to his bare hands once more. The unease, almost fear, he felt at the prospect of seeing something abnormal made him angry.
Damn-it-all, I am just a man. I am still just me.
In spite of his stern self-lecture, relief filled him at their normal, everyday appearance.