Hers to Claim (5 page)

“Oh, your death
at my hand is all but assured, DeHelios. Only the knowledge it would be pointless stays my sword. The Hound of the Seven Hells would vomit you up as an indigestible hair ball, and I’d be back at square one.”

Adonia pulled her horse up and turned to face the two men.
The absurdity of their exchanges had finally pushed her over the top.

At Hel’s
irritated, “What?” hilarity welled up inside Adonia until she clutched at her belly and then her horse’s neck to remain seated. She finally abandoned the attempt and simply slid down and lay on her back on the rocky ground, convulsed with laughter. Ramsey a ‘dickless wonder’? Hel an ‘indigestible hairball’?

She
registered Ramsey’s, “I don’t know. Something we said?”

She
flopped her arm in the air to motion them on and was aware Hel and Ramsey continued past her. When she opened her eyes, she looked up at a mounted Steffania grinning down at her.

“They
’re well-matched, don’t you think?” Steffania chuckled. “One might be fooled into thinking they didn’t like each other.”

Adonia could only blink and summon the strength to remount, still
giggling from time to time. Her depression evaporated as if it had never been.

~~~

Hel spurred his horse past the healer as she lay on the ground, wrapped in helpless laughter, and an unwilling smile creased his face. For a moment, his vile mood lifted. He didn’t know how she did it, but the healer both soothed and inflamed him. She was the only one capable of lifting his brooding worry about returning to Nyth Uchel without a
magistra
. He’d failed to acquire the one key element necessary to lift the black affliction that haunted his city. Only the healer possessed the power to make his thoughts dwell on something else ... on
someone
else. And when he touched her? By Her light…

H
is intense sexual reaction every time his bare skin met hers felt uncanny. He was beyond denying it. He’d tested it too many times. She felt it too. He was certain of it and he wondered what it meant. It wasn’t only her body he wanted. The totality of the woman fascinated him. Who was she? What moved her? Why did she offer to come? He’d sought her out in the evenings before they’d all collapsed into their blankets, though all he’d done was observe. What he saw pleased him. She was gracious and uncomplaining, and ever ready to lend a helping hand.

He
l realized with an uncomfortable grunt that the healer had been the focus of his speculation since he’d first seen her in the audience hall. His ill-humor descended again with the knowledge that he had nothing to offer her but a city cased in ice. He sighed wearily. His thoughts returned to the fruitless rehash of what he might do to change that without a
magistra
to work the Great Rite with him.

~~~

Adonia squinted up into the mid-day sun as Hel pulled their group to a halt with a grim expression. He pointed to an area on the downward slope where a section of skeletal, rotting trees encroached on the trail ahead of them for as far as the eye could see. “It’s the contagion I told you about—a growing stain of death on my lands. This mountain pass was open when I came down. We cannot risk the chance of infection by going through it.”

“All right,” said Ramsey. “We go around. Easy enough.”

Hel shook his head. “The only other pass takes us through forests infested with soul-wraiths, leeches. They are a parasitic scourge that rode in on the Haarb and stayed when the Haarb fled. They prey on life-force and attack anything warm-blooded. They wait until daylight fades and then descend in lethal swarms of gray shadow.”

“Yes. I know all about soul-wraiths.”
Ramsey frowned. “How did you avoid them in the past?”

“Set a perimeter of energized
diaman crystal. That will keep them at bay.” Hel smiled without humor. “I have the diaman crystal in my saddle pack. I lack a sexual partner to energize them. I had intended to return with a
magistra
but a
magister
will work as well. Care to volunteer?”

“Only if I top
,” Ramsey snapped.

“You’d
have to kill me first,” returned Hel.

“With pleasure
.”

Steffania took a breath. Ram cut her off. “No.
I don’t share you, Vixen.”

Fear of the unknown almost froze Adonia
’s tongue, but she was the obvious answer. She could do this. The opportunity would never present itself again. “I’ll be your partner.”

At her
faltering words, three pairs of eyes swung to Adonia and she shrugged. “I am the solution. I’ve always wondered about the ‘mystical sexual rites’ of the aristos. Now I’ll know firsthand.”

In spite of her heart’s attempts to pound itself out of her body, she
produced a wobbly smile. A momentary pause stretched into a lengthy silence. Her smile faltered and humiliation at Hel’s failure to respond swamped her. “I suppose I’m not your idea of womanly appeal but, hey, I’m less deadly than doing Lord Ramsey.” She chuckled weakly. No one laughed.
Goddess, please open the earth and let me disappear.
Perhaps her common blood made her too distasteful? “That is, unless you need someone highborn.”

“No.
Though it’s preferable, I don’t need someone highborn for
this
rite. I accept your offer, Healer. Thank you.” Hel’s head jerked in a curt nod, and Adonia was left wondering if Hel might have preferred Ramsey after all. How depressing.

Adonia followed the three riders in front of her in silence.
What have I done?
The insane ranting of Sylvan Mintoth’s mad
magistra
haunted her. It was said the Great Rite drove the woman into a catatonic state for weeks, and when she awoke she had lost her mind completely.
Will I go crazy?
No, DeHelios won’t risk his healer. Would he?
It would only be sex and by the Goddess, she could stand a little of that.
I’ll be that much closer to knowing those mysteries
. Still, she wished the evening closer at hand so she wouldn’t have so long to dwell on unknown terrors.
I wonder if we’ll do this in front of Steffania and Lord Ramsey?
Goddess!
She’d never considered that possibility. She straightened in the saddle when Steffania reined in her horse and took up a position beside her.

“
You look a little shaken. Are you going to be okay?”

Adonia smiled faintly. “Yeah. Better this than dead.
”

Steffania smiled in return. “Yes. And I’m sure looks are deceiving. I mean
, he looks rough, but DeHelios must have some finesse. The diaman crystals absorb energy from
your
sexual arousal. If he cannot make you feel for him then it’s pointless.”

“Thanks,” she said dryly. “
If I don’t get aroused sufficiently for Prince DeHelios to complete the rite, we die. No performance anxiety here. Nope. None at all.”

Steffania burst into laughter. “Oh, Adonia. I’m sorry. But I
’m certain you have nothing to worry about. Verdantian noblemen are formally trained in this sort of thing. They are experts in arousing women.”

Adonia looked at Steffania sideways. “Ah, what if…what if.
” She let out a gust of air. “Shit. What if he sees me naked and can’t, uh...can’t…” She vaguely gestured toward her groin. “What if his…doesn’t work?”

Steffania pulled to a stop and
aimed an incredulous look at her. “What
do
you see when you look in the mirror?”

“I don’t look in
a mirror if I can help it,” Adonia muttered.

Steffania
snorted. “Let me assure you that is
not
going to happen.”

Adonia kept her mouth shut and her eyes straight ahead. She’d already embarrassed herself enough for one afternoon.

They worked their way steadily up the mountain trail and an uneasy foreboding built within her as distressing signs of the wraiths’ predation appeared. Game animals, whose contorted bodies displayed the agony of their death, dotted the area they rode through. Even their travel-weary mounts sidestepped and jigged anxiously in reaction to the aftertaste of evil that lingered to taint the very air. When the group stopped at a small lake to water and calm the fear-lathered horses, Adonia fought hard to control her nausea at what she glimpsed by the water’s edge.

“Oh! Goddess
! A man,” she called. “Just beneath the surface.” Beside her in seconds, Hel and Ramsey dragged the poor soul to the shore. A heavy stone was tied to his neck with a rope. The men undid the water-swollen knots and turned him over.

“He hasn’t been in the water long
. He still has a face,” Ram remarked. “Do you know him?”

“Yes, he is a shepherd
who came to Nyth Uchel from time to time.” Hel’s features were set in a rigidly severe mask.

“What happened? Who would drown such a defenseless person? He ca
nnot have had anything of worth,” Adonia said.

“He drowned himself,” Hel murmured. “
He must have known the leeches would get him when darkness fell, and rather than suffer the torture of that death, he drowned himself.” Hel sighed heavily. “I don’t have the tools to give him a proper burial, but we can at least cover him with rocks to keep the predators from his body.”

Adonia wondered what sort of monsters they would face that evening
to make death by drowning preferable.

~~~

They had been leading their horses for some time, roaming in seeming circles through an area dotted with trees, tall up-thrusting boulders and thick grass. The late afternoon light began to turn hazy when Hel hollered back, “I’ve found it. We will camp here tonight.”

Adonia let out a slow breath.
The time had arrived. She could blame fatigue for her trembling legs—but she’d be lying. She stripped her mount of gear, hobbled him and turned him loose to graze. Apprehension-induced weakness flooded her but she resolutely walked up to DeHelios.

She examined the
third button on his coat—he would lose it soon if not sewed on tighter— and shoved her hands into her pockets. “What do I do?”

His
massive hand tucked under her chin and raised her head until their eyes met. “I chose this place because hot springs reach the surface there.” He nodded his head. “And there is another behind those trees. The thermal pools provide a natural spa.” Adonia thought he smiled. With all the facial hair, she sometimes guessed at his expression. “Ramsey and Steffania are going to use that pool. I would like for you to bathe with me in the other.”

“All right.
I have a request, also.”

“Yes?”

She wondered if she dared ask. “Will you shave?”

His eyebrows rose. “Shave?”

She dug her hands deeper into her pockets and looked down at her feet. “If I am going to be intimate with you, I want to see your face.” She glanced up at him through the fall of her hair.

“Huh.”
He pulled off his cap and scratched his head, considering, then turned. “Ramsey!”

“Yo!”

“Lend me your razor…and a knife.”

“By the Goddess, what are you going to do to the poor woman?” Ramsey walked up and slapped a blade and his razor into Hel’s outstretched hand.

“Not her. This.” Hel flipped his beard.

“
Good. It won’t change your uncouth behavior, but you’ll look less of an animal.” Ram shot Adonia a glance. “Steffania and I won’t be far. If you want me to hold him down for you, just call.”

Adonia
dared a smile at Hel’s growl in response. Ramsey just chuckled and walked away.

“
Come on. It’s this way.”

Adonia followed Hel past a tall stand of trees
and up to what looked like the vertical face of a cliff. A small split in the sheer rock face, just enough for a person to squeeze through, ran up to the sky. The claustrophobic press of stone on either side of her body made for tense moments as she followed Hel through the gash. What lay on the other side was worth it. A pebble-strewn shore along an aqua blue pool beckoned them. Some god had stretched his hand down and scooped out a portion of rock, leaving an irregular basin filled with hot water. Steam rose from the pool and wafted off on the breeze that flirted with the water’s surface. A slight sulfurous smell tinted the air, and the temperature in the grotto was noticeably warmer.

Hel turned and studied her for a moment before sighing
. “You look as if a touch will shatter you. We are simply going to bathe together, and you will help rid me of this beard.” Adonia felt his rough hand cup her chin, and his thumb moved over her mouth in a caress. “I know this is awkward for you. Do you want me to go first?”

“Why don’t we do this together?” She smiled tentatively and began to undo the buttons to her coat.

“Agreed.”

They each undressed
. For Adonia, the slow disclosure of the body underneath Hel’s bulky clothes was a revelation—as if a sculptor slowly removed the drape covering a masterpiece in white marble. When Hel stepped out of the last of his clothing and stood nude before her, she stood transfixed, holding a shirttail in her hand, only partially undressed. He cocked his head and his smile turned to a chuckle deep in his chest. She realized she was staring. “Uh, sorry.”