Temperance (16 page)

Why would it be any different now?
 

The answer was simple:
It wouldn’t be.

* * *

Naeve studied the rope stretching across the running water and wondered exactly how she was going to do this. Kai had explained it all very clearly, but she still couldn’t quite comprehend that he expected her to crawl across a river he’d said was deadly.

Well, yeah. You fall in there and you can pretty much guarantee you won’t be coming up for air.

As she heard him climbing the tree, she turned her head and saw the way he’d tied his cape so Siobhan’s cheek was pressed to his back and her limp arms and legs hung out the sides.
 

Huh. Maybe he is here to help.

When he reached where she was sitting, clinging to the branch as if her life depended on it, he swung a long, muscled leg over the thick bough and rested his palms between his thighs. Apparently, climbing trees was an everyday thing to this guy.

Along with shooting bows and arrows.

“Why are you here?” She hadn’t meant to blurt the words out, but the more she stared at the enigma opposite her, the more curious she became.
 

Why was a man like him sent for four harmless women?

He didn’t answer at first. Instead, he took his time perusing her with his grey eyes and then replied, “Someone…requested it.”

“Someone?” Naeve questioned, skeptical.
 

“Yes,” he said but didn’t elaborate as he reached above himself to tug on the rope, making sure it was still secure. “Stand up.”

Still caught up in her thoughts, Naeve did as instructed without even thinking. She balanced herself on the rough bark behind her.

“Someone like…?”

Kai shut his eyes briefly, let out a deep sigh, and then reopened them. “This is not the time for more questions. We need to get across this river—alive. Then we need to reach your sisters. They are just beyond that bank.”

Naeve looked out across the water and then back to him. “Really?”

“Really.”

The need for information disappeared, and in its place was the will to survive long enough to get to Fiona and Audra. The only thing that stood in her way? The deadly, rushing water.

Gathering her courage, she took the rope between her hands and then realized as soon as she raised her legs that her skirt was going to—

“Come here.” The order was issued in a gruff tone.

As she studied his serious face, Kai didn’t offer any other explanation. He just waited as if it were her choice on what she was going to do.

Hesitantly, she moved towards him and stopped. He fingered the bottom of her dress, and then raised his eyes to her.

“If this is not an undergarment, what do you call it?”

It was such an odd question to ask as she stood there in front of him, getting ready to do the most dangerous thing she’d ever done. But as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth, she found herself answering.

“It’s a sundress.”

He rubbed the white cotton between his gloved fingers, and Naeve caught herself holding her breath. She’d been frightened earlier of what he was going to do when he’d been touching her. But as he sat there at her feet, she found herself scared of him letting go because that would mean she had to face potential death.

He ran his fingers along the hem, and when he got to the middle, he gripped it and she swallowed hard.
What is he going to do? Rip it off me?
 

But he didn’t do that. He actually shocked her by pulling the material back between her legs and reaching around to grab the other side. Before she knew it, he was tying the fabric quickly and efficiently, effectively changing her dress to a pair of shorts.

“There. Now, hook your ankles over the rope, little rabbit, and climb across the water. I’ll be right behind you.”

That small gesture, one that made this entire ordeal a little less awkward than it had to be, gave Naeve back a tiny sliver of the hope she’d lost.

Maybe…just maybe, he was the kind of man he’d said he was and he’d get her back to her sisters as promised.
 

She’d done it.

As Naeve let her legs drop down to the ground and planted her boots on the grass, she released the rope and looked back to see Kai only seconds behind. Unlike she had, he was moving fast, and he’d been on her heels—
literally
—before she’d known it. He’d secured the cape with Siobhan inside, and it was being tugged along behind by his foot. When he reached her, he grabbed the knife from his waist and used it to cut the cord that had fastened his boot to the black material.

Taking a stance similar to hers, he asked, “Are you okay?”

She nodded as he untied the sling he’d made for Siobhan. Instead of wrapping her and securing her to his back again, he hefted her sister fireman-style over his free shoulder. Unexpectedly, Naeve found herself laughing, relieved to discover she remembered how.

“Is something amusing?”

As her shoulders shook with hilarity, she wondered if maybe she was starting to lose it. When she didn’t answer, her hulking companion moved towards her and repeated the question.

Naeve got the impression that Kai didn’t enjoy being the butt of the joke. In fact, he didn’t look like he knew the meaning of the word ‘joke.’ With his serious expression that usually shifted from unsmiling to horrifying, Kai looked like he hadn’t enjoyed himself in a long time.

“I was just thinking how much Siobhan would hate to be carted around like that.”

He clamped a thick arm across the back of her sister’s thighs and shrugged his large shoulders. “Until she can wake and tell me otherwise, this is the easiest way to move her.”

She smiled. “Oh, I don’t care.”

He strode to her, his brows furrowed as he asked, “You wish her to be upset?”

“Well…no,” she answered, unable to help the mischief that prompted her to add, “but I’d settle for irritated.”

He cocked his head to the side, and Naeve thought that he looked…
boyish?

“Why would you want to irritate your sister?” he asked.

Feeling a strange sort of relief after all the tension of the past few hours, she let out another quick laugh and then covered her mouth when his brows winged up.
 

“Sorry. It’s just… She was being annoying before we were split up.” Naeve saw his lips tighten almost as though he were trying to hold back a grin, so she asked, “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

Almost instantly, any humor that had been trying to break free disappeared and back was his usual stern expression.

“We need to get moving. Let’s go.”

When he advanced around her, she automatically reached for his arm, forgetting what he’d told her earlier. As her palm met the coarse material covering him, he halted, looked down at it, and then brought his eyes back to hers. He didn’t have to say it—the message was clear.

Don’t touch me.

Removing her hand, she muttered, “Sorry.”

“Come. They’re just beyond this ridge.” He didn’t acknowledge her apology, and the tension that had lifted only seconds before was back, settling heavily between them.

She watched him march away, Siobhan’s red braid hanging down in stark contrast against his black hunter gear and her pale arms thumping against his massive back.
 

Yeah, no matter how hard I try to make this feel normal…there’s nothing normal about that picture.
And it was about time she came to terms with that.

* * *

Kai took purposeful strides as he powered up the side of the bank. The woman draped over his shoulder was dead weight, and as he hefted her to a more comfortable position, he angled his head to see…
Naeve
following not too far behind.

When they’d reached the West bank and she’d faced him with a small smile of triumph, Kai had felt an unexpected, and not so welcome, sense of pride. He was irrationally proud of the woman silently trailing him.

The Taise Forest wasn’t a place for the fainthearted—and neither was he. Yet this woman had persevered with both of them. Dared to take them on.

When they reached the top, they came to a standstill beside a towering Sequoia. Kai blinked once, a little confused with what he
wasn’t
seeing, as he searched the area below.

“Where are they? You said they’d be here.”
 

Good question,
he thought, waiting for Bastian to appear.
 

“Kai?” Naeve asked, but he said nothing as he felt the atmosphere around them…shift.
 

It was as though the air had suddenly become weighted and was pressing down upon them. He tried to drag in a breath, but it was difficult—thick, as if he were trying to breathe through mud. He turned to face Naeve, who’d reached up to hold the base of her throat as her eyes watered. Apparently, she was experiencing the same difficulty he was.
 

There was only one reason he could think of for the change.

He removed the woman he was still holding and placed her down beside him. Straightening, he opened his mind and reached out, hoping to locate Bastian, and that’s when his spine stiffened and his arms were held immobile as all of his joints locked him in place.

Empress,
he thought as a debilitating pain encompassed his mind. He felt his knees give out just before he was brought down to them.

Hello, Mala’Kai.
Her throaty tone stroked over his senses.
 

The only parts of his body he could move were his eyes, and they followed Naeve as she stepped in front of him, a look of panic plastered all over her face.

It’s been a long time since you came out of hiding. But like a true man, the lure of soft, warm flesh worked on you.

Kai’s jaw ached as he tried in vain to block her from his mind. It was of no use though. Seraphine was inside him, and as always, she made her prisoner very aware of her mark. The stinging scrape of her ever-present nail guards marred his thoughts as he remained rigid on his knees.

Ignoring me, are you? That’s no way to treat your Empress. Maybe you need some incentive. She’s very beautiful. Wouldn’t you agree…

As the thought trailed off, Naeve was forced to her knees before him. Her eyes frantically searched his, unsure of what was happening, and although he could see her mouth moving, nothing was coming out.
 

Then, just beyond her, the Empress appeared. He reminded himself that she was only in his mind as Seraphine became a much clearer figment of his imagination.

It’s true. I am only in your mind, but I’m there just the same. Aren’t I, Kai? Do you think she’s as soft as she looks?

He knew that, if he gave her even an inch, she would somehow use it against him. So he remained as he was, silent and frozen. A warped chuckle echoed through his head as the woman who’d been far behind Naeve suddenly appeared as a vision by her side.
 

Naeve’s hair shifted and her eyes filled with dread as Seraphine blew against her neck with a demented smile. Then Seraphine lowered her head and mouth a little closer.
 

Stop it
, he finally thought, remembering the fear in Naeve when she’d thought he would take her against her will.
 

A trill laugh filtered through his brain.
So you
were
ignoring me. That’s not very nice.

If there was anything that was ever nice about me, it left at a young age. You made sure of that.

The black eyes holding him in place seemed to glint with pleasure at the reminder.
No need to hold a grudge, Kai.

You killed my mother.

Nooo… Oh, no. You did that, boy. All on your own.

He held her stare as his mind was bombarded with the image of him standing above his begging mother.
You vicious bitch,
he cursed. Then the image was gone, and once again, he was faced with Naeve, who was kneeling before him with frightened, blue eyes.

 
Unable to move, Kai could only watch as Seraphine ran the long, hooked tip of her nail over the shell of Naeve’s ear.
 

Sorry to cut the walk down memory lane short, but I need something…

His body revolted against the hold it was still under as he remained helpless to do anything.
Let her go,
he demanded.

Seraphine locked her black eyes with his.
Why would I do that? I brought her here, and if Li’Am thinks he can outmaneuver me with his son, Si’Bastian—interesting boy, that one—then he best think again.

Gods, he couldn’t imagine the wrath Bastian would face when his father discovered that Seraphine knew of him.

As a cackle escaped the Empress, Kai immediately regretted his thought.
 

She didn’t comment on it though. She merely turned back to Naeve and whispered,
So nice to finally meet you, niece of mine. You look just like your father. Did she ever tell you that?
Then she brought a hand, which held a key, around in front of her.

A prisoner in his own skin, Kai felt hopeless as she drew the tip of the wrought-iron key over the creamy flesh of Naeve’s cleavage. When it was nestled down between her breasts, Seraphine pressed the bit of the key against Naeve’s chest, and he was forced to merely observe as her skin gave way around the metal.