The Danu (8 page)

Khalon's snorted. 
"Nor would I allow it.  I have arranged for us the use of the private bathing
room."

Katrine blinked at him. 
"There is such a thing?"

He tilted his head and
looked at her curiously.  "How did you bathe in Haven?"

She shrugged, and had to
fan her face to see past the dust that rose off her.  "We had a well that
pumped water into the wet room.  We heated the water there.  They have that
here?"  She was suddenly hopeful, and her face must have shown it because
he smiled. 

"Better.  The Inn is
located on a mineral spring.  Always hot, always clean water, and it is said to
have healing qualities."  Just then, a knock on the door heralded the
arrival Khalon seemed to be expecting.

"Yes?"  He
called through the door, his hand on his sword pommel, he moved just to the
side and back from the door, motioning Katrine behind him.  With new adrenaline
coming at his careful movements, she pushed herself off the bed and did as he
bade.  One of the many knives that he had not bothered to look for came out of
hiding and was in her hand even before the answer came back through the door.

"It's the Innkeeper
sir," The unmistakably female voice said her voice cracking a little with
age.  "I have those things you requested ready and your man bade me to say
bring the girl.

Khalon studied the door
as if he could see through wood.  With the way his eyes always seemed to blast
heat wherever they touched, Katrine would not put it past him.  "What were
his exact words?"

There was a sputter on
the other side of the door, and then the old voice squeaked out a sentence. 
"He said 'Get your smelly arse and the witchy witch down here.'"  The
Inn Keepers wife sounded mortified, but it made Khalon relax and loosen his
grip on his sword.  His chuckle was cut off when he turned to find Katrine with
a knife in her hand.  She looked at him, and then the knife and shrugged, then
slid it back through the open pocket seam of her dress and into its sheath.

Khalon raised a brow at
her.  "I begin to think my brother might be right in warning me about Danu
trickery."

"It was not the Danu
who taught me knife work." She said mildly enough. 

Something about what she
said irked him enough that his jaw clenched tight.  "Your husband?"

She nodded, wondering if
he would now insist on taking her knife.  It was fine if he did, she had more. 
He let it go, surprising her.  She wondered at it, wondered if he did trust her
that much, until he opened the door and motioned her through.  When they were
following along after the Inn Keep who bustled them along quickly, he spoke
again.  His voice as hard and cold as iced granite.  "I'll be sure to
collect all your knives, and anything else you have hidden in that dress when I
get it off you at the bath."

Katrine stumbled a step
and then turned her head to glare at him over her shoulder.  So much for trust.

The stairs down into the depths
of the Inn seemed endless.  It was well worth it when they finally entered the
bath chamber.  Not that there was much to see.  A steamy chamber of rock walls
surrounding a large open pool.  Wood carved benches and large boulders placed
here and there for seating.  That was it.

Ragnar, with his hair
slicked back and clean leathers greeted them with his customary snort and then
left the chamber to guard the hall, which was the only way in or out of the
chamber.  The heat from the water was already pressing in on her and just the
look of the swirling hot water before her had her dreaming of submerging
herself in clean.  There was one problem.  Khalon was stripping out of his
leathers beside her.

"What are you
doing?"  She asked.  She should have looked away.  At first she was too surprised;
men and women who were not married did not take baths together in outcast
society.  As she and her husband had never had that kind of relationship she
had never seen more than a glimpse of a half-naked male in the distance, so she
was also more curious than she would like to admit, especially about this
particular man who she had been pressed back against on a horse for two days.

"Taking a
bath," he answered mildly enough and continued to strip.  If Katrine had
been looking at his face, she might have noticed the heat in his eyes, but her
gaze was elsewhere.

She knew he was a big fit
man because it was more than obvious even with his clothes on.  With each piece
he peeled off, more dark sun kissed skin, and more taunt blade sharp muscles
were revealed.  If the man had an ounce of fat anywhere on his body, she
couldn't find it.  She was a little dismayed and a lot titillated when she got
a look at what had been wedged against her back for the last two days.  It only
occurred to her after he had turned to enter the spring that there was no hair
on his body anywhere.  If she had not been struck dumb by the sight of his
naked hard body she would have asked him about that.  The Danu lacked body hair
but she had seen enough of the Northern chests to know that the people here had
hair on their bodies.  Perhaps the Southerners were more like the Danu in that
respect.  Then her eyes glued themselves to a hard male ass that led to massive
thighs.

Katrine watched him walk
into the water and submerge all that strength and purpose before she was able
to blink again.

"Do..." she
stopped and had to clear her throat so her voice was more than a small squeak. 
"Do Southerners bathe together?  Male and Female?"

"Of course."
His voice was matter of fact it. 

Katrine blew out a
breath.  She had lived the last two cycles with a widow and her young son.  What
did she know about how males and females interacted in the cities?

Still she turned her back
before she started to strip, and was careful to place her weapons out of sight
in the hope he would forget to look for them when the bath was over.  On one of
the benches she saw clothes and large sheets for drying, so she was hopeful she
would not have to put back on her dirty clothes.  "What did you do with
the bag I had with me at Haven?"

"Nothing," he
said and his voice seemed both deeper and raspier to her ears.  She resisted
the need to look at him.  "If the guardsman had a bag of yours he was too
preoccupied to hand it over to us."

Katrine sighed at the
loss.  Really, besides her knives and Danu forest wear she could replace
herself there was nothing that she needed.

"Did you lose
something important?" his voice had lowered.  Rather than sound
sympathetic he sounded grouchy.  "Something to remind you of your husband
perhaps?"

"No," Katrine
said blithely enough.  "Nothing that can't be replaced."

"But you miss
him?"

Katrine was naked so she
was not exactly paying attention to the man’s moods.  Even as she turned and
entered the water as quickly as possible, she heard the anger in his question
and wondered at it. 

"Miss him?" 
The question had her brow furrowing even as she submerged herself to the chin
in the hot water and closed her eyes at the bliss of it.  Not only was it hot,
swirling around her in a constant motion, there was energy here, wild energy
that her thirsty pours soaked up as fast as she could be filled.  She had no
idea how magic drained she had been until it came flowing over her.  So, she
was not paying any attention to the warrior prince across from her.  Her
answers were absently made, and without her usual thought processes behind
them.  "No.  We were even when he died, there was no imbalance left to
hold on to.  I was free."

"Imbalance?"

"For protecting me
from Renault and teaching me all the things I would need to survive."

"Your eyes are
glowing," Khalon interjected, and she heard the suspicion there.

"There is magic
here," she murmured, not up to paying attention to his many moods, and
feeling too good to take offense.

He seemed to accept her
explanation because he went back to his interrogation.

"And what did he get
for this bargain?"  The cold words penetrated her magic drugged daze
enough that she opened her eyes and looked at Khalon.  From the look on his
face, he did not care for the bargain she had made to survive.  But then, what
did he know about it?

"A wife," she
finally answered.  Raising her chin at the anger that flashed in his.

"You married him for
safety?"  His disgust was obvious.

She snorted.  "I
married him because I was eleven years old, fresh from the genocide of my
people and I was sold to Deni as a slave.  I was given no choice."

Well, that shut him up. 
For a moment anyway.  "You came to care for him?  A man who forced you
into marriage when you were little more than a child?"

Katrine sighed, this time
not because the water felt so good, but at the man’s persistence.  She could
have said nothing.  For some reason she wanted him to understand that Deni was
not the evil he was picturing in his head.  He was nothing like his son. 

“Deni bought me from the
slaver originally to save me from a worse fate, she explained, not sure why she
bothered.  “He told me once he had no idea why he had acted that day when he
had walked by so many others in his lifetime.  Something about my lack of
reaction when all the other slaves were wailing or raging gave him pause.  He
figured on the ride back to camp that he would just give me food and board for
help keeping his home, and whatever other jobs he could find for me until I had
earned back the coin he spent on me."

"But that changed
when you became a woman."  He did not ask it as a question, just a grim
statement of his perceived fact.

Katrine ducked her head
under to give herself a moment and wet her hair at the same time.  The intense
heat of the water was almost painful on her neglected skin.  It soothed just as
fast.  "Renault changed it.  It only took his reaction to meeting me to
convince Deni that I would not be safe in the same village with his son, no
matter how vigilant he was, not after he had seen that look on his face."

Khalon grimaced, his
disgust obvious.  "I've seen it."  Then his face grew even darker. 
"Are you saying he looked at you the way he looked at you today, when you
were eleven?"

"And every day of my
life since," Katrine said her eyes dropping to the swirling water as she
fought to keep her feelings off her face.  "Deni married me that same day,
and put me irrevocably out of Renault’s power."  She caught the look of
shock and fury when she looked up at his silence.  "In Outcast culture to
sleep with another man’s wife is a death sentence."

When he said nothing just
continued to look angry and disgusted Katrine sighed again.  Clearly, he did
not believe that Deni acted rightly, but he could not know, not truly. 
"Deni did not take me to wife truly.  If that is what you are thinking.  I
took care of his home and was his companion but that was the end of it."

"For how
long?"  The dark voice was nearly gravel hard now.  "A year?  Two? 
When did that change?"

"You
misunderstand," Katrine said simply.  "Deni did not touch me as a
wife, ever.  By the time I would have been old enough he was already sick.  Because
he had me, no one knew this fact, so he was allowed to continue leading long
after another man would have been forced out.  Had anyone ever discovered the
truth Renault would have been made leader immediately, and my marriage would
not have been seen as legitimate.  Renault would have tried to claim me much
sooner, even if he had to go through his own father to do it."  Katrine
met his eyes and could not miss the shock there.  "So you see I owed Deni,
but once he was gone, that debt was paid."  She held up a cupped hand full
of water and tipped it over to pour the water back into the swirling current. 
"No imbalance."

"Are you
saying..." he stopped his eyes narrowing on her, suspicion and disbelief
in every inch of his face.  "You are maiden still?"

Katrine shrugged feeling
the lighter for her words.  It had been so long that she had lived the lie, and
telling even this man, who was almost a stranger to her, was freeing. 
"Besides Deni when he was on his deathbed.  You are the first naked man I
have seen."  Katrine quirked a smile at the warrior prince.  "Between
old and young there is a vast difference," she said with a lilt of humor
in her words and eyes.  She was pretty sure she was blushing.  There was
nothing she could do about that now.  Maybe he would miss it in the heated
confines of the bathing room.  It was an unlikely wish.  This Prince of
Warriors did not seem to miss much.

***

For a second Khalon
wondered if she was attempting to manipulate him, but though he had seen many
woman attempt to act more Innocent than they were he had never seen one blush
so prettily at a few words.  Katrine looked equal parts embarrassed by her
admission of innocence and freed by it.  For his part, his dick was an iron
pike hidden from her view only by the frothing water.  Not that her admission
had made the difference.  No, he had been that hard since she looked at him so
curiously while he undressed, and dare he hope that was hunger in her eyes as
well as curiosity.  Though even he could admit that the curiosity in those too
bright green eyes was the prevailing emotion. 

Now, knowing just how
innocent she was he should be feeling a little guilt over lies he told about
Southern men and women bathing together, but he would not have missed the sight
of her walking into the water in all her naked glory for much of anything.  It
did nothing to stem the want of her.  Days of riding had not dimmed the
softness of her skin, nor the small hurried meals on horseback distracted from
her soft curves.  She had looked pale and tired until she walked into the
water, then she lit up like a living flame.

He wondered at that and
the blazing green of her eyes.  Was it only her reaction to whatever alleged
magic existed in the water, or was she excited over something else altogether. 
Would desire light her up in such a way?  Even he knew he was grasping at some
sign she felt the fire that raged between them.  If it were only him, he would
be in dire straits, because he could quite simply not do without her.  If she
was not feeling the same need...  Well, no time like naked time to find out, he
mused.

"You have missed
much then," he stated simply moving closer to all that glistening and
glowing woman.  "You have seen your first naked man.  What about a
kiss?"

She blinked her eyes
going owlish in that witchy face.  "A kiss?"  Then her eyes narrowed,
and Khalon watched the intelligence wash through her eyes, and turn her tone
dry.  "If you are thinking to seduce the poor inexperienced virgin with
your worldly ways and dangerous eyes, do not.  Inexperienced I may be, but
foolish or naive I am not."

Khalon smiled wide.  He
liked that, and now he wanted her even more.  "You cannot expect me not to
try little witch," he said moving just a bit closer, so that she was
almost within reach.  Her sardonic brow lift made him laugh.  The sound echoed
in the cave distracting him momentarily at the rusty sound of it.

Her head tilted as she
studied him.  "What is it?"

He cleared his throat
harshly his smile forgotten, and almost didn't answer.  Something in her eyes
pulled the words out.  "I do not remember the last time I laughed."

He watched Katrine press
her lips together and he wanted to bite them.  If she looked the least bit pitying,
he might have in retaliation, and just for the thrill of marking her.  Instead,
she sobered as well and he could swear what he saw there was a vast sad
understanding. 

"How long since you
laughed?" he asked, seeing it.  His voice had softened without his brain
giving the order.  At the flash of something crossing that usually serene face,
he knew she understood, more than most would.

"In Haven, before
the call of the wild weave became too much I laughed," something of the
memory had her smiling and looking inward.  "One can do nothing but laugh
at times when you live with a child of Jaak's temperament."

"Jaak is the son of
the widow you worked for?"