The Destroyer Book 2 (59 page)

Was I dreaming or remembering? Was I awake?

"Truth depends on perspective." I shuffled my feet back with her next flurry of swings. These were aimed at my head and would have been difficult for me to block had I not used the armored gauntlet on my right hand to slap aside a few of her cuts. Sparks flew from her blade as it contacted my mace and the nightmare armor. She was fast for one of her kind, and her attacks came at angles calculated to force my blocking arm into awkward positions.

"Then tell me your perspective." She made a slash down to my legs that I stepped into and blocked with my mace. She must have guessed that I would make that motion because she dashed forward and slammed the side of her right shin into my face with a dazzling, quick round kick. I felt my head spin but I went with the movement, rolling to the ground and springing to my feet in time to block a high chop with her sword that would have split my skull into two pieces. I couldn't tell if I was sluggish from my fall or if she was really this good of a warrior.

"Don’t hold back," she prompted me when I lunged forward and tried to smash her torso with my mace. She danced around the clumsy strike and spun behind me. My body bent back suddenly and I flew through the air for two dozen feet before I slammed into one of the massive trees that surrounded us. She had kicked me in the back with strength I didn't think Elvens possessed.

"I hate you!" I screamed through a broken jaw that was already healing. "You took everything from me and then left me to die. I thought you loved me, but I meant nothing to you, you used me." Earth flowed through me with my anger and I felt my bones quake.

She hadn't pressed her attack. There was a crater in the grass where my body had landed. She smiled again and looked at the dent I had made in the soil. A slight breeze picked up and her hair blew back from her face like it was on fire.

"No." She shook her head and took a small step toward me. "You hate yourself because you love me."

Her sword darted at me and she made a quick dash. Her thrust would have pierced my heart had I not gotten my mace up in time to block it. It was a feint, and as soon as my weapon swung a wide sweep she pulled back on her blade. My parry passed harmlessly in front of her and she stepped against me. Her left arm caught my elbow, preventing my mace from returning to strike her, and then her right leg wrapped around the back of my left knee. She grunted and shoved. Suddenly I was on the ground with her on top of me. Her hair covered my face and shoulders, drowning me in the scent of flowers and citrus. Shlara did this same take down on me last week. How had I fallen for it again?

"I've watched you in battle, Kaiyer. You carve through my kind like a strike of lightening through the air." The point of her blade came up to my throat and pushed against the skin there. "My spies say that you've never been bested by one of your warriors. Is that true?" She licked her lips. The combination of her body pushing against me and her hair in my face drove me insane. I needed to get away from her and return to Nia.

Why?

This was where I wanted to be. This was the memory I was searching for. It was what I had dreamed about since Paug and Nadea woke me. Even in my memories, I was always thinking about the wickedly beautiful Elven woman who took me as her lover and then killed my brother and father. Wasn't this where I ended her life?

"I have never been beaten," I said. Her smile grew larger. I was drowning in her eyes. The silver matched the blade of the long sword she held to my neck. She had to twist her upper body away from me to keep from impaling me.

"Then why haven't you killed me?" Her eyelids fluttered and her voice filled with mockery.

"You've got me pinned to the ground with the point of your blade at my throat." I smiled and exhaustion filled my muscles instead of Earth. I didn't remember anything after the fall, but if it was morning, and we had fought early last night, it must have been at least fourteen hours. Was I done healing? I should be dead.

"I see," she said with a laugh. The music of her voice made my breath catch in my throat. She swung her left leg over my hips and straddled me but kept the weapon at my neck. "Let go of your mace." The smile faded from her face and her expression turned cold. I didn't move for a few seconds, and then she snarled and pushed the point of her blade into my neck, piercing the skin half an inch. I released the mace from my grip and grabbed the stone with my bare left hand.

"O'Baarni?" a voice called at my door. I sat up from the cold tile and looked over to the speaker. One of the Elven guards had opened the door to my room and stood with a foot inside while the rest of her body was protected by the oaken slab of wood.

"What?" I gasped. It must have sounded angry because the woman's expression turned slightly more fearful than it had been.

"We heard shouting. Do you need something?"

The guards never spoke to me. Isslata would order them to summon servants, and they complied with sidelong glances in my direction. Every thirty minutes, a third guard would come to check in with the two at my door. He or she would ensure I was still there, and relay the message to whoever was holding the duchess captive, keeping Nadea alive in half hour increments. This was the only leverage Isslata and Alatorict had over me. The only reason I obeyed.

"No. Leave me alone." I turned away from her and lay back down on the stone floor between my bed and the bathroom. My heart pounded like a racing horse. I took a few deep breaths and my body relaxed.

It had just been a memory.

I felt calm once again. Exhaustion had left my joints and dizziness had left my head. I went to the table for some water, but the bottle of red wine next to the decanter of water suddenly looked much more tempting. I ripped the cork out, put the jug to my lips and drained half of it in a few satisfying gulps. Fuck I wished I could get drunk. The Earth was too intertwined with the beat of my heart after so many years of using it. Ignoring the flow to prevent the subtle healing that kept me sober required a horrendous effort. I was too exhausted to let myself get drunk.

The wine did succeed in making my head pound again. I staggered to my bed and sat down on the edge. I replayed the last few moments with Iolarathe in my brain until the words she said blurred. Soon I only remembered the sensation of her hair on my face and the sound of her heart beating in a calm cadence. The sun would set in less than an hour, Isslata would be here any minute and I didn't want to appear distracted. It had been a few days since she agreed to show me Nadea, but I still didn't believe that she'd honor the arrangement. She would lose all leverage and be left with nothing but my word and my desire to speak to the empress.

"You always did exactly what I told you, didn't you?" She bit her lower lip and then licked them. "Raise your left hand toward my face," she commanded again. I thought about resisting her, but I was curious. And I wanted to touch her. I slowly raised my hand and my exposed skin was covered in burns. Probably from when the dragon had engulfed me in flame.

Her gloved right hand grabbed my left as soon as my arm extended. She brushed her forehead against my fingers. Then she pushed her face down until I was caressing her cheek, her chin, and her lips. Her skin felt like I remembered, impossibly smooth and cool to the touch. Her lips were moist and a thousand memories of our lovemaking jumped into my mind. Her eyes closed and she made a soft sigh of contentment as she forced my hand to caress her face. After a few moments she didn't have to hold my hand up anymore. I was softly touching her temples, brow, eyebrows, nose, and mouth.

Minutes passed in silence. Finally, her eyes opened and stared into mine. Her right hand wrapped around my wrist like a vice. She smiled slowly. It was one of sadness.

"Now I will give you what you want." She pulled the blade from my throat and brought her left hand together with mine. My palm made contact with the pommel of her weapon and she pointed the blade up, so that the long edge touched the side of her neck, a small sliver of skin unprotected by armor.

"Finish what you started." She dropped her hand from mine and closed her eyes. The breeze turned into wind for a few seconds and it tossed her hair from my face, across my arm, and covered her blade like blood. Then it changed directions and blew her fiery mane back from her head to expose her perfect neck and the edge I now held against it.

I heard her heart beat in sync with mine. Her breath filled her chest and then she exhaled in calm, regular sighs. I inhaled the scent of her body and her hair from the few feet that separated us and it brought back the hundreds of memories of her wrapped around me. I could taste the bittersweet revenge on my tongue.

I pulled Iolarathe's sword away from her neck and cast it aside as if it was an angry viper intent on biting me. It made a sharp sound as it tumbled through the dirt and came to rest a dozen feet from us. Her eyes opened in surprise but she didn't resist when my fingers entwined themselves around her thick coppery hair and pulled her face down to mine.

I never would have believed that the feeling of her mouth on mine could have been as wondrous as it was in my memories, but it was. Her mouth tasted better than I imagined. Our bodies remembered each other instantly, as if no time had passed. She flicked her tongue against my teeth, across my lips, and deep into my mouth. I pulled down on her hair, forcing our kiss to end. She gasped as we parted and made a soft whine. The kind a starving animal would make if teased with food. It was an involuntary, primal sound that came from deep within her and excited me more than any other woman ever had. It was the sound of lust and surrender. The sound of desire that demanded fulfillment. My tongue traced the ridge of her perfect jawline, away from her mouth, and then my teeth softly grazed her neck. She tried to pull her face down to kiss me again, but could only gasp in frustration as I held her pinned by her hair.

My tongue, lips and teeth made her sigh, moan and purr in bliss. I had dreamed of doing this to her so many times, I did not even have to plan the next movement that would cause her pleasure. It was ingrained in my body, like the movements I practiced when training to kill. After a few minutes of torturing her neck, jaw, and earlobes with my mouth I let the tension out of my grip and allowed her head to move. She immediately attacked my lips with animal ferocity. Snarling, biting, kissing, and licking until I tasted blood and thought about pulling her head back again so I could access her throat.

"Ohh Kaiyer." She pulled back suddenly. Her eyes were wide and the silvery irises glowed like spinning mercury. "I always worried about hurting you." I saw my blood on her teeth and lips. She noticed her hands were still gloved and she hastily yanked them off before she ran her palms over my armor. My left hand was already bare but I unbuckled the right gauntlet. She then wove our fingers together and lay down on top of my chest plate, pushing my arms up over my head into the soft grass and kissing me softly. Her hair spread around and covered us like a red canopy that blocked out the rising sun. The kiss slowly grew in heat and intensity until our mouths and tongues battled again. I broke my right hand free of her hold and grabbed a fist full of her thick hair again, forcing our lips and mouths together and breathing into her mouth. She moaned in appreciation and the sound of her pleasure filled my lungs and echoed through my stomach.

"Move your hands down a few inches." She broke our kiss and panted the words out. My fingers crawled down from her head to the scaled gold metal that protected her upper back. I felt a series of buckles and I quickly unhinged them, pulling the leather straps through hoops until I released four of them. I could not feel any more.

She sat on top of my hips and raised her left arm, there were more buckles there keeping her armor locked onto her torso. I unbuckled her left arm, and then her right. She sprung to her feet and unfastened the matching gold belt that hung against her hips. The plate girdle came away with the armored skirt and I saw various knives, pouches, and throwing needles that had been concealed in the leather. With the belt off she shrugged her shoulders in a smooth motion and the layered armor that protected her upper body slid to the grass. She wore a thin violet tunic underneath her chest piece and it was damp with sweat. The fabric did little to hide the shape of her lithe torso, full breasts, and erect nipples. She bent to unbuckle her boots and then she halted.

"Shouldn't you be taking these off?" she asked with her mischievous smile. She pointed a long finger to the high leather boots and I reached for them.

The boots unbuckled from the side so I just had to peel them off her long legs. By the time I had removed them, she had released her armored greaves. As soon as the armor fell to the ground she pounced on me again. Her nails lightly scratched my scalp while she lay on top of my chest plate and kissed me. My fingers roamed over her almost naked body, rubbing her back, thighs, and calves while we moaned in each other's mouths.

I needed to feel her skin against mine. I broke our kiss and reached my shoulder plates. Each one had a small set of screws that I spun a few times to release. Iolarathe watched me do the first one and then her deft fingers quickly undid the other pauldron.

"I was wondering how you took this ugly thing off," she said. Her voice was husky and made my mouth water.

"There are twenty-four more screws." I'd never wanted to be out of this armor quicker. I needed to kiss her again and feel her body against mine. Everything else was forgotten.

"Fuck." She spotted another group of fasteners on the side of my arm plates and worked on those. Then she stopped her fingers and sniffed. "Are you bleeding? It smells fresh."

"Yes." I nodded. "The screws often tear through the leather."

"Why?" she questioned in anger. I smiled back at her.

"The armor doesn't shift around me if it is tight. I can move better in it and deliver more powerful attacks." I was halfway done with my side but Iolarathe had stopped taking them out and was trying to make eye contact with me.