The Devil's Concubine (20 page)

Talin wiped it off the man’s face with his fist.

He couldn’t help but notice, though, that several men glanced at him curiously as

he strode back and forth across the field and then looked away quickly again. Since, from what he could tell, they had all been outside and should not have been able to

overhear any part of his most recent argument, he began to wonder what they found so

fascinating about his attire.

It wasn’t until he decided to abandon the practice field and go check on his

captain that he realized his loincloth felt downright peculiar. Upon examining it, he discovered he had put it on backwards, which not only explained why his troops had

found him so fascinating, but was proof positive that the woman was driving him out of his mind!

One look at Solly wiped every other thought from his mind. The man was still

pale and so weak he could not even get out his bed. After glancing around the sparse room for something to sit on, Talin grabbed a stool and dragged it up to the bedside.

“You are ill?”

“But I will live,” Solly retorted, smiling faintly, “thanks to your quick thinking.”

Talin shrugged it off. “And I live thanks to yours. If you had not caught the

spear, I most certainly would have. Tell me how feel,” he ended, changing the subject abruptly back to the wound.

Solly thought it over. “As weak as an infant, though not really ill.”

Talin frowned. “You do feel as if there is poison in your body?”

“Nay. I am certain there is not.”

Talin cupped his chin in one hand, thoughtfully stroking his lower lip with one

finger. “The man beast spoke of poison.”

Shrugging, Solly pushed himself upright, leaning back against the head board of

his bunk. “Either he was wrong, or they have more than one trick for us.”

Talin smiled wryly. “Thank you for pointing that out. I would have felt much

better if I could believe that we had ferreted out the limits of their tricks. But I fear you THE DEVIL’S CONCUBINE

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are right. They will have other unpleasant surprises for us, perhaps something different for each of the clans to exploit their particular weakness?”

“We have a weakness?” Solly asked, genuinely surprised.

Shaking his head, Talin grimaced. “Beyond arrogance? We are not immortal in

the sense that we can not be killed at all. It is only that we are far harder to kill than the man children and thus longer lived. You may be certain that they know all of our

weaknesses, perhaps even better than we do. This is not something that abruptly erupted.

They have been planning this for a very long time, storing their hatred of us, preparing for it and they have caught us completely off guard.”

Solly frowned. “What of the other clans?”

“I sent couriers to warn them, but it is anyone’s guess if they will pay it any heed.

We are none of us on the best of terms. And that is another weakness the man children will be certain to exploit, for they have joined forces against us.”

“To a man, we are still worth ten of them,” Solly pointed out.

“They have twenty … or more. And they have sorcery, as well. The tainted flesh

I cut from your body withered before my eyes. There was nothing natural in that. It was magic, the blackest, and if I had not thought to do what I did, very likely your body would have withered just as quickly. We are not facing the possibility of losing one man, or a handful, to the horde. We must plan our strategy carefully else we will be overrun as surely as the clan of the wolf was.”

Solly frowned. “Armor, you think?”

Talin considered it, as he had before, but again dismissed it. “It would weigh us

down too much, dangerously so. We would lose speed and agility even if we only used

enough to shield the most vulnerable areas of our bodies. Moreover, we can not be

certain the sacrifice of maneuverability would even be worth it. The armor the man

children wear will not stop a well place arrow or spear.”

Solly nodded thoughtfully, as if he, too, had considered that aspect but had not

thought of anything else to suggest. “We are safe here, I believe,” he said musingly.

Talin sent him a questioning look.

“The royal palace is the least accessible of all of your holdings. We should gather

our people here to protect the young and the weak.”

Talin stood abruptly and began to pace the room. “I would agree if not for the

threat of wizards. We do not know how powerful they might be. I would not like to

think that I had gathered everyone together to make it easier for my enemy to destroy my clan.” He waved a hand dismissively.

“For now, we will leave that. Our mountains have always protected us. We will

look for them to do so now. I had planned to meet King Andor’s army on the plain below and fight them in hand to hand combat. Now I see that that would have been foolhardy.

We would have been overrun by the combined armies of the man children in no time at

all, for we would not even have the advantage of our strength in healing with the magic they use.

“I will set the men to building retaining walls along the mountainside and filling

them with rocks to be released to protect the palace if we can not turn them away before that. I believe they will come directly here, but there is no guarantee they will not try to take the smaller fortresses first. They will have to prepare also.

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“We must make certain that we have plenty of stone for an aerial bombardment,

which I hope will drive them away before they is any real threat, but I will feel better, I think if we find a place of safety for those of our clan most vulnerable and least able to defend themselves--the very young, the very old, and females who are with child.”

“What am I to do, Sire?” Solly asked.

Talin studied him for a long moment. “Rest, for now. I will have need of you.

When you feel strong enough, you will oversee the fortifications. I will go myself and check the defenses of the other strongholds and then I will find a place of safety for our people.”

* * * *

As stunned as she was by Talin’s outburst, she was more thoughtful than angry

after he had gone. She had insulted him. She had no doubt of that. She just wasn’t certain how she had insulted him. She did give his parting shot a good bit of thought, but turn it though she might, she didn’t see the difference.

She began to think there was no difference, that he had deliberately started the

argument only to distract her from something else, for, after she thought it over she distinctly recalled that there had been wariness in his eyes when she had first broached the subject of speaking directly with her father. The question was, why did he not want her to speak with her father?

He had suggested that it would reflect badly on his manhood and his honor, but

she didn’t believe that he was worried for a moment that anyone would think he was a

coward. No one who knew him could think that. She had not known him a full month

and she knew he was never hesitant to put himself at the forefront.

He had almost gotten himself killed going into an enemy encampment unarmed

and with only Solly at his side. Foolhardy, he might be, but he was certainly not lacking in bravery or spirit!

Undoubtedly, he had only said that to distract her.

She supposed he didn’t trust her. She could not find that she really blamed him.

She thought he should have realized by now that she had more honor than to betray him in such a way, but trust was something one felt, an emotion. Like faith, love, and even hate, it did not necessarily follow rules of logic.

It irritated her, though, that he refused even to allow her to speak to her father.

Her father certainly had no reason to trust him, or to believe any message she might send by him. If she could see him face to face, speak with him, and he could see that she was content with the way things had turned out, then he would be reasonable. He had only wanted to see her settled with a man that she could admire and respect, a man who was strong and brave and capable. She knew her father despised the man beasts in a general way, but she felt that he was not unreasonable in his dislike. If he would only take the time to get to know Talin, he would see that Talin had far more virtues than faults.

He had taken her captive and she had been both furious and frightened by that, but

she had come to realize that most of that was because she had expected him to behave as most men did--without any consideration for her. Not only had he not assaulted her as she had expected, he had gone out of his way to see to her comfort and well being, nearly getting himself killed in the raid to bring her her most valued possessions.

Talin was right. She had not simply given in to the inevitable. She had welcomed

him and felt right in the giving of herself to him.

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He wasn’t angry, she realized abruptly. He was hurt. He had taken the time to

coax her to come to him willingly and she had refused to admit it--because it made her feel better about herself if she refused to acknowledge how quickly she had fallen under his spell.

Did yielding to him so quickly make her less than she should have been though?

A woman of weak morals and mind? Or was it a case of instinctively recognizing that

Talin had all of the qualities any woman could wish for in a husband and accepting that she was not likely to find a better mate?

She
had
been primed to search for a mate when he had come into her life. In

truth, she had been over primed. She had been waiting anxiously for her father to settle her since her sixteenth birthday. If she had been anyone else, even the daughter of an aristocrat, she would probably have been settled already.

She frowned at that thought, wondering if she had simply been ‘ripe for the

plucking’ and that had made her easy prey. After a little thought, though, she dismissed that. She had been courted most assiduously, and she had not felt at any time that she was in danger of losing control of her desires. She could not think of one man, in point of fact, that had stirred even her interest in that way.

Would it be best, she wondered, to try to soothe the injury she had inadvertently

inflicted when Talin returned? Or better to go and find him and try to explain?

She was not going to ask her ladies for any more advice, she decided, eyeing them

with disfavor when they returned at last to clean up the mess she and Talin had made in his suite.

“It did not work,” she said to Lady Beatrice, climbing from the bed and moving to

the tub to bathe off quickly before she dressed.

Lady Beatrice’s brows rose. “I thought not. I heard him bellowing, though I must

say the walls are very thick here. I did not catch the meat of the conversation.”

“Perhaps you should try putting your ear to the door next time?” Aliya snapped

irritably.

Lady Beatrice reddened. “I had not thought of that, your grace.”

Aliya sent her a disbelieving glance, but decided not to pursue it. “I think he is

concerned that I would betray his trust and stay with my father if he allowed me to go to speak with him. He refused to consider it.”

Beatrice and Leesa exchanged a look. Aliya caught it, but she couldn’t entirely

interpret it. “If your father offered you sanctuary, you would consider it, though?”

Aliya frowned. “What do you mean ‘if’?”

The maids exchanged another look. “She did not mean if he did,” Leesa said

firmly. “She was only asking if you would consider it … if you had the chance.”

Aliya stared at Leesa for several moments before she turned to study Beatrice.

“You mean lie to Talin? Give him my word that I would only be going to try to negotiate peace and then betray him and stay with my father?”

“You are a captive! You owe him no loyalty!”

“I am his concubine!”

Beatrice gaped at her.

“A devil’s concubine!” Lady Leesa spat in disgust. “He has dishonored you!”

“Do not
dare
to speak of him that way!” Aliya said furiously. “In the eyes of King Talin, and his people, he has placed me in a respectable position as his wife--not his THE DEVIL’S CONCUBINE

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queen and I can not say that I am happy with all of their customs--but he treats me with respect and so do his people. It is not a disgrace and I will not behave as if I feel any shame!”

“He tricked you! You told us that!” Lady Leesa exclaimed.

Aliya stared at her with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. “Do not be a fool

or behave as if I am one! The truth is that, whether he did it on purpose or not, he was kind enough to give me an excuse to do what I wanted to do and still save face! If I had not wanted to, no trick he could have devised would have ensnared me. If it had not

mattered to me whether he lived or died, I would not have wanted to offer him the

comfort he asked for!

“He deceived me, yes, and I am still angry because I felt so foolish when I

realized my mistake, but I can not lay all the blame for that at his door. I was not thinking clearly because I was so upset. I know who and what he is--a man beast--and yet I behaved as if he were just the same as we are--because to me he is.

“Poor man. It is sad, really, that he was willing to endure so much only to have

me fuss over him.” She thought back over it for several moments and bit her lip, and then a snort of amusement escaped her and she burst out laughing. “You should have

seen his face when I asked him if he wanted more gruel,” she gasped weakly after several moments, mopping the tears from her eyes.