War Bringer (9 page)

He’d killed more than three yesterday, but that wasn’t a detail she needed to know. “King is a sick bastard. I think we shouldn’t be surprised by the depth of his depravity.”

“They said I’m his daughter.”

Kelan studied her face, trying to interpret her reaction to that. “Doesn’t mean it’s true.”

“I don’t understand any of this.”

“Nor do I, but then we aren’t operating with the same deck of cards King is. We may never understand his game.”

* * *

Fiona stepped away from Kelan and made another circuit around the room. There were two closets, each the size of her room at Ty’s house, both full of clothes, shoes, and other accessories. To whom did they belong? Did whoever it was know she and Kelan were using their suite? But that man had said it was a suite King had built for them.
 

A nuptials suite.

The large bathroom between the closets was big enough for two people to move around in simultaneously. It had a two-person shower with a dozen showerheads and a big two-person soaker tub in white alabaster marble. The tiles on the floor and walls were tumbled marble, and the vanities were more of the crisp white alabaster. The linens matched the colors of the other room.
 

Kelan shadowed her around the spacious suite. There was a sofa with scroll arms and smooth yellow damask fabric. Off to one side of the sitting area was a desk of burled walnut with painted black and gold legs.
 

She walked to the open doors off the garden. The bottom half of her gown, the part not covered by her blanket, blew and billowed around and between her legs.

“I’m not King’s daughter.”

Kelan stepped up behind her and slipped his arms around hers. “How do you know?”

“I don’t feel any connection to him as a father. If he was responsible for my abduction and tonight’s fight, he repulses me.” She felt Kelan nod behind her. She turned in his arms and put her hands on his bare chest. “What are we doing here? What is this place?”

“More questions I cannot answer.”

She touched the edge of his eyebrow. “He made you fight man after man. What if you have a concussion?”

He smiled. “Maybe I have cracked my head. I’m standing here with you, and I can’t believe it.” He touched her face, his fingers brushing a tender spot. “Did they hurt you?”

She wrapped her hand around his wrist. “You mean, am I still a virgin?”

“No. I mean did they hurt you? I know they scared the hell out of you, but did they beat you?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t always conscious. They used chloroform on me.” She looked at the crease of her inner arm. “And once they injected me with something. I don’t what it was. I don’t know if I have a disease now.” She rubbed her arms in disgust.

“What happened after the shot?”

“I don’t remember. I passed out.”

“Maybe they only tranquilized you. When we can, we’ll get you checked out. By the way, that trick you pulled on the highway was brilliant.”

Her eyes widened. “Did you hear about that?”

“We did. We were just hours behind you. So damn close.”

“They had guns. I was afraid they would shoot the man who stopped to help, so I made up that story.”

“You are smart and brave.” He took her hand and led her down the stairs. “How about a shower? Would it help you feel better?”

It would, actually. She nodded.

He led her over to the sofa. “Sit here for a minute. I want to check these rooms out, then I’ll help you.”

“In the shower?” She couldn’t help the path her thoughts took, and where they went was written all over her face.

“To bathe only. We have too much to discuss before we can become intimate.”

She smiled up at him and leaned in to hug him again. A long sigh eased from her. When she straightened, already she felt revived.
 

“I need to use the bathroom, while you do your thing.”

“Hold the shower for me.”

She bit the inside of her lower lip. “I will.”

She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, both nervous and excited about what was coming. She’d never showered with a man. Really, she didn’t make it a habit to get naked in front of anyone. She was probably the only twenty-one-year-old virgin left at her university. Her friends had spent the last week teasing and lecturing and offering to educate her.

It was odd that her mom had made such a big deal about her staying a virgin until she found her forever man. In her teen years, Fiona had thought her mom was outrageously old-fashioned. But then things had just worked out that she never considered being intimate with anyone until she met Danny in her sophomore year at the university.
 

They didn’t date, though he wanted to. He was cute and funny. With him, she was leaning toward giving in to her curiosity about sex, but all that ended the week both he and her mom had died in separate traffic accidents.
 

After that, staying a virgin felt like a connection to her mom that she didn’t want to break. Now, she was glad she waited. Having Kelan as her first lover would be a gift to herself that she would carry with her always.
 

Of course, she would be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous about their first time. She hoped it wouldn’t be awkward. She shouldn’t have listened to her friends’ stories of their first times.
 

The thing that really made her edgy was the claiming ceremony Kelan kept mentioning. It was a big deal to him, yet she had no idea what it was or what to expect from it. She’d even Googled it, but couldn’t find anything that sounded like what Kelan had mentioned.

Fiona used one of the private toilets. When she washed her hands, she was still preoccupied with her thoughts. Would Kelan find her attractive? Would he change his mind about her being his other half—his Mahasani?

She lifted her eyes to the mirror and gasped. The face staring back at her was hideous. She touched her wet fingers to her cheek, smearing the heavy makeup. What was this? She never did her face like this, with thick foundation that was too pale, pink cheeks that looked like they might glow, globs of mascara, brows too dark for her complexion, and red lipstick that colored the skin around her lips.

She bent over the sink and started to wash it off, then took another look at herself. It hadn’t budged. Oh, God. Kelan had seen her like this. She looked hellish, like a made-up zombie.
 

She grabbed a bar of soap and a washcloth and started scrubbing at her face. The soap stung her eyes. Now, not only was the heavy stuff mushed around her face, but her eyes were red-rimmed, too.
 

She glanced at the door, glad that she had closed it…but it wasn’t closed anymore. Kelan stood there, a horrified look on his face.

Fiona hid behind the washcloth and cried. “I can’t get it off.”

He hurried over to her and pulled her away from the mirror, holding her while she cried. “I shouldn’t have let you come in here like this. Alone.”

“What did they do to me? My hair. My face. My clothes.”

“I think they wanted you to be seen by the crowd.”

“I look like a corpse.”

He chuckled at that, which helped ease her chest a little. “Yeah. But it’s not permanent.”

“The soap isn’t getting it off.”

“No. You need an oil of some sort.” He started to poke through the cabinets and drawers. She peeked at him over the cloth.
 

“How do you know about stuff like this?”

He held up a jar of coconut oil and smiled at her. “Because I’ve worn face paint a time or two. For ceremonies.” He pushed her hands down and tilted her face up. “Close your eyes.”

When she complied, he scooped some of the coconut oil out and held it to her forehead, waiting for the heat of her skin and his fingers to melt it enough that he could smooth it around her brows, her eyes, her lips. His touch was so soothing, she felt herself begin to relax just a little.

He took her washcloth and held it under the warm tap, then gently wiped the hellish goop away. “Now look.”

She sent him a worried glance then faced the mirror. She was herself again. She looked up at him standing behind her in the mirror, so dark with his silky black hair and dark, solemn eyes. He watched her tensely.
 

She smiled at him. “You worked a miracle.” She held up a lock of her artificially long hair. “What about this?”

“If there are scissors, I can cut it, but I’m no stylist. And it doesn’t really look bad. For now.”

“Do you like my hair longer?”

Kelan’s face tightened. “I like your hair how you like it.”

“But do you like it longer?”

A rose color darkened his cheeks. “I do like it longer.”

Fiona smiled. “Then we’ll leave it for now. And maybe I’ll grow it out after this.”

He slipped his hands into her hair, spreading his fingers over the base of her skull. “I would like that. Ready for that shower?”

She nodded.

“Give me a minute.” He disappeared into the opposite toilet and shut the door.
 

Fiona quickly looked around for a toothbrush. There were several in a drawer still in their original packages. It was heaven to scrub her teeth—she was still doing it, in fact, when Kelan went to the sink to wash his hands.
 

It felt strangely comfortable standing with him in a shared bathroom, brushing her teeth. He was doing the same. He looked at her in the mirror. His eyes smiled at her. She looked away, shocked at how normal it all seemed.
 

When she finished with her teeth, she gathered a couple of towels and set them on the warming bars near the shower. She chanced a glance at Kelan. He was standing a few feet away. His eyes were heavy with unspoken words. She froze in place. Was now finally the time they would be together?

Chapter
 
Eight

Kelan bent over to drop his briefs. Fiona lowered her eyes to give him privacy. He straightened. “Fiona. Look at me.”

She lifted her eyes to his, but they moved down his chest to his navel, then up again to take in the broad width of his shoulders. He had very little chest hair. A narrow trail of dark hair led downward from his belly button to his boxer briefs…and the big bulge in them.

“Don’t look away.” His voice was deep and steady. He pushed his briefs all the way down his legs and kicked them aside. She kept her eyes on his. Watching him, yet resisting her instinctive curiosity to look
there
, set her skin on fire. He didn’t move. There was no hurry in his eyes. He simply waited.

The silk gown she wore irritated her erect nipples. A strange heat coiled low between her hips. She blinked. He waited. She looked at his chest and drew a deep breath. Her gaze moved lower, over the rippling muscles covering his ribs, to the dark hair leading down between his hips, then her eyes jumped to
it
.
 

It was huge. And darker than the rest of his body. It pointed slightly upward and to the left. At its base was a thick patch of dark, coarse hair.

“Does my body please you, Fiona?” His voice was even deeper than usual, as if it was hard for him to breathe and speak simultaneously.

She looked at him and nodded. Her mouth moved with her answer, but the sound never hit the air. She cleared her voice and tried again. “Yes.”

“May I see your body?”

Fiona licked her lips then lowered her gaze to the floor. Now was the moment she’d waited for so many months to experience. Now, when she hadn’t groomed herself as she would have wanted. She hadn’t shaved her legs or underarms in a couple of days. She wasn’t clean. Even her hair wasn’t her own.
 

“No.”

“Why?”

“I’m not ready.” She ventured a look and saw his wounded expression. “I mean, I’m ready. I’m sooo ready. I’m just not put together yet.”

He closed the distance between them. Every step he took deepened the drumbeat of her heart. “We’re bathing. Nothing more.”

“I want more.” He was only a foot away. So close, but he wasn’t touching her. “I want to be perfect for you.”

He didn’t smile to alleviate her fears. The corners of his jaw worked. His nostrils flared. He reached for her hand and placed it on his heart. “You don’t understand the depth of my feelings for you. It has nothing to do with the shell of you. You are my other skin. Do I doubt my own flesh?” He shook his head. “No. Love is too shallow a word for what I feel. We are part of something bigger than ourselves. Like the earth is nothing without the pull of the moon, and night would never know light without the sun’s transformative burn. You and I together are part of the infinite that is. Without you, I am nothing, not even an afterthought of the universe.”

Fiona blinked. A tear spilled free. How could she argue with that? Locking her eyes with his, she lowered one shoulder of her loose gown, then took her hand from his heart and lowered the other, slipping the fabric from her body, letting the gown drop to the floor.
 

She heard his sharp intake of breath. Her eyes flashed his way while his were still moving over her. Tension had etched itself on his face. Thinking something had to be wrong with her, she looked down at herself and noticed the gross makeup that had been all over her face was also on her nipples, and the tawny hair that was neatly patterned in a triangle on her mound had been artificially darkened.

She looked at him in horror, folding her arms over her breasts. “Kelan, it’s here, too.”

He eased her arms apart. “It’s only cosmetic. We’ll get it off.”

“Why did they do this to me?” God, they—someone—had touched her while she was naked and unconscious.

“I suspect they wanted to enrage me in that arena so that every time I looked at you, I would see your beauty and what your gown barely covered. Like a spear in the neck of a bull at a bullfight, seeing you exposed and in danger was meant to motivate me to fight.”

“It did. You never stopped.”

“Nor would I.” He stepped over to her sink and grabbed the container of coconut oil.
 

“Kelan, what if…what if they raped me?”

He looked at her, then set the coconut oil on the bench in the shower and came back to stand before her. She was glad he didn’t just brush her fear away.