Warrior's Dawn (Fire and Tears) (9 page)

There was a long silence. Then the sound of a dull thud, like a body hitting the floor.

“Carry her,” the man who’d been speaking so calmly with the woman ordered.

More scuffling and grunting and then the same man ordered, “Back to the Citadel.”

Marching boots echoed out into the streets. The minions made no effort to be quiet or conceal their movements.

Even when Althir was sure they were several blocks away, he remained perfectly motionless under the bed, his hand on Mina’s arm. She didn’t move either. They remained that way for what felt like a long time, and to Althir’s horror he did drift off to sleep once. He blinked his eyes open to see Mina staring at him.

She whispered, “I think we’re safe enough for now. But we need to stay here until sunset, in case the woman left someone to watch the building.”

He nodded.

“I think we can come out from under the bed,” she continued. “Stay away from the windows.”

He followed her as she agilely rolled out from their hiding spot. His movements were stiffer, less graceful as exhaustion continued to drag at him.

Mina didn’t bother to stand but propped herself against a nearby wall, watching him through narrowed eyes. He remained sitting on the floor too with his back against the bed. He mustered enough energy to remove his quiver and bow, keeping them close, opposite the sword he still held in one hand, then settled against the mattress again. Unable to hold his head up anymore, he let it fall back against the side of the bed and closed his eyes.

“What did you do?” she murmured.

“When I’m not in danger of falling unconscious, I’ll explain.” He swallowed hard and tried to clear his throat quietly. His voice sounded rough and gravelly.

“Are you okay?”

“Need sleep. Hard to stay awake now.”

“Sleep, then. I’ll wake you if the patrols return.”

“Can’t. You need my help.”

She snorted. “You’re no good to me in the state you’re in. Rest. We still have a few hours before the sun sets and another hour before full dark. I’ll keep an eye on things. Will those hours be enough for you to recover?”

He moved his head in a bare nod and finally let go of consciousness.

Chapter Seven

Mina studied Althir’s face as his breathing deepened into obvious sleep. His cheeks were hollow and there were strain lines around his eyes and mouth. Whatever he’d done to keep them hidden, it had cost Althir dearly.

She berated herself for not knowing he could do this sooner. Or what the effects of using this magic would be. She should have pushed him for this information yesterday, or the night before while they were in Noman’s Land! This was just the kind of detail she needed and had intended to get from him right from the beginning. Yet she’d let him distract her. Let her attraction and anger override her sense.

Shaking her head, she eased up from the floor and edged carefully to a window to search the streets. She was going to get them killed by not remembering why they were here. Her job during the war had always been to obtain information. She’d failed miserably at doing that with Althir. Any more such failures could land them into the hands of the Sorcerers.

She left him sleeping where he was and went to check the other side of the building. The surrounding streets were quiet again, no evidence of anyone watching their location. Though she hadn’t been aware of the woman watching for them all day. Another failure on her part. Usually her instincts were better than that, enough to leave her edgy and aware if she’d been spotted.

Again, her only excuse was her reactions to Althir. She shouldn’t have taken this mission. The council should have sent someone else. She was making mistakes. Dangerous ones. And if she couldn’t trust her instincts going forward, how could she keep them both from getting caught?

With a deep breath, she refocused on her job, or tried to. She needed to get back to doing what she was good at—watching, listening, collecting information. And staying well enough hidden that Althir never had to do again what he’d done earlier. He’d saved their lives. But at what cost? If he tried that at the wrong time, left himself that vulnerable, they were both dead.

Then were would her people be? The war would drag on. They would have lost their best chance at ending it. And they would have lost their best source of information about the Sorcerers.

No, she had to make sure he stayed alive. For her people.

Yes, she assured herself. She wanted Althir alive for the sake of her people. No other reason. No other reason at all.

Once full dark descended and Mina was comfortable they could sneak out of the tavern, she went to wake Althir. He hadn’t moved the entire time he slept, still sitting up, leaning against the mattress with his head back. He’d remained so motionless, she’d felt for a pulse once when checking on him. It was there, steady and even. His breathing was slow and deep, and his face muscles were relaxed. She couldn’t imagine he was all that comfortable, especially since the wooden floor wasn’t exactly warm or padded, but she couldn’t see discomfort in his body.

The room was dark now, with only a faint glow of light from the windows of a nearby building. There were no gas lamps lighting the alley on this side of the tavern, but enough ambient light filtered in to give her a view of his profile.

The ethereal smoothness of his skin, the sharp, beautiful lines of his face, reminded her of that day she’d spoken with him in his cell, before they’d set out. He was still more beautiful than any man had a right to be. Yet somewhere in the last few days, she’d stopped resenting him for that.

She was sure, somewhere deep down, she still hated him. But watching him sleep, pushed to exhaustion protecting them from discovery, she couldn’t feel the hate anymore. She wasn’t sure
what
she felt. Confusion still mixed with anger. Along with that nagging sense that there was more to Althir than anyone knew.

Or was she fooling herself? Falling victim to his beauty and charm?

She set the worries aside. How she felt about Althir didn’t matter right now. Getting the List and getting back out of enemy territory alive was all that mattered.

She knelt beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder, already running through the myriad questions she had for him. His eyes popped open suddenly, looking right into hers, startling her into a small gasp. As he stared, she stared back, and everything she’d had in her head, every thought and question, just wasn’t there anymore. She couldn’t even marshal enough awareness to realize she’d stopped thinking. For several long moments, the only thing in the entire world she was aware of was Althir.

He blinked slowly, leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, the move so unexpected she simply sat there. Then she closed her eyes.

His kiss was gentle, not asking permission but not demanding either. He kissed her as if they had kissed many times, with his lips a soft caress against hers that sent sharp, heady awareness through her blood, warming low in her stomach. When she noticed the silky glide of desire moving through her, she also realized she was returning his kiss, her mouth moving with his in a slow dance.

His hands came up to cup her face, and he angled his head just a little to better fuse their mouths but still without pushing for anything deeper. Her heartbeat tripped against her rib cage as his scent wrapped around her in the darkness, a warm, rich blanket against the chill in the air. Everything about Althir was warm and rich. His taste, the feel of his bare palms against her cheeks, the firm press of his mouth.

The very brief flick of his tongue against her lower lip startled a gasp from her, not because she was surprised but because the sensation sent a shock of need roaring through her. She heard his faint groan, felt his fingers flex gently against her cheeks, and she opened her mouth to him, taking the kiss further than he’d gone, tangling her tongue with his as she tasted him fully.

She leaned in closer, wanting more, wanting something deeper. And suddenly she was sprawled across his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck, his around her waist. The feel of his erection growing against her hip should have brought her back to the real world, back to their location, the danger. It didn’t. It only drove her growing passion closer to frenzy.

Desperation seeped into her body, tingling over her nerves as she pressed even closer, flattening her breasts against his chest. This time his groan was more audible, filling her mouth and vibrating through his chest. The sensation hardened her nipples against the rough material of her shirt. She dragged one of his hands from her waist and settled his palm over her breast, needing the feel of him, almost mindless with a desperation she’d never felt before.

It was like being drunk, out of control. She was so wrapped up in his scent, his heat, the feel and taste of him, she couldn’t conceive of anything else in the world existing. He squeezed her breast, his touch rougher now, then found her nipple through her clothing and pinched hard enough to make her moan.

“That feels so good,” she panted against him as he tortured her with only his hand and fingers on her breast.

“You feel so good. Perfect.”

But the position wasn’t perfect, she thought. One of her swords was in the way. She scooted around until she was straddling him, her knees bumping against either side of his hips, her scabbards out of the way. The position pushed his erection tight against her core, adding to the torment and the pleasure. She ground down against him and his fingers pinched her nipple in response.

“Yes,” she murmured, then fused her mouth to his again, on fire with a desire unlike anything she recognized in herself.

She hadn’t had a man in more months than she could remember. Hadn’t wanted sex or intimacy at all for a long time now. Yet she couldn’t seem to control herself with Althir, couldn’t conceive of walking away from this passion. She pumped her hips against his cock, swallowing his growls, thrilling in the hard grasp of his hands. He cupped her ass roughly and pulled her as tight against him as was physically possible.

And she wanted more. She wanted his mouth on her breasts, sucking her nipples; she wanted his cock inside her, fucking her hard and fast. She wanted to take and take until he had nothing left to give her. And then she wanted to take more.

She didn’t even recognize herself like this, this wanton so desperate for a man to fuck her. She’d never felt like this, never wanted someone else with such mindless desperation. That thought managed to creep in past the flood of sensation to sound a slight alarm, a warning she knew she should heed. She didn’t. She refused to listen, to let anything get between her and taking what she wanted from Althir.

But when he suddenly pulled back, when he rolled her off him and stood so quickly she barely saw the movement, that faint sense of warning held her still, crouched on the floor, even though every other ounce of her wanted to go to him.

He faced her, breathing hard, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. She held his gaze, marveling at the dark heat glittering amidst the gray. She was panting too, which rubbed her nipples against the material binding her breasts, heightening an awareness she was struggling to control.

“What was that?” she murmured. The longer they stood apart, the more certain she was that more than just mutual lust had built that inferno so quickly and suddenly.

“Elf-fire,” he said, his voice harsh.

Mina’s hands shook as she used the mattress to lever herself up onto the bed. Elf-fire. The pheromone elves gave off when they were in the throes of sexual passion. It was supposed to be addictive to humans. She’d been with an elf once, before the war, but she’d never experienced anything like what had just happened with Althir. She’d assumed the tales of elf-fire were exaggerated. Now she understood why so many Sinnale also called the pheromone elf-tears.

She wanted to ask how this was possible, what it had done to her? Would she experience the addiction now, the withdrawals? And how the hell had she not realized what was going on? If he hadn’t moved away, she would have fucked him on the cold floor without any thought to consequences. Then she would have moved him to the bed and fucked him again.

She could still feel the tingling of desperation against her skin, the sharp awareness that made remaining separate from him an act of will. Despite knowing this was nothing more than a chemical reaction, she wanted his hands on her naked skin and his thick cock buried deep inside her.

The thought brought her gaze to his still very erect cock, and without meaning to, she licked her lips. His growl brought her gaze back to his face. He took a single step toward her. She sucked in a breath, only a small part of her
not
wanting him to join her on the bed.

“We need more distance between us,” he said and left the room.

His absence was so abrupt she sat stunned for a long while. When she could manage to think even a little, she concentrated on bringing her breathing and body back under control, focusing on slowing her pulse.

She was still a little shaky when he finally returned. He didn’t come fully into the room, instead standing stiffly in the doorway, holding himself tall and motionless.

She pulled in a last deep breath. “How did that happen? Why did it happen?”

“I want you. It’s what happens when my people want someone.”