Heartmate (26 page)

She still didn't trust him. He did not dare tell her the dreadfulness of living in Downwind, how he'd fought and schemed to get out. And he hoped never to tell her of the man he'd become when hunting vengeance. Though he would use the skills that time had taught him, he would never be that man again.

He could divulge his hopes, his dreams, perhaps even a small fault or two, but nothing major on the downside. That would not attract her.

He thought of the earrings he had left in his Residence and how they would win her for him. He could depend upon them. Then, when he and Danith had joined in the HeartBond, and his self was revealed in all his flaws, she would still be his. She would love him despite everything he had done. He hoped. He was sure it worked that way. No need to try and make her love him before the HeartBond.

He shied away from the idea that no one could love him now. After all, even when he was six, he was constantly in trouble, and not quite sure how deeply his Family had loved him. Certainly his mother had not loved him enough to live instead of die with his father. But that was because they were HeartMates, of course. She would only have had a year more of life. But in that year of life, she might have provided for him, and everything would have been different. . . . He pushed the hurtful conclusion aside, as he always did. Soon he would have his own HeartMate, who would love him despite everything.

Me here.
Zanth announced, swaggering up. He burped.

“What's that smell?” asked Danith.

“Zanth.”

“Zanth?” She left his arms to stare down at the Fam.

T'Ash winced. “Do you hear him?”

“Hear Zanth?” she said, with just enough uneasiness that let T'Ash know she just might hear the cat.

“That's right. It isn't unusual for a HeartMate to receive telepathic thoughts from the House Familiar. Not to mention that you're an Animal Healer. I've heard that Animal Trainers are telepathic with quite a few animals, so you should be, too.”

“Ah.” She shifted from foot to foot.

“Zanth says you hear him when he shouts.”

She looked up and down the cobblestone alley. “Yes. I do. And he understands my words.” Now she stared down at the Fam, whose white-furred areas seemed a little slimy. “But if he shouts, he gives me an awful headache.”

Zanth plopped down and lifted a hind leg.

T'Ash cringed at the crudeness. A view of Zanth's large male attributes was unavoidable. Danith glanced away.

“Let's go,” T'Ash said.

We walk?
Zanth stopped his grooming, stood and stretched.

“No power to 'port.”

Zanth narrowed his eyes at T'Ash.
You do too much tonight.

“Yes, I did too much tonight,” T'Ash repeated the Fam's comment for Danith, a habit he'd have to cultivate until her Flair bloomed in full.

Me lead. You not here in long time. You not know best ways, good holes.
Zanth sauntered down the alley, tail waving.

“True, I haven't been here in a long time. I've learned to use my Flair and skill instead of having to run and hide.” He slanted a look at Danith.

She understood his implication and lifted her chin. “You think I'm cowardly. Perhaps you're right, but I've never had any sort of power before, not even to choose my own job.” She shrugged. “By the way, I had a viz from the clerk of the NobleCouncil. I start an apprenticeship with GreatHouse Willow—”

“That would be with the Sallow branch of the Family, animal training,” T'Ash nodded. “They are exceptional with animals. You could have no better tutors.”

Zanth stopped a moment, scouting the area ahead of them.
Sallows good. Caprea likes Me. Good beast-trainer. Talks with horses.

“Zanth says Caprea Sallow feeds him. And that the man is outstanding with horses.”

NOT say he feeds Me.
Zanth looked over his shoulder with slitted eyes.

Danith rubbed her temples.

“Don't shout. You made Danith's head ache.”

Zanth stalked ahead of them, tail waving haughtily.
Not talking more. You don't say My thoughts right.

“Merely a twinge,” Danith said, but she felt it every time T'Ash and his Fam mentally conversed. “What did he say?”

“He actually said that Caprea Sallow liked him. It's obvious now that Zanth has a food round.”

Danith made a face. “He's nibbled a bit of food that I leave out for the feral cats.”

“Zanth also apologizes for hurting your head.” He stopped her with a hand on her arm. “As I apologize to you for this afternoon. I never meant to touch you. I lost control. I wanted you, and found you.” As her expression remained doubtful, his own temper began to slip. He couldn't lose her. “I didn't seduce you. I reached and we came together. Because we both wanted to. Didn't seduce you. Not deliberate. Not.”

Danith looked toward Zanth. He was carefully choosing a side street. “I don't expect an apology from him, not any more than I expect one from you.”

Her words hurt. Would this woman always hurt him with her words? He drew a deep breath and pushed the pain aside. He curved a hand around her face. “I am no suave nobleman, but can you credit me with being strong enough to admit an error?”

She smiled crookedly. “I think you're strong enough to do anything you please.” Her voice softened. “And that's a problem. You are so strong, and I am no match for you.”

“Wrong. You are my match in every way. My HeartMate.”

“Speaking of credit, I'm an accounting clerk, and I can tell you that the credit side of your ledger far outstrips the debit side.”

He liked the idea, but she said it with a lightness that he sensed was false. She was being generous. That notion also pleased him, but she'd once again avoided the issue of HeartMates. She had a habit of refusing him, of not believing what he said, of running. Faults of hers he'd already discovered, and though they hurt, he knew they were far less than any faults of his she would eventually know. The ones he hid for now. And he could teach her to master her own faults.

Perhaps he could offer one flaw to her. “I've been aggressive.”

Her lips twitched up.

The three of them turned down a wider street lined with empty, decaying warehouses. Again he stopped her. “Tell me the truth. How does my account stand with you?” Gently he touched her chin, hoping she'd raise her eyes. She did, and the honesty and kindness in her gaze weakened him.

“You gave me my fondest dream.”

“If you have the courage to go after it.”

Now a spark lit her eyes. “You may think I am a coward, and perhaps I am, but I will follow this dream.”

He nodded. She had the strength to do anything she wished, she just had to realize it. He'd help. It would be much better to have her concentrate that strength on ordering her new life instead of having it directed at fighting him.

He slid his hand down her fine-boned arm and took her hand in his again. “I—”

Shouts bounced off the building walls.

Battered and bloody, Tinne Holly cannoned around a corner. An unruly band of young men wearing purple and white followed.

T'Ash pushed Danith behind him, whipped out his broadsword. These scruffs had taken Danith. Now they would pay.

He smiled.

Ten

Seeing them, Tinne tried to stop. He skidded on muck
and flailed past them. Danith watched as he windmilled and finally found his feet.

Zanth yowled. One young man stumbled over him. It activated his collar.

“You!” shouted the fierce hologram of T'Ash.

The boys lurched back, away from the apparition. T'Ash took advantage of their confusion and joined his image. Danith shivered at the eerie sight of twin T'Ashes.

“Know you that this is my Fam, Zanthoxyl. Harm him and you answer to me!”

The teenagers faced both the holo and real T'Ash. Equally intimidating. The solid one didn't bother with words. Only a growl issued from his lips as he began stalking the group, unaware or uncaring that they outnumbered him nine to one.

The Holly flew by Danith to join T'Ash. He was laughing.

Nine to two.

Steady light from the twinmoons and flickering light from fire gleamed down their naked blades. Both T'Ash's broadsword and the long dagger-sword Holly held were nothing like Danith had ever seen before and they both cut nasty patterns in the air.

Holly danced small steps, ready for fighting. Danith could see a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. He licked it away with relish.

T'Ash crouched in a predatory stance. Measuring his bulk, particularly next to Tinne Holly, Danith saw he would have made three of the youth. She glanced at the band of young nobles, now warily treading backward. None of them was much more substantial than Tinne. They were wild boys, in their first flush of youth.

T'Ash was a man grown, solid with muscle built by work at the forge, with strong, well-defined arms, shoulders, thighs.

Four to nine?

Danith wanted to run. The atmosphere pulsed with raging male hormones, primed for violence.

She couldn't.

She was barefoot.

There wasn't even any good place to hide.

Unless she wanted to crawl on her belly in filth to a hole in the south wall.

She wondered if a fight could be averted. The thought made her blood freeze, because she knew if she had the thought, she would have to follow up with action.

She stepped from the shadows, trying to attract the attention of the young men. But she wore black and their wide-eyed gazes were fixed in horrified fascination on T'Ash.

She eyed the Holly. Despite the ripped sleeve and tunic, he looked like a gentleman, much like his brother, Holm Holly. She didn't think he'd let her stand beside him. And it was impossible to outmaneuver T'Ash.

She made a wide circle around Holly, who was humming to himself. He didn't see her until too late.

Danith licked her lips. “Let me introduce you young gentlemen. This is T'Ash.”

One gulped. The others seemed to go even more motionless.

“Danith!” A whiplash order from T'Ash.

“This is Zanth,” she continued.

The Fam prowled to her side and sat, then grinned with all his teeth showing.

“This is Tinne Holly, of the fighting Hollys.” Danith knew that much.

“And I am . . .” She sucked in a deep breath, ready to use her clout as a noble for the first time. “D'Mallow, head of GrandHouse Mallow.”

Tension built in the youths, they started shifting, shuffling, ever backward.

“Now, what would your Families and the NobleCouncil say to fighting on Discovery Day eve, a time of thanksgiving and jubilation?”

One boy faded next to the dark wall of a building and vanished with a slight
pop!
—teleporting himself from trouble.

“They took you!” T'Ash snarled.

Danith swallowed. “They didn't hurt me.” Much. And they hadn't had the time to decide what to do with her before being attacked by the Downwind gang.

Another teenager slunk out of sight; from farther away there was a clap of displaced air as he teleported, too.

“Took my woman. Jostled her. Lost her to Downwind scruffs. Failed to protect her.” T'Ash's voice gained volume as he listed their crimes.

Two more deserted, vanishing noisily, not bothering to go undetected.

“Now, T'Ash,” Danith breathed much easier. “Evidently they didn't realize they were outside your estate, or recognize your Residence, distinctive though it is. They'll know better in the future. I'm sure they rue their actions.”

Tinne squawked. Zanth hit her in the ankle with a claw-sheathed paw. Hard. The teenagers themselves trembled and none drew breath.

For the first time T'Ash took his eyes off the youths.

They bolted.

When she met T'Ash's gaze she saw such icy fury, she jumped back, landing on something sharp. She ignored it. Not only fury but deep pain lived in his eyes.

“You said?” he whispered hoarsely.

She didn't know what she said that caused such a reaction in everyone, but she wasn't going to repeat her words. She scrambled to find different ones. “I said the youngsters must not have understood—”

“After.” He prompted with a hand.

She frowned.

“She said those scruffs are damned sorry they crossed you, GreatLord,” Tinne said loudly.

T'Ash seemed to relax, muscle by muscle.