Jabone took his finger and brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and said, "I talked to Eric. She says courtship is supposed to last for months, but I can't help myself I want you, I want you to have me."
She was breathing so hard she was getting dizzy, and in that moment who she was and who he was didn't matter to her. She knew, knew absolutely that they were born for each other. This time it was she who kissed him and then she was undoing the buckles on his kidney belt. And then the armor was just flying—hers, his—it was just slung off. Then the clothes, and when their flesh met Kasiria's heart was beating so fast that she could hear it in her ears. Jabone lay down on the ground on top of their pile of discarded clothes and then he pulled her down on top of him. She just went completely crazy then, kissing him, and touching him everywhere, and his hands were all over her.
Then he touched her in a way that made her flesh cry out for more and he was breathing huskily against her throat, "You decide Kasiria, you decide when."
More than ready, she buried his flesh within hers and then the outside world just ceased to be.
* * *
He didn't know exactly when it had happened but at some point in their lovemaking both of them had changed and then . . . Well it was just nothing like anything he'd ever experienced before.
He held her and she held him.
"My mother was right," Jabone said. "It is better when you love the person."
"I do love you, Jabone." Kasiria ran her hand down his body and looked into his eyes. "So I guess now I know something else that will bring on the change."
"But . . . It had never brought on the change before with me. Are you all right?"
She laughed and kissed him. "I'm fine, but we'd better get up and get dressed or we won't make it back to camp before dark."
He nodded, disentangled himself from her, stood up and put down a hand to help her. When she was on her feet he held her again.
"Thank you."
Kasiria laughed. "Why are you thanking me, Jabone?"
"Because you could have said no."
She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "No, I don't really think I could have. Now come on let's go."
"Like this?" Jabone asked.
"Well we have to get dressed." She laughed. He just looked at her in disbelief and she
realized what he meant "Oh yeah, I never thought I'd get used to being like this and now here we are both of us naked and, well I guess it says something that I don't even notice the difference."
"I'll bring down some game." He took off without dressing and shortly came back with a squirrel. They ate it, changed back, and then they dressed quickly, rearmored, untethered their horses and mounted up.
When they were on the trail again she turned to look at him and said with a smile. "Thank you."
He laughed and put his horse to a gallop knowing they'd never make it back by dark if they didn't make up some time. He heard Kasiria's horse right at his heels.
But I would have known she was there even if I hadn't heard her like my madra always knows where my mother is without looking. Because we are bound together, we are one person not two.
* * *
Tarius was driving her crazy. Useless small talk about what she didn't listen enough to find out was interrupted by occasional questions about their "coupling," which he obviously didn't remember.
"So, was I as good as I usually am? I mean I was very drunk and . . . "
"Gods and spiders would you shut up!"
"I'd just like to know," he said with a shrug.
"We didn't do it, all right? You passed out cold on top of me. That can hardly be considered sex," Jestia said.
"But," Tarius didn't understand, "you let everyone believe we did."
"Like they would have believed me if I told them what really happened when they found us the way they did. Besides it wasn't my fault we didn't and I needed them to think we had. Or I thought I did, but it didn't work at all, not at all!"
"So we didn't do it?"
"No," Jestia said. She couldn't tell from his expression whether he was happy or sad about it.
"Why'd you let them think we did, Jestia?"
"It doesn't matter now, and like I said seeing us like that do you really believe that anyone would have believed we didn't?"
"No," he said, and that was the end of it.
Well that shut the little bastard up. Everything I did didn't change the dream. Didn't change it at all because her feelings for me never changed—not longer than it took her to get over being mad and start to make excuses for my behavior. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped the tent leaking on her head.
But that's not it anyway. At the garrison . . . Even when I made plans to leave and go home the dream ended the same I just wasn't in it.
I have failed. I can't do the spell and so the dream is the same. She loves me. No one else does, no one else ever has. She loves me and the time is close at hand and . . .
W
ell that being the case what real choice do I have?
"Are you sure?" Tarius asked after a long silence.
"Quite," Jestia answered.
"Well you don't have to sound so happy about it."
Jena sat on the throne in the sun holding their newborn infant in her arms against her chest, his head of dark hair standing out in contrast against her fair skin. It didn't matter how different they might look, Jabone was her son. He looked up at the sky his eyes bright, and so perfect, so alert, in that moment content to just let her hold him. He made a happy noise, looked at her face and smiled.
Tarius walked over to them carrying a pheasant which she threw on the ground close to the fire. She was so young, so perfect, and when she caught Jena's eyes Jena could feel her love flow through her. Tarius walked over to them and kissed her on the cheek. Then she ran her hand over Jabone's head. Her hand looked huge against his tiny scalp. Her hand, so gentle, scared with a dozen sword cuts from as many different battles. She wore a wide leather bracelet with an eagle tooled into it that Jena had made her for her birthday.
Everything was perfect and then Jabone screamed out in pain, not the screams of an infant but the screams of a grown man in pain and then the whole world was dark and into the darkness she watched in horror as Jabone's sword fell at her feet broken in two pieces.
Jena jerked into a sitting position, wide awake and remembering every aspect of her dream she caught herself just short of screaming. Outside the sun was just rising.
Tarius looked up at her. "Baby what's wrong?"
Tarius, older but still perfect. Their son wasn't an infant any more he was a grown man and . . . "Tarius get up." Jena did even as she said it and started to get dressed. "We must go to the Jethrik. Our son needs us."
Tarius didn't ask why Jena thought this she didn't question her. She got up and dressed in such a hurry she actually left the hut without her boots or breakfast. Once outside she called for the whole of the Marching Night and started giving orders fast and furious.
By nightfall she had left Jerrad in charge of the Katabull Nation and had loaded all of the Marching Night and all their horses onto five ships and they weighed anchor and left for the port of Sagal in the Jethrik-held territories of the Amalite. Only when they had pulled away from the dock did Tarius take the time to ask her.
"Jena what have you dreamt?"
"I dreamt our baby cried and then his sword was broken."
Tarius didn't roll her eyes or say she couldn't believe she had overreacted in this way. She just nodded her head, put a reassuring hand on Jena's shoulder and said, "We will get there in time, my love. Our son will be fine."
Jena nodded then turned to embrace Tarius. "And if I have brought us on a wild goose chase and our son is fine and we only serve to embarrass him and his friends?"
"Then we will tend to these Amalite," she and Jena both spit on the deck, " raiding parties ourselves and pretend like that is the only reason we have come," Tarius said with a shrug. "When it concerns our son I'd rather overreact a hundred times than not react and be wrong only once."
When Jestia rode back into camp she tethered her horse and cared for him then immediately went looking for Ufalla. She found Kasiria and Jabone first, they were standing close to one of the fires talking. When she got close to them she looked at them and smiled.
"You reek of sex," she said in Kartik, and watched as Kasiria turned bright red. She laughed. "So, have you learned our language then in your coupling?" she asked in a whisper.
"I have learned your word for sex. Gods know you talk about it enough," Kasiria said, embarrassed.
Jestia was already tired of talking to them, she had much more on her mind than the actions of two horney Katabull rolling around on the forest floor scaring all the animals in the forest and . . .
Wow! That made me flush. Maybe I should think of that. It might help. No.
She shook her head to clear the thought.
"Where is Ufalla?" she demanded, once more single minded.
Jabone pointed and when she looked she saw Ufalla leaned against a tree talking to Eric. She marched right over and took hold of Ufalla's arm. "Come on I want a bath and you have to come with me."
"No I don't," Ufalla said shaking, her hand off.
"Yes you do, it's the rules," Jestia said, looking at her with meaning. She grabbed Ufalla's arm and started jerking on it until Ufalla gave up shrugged and followed her.
"Jestia what do you want? I was talking to Eric?"
"So it's Eric now, huh?"
"What's that supposed to mean? That's her name," Ufalla said, following Jestia into the tent.
"Here," Jestia said, and started stacking things in her arms.
"I don't want to bathe, why are you getting my clothes? It's cold and I just bathed two days ago and . . . "
"Would you shut up and just come on," Jestia said, grabbing a blanket and then grabbing Ufalla's hand and dragging her along behind her at a healthy pace.
"Have you bedded my brother again and need me to know so that I can be mad at you?" Ufalla asked and then. "Or are you just going straight to annoying me so I'll be mad and why do you need me to be mad at you at all? You are twisted in ways I do not understand."
Jestia sighed, "I told Tarius and now I'm telling you. We never had sex."
"I don't believe you."
"Good then don't." Behind the tarp around the spot on the creek that had been marked out for the women she threw down the blanket and then took the things she'd piled on Ufalla and threw them on the blanket.
She started striping her armor off. Jestia looked at the confusion on Ufalla's face and then just sat down and worked on getting her leggings off. No sense in thinking about it, she had a job to do, she just needed to do it.
* * *
Ufalla was temporarily silent as she watched Jestia take her clothes off. She started to look away as she usually did, but . . . Well if Jestia insisted on her being here then why shouldn't she look at the most beautiful body she'd ever seen? Jestia knew what Ufalla was and how she felt, so what was the sense in pretence at this point? Jestia, finally naked, slipped into the cold water and as she did her nipples went hard and so did Ufalla's. Ufalla's whole body shook and her knees went weak. She sat on a rock close to the water and looked at Jestia.
"Do you want to do some spell?" Ufalla asked, still not understanding what Jestia wanted other than to frustrate her in brand new ways.
"I had another dream," Jestia said through chattering teeth, so the water was every bit as cold at Ufalla thought it was. "I dreamt that we made love."
Ufalla was completely taken a back. "Jestia, you said that if a witch repeats her dream it comes true."
"I know, so let's just get it over with. Get your clothes off, get in the creek, and bathe because I'm sure as hell not going to make love with you as filthy as you are right now."
"Jestia, have you gone completely mad?"
"Do you want me or not Ufalla?"
"You know I do."
"Then get undressed and get into the water."
Ufalla had never gotten undressed so quickly. She jumped into the water and swam over to where Jestia was. She stopped short of touching her and just looked at her.
"Are you sure Jestia?"
For answer Jestia moved up to her and wrapped her arms around her neck. "So, are you going to kiss me or what?"
Ufalla kissed her. Jestia's lips parted under hers and then she just let her tongue explore the hot, wet void of Jestia's hungry mouth. The water was freezing cold and everywhere her flesh touched Jestia's it felt like it was on fire. Jestia pushed her gently away and breathed huskily in her ear. "Get cleaned up." Ufalla watched Jestia as she walked out of the water and Ufalla started bathing faster than just the cold would have had her do. When she got out of the creek Jestia was lying on the blanket and she threw Ufalla a towel to dry off on. Ufalla dried off and then threw the towel back down and asked again. "Are you sure?"
"I'm laying here naked. I'm sure that if you don't get down here with me I'm going to get cold again. You don't want me to get cold do you?"
"No." Ufalla lay down beside Jestia, pulled her into her arms, and started kissing her again. She let her hands run skillfully over Jestia's body. She quit kissing Jestia and moved her mouth to embrace one of Jestia's nipples. Her excitement mounted when Jestia's back arched and she let out a groan.
She heard Jestia mumble something. She let go of Jestia's breast and raised up on one arm."What?"
"I cast cone of silence because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to keep quiet."
"I should hope not," Ufalla said with a smile, and then all humor left her as she gazed into Jestia's eyes. "You know that I love you Jestia that I always have and I always will."
"If I didn't know that I wouldn't be here with you now." She raised her head to kiss Ufalla. When she lay her head back down she asked with a smile, "So . . . are we going to do this or just talk about doing it?"