Night's Templar: A Vampire Queen Novel (Vampire Queen Series Book 13) (42 page)

Uthe’s fingers convulsed on him, the wave of sensual pleasure so strong he had to close his eyes. Since he’d only just begun to allow himself to respond to such things, the jolt of lust and need the threat incited was unexpected, part of the maze of surprising reactions he had to Kel exercising his Dominant nature around him. Over him.

“Your timing is appalling, my lord.”

Kel chuckled darkly. “There is no better time than the present to plant such thoughts in your mind. It may give you even more incentive to survive this hellish place. I know it does for me. And truth,”—his eyes burned into Uthe’s—“after the past few days, not knowing where you were, or if you had need of me at your side, I have a violent compulsion to impress things upon you far beyond the realm of appalling.”

Uthe could see it in his expression, in the hum of energy coming off his body, a mix of magic and potent male need. Thanks to the vulnerabilities the Ennui created in him, Uthe now had a better understanding his own deepest, darkest needs. It wasn’t an orientation like humans understood in their structured BDSM play; it was who vampires were at their core. No safe words or contracts. Apparently, his Fae had those same compulsions.

Which was why Uthe found himself relieved that Kel was much more powerful than him. He wanted that punishment, wanted to feel what it was to completely surrender to a Master, more than just the hints of what they’d experienced so far together. Was it this world that brought such longings out, so naked and raw? He thought of Keldwyn drawing the long dagger he carried, sliding it slowly along Uthe’s flesh, leaving a thin rivulet of blood he would place his mouth over…

“By the gods, being in your head, seeing where you go with what I say to you, how I touch you… If we survive this, Varick, I will not permit you to leave my bed for a decade. I will chain you there, naked and beautiful, and savor you with all the decadence and cruelty the fairy tales tell you a Fae can possess.” Kel moved his mouth to Uthe’s throat, and Uthe tipped his head back as the Fae bit him there. Though it was just a light nip, he shuddered, a growl vibrating in his chest. Kel pressed his forehead hard against the column of Uthe’s throat, his mouth on his shoulder. “I have lived long enough to know that two weeks is a blink, yet these were the longest two weeks of my life, thinking you were lost and wandering, under attack…needing my presence.”

“Needing you.” Uthe corrected him, making it more intimate. He stroked the back of Kel’s head, slipped his fingers over the thick braid of dark hair. “Yet here you find I was just cheerfully napping, in no need of you at all. No wonder you want to take a strip off my ass.”

Kel lifted his head, his expression showing the serious moment had passed. “More than a strip, I can promise you, my lord. Flaying comes to mind.”

Uthe straightened abruptly. The wind had brought him a sound, the snorting of a horse. Keldwyn was on his feet next to him in the same blink. Shoulder to shoulder, they scanned the area around them for the threat.

The snort came again, and Uthe found the source. His eyes widened. “Nexus.”

The destrier stood on the edge of the blue field of grass, just outside the line of red trees. He was a blood bay with heavy black mane and tail, and his dark eyes searched the meadow grass as he shifted restlessly left and right. Uthe gave a sharp whistle. The horse’s head came back toward him like a rifle muzzle sighting its target, and then he burst into an artistic display of motion, a high stepping charge more like a dance than a run. His mane and tail streamed out, his powerful neck arched, and a series of piercing whinnies and snorts punctuated his short trip to Uthe.

“Show off,” Uthe muttered, though he thought his heart might brim over with joy.

Nexus came to a halt before Uthe and shoved him backwards with his massive head. Uthe kept his balance thanks to his vampire strength, but he remembered how often Nexus enjoyed catching his squire by surprise with that move, sending Jacques ass over end into the dirt. When he thought Uthe was out of hearing range, the squire had often threatened to quarter the horse for stew, but Uthe knew Jacques loved the spirited creature almost as much as he did. Had.

Nexus had died at Hattin, just as Jacques had, despite Uthe’s best efforts to save them both. Still, even if it was a trick of this world, he was going to call the horse’s appearance a blessing. He petted the velvet soft nose and his muscular neck, pressing up against his shoulder as he did so. He ran his hands over the horse’s back, sides and legs, a habit that came back to him as if he’d been doing the post-matins check of horse and equipment as recently as yesterday. “You are looking fine, old boy,” he crooned. “Ready to take on Saladin’s entire army, aren’t you?”

A snort agreed with him. Keldwyn had drawn closer, so Uthe made the introductions. “This is Nexus. He was the mount I had the longest. Most horses fear vampires, but as long as I wore the dagger, they were fine. Though I think Nexus’s courage overrode any concerns about me as a predator.” He moved to the horse’s flank, drawing Keldwyn’s attention to the trio of scars. There was a matching set on the other side.

“We were chaperoning pilgrims to the River Jordan. When we made camp, after nightfall, we were attacked by a pair of lions. Leonard and I dispatched one of them, but the other got to Nexus. The lion had leaped and grabbed onto his flanks like this. Nexus spun around and around, screaming. He dislodged the lion, but he didn’t run or retreat as most horses would when he got free. He went after him, and crushed the lion beneath his hooves.”

Nexus had settled and was gazing at him with a satisfied look, as if knowing the story being told. Uthe remembered approaching the horse afterwards, speaking soothingly, touching him as he trembled. Nexus’s eyes had flashed and he’d plunged forward, bringing his hooves down on the lion’s inert body, stomping on him again and again, refusing to let Uthe pull him away. The pilgrims had crossed themselves at the horse’s savage behavior. When Uthe had managed to coax him back at last, Nexus’s hooves and forelegs were spattered with blood. Uthe had understood it, though. For certain warriors, a near fatal attack triggered a fury within them. They couldn’t contain it in the aftermath, for that rage overcame any lingering fear of death. When he’d joined the Templars, he’d been driven by such a killing rage, though the fears he’d been exorcising were quite different in nature.

Keldwyn approached the horse’s other side. After a weighted moment of eye contact, Nexus lowered his head, accepting the Fae’s touch. “A remarkable earth spirit,” Kel commented. “Is this what you were waiting for?”

“I think so, because now I feel like we can go.” Uthe grimaced. “Apparently the Shattered World thought we needed a ride. We used to ride palfreys between battles. Nexus and the other destriers were only ridden to practice maneuvers and keep them in shape. But I expect he won’t mind carrying us for something as mundane as a walk through the forest, will you, Sir Nexus?”

The horse shook out his mane and snorted, stomping his feet.

“I’ll take that as a yes, though it’s also a ‘why are we just standing here’ fidget. Jacques used to have to play a lyre to get him to sleep.”

“You were fond of your squire.”

Uthe chuckled. “The relationship between knight and squire was defined as Master and servant. Yet Jacques served for nothing more than food and shelter, and the Rule said, ‘If that squire willingly serves charity, the brother should not beat him for any sin he commits.’ He knew that, clever lad. Sometimes he let his smart mouth run away with him. One day after a skirmish, we were setting up camp for the night and I found a dropped coin from one of our fallen enemies. I tossed it to Jacques. When he caught it, I informed him he’d accepted pay for his services and now I could take a sword blade to his arse. He led me a merry chase around the camp.”

Keldwyn’s smile brought Uthe more good feelings. Swinging up on the horse’s back, he was delighted by how easily the memory came to him. All the memories of that time were flooding back into his head, more real and vivid than the vampire world he’d left behind only a couple days ago. It was reassuring, though he knew it could well be false confidence.

“The other knights used to wonder how I did that in full armor and mail. Manfred, my sergeant, would tell them it was the Lord’s strength fueling me.” He settled onto the horse’s bare back. He would need no tack with Nexus, who could respond to the touch of his legs and hands alone. Uthe extended a hand to a bemused-looking Kel. “He can take both of us. Will you ride with me, my lord?”

Kel accepted his assistance and swung on behind him. Though Kel’s own natural flexibility and strength got him there capably enough, Uthe embraced the firm grasp between their hands. He rested his palm on one of Kel’s thighs as they framed Uthe’s hips. Keldwyn’s chest pressed against Uthe’s back as he reached around him and withdrew the seal from beneath his tunic and mail, studying the emblem of the two knights riding one horse. Tucking it back under Uthe’s clothing, he wrapped an arm around his waist, settling his groin firmly against Uthe’s buttocks, making him wish he wasn’t wearing a full mail shirt.

“Do you think it has significance, our current circumstances matching that symbol?” Uthe asked.

“I would neither assume nor discount anything in this world. Where are we going?”

“Hold on.” Uthe fell silent, opening his mind. He’d learned his lesson in how Keldwyn had come to him. Instead of straining the limits of his senses, he used the meditation techniques of a lifetime to calm everything. No matter the obstacles in this world, he had to believe his blood link to the demon and two souls was something the Shattered World couldn’t mask, because that link hadn’t been blocked when he was in his own world. Plus, the mind link between him and Keldwyn had appeared quickly once he was able to focus on it through prayer.

There. At first, it was just a hint, but after hundreds of years, he recognized the connection, whether it was so slender it was a transparent thread, or a rope thick as his arm. He pressed his knees into Nexus’s sides, and the horse moved forward at his direction. Keldwyn’s arms tightened around him. They rode in silence for a time. Uthe figured Keldwyn was respecting his need to concentrate, which was why he was surprised when the Fae’s weight against him grew heavier, his head dipping to touch Uthe’s nape over the folded mail coif. A sigh, an adjustment, and his cheek was pillowed against Uthe’s shoulder and the curve of his neck. Uthe covered one of the hands resting on his hip, drew it forward. Another adjustment, and the exhausted Fae clasped them around Uthe’s waist fully. Kel grunted and subsided further into sleep.

Keldwyn had said he drew his food from the elements if needed, but was this the natural world? Did the Shattered World nourish him the way the Fae and mortal realms did? How often had he had to fight for his life over these past couple weeks?

He was afraid he had the answer to one of those questions. He’d never seen the Fae tired to the point of exhaustion, which suggested Keldwyn had not been able to find energy here to nourish him, at least not in the amounts he needed for full strength. His initial exuberance had been fueled by an adrenaline surge, caused by finding Uthe. But now that had ebbed.

A second mark could get nourishment from a vampire’s blood. Not as much as they would if they were third marked, where their mortality was inescapably linked to the vampire’s, but it could give them some energy, the way food might. Yet what were the chances that he could talk Kel into drinking
from
him? He’d just fantasized about Kel cutting him and the Fae tasting the blood from the cut. If Kel had seen that in his mind, he hadn’t reacted in horror. But they’d had other priorities right then.

For now, Uthe let him rest. It was not unpleasant, to be walking through this endless collage of bright colors, Kel’s arms wrapped around him, his body pressed to Uthe’s. It was almost peaceful. In a misleading way, no doubt, but Uthe had learned not to waste the pleasure of small moments. He’d put his hand over Kel’s clasped at his waist and held them firmly, stroking the long, elegant fingers. Sometimes the Fae Lord came to Council meetings wearing several heavy rings on them, the intricate settings sparkling with faceted gems. The Fae craftsmanship was remarkable enough to have Helga, typically standoffish when it came to Keldwyn, remarking on them. Once she’d even requested a closer look. Kel had indulged her, a flash of amusement on his face as she became enthusiastic enough in her perusal to unconsciously clasp his wrist. A blink later, she’d snatched her hand back as if ashamed at showing such a bald interest.

Uthe remembered Gideon joking to Jacob that the Fae Lord had the best fashion sense of anyone at the Council meetings. He was always superbly dressed and adorned. Uthe assumed it was something he could conjure, like the tattoos. No matter his lofty words about not using magic for mere convenience, the Fae didn’t seem the type willing to spend time fussing over the lay of a ruffled collar, the shine of buttons on a long coat, or the suppleness of his boots. What Kel wore now looked distinctly battle worn.

Uthe remembered he’d once attended Council with a full complement of small rings lining the shell of one ear. The clasps looked like tiny bird claws. They’d distracted Uthe. He kept catching himself looking at them, wanting to reach out and trace their hold on Keldwyn’s ear.

“I noticed,” Kel mumbled against his back. “You observed what I wear in a different way from Helga and the others. You were always very thorough in your perusal, even though you took pains to be sure no one noticed. You never remarked on any of it, yet when I wore something unexpected, like the earrings, you gave it special attention. I expect that’s why I started doing more of that.”

“You are a tease, my lord. I have always known it. And your ears are quite intriguing even without adornment.”

Kel snorted. “Everyone always wants to touch the ears. Kane demanded it the first time he saw me.”

“Did you permit it?”

“Not that time. I made it clear it was a highly impertinent thing to ask a Fae and cowed him into an apology.”