“No! You cannot leave until you give me one last chance! Ambrea trusts me enough to let me get close to her. The opportunity to strike is on me at this moment. It will be gone soon if I don’t act!”
“Resolve yourself to a different future, Eirie,” Curta said quietly. “Fate has walked its steps around you. Don’t make it whip back and eye you too closely.”
Eirie stepped into the other woman’s personal space, her face pushed into hers. “Fuck you and your backward mysticisms. You’ve been wrong too often to suit my tastes, woman. Give me what I’m asking for!”
Curta straightened away from the noblewoman and reached into her pocket with two fingers. She pulled out a small aerosol container and dangled it in front of Eirie.
“A single spray into her face and she will breathe it in and, within seconds, will never breathe again. It paralyzes the diaphragm and lungs. She will suffocate slowly and painfully. But she won’t be able to speak to accuse you. Only take care not to breathe it in yourself once it is airborne. Hold your breath for at least ten seconds, and then it will dissipate and be gone. And now I am gone. You’ll never see me again. I have seen my future and you are never in it again, nor will I die in the land of
Allay. Perhaps you should consider a like future for yourself.”
Curta sealed her bags shut, grabbed hold of both of them, and made her way around Eirie, whose full fascination and attention was on the little aerosol canister.
It was just small enough to fit down the cleavage of her dress and easily concealed in the palm of her hand.
“Perfect,” she breathed.
Rush settled Ambrea into bed, touching her damp forehead with gentle fingertips.
“You’re in pain,” he noted. It wasn’t a question. He knew it as naturally as he knew how to breathe. He believed he would know everything about her that easily from now on.
She didn’t deny it. She closed her eyes and exhaled. Her pain, no doubt, was countered by her uncle’s acceptance of defeat. But Rush wouldn’t be happy until the bastard was off getting drunk in some hole somewhere accepting the fact that the better person had won. Right now he wasn’t even sure that Balkin had that kind of conciliatory behavior in his makeup.
“Rush, how long will you stay?”
“Until you fall asleep,” he said.
Her eyes flew open and in a wild streak of emotion he saw her panic.
“So soon? But just because my uncle is put in his place doesn’t mean my throne is by any means secure! You promised to help me at least be that safe.”
Rush blinked, and then his expression softened, his hands gently framing her face. “I meant for the moment, sweetheart. I’ll still be here when you wake.”
“Oh.”
It was probably because she was in pain and so exhausted by her ordeal, but she couldn’t catch the telling sob that erupted from her. And before she knew it, she
was crying, an open mess of emotions she didn’t want to show, weakness and neediness all rising to the surface. And the more he touched her, the more he tried to soothe her, the worse it seemed to become.
“Hey now. Shh. It’s all going to be all right,” he said softly and surely, pulling her head under his chin and holding her against the warmth and strength of his chest.
“No, it won’t,” she argued in a rush before she could catch her own tongue. “Because one day you’ll leave me and I know how fast it will come. But I won’t want you to go. Not because I will be afraid to lead by myself, but because—”
“Because?” he prompted her softly, a steady, intense expression in his eyes as he made her look into them.
“Because it will hardly mean anything without you, Rush. I know I’m going to seem foolish and weak to you. An inexperienced girl forming imagined attachments to her first lover. How common I am. How ridiculous.”
She burst into harder tears.
“It’s only been days. How can anyone feel anything real for someone they’ve known only for days? And you have all that family waiting for you in the IM. People you’ve known and loved for years.”
Rush could hardly follow what she was saying. It was all coming at him in such an emotional tide. But what his logical brain couldn’t comprehend, his heart heard loud and clear. A riptide of elation swirled through him as she gave him this first indication that she felt something for him. Something other than the desire she had shown him as his lover. She had always rolled so easily with everything, had always seemed so untouched. He had been convinced he was going to be a fool for her, lingering for years in her court at her side, serving her needs however she would let him just so long as he could be close to her, keeping her safe and protected.
“Oh, you idiot,” he whispered against her forehead.
He realized he had spoken aloud when she sucked in a hard breath and struggled to hold back her next sob. He saw her wounded eyes and he wanted to smack himself.
“I meant me,” he told her quickly. “I am an idiot because I forgot that underneath all this coolness and steadiness beats the heart of a passionately emotional woman. You are so fair and sweet, so accepting and generous to everyone that whenever you were any of those things to me I just put it down to your nature. I never once thought I could actually be special in your eyes.”
Ambrea’s weeping dropped into quietly stunned little hiccups.
“But Rush, everything about you is special. And it ought not be just in my eyes. And I really doubt that it is. I saw how Ophelia acted with you. She cares so much for you, I can tell. All of your IM companions do, and I …” She looked down at her hands in her lap, her fingers tugging at one another anxiously. “What am I but another task to you? The only bond we formed was because of a secret you never wished to share with me in the first place.”
“A secret that was outed the moment you were in danger. A power that showed its true strength and true control the instant I thought you were being taken away from me. I don’t know what it was or how I even knew I could do it, but I closed my eyes and one moment I was here, the next I was in the clinic, leaving explosions before and after me.”
Her eyes widened.
“You were able to do that?”
“Yes. And there were plenty of witnesses. Including my boss, and one of your guards.”
“Oh my. We ought to debrief him,” she said distractedly.
“I plan to once you are asleep and resting peacefully.
But first I need you to tell me—are you asking me to stay here?” He turned awkward and unsure before her eyes, and it was so endearing that she couldn’t help but smile. “I mean, I’m a Tarian, you know.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Allayans despise Tarians.”
“Not this Allayan,” she said softly. “And after all, isn’t that the only one that should matter?”
“Not if it makes things harder for you,” he said with a dark frown. “And you need a bloodline to secure the future of your throne, and I’m not sure I want to … I have this thing inside me I can barely control. Bad enough to pass my heritage on, but this mutation as well?”
“I am aware that is how you feel. At the moment.”
That surprised him.
“You are?” Again the frown. “And this moment may last forever. I may never change my mind. I don’t want to subject any other living being to the things I suffered.”
“I know,” she said softly, her hands gently cupping his face. “But can you imagine there would ever be anything inside a child of mine that I would not be able to love and accept? Unless we breed a psychopath,” she said dryly. “And that would come from my genes. So perhaps I should make you reconsider any ideas of breeding with
me.
”
Rush chuckled, looking deeply into her warm, smiling eyes, the wash of fresh tears making them sparkle like gems. “I hadn’t considered that. You’ve got something of a point there.”
“Mmm. So let’s agree to focus on other things first,” she suggested. “Like, how will I ever keep a man like you sufficiently excited and entertained in my boring political world?”
“Boring?” he exclaimed. He laughed heartily. “I think you might still be in shock. There is nothing in the least bit boring about your world. Is it going out and blowing
up shit? No, not immediately. But I imagine that as general of your armies, I will have more than my fair share of excitement. Or are you going to renege on my appointment now that you know I am considering taking it on permanently?”
“Hardly,” she sniffed, reaching to poke him hard in the chest. “But you must promise me not to be stabbed too often. It rather upsets me.”
“As long as you promise not to be assassinated too often because it rather upsets me,” he countered.
“Hmm. What a conundrum this whole thing promises to be,” she noted.
“Yes,” he agreed. “Very perplexing on all fronts.” He swept a tender thumb under the well of her eye. “I think I must advise you that it’s all very unwise.”
“I think I must advise you the same,” she said just as gravely.
“Well, frankly my alternatives suck. The IM is going to find out about what I’ve been hiding once Bronse makes his report. They will not be happy.”
“Oh, you know they’re going to want you more than ever,” she huffed at him. “I won’t buy this ‘poor disenfranchised orphan’ routine. Your friends haven’t tried to string you up recently, in spite of them discovering your mutation. So you must assume you’ve been wrong all these years not to trust them.”
“Yes. Very wrong,” he agreed, suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to kiss the breath right out of her body. So he pulled her mouth under his and did exactly that. She responded intensely, and like the pounding force of an explosion against him, she left him equally breathless and stunned.
Was this really happening
? Was she really choosing him over any other man? She was the empress of a powerful country. She had realized her power in so many ways, surely she realized she could have anyone she wanted.
And as if she had read his mind, she pulled away from his lips, hovering a breath away as her hands drew warmly over his face, mapping his features with unmistakable hunger. “There will never be anyone better in my eyes, my fine Tarian brute,” she whispered to him.
Rush felt his heart beat harder, as though it wanted to take flight out of his chest. He had never once in his life been in love, but how amazing it was that he knew the sensation as well as he would know an old friend.
“I think I’ve loved you since the moment you tried to touch the flames on my hand, full of a faith that I wouldn’t hurt you that you had no sane reason to have. And you pursued me even after I did hurt you. How could I not love someone so clearly insane? We’re so much the same, Blue Eyes, but so much in our own ways.” He reached to catch her hands when they promised to wander his body aggressively. “And you’re too injured for lovemaking. Ophelia would have my hide if anything happened to yours.”
That she relented so easily told him more about her pain level than she would have preferred to give away. She lay back in her bed, the plush comfort of it not nearly gentle enough to keep from hurting her. He could imagine that her skin felt as though it were still on fire, as it remained raw beneath the bandages.
“But you will promise to make love with me as soon as possible?” she extracted from him. “We have yet to see if we can manage it out of the water.”
“Perhaps someone’s faith has infected me, but I believe we will be able to manage that,” he said as he continued to touch gentle strokes to her face. He had to marvel at how every contour seemed to be so sweet to him. He found it hard to believe there had been a time when he had not been amazed by her beauty. Perhaps it was because every time he looked at her he was awash with the strength that was inside her.
Little did Rush know that she was thinking the very same thing. As her fingertips toyed over the rugged handsomeness of his face, she only wanted to devour him with her memory. Life did not turn out well for her like this. Not usually. So she felt the need to make the most of every moment. To appreciate every single blessing that came her way.
“A handsome warrior came to rescue me one day,” she breathed softly. “He has been my protector ever since. The Great Being sent him to me, I know. But who could have guessed he would rescue and protect my very heart as well?”
“Give me that job for the rest of my life and I think I will always be satisfied,” he said before pressing light kisses to her cheeks. “But as your protector, madam, I insist you rest. Ophelia sent something for your pain.” He reached for one of the pain patches he had left in a little pile on a nearby table.
“Let me do that, sir.”
Graceful fingers intercepted him, reaching for the patch. He looked up in surprise, forgetting that their lives would never be private. The Lady Eirie as well as Suna and several other female servants were always moving quietly in and out of their sphere unless ordered away. He had yet to question Suna or Eirie about the poisoned robe, so he resisted the idea of her coming close to Ambrea, although she had not seemed to be in any way responsible. Still, what could she do while he was sitting right there? He looked her over quickly for any kind of weapon and saw only a jeweled knife hanging sheathed from a decoratively linked and bejeweled waist chain.
“I would prefer it if you no longer wear decorative weaponry in the presence of your empress,” he said with a frown.
She seemed genuinely surprised, almost as if she had
forgotten it was there. She quickly reached to open the catch and handed the entire chain, including the knife, to him.
“I certainly don’t blame you, General, and I ought to have thought of it myself.”
“Where is the Lady Suna?” he asked her.
“She’s being held pending questioning,” Eirie replied. “I’m sorry, madam,” she said to Ambrea, bowing her head sadly. “I saw Suna lay out that robe for you. I was told it was poisoned. It’s just too horrible.” She reached for the pain patch, peeled off its backing, and gingerly applied it to Ambrea’s neck. Now that she was in the privacy of her rooms, Ambrea had shed all of her clothing, the weight of it too intense for her. She lay in bed under a light cover wrapped well with bandages except for the ones Ophelia had removed to facilitate movement. It would be immediately obvious to those serving her that she was weakened and injured, although if Ambrea could have her way she would never show weakness to any of her subjects. But she would have to settle for keeping it hidden in public and let speculations fly as they may.