Steel's Edge (25 page)

Someone was watching her. Charlotte turned her head. Across from her, Richard sat in the contoured seat. He still wore the same clothes, smelling of smoke. His hair was a mess. His arm rested in a sling. He was ridiculously handsome, and his dark eyes were warm, almost inviting.

Last night was a blur. She remembered being so tired, waiting for Richard and George to return. George's story made no sense, and she chased Richard on the deck and demanded to know if he let George kill his own father. Her mind boggled at the idea that he would force the child to live with that kind of guilt. It would scar George in a way nobody could heal.

Richard looked her straight in the eye, standing there against the backdrop of the burning city, like some beautiful demon, and said nothing. Then she raged at him and accused him of being heartless. He had the strangest look in his eyes, then he told her John Drayton killed himself. She believed him. Richard didn't lie.

And then he'd asked her if she thought he was a monster.

She wanted to tell him then. She wanted to explain the rush of gratitude she felt when he offered her his arm on the bow of the brigantine. She wanted to tell him that she admired him for making a stand and that she wished she could've met him before all this happened, before she had thrown her life away.

Then Jason's crew boarded the ship, and she had nearly fainted like some weak-nerved fool. Her legs refused to support her, and she went down like a cloth doll. Somehow, she had gone the entire thirty-two years of her life without fainting once, and now she'd managed to almost do it twice in a day. It had to be some sort of record. So shameful. Some partner she turned out to be. It's a wonder she didn't die of sheer embarrassment.

Richard had come to her rescue. She remembered his scent as he wrapped his arm around her, the smell of sweat and smoke and sandalwood, a rich, smooth, earthy, powerful redolence that took her to places she had no business going. She had said something in her addled state she couldn't remember.

“Where are the boys?”

“In front,” he said. “They insisted on driving.”

“And the dog?”

“He's with them. You will have to name him at some point.”

“Where are we?”

“Half an hour from Camarine Manor,” Richard was still watching her with that warm look in his eyes. “We're almost there.”

“Already?”

“It's late afternoon,” he said. “We left Kelena at dawn and rode nonstop through the day.”

“Do you still have the ledgers?”

He reached into a bag lying by his feet and pulled out an edge of the small red leather book.

It slowly dawned on her then. The horrors of last night were over, and she could let them fade from her, as if it were all a terrible nightmare. They had their proof. They would take it to the Marshal of the Southern Provinces, and the slave trade would be no more. She'd been too spent and traumatized to recognize it last night, but now she finally understood.

They had won.

She looked at Richard. “We won.”

“We did.” He smiled. It was a genuine, beautiful smile that pulled her as if she were a speck of iron and he a powerful magnet, its lure so sudden and strong, she pressed her back deeper against the carriage seat. She'd kissed him last night before passing out. She was almost sure of it.

“Are you all right, my lady?” he asked.

That “my lady” slid over her soul like soft velvet over skin. “Fine, thank you.”

She waited, but he said nothing more. He made no move toward her. He was probably letting her collect her wits. She thought he wanted her, but maybe she'd read too much into a look. Maybe there was no mutual attraction. Charlotte searched her memory, trying to scrounge up some definitive evidence that he was drawn to her. She could find none. She thought she heard something in his voice or saw something in his eyes, but she barely knew him. They'd been together for a mere two days. She could've been mistaken.

She had thrown away everything she was taught and willingly walked into hell, where she had murdered countless people. It filled her with self-loathing. She hated what she'd become, and she wanted reassurance that she still deserved to be loved. It was coloring her judgment. Richard had made it clear where his priorities lay. True, he always addressed her with complete courtesy and tried to protect her from harm, but she was a useful tool. Any man with exposure to the Weird's customs would afford her that courtesy, because she was a blueblood and a woman.

She had to stop deluding herself. She had let her fantasies carry her away once, and she was now perfectly aware of the monsters and heartbreak that lay in wait on that path. She'd made a fool of herself already. If he had any tact—and Richard had tact in spades—he wouldn't mention it.

She summoned whatever poise she could muster. “How's your wound?”

“Better. It's so kind of you to ask, my lady.”

And why in the world did his “my lady” sound like an endearment to her ears? Charlotte scanned his injury. It was regenerating well, but a budding infection promised to blossom into a serious problem. “I'll need to heal you when we stop.”

“Why not now?” He touched the curve of the seat next to him.

She blinked. He was sprawled on the seat, tall, handsome, dangerous, and he was smiling. It was a wicked smile, inviting, no, seductive, as if he was promising her that if she sat next to him, he would claim her, and she would enjoy it.

Get a grip. You're not some schoolgirl.
Charlotte forced a shrug and invited him to the seat next to her with a nonchalant wave of her hand. “Why not?”

Richard rose and sat next to her. She caught a hint of the same scent she remembered from last night, a rich, slightly spicy sandalwood mixed with smoke. Gods, this wasn't any better.

Don't look at his eyes or his smile, and you'll be fine.
Her gaze paused on the sharp line of his jaw, his lips . . . She wanted to kiss him.

Argh.

She forced herself to concentrate on the injury, which was hidden by his doublet. His arm was out of the sling. “Why did you put your doublet back on?”

“It seemed like a bad idea to travel surrounded by cutthroats with my bum arm on display. Jason's people are like sharks, you see. A hint of weakness, and they'll rip you to pieces.”

“Take off your shirt.”

“I'm afraid I may need some help.”

She could've sworn there was a hint of humor in his voice. Perhaps he found her attraction amusing. It seemed out of character for him to toy with her, but then, men did strange things when women were involved. Perhaps he was laughing over her discomfort in his head.

She had to stop letting her thoughts run around like wild horses. They were carrying her off to crazy places. He needed help getting the jacket off? Fine. She would assist him. Charlotte stood up and gently helped him pull the doublet off, revealing a long-sleeved dark tunic underneath. She would've liked to yank it off of him, just to make her point, but her professional pride wouldn't permit her to purposefully cause pain to a patient.

His arm was still covered by the sleeve of the tunic. Would she have to peel it off him? Her mind conjured up images of his body beneath the tunic, the tight, strong muscle under the bronzed skin. No. No, that was completely out of the question.

“Do you have a knife?” Charlotte asked.

He pulled a knife out and offered it to her, handle first.

“Perfect.” She took the knife and slit his sleeve, exposing the bandage. She handed the knife back to him. He reached for it. His fingers brushed hers, and every nerve in her stood at full alert. Utterly ridiculous.

She removed the tape and the bandages. The cut hadn't bled as much as she expected. Richard had a remarkable talent for quick recovery. She touched the gash, letting the current of golden sparks wash over it. Richard held completely still.

“You're permitted to wince,” she said.

“Only if you promise not to tell anyone.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”

She placed her hand over the wound, her fingers touching his carved biceps, and channeled her magic, repairing injured tissue, melding the blood vessels, and purging any hints of infection. She sealed the skin, painfully aware that he was sitting right there, only inches away. She wanted his tunic off. She wanted to touch that bronzed skin and slide her hand up the hard ridges of his stomach to caress his chest.

“All done,” she said.

“Thank you.”

An ugly mess of a burn scar crossed his shoulder a couple of inches above the wound. The edges of the scar were perfectly straight as if someone had heated a rectangle of metal and pressed it against the flesh.

“May I?”

“Of course.”

She touched it. The heated metal had to have been held to the skin for at least a few seconds. “Were you branded?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

Barbaric, to inflict this sort of pain on a human being. “Who did this?”

“I did it.”

She looked at him. “You did this to yourself? Why?”

He sighed. “I had a tattoo on my shoulder. I wanted it gone.”

“And you thought disfiguring yourself was the best way to go about it?”

“It seemed fitting at the time.”

“What in the world was on your shoulder that you wanted it gone so badly?”

“My wife's name,” he said.

“Oh.” She pulled back. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry.”

“It's all right,” he said. “I've come to terms with it. I was young and very much in love. I did ridiculous things like pick wildflowers and leave them on her balcony, so when she woke up, she would see them first thing in the morning.”

No man had ever brought her flowers. Elvei favored more substantial gifts. It must've been so sweet to wake up to a balcony filled with wildflowers. It was at odds with who he was now: a grim swordsman who killed so efficiently, it could've been an art.

“I wrote dreadful poetry. After we were married, I'd hide small gifts for her around the house.”

“I haven't known you that long, but that doesn't seem like you, Richard. You are . . .”

“Bitter? Fatalistic?”

“Practical.”

He grinned at her. “As I said, I was young and romantic. Or a sappy moron, as my brother put it. Marissa hated the Mire. She hated everything about it. I wanted her more than anything, so I became what I thought she wanted in order to win her. It worked. She married me.”

“She must've loved you.” How could you not love him?

Richard sighed. “She decided I was the best she could get under the circumstances. The Mire is sectioned off from the rest of the Edge: impassable swamps on both sides, the State of Louisiana on the border with the Broken, the Dukedom of Louisiana in the Weird on the other. The trek to the Broken is long and dangerous, and a lot of us from the old Mire families can't pass through the boundary. Too much magic in our blood. On the other hand, the border with the Dukedom is heavily guarded. Louisiana is aware that the Edge exists, and it uses the Mire to dump its exiles, so they don't want anyone coming back across the boundary. The swamp resources are limited, and the number of people keeps rising as Louisiana shoves more and more of its undesirables across the border.”

“It sounds hellish,” she said honestly.

“It has a certain primeval, savage beauty. In the morning, when the mist rises above the water and the giant alligators sing, the swamps have an almost otherworldly air. My family was . . . better off than some. We were numerous, we owned land, and we had a reputation of retaliating fast and hard.”

She could believe that. A whole clan of swordsmen like him would give anyone pause. “And your wife?”

“She was born in the Mire, a daughter of an exile from the Dukedom of Louisiana and a local woman.” He leaned closer. “You see, our family also had Vernard. He was an exile, a blueblood of the finest bloodline. His entire family had been sent to the Mire with him, and my uncle married his daughter. Vernard took over our education. I was his finest pupil.”

So that was it. Like she, Richard had had the benefit of personal instruction from a blueblood peer of the realm. That's why his manners and poise were so polished. Living in the Mire must've been terrible for Richard. To have the self-awareness and know that there is a better place out there that was out of reach.

“I wasn't like most men of the Mire, and that appealed to Marissa. She had grown up on her father's stories of mansions and balls, and I was as close to that as she could find in the swamp. She was very beautiful, and I was like a blind man who suddenly saw the sun.” A mordant smile stretched his lips. “Kaldar almost never stops and thinks about the consequences of his actions. Something is fun or not fun, and my brother's fun often lands him in interesting places such as jails or castles belonging to California robber barons. Where other people see certain death, my brother sees an opportunity for a hilarious, thrilling adventure. But when I got the tattoo, Kaldar warned me that marrying her was a bad idea.”

“Wow.”

“That should've stopped me in my tracks, but it didn't. I married her. She wanted a clean house free of the swamp's mud, and I gave it to her. She wanted clothes from the Weird. I bought them when I could find a smuggler.”

“So what went wrong?” It was inappropriate to pry, but she couldn't help herself.

“Her grandmother died.”

“Was it very traumatic?” Sometimes the death of a family member caused an irreversible shift in one's life. She was a prime example of that.

“No. Marissa's grandfather had passed away earlier, and her grandmother left the entirety of their savings to her. It was enough to buy her passage out of the Mire into the Broken, purchase false documents, and start a new life there.”

Charlotte recoiled. “But you couldn't go.”