His face hardened, and Nessa held her breath for a second. What was she thinking, asking him such a thing? But then he began to speak, as if heweretelling her a story. His story.
“There was greed and treachery everywhere I looked. Beornhæth, ruler of the southern Pictish kingdom of Niuduera was in league with Northumbria. He marched with Ecgfrith to put down our rebellion. Still more treachery had warned him of the planned attack, and they were met with so much force that our dead could scarcely be counted. For fourteen years after that, our people were no better than slaves, paying tribute with men and gold to a king who would have us live as captives on our own land.Drest mac Donuelfailed as King. He was not strong enough to rally all of the people to fight, or even force them to. He did not punish those who had betrayed us.”
“And so you killed him.”
He looked at her, his expression hard, the stark black tattoos on his face melding into the shadows in the firelight. He looked fierce and powerful and confident. Every inch the warrior King that he was. She shivered.
“Aye.”
The word held no remorse.
Nessa exhaled slowly.
“Oh,” she whispered. Despite herself, despite everything, she was finding it arousing, the power and certainty he exuded. He was a warrior, a protector, allman. She could not deny that it was a thrill even to be sitting here beside him, this ancient King from her childhood bedtime stories.
He reached out and placed a hand on her hair, smoothing it. His touch sent an electric current racing through her body. The tension between them seemed like a living, breathing thing. The butterflies came alive in the pit of her stomach.
“I know that violence does not sit well with you Ashta. You are a gentle soul. But it needed to be done. He was in the pocket of our enemy. I wouldn’t kill a man without cause, or only for my own gain.”
“I know you wouldn’t. I know you had to do it.”
He nodded, satisfied that she understood. “I was there, at the Battle of Two Rivers, before I became King. Word had reached Ecgfrith before we even mounted our horses that we were preparing to fight. There were traitors and spies everywhere then, even among my own people. No one could be trusted.”
No wonder he had suspected her of being a spy. She supposed she was lucky to have survived her unexplained appearance at Tallorc.
“The first thing I did when I had the power to do it was rid my people of Ecgfrith’s treachery. Many died, but eventually I surrounded myself with those I could trust.”
“Ecgfrith is your cousin?”
He looked down at her, his eyes stony. “Aye. Our mothers were sisters. But in my heart, we are not kin.”
“No. I would feel the same way.”
“Ecgfrith assembled an army and headed north. He had help fromBeornhæth, ruler of Niuduera, a Pictish kingdom. But then you would know that, being from Fife.” The glint in his eyes told her he was teasing. “When we reached Moncreiffe, we concealed ourselves and waited. The men on horseback came first, and we ambushed them. We had them outnumbered at least two to one, but thenBeornhæthrounded the hill with his traitorous army of southern Picts, and the slaughter began. So many of my people fell, you could walk across their bodies for a mile and never touch the earth.”
“How terrible…”
“I could not live, and see the lands once ruled by my grandfather overrun by the Saxons, and my people made slaves to their king. And I could not live, knowing that it was only a matter of time before all of Pictavia was conquered in the same way. These lands, these people, are mine.”
Several moments passed in silence, and when he looked down at her she could see that his mind was no longer on matters of war and politics. His eyes were dark and his whole body held a certain strain, as if he was only just holding himself back from moving closer. The energy humming between them thickened until Nessa was certain there must be a palpable force pushing them to come together. She was suddenly aware of every single one of her heartbeats, while at the same time every sound and sight around them faded into oblivion. She could only see Bridei, and he was beautiful and fierce.
The moment, only seconds long, seemed to drag on for an eternity, until finally he did move closer, slipping his hand through her hair to clasp the base of her skull and tip her face up to his. There was an almost frightening intensity in his eyes as he stared into hers. “And I always, always, protect what is mine, Nessa.”
His. Was she his? A part of her, still loyal to a past she couldn’t return to, thought of Nathan and the promises they had made to one another. A deeper, more primitive part answered:Aye, I am yours. Somehow, I always have been.
He leaned in so that his mouth was just beside her ear and she could feel his warm breath there. His scent surrounded her from his heated skin; a deep, woodsy, spiciness that filled her head. “There is something that I need to know.”
She was breathless. Her heart pounded dangerously fast. “What?”
“This.”
His fingers gripped her tighter and pulled her closer. Their mouths touched lightly at first, tentatively, as if he were just tasting her. He ran his tongue gently along her bottom lip, and his hand, still tangled in her hair, began to tremble slightly. He pulled back just far enough to look into her eyes for a moment, then his mouth crashed down on hers with a desperation that she felt, too. Her lips parted for his tongue as it thrust against hers in a way that felt somehow more intimate than any other kiss, as if he could reach parts of her body and mind that no one else ever had, or ever would again.
He kissed her hard and long, as if he were trying to consume her, until her jaw ached with the force of it. In contrast, her body was softening, flooding with heat and the restless fever of desire. She clenched her thighs together to try to contain the hollow throbbing that had begun as her body begged to be filled. She was floating, losing all sense of space and time and even herself. She had never, ever, felt this way from just a kiss. If she could have stayed like that, kissing him forever, she probably would have.
An almost violent shudder went through him and he pulled away, his breathing harsh and his eyes wild as he looked at her. “Ashta, you make me senseless.”
She didn’t understand why—or how—he had stopped. Her body still felt like it was floating, her mind felt heavy and dreamy, and she felt all tingly, as if she was standing too close to a downed electric wire.
