I don’t. It was never a good plan—merely the best I could come up with in the desperation of the moment, with Ilsevel’s life in the balance, and my own people in hot pursuit at our heels.
When I give no immediate answer, Ilsevel persists. “And what of you? Would you stay with me and the Tarhyn Tribe?”
I shake my head. “I would return to the Hidden City. Speak to Elder Halaema and the others, explain to them what has happened.”
She frowns. “What about thevelra?”
I glance down at the winding cord, which shimmers in the tall grass between us. We both know that any degree of separation from my bride causes me incapacitating pain. Until the night ofsilmael,and the confirmation of our marriage bond, it will be thus. “Our . . . activities of last night will make thevelramore lax than it was,” I point out.
“Lax enough that you may ride several days away from me without making yourself vulnerable to dark magic?”
“No,” I admit. “Not that lax.”
Her jaw tightens. “There would seem to be a problem with your plan then, warlord.”
A little growl rumbles in my throat, and my fingers tighten around the travel cup, swirling the remaining water and ilsevel residue. “I cannot risk taking you with me back to the Hidden City.”
“You’d rather risk leaving me with strangers while you put yourself in harm’s way?” I bite my tongue, but silence doesn’t satisfy her. She snatches the cup from my hands and takes another gulp before pointing a finger at me. “Don’t have an answer for that one, do you!”
“Careful,” I say, reclaiming the cup. “You shouldn’t drink too much.”
Ilsevel shrugs. “It feels different now. Warming, invigorating, but not quite so . . . overwhelming. Does that make sense?”
I don’t know if it makes sense. Nothing about her does. “Perhaps your bond to Diira influences your body’s reactions,” I suggest. “I cannot say for certain. No human has ever bonded to a licorneir. Not truly bonded, that is.”
Her brow puckers. “Have humans tried to form the bond?”
A shadow falls across my soul. “Miphates have wrought dark spellwork.Drothlar, we call it—cursebound. It can look very similar to thevelra, only twisted. Wrong in its very essence. It never lasts and always ends in disaster for both parties involved. But for a short while, the bond can seem profound indeed. I’ve seen it attempted once or twice—always female Miphates, youngwomen who have not yet lost their ability to perceive the licorneir with their own eyes.” I hesitate before clarifying: “Virgins.”
Ilsevel considers this, frowning down at her own hands, folded demurely in her lap. After a while, she speaks out loud the thought we both share: “Your people are going to believe I have cursebound Diira.”
I hate to say it, but there can be no benefit in withholding the truth from her now. “They already believe you have cursebound me.”
She lifts her head, her gaze following after Diira. Her licorneir and mine have wandered together along the banks of the pond, their heads close as though in private conference with one another. Elydark was always drawn to Nyathri, and that does not seem to have changed with her becoming Diira. They are a sight indeed, two majestic beings, who do not truly belong in a world like this and yet are the only thing which can make this world right and whole.
“I am no virgin anymore,” Ilsevel says abruptly. She turns back to me. “Is that not an argument in my favor? I am no virgin, yet I can see the unicorn and bond to her. How could that be if not for thevelra?”
I shake my head. “Unfortunately, my love, you still fit the definition of virgin.”
She stares at me. I can almost see the images playing out behind her eyes, memories of all we have done to and for each other over the last few hours. Then she laughs and tosses her hands. “That’sridiculous!”
“And yet.”
“So, until you—how is it you so delicately put it?—until youshakhme, I am still considered pure and maidenly in the eyes of your people?”
“I didn’t say that. But officially—”
“Well then, get on with it!” She leans toward me, planting her hands in the grass, her eyes bright with inner fire. “Take my maidenhead here and now. Would that not solve one problem for us at least? Would they not then see my bond to Diira is true and not the result of some Miphates’ manipulation?”
Despite all the exertions of last night, I find myself unexpectedly aroused by her fury. The wind picks up, tossing her wild hair, drawing her scent into my nostrils, and I am hot and swollen in an instant, half-convinced this is the very solution we need. Damn the woman for getting under my skin like this!
My hand snakes out, grabs her by the back of her head, and drags her to me. I kiss her fiercely, viciously, without a trace of gentleness, and feel in my blood the burning drive of a warlord, a conqueror. But she is no foe to be easily subdued; she is my match in every way. She kisses me back, her fingers gripping my cheeks, my hair, my neck, her mouth hungry and hard. But when she reaches for the belt of my trousers, I push her back from me. We stare at one another, breathing roughly, our gazes like warring blades sparking against each other.
I shake my head. “No,zylnala,” I say, my breath hot against her lips. “When I take you like that, it will be because we are bothaching with such desire, we cannot help ourselves. Not for any other purpose. I won’t let anyone steal that pleasure from me.”
She bares her teeth. “You are impossible.”
I tip my chin slightly, looking at her from under the ledge of my brow.
