Which is undoubtedly his intention.
Fortiss nods curtly, then shoots me a glance with such barely controlled fury it practically scorches me into the stone wall. I manage not to flinch, but give him back my brightest smile. He blinks, then collects himself.
“Then it’s agreed,” he announces. “We’ll get Lemille and you settled, Tennet, then we all can meet—but there’s no rush. We’ll allow you some time to shake the dust of your travels off. My stewards will fetch you in due course from your rooms.”
He waves and two men I hadn’t seen before emerge at the top of the stairs, trotting down halfway as Fortiss beckons the two lords to follow them. Tennet and Lemille willingly comply, and Fortiss waits until they’re almost through the doorway before turning to me.
“Lady Talia? I’ll summon you first. Be ready.”
There’s no doubt that the men at the top of the stairs hear him, but they stoically press on, their momentum carrying them into the First House and blessedly out of my sight. I press my lips together, struggling not to laugh as I nod formally to Fortiss.
This time, he doesn’t seem to share my amusement. With little more than a scowl, he turns and continues into the First House.
I glance down at the courtyard, but Caleb, the traitor, is nowhere to be seen. I trudge up the stairs to the First House, but I have no interest in returning to my rooms right away. I can’t slow down—and certainly can’t stop. I stomp down one corridor, then another, my mind churning. Why has my father returned to the First House, mere weeks after he left? Is there any trouble at the borders? Has he decided he needs more support from the First, whether in men or supplies? And what in the Light must he be thinking about Tennet’s claims…if he even believes him?
Maybe the two of them can spend the night yelling at each other, leaving the rest of us to dine in peace.
Every possibility assaults me, and none of them make me feel any better. I wind my way through the First House, my path finally taking me toward one of the manor house’s impressive overlooks. I could use some fresh air, that’s for sure. Who knows how long it’ll take Fortiss to summon everyone to meet? I’ll take these precious moments where freedom and possibility are still mine to command.
In this new world of lies and shadow, the only thing a warrior can truly command…is herself.
“Gent,” I whisper as I reach the long corridor near the top of the castle and see the sunshine pouring in through the doors at the far end. I’ve been thinking about my gorgeous Divh since I saw Marsh hurl Caleb far up into the sun-warmed air. He’s the only thing that feels right these days. “Gent.”
In my mind, he howls back, sending a surge of joy through me. I pick up the pace, angling for the wide overlook at the end of the corridor, a short leap away from the open sky. He’ll appear the moment I call him into this plane, I think. He’ll appear, and I will?—
A hand snakes out from the shadows, wrapping around my right arm like a vice, jerking me off my feet. No sooner do I draw breath to scream, than a second hand clamps over my mouth, dragging my head ruthlessly to the side.
“Quiet!” a voice hisses in my ear.
A warrior makes her opponent her weapon.
Chapter 6
Moving with my assailant’s momentum, I curl my hands around his forearm and leap sideways, launching up and out. My feet connect with the wall, and I take one, two steps, then leap, arcing out and around. Then I crash into him from behind, propelling him forward to the floor. It’s not until I land heavily on his back that I realize who I just dropped, and I roll off to the side.
“Fortiss! What in the blighted path?—”
I’ve underestimated his clear anger, whether at me or at my impressive defensive moves. He lunges for me and wraps an arm around my torso, dragging me across the hall and through a doorway. He all but hurls me into the center of the room and slams the door behind me.
“Will youstop!” I begin, trying to scramble away. But he’s on me a second later, his body draping over me just enough to flatten me face first to the floor, while he grabs my head in his hands and clamps tight, smothering my ears.
I’m so startled I freeze, like a kitten picked up by the scruff of its neck, and he pulls me back into the curl of his body just enough that he doesn’t crush the wind out of me. I’m overwhelmed by the sheer everything of him—the hard thud ofhis heart, the way his skin smells of wind and sky, the rasp of his breath. My own breath locks up in my throat, and my heart hurls itself against my ribcage, trying to bang its way to freedom.
“Pay no attention to anything but my voice,” he whispers urgently as my left hand flails ineffectively at his forearm, my right trapped beneath me. “Focus on my voice, only my voice. I’m telling you the secrets of winning a battle with a Third House fire lizard, and you’re desperate to know, consumed with focus, and you care about nothing or anything but the words that I’m saying, their texture and weave, their weight and force.”
He continues on, and still caught, mesmerized, I do as he say, relaxing in his hold and trying to breathe as quietly as possible. I listen to him pour words over me like he’s ladling perfumed oils into a bath, the colors of them whirling and swirling together, then draining out to return to his hands and be poured out again.
Faintly, so faintly, I feel a pressure deep within me, first in the crown of my head, then my chest, then at the base of my belly, a spinning spiral of energy that swoops down my body and is gone. But Fortiss doesn’t ease up with the torrent of words until my body loosens and I relax to the floor, lost in the endless flow.
Finally, he sags down over me, and in that moment, I feel the weight of him not as an enemy, not as a friend, not even as a comrade in arms…but as a man. The first man I ever truly thought might see me for who I was, who I might be. The first man whose flirtatious teasing shone a light down a dangerous path I yearned to follow.
Sudden awareness shoots through me, followed by a wave of prickling heat. Fortiss and I are no strangers to each other, after all. We’ve kissed—first by mistake, and then…well, then…
I desperately try not to move, not to do anything to ruin this moment like I did the last time. Because when we kissedin the caverns of this house, I wanted more—so much more. I wanted to feel the weight of him not just over me but inside me, to connect as closely as a man and woman could. I nearly got that wish, too, that fateful night…but I had too many secrets I couldn’t share, and I was far too awkward to know how to get what I wanted without betraying who I was. Because I wasn’t just an ordinary woman that night, I was a banded warrior and thus a heretic and an outlaw in the Protectorate. I couldn’t reveal myself then—wouldn’t.
But I did want him. Wantedthis. And now, with Fortiss draped over me as if he just saved my soul from the blighted path, my body remembers every last drop of that wanting, that need. I may know well the way of the warrior, but I have no blessed idea about the ways of women when it comes to wooing a man.
Still, it seems like his body pressed against me, his lungs heaving, his breath hot on my throat is a really,reallygood start. My heart kicks into a fast staccato, sending my blood rushing through me with a winding, skittering need. I draw in a careful breath, praying to the Light that I don’t embarrass myself, and whisper, “Fortiss?”
