“Riann!” Never had his name sounded sweeter as it flew from Tariel’s lips. Her sultry voice echoed in the loft as she came, her juices gushing onto his fingers. Riann growled as he slid two of them inside her entrance, and her shocked cry made him grin. He pumped them in and out of her, and she strained against his hand, trying to take him deeper than he couldgo.
“More,” she demanded, and Riann was more than happy to oblige. He unfastened his trousers and slid into her from behind in one smoothmotion.
“Gods,” he groaned as her wet warmth surrounded him. She felt incredible, better than any other woman he’d had before. She clawed at his leg with her hand, urging him deeper inside her, and he obliged, powerless to resist the wild passion within her. He buried himself within her over and over, pushing them both closer to climax with eachthrust.
As he made love to Tariel, he watched over her shoulder as she pushed Calrain’s tunic leggings down just enough to free him. Her small hand closed around his cock, and though part of Riann instinctively wanted to look away, he was captivated as he watched her stroke the other man. He imagined it was his own, and that only made him burn hotter forher.
The three of them made love together, and when they were finished, they curled up together on the bedrolls, spent and utterly sated. As Riann stared at the rafters, his left arm around Tariel’s shoulders, Calrain curled an arm around her abdomen, cuddling her frombehind.
It should seem strange, the three of them sleeping together like this. But it was the most natural thing in the world, and Riann was growing used to Calrain. He might not be a warrior, but he was quick on his feet and quite a good actor. Riann’s respect for him continued togrow.
Though they meant to continue their discussion from earlier, the three of them slipped into an exhausted sleep. Riann did not know how long they slept, but when he opened his eyes again, night had fallen. It was pitch dark inside thebarn.
“Mmm,” Tariel said groggily as he nudged her awake. She curled her naked body around him like a cat, snuggling against his chest. “A few moreminutes.”
“You don’t have to move.” He kissed the top of her head. “I just need to borrow your light so I can feed thehorses.”
Tariel’s eyes opened, her blue irises shining in the darkness. “It’s pitch dark,” she said with some surprise, sitting up. With a wave of her hand, she conjured another light. The soft ball of white energy illuminated her naked torso, and Riann’s mouth watered at the sight of her breasts. His fingers twitched as he resisted the urge to take one of the round globes in his hands, and he instead pulled on his trousers and climbed down theladder.
By the time he was halfway through feeding them, Calrain and Tariel had joined them. “Are we to move on then?” Tariel asked, stroking one of the midnight war steeds. They were down to three horses—the rest they had freed one by one during the journey, since they were far enough away that Lord Sowell would not easily findthem.
Riann shook his head. “I’ve been thinking,” he said, pouring oats into the second feed trough, “that it might be best to lie low here for a few days. We can conserve our strength and wait for the witch hunters to lose our trail before we continue on to thecapital.”
“Like a fox going to ground,” Tariel saidthoughtfully.
Riann smiled. “Exactly.”
“I think that we should continue on our journey, and try to get as much distance between us and Sir Jerrold as possible,” Calrain said, a troubled frown on his face. “Sir Jerrold is like a bloodhound—he can sniff out even the faintest of scents, and he never fails to chase down his quarry. He will find ushere.”
Riann and Tariel exchanged wary glances. “I don’t see how he could trace us here,” Tariel said. “He will not be looking for us in an abandoned village. I don’t even know how anyone could find this place without stumbling about byaccident.”
“Rushing will only endanger us,” Riann reminded Calrain. “Sir Jerrold will be on the lookout for a fleeing party of three, and if we are on the road while he is sniffing about, that will only make it easier for him to chase us down. Better to hunker down here and wait a few days for our trail to gocold.”
“If you say so,” Calrain said, though he looked dubious. As he turned away to get a fire going to cook dinner, Riann felt a twinge of doubt. Could Calrain be right? Were they making amistake?
Don’t be foolish,Riann thought. He wasn’t the type to discount another’s comments out of hand, but Riann had more experience with this sort of thing—during his knight training, he’d taken it upon himself to learn how to track, and he knew how their opponent would think. They only needed to stay hidden for a few days, and then they could make their way to the capital, and hopefully find a way to the Empire fromthere.
18
The first dayTariel and her men spent in the abandoned village was fraught with tension. Calrain was jumpy, jerking at every flickering shadow. Once, he went for his dagger when they heard something scampering around the corner from them, but it had turned out to be only a cat. Riann had teased him mercilessly for that, but Tariel hadn’t blamed him for his paranoia. After her encounter with Sir Jerrold, she did not want to be caught unawares should he come upon theircamp.
But Riann’s hunch proved correct. For two days, they lived in the village undisturbed. Gradually, the three of them relaxed. It was nice to enjoy each other’s company openly, without fear of discovery, and Tariel was pleased to see Riann and Calrain growing closer to each other. If the three of them were to be bound to each other for life, she wanted her men to be fastfriends.
Tariel spent her free time practicing her magic, while Zolotais instructed the men on the basics of the Maroyan language. Tariel focused on honing skills she’d tried in the past but was previously unable to do—picking locks, coaxing plants into growth spurts, levitating objects and hurtling them through the air. Riann was delighted to see her using offensive magic, and he’d carved a few stakes for her, then used his knife to score target marks on the trunk of an old tree for her to aimat.
The practice was tiring, but the nightly lovemaking sessions more than made up for it. Tariel had never been so invigorated. She felt everything more intensely now—the wind in her hair, the sunshine on her skin, the brush of one of her men’s fingers against her cheek. Her other senses were more heightened too—she could hear a rabbit scampering through the bushes from fifty yards away, and see it too, if there were no obstacles in her line of sight. She wondered if Maroyan mages took up hunting as a pastime—she imagined she would be quite good at it if she put her mind toit.
But then again, was it even necessary for her to hunt? She could probably kill a rabbit just fine with her magic alone. Tariel might have already attempted such, if the thought of using her magic to kill did not turn her stomach. Though she knew quite well animals were killed all the time to put food on the table, she had never had to do the deed herself. The idea of using her power to end another’s life, even an animal’s…she wasn’t ready to confront ityet.
While these thoughts kept Tariel wide awake, Calrain and Riann slumbered peacefully on either side. She wished she could close her eyes and sleep with them, but she was still far too energized. Using her magic to silence her movements, she slipped back into her dress and climbed down theladder.
“Where are you off to at this time of night?” Zolotais asked as she stepped outside. The desert spirit was standing guard, her ethereal form a glowing beacon in the cold, darknight.
“I am restless,” Tariel confessed. “All of this lovemaking has filled me with far too much energy. I am hoping a walk will help calmme.”
Zolotais chuckled a bit. “You might consider practicing your magic while you walk about,” she said. “That will help burn off some of that excessenergy.”
Tariel nodded, then promised Zolotais she would not leave the village borders before she headed out. The scuff of her boots against the dirt paths was the only sound in the village at this time of night. The two cats that lurked around had successfully chased off the rats, and no other animals dared set foot in the village. Tariel looked around, wondering if she could find the two felines—she had tried to approach them earlier, but they had scattered almostinstantly.
