Eyes of the Alchemist (21 page)

He gave a soft oath when he remembered he’d said she’d be returned unharmed. He must stop making threats, when he knew he would die rather than harm one hair on her head. He had not been brought up to show humility, though. To let her Tiana go would be to admit defeat. He changed his mind again. Tiana would not be sent home. She was his, and would stay his. A bane on the wench, she had him in a tangle of knots!

* * * *

Tiana took a deep breath and wished. The pile of gowns she’d tried and discarded disappeared, so did the tub of steaming water, the scented soap and the privacy screen which had kept her invisible from prying eyes. She took one last look in the mirror, then that too disappeared.

The enhancement of her image had taken her longer than she’d expected. Unused to rich fabrics and jewels her mind was befuddled with the different textures and colors. In the end she’d chosen a simple combination she thought might appease Kavan for her tardiness.

She wished the dish back into the sack she’d left at the foot of the alchemist’s tomb. Carrying anything would spoil the effect she’d wanted to create. She’d retrieve it later, when she had time to think more clearly.

The waiting charger knelt to her command and she mounted. They floated into the balmy air. Strange how golden it was, she thought, as if the sun was reluctant to leave the land. The clouds were streaked with its glory, the light flashed and sparked on the jewels woven into the charger’s mane.

Something soft drifted through her hair and she knew it was Lynx when the air around her shimmered into rainbow whispers. “You go with my love into your new life. Be happy, my daughter.”

Truarc was a distant, incandescent smile in the heavens. Did her sire think of the daughter he’d given to Kavan? Did he miss her?

As she neared the manor she heard the sounds of music and laughter. The people were celebrating Kavan’s safe return. To be loved like that would be special, yet he carried a heavy burden on his shoulders. That, she would share with him if he would allow it, but if he could not find the eyes . . .?

Something pricked at her brain, and then eluded her when she tried to capture it. She was too preoccupied to puzzle it out as she gently descended. The thought would surface unforced in its own time, it always did.

The manor entrance was unguarded. There was a moment when she wondered if she wasn’t being too theatrical, but it was too late to change her mind again. Kavan’s patience wasn’t infinite. She grinned at the notion, and then guided the charger through the entrance, across the courtyard and up the steps. At her command it reared, its front legs rapped on the huge, manor door. Bells jingled and jangled on silver hooves. Empty theatrics when there was no one to see the show, she thought, her mouth now dry with apprehension as she awaited an answer.

She was about to turn tail when a metal grill slid open and a trooper gazed at her. His face wreathed in smiles and his raucous whoop was taken up by other troopers.

The hubbub alerted Kavan. Adopting a casual stance, he leaned back in his seat and continued talking to Torma. The heavy doors creaked open, candles flickered in their sconces from the draught they created. The noise of talking died down. Excitement hung thickly in the air.

Torma stared towards the door his mouth almost hanging open. He began to smile. “My Lord, you must not miss this.”

 What had the maid been up to now? Kavan slowly turned, his eyes narrowing. But they didn’t stay that way, they shot open at the sight of his beloved and his heart ruptured into a thousand fragments of tenderness. He’d expected her to come to him penitent, not like a divine vision.

 The small, white charger she rode delicately high-stepped towards him. Its mane and tail were braided with jewels and bells, its wings extended up behind her forming a background that twinkled with crushed crystals and reflected light.

Tiana had dressed in his colors and wore a simple flowing gown of silver gossamer under the cloak he’d sent her. Her hair was drawn up through a finely wrought silver headpiece edged with amethyst. Its length cascaded in ripples of light to her waist. Like a mountain cat, the expression in her eyes was mysterious and intense. She looked neither to left or right, but straight at him, the light in her eyes displaying an endearing mixture of determination and shyness.

The honor she did him in her entrance pleased him. He rose to his feet when she came to a halt in front of the high table. She did not dismount to humble herself before him as others would have. A smile played around his mouth. Honor or no, she had a will of her own, and the Truarc love of pomp and drama. He stepped forward and held out a hand, palm extended.

She placed her palm against his in the manner of an equal. Her eyes were uncertain now. These were her terms, presented for everyone to see. He could take her for his mate without making her his equal, but the small concession from him would please her and seal their contract without rancor.

An awed gasp came from those present when he accepted her as such by extending his other hand. A current of awareness flowed between them when her second palm was placed against his. They were as one as their fingers entwined. “You’ve come then, Tiana.”

“Did you doubt that I would accept your
invitation
, Lord?” she said, her eyes as warm and loving as a caress. “You gave me seven dawns. I did not wish to experience your wrath.”

“Nor I your reticence.” He allowed the amusement in his eyes to show as he lifted her from the charger and whispered against her ear. “We are in accord then. Without my wrath and your reticence our relationship must consist of compliant loving, instead. I look forward to our first encounter.”

Breath hissed from between her teeth and color bloomed in her cheeks. He smiled at his small victory. His lady was not as self-assured as her grand entrance had suggested. She clicked her fingers to cover her confusion and the charger disappeared in a crackling explosion of purple and silver sparkles that amazed even him. Exclamations turned into applause.

“You’ve impressed them enough,” he murmured dryly and led her to the seat beside him. “We will let the people look at you before we retire . . . but first, you must be punished for keeping me waiting.” He tipped up her chin and kissed her long and hard, much to the delight of his people and the amusement of his troopers.

As if the first kiss in the hall was not enough, Kavan paid so much attention to her that Tiana’s head began to swim. From his own plate he fed her the finest titbits, and bade her drink of the wine from his goblet. He was in fine command of himself. His eyes were full of laughter, his fingers only too eager to caress her hand or her wrist in possession.

Now and again he bore her hand to his lips and gently pressed a kiss in the palm. She could feel the impatience growing in him as the toasts were drunk. The wine was sweet and heady, the music beat in time with her pulse and the dancers whirled in a dizzying display of colors. Enjoying the festivities, she relaxed.

“Will you dance with me, Kavan?” she asked, smiling at him.

There was a murmur when he led her on to the floor. A drum began to beat. His arm circled her waist and he gazed down at her. “You know this?”

She managed a faint smile and nodded. Although dancing had been forbidden in the temple, the novices had danced when the guardians slept. She kept her eyes held to his when they began to circle to the rhythm. The tempo slowed and they moved face to face. Tension rippled gently through his muscles. Her hands moved up to his shoulders – his spanned her waist. When he drew her close against his body her every nerve became aware of him.

“Tell me, Tiana,” he whispered against her ear. “How did you manage to dance on the high place and be in the market at the same time?”

She couldn’t lie to him now. “I asked the wishing dish to send several images of me to partner each other and confuse you. I’m surprised it fooled you.”

“It didn’t, but I wanted to hear it from your own lips,” and he rumbled with laughter.

Warmth leached from his skin, bearing a subtle scent of sandalwood mixed with musk. The fragrance took over her mind. His very closeness dominated, drawing her into his presence so she became part of him. The pulses of his body pounded in time with hers. She moved with him, joined with his thoughts, and found his thoughts a concentration of all that was physical. The synergy of their movement was less the dance than the need of their bodies to familiarize with the other.

“It’s time we retired,” he said, his eyes a smoky conflagration of amaranth.

She murmured something deep in her throat, incoherent to herself but significant to him as a response. Sweeping her up in his arms he strode from the hall with her amid a chorus of cheers — cheers he didn’t seem to notice.

She gazed up at him. His eyes were night-dark, enigmatic and concentrated on her. He was smiling a little. Perhaps, she thought, with the prospect of the conquest to come. He strode confidently through the corridors, carrying her without effort.

Feelings swept through her body – feelings that had been alien to her until she’d met him. There was apprehension, but more exciting was her sexual awareness of him. The thread of connection came from a far deeper level, making her conscious of her own weakness and his strength.

He bestowed on her a smile so wickedly tender that she thought her body might burst with the ripeness of wanting him. He entered his chamber and kicked the door shut behind them. Night had finally arrived, but framed in the open window was a dazzling display of shooting lights.

“A present from the gods, perhaps,” he suggested when she murmured with delight.

“Or friction. The convergence path is strewn with cosmic dust.”

 He set her on her feet, saying quietly. “We’ll not talk about my quest tonight.”

Arms around each other they watched the display for a while and then he turned her against him. He slid the cloak from her shoulders and threw it aside. When her gown pooled around her ankles a cool breeze kissed her skin. His eyes took their fill of her, then his palms grazed against her jutting breasts, bringing them shockingly alive.

She closed her eyes and forgetting her temple training enjoyed his caresses without guilt. Shy at first, as her body reacted to his touch with increasing delight she began to revel in its song. His mouth against her skin fired a trail of goosebumps, his tongue made delicious inroads until any shred of resistance fled and she was trembling and open to him.

The breath he took was almost a shudder of ecstasy when she reached out to help him disrobe. He stood before her naked, god-like in his strength and beauty. When he pulled her gently against him she had no thought to resist – quite the opposite.

For a moment her tongue touched against the salty hollow of his throat and the dormant pulse began to throb.

“Later, you will take the time to know me” he said, and lifted her, so they were together but not joined. Her legs slid around his waist. He teased and excited her until the rigid tip of his maleness slipped gently into the moist depths of her. It was a moment of sublime surrender, of recognizing his need to conquer. Their eyes met for a moment, then he bore her down on to the bed.

“Kavan, my Lord,” she whispered, her breath catching in ecstatic little whispers when his lips touched against hers.

“Lord and master,” he urged, holding back so every nerve in her body went on hold instead of taking the lunge towards fulfillment.

He was cruel, a tease. She wouldn’t say it!

His tongue flicked inside her ear. “Say it, Tiana.” She turned her head to one side, refusing to answer. The chuckle he gave was like honey. He trickled tiny kisses over her breasts and when she wriggled the contact between them increased.

Her breasts throbbed and her skin flamed from top to bottom. How could he hold back . . . how could he when they were so close that one tiny push . . .? She tightened her leg muscles and pushed. He groaned as the full length of him slid inside her.

Closing around him she gave a cry of triumph. It was short-lived. Pinned to the bed she was at his mercy, and he made the most of it.

Fifteen almost unbearably erotic tix later she panted. “Please, my Lord, and Master.”

“Say it again.”

“Lord . . . and master . . . my lord and . . .” Her voice dropped to a caress, for each time she said it he rewarded her until his tongue stopped her voice by stroking in and out of her mouth in a pounding, rhythmic tandem.

The wild ecstatic cry she gave when they climaxed echoed with his deeper one. She lay against him, limbs entwined, her heart beating wildly against his. After a while he propped himself up on one elbow and gazed down at her. A smile danced around his lips. “You pleasure me greatly, Tiana.”

“I did not think the act of loving would be a creation of such exquisite delight.”

“Are you telling your lord and master you love him, Tiana?”

She felt deliciously lethargic, as if she’d ingested too much desert honeycomb. She smiled. “Your imagination is as developed as your arrogance if it fires such lofty words into your barbarian ears.”

He grinned and nibbled her swollen bottom lip. “No doubt I could make you say it.”

“No doubt,” she mumbled. “Do you mean to consume me, Kavan?”

“Completely. Will you mind?” His mouth moved to her throat then grazed downwards between her breasts and over her stomach. 

Taken by surprise she caught her breath in shock. “Oh!” A few minitix later came a softer, drawn out. “Oh, my love . . . no, I don’t mind at all.”

Later, satiated beyond measure they lay quiet and drowsy in each other’s arms. Kavan was almost asleep; she could sense the slowness of his brain rhythms. “I didn’t see Rowena at your feast.”

“Rowena was a traitor and she embraced death for her part in the uprising.”

Although shock rioted through her she didn’t let it show, allowing him to drift into slumber. She slid out of his arms and gazed down at him, tears in her eyes. What manner of man was this who would kill his own mother? He was a paradox.

Taking advantage of his vulnerability she entered his mind. She had to know.