by Dark, Raven
“Oh no! Are we late?” A familiar voice rang out beside Steel.
I gasped, peering past him in disbelief. Gita, Tari, and Yaela raced toward us. Friends I hadn’t seen in months, those three Violets I’d met at the late Lord Falnar’s estate, what now seemed like a hundred years ago.
“Did we make it on time?” Yaela puffed, her long thin braids swinging before she stopped by my side.
“We were hoping we would get here before it was all over,” Tari chirped, out of breath.
“Wait…you…how did you…” I trailed off and hugged them all close. “I can’t believe you’re all here!”
“Ladies, how the hell did you get here?” Sheriff looked around. “Where is Lord Bain?”
“It’s a long story, General.” Gita looked a little sad. “We’ll tell you later. Don’t want to hold up the ceremony.”
Worry pricked at me. I didn’t like that look. Actually, all three women looked drained, exhaustion and sunken cheeks making them look like they were about to fall over at any moment.
“All right, if everyone is here and ready?” Vakaal said, bringing my focus back on the ceremony.
Surrounded by horses, Violets, Dark Legion, and Critians, Steel held my hand and presented me to Vakaal. Someone behind me placed a crown of ribbons and greenery on my head. Facing Vakaal, Steel and I raised our conjoined hands as Kash stepped in front of us.
“Today we will witness the binding of two into one,” Vakaal imparted. On his sleeve was a wide ribbon in scarlet. This he handed to Kash who bound my hand and wrist to Steel’s. The satin ribbon flowed around my Master’s skin and mine, mimicking our joined hearts, giving a physical representation of my blood combining with his.
“Two bodies,” Vakaal continued, Kash stepping away, “with one heart, shall today be bound by oath, to honor and obey, to bleed and breathe as one, through bone, tears, and voice. May you honor your woman, Steel of the Dark Legion.” He dipped his thumb in a small bowl on the table. “May your days and nights always be with her protection in mind.” He smeared his thumb on Steel’s forehead. “By the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Earth, you are bound.”
Vakaal gently pushed our bound hands down. “Turn to your woman, Steel.”
My eyes were wet with unshed tears, but I could still see the solemn and sincere depths of love in Steel’s sapphire gaze. Maker, was this really the man who carried me out of Damien’s compound? The man who threw me over his shoulder and, like a barbarian, declared me his?
“Petal, you are mine. Forever, from this day until the end of time. Do you accept my oath?” His other hand held our joined hands, and I felt a small tremor go through him. He was nervous. My sweet, gentle giant. My heart.
“’My love,” I began, “my Earth, my Moon and Sun. I have loved you for eternity, I do accept your oath, Master.” My smile couldn’t be any wider.
Vakaal cleared his throat. “In front of these witnesses today, I pronounce you bound. You make take your woman, Steel of the Dark Legion.”
“Fucking finally, come here, woman.” Then Steel kissed me with the passion of a man starved, and I accepted gladly, with the adoration of a woman in love.
* * *
“Master, we must stop!” I laughed, my breath stolen by the wind again.
“I would, Petal, if I could control this damn beast! I warned you about me and horses,” Steel shouted in my ear.
We were at a full gallop, heading to Maker knew where, while behind us—hopefully—the rest of our party were either waiting for us or coming to rescue our wayward stallion.
The horse’s bridle was long gone, having been thrown off by the wild animal. Which meant, no reins.
After the ceremony, when Steel unbound our hands and threw me over his shoulder and onto the stallion’s back, I knew he was following through with the traditional Critian “taking of the bride.” But Steel wasn’t a Critian nor a horseman, so his plan went south as soon as he mounted up, the horse determined to buck him off.
“Whoa!” Ivek called from somewhere on my left. “Press your legs into the horse’s gut, Steel!”
“What?” Steel practically screamed in my ear.
“Squeeze your legs against the horse, Master!” I winced as he squeezed me instead, his massive arm holding me tight. His other hand had a deathgrip on the horse’s mane.
Steel must have understood our instructions, because the stallion started to slow. Sharp puffs of breath punctuated each stomp of our mount’s hooves, until finally the horse stopped completely, turning its massive body toward Ivek’s mare.
“I must say, in all my years, I have never seen a husband take his bride quite like that.” Ivek laughed, jumping off his horse and pulling open a saddle bag.
“Shut it, Ivek.”
“Oh, Master. It was funny, you must admit,” I teased, turning around to give his cheek a kiss. And it was funny. I felt drunk on everything that had happened over the course of the afternoon.
Ivek made quick work of tying a rope around our mount’s neck, creating makeshift reins. “I think Setora should drive this time.” He gave me a wink and handed me the reins.
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, man,” Steel said behind me, his hold on me more comfortable. “You won’t be laughing tonight when I’m in my tent with a beautiful Violet and your bed is emt—ow!”
“Master, let’s go.” I stopped pinching Steel and turned the horse in the direction of the rest of our party. Then I spurred the horse into a full gallop, not slowing down. Leaving Ivek with his mouth hanging open.
“Now why’d you ruin my fun, Petal?” Steel nuzzled my neck, making me squirm and smile.
“Oh, you know exactly why, Master.” I knew I couldn’t be the only one to see the attraction between Ivek and a certain Violet. Poor Ali’san may be the only one who wasn’t aware. I laughed at that thought.
“What’s so funny, Petal?” His hand had oh-so-conveniently found its way up my thigh.
“Master, behave. Can you not wait till we stop tonight?”
“Fine. I’ll behave, but mark my words, bride, you’re mine all night, understand? I won you fair and square.”
I grinned. “Oh, you won me, huh?”
“Fuck, yeah, I did. I’m going to bury myself so deep inside you, you’ll feel me in your throat.”
My eyes widened. It had been too long since I was intimate with any of my men. Long days and cold nights, bodies packed to the brim for warmth inside not enough tents, made it very difficult to discreetly find pleasure.
“Mhmm…how long until camp?” I asked, leaning my head back onto his chest. His hand had returned to my thigh, making me feel dazed, venturing upward, but not close enough to the place where I needed him most.
“About six hours, Princess.”
“Pretty Boy?” I straightened up in the saddle. Beside me, Ivek, Pretty Boy, and Hawk rode alongside of us. I had no idea we’d even slowed down enough to have company.
The men gave me a grin, letting me know exactly how much of that conversation they’d heard.
I blushed.
“Have a nice ride, Steel?” Hawk asked with a smirk, jumping off his horse as we slowed to a complete stop. “You’ll have to teach me your technique.”
“Fuck off, Brother.”
Everyone laughed.
“Alright, now that everyone’s accounted for,” Sheriff called, walking ahead of the men to join us, “let’s figure out who’s riding with who. We have three new members to our party, and we need to get going.”
I looked over at Gita, Tari, and Yaela, still finding it hard to believe they were here. How in the Maker did they travel all this way alone?
We decided that Lord Bain’s women and I would ride in one of the wagons driven by Hawk and Steel. My husband would just have to wait for his bride when the sun set.
But my curiosity and joy at seeing the women made for a nice distraction. “Ladies, not that I’m not thrilled you’re here—I am—but how?” I asked as soon as everyone piled in and the wago
ns started heading north.
Gita cleared her throat. “Um. Well, we managed to get one of Lord Bain’s guards to take us to the Yantu temple as soon as we felt you.”
“Felt…what?”
“You reached out to us,” Tari said. “It was like your mind was suddenly there. It woke us from a dead sleep.”
“Scared the shit out of us,” Yaela said, her eyes wide.
“And then he was in our heads,” Gita added with a shudder.
“Julian,” I muttered.
“Is that his name?” Tari asked. “All we knew was that you were in trouble. It felt like he trapped you.”
“He’s scary, Setora.” Gita looked out toward the back of the covered wagon, the late afternoon sun casting her face in a warm, soft glow. “He’s like a demon. He kept tearing through Serena’s mind. She goes a little loopy a lot of the time, anyway. But it was getting worse.”
I winced, feeling sad for her. “But she was never supposed to let you leave. I told her to make you stay put.”
“She couldn’t stop us,” Tari said. “We snuck out of the castle. When she caught up with us, though, she had baskets of food already to go for us. She says hello, by the way.”
I grinned, loving these women more for what they’d done.
“You should know no one can stop us when a friend is in trouble,” Gita said.
I squeezed her hand, and then asked them all, “Okay, but what happened to Lord Bain?”
None of them would look at me.
My face lost blood. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Yeah,” Gita sad softly.
“I’m sorry.” I’d liked him. He’d helped my men and me out of a serious situation and had done a lot more to get us home. “How did it happen?”
“Serena…” Gita gulped. “Serena killed him.”
My mouth dropped in horror. “What?”
Tari nodded. “She didn’t mean to. Julian got at her again. He started forcing her to leave. Lord Bain tried to stop her. Our doctor shot her full of something before she could leave. Julian was…gone, and she was staring at her hands. There was a knife in them, and she was covered in blood. She told us about it all later. It was awful.”
I held my roiling stomach. “Maker, that’s horrible. I’m so sorry. Is she okay?”
“Barely. She’s holding together, but this…Julian. He needs to be stopped yesterday,” Yaela said. “Lord Bain was nice. He treated us well. We liked him.”
“So did I.” My head spun.
How many more people would be lost to Julian’s violence? All this to destroy those who weren’t his equals? All this to create his master race?
Suddenly, as dangerous as it was, if we’d arrived at the Orial tomorrow, it wouldn’t be soon enough.
Chapter 33
Ultimatum
A few mornings later, I woke with the frightening sensation that I’d had a dream, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember it. I rolled over and groaned. My head spun and my stomach felt like it was going to come up through my throat.
“Setora, what’s wrong?” Gita sat up on a bed of furs next to me, her face concerned.
“I’m not sure. I feel really…”
I broke off and raced outside of the tent the women and I were staying in and retched. I wiped my mouth, vaguely realizing Gita’s sister was holding my hair back.
“Sorry,” I croaked, leaning against the tent. “I think I had a dream. Sort of twisted my stomach, but I can’t remember any of it.”
“Aren’t your dreams supposed to stop with that stuff Doc gives you at night?” Yaela asked, sitting up in her bed near the tent wall.
“They are.” I drew on one of the thick robes Kash leant me, warding off the cold, and slipped on my fur-lined boots. “I’ll be fine, but I better talk to Doc. I think it’s because we’re getting closer.”
I tied the robe closed and left the tent.
We’d reached a stretch of grasslands at the edge of Zone 12, the last zone before we’d arrive at the mountains that surrounded this side of the Orial last night. Temperatures weren’t even close to the low degrees they would drop to in the Orial, but they dropped enough to chill the toes in the mornings and require us to wear more layers than we had in Delta. If we didn’t run into any trouble on the road, we’d reach the Orial itself in a few days, and then the hard part would begin. The stretch of the journey where the temperatures would become dangerous without great care, and the unforgiving landscape would start to put up a fight we wouldn’t survive if we didn’t know what we were doing.
I found Doc refilling his medical kit with some herbs he had found in a stretch of meadow at the edge of the camp. When I told him about the dream and getting sick, he straightened up with a concerned scowl.
“Are you sure the dream was about Julian? Setora, you shouldn’t be having those at all now.”
“No, I’m not sure, but whatever it was, it was scary. There was fire, I think, and I could smell…”
“What?” He touched my arm.
“Death,” I said.
He sighed. Squatting down in front of his kit, he opened it and took something out. “Here,” he said, straightening up again and handing me a couple of mint leaves. “Eat those. They’ll settle your stomach. Let me know how you’re feeling in an hour. And check in with me immediately if you have another dream again, even if you nap. All right?”
Nodding, I put the leaves in my mouth and chewed. “Can I help you with that?” I gestured to his medicine bag, half filled with herbs.
“No, I’m good. Tabir’s suggested a couple of nice herbs that are supposed to be good for sore throats. We might need a lot of those in the next few weeks. Oh, yeah, I think Ali’san was looking for you. Meditation time or something.”
“This early? She doesn’t waste any time in the mornings, does she?”
Doc smiled. “There’s some coffee in a pot over there if you want some before you find her.”
I nodded and went over to the pot cooking over a small fire. “Where is she?”
“Ivek’s men set up a training green over there.” He gestured to the west end of the camp. “She’s there I think.”
I drank down the hot coffee, letting it drive away the sleep. It must have been Critian. It was a lot stronger, and it tasted like tar. Or maybe Blade made it. He never did know how to cook.
When I padded to the edge of the camp, the clang of swords met my ears. Ali’san and Ivek’s men were sparring? Ali’san had said she lost her sword, but maybe someone had loaned her one.
Ivek’s warriors had set up their training ground behind his tent, a large stretch of meadow they’d flattened with use. I’d seen the big barbarians fighting on it a few times. Watching the fierce, capable men made me feel even safer, out here where no one was around to help us if Julian’s men showed up.
By the time I walked around Ivek’s tent to the back, the clang of steel on steel was deafening. I heard Ali’san shout, and broke into a run.
“Ali’san—” I cut off and gaped.
Ali’san was wielding a long, thick broadsword like Ivek’s men used, one obviously not meant for her, though it didn’t look like its weight impeded her efforts at all.
She was also swinging rather violently at Ivek’s head.
Oh no. Days ago, she’d warned Kash and I what would happen if Julian managed to get into her mind. Had she gone too deep into a meditative state? Had Julian gotten in and was now making her try to kill Ivek?
The Critian king swung his sword, and it struck Ali’san’s before he shoved her back. Both of them were apparently too into their battle to notice that they had an audience.
“I came to thank you for saving me the other day, and you pull this?” she roared. Her sword blocked his.
“It took you long enough to swallow your pride and thank me, tigress. I could have you thank me in other ways, if you don’t behave yourself.”
Oh. Well, then.
So she wasn’t being controlled by Julian. She was angr
y, but a whole other type of energy crackled under her rage. It infused the fight, making me blush, feeling like I’d intruded on a private affair. I ducked behind the tent. I should have left, but I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
“Uh! I take it back, I don’t thank you.” She parried and aimed for his shoulder. He danced out of the way and blocked, but she knocked him flat. He slammed into the ground, landing on his back.
“You’ll have to do better than that.” He chuckled, thrilled.
“Aah! You are infuriating.”
He sprang to his feet. “And you are fascinating.”
She glared at him, and then danced away from a blow, blocking a high strike and then a low one. He knocked her flat, and her sword flew out of her hand. He threw aside his sword, straddling her and pinning her hands above her head.
“I don’t think you started fighting me because I said I wanted you in bed, tigress. I think you’re fighting me because you’re terrified.”
“I am not afraid of you, you animal. Get off me.” Her chest heaved hard.
What in Maker’s name? She could have snatched her hands free and broke his nose with her palm. She could have gotten him off her a million ways. Had she suddenly forgotten how to fight without her weapon?
“Oh yes, you are. Very much afraid.” He chuckled. “You want me as much as I want you, and it scares the fuck out of you. Why? Is it because you’re afraid of what I am, or is it something else?”
“I would rather kiss a goat then sleep with you, barbarian!”
I giggled into my hand. Both of them went silent. Had they heard me? I fled before I could discover how the rest of the fight went, or who won. For some reason, I hoped Ivek won.
I was so focused on getting away, I didn’t realize Sheriff was right there until I slammed into his hard chest.
“Hey. Where are you running off to, sweetheart?” He caught my arms.
“Master.” My heart pounded. “Sorry. I was…um. Never mind.” The last thing I wanted him to do was go spying on Ali’san and Ivek. He already got enough amusement out of those two without having more ammunition.
