"Father's going to be very cross with you for raiding his stores, Jesmind."
"I'll make it up to him," she said with a grin. "Can you make wine like that?"
"Afraid not. I don't have father's passion for it. How much of it is left?"
"Almost all of it. I don't really drink much. Just for special occasions is all."
"This is a special occasion?" he asked.
"Of course it is," she said with a laugh. "It's your first full day home. If that's not a reason to celebrate, then there's something very wrong with the world." She smiled at him. "Then we can celebrate your second full day home, then your third, and then we'll really celebrate when you come back home later."
"That may not be a celebration. My parents will be coming home soon, Jesmind, and you know that this is their house."
"This is our house," she corrected. "I'm sure your parents and I can work it out."
"I'd like to watch that," he told her with a laugh. "My mother defines stubborn. If you think Triana is bad, you've never seen my mother when she has her hackles up."
"We'll see. Now let me go get dinner over the fire."
Tarrin sat down with Jasana, who had a book that had once been Jenna's out and looking through it. "What are you up to, kitten?" he asked.
"Looking at the pictures," she said, holding the book out. "What is this?"
"It's a dragon," he replied, looking at it. "That's a pretty good story."
"Story? This is a story?"
"Of course it is."
"Mama's never read it to me," she huffed. "What's it about?"
"Why don't you read it yourself?"
"I don't know how," she admitted. "Mama hasn't taught me yet."
Tarrin was surprised. Jesmind was really ignoring Jasana's education! He was about to go about teaching her, but then he rememebered that Jesmind had been worried about Jasana's magic. If Jasana could read, she would be exposed to a great many things in the many books in the Kael house that may give her the wrong ideas, may cause her to try to experiment. Jesmind had actually been very shrewd in holding that back, he realized, controlling the outlets of her child's imagination until such time that she could ensure that Jasana didn't do anything drastic.
He thought about it. There were two options. The first was to keep her in the dark, to contain her by restricting her possible motives to use it. The second was to go ahead and teach her now, while she was young, and ingrain into her the limitations and restrictions she would need to know to be a responsible Sorceress. But that was a dangerous choice, because Jasana was still a very, very young child, not possessed of the kind of discipline needed to know when not to use her magic.
Perhaps the choice had already been made. That close to her, he could fully assense her. He knew for certain that she had already used her power, and once it was used, it could be used again. Maybe he did need to train her now. At least then, the chance that she would have some kind of catastrophic accident would be minimized. Jesmind would just have to deal with a daughter that had the power to really make her life a nightmare.
Either way, it wasn't something he was going to do without Jesmind's support. He'd have to explain it all to her, let her make the decision. Jesmind was still Jasana's primary parent, the one who made the decisions about their daughter. He wouldn't violate that. After all, he had only been there for a day and a half. He wasn't going to interfere.
"Well then, since you can't read it, let me do it for you," he said, sliding her up onto his lap, then opening the book to the first place.
"What's it about?" she asked.
"It's an old story about a man who loved a princess," he told her. "Her father didn't think the man was worthy of her, so he told him to go bring him back the horns of a dragon as proof that he was worth marrying his daughter."
"He sounds mean."
"He's supposed to be mean. He's the villain. Now let me read it to you."
And so, Tarrin started reading Jasana the story. He had to admit, he did rather like this old romantic tale. About a young man named Aran, an apprentice to a cobbler and commoner who had fallen in love with the princess of his kingdom. He had met her while she was walking the streets in disguise, for she was an adventurous and strong-willed young woman. But he didn't know who she was. He befriended her, thinking she was a homeless girl, but had eventually fallen in love with her, and she with him. But her father, the king, had discovered his daughter's nightly travels, and was furious that she had fallen in love with a cobber's apprentice. He forbade them to see one another, but in an act of malicious cunning, he offered the young man an opportunity to marry his daughter, if he would bring the king back the horns of a dragon to prove his worth.
The young man, of course, accepted this challenge, and rode off into the countryside to find a dragon. The young man was no warrior, but he was smart and cunning, clever and quick-minded, so he was willing to try, because he loved his princess that much. After much hunting, struggling, and foundering about in the unknown forest, filling up a good part of the story with the young man's attempts to learn the ways of the woods and deal with the woodland's citizens, the young man did in fact find a dragon.
And this was the best part of the story to Tarrin. Instead of running in with a drawn sword, he politely made his presence known and asked to join the dragon for company. As all knew, dragons were intelligent creatures, horribly powerful, but also strangely polite, even the ones that humans considered evil. The dragon was intrigued by this strange human who had approached it in polite respect rather than with a drawn sword, so it accepted the human's offer of visit. They sat down and talked. The young man explained his quandary to the dragon, professing his love for his princess, and asked for the dragon's help. He pleaded with the beast for its horns, asking to be granted in humility what many would have tried to take by force.
The dragon was impressed by this, and agreed. It allowed the young man to cut off its horns, which would grow back, so the dragon wasn't really losing anything. It sent the young man off with its horns, so he could win the hand of his true love.
When the cobbler returned with the dragon's horns, however, the king had a furious fit. It had been his hope that the young man would die in the attempt to get the horns, and he had no intention of letting his daughter marry the young commoner. He arrested the young man and threw him in the dungeon, and then ordered him to be hanged the next day.
That day came, despite the pleading of the king's daughter, and the young man found himself standing on the gallows at dawn, with a noose around his neck. The king watched on with smug satisfaction as the young man cast his last goodbyes to his true love with his eyes--
"That's not fair!" Jasana cried. "After he did what he was told to do, it's not fair!"
"If you'd stop shouting and let me finish the story, you'll find out what happens," Tarrin told her mildly as Jesmind stirred the stew, watching on with a gentle kind of happiness. "Where were we?"
"You know where we were!" she cried out.
"Be nice," he murmured, finding his place. "Here we are. And so Aran stood on the gallows, with the executioner holding the handle that would send him under the platform, send him spiralling into the Realm Beyond, when there was suddenly a great crashing cry. The earth shook, and the sky darkened as the sun was blotted out. The crowd, the princess, the king, everyone looked up into the darkened sky, and they all saw a terrible sight. It was a dragon! A monstrous beast it was, taking up the entire sky as it descended towards them, smoke and fire billowing from its mouth.
"It landed in the square to the cries and panicked flight of the citizens of the town, taking up the entirety of it with its great size, and cast a baleful gaze at the king. The king stared at the beast in horror, and to his surprise and dismay, he saw that the dragon had lost its horns! The king realized that the young cobbler had managed to get the horns without killing the beast, and he feared that the dragon was there to take revenge!' Falling to his knees before the great beast, the king raised its
hands and pleaded with the beast. 'O Great and Terrible Dragon!' he called in a pleading voice, 'please spare us your wrath! We have already captured the one the stole your horns, and were going to punish him! Please, take him and spare us!'
"The dragon, of course, fully understood what was going on. It rose up and gave a great cry, shivering its wings, displaying its mighty power to all who beheld it. It then looked back down at the king, its great red eyes burning, smoke issuing from its mouth and nostrils as it spoke in reply. 'Kind Aran came to me in humility and honesty, begging my horns so that he could be wed to his true love,' the dragon proclaimed in a voice that shook the town. 'I suspected your treachery, human, so I came to make sure that it was a bargain made in full faith! If you want to avoid my wrath, you will honor your promise and allow your daughter to marry!'
"This confused and shocked the king, who trembled and cowered before the great creature. But though his intent was foul and dark, the gentle light of the love that the young man shared with his daughter shone through the darkness of his plan, casting its warmth upon his soul, and he relented. 'As you command, O Great Dragon,' he replied to the beast with sincerity. 'I will honor my vow, and my daughter will marry him.'"
"Aww," Jasana hummed. "That's very nice."
"I've always thought so," Tarrin agreed, then he continued. "And so it was that Aran the cobbler was married to Princess Dianne in the very square in which he was nearly hanged. And among those present at that happy occasion were the king and the dragon itself, who had come down from its mountain peak to see the fruits of true love realized. The kingdom of Deepwell prospered under the kind rule of Aran and Dianne, and the little town of Deepdale was often visited by a kindly and friendly dragon, who became a great friend to all of Deepwell. And that's the end, kitten," he told her, closing the book. "Did you like it?"
"Umm," she hummed, putting her paws on the book. "I really liked the dragon. It seemed very nice."
"Yes it did. It just goes to show you, kitten, you can't always judge people by how they look. Aran didn't see the dragon as a great and terrible monster, it saw it as someone he could talk to. And he was right. It turned out that the dragon was a very kind and gentle creature, but he'd never had known that if he would have tried to fight it for its horns."
"I really liked that. I thought he was going to try to fight it."
"He knew he couldn't win, but Aran was smart enough to know that there's always more than one way to try to do something, kitten."
"Umm."
"Dinner's ready, you two," Jesmind told them, pulling the kettle off the fire with a damp rag to protect her paw from the heat.
"Alright," Tarrin replied, scooting Jasana off his lap. "Go put that book away and come to dinner, cub," he told her.
"Yes, papa," she said obediently, padding off into Jenna's old room.
"I see you enjoyed reading to her," Jesmind said as he stood up.
"I've never done that for my own child before," he said, kind of dreamily. "It's alot better than I thought it would be."
"It always is," she smiled. "Get the bread out of the oven, Tarrin. It's done."
Tarrin went over to the fireplace, to the door over the opening for the fire that held the brick oven. He opened it with a wooden dowel hanging on the hearth, then used a flatboard hanging by the fire to withdraw the piping loaf of bread. He set it down on the breadplate on the table, then hung the flatboard back on its peg on the hearth. "I didn't have an oven like that at my old cottage," Jesmind said. "It's very handy."
"You'll think it's primitive when I get one of those Tellurian stoves," he told her absently. "It's alot easier than cooking over a fire."
"Oh?" she said with a sudden smile. "Where will we put it?"
"We'll have to knock out some of the counter, but there's room for it," he answered. "Mother had been wanting one. Father was about to get her one before everything happened."
"So you're getting one for her?" Jesmind said with an edge in her voice that Tarrin didn't miss.
"I'm getting one for you," he told her calmly. "That mother will be able to use it is simply an added bonus."
"Oh, well, that's very nice," she almost purred, coming over to him and rising on her toes, then giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Be careful, or we'll start acting like a couple of old married humans."
"I think we already are," he admitted with a wry chuckle.
"I see you've calmed down alot since this morning," she smiled.
"I guess I have. I'm very glad I decided to stop over for a while."
"Well, I'm glad to have you, Tarrin," she said. "I'm always glad to have you."
"That's good to know," he told her. "I'm going to miss this place when I leave. This has always been home to me, no matter where I was or what I was doing."
"I know. That's why we're here."
"Why is that?"
"Because I knew this was where you'd come when you were done," she said calmly, but he could hear, sense, the admission, the emotion, tied up in that simple statement. She had her back to him, getting dishes out of the cupboard, and he stared at her for a long moment. What was more, for the first time since coming back, he really studied Jesmind's scent. A scent could not lie, no matter how hard one tried, and it told him a great deal. She was more than a little nervous, rather unsettled despite how calm she looked, and underneath it all was a continual, almost habitual attempt to lure him with her scent, a response she was trying with all her might to control, to hide from him. He could tell that too.
Jesmind was trying very hard to be as inauspicious as she could, about several things. About the fact that she was still intensely attracted to him, about how nervous she was about something. Nervous about him? No. Her scent and her body language showed him that she was comfortable with him. It had to be something mental, internal, anxiety over something. But what?
He thought he knew. She was trying to cover her desire for him, something that would have slapped him in the face with her scent had she not been clamping down on it. That was definitely out of character for Jesmind. She didn't play around about things like that, yet now she was trying to hide that, trying to suppress it. Why? It was simple; she was doing everything she could not to distract him or interfere with him. She was being as mild as she could, trying to keep her distance about things that really had her attention.
Simply put, she was acting against her instincts and her basic personality both, and that meant that it had to be unbelievably important.
She turned around, and then suddenly backed up against the countertop when she realized that he was right on top of her. "What's the matter?" she asked quickly, looking up at him.
"Scents don't lie, Jesmind," he told her in a quiet tone.
Jesmind actually blushed. Tarrin had waited a long time to see that. It was a kind of long-awaited, poetic revenge for all the times she had embarassed him.
"The only thing I don't understand is why you're holding back. That's not like you, even with Jasana here."
"I--Well--oh, hellfire," she muttered. "I didn't want to lead you on in any way, Tarrin. I wanted you to make all your decisions, about the house, about me, about everything, without feeling like I was pressuring you in any way. And inviting you to bed, you may have taken that as a form of pressure." She looked up at him with smoldering eyes. "Yes, I want you. I've had to all but cross my legs every time you've looked at me all day. I've never felt so, so...frustrated. But I'm not going to bring that back into our relationship until you feel you're ready for it."
Tarrin was mightily impressed. He hadn't noticed a thing, and that was saying something, because Tarrin was much, much more sensitive to things like that than most other Were-cats. It had to do with the fact that he was much more attuned to slight changes in his environment than most, a side effect of living in continual fear for over a year.
He looked at her, then actually laughed. "I'm impressed you hid it this long."
"So am I," she admitted with a wry grin. "So, Tarrin...do you
want to?"
"Not on the kitchen counter," he said with a low purr, surrendering to his long held desire for his former mate.
Not former. His mate.
"I have a nice big bed in my room," she said with a slow smile, her eyes lighting up in comprehension. "I made it with you in mind. You'll actually be able to stretch out in it."
"That'll have to wait. We still have dinner to deal with."
"I've waited for over a year," she said with a laugh. "I think another hour or so isn't going to make much difference." She pushed him away slightly, letting her paws linger on his upper arms. "So, does this mean we're officially mates again?"
"Well, you may have to woo me, but I think I can be won over if you try hard enough," he said with a light smile.
"I'm a champion when it comes to wooing, my mate," she purred. "I'll prove it to you."
"We'll see."
"I guess we will at that," she agreed, rising up onto her toes and kissing him, kissing him with a passion that told him just how much she had wanted him. If there was any one thing he had always remembered out her that made his tail curl, it was how she kissed. He found himself surrendering to her in every way because of that kiss, and it took Jasana pulling on his tail to remind him of where they were and what they were doing.
Both of them were a little breathless when the pushed away from each other, but Jasana simply looked at them with a happy little expression. "Dinner's getting cold," she told them with a wicked little smirk, enjoying breaking them up.
Or maybe enjoying the fact that they were kissing in the first place.
"Dinner. Oh, yes, of course," Jesmind said in a slightly scattered manner, fanning herself by flapping the front of her shirt. "Tarrin, get the bread--no, wait, you did that. I guess we can eat now, I guess. Did I get the stew off the fire?"
Tarrin looked at her, then he laughed heartily. He took her paw and led her to the table, with Jasana humming to herself as she carried the plates behind them.
Chapter 24
Some things were worth waiting a thousand years for them.
Honor and Blood Page 95
