Rurik stopped and faced her so abruptly that Zora gasped. "Is that what you're trying to do?" His demand was strained as he searched her eyes. "Please me?"
Seeing the same turmoil in his gaze, Zora was shaken by the intensity of her guilt. Damn him, why could he make her feel like she was betraying him? The line she was trying so desperately to preserve between what she wanted him to believe and the emotions tugging at her heart was becoming more blurred with their every encounter, a realization both frightening and thrilling.
"Zora?"
She knew that he wanted an answer, but she didn't know what to say, fearing that if she spoke at all she would reveal too much. Then just as suddenly Rurik seemed to change his mind as if he sensed he was pushing her too hard. Squeezing her hand, he set out with her toward a small wooden building that adjoined his longhouse, not speaking again until they were almost there.
"The stones should be red-hot by now," he said, all trace of tension gone from his voice. "I sent word an hour ago that I wanted the bathhouse made ready."
"Stones?" she asked, still unsettled.
"You'll see."
Zora was greeted by a hot blast of air as Rurik opened the door and pushed her gently inside the lamplit, windowless building. She heard him draw the bolt behind her, then he brushed past her to a large open hearth in the center of the room that was piled with smooth rocks.
"You've never been in one of these before, have you?" Watching as he dipped a ladle into a bucket of water, Zora shook her head.
"Steam baths are a common thing in the north," he explained, smiling at her over his shoulder. "Every house has one. We Varangians swear by them." He gave a short laugh. "Your uncle has a steam bath in his palace big enough to seat his entire senior druzhina."
Zora started when Rurik threw water on the hissing stones, steam filling the room. He emptied the ladle again and again until it looked like a dense fog had enveloped them, and only then did he unbuckle his sword belt and begin to strip off his clothes.
"Join me," he said in a low, teasing voice that sent chills racing through her. "I think you'll like it."
It seemed Zora had joined him, for already her silk tunic was damp and clinging to her skin, sweat tickling down her back. Yet she grew flustered at the thought of undressing in front of him, despite the intimacy they had shared. Turning around modestly, she gathered the garment to her hips and began to draw it up over her torso.
"Let me help you, Princess."
"Oh!"
Rurik had come up so silently that she hadn't even heard him behind her. She sucked in her breath as he took charge, his splayed hands caressing the tunic from her body. Within the blink of an eye she was standing naked in his arms, even her thin linen underdrawers cast onto a bench near the door.
"Thor's blood, woman, you're so beautiful," he whispered in her ear. He stroked her worshipfully, the curve of her hips, her belly, then his hands glided upward to the soft undersides of her breasts where he gently cupped her. "So beautiful."
Her head lolling back against him, Zora moaned as his thumbs lightly grazed her tightened nipples, circling around and around. Yet the wondrous sensation had no sooner begun when he released her, and she heard him chuckle.
"Not yet, Princess. First the steam bath must be enjoyed. Come and sit with me."
As Rurik took her hand and led her through the billowing steam to a platform set around the walls, Zora could see that his sun-gilded skin already glistened with sweat. Her eyes drifted down his muscled back to the curve of his taut buttocks, her face firing with a warmth that had nothing to do with the peat fire in the hearth. He was so magnificent, his hard masculine body made all the more fascinating in her eyes by the nicks and scars he bore from countless battles.
"Are you pleased with what you see?"
Embarrassed that Rurik had caught her staring at him so brazenly, she could only nod as he turned her around and drew her down to sit upon his lap, her back nestled against his chest.
"Lean your head against my shoulder and close your eyes," he bade her and she did so, sighing within the security of his arms. "That's it . . . now relax and let the steam wash over you." He lightly kissed her temple. "It feels wonderful, doesn't it? So warm, wetting your hair, your skin . . ."
It is wonderful, Zora thought dreamily, but no more so than the sensation of his steady heartbeat drumming against her back, the added warmth of his breath fanning her cheek, and the way his fingers were toying with the damp hair that streaked her breasts and shoulders. At one point she even felt herself sliding from his lap, the moisture of their bodies a slippery sheen between them, but he only drew her back with a husky laugh and held her that much more closely.
She couldn't have said how many moments had passed, the engulfing steam and the incredible heat of Rurik's body like a cocoon shielding her from all sense of time or place, when suddenly she felt him lift her and stand her upon her feet.
"It was not my intent for you to fall asleep, Zora, but I'm sure this will wake you," he said with amusement in his voice. Supporting her with one arm, he drew something from a basket set near the hearth.
"I'm not sleepy," was all she managed to say just before she felt a stinging sensation cut right across her bottom. "Ouch! That hurt! What are you . . . ?" Now fully alert, she stared in horror from the telltale birch branches he held to the innocent smile on his face.
"It's part of the steam bath," Rurik tried to explain through the laughter threatening to erupt from his throat, Zora's indignant outrage truly a sight to behold. "To get the blood moving. You scarcely feel it after the first few—"
"Blood moving be damned! You will not strike me with those . . . those branches again!" She broke free of his grasp and skittered to the other side of the room. "If you want to lash yourself to ribbons, go right ahead, Rurik Sigurdson, but you'll not have me participating in your strange Varangian custom!"
Her eyes were sparking such fire, Rurik could suppress his mirth no longer.
"It's not funny!" she cried, although he could see that she was fighting hard not to join him, her lips twitching and her dimples beginning to show. "You could have at least warned me!"
"And ruin the surprise?" he asked, actually wiping tears from his eyes. By Thor, he didn't think he had laughed so hard in years. His stomach hurt!
"Some surprise." She swiped irritably at the steam. "I want out of here. I've had enough! From now on, you can enjoy your steam baths and I'll keep my tub, thank you."
"Oh, but we're not through yet, Princess."
Zora glanced at Rurik warily, not liking the enigmatic smile that he now wore on his face.
"Whipping me isn't enough?" she demanded, a giddy excitement fast overwhelming her vexation as he began to stalk her around the hearth. The rogue! She glanced at the door they had entered, but that one led outside and she'd never have enough time to wriggle into her tunic before he caught up with her.
She threw a glance at the opposite door. Surely it led into the longhouse . . . and if she went right now—
Zora screamed as she dashed for the door for at that same moment, Rurik lunged for her. Yet he wasn't quite fast enough for she had it open before he reached her and she rushed inside another room, only to stop right up against a huge wooden tub that was blocking her path.
"What . . . ?" She gasped as Rurik grabbed her from behind and lifting her kicking and squirming into his arms, he stepped with her into the tub.
"It will feel good, Zora, I promise you," she heard him say just before he knelt and then dunked her under the coldest water she had ever felt in her life.
"You're mad!" she sputtered a split second later when she came up for air, her shivering body one giant goose bump and her teeth chattering uncontrollably. Her fingers were so cold that she could barely shove her hair out of her eyes. "Mad, I tell you!"
"Exhilarating, isn't it?" Rurik said as if he hadn't heard her, and letting go of her suddenly, he disappeared for a long moment under the water, so long in fact that Z
ora began to grow anxious. Yet she needn't have worried for he exploded above the surface with a mighty splash that sent shimmering droplets flying through the room, extinguishing an oil lamp on a table near the tub. His delighted roar shook the rafters.
"By Odin, you can't come any closer to rolling in snow than this! Fresh water from a stream still ice-cold with the spring thaw!"
Zora stared at him incredulously, thinking herself a sorry contrast to Rurik's vigor. He looked like an invincible Norse god rising up from the water, his wet blond hair slicked back from his forehead, his skin sleek and tanned and his face flushed healthily, while she must appear a drowned rat.
"You roll in snow?"
"From October to May, if we're lucky." His broad smile warmed Zora more than she could have imagined possible. "Where do you think we Varangians gain our strength?" Then he sobered a little, beckoning to her. "Come here, Princess."
Inching over to him, Zora wondered what he might be plotting to do to her next in this damnable steam bath of his and she stopped just shy of his reach. "You're not going to dunk me again, are you?" she asked suspiciously, although the water didn't feel half so cold to her now that she had been in it for a while.
"Hardly, wife," came his low reply, but he didn't wait for her to come to him, he came to her. In a single splash, he captured her in his arms, and finding her mouth, his lips were as hot as firebrands upon hers.
Zora was certain she had never felt a kiss more passionate or more incredibly powerful, and within seconds, she no longer felt the cold at all for the seductive weight of his hands upon her body and the wet possession of his tongue as he led hers in a heady dance. Then she felt him cup her bottom and lift her and she was sinking onto fire and steel, the water churning around them.
He took her fast and hard and she let him, her thrusts as relentless and demanding as his own, but never once did their mouths lift from each other's as if neither could bear to breathe alone. And when their climax burst upon them, they shared it wildly, ecstatically, clutching each other as if all joy and life depended upon it for in that moment, it did.
Chapter 22
Zora's hair was still damp when she and Rurik took their places at the high seat. She couldn't believe that they were at supper just a little past the appointed hour.
Rurik's hunger for her had not abated after they left the tub, and only the fierce growling of his stomach had been a pointed reminder to him that he should seek some food. Yet he had laughingly hidden his need for nourishment under the guise of building his strength for later that evening, a thought that had filled Zora with dizzying expectation before they had even set foot from his longhouse.
"Good evening, my lady! My lord!" came Arne's boisterous greeting from Rurik's left, the warrior waving a foaming cup of mead. "We were about to give up on you, but it seems the old saying rings true, man cannot live by pleasure alone!"
Was it so obvious what she and Rurik had been doing? Zora wondered, a blush creeping over her face. She touched her hair, wishing it wasn't so thick so she could have dried it faster.
"Don't let him fluster you, Princess," Rurik said in a low aside as if he had known her thoughts. "You'll find that Arne says exactly what leaps onto his tongue. As we've known each other for years, it allows him liberties he deems as his right, I suppose, for putting up with me for so long."
She smiled, appreciating that Rurik had thought to reassure her, then seeing the warmth kindling in his night-blue eyes, she looked away, overwhelmed.
For weeks she hadn't allowed herself to recognize any good qualities in Rurik, and now she seemed to be noticing them all at once. His gentleness, his attentiveness, his humor.
She loved the wonderful richness of his laughter and how exuberant and unrestrained he had been in the bathhouse, giving her a glimpse of the playful boy inside the man. She loved the way he looked at her and the way he touched her. She loved the way he kissed her. Oh, she loved
Take care, Zora warned herself just in time, her thoughts skirting dangerously close to a precipice she was trying so hard to avoid. She would never have imagined that Rurik letting down his guard around her could make her feel as if she didn't know which direction to turn, but it had! It was all she could do now to remember her plan, and with a start, she realized that she had scarcely thought of it for hours.
"Is anything wrong, Zora? You look troubled."
"No, no, I'm fine," she said, touched by the concern in Rurik's eyes that he made no effort to hide. Suddenly it was twice as hard to think clearly, but she forced herself by finding a matter to which she could turn her hand. "I . . . I was only wondering why the food has not yet been served. You must be so hungry and—"
"Perhaps the preparation has taken longer than the cooks anticipated." He laughed, holding up his brimming goblet. "At least we have fine Burgundian wine to soothe our stomachs. Don't fear, Princess. I will not starve."
"But it's wrong, just the same," she insisted, "and I plan to speak with them in the morning. I had the chance to oversee several feasts for my father, and this is not proper. I was taught a great lord and his guests should never be kept waiting."
"Ah, is that what I am to you now?" Rurik's voice was full of teasing that did not reach his eyes. "A great lord? I thought I was just the husband with whom you've been cursed." As if he didn't want her to answer, he swiftly changed the subject. "What else did they teach you in Tmutorokan? It has occurred to me that I know very little about you other than some family history and that you don't like steam baths."
Zora was relieved to see him smiling again. She remembered all too well the angry words she had thrown at him the morning after their wedding, words that she now found herself wishing she had never said.
"I suppose I learned things that any girl brought up in a palace would," she replied, warmed that he would want to know about her life. "How to embroider . . . Lady Canace never seemed to think we made enough vestments for the Church. How to take care of a household for the day when I would marry" —suddenly thinking of Ivan, Zora was surprised at how easily she could dismiss him from her mind— "and how to make perfume."
"Perfume?"
"Yes, Lady Canace had a passion for concocting fragrance. She learned it at the emperor's palace in Constantinople before her marriage, and when Hermione and I were old enough, she taught us her skills, except Hermione had no desire to learn. She would rather soak in a tubful of rose petals than boil them, so she always insisted that I make her share."
"And did you?" Rurik asked gently.
Zora sighed. "If I wanted to live peacefully. But I enjoyed the work, so I didn't mind."
"It must have been hard for you, living in that terem. From Grand Prince Yaroslav's description, Lady Canace and her daughter weren't the most gracious of creatures."
"No, they weren't," Zora agreed, recalling the slights and insults she had suffered at their hands and the worst indignity of all that Hermione had wrought upon her. Yet this time the memory of the trading camp was noticeably tempered, for it was that incident after all that had brought her to Rurik—
Stunned by her reasoning, Zora dropped her gaze to stare blindly at her hands. Yet she had no sooner done so than Rurik lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes.
"But you survived . . . beautifully, which proves your perseverance and courage." He chuckled, caressing the line of her jaw. "Your stubbornness must have helped, too, Princess. I've known few more headstrong than you."
Zora had to remind herself to breathe. Rurik's gaze was so intent that she feared he could see right into her heart. "My—my mother was stubborn," she said, her words tumbling forth in a nervous rush as she sought to divert the topic from herself. "And proud. My father must have asked her a thousand times to come back with him to the palace, but she always refused. She had been banished once while he was gone from the city and she vowed never to endure the indignity again. We were happy in the country . . . until she became ill."
"What happened?"
"A fever
. The climate could be very damp and she liked the out-of-doors so much. She had grown up in a small village before my father found her . . ." Realizing that she was running on and on, Zora sighed softly. "Forgive me. I must be boring you."
"You could never bore me," came Rurik's startling answer, his eyes burning into hers.
Zora found she could not swallow, let alone tear away her gaze even if she had wanted to. Her cheeks glowing, she heard herself stammer, "B-but what of you, Rurik? I know as little about you—"
"What would you like to know?" he asked, although his expression had tightened, his eyes becoming guarded.
Wondering at this change, Zora hoped her question would not upset him further. "Why do you still invoke your pagan gods? I find it a curious thing, considering you are Christian. . ."
Rurik seemed to visibly relax as if this was a topic he did not mind discussing, a small smile coming to his lips.
"To me, the gods are like familiar old friends who linger at the table long after the feast is done, telling long-winded yet fantastic tales that so astound and amaze that all who listen are reluctant to leave the hall even for the warmth of their beds."
"Like Odin?" Zora asked, entranced.
Rurik nodded. "The High One. All-knowing, all-powerful, the lord of battles and god of wisdom. To gaze deep into the well of knowledge, he paid for the privilege with one of his eyes. But he is a fickle god, giving victory to his favorites until he casts them aside for new champions. The fallen become his warriors in death's kingdom, Valhalla."
"Yet I have heard you call out to Thor more often," said Zora when Rurik paused for a draft of wine.
"Fighting men look to the giant god of thunder for strength, for every warrior strives to be like Thor, bold and invincible in battle. Yet as protector of the world, governing the sun and wind and rains, Thor is called upon to give bounty, not only in the fields, but for new brides to be made fruitful."
Zora started as Rurik reached out to caress her cheek.
"Which brings us to Frey, who understands well the needs and desires of men . . . and his sister, Freyja, the voluptuous goddess of plenty who embodies the sensual mysteries of women." Rurik slowly traced his finger over Zora's lips. "She has blessed few with such beauty and passion as you possess—"
The Pagan's Prize Page 22
