He reeled about and grabbed hold of her by her arms and gave her a little shake. “Answer me!”
She should have said yes. She should have spit the lie in his face and watched it crash over him. Somehow she knew it would hurt him, and she wanted to hurt him.
“I do not have a lover. But I very easily could have. What would you have done then? Taken me back? Discarded me as used goods?”
“No,” he said, letting his hands fall away from her. “I simply would know how much harder this would be.”
She gaped at him aghast. “You have no shame! And you should feel shame. This is beneath you. Even you, as barbarous as you are, this is beneath you!”
“Do not attempt to know my mind or my feelings. You and your lofty, snobbish ways of viewing the Kiltians are well known. You wouldn’t try to understand us. It is easier for you to dismiss us as beasts and leave it at that.”
“Aren’t you beasts though? Warring to have your way just because it suits you!”
“I did not war on a whim! My people were desperate! We needed the space. We needed open places in which to live. We were crowded family upon family, unable to turn around without running into one another. You wouldn’t have just given the land to us. You had barely settled the Triagle Territory. It wouldn’t have hurt you to give us some of that space. In the end it didn’t, did it?”
“You say that because you don’t know what it took to relocate all of those farmers and homesteaders. The money it cost. The popularity it cost. We had to bring our armies into the capitol city to keep people from rioting in reaction to the deal we made.”
“We have both of us made sacrifices in the name of bettering our people.”
“What did you sacrifice? We gave up land and what did you give up? Money? You have more riches than you know what to do with.”
“We gave up lives. We threw young life after young life at you, that was how desperate we were. Why can’t you see that? Why can’t you see we had no choice but to force your hand?”
“We threw away lives too,” she said softly.
They stared hard at each other, both breathing hard in their passion. Each felt strongly for their position. Even though a truce had been struck between their peoples it was clear that forgiveness was a long time in coming. If the leaders of these two worlds could not find forgiveness, then what hope was there for the peoples themselves?
“I won’t stand here and defend my choices. I would do it all exactly the same.”
“Then you have learned nothing,” she said sharply.
“No. You have learned nothing. With your large, expansive cities and farmlands where everyone has acres and acres for themselves…with your big buildings and wasted spaces. You can’t know what it means to live in overpopulated homes where filth and disease can run rampant in a heartbeat. This room you are in would have been impossible two autumns ago. This much space used for one person?” He released a scoffing laugh. “Unheard of. Even for me. Even for the raja. Until this place was built the temple was built into the face of a cliff, dug out inch by inch. No light…no air. Just darkness and stagnation. But you don’t care about that. You don’t want to see it.”
He ran a hand through his hair again and she could only stare at him. Her jaw was set stubbornly, but she was beginning to feel unsure of her stance. He had told her these things before…but had she really listened? Had she really comprehended what his people had been facing without the land they had so desperately needed?
“Better to fight a war than die in a house riddled with plague and sickness. That was what my men thought. That was why they fought. Why did you fight? Because you didn’t want to share what you could easily have given away?”
“It was ours,” she said stubbornly.
“Now it’s ours and it’s over and done with. We have to move on from this. We can’t sit here and argue about what no longer matters.”
“It matters. To every family who lost a man or woman in the battles we fought, it matters.”
“I could say the same.”
Their eyes met stubbornly over the distance between them, each believing in their own reasons and causes.
Then Sin stepped close to her once more, reached to trail a finger over the exposed yoke of her collarbone. She went to jerk away but he stopped her by wrapping his hand around her throat. She breathed hard, looked up at him with wide, vulnerable eyes.
“You will come to me,” he said, his voice like thick velvet. “You may fight me all of the way, but you will come to me.”
“I will not,” she said, lifting her chin in defiance.
He let go of her throat and moved away from her. He turned and walked to the door. He banged his fist on it hard twice and the lock turned. The door swung open and he strode through it without looking back at her.
As soon as the door closed she sagged in relief. She moved to the chair sitting before the fire and sank down into it. The man was relentless. He would never give up, she realized. He could and would be just as stubborn as she was. He made no empty promises or threats. He was willing to back up everything to the nth degree.
She knew this was just beginning and already she was exhausted. She was shivering in her own skin, even though she had the ability to warm herself from the inside out and she was sitting before a fire to boot. She didn’t know how much of him she could take. Hopefully he would come at her in small doses and she could continue to steel herself against him. But it was imperative she did not let him touch her again. Something about him weakened her, toyed with her resolve to hate him. She felt him in a way she had never felt a man before. Maybe it was because he was so raw, so untamed that she felt this way. Maybe it was because she had never felt anything like him in her life. Certainly nothing like the overwhelming heat that assailed her every time he kissed her.
No. She had to keep him at a distance.
Because she was afraid he was right.
She was afraid that one day, she would be the one begging for him.
Sin stormed away from the room in a fury of temper. But he wasn't angry with her. He was furious with himself. That had not gone as he had intended it to. He had been determined to show her a different side of himself. To let her know that he was more than the barbarian she made him out to be. Instead he had played right into her hands. He had acted the part exactly as she would have expected him to.
He had lost control of himself, of the situation…hells…of everything. He had played the brute perfectly, proving to her that she was right about him. That he was no more than his baser animal side.
But he had waited so long to have her…and having her there, dressed in Kiltian clothes, her hair dressed perfectly in the Saren style…all of those blood red curls falling down her graceful neck. And the fire in her beautiful face as she had stood up to him. It had been more than he could bear.
He wanted her. More than he had wanted anything in his life, he wanted her. He was willing to throw everything away to have her. But it wouldn’t come to that, he was sure. As long as he played his hand the right way…but it was so precarious. All of it. It balanced on the head of a pin and tipping either way would have him falling into a void.
And she had no idea what he had done just to have her. What risk he was taking. She thought it was easy for him, but it wasn't. She thought he had nothing to lose here and that all the loss was hers. She couldn’t be more wrong.
Sin kept walking until he was outside in the crisp, frigid air. He took in deep breaths to calm himself. He had a full day’s work ahead of him, but it would be damn difficult to concentrate knowing she was mere rooms away hating him and everything he stood for.
Chapter Eight
Ariana didn’t see him for the rest of that day.
The next day, however, he came as he had the previous one. In the morning as soon as she was dressed. As he entered she saw he had a cloak in his hands and was dressed himself in one.
“Put this on,” he said, handing her the cloak.
She took it from him and
did not put it on.
“Are we going out?”
“There is something you should see,” was all he said.
She grudgingly put the cloak on and he held out his hand to her. She ignored it and sailed on out of the door ahead of him. The minute she stepped outside she got her bearings. She was in a large hallway that smelled of new wood. The floors were all marble and all of the walls near her room were marble, of course, but the walls were made of wood paneling across the way from her room. She could have easily set the whole place on fire that minute if she wanted to. But…of course she didn’t. She couldn’t have escaped without Mariah, and…she saw too many people hurrying through the hallway. She couldn’t see her way clear to hurt any innocent bystanders in her bid for freedom. Of course, she didn’t know how innocent any of them were…but still. What would she do once she escaped the house? She had no idea where she was.
He led her outside. The door was off the end of the hallway and led directly into a courtyard of sorts. This too seemed freshly made. The laid stones were without flaws or scuffs. And when she looked back over her shoulder she saw an enormous structure that reeked of newness. In fact, some parts of it appeared to still be under construction. A portion of the third story.
So much for not having room and wasted space, she thought with a huff.
There was a horse in the courtyard with a saddle on it. The saddle was made of fine-tooled leather, decorative braids full of color hanging off of it. The Kiltians, it seemed, loved color. All of the women she was seeing were dressed in multi-colored hues from all over the spectrum. The servants were all wearing outfits of varying color in workable, sturdy cottons and wools. She was the only one she could see who was wearing a fabric as fine as silk.
But silk wasn't very warm and she was bare beneath the clothes she wore. The snow she had seen upon their arrival had been cleared away from the courtyard. When she stepped outside she realized her feet were still bare and the ground was ice cold. As a matter of reflex she warmed herself.
“My feet are bare,” she said.
He looked down in surprise.
“You were given no shoes?”
“No. And, as you pointed out, I am dependent on you for everything.”
“You should have asked for something for your feet.”
“And how would I do that? I’m locked away all day.”
“You can ask Mariah to tell us. Or you can tell the guard outside of your door. Anything you need, you need only ask for it.”
“How about my freedom?” she asked, although they both knew the answer to that already.
“Outside of that,” he said needlessly.
He turned to a serving girl and gave her rapid instructions. Within minutes a pair of fur boots were brought out to her. She slid her feet into them and found them to be a perfect fit. They were sturdy and comfortable.
Once they were on her feet, Sin picked her up by her waist and hoisted her onto the saddle. Used to riding sidesaddle, she felt awkward and unladylike riding the horse astride in a skirt. The skirt rode up her legs so that her knees were exposed to the cold air.
Then Sin mounted the horse behind her.
It immediately put them into intimate contact with one another. She couldn’t help but have her backside settle against the insides of his thighs and her back pressed to his chest. He reined the horse around and they trotted out of the courtyard.
She tried sitting up away from him, but the curvature of the saddle made it impossible. Besides, he crossed his arm over her and pulled her back into contact with his body.
As they rode away from the building, she got a good look at it from over her shoulder. It was very large, three stories at present, and a veritable hive of activity. People were moving in and out of the building constantly. There were a great many workers there, many of whom seemed to be working on the building in spite of the freezing cold temperatures.
The building appeared to be a perfect square, save the round courtyard, and as they rode away she could see a minaret and columns shaped gracefully around it. There was also a huge stable set not too far distant from it that matched the house in design and beauty. She could hear the soft whickering of the horses within and the aroma of horse manure was prevalent as they passed.
“Do you have many horses?” she asked. She was a connoisseur of horseflesh. She had an impressive stable of all kinds of horses from many different lands. Including Kiltianan horses. She appreciated the hearty breed. Her Kiltianan horses were the horses that pulled her carriage when she went out.
“I have a fine stable,” he said. “I will take you there when we get back.”
She didn’t let him know that the thought pleased her. In fact, she would not let him know anything that affected her in any way. She was determined to present a flat aspect to him from now on. She would give him nothing to be admired, nothing to be engaged with.
As they rode out she could see the makings of a new town being built up all around the main building they had come from. He saw her noticing it and he said, “This will be our capitol city, with the temple at its heart.”
“The temple? Is that what you call it?”
“Yes. It used to be in the heart of Kilt…what Kilt used to be. And soon it will be again. Kilt is being rebuilt all around us. There is land enough now for us to live in.”
“And you live in that huge temple all by yourself?”
“Who told you that?” he asked with a startled laugh. “No Kiltian lives by themselves. Even with all this room, it is not in us to separate from our families. No. I live in the temple with my heir—my brother—and his wife, concubines and children, and my mother is also living there.”
“So your brother keeps concubines. I had heard that was the practice of ruling men.”
“Not one I subscribe to,” he said. “I have no concubines.”
That surprised her and she knew he could see it on her face because he chuckled and said, “This surprises you? Did you think I kidnapped women from all over the world and made them my sexual slaves?”
“It is the only experience I have to go by,” she said dryly.
“This is true,” he said with another chuckle. “I do not need to kidnap my women. I am offered concubines or wives from every quarter, every foreign land or wealthy Kiltians with their lovely daughters.”
“And yet you have kidnapped me rather than take those willing women?”
“Yes,” he said simply.
She didn’t know how to feel about that, so she remained silent.
Sin kicked the horse into a faster pace and before long they were cantering swiftly over the vast landscape that surrounded the city that was rising up around the temple. Then he headed north toward the mountain range she could see in the distance. They rode in silence most of the way there, with only a break now and then as he pointed out things along the way.
“This is a homesteader’s claim,” he said, indicating the small cottage and the stakes set out around it in the distance. String had been looped around the stakes and set out like a fence of sorts marking the borders of the claim.
“How did you do it? What were the rules?”
“Three free acres per adult in the house. So if there was a husband and a wife, they could stake a claim for six acres. The only exception is concubines. You cannot claim acreage for concubines. That kept the wealthy from being overly greedy. And you have to live on the land for five autumns to prove up the claim. If you give up and move off the land before the five autumns has ended then the land is forfeited back to the crown.”
“Five autumns is a long time.”
“It is an easy time when there is so much room to be had. The land also has to be productive. They cannot simply sit on it and do nothing. It has to at least be able to support the family living on it in entirety and at most to produce large quantities of grain and produce for the people.”
“And what of the forested land?”
“Those belong to the crown. They may be hunted but
as yet they are not to be settled in. That may come later. We are more concerned with settling the farmlands and the frontier at present.”
“And anyone may stake these claims?”
“Anyone of proper age. We put the cut off at twenty. Twenty autumns. Any younger may not stake a claim. We also cut off the opposite end of the spectrum. Anyone over sixty autumns may not stake a claim.”
“That hardly seems fair. I know of many men of sixty or more who are strong enough to work the land.”
“For five autumns? And you know as well as anyone how hard it is to work that land. No. It is a young man’s game. Or woman’s. We do not discriminate for sex. If a woman can work the land, then she is free to stake her claim.”
“We did something similar for the farmers and businessmen who were evicted from the part of the territory that became Kilt. We offered free land in the wilderness. It is hard living, but if they can survive then they are welcome to it. We do not expect them to produce, however. They can or can’t do with it what they will. They only need live on the claim for a term of three autumns and it becomes theirs.”
“Do you find you have contention between claimers? Those who claim lands already claimed by another. Those who have killed their neighbor just for their staked claim.”
“God no! There is more than enough land to go around. There is no need for such contention.”
“My people are afraid all of the land will be taken up, leaving nothing for anyone else. They act with desperation. They know what the alternatives are.”
“The alternatives? You mean the law?”
“No. It is not the law they fear…although there are now marshals presiding over the laws of a given area.”
“Then what do they fear?” she asked.
“This,” he said.
They had reached the mountains. And there, stacked one upon the other up an entire mountain path, was a collection of houses. There was no space between the houses and each house had at least three stories to it. It was clear from the outside of some of the buildings that each story had been added on over time. There wasn't an ounce of space between the houses. They shared walls with one another until the mountain pass looked as though it was bordered on each side by one long house. Some of the houses were cut into the face of the mountain, straight into the stone. As they rode onto the path and travelled up the wending roadway, she saw a thick population of people walking around the houses. There were children walking around in the snow with rags tied onto their feet for shoes. She was utterly horrified at the poverty she was looking at.
A Kiss of Fire Page 8
