A Kiss of Fire

by Jacquelyn Frank

  “Yes my lady,” Lossa said, giving her a more meaningful bow this time before hurrying off.

  Ariana did not expect to win everyone over overnight. She knew it would take a lot of dedicated work before the servants would see her as anything other than a foreigner…or a concubine. The very thought of the word made her shudder. Sin had insisted it meant nothing to her. She was his wife in his eyes. The one and only. Ever. To him she was raji, even if the laws of the Kiltian culture did not see it so.

  He had told her he would change the law for her. He was raja. He would command the law be put aside and make her raji. But she had negated that thinking. She was a foreigner. It was hard enough for them to accept her without having her defile sacred traditions. No. She would earn the title of raji the way all of her predecessors had. By giving him a son. If not with this child, then with the next. If she were so fortunate as to have a next. Right then all she wanted was her husband home safe and sound. Then they would worry about the rest.

  Ariana was tired beyond words by the time she got in her bath that night. She dozed while Mariah washed her hair for her, the sensation of fingers against scalp so soothing. She rinsed her hair clean, put on her nightgown and slid into bed. It was hard to sleep without Sin, knowing where he was…knowing that come the morning their fate would be decided. He would meet his brother in the field and it would all be over.

  But it would not be so simple. There would be blood on the ground and majic in the air. Power would meet power; guns would meet guns. There would be cannons and archers and all of the distance fighting first, but then would come guns and swords and majic. Anything could happen. A stray bullet…she thought of the bullet that had nearly ended Sin’s life. If the powder had not been packed so imprecisely, he would be dead already. The odds were the next bullet to hit him would come at full velocity. There would be no lucky escapes then.

  The bend of her thoughts made her nauseous. She got out of bed and began to pace. So it came to be that she was awake when a thunderous knock came on the door. Ariana hastened to open the door and found a man she did not recognize standing on the threshold.

  “Harea has gone into labor!”

  Vich’s pregnant concubine. She had forgotten she was with child.

  “Where is the midwife?”

  “They’ve gone to fetch her, but she is outside of Temple City. It will take some time and the babe is coming fast!”

  Ariana grabbed for her robe and hurried out into the hall as she said, “Go wake my lady maid, Mariah. She is in the servant rooms adjoining this one. Tell her to come to me in Harea’s room.”

  Ariana hurried through the halls of the temple to the wing where Vich’s concubines were housed. They had been living under guard ever since Vich had fled. Now she hurried past the guard, another one she did not recognize, and entered Harea’s rooms. To her surprise, she didn’t find Harea in bed laboring to birth her child into the world. As the door was shut behind her she came face to face with Raj Vich.

  Shock rocketed through her as she took a step back. Vich looked worse for wear, living on the run having done him no favors. They stood there staring at one another, Vich’s women standing in the background, a phalanx of guards at his back.

  Now it settled on her how she had not recognized any of the guards. She wondered inanely if they were all Vich’s men. Was the temple completely overrun? It couldn’t be. So silently? No. No one knew he was there. He was there for only one reason.

  Her.

  With her he knew Sin would not fight him. He would never put her life at risk. With her he would have power over Sin. Because Sin loved her.

  “Don’t bother screaming. All of the guards within earshot are mine. Now, you will come and you will come quietly or there will be bloodshed on your head. I will slaughter every man woman and child in this temple.”

  “Including your own?” she shot back, eyeing the women behind him. They looked nervous. She couldn’t tell if they were in support of this man or if they were just wishing he would go away and stop being the cause of strife in their lives. She had not gotten to know them well enough to know what their minds were. Perhaps if she had she would know if there was someone among them who she could turn to for support.

  “This is all your fault,” he said as if she had not queried him. “Things were going quite well with my brother. All I needed was an opportunity for something quite accidental to happen to him. Perhaps he would be thrown from his horse and break his neck, or perhaps a slow inexplicable illness, an insidious but undetectable poisoning. There were dozens of options, but I had time to plan it all very carefully. After all, with that Jadoc bloodhound of his, anyone working to harm the raja had to be either completely ignorant of what they were doing or had to be Jadoc enough to block any intent scans. Mordol was strong enough…but somehow you—“ He hissed, a sharp sibilant sound.

  “All this time, while he was preparing that room, having that coach forged so they could withstand your power…all this time and I never knew what he was doing it for. Had I known it was preparation for a woman I would have acted sooner. But until you Sin showed little interest in women. To the point where I began to doubt his virility. I thought he might be impotent. How lovely that was. To think he could not produce and heirs that might rival me in my bid for the seat of raja. I even sent Harea here to him. You cannot tell this now because she is so bloated, but Harea was an exotic, delightful creature. Surely tempting to any man. And yet he did not touch her.”

  Ariana was fiercely glad of that. The idea of the beautiful Harea in Sin’s arms was more than she could bear in that stressful moment. As it was she was sick with dread and the nausea was all but overwhelming. But she swallowed hard and kept herself steadily on her feet. Her eyes never left Vich.

  “As you can see I then took her for myself…even though the last thing I was in need of was yet another concubine vying for my attentions. But perhaps she will be of some small use if she produces another son. One can never have too many sons to secure one’s legacy.”

  “It is not your legacy. It is Sin’s,” she said, her tone steady and hard.

  “Until he is dead. Which he will be soon. But in order for that to happen as expediently and as safely as possible, I need you. One has to assume that if a man is willing to go to the lengths Sin has gone to in order to secure you, you must be of great importance to him. My spies tell me you share words of love and affection. They also tell me you enjoy quite an amorous sexual relationship as well. So much for my theory that he is impotent.

  “You see, I knew it was only a matter of time before he began to get brats upon you and I simply could not have that. So I tried to eliminate you. I figured if he felt as strongly as he appeared to, the loss of you might devastate him to the point of swearing off all women. Of going back to his celibate lifestyle. Thereby giving me more time to safely plan his death. It could not be done during the war…and we were so overwhelmed with the fallout and the land purchase…”

  “You wanted Sin to do all of the hard work before you swept in and took over,” she said mockingly. This must have struck close to the truth because his eyes flashed with anger and discomfort.

  “As it is I am inheriting a mess. It will take years to sort it all out, to correct the damage he has done.”

  “The damage he has done? He increased the size of your country by half! He gave room to those who were living with barely enough space to breathe! He earned that land with the cunning and dedication of a true leader…a thing you could never lay claim to!”

  Vich suddenly closed the distance between them and backhanded her across the face. She staggered back, but refused to fall to the ground. She instinctively lit a ball of fire in her hand, but Vich reacted swiftly and punched her in her head. The fireball disintegrated along with her focus and this time she did crumple to the ground.

  “We’ll have none of that. Georg here will take control of your abilities from here on out.” He indicated the man Mariah had been flirting with. Ariana
’s stomach plummeted. Mariah would feel tragically betrayed. She had been used…no doubt to learn details about Ariana and Sin. Mariah wasn't one to gossip, but in a flirtation one tended to let their guard down.

  “Do not do this Georg,” she said softly. “He is not worth the trouble that will rain down upon you now.”

  “My loyalty goes to whomever pays the right price. Perhaps if the raja hadn’t been so stingy, he might have bought my loyalty. As it is…he did not,” Georg said, his smile disrespectful and indolent.

  “Now come,” Vich invited her, bending to grasp her arm and pull her to her feet. “Come quietly and no further harm will come to you…or to your girl.”

  That was when she saw Mariah dragged in from the room connected to the one they were presently in. She was in tears, and, like Ariana, in her nightgown.

  “Will you allow me to get dressed?” she asked trying to pull away from his grasp. He held firm.

  “No. We have yet another guest to acquire before we can leave and we have already stayed too long. Sneaking into the temple was no easy trick I assure you. Sneaking out will be no easier. See that neither of them makes a sound,” he instructed Georg.

  “They won’t be able to speak a single word unless I allow it,” Georg promised.

  And he was right. She tried to speak, only to fail. She couldn’t get her mouth to form the words. She couldn’t raise her arms to see her hands. She couldn’t focus enough to call her fire. Terror infused her as she began to fear for herself and the life of her child.

  “Great Raja,” Georg said suddenly. “She’s with child.”

  Vich stopped short in his progress toward the door and whirled about. “What did you say?”

  “She’s with child,” Georg repeated.

  “And you’re only just learning this now?”

  “I didn’t think to look for the information. And the girl never thought about it,” he said, nodding to Mariah.

  “Such a circumspect maid you have,” Vich said. “It makes no difference. Once Sin is my prisoner he and his entire line will be destroyed. This only gives us more bargaining power in the end.” He continued on to the doorway and walked through.

  Arianna stood weakly as a sick feeling of dread overcame her. She was helpless! They were going to use her to get to Sin! She couldn’t allow that. She had to do something.

  But there was nothing she could do. Georg held her captive, her hands tied behind her back as she was herded out of the door side by side with Mariah.

  Who was this other guest Vich wanted? One of his wives? All of his concubines? They were all in the room already, being ushered out along with her.

  Fatima. The answer came to her as clear as a song. In case Ariana wasn't enough, he would secure their mother as well. And being a non, Fatima was as helpless as they were under Georg’s control. Sin was being put in a hopeless situation. By the sound of it Vich was aware he hadn’t the power needed to defeat Sin in a head to head battle…so he was resorting to hostages to defeat his enemy through his feelings of love and loyalty.

  And it was going to work.

  Chapter Thirty

  Ariana walked quietly beside Mariah, trying to think. All she needed was for Georg to lose focus…to break his concentration. Then she could burn through her bindings and attack the guards holding them prisoner. She would go after Georg first, so he could not regain control of her. Then she would simply set fire to anyone and everyone working alongside Vich. Georg could not be vigilant all of the time. There would have to be a moment when he lost focus.

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” Georg whispered in her ear.

  Of course. Her thoughts were opened to him like a book. There was nothing she could think that he wouldn’t be privy to. She had very powerful walls that could keep out most Jadoc or Aspano majji, but Georg was not just any Jadoc. He was quite powerful by the feel of things. But then, he had been carefully placed hadn’t he…probably playing down his ability and inserting himself into a position of little note and power. Lindo wouldn’t look twice at a kitchen servant or stable boy. She couldn’t recall if Mariah had told her what it was he was supposed to have done there at the temple.

  No matter. Apparently being a spy was occupation enough in Ariana’s book. Occupation enough to get her in the predicament she was now in. She tried thrusting up walls of defense against him, but to no avail. He had total control of her mind and all of her bodily functions. That meant he had control of her fire if he wanted it. That was a frightening thought. Her power was no small thing. True, it took skill to wield her majic, a skill he didn’t have, but he could access the more rudimentary functions. He could have her form a fireball and throw it. The aim would be difficult, since he would not be seeing from her perspective, but some things didn’t need aiming and fire could be one of them. He could cause plenty of damage without aim. They could burn the entire temple down.

  How did you get in here? she thought in her mind. How did you get past the guards and the troops installed around the temple without anyone knowing?

  “That was easy,” Georg said. “There’s secret tunnels leading to and from the temple. The raja had them built in case escape was ever needed, and he thought the raj didn’t know about them. But he found them a little over a year into living here. No doubt they were how he would get you out if the temple was besieged.”

  She didn’t know about that. Sin had never told her about the tunnels. She would have thought they would be something he would mention to her, given the precariousness of their situation. But he had left guards in charge of her safety and perhaps they knew of the tunnels. These guards were the ones who had the responsibility of spiriting her safely away to Saren. No doubt they would know of such tunnels. But why wouldn’t Sin tell her of them? Had it just slipped his mind? And why were they not protected?

  “They were protected,” Georg said with a vicious grin. “But now they’re not.”

  Since her thoughts were being so thoroughly monitored, she sought for information.

  How was it that Sin did not know Vich was there?

  “Because the army is moving one way and we were moving clandestinely another. If Sin has spies in our camp, they, like everyone else, think that Vich is sleeping in his tent and riding on his horse. But the tent is empty and the rider if muffled in scarves against the cold so they cannot see his face. Our doppleganger simply pretends he is Vich and no one notices that he never steps outside without his face covered. It was all really quite a show. Sin would have to have a spy very close to the raj in order to know…and no spy that close could ever go undetected by his Jadoc. Huko is nearly just as powerful as Lindo is. In fact, he is the one playing the part of Vich. He simply uses his power to make everyone think he is Vich and they are easily convinced that they are seeing what they expect to see. I wish I could say I was that good, but I’m not. One day though. One day soon. Huko is teaching me. When we’re together that is. I’ve been stuck here catering to your insipid maid these past weeks.”

  At the mention of her name, he turned to Mariah. “Well dove? I’ll bet you’re wishing you’d had a better taste of me…seeing as how powerful I am. The best a little non-majic-user like you’d ever get to sample. Shaman don’t dawdle with the like of you in either of our countries.”

  Mariah gave him a murderous glare and Ariana was proud of her. Mariah was a sensitive girl who wore her emotions easily seen. She could have easily dissolved into tears and shame. But she had not.

  “Oooo, now there’s a wicked thought. Whoever knew you could be such a dirty girl,” he said with a rude guffaw.

  It was clear Mariah had had no such thoughts, but he continued to goad her, as if he were reading her lascivious mind. “You want to do it where? In the raja’s bed? Naughty, insolent girl. Well, perhaps if you’re good, when this is all over, I’ll take you there and make your fantasy come true. Would you like that? Eh? To tumble around in her bed.” He reached out and slid insolent fingers over Ariana’s cheek. “Or is it no fun without the
raja in it? Maybe I can arrange that too. When Vich is raja he will sleep in that bed…and take as many women as he likes into it. Although, he may not be inspired by the likes of you. Now you,” he slid his eyes over Ariana, “are another story. Vich is completely fascinated by you. By the power you hold over his brother. There must be something pretty sweet between your thighs to set a man like Sin on edge like that. Something real sweet. We’ve all been trying to figure it out. I’d like to find out for myself, and who knows, maybe Vich will hand you over to us men. I bet Sin wouldn’t want you back after that…kid or no kid.

  “But if you ask me, Vich wants you for himself. Seems he wants a little payback for all those times you set him down with that smart mouth of yours. Bet you’re wishing you’d kept a more honeyed tongue in your head, eh?” His grin was positively salacious. “Let’s have some of that honeyed tongue now yes?” He drew them up short took her by her arm and slammed her back up against the nearest wall. He feinted for her mouth with his and she jerked her head to the side. “I’ll let you fight me,” he said, his hot breath washing over her. “It’s more fun that way.”

  “Georg enough!” one of the other men barked. “If Vich sees you manhandling the merchandise there’ll be both hells to pay.”

  “Merchandise?” Georg snorted a laugh. “I guess that is what you are. Goods to be bartered or sold. I wonder how much Sin would pay for you. Not that he’ll actually get you. There’s only one way this will all end. But…shh…there’s no need to give away that little secret.”

  Ariana felt sick. Literally sick. And while Georg had control over her motor functions, even he could not control her autonomic ones. Oh, if he was skilled enough he could give her a stroke or a heart attack, but he couldn’t keep her from needing to upend her stomach all over the place. In fact, because he was so deeply entrenched in her mind at the time, he turned a little green himself.

  Ariana quite happily vomited all over Georg.

  Georg bellowed out a curse and leapt back away from her. His concentration broke from her and she got back the use of her arms, legs and voice. All in one fluid movement she burned through her bonds, gathered the skirt of her nightdress in her hands and yanked it up as she hauled off and kicked him right between the legs so hard his feet jumped from the floor. Then she formed a fireball in her hand and slammed her flaming fist into his face. His hair caught fire and he began to scream. The pitch was earsplitting and high. Then, before anyone could react, she generated a sword of fire and cut through the two closest men. They went up in flames and pandemonium broke out in the hallway.