Deo pursed his lips.
Hallow said, in a voice filled with apology, “I am to inform you that you are to consider yourself shat upon. Now, if we can get back to the matter at hand—”
“I will not go with you,” Deo said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Not so long as she is involved.”
Allegria and Hallow looked back at where Deo had nodded. Idril stood in the doorway.
“Since you were exiled, Lord Jalas has become gravely ill,” Hallow said slowly, obviously picking his words carefully. “Lady Idril now leads the Tribe of Jalas in his stead.”
“Those are my terms,” Deo said. The chaos magic tutted to itself. Idly, he wondered if it was reacting to Allegria’s nearness or the portent of doom that hung over the land like a shadow.
Oh, it is the thought of the battles to come. So much death. So much eradication. The priest has nothing to offer us. The arcanist might be useful. As for the other woman ... she will only try to turn you against all you hold dear.
His gaze moved again to Idril. Her face, her lovely face so familiar to him, and yet that of a stranger ... “Those are my terms,” he repeated, turning his back on the sight of her.
“We accept,” Hallow said quickly, and, with a loaded look at Allegria, strode away to converse with Idril.
The Harborym were back. A slow smile curved his lips as he touched the harness binding his chest. This time he would not fail. He would reclaim his mother from the invaders, and prove to his father once and for all his worth.
He would be triumphant, or die trying.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
We sailed that night, on the same ship that had a year before brought us to Genora.
“But the men are wary of leaving at night. It’s bad luck,” the captain protested when Hallow, Deo, and I arrived at the boat. The captain was overseeing the taking on of water, and looked more than a little startled when Hallow asked to sail right then.
“Tell them it’s a matter of saving Aryia,” Hallow said.
“They’ll expect payment.” The captain’s expression turned canny. “We’ll all expect payment for sailing through dangerous waters at night.”
Hallow reached for the leather bag that hung from his belt. He opened it and pursed his lips, sending me a questioning look.
“Not so much as a copper coin,” I told him. “I’ve been in a cave for the last year.”
“Ah. Good point.” He looked at Deo, who was staring moodily into the distance. “Do you have any coin?”
“Yes. Lots of them.”
“With you?” Hallow asked, looking relieved.
“No. What is the delay? Why are we not sailing? She will not stay placated for long. I wish to be away before she demands we take her with us.”
“Lady Idril understands that another ship will be sent out immediately for her and her entourage,” Hallow said smoothly. “Thorn is even now taking a message to intercept a ship that was sailing shortly after we left port.”
“How much are you paying that ship to come here?” the captain asked.
“That is not pertinent. You and your men will be rewarded if we sail in the next hour,” Hallow said sternly.
“I will fetch Goat,” Deo said, nodding his head. “Then we will depart immediately.”
“I cannot entice the crew if there is no evidence of this reward—” the captain said, blocking the small rowboat that would take us back to the ship.
Deo, his eyes lighting up red, picked the man up with one hand and gave him a little shake. “We sail in the next hour. Is that clear?”
“I cannot—”
A blue flame lit his feet.
“Aieee! I’ll tell them!”
I slid a look toward Hallow. He whistled softly to himself.
“You’ve become incorrigible while I was in my cave,” I told him when the captain rowed us out to his ship. It had taken some doing, but we managed to convince Deo to leave the wild goat behind.
“Good thinking,” Deo said darkly, his eyes on his stone house. “Goat can keep an eye on her.”
We said nothing more about Deo’s little touch of madness. I waited until we were urged aboard the ship by a limping captain to ask Hallow, “I thought arcanists took an oath to use their magic for the good of Alba?”
“We do. Why do you ask?”
I nodded toward the captain.
Hallow smiled and gently pushed me toward the hatch that led to the cabins. “I barely singed his stockings. Stop dawdling, or we’ll lose the good cabin to your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my—Hallow!” I stopped, stomping my foot when my erstwhile lover dashed ahead, waving a hand that summoned up from the deck a set of shackles made of arcane light, shackles that wrapped themselves around Deo’s legs as the latter was about to enter the hatch.
“What is this magic?” Deo roared, growling when Hallow slipped ahead of him, “If you think to lay claim to the master’s cabin, you are too late. I have already done so. Hallow! I demand you release me! That cabin is mine!”
“You haven’t even seen it,” Hallow’s voice came from the innards of the ship.
“I don’t have to see it to know it’s mine! I am the leader of this battle; it’s only right that the best cabin should go to me,” Deo bellowed back. He struggled against the chains, managing to get one leg free. The chains of the other kept his foot tied to the deck surface, but he dragged it along, yelling, “Come back here and face my magic, Hallow! Kiriah damn you, that cabin is mine!”
“It’s going to be a long trip,” I said to stars faintly visible overhead, and followed the two men inside.
By the time the accommodation situation was resolved (the captain refused to give up his cabin to Deo no matter how much he was threatened), and Deo had the second-best cabin, while Hallow claimed the last—and smallest—cabin for us, the ship’s crew began preparations to leave. They weren’t happy, but when they were told that Deo would pay them upon arrival in Aryia, they at least took up their jobs, and we sailed before the moon rose fully.
Approximately two minutes later, I was headed for our tiny cabin tucked away behind the galley. I’d seen it briefly before we sailed to the Isle of Enoch, noting that the one bunk in it was barely big enough for one person, and that two of us would be cramped, but it was our private haven, and I wasn’t going to complain. It was better than sleeping down in the bowels of the ship with the sailors, as we’d done coming out.
I opened the door to the cabin to find Hallow in just his breeches, hopping on one foot while he pulled a boot off the other.
“Oooh,” I said, my eyes trying to take in all that glorious bare chest, and was about to step in when the door to the second-best cabin opened and Deo stuck his head out.
“Allegria! Come.”
He started to retreat back into his cabin, pausing when I said loudly, “Are you insane?”
The look he gave me would have daunted a saint.
“Sorry,” I apologized, then gestured toward my cabin, where Hallow had now sat down on the edge of the bunk to de-boot himself. “Not now, Deo.”
“Now,” he said, his voice booming around the lower deck.
“I’ve got better things to do—”
“Now!” he bellowed, and stalked back into his cabin.
I sighed, and poked my head into our cabin. “Do you mind if I—”
“No,” Hallow said, successfully removing one boot before starting on the crossties. “But if you don’t get back in five minutes, I’ll likely be asleep. I’m exhausted after arguing with Lady Idril that it was in her best interests to stay behind with her entourage for a day or two until a ship could be sent for them.”
“Deal,” I said, and, closing the door, walked briskly the ten steps to Deo’s cabin. He was seated at a small table, frowning over a map of Alba that he had finagled from the captain. “Well?”
“Ah, there you are.” He had donned a more reasonable tone of voice, and gestured toward a three-legged stool. “Come in. Sit. Have s
ome wine?”
“Deo, I have a mostly naked arcanist waiting for me—”
“And he’ll continue to wait if the looks you two have been giving each other all day are any indication. Now, where exactly have the rifts opened? Where is the Tribe of Jalas? Did my father tell you his plans for attack?”
I looked at him for a good two minutes; then I rose and went to the door, pausing to say before I left, “I expected better from you, Deo. I know you’ve suffered more than anyone else, and I know you want to take charge of your life again, but I have not felt the touch of my lover’s hands and his assorted body parts in almost a year, and by Kiriah’s bright blazes, if I don’t feel them in the next minute, I will expire. Good night.”
He blustered a bit, but I paid no attention to it. I had far more important things to do.
“Hello, important things,” I said, arriving at our cabin. I closed the door behind me, then, with insight into Deo’s behavior, shoved Hallow’s leather trunk, the saddlebags, and the staff minus Thorn against the door.
Hallow was lying on the bunk, his hands behind his head, his feet bobbing to a tune that only he could hear. He was naked, and the sight of him spread out before me like a feast had desire pooling low in my parts, spreading a slow burn outward to my belly and breasts.
“Good evening.” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Are you planning on taking off that attractive tunic?”
“I am. That and everything else.” I pulled the tunic off, posing provocatively for a moment before tackling the laces of my undertunic.
His eyes glinted in the dim light like blue gemstones in firelight. “Do you need help?”
“No, I’m fine.” I pulled my undertunic off, shivering a little in the chill sea air that seeped in through the wood. I bent to pull off my boots and leggings, until I stood before him in just my linen breastband and underwear.
“You’re more than fine. You’re the loveliest woman I’ve ever seen. Your skin is as smooth as satin. The light glows off it like ... like starlight on a pearl.”
“A dusky, slightly blue pearl,” I said, gesturing toward my belly as I sauntered toward him. I had never perfected the art of dalliance, but I did my best to be seductive. “One with freckles and forehead dots.”
“I love your dusky blueness. I love the freckles. I love the forehead.” He pulled me onto him, his hands sliding up my back until they untied my breastband. “I love everything about you. Goddess, it’s been a long time.”
The entreaty in his voice and eyes warmed me, driving out everything—all the worry, and fears, and concerns about Deo’s sanity—everything but the pleasure I felt in his company. If this was love, it was a bittersweet emotion, since the joy Hallow gave me was so great, it threatened to overwhelm me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his hands warm on my bare thighs, his eyes shrewd upon me. “Have you had a change of heart?”
“No.” I leaned down to kiss him, savoring the sweetness of his lips on mine. “It’s just that it’s somewhat ... overpowering, this feeling that happens when we are together, don’t you think? It’s like it will sweep us up before it, and we will never be able to separate ourselves again.”
“Do you want to separate from me?” His voice was neutral, but a spark of pain lit his eyes. “Am I overpowering you? I assumed from the talk we had when I found you that you felt the same as I did, but perhaps you need more time.”
“It’s nothing to do with us, not in that way,” I said, struggling to explain. My body ached for me to drop the conversation and get on with the lovemaking, but my mind wasn’t willing to commit until I made Hallow understand. “It’s this feeling that you stir inside of me. Before the rift closed, it was simple. I enjoyed you, and you enjoyed me, and that was all well. But then things changed. ... I changed.”
“I think I understand,” he said slowly, one hand cupping my face. “Life has changed for us, and although you’ve remained sheltered, and I’ve been focused on bringing order to the arcanists where there was none, the thing that we are together has changed, as well. Is that it?”
“Yes. And it’s big. Bigger than it was before.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “I assure you it’s exactly as you left it.”
I pinched the skin on his belly. “I’m being silly, I know. I just wondered if you felt the same way.”
“No,” he said with an apology in his voice. “I wish I could say yes, but it would be untrue. I believe I know what it is you’re feeling, however, and the reason why you feel overwhelmed, but short of changing the past, I can only promise you that not all emotion demands you lose control of yourself. You can love without becoming the berserker you fear.”
“You do understand,” I said, the feeling of relief making me sag down on top of him. “I didn’t know how to explain it without sounding like the worst sort of coward ... or an idiot.”
“You are neither, my brave one. You are the strongest person I know, which is a bit intimidating when I think about it. I’ve never bedded a woman who could beat me into a stain on the ground if she chose to do so.”
The twinkle of humor was in his eyes, causing me to bite his chin before sitting astride him again, my hands on his chest. “I don’t know that I could do that, since you obviously have grown in your mastery of the arcane, but if you ever steal a runeseeker from me again—”
He laughed and flipped us over so that I was on my back, and his hands were full of my breasts. “Let us forget Exodius and the Harborym and everything outside of this cabin for a bit, shall we? Everything I want, I see before me.”
I curled my toes into the linen sheet beneath me, running my hands down his sides, digging my fingers into the thick muscles of his behind. “That I can absolutely agree with. Love me, Hallow. Love me the way I’ve wanted for the longest time. Take me to Bellias Starshine and back.”
“You’ve grown poetic in your old age,” he murmured, kissing a path down my neck to my chest, pausing to pay tribute at each breast. “I must reward such a silver tongue with one of my own.”
I watched with growing hope as he kissed further downward, my feminine parts feeling excessively warm in anticipation. “Oh, yes please.”
His kisses and touches raised an inferno of sensation within me, the strokes of his tongue tormenting me until I trembled on the brink of an orgasm so great, I wanted to sing with the joy of it all.
And then he was there inside of me, the sensation of being filled pushing me ever closer to the stars. I bit his shoulder, my legs wrapping around his hips as he began moving in a rhythm that consumed every thought I had. My body seemed to tighten until I couldn’t hold it any longer, and fell gloriously into the waves of orgasm that rippled outward. Hallow didn’t last beyond my inner convulsions, and shouted his own completion into the pillow beneath my head.
I felt a pang of fear when I lost myself in the power of our physical acts, but it took only a few seconds to realize Hallow was right—I could give in to the intense pleasure that he brought me without losing control. It was not strong emotion that had made me a berserker so long ago, as I half feared.
“Still, the chaos magic didn’t answer me,” I said aloud some time later, when we had recovered. The fact that had been troubling me ever since we had rescued Deo came to the front of my mind. I’d pushed it aside once, but it couldn’t be ignored any longer. “Deo was right there, but still it didn’t waken. I’m afraid it’s left me for good, Hallow.”
“And therein lies your problem, my heart. You have given in to fear.”
I tipped my head back and studied his chin. I like his chin almost as much as I like his eye crinkles. “Have you never felt fear?”
“On the contrary, I felt it my whole life, until the moment when I found the one thing that I knew would drive fear from my life.”
“Arcane magic,” I said, nodding.
“You,” he said simply, causing me to push back on his chest until I could look down on him. He’d had his eyes closed, but at my movement, he opened them
to watch me.
“Me? What are you talking about? Is this your way of declaring yourself? Because if it is, I’m not going to accept it. We’re going to battle, Hallow, a battle that we don’t know we can win. I refuse to let you pledge your troth to me now. Later, perhaps. But not now. You can just take back what you said.”
He laughed, brushing my hair back from where it clung to one cheek. “I won’t take it back, and furthermore, I’ll stand behind it until the day I breathe my last. You changed me, Allegria—before you, I wandered the world craving something that I could never find. When I was young, I thought it was adventure and excitement. I had that aplenty with Master Nix, and later, when I was older, I decided that what I sought was to be of service. I wanted to make Alba a better place through the mastery of arcane practices.”
“And after we met?” Despite my declaration, I was pleased and flattered by his words. More, the look in his eyes was warm in a way I hadn’t seen before—it had passion, yes, but something more, something deeper that called to me.
“After you lipped off to Lord Israel, and charged off to fight battles that I feared would consume you, I realized that what I sought all my days had been you. You complete the world for me, my heart. You brought the sense of belonging that’s been missing in my life, you eliminated the loneliness that is so often an arcanist’s companion, and you presented a challenge that I knew I would never tire trying to guess. In short, my lightweaving Bane of Eris, you give me a reason to be.”
“By the light, Hallow,” I said, rising onto my knees next to him. “I just told you not to declare yourself, and you’ve gone and done it, and now I have to face the fact that you’re a much better person than me, and I’m a coward and unworthy of you and you’ll probably tire of me after a few centuries, and then I’ll die alone in a ditch surrounded by Buttercup’s descendants, and possibly a mangy cat or two.”
He laughed again, his eyes crinkling delightfully, leaving me filled with the warm glow of love. “You can’t possibly mean any of that.”
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