by Lee Hayton
“I didn’t say you could—”
“Unless you want me to pull Halv into service? The army needs a few more soldiers on the front line.”
Shandra felt the ground sway beneath her feet. In the course of a few minutes, she’d gone from holding the upper hand to losing hold completely. Except… As she stared at Wella, she realized she’d never had the drop on the woman at all. The whole act had just been another part of her charade to get what she wanted.
“You’ll need something warm,” Shandra told Ricci. “The mountains get colder than you’d think, at night.”
Chapter Three
“Nice going,” Ricci said when Shandra went to check on his progress.
“What do you mean?” The scorn in his voice had become so familiar lately, it barely raised an eyebrow.
“Because you got into a fight with Wella, I’m now headed for the front line. I can’t believe you couldn’t keep yourself in check and show the woman some respect. That’s all she was after.”
“She was after all of my harem,” Shandra said. “I wasn’t about to let her drag every one of my men out the door.”
“Your men.” Ricci shoved a pair of trousers into the knapsack and pulled the string tight. It wouldn’t come together, so full it bulged in all directions. “That’s all you care about these days, isn’t it? Your men.”
“I didn’t mean for her to target you.” Shandra felt her own temper flare at his continued insolence. “I was trying to avoid you and Halv being dragged into it. If you hadn’t appeared so eager, I might have talked her into changing her mind.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Leaving me and Halv behind on the farm again, just like last time.”
Shandra couldn’t keep up with his quick change in tack. “Well, make up your bloody mind. Either you’re angry about going or you’d be angry about staying. You can’t be both!”
He opened the bag and dragged items back out of it, so rough that his good shirt ripped under the strain.
“Careful,” Shandra said, elbowing him aside to pack everything up herself. “You need to learn to care for your belongings better. Out on the road, you won’t be able to mend things. You’re stuck with what you bring along and you have to put up with the condition you leave it in.”
Ricci grabbed the knapsack out of her hand, dragging it along the floor behind him to goad her. “Don’t talk to me. I’ll have enough on my mind, going into a war for the first time. I can’t be dealing with all your mood swings on top of it.”
All her mood swings? Shandra shook her head but kept her lip buttoned. The words her brother had used were the most revealing. Going into a war for the first time. The rest of his statements were probably just propelled by fear.
“You’re a good fighter,” she said, hoping to reassure him in some small measure. “I find it hard to keep up with your sword fighting these days. It’s the other side of the war effort should be worried about your arrival.”
He offered her a small smile, but it didn’t keep the scowl off his face for long. “I suppose you’ll start to lecture me soon enough about how I didn’t keep up with my practice with Io.”
“I’m not going to lecture you about—”
“You can tell it to my corpse.” Ricci’s face collapsed inward, and he dropped the bag to hide his face behind his hands. “Zen was a master of the sword compared to me, and even he fell in battle.”
Shandra felt a spike of guilt stab her in the belly. Too late, she realized she should have told her brothers about Zen’s miraculous survival. There was nothing she could do about it now though. To tell Ricci the truth would either sound like a falsehood or open up a new can of worms to have him at her throat.
“We don’t even know we’re going to be on the front line,” Shandra said, trying to find a way to comfort him. Every word she spoke seemed to inflame his teenage rebellion further. “New recruits often end up just fetching and carrying until the experienced women and men can size them up.”
“Great. I always wanted to be the chief water carrier.”
Shandra couldn’t resist. “Water is a bit high up the ladder for you to hope for right at the start. The other end of things would be more likely.”
Ricci’s nose wrinkled up so far, he looked like a rat but as they headed outside, he seemed a little calmer.
In the yard, they found Wella had taken all the horses out of the barn. She had Starburst on such a tight rein, the corner of the bridle bit deep into her mouth.
“I’ll take her,” Shandra said, running over. “She’s used to me.”
“She’s just about ready for the glue factory,” Wella said with a snarl. “The bloody mare tried to kick my mount.”
“Hey, love. It’s me.” Shandra stroked the mark on her forehead that gave Starburst her name. “Calm down, we’re going on a journey back to the mountains. It’ll be a nice ride.”
Wella clicked her tongue as she mounted, then turned to the guards following along behind her. “Well? Aren’t two of you going to lead? Or do you want me to be out in front as arrow fodder?”
Shandra bit down hard on her tongue. Ricci had been right about one thing, she should show Wella some respect if they were going to make it through this trip in one piece.
Baile came up beside her, opening his mouth with the smile on his lips that indicated a stinker of a joke was on the way. Shandra took her foot out of the stirrup long enough to deliver a sharp kick on his ankle. “You might want to hold your tongue,” she whispered. “At least until you prove yourself indispensable.”
“Hm.” Baile didn’t look at all impressed. “And here I was, thinking it was obvious.”
“To me, maybe.” Shandra gave him a conspiratorial smile. “Your charm might take longer to work its magic on our gracious overlord.”
The look of astonishment on his face at the serious use of the title was worth keeping locked in her mind. Shandra pressed her legs into Starburst’s sides, easing her forward as the guards led them off.
“Are we traveling far tonight?” she called out when they’d joined the main road. “This track isn’t the easiest to navigate in the dark.”
“That’s why we bought the rest of your horses along as spares,” Wella shot back. “We’ll travel until we join up with the rest of the camp. They’re preparing a dinner fit for an overlord, as a special treat to show my gratitude.”
With the spin of malice Wella put on those last words, Shandra wondered if she should risk a single bite.
Baile rode close behind Wella, staring at the woman’s back as though there’d be a test on it later. Although he knew about the overlord, both through actions she’d taken against Shandra and from their run-in on the road to fight Cade Storm, he’d never spent time in her company. Now was a good chance to understand what made her tick.
Finding out what made people act the way they did had been something Baile learned to do young. Both of his parents died early in the war, long before he reached the age of maturity. Although he’d traveled to the various aunts, uncles, and cousins he knew of in the region, nobody was in a position to take him in.
Everyone was fighting to maintain themselves through the ravages of war. He understood the lesson well enough from a logical standpoint.
From an emotional stance, being without his parents was devastating.
With no adult to protect him and no one taking time to explain the world, Baile grew up fast. He learned how to use his small stance to hide, darting out to steal what he needed to survive. He had no guilt over anything he did—nobody stayed in his life long enough to teach him to grow a conscience.
As he grew, Baile lamented he could no longer use the tricks of a small boy to steal his keep as a teenager. New tricks had to be thought of, tested, tried.
Humor turned from a personal amusement into part of his armor. There were many times he would be caught out and fear the loss of his liberties—scared of being roped into a chain-gang or hanged from a tree. Each time, a joke at an opportune
moment, with an occasional dependence on brute force, set him free before punishment could be inflicted.
No matter that he was now grown, Baile still cried himself to sleep at night. The gnawing ache of loneliness was worse than hunger from an empty belly.
One time, when caught bang to rights stealing cheese from a market stall, Baile finally thought his luck had run out. In fear and anger, he felt a change flowing through his body, twisting him until he felt turned inside out.
That was the first time he’d shifted.
Knowing his lineage gave Baile the first tie to a family that he’d experienced since the loss of his parents. All school children talked of the race of dragon shifters—the ones cursed by a witch when the man she loved didn’t return his affection.
The curse made him into the most feared creature on the planet—a dragon. Over time, the men of his line might have learned to control their shifting abilities, but the rage of a wild beast would sometimes still roar in their blood.
When news of another dragon shifter tickled Baile’s ear, he sought out the man and studied him from afar for weeks before taking the plunge and exposing himself in order to try to win a friend.
That man had been Sulli. A better friend than Baile had any right to hope for. A loyal man. A strong man. A man as damaged as himself.
Sulli led him to Mal and as the three traveled across the country, searching for a safe place to settle, Chance and Io expanded out their little tribe. Now, they were inseparable and had finally found the safe harbor they’d been seeking.
Except for this woman, Wella, who kept trying to tear them apart.
So Baile steered his horse to follow directly behind the overlord, keeping his eyes fixed to every shift in her posture. He studied her and committed those learnings to the giant trap of his mind.
When the opportunity struck, he’d apply those lessons to gain as much of an upper hand as was possible. He’d do it for himself, for his clan brothers, and for the woman traveling in line behind him—the one who’d made a place for them to settle and gave them the chance at a fresh start.
Chapter Four
Shandra gave a sigh of relief as they reached the campsite a few hours later, although ‘camp’ was something of a misnomer. A giant house, easily big enough to fit the farmhouse inside ten times over, had been occupied by Wella’s party. A large trestle table was set up in front, laden with food and drink.
The promised meal.
Even though Shandra still doubted Wella’s intentions, her mouth watered at the sight of the rich food. Roasted meats turned on a spit nearby with an attending boy carving off thick slices to refresh the platters as soon as their base showed.
When Shandra dismounted, a man sprang forward to take Starburst away. She stared after the horse with anxious eyes, but the easy manner he had with the animal comforted her worst fears. The joke about the glue factory still lingered in the back of her mind. Wella had probably forgotten the quip already but it wouldn’t pay to count on that.
Baile walked over and stood by her, his hands a flurry of nervous fidgets. Fingers clicked and snapped, before he wrung his hands together, then clapped, snapped and clicked some more.
“Seat yourself at the table,” a large man told them. Given the way he stood nearby until they did so, it wasn’t a request so much as an order.
Glancing around at the spectacle of men and women feasting on the extravagant meal made Shandra feel slightly ill. She thought of all the hours their household spent gathering together the means to serve up a meal that couldn’t hold a candle to this lot. A hollow sensation rumbled in Shandra’s belly, a twinge with no connection to her hunger or the food.
She reached under the table and grabbed Baile’s hand, startling him. He’d half pulled away before he seemed to understand what had happened, then he relaxed. His palm was warm and dry against hers.
“What are you doing all the way over there?” Wella demanded. “There’s a seat right here with your name on it.”
Shandra had half risen before she saw the overlord shaking her head. “Not you, dear,” she said with a sweet smile. “I’m not that way inclined.”
Baile shifted, plonking himself down next to Wella as though he’d been hanging out for the invitation. Soon, the two were chatting away, the woman throwing her head back as she laughed at one of his jokes.
A lump formed in the back of Shandra’s throat and she busied her hands, brushing down the napkin placed on her lap by one of the guards. It was obvious to her that Wella was flirting—a practice she was completely unskilled in herself—but Baile just lapped it up.
After a while, looking at the two of them together made Shandra’s stomach twist. She tried to ease the sensation with a forkful of meat and a slice of bread, but it did nothing except make her throat close up, so after a few bites she had to stop.
To distract herself, Shandra looked around the table to see where Ricci had gone. He wasn’t seated with the main table and the night was too close to be able to see farther afield.
“This your first time at one of Wella’s shindigs?” an old woman seated next to Shandra asked her. When she nodded, the lady gave a giggle. “I hope you’re not easily embarrassed then, young lass. Soon as the meal gets cleared away, the real party begins.”
The woman gave her a lewd wink totally unfitting for her age. Shandra’s eyes sought out Baile, down the table, and pleaded with him but he was busy caressing Wella’s hand.
Mal had told her what would happen if she didn’t bond with her full harem. Until she ensured they knew she wanted them, they would seek their pleasure elsewhere. He’d told her about urges as though he didn’t understand she had them too. Explained how when the craving got too intense a man couldn’t be led around by his head.
As if Shandra didn’t want all of her men! Of course, she did. Not just as companions to work alongside—sometimes she ached with curiosity about how Baile, Chance, or Io would be in her bed.
But she was also new to this. The change in her thinking after bonding with Sulli had been difficult to process. Her parents had been a single unit, one of each, and to translate the same relationship with so many on one side and only her on the other required an enormous shift in her thinking.
In the first days after bonding with Sulli, Shandra had been nervous to display their shared affection in front of Mal. Even though he’d been the one to encourage her, she couldn’t move her emotions in tandem with logic. They took their own sweet time.
Until now, Shandra had hoped the simple fact of their harem would stop the men she hadn’t bonded with from straying. Looking at Baile, leaning in toward Wella as though every word she issued was ecstasy for him to listen to, it appeared she’d miscalculated.
Despite telling herself it was foolish to be jealous, the world took on a green-tinged shade. The sound of Wella’s laugh cut into her eardrum, threatening to burst it. The familiar melodic pattern of Baile’s speech turned discordant.
As though her thoughts had called to him, Baile turned and stared straight into Shandra’s eyes. His features twitched and jerked, forming an expression she couldn’t fathom. Was he trying to tell her something, or just gloating because he’d found a bedfellow for the night?
She pushed her chair back, standing abruptly with her forgotten napkin tumbling to the ground. Shandra made a few excuses, though no one was paying her any attention. With her cheeks flaming red, caught between embarrassment and anger, she fled into the welcome darkness of the night.
Around the corner, there was a blessed respite from the merriment at the table. Shandra pressed her hot face against the cool brick, enjoying how the rough surface pressed into her skin.
When she felt calmer, Shandra continued down the side of the house to the back. Here, another party was taking place. One with far less formality than the front, and that had already been lacking.
Ricci stood on a tabletop, holding a mug of beer aloft, and singing out a bawdy version of the army’s marching song. Shandra drew ba
ck into the shadows, anxious that he not see her watching. If he thought she was spying on him, their relationship might deteriorate even further.
Knowing it was wrong, she continued to stare at the scene, fascinated. After so long spent as part of the furniture at the farm, Ricci as the center of attention was a revelation.
Who even knew he could sing?
As the song came to a raucous end, Shandra tore herself away. He didn’t need her looking out for him. Ricci fitted in with the youngsters better than she fit into her group.
Her group.
Shandra’s thoughts turned back to Baile, flirting hard with Wella. A spark of anger ignited in her chest again, turning her breath into short pants.
Fine. If he wanted to waste his time with that awful woman, she wasn’t about to stop him. In high dudgeon, Shandra took herself off to the bedroom she’d been shown earlier. At the time, she’d fancied that Baile might join her in the bed there once the feast was over.
If he turned up now, the reception wouldn’t be welcoming.
Chapter Five
Shandra woke to the creak of a floorboard. Near the door, still a few yards from her bed. Her muscles tensed as she strained to hear another sound. Was that a soft inhalation or the wind gently rustling the curtains beside the open window?
Another footfall, this one almost upon her. Shandra jerked her legs up to her chest and thrust them out, landing a hard blow on a soft belly.
A man groaned, dropping to his knees. Shandra threw back the covers and leaped onto his back, using his moans as a guide in the dark shadows of the room. Her right arm went around his throat and her left hand pulled it tight. She felt the crackle of his windpipe against the soft skin of her inner arm.
“Please,” the man gasped. His fingers clawed at the back of her arm, trying to loosen her stranglehold.
Odd. Even with that one broken word, he sounded like Baile.
Shandra thrust her face forward, tilting him toward the weak threads of moonlight coming in through the window.
