“I can see you have not given much thought to how they do what they do, though you are half Gaian,” Sharyn stated matter of factly.
Ouch. That stung, but it was no less true. In fact, by the time she’d finished making the rounds with RuArk last night, meeting his men and such, Rhia had been thoroughly embarrassed. Every man, whether they’d ever set foot in Draema before or not, had knowledge of her home. They knew Draeman history from before the time of the Breaking. They knew the languages, laws, social structure and many of the customs. Even the layout of the lands and location of the borders of all seven colonies that made up the province of Draema.
What did she know about Gaia? Beans, is what, and she’d never even had a naturally-grown one of those, either.
RuArk’s terms for their agreement were suddenly quite important now. She needed to learn, about him, their people, and even about herself. Damn, she hated running to catch up.
“So what about this bond business?”
“Those of us with Gifts can sometimes sense others that carry them,” Sharyn said. “As for this bond business, we can also sense those we have joined our lives to. It is called a mate bond.”
“I don’t understand. How does this bond form?”
“It requires only the acceptance of the joining in your heart, not the sharing of your body. Sometimes it happens between mates without their admitting it with words. But the heart knows. It is all that is required, just as the mating itself. It is a magic of sorts.”
Those words came back to her. RuArk had said something about ‘the magic in their blood.’ Hmmm.
Rhia shook her head in amazement. How could her heart accept something without her head being involved? This was way beyond her realm of knowledge or experience. But the pulsing hole in her gut told her Sharyn was on to something.
“Tell me about the sensing thing?” Rhia asked.
Thankfully, Sharyn obliged.
“First, I must know how acute this feeling is you’ve experienced. It is an awareness of someone or something around you that you could not see? Or perhaps a tingling on your skin, as if something fleeting had touched you? There was no fear, but a knowing someone was near?”
Rhia nodded, eager to understand.
“When you think of the Wind Storm, you begin to sense him because the bond is invoked.”
“By thought? It’s that simple?”
“It is the simplest explanation. However, sensing the Gifts is different, less precise than the bond. It requires no thought, and happens when you are in the presence of another who is touching their Source. The Source can be touched without actually engaging your Gifts.”
Really? Not only had she experienced what Sharyn described, but had felt it many times since encountering RuArk and his warriors in the High City. It was a tingling that began in her scalp and slipped down the back of her neck, especially around Linc. A passing presence, like a shadow brushing against her mind. Just then, the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention as she became aware of a subtle something that seemed to press against her very spirit.
Sharyn.
“You are using your Gift right now, aren’t you?”
“No, but I am touching my Source. It is what allows mates to invoke their bond, and allows me the ability to use my Gift. Can you feel it?”
“Yes, I can feel it. And I’m not sure I like it at all.”
“Why? Because you cannot control it? Because it is something of which you are not an expert?” The words were calm, but the heat, the blatant attitude in Sharyn’s gaze was purposely present. It pushed a button that sent Rhia’s temper flaring.
“Just who do you think you’re talking to like that?” Rhia took a step forward, hands on hips, but the other woman’s words brought her up short.
“I am speaking to you, Rhia. I respect you because you are lifemate to the Wind Storm. I will protect you with my life because it is my duty to protect RuArk and you are now a part of him. I protect him from danger, his enemies, and from pain. I will shield him from anyone who would cause him harm. And should you choose to be a source of hurt, I will include you among his enemies.”
Holy shit.
“I would never hurt him,” Rhia blurted before she could hold back the words, but knew they were true. Silently, she scolded herself for simmering just below a boil while Sharyn was as composed as the finest Draeman noble taking afternoon tea—yuck.
“It is important you understand that I am your equal, not your student. I do not take orders from you unless the Protector demands that I do so, or I choose to swear the oath to you. So far, you have earned nothing.”
Rhia was appalled. No one had ever spoken to her like this. But she had no retort because Sharyn’s words rang true even as the hardness left her voice.
“I am not your enemy, Rhia. You can learn from me, from all of us. We have been places you have never been. I am familiar with things of which you have little knowledge. The Gifts and the bond to your mate are examples of this. You would do well to remove your nose from the air and accept that you are not in charge. Not here. Not for the moment.”
Well, at least the woman is straightforward. Sharyn picked up her bow and slung it over her shoulder.
“Besides, I do not compete with you for RuArk’s affection, Rhia. He loves me.”
And just when I was starting to respect the bitch, Rhia snarled to herself.
“But,” Sharyn continued, “he loves me as he would a sister. He is my cousin, though we are not related by any blood. This is something you would know had you bothered to simply ask. You have his heart, though neither of you seem to realize it. You fight your need for him, but there are many women who would take your place if given the chance.”
“Have you ever slept together, Sharyn?” She just had to know. Braced herself for the answer.
“We have slept together under the stars.” She paused. “With thirty or forty other people around us. We have never shared our bodies, if that is what you mean. But if he ever asked me, I would gladly give myself to him. I owe him my life and I would do anything for him.”
Uncomfortable silence stretched between the two proud women. Both stood their ground, neither looked away. Rhia was impressed with Sharyn. It would be much better to have her allegiance than to be a foe.
“I believe you are a wise woman, Rhia Greysomne, but are you wise enough to accept what cannot be changed? To embrace what is now a part of you, meaning your mate, and quite possibly a Gift? I can help you learn the ways of our people. I will even help you understand your mate. Well, whenever he is not teaching you, of course.”
Though Sharyn’s mouth was a straight line of seriousness, her eyes seemed to smile anyway. Rhia knew it was as close to an extension of friendship as she was going to get. Insight into what made RuArk tick? An advantage into this new life of hers? And the chance to make a friend? She’d be crazy to turn away.
“I would like your help, Sharyn,” she smiled, extending her hand to the other woman. For a moment, she wasn’t sure Sharyn would take it, when with a swift movement the other woman reached out and wrapped her fingers around Rhia’s forearm. Touching the fingertips of her free hand lightly to her own lips, she kissed the tips and placed them on Rhia’s skin next to the fingers that gripped her firmly.
“This is called the Sister’s Kiss.”
Rhia wasn’t sure what to do when Sharyn continued to stand there with both her hands on either side of Rhia’s forearm, holding fast. When Rhia mirrored her actions and lightly kissed her own fingers and placed them on the skin of Sharyn’s forearm, the dark haired warrior woman nodded, closed her eyes.
The energy, the connection was so intense Rhia’s skin practically ran away from her body. Surely every hair stood on end as a door inside her own mind opened wide and Sharyn walked through. Wow. It was exciting and humbling to have this strong woman be willing to share something so intimate.
Rhia had good friends in Joan and Brita, but she now realized that it was more than friend
ship that she’d been missing since her mother had passed. No, it was the inner-joining she’d just experienced with Sharyn, that she’d also had with her mother—a touch of her Source energy. Sure, she had a father and a brother, but...
She didn’t want to think about it just now.
Instead, she focused on the flow of her Source. After it slowly vanished, Rhia suddenly found herself pulled into a fierce hug.
“You are now my sister. We are family, Rhia, with a bond of our own. Nothing quite like what you will develop with your mate, but we will be close, you and I.”
The thought was comforting, calming and thrilling all at once, but she kept quiet, careful not to interrupt as Sharyn explained the significance of the little ceremony they’d just completed. This was a rare honor, especially for a non-Gaian. If this conversation had gone any better, Rhia would have floated clean away.
Sharyn’s smile rivaled the blinding sun as pride and accomplishment shone in her dark brown eyes.
Now, it was time to hit the road. With a skip in her step she didn’t bother to hide, Rhia headed back to camp with Sharyn’s light-hearted chuckle sounding in the light breeze behind her.
Chapter Nineteen
Dalmore came forward to assist her with mounting. Before she could wave him away, one look at the raised eyebrow of her lifemate changed her mind.
Sigh. Nothing wrong with letting the man be a gentleman.
She painted on a smile, then realized she was genuinely in a good mood, and allowed Dalmore to help her up into her saddle. RuArk eyed her askance, but said nothing.
As they rode, their entire party, as large as it was, remained quiet, carrying on silent conversations with their hands. With all her military experience, she’d never seen anything quite like it. Warriors rode both in front of and behind them. Some traveled well off the road and into the forests on either side. They were flanked on all sides, but could easily be mistaken for a small party traveling alone. The Noman she’d exchanged growls with the night before was conspicuously missing.
Their pace was leisurely, but she detected the hum of anticipation, of danger as they moved. Yet, her mate was a solid and calming presence. After riding in comfortable silence for a couple of standard hours, she finally whispered, “Why is everyone so quiet?”
He nudged his mount close enough for the supple gray buckskins stretched over his large thighs to rub against her leg. That simple contact blazed clear down to her toes, but she shook it off and forced herself to concentrate on his words instead of his strength and the hardness of his muscles, what they felt like skin-to-skin. And his full, tempting lips. God, and all that sinfully soft hair.
Sigh. He turned a soft smile in her direction before it was pushed away and replaced with a granite seriousness she wished he didn’t have to wear. Ever.
“You are being hunted, which means,” he said, motioning to the men surrounding them, “we are also hunted.”
That explained why they weren’t all traveling on the road together.
“Can we talk at all?” she whispered.
Nodding, RuArk indicated with his hands for her to be as quiet as possible, then casually produced a wickedly curved dagger and began polishing it as they covered the distance at a leisurely pace. Now that was an impressive weapon. She just had to touch it.
Holding out her hand, she asked breathlessly, “May I?” His answering smile melted her bones. She lowered her lashes, hid a demure smile of her own and held in a gasp of anticipation as he placed it in her hand.
Both the blade and handle were jet black and made of a metal alloy she wasn’t familiar with. The hilt was covered with a tacky almost sticky substance that she imagined would stay in a soldier’s hand even if it was coated with blood. She flipped the razor sharp weapon over her hand and across the backs of her knuckles testing its weight and balance. Except for the color, his knife was very similar to the one she always wore strapped to her thigh that had once belonged to her mother.
Next, he removed several more knives from hidden sheaths on his body and explained how they differed from her Draeman weapons. Assassin’s blade, long knife, bowie knife, and more. He even let her play with one of his armor plated wrist guards she’d never seen him take off before. She couldn’t remember enjoying a conversation with a man more.
Suddenly, Rhia longed to have more in common with RuArk than a mind boggling attraction, or a love of weapons and tactics.
“Have you ever been in love, RuArk?” As soon as the words left her lips, his expression became as hard as Draeman stone. Too bad her teeth weren’t sharp enough to bite off her tongue. Damn.
Surprisingly, there was no hesitancy on RuArk’s part. Not necessarily a good thing.
“Once. It was the most idiotic thing I have ever done.”
Ouch.
“Who put the thorn in your side to make you so jaded about love?” she snorted cynically. To her surprise, RuArk didn’t hesitate to tell his story, but with so little emotion he could have been talking about his horse, or a trip to see the snow up on the highest peaks of the Borderland’s mountains.
“My thorn, as you say, was called Ansla. She was to be my mate. I was young and thought she was the great love of my life.” Now it was his turn to snort. “I was so naive. Father tried to warn me, told me his thoughts on the woman, but encouraged me to make my own choice. It was his way of trying to guide me without making me feel incapable of making decisions on my own. A man named Shiel, a fellow clansman, told me I should listen to my father. I found her in his arms the night before our joining ceremony.”
Rhia scowled and opened her mouth to defend her sex, but snapped it shut as his schooled features slipped with his next words.
“You appear to be a woman of honor.”
He seemed surprised at his own confession, as if he’d discovered something he liked, but would rather it be unpalatable. Rhia rolled her eyes and laughed at his disgruntled expression, earning a deep scowl from him.
“Yes, I have honor, RuArk,” she said, falling silent until she felt him begin to withdraw again. She wanted to continue the conversation. “We both seem to be carrying some baggage.”
He raised a brow, prompting Rhia to explain.
“I just think we’ve both been scarred by our pasts,” she explained. “But I’m not Ansla and you’re not Bryan. Do you believe we can change our way of thinking?”
Perhaps love each other?
He didn’t say a word. The very air seemed to thicken as the space between them filled with unease. But who was uncomfortable? Her, him, or both of them?
Needing an answer, any answer, she pressed. “Well, once we get to know each other better I’m sure we’ll care for one another as much as we care for everyone else.”
“Make no wagers on that, Rhia, for I have no wish to care for you as I do everyone else.”
Laser pistol fire to the gut would have hurt less. How the hell did he fake such a wild attraction to her? Last night he’d touched her as if she were more precious than the old histories, as cherished as cut gems or an iozene mine.
Brita had explained to her that men were different from women. They could be content with just sex and attraction with no need for any emotional attachment. Is that what was going on here?
Like hell.
◊ ◊ ◊
Rhia spoke quietly, each syllable laced with fire... and pain.
“Fine. I could care less. I could never love you anyway. You’re not my type. You’re just an oversized babysitter chosen by my father. I may want you, RuArk - what woman wouldn’t? But I never said I needed you. And I won’t. Ever.”
Not exactly how he’d intended the conversation to go, though he’d spoken the truth.
He’d always kept a healthy distance from everyone. As a leader, a Protector, he’d never allowed anyone to get too close, couldn’t afford to care too much, to put another person before his duties. But now, in such a short amount of time, he’d come to realize his error of his self-imposed loneliness.
When she was close, the wind carried the fragrance she used to rinse her hair, and the faint juicy scent of spiced apples from the gelsoap she lathered over her toned body. And the more time he spent in her presence, the more he was tempted to forget his plan to let her adjust to their mating and seduce her with every skill he had.
Care for her like he did everyone else? Not a chance in all the hells. He wanted more than that between them. Much more.
Obviously, he’d botched the telling of it.
RuArk watched stoically as a fuming Rhia clamped her lips shut and pulled ahead to ride point with Sharyn, determined to ignore him. He took in the way her legs gripped her horse, the curve of her hips, how the sun illuminated the fiery highlights streaked through the natural curls and waves of her soft, dark hair. Keeping his Protector’s face firmly in place, RuArk silently recited the most boring Gaian history he could think of and thanked the Ancestors for self-preservation—it was the only way he was able to appear aloof.
He’d felt the faint stirrings of their life bond when they’d exchanged the words in her father’s office. This complex woman felt something for him, but right now, the boil of anger in her gaze said she’d rather shoot a Draeman laser pistol at his head than admit she cared. One thing was clear—Rhia was emotionally engaged.
But so was he.
She was proud, yet vulnerable, just like the woman he’d seen in the Seeking. The stiff-necked female claimed she didn’t need anyone. By the time he was finished with her, she would indeed need him. All of him—heart, body and soul.
Gods knew he already needed her.
◊ ◊ ◊
The sun was sinking and the day had been long. Her ass was sore. Her thigh muscles ached. Given the fact that they hadn’t stopped, except for the one time where she swore she would die if they didn’t, Rhia was bone tired.
Wind and Fire Page 17
