by Riley Storm
The two lifted their weapons. Amber clutched at the collar of her sweatshirt fearfully as the duel began.
“Man must truly care for you,” Khove said from next to her.
She frowned, unable to tear her eyes away from Kasperi. There was an unspoken question in that statement.
“He says he’s my mate,” she replied, doing her best to speak low enough so others wouldn’t overhear.
“Really? You’re sure he used that word exactly?”
She nodded, wincing as Kasperi blocked a strike with the blade and then scrambled to call up a shield with his swords, blocking the true attack Kvoss had been setting him up for. He succeeded, but the impact of the energy sent him stumbling back half a dozen steps.
“Yes, he explained to me what it meant.” She bit her lip, then asked a question. “Do you think he was telling the truth?”
Khove turned slightly so he could look her in the face. “We don’t lie about that. Period.” Then he faced the fight again.
We don’t lie about that. Could he be serious? Did Kasperi truly see her as his mate? The one he would spend the rest of his life with, and the only one he would ever really love, according to his definition of the word. It scared her to know such things. Terrified her, really, because they’d known each other for a week and a half. That was all.
“How can he know that in such a short period of time?” she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.
“Magic,” Khove said. “One of our Title Holders can see visions of it.”
A vague memory of Kasperi being paid a visit by an eager shifter on her first night at the manor returned to her. “He doesn’t happen to have hair like your eyes, does he?”
Khove nodded. “That would be Kincaid, the Hunter. If he saw it, then it’s true. A Hunter has never been wrong.”
“Aw, shit,” she muttered to herself. This just complicated things even more.
Kasperi cared about her deeply. She could see that, she knew that. He wasn’t using her to make his point about what was right and what was wrong. He truly believed it. Believed in her.
But how did she feel about him?
Kasperi went on the attack, both swords glowing orange-red, like the steel had just come fresh from the forge, still blazing hot. Sparks erupted every time the Assassin parried one of his strikes, and then Kasperi sliced a long sliver of metal from the plain steel blade of his opponent.
The crowd reacted, some in approval, others in anger. The tone changed just as quickly. Kvoss switched to using magic to deflect another blow and launch a counter-attack. Amber squeaked nervously, then gasped as Kasperi was too slow to react and a long cut opened up on his left arm.
A thick line of crimson ran down his tricep, pooled at his elbow and began to drip steadily to the floor. It wasn’t a mortal wound, but it looked bad. Amber’s heart was thundering heavily in her chest, and in a moment of madness, she almost stepped forward to interrupt the fight.
Khove’s huge arm swung out wide, stopping her. “You mustn’t,” he said heavily. “Only one can stop this, and you’re not her, though I mean no insult.”
“But what if he loses?” she asked, running her mind through the scenario.
How much longer would Kasperi continue to defend her if he was badly hurt here today? It seemed likely he’d give up eventually, saying it wasn’t worth it. She didn’t want that. Amber wanted to keep working with him. To stay near him.
You care for him.
It was the first time she’d openly acknowledged that truth to herself. To anyone, actually. So long that she’d spent actively not thinking about it, not letting herself let him in. She was a prisoner here, she wasn’t supposed to care for her jailer.
Except Kasperi, as he’s argued repeatedly, is not the one keeping you here. The man he’s fighting now, in your name, is the one you should hate.
Hate him she did. Amber detested Kvoss, and the way he tried to play judge, jury and executioner with her life.
“Can he win?” she asked, suddenly very scared that she wouldn’t get the chance to tell Kasperi how she felt, to let him know she no longer blamed him for her predicament.
Khove opened his mouth, then paused as a ripple went through the crowd.
“He won’t have to,” he said with a grin. “Stay here.”
She gaped at him. “What? Where are you going?”
“To work,” he said gleefully, jerking his head off to her left.
Amber turned to see most of the crowd part as a quartet of guards in the Queen’s livery approached. More bodies shifted, and the Asps were then the only ones standing in the way.
“You cannot interrupt,” one of them said. “This is a—”
Khove reached them from behind, grabbing the necks of a pair of Asps and clunking them together. She only then realized how he towered above even most of his peers, a mountain of muscle thicker than steel cables. She’d only ever seen him among the other guards, all of whom were larger than most of the other Ursidae, but Khove was again even bigger.
“Party’s over!” he chortled, laying into the Asps from behind, even as six of the Queen’s guards made short work of the remaining ones.
A pair of them was left standing and about to join the fray, teaming up on the Queen’s bodyguards. Before they could reach them though a shorter, more diminutive figure entered the fray. The person moved like a wolverine, feisty, furious and far too fast for anyone to counter. Amber could barely make out what happened, but in perhaps five seconds flat, the two Asps flew backwards, one of them out cold, the other clutching alternatively at his broken jaw and then his arm that was bent at a very unnatural angle.
“That is enough!” the Queen bellowed, revealing herself as the smaller fighter. She strode into the middle of the room and between the two combatants.
Amber’s respect for the Queen notched up several levels after the way she’d demolished the two bigger shifters. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was the right move, leaving the two of them with unfinished business like this could be a recipe for disaster. Neither Kasperi nor Kvoss seemed overly happy with the interruption either.
“I told you to keep your distance from each other. Can you not obey a simple command like that? What the hell is wrong with you two?”
Neither responded.
“Get out,” the Queen said, glaring at Kasperi. “Now,” she added in a whisper when he didn’t immediately move.
Stiffly, his eyes still focused on the Assassin, Kasperi backed up toward the entrance. This time, the crowd parted without hesitation. Amber saw the Queen’s gaze swing over to her and tilt ever-so-slightly toward Kasperi.
Go with him.
Amber understood, and raced after Kasperi. She was going to get the chance to tell him how she felt, to discuss everything that had been going on between them.
Now how the hell was she going to start that conversation?
29
“Well that was embarrassing,” he growled.
His swords were sheathed, magic dispelled, wounds no longer dripping on the floor. Even his pulse had mostly returned to normal. Yet for all that, his cheeks still burned.
“Did you see how easily her guards handled the Asps?” Amber asked. “Of course it was embarrassing.”
He snorted, appreciative of her attempt to pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about. “I meant that entire display.”
“Not everyone is open to change, or willing to embrace it, Kasperi. You can’t expect everyone to be as accommodating as you. Especially when they aren’t as close to the issue as you are.”
“You mean to you.”
Somehow, the conversation had shifted from him being ashamed of his actions and those of his House, to being about the two of them. Amber had managed that in one sentence.
I am so outclassed.
“Yes. Me,” she said quietly from his side, where she’d been walking since catching up to him outside of the Asp training chamber as he walked away in disgrace.
&n
bsp; “I like to hope I’d be as adamant about changing their views, whether I was close to you or not,” he said. “Though I don’t know if I can be confident about saying that.”
“So you are close to me.”
He reached up and pushed her three-feet-long hair back behind her shoulder, exposing the corners of her eyes from under the golden-blonde blockade. “Amber, I’m not perfect, but I’m not a liar.”
“I hope not,” she said weakly, flashing him a smile filled with beautiful white teeth.
Kasperi’s heart fluttered slightly, and he wanted to continue the conversation, truly wished it was possible. But other emotions were ruling him just now.
“We talk so much about being good here in House Ursa. We call the Canim mongrels and barbarians. Brutes with no respect for anyone but themselves. While that may not be wrong, we say it to boost ourselves up, to act like we’re above all that.”
He stared straight ahead as they walked, unable to look in her eyes, unwilling to see the disgust he knew lay buried there. “But we’re not. We’re just animals, in the end. Animals with instincts that we refuse to ignore, to evolve from. Bestial, primitive creatures. Many of us are monsters.”
“Not all,” Amber said, interjecting with a fierce denial that frankly stunned him. “There is goodness here. I can sense it. You’re trying. Your Queen is as well. There are others, Khove, and some more I’m sure.”
He nodded. “Yes, we’re working on reform, in the wake of…of shit that went down,” he said, not interested in detailing the near coup that had happened nearly four months earlier by that point. He would tell her later. “Some of the new Title Holders, like Kincaid, Kirell, even Klaue, are reformers. They wish for change. To see us adapt with the new times.”
“But Kvoss does not.”
Kasperi nodded slowly. “Kvoss does not. Nor do some of the rest, like Korred, and others. Many others. Too many are entrenched in positions of power, whether they’re title holders like the Reaver, the Priest and the Herald, all old-school, or the lords who rule over various regional sections of our holdings. It’s an uphill battle, and I fear that right now, it’s being waged over you. We fight among ourselves when we should be fighting against our external enemies.”
Amber nodded, but he could see the confusion on her face.
“There was an uprising some months back,” he said, deciding he may as well inform her of everything going on now. “Aided by House Canis, a number of other Ursidae rose up against the former King, killing him, the heir, and dozens of other shifters.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “We never caught the true leader. The traitor is still out there. Still sowing seeds of discord amongst us.”
Although he didn’t say the name, watching her face intently let him see the dawning of understanding as she realized who he was hinting at.
“Are you sure?”
He shook his head. “No, not yet, but the Queen has her suspicions. We just lack proof.”
Kasperi decided not to mention that the Queen also feared another enemy, one that wasn’t Canis. Something else that hadn’t revealed itself, or themselves, just yet. It was that knowledge that scared him the most. What could possibly be out there?
“By the way, since when have you been able to do that with your swords?” Amber asked, as if sensing his mood darkening and doing her best to change the topic. “I didn’t know you’d had them imbued with magic. Did Korred do that for you?”
He shook his head, reaching up to touch the hilt of one of his swords. “I didn’t.”
“What?”
“I…After you left the training room earlier, I sort of lost it on Korred. I attacked him. I reached out and grabbed the closest relic and just went at him.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I hate the way you look at yourself and the fear I see in your eyes every time he goads you into losing control.”
Amber jumped again, turning to face him and putting up a hand to stop him from walking. “So you attacked him? Like some sort of knight defending my honor? I’m flattered, Perri, but you shouldn’t have done that.”
He smiled, looking away for a moment, slightly embarrassed at her sudden use of his nickname. The way it rolled off her tongue was…nice. Very nice.
“I wasn’t really thinking,” he admitted. “I just couldn’t…anyway. Turns out I grabbed my sword, and without thinking, I just kinda attacked him with magic. A lot of it. Then it happened again with Kvoss. I wasn’t trying though, I wasn’t thinking.”
He pulled the sword, pointed it at the nearby wall, focused hard, but nothing happened. “See,” he growled. “Can’t control it. I don’t understand. I don’t know how to turn it on.”
Amber laughed. “And I don’t know how to turn it off. Too bad we can’t combine our powers.”
Kasperi joined her, chuckling softly in agreement. “That would be something, wouldn’t it?”
She sidled up to him, standing closer this time as they resumed walking, heading to his quarters. Without asking permission, he felt her hand slide into his, grabbing his fingers, holding tight.
“I’m sorry for making such a scene on your behalf,” he mumbled sheepishly. “I just hate seeing you get hurt. You’re so much better than you know, and the reason you can’t see it is because of actions like that.”
“I don’t like when you get in fights over it,” Amber said. “You could get hurt.”
He waved it off. “I’ll be fine.”
She reached over with her other hand and touched his arm. “It doesn’t matter. I still worry.”
Something about the way she said that grabbed his attention and held it for a moment. A long moment.
“I worry about you too,” he said, taking a wild gamble. “I worry that you can’t see the good in yourself. The positives. The things that are worth you staying here and learning for.”
A slight flush tinged her cheeks at the positive words, and he hoped she would take it to heart, understanding that he truly meant it.
“Well, I’m not sure I see all the good in myself that you do, but there is something worth staying here for.”
He brightened, happy to know she hadn’t completely given up hope on herself. “What’s that?”
Amber bent her head, sighing. “You,” she said forcefully, giving him a playful shove.
He didn’t even rock. Amber glared at his arm where she’d tried to push off.
“Oh. Um. Thank you?” Kasperi fumbled for words, so far out of his depth he suddenly knew what it was like to drown.
“Come here,” she growled, grabbing his collar and pulling him down to her level so she could kiss him.
Kasperi inhaled sharply as she melted into him. This he knew how to do.
“What are you doing?” she mumbled through his lips as he bent down.
“You walk too slow.”
30
“What, are we in the hundred meter dash or something?” she yelped as he picked her up and took off for his room. Their room. Whatever.
“Of course not. I could never race. I’d beat everyone without breaking a sweat.”
Amber groaned. “You know what I meant!”
He grinned and kissed her cheek. “Perhaps.”
The giant slowed his breakneck pace as they neared their quarters. “I think I’m a little flattered that you’re so eager,” she joked as they went inside, Kasperi setting her down.
“Uh. You’re not?” he stammered, looking around in a near panic.
Amber giggled and took his hand, leading him through the open doorway at the back of the common area, then pulling the door shut behind her.
“I wasn’t going to run back, that would be a little conspicuous, don’t you think?” she teased, reaching for his shirt and lifting.
Kasperi bent at the waist and put his hands over his head, so she could pull it all the way off, revealing his smooth, delightfully sculpted upper body. Her fingers ran over every muscle and inch of skin while her eyes remained locked on his. He twitched e
ver so slightly as she went up his sides.
“Ticklish?” she teased, for some reason finding that incredibly sexy.
“No,” he lied, drawing the word out slightly.
“Uh huh.” She stepped in closer, kissing the top of his chest. Then one powerful pec. The top of his abs, and down, until they angled in under his pants.
Amber pulled those down as well, her mouth never far from his body. She sank to her knees, looking up at Kasperi, watching his face twitch as she gently blew hot air across his rapidly hardening cock.
“Does that feel good?” she half-moaned in what she desperately hoped was a sexy voice.
Kasperi’s eyelids disappeared and he nodded in surprise. “Yes. I love it.”
Sliding a hand up his leg she grasped him firmly, but not tightly. “Is this what you want?”
His head bobbed around unevenly. “Yes. Please.”
She grinned at his eagerness, loving the way he watched her so intently. Leaning in, she ran her tongue from the base to the tip with agonizing slowness, drinking in every twitch of his face and deep groan that filled the room.
Swirling her tongue around his head before taking him into her mouth, Amber ran her free hand up and down his leg, and around to his butt, giving it a playful squeeze as she let him slide down her throat.
“Fuuuckk.” Kasperi’s groans grew louder the deeper she went.
He was far too large for her to take him all, but she made the attempt anyway, loving the intense stare as she gagged ever so slightly. It wasn’t her thing, but he was losing his shit above her, and that made Amber more willing to do things for him.
After several minutes, he shook and abruptly pulled away from her.
“You okay?” she asked, licking her lips.
“A little too okay,” he laughed, pulling off his pants and lifting her to her feet.
He didn’t stop there, casually picking her up and pulling her to him as he strode toward the bed, kissing her with a franticness that she’d never seen from him before. It was hot, a physical manifestation of his desire for her that wasn’t just a bulge in his pants. She could practically feel in the way he kissed her how badly he wanted to be inside her.
