by Loki Renard
A look of pure shock crossed her face, so incongruous he would have laughed were he not so angry at her.
“Who I am does not matter,” he said. “You did not care who I was before you charmed me.”
“I do apologize for saving your life. I see how much more convenient it would have been to let you rot.” She rubbed her rear while glaring at him with narrowed eyes.
“Now you listen to me,” Leo said, drawing himself up to his full height. This Victoria was tall for a woman, but he was taller. “I'm not going to tolerate your attitude, witch, so you can stow your vicious lip. You and I are going to talk.”
“Talk?” She cocked her head to the side and looked at him with wicked eyes. “Is that what you want to do to me, Falkroy?”
“You know my name,” he said flatly, hardly surprised.
“I have come to know a great many things about you.”
Leo tapped his foot and regarded her with a raised brow. “You've been following me, haven't you, witch.”
“Only the last year or so, since you began working, shall we say, professionally,” she said with an unapologetic smile in which pure mischief and glee danced. “For a master assassin, you can be quite dim at times.”
“If you have interfered...”
“Only to keep you alive,” she said with a broader smirk. “But perhaps I should not admit that. I know how you loathe being kept alive.”
Leo stared at her, stunned yet again. A year this creature had been in the shadows, keeping her distance as his thoughts wandered repeatedly to her. Perhaps that was why. Perhaps he had caught a glimpse or two that did not consciously register yet put her in his mind. Or perhaps some other magic was at work. He did not know. All he knew was that he had seven years of regret to put right – and he intended to do so.
He took her by the hand and led her through the city streets, back to the guild house. Not a word was spoken between them as he led her up the stairs to the apartment that had been awarded to him upon his graduation. She followed him quietly as a lamb, and then waited mutely as he shut the door and fastened it from the inside to ensure that they were not disturbed. He had so much time to make up for.
Looking into her eyes, he did not know whether he loved her or not, but he knew that she had taken his heart in every sense. This was a brave, strong woman who was accustomed to hatred and who bore it beautifully – but who deserved so much better.
His mouth descended on hers, his hands cupping her face gently as he kissed her thoroughly. He felt her tongue slide against his, the ferocity of her desire no less than his own. They were perfectly matched in will and so much more besides. His hands roamed her gorgeous body, cupping her curves, finding the soft swell of her breast beneath her dress.
Her gown soon fell to the floor and his clothing was shed equally eagerly, she placing hot kisses and nipped bites across his chest as he found her neck and put his teeth to it in a light graze. From the beginning they had growled and snarled at one another like wild animals. Now their antagonism was finding proper release in physical form, his cock hardening against the soft swell of her belly as his hand found her rear and painted it with hard slaps that made her moan and laugh with a masochistic glee.
He threw her upon the bed and covered her body with his own, her pale thighs spreading willingly. His cock was hard, his blood pounding hot in his ears. He needed to claim this woman as she had claimed him. He needed to take her so thoroughly she would never doubt that she was owned as much as he was.
Her warm, wet slit spread for his cock as he thrust inside her, burying himself all the way in one strong stroke that bought a cry of delight from her lips. Joined with her by hip and heart, he lost himself in her willing embrace and found that she was every bit as vigorous a lover as he.
They rutted and fucked and coupled until they could not do anything but lie in the sweat soaked sheets, weak limbed and dehydrated. And then they spared a word or two for one another.
“I promised myself that if we ever met, I would not quarrel with you again. I intended to offer you my apologies,” Leo said, letting a silken strand of her hair drift between his fingers.
“Well, you certainly made quite an apology,” Victoria smiled, beautifully flushed in the aftermath of their lovemaking.
“I abandoned you in those woods,” he said. “I am sorry for that.”
“You were of some use before you fled,” she smirked. “And I learned a lesson of sorts. I bear you no ill will. You were but a boy.”
“And you were but a girl,” Leo said. “If I were to find myself in that forest again...”
“I would not have to save your life, for your life would not need saving. You have become deadly, Falkroy. You wield your blade like the wind. You were fast back then, but now... time itself seems to still for your thrusts and parries. There is something almost... magic about the way you move. I was fortunate that you were there.” She cast her eyes to his. “Why were you there?”
“Would you believe I did not intend to survive that encounter,” he admitted. “I was but twenty years of age and the woman I believed I loved had fallen pregnant to another man. I thought my sword sung in service of nothing at all. So I went into the wilds, intending on... I don't know, perhaps living the rest of my days as a hermit.”
Her laughter drew a sharp glance from him.
“I am sorry, Falkroy,” she apologized, putting her hand on his chest in a light touch. “I do not intend to jest at your pain, but I cannot imagine you so maudlin as to consider a life as a hermit. You are of a warrior's blood through and through.”
“And you are a wi...”
She put her finger to his lips. “Sorceress,” she said. “I am a sorceress. A tired one. Close your eyes, Falkroy. We have said enough for one night.”
He had fallen asleep then, with her languid form wrapped in his arms. When he woke in the morning, she was gone. Some new mischief had taken her from his side. He had not known it then, but it would be another seven years before they would meet again.
For a time Leo looked for her, but Victoria knew how to disappear quite thoroughly and as the events of his own life began to overcome him, fame, riches, power all bringing willing wenches to his bed, she became the standard against which all other women were measured – and against which all others fell short.
Chapter Ten
Kelsie woke with the sunrise the next morning. The moment her eyes opened she was assailed with a sense of guilt and concern. She looked for Victoria in the hopes that Lady Varys had returned in the night, but did not find her. All she succeeded in doing was tripping over Leo, who was asleep on the floor rather than in the bed as seemed to be his habit. She had not once seen him lie down anywhere else.
“What are you doing?” He came awake with a growl of complaint.
“Where is Lady Varys?” Kelsie asked him a question in return. “She's not here.”
“I don't know,” Leo said, rubbing his eyes. “You say she hasn't returned?”
“No,” Kelsie shook her head. “The bed hasn't been slept in. She must not have come back last night.”
“Perhaps not,” Leo said, sitting up in his shirt. It was partway open, revealing masculine dark curls across his broad chest. Kelsie averted her gaze, uncomfortable with the feelings that began to rise in her whenever she looked at him too long or too intensely.
He had comforted her the night before, assured her that Victoria's anger would pass and that she was not in any serious trouble. Kelsie was not sure she believed him. Lady Varys had been angry, but Kelsie had detected something else in her gaze. Something more like... disappointment, or perhaps hurt.
It was true that she had disobeyed Victoria's orders. It was also true that she had agreed to obey Victoria. So really, was Victoria in the wrong?
“What if something has happened to her? What if she's hurt?”
***
Kelsie was fretting, much to Leo's irritation, but not surprise. The girl was not used to having anyone to rely on and
was now concerned that she had been abandoned. Victoria should have known that and returned to show her apprentice that all was not lost.
“She has no doubt gone to make some preparations for the matter with the satyr,” he said as Kelsie’s concerned gaze continued to darken.
It was quite likely that Victoria had simply stormed off in a huff. Sorceresses could be temperamental wenches at the best of times, but Leo was resolved not to worry. And not to let Kelsie worry either.
“Eat some breakfast. We should be rid of the satyr problem today and ready to return to Englred.”
“But Lady Varys...”
“Lady Varys is making a point, as is her habit. Do not worry about it.”
“Will I…” Kelsie began the question, but trailed off.
“What?”
“Will I see you in Englred?”
Leo smiled. “I am quite often in the city.”
“But not all the time.”
“No. Not all the time.” He knew what she was asking. She was asking if he would always be there. He would liked to have said yes, but that was a promise too far. He and Victoria had never managed to share a bed for more than a few nights, let alone residence in the same city for any extended period of time.
She nodded quietly. “I hope Lady Varys comes back,” she said. “Or else I will have to return to Kinleigh.”
“I am sure Victoria has not abandoned you,” he reassured her. “Once she makes a vow, she keeps it. And she has vowed to help you become a sorceress, so I believe she will.”
Kelsie's lower lip began to tremble. “I don't deserve her help. I couldn't do what she said for even a few hours...”
“Don't punish yourself,” Leo said. “Victoria will do that.”
When an hour had passed and there was no sign of Victoria, Leo took Kelsie and went to look for her. He questioned a few peasants, who said they'd seen a lady matching Lady Varys' description riding toward the caves.
“She's gone to face the goat prince on her own,” Leo swore.
“We don't know that. She might have just... left,” Kelsie said. She had been following him like an anxious little shadow the entire time, making occasional little moans of mourning.
“She has not left, Kelsie. I will go and find Victoria. You go back to the room and stay out of trouble. I need to see the bladesmith before I go.”
***
With that, Kelsie was left to her own devices. She did not wait inside the claustrophobic little room as directed. It reminded her of Victoria and that made her miserable. Instead she sat outside the tavern, sunning her face as the world passed her by. Samilton was a busy little town and there were many people coming to and fro, providing a myriad of sights to watch as they went about their business.
“Greetings!” A voice she did not know but that seemed to be directed at her broke into her reverie.
She opened her eyes and saw that there was a young soldier about her age smiling at her. He was a strapping man, tall and broad with a full head of dark hair and laughing eyes to match.
Kelsie was not used to being smiled at by handsome men. She pushed her dark locks out of her eyes and tried a smile of her own.
His grew broader.
“Hello pretty lady,” he said, coming to stand closer to her. “What's your price?”
“My price?”
“For a rut in the hayloft.”
“Uhm...”
“You want to be fucked, right?” He grabbed his crotch and made a lewd thrusting motion toward her.
“No, thank you,” she said politely.
“Come on, girl. I saw your smile. Practically begged me to whisk your skirts up.”
“I’m not wearing a skirt.”
“So you’re not, but breeches come down over a fine ass just as easy,” he smirked.
She no longer found him handsome. Actually, he was quite vile. There was an unpleasant, entitled sneer hanging about his lips. He would not dared to have spoken to her so if Victoria or Leo were there.
“No, thank you,” she repeated.
“Stop playing hard to get. You know your hot little cunt needs a rough rod.”
He reached a hand out as if to take hers and pull her up from her seat. Instead of being passively taken, Kelsie made a pushing gesture. It was a simple reflex with no thought behind it, but without so much as touching the soldier, such force was emitted from her palm that he was thrown from his feet and landed in a puddle in the middle of the road.
He rose immediately, his face ruddy with anger, his blade drawn.
“Bitch!”
Kelsie stood up, realizing she was going to have to run. She had not entirely expected that to happen. Anger had flowed through her, but now it deserted her in favor of fear. Fear not only of the angry soldier, but of her own actions. She had meant to push him away. Instead she’d revealed herself for what she was… and that was a dangerous thing to have done. Victoria could get away with calling down lightening strikes, but that was because Victoria was a noblewoman and the lightening bolt in the tavern could be explained away as some freak phenomenon. What Kelsie had just done to the soldier could not be. He had felt her power, and it had enraged him.
He pointed his sword at her and opened his mouth to decry her as a witch. She saw his lips form the W, but before he could make so much as a sound, a dark shadow passed over the ground between them. It was a man moving so quickly and silently that it was not until the soldier’s sword fell from his hand that he even knew he had been engaged.
Leo.
He came to a dead halt in front of the shocked soldier who was holding his hand and whimpering. It looked like it might be broken. It was already swelling an angry red color. If it was, Kelsie didn’t care.
“Get out of here, boy,” Leo snarled. “If I see you again, your head and your body will be pursuing different paths.”
The soldier did not reply save for another whimper as he rushed off out of town, making his way back to the military camp outside Samilton.
“Thank you,” she gasped as Leo turned to her. “ He was going to…”
“Oh I know what he had in mind,” Leo snorted. “I thought I told you to stay out of danger.”
“I didn’t know I was in danger! I was just sitting here. I didn’t do anything besides smile at him.”
“You can't smile at soldiers, Kelsie. They're wenching their way across the seven kingdoms. They will interpret even a stray glance as an invitation.”
“So I cannot smile at soldiers,” she said, frustrated. “I cannot meet any men. I am not allowed to speak to practically anyone...”
“We are in a rural backwater. When we return to Englred there will be more opportunities for you to socialize.”
“No there won't. Victoria will ensure I do nothing beside bury my nose in books and practice incantations...”
Leo folded his arms over his chest, a scowl forming on his brow. “You're pouting when you should be grateful for not having called a squadron down on your head. In regions such as these, witch burning can still happen.”
A stubborn scowl established itself on Kelsie's face. This, like everything else, wasn't fair. “How come Lady Varys can shoot a lightening bolt through the middle of the tavern and nobody bats an eye, but I push a soldier over and I'm a witch?”
Leo gave her one of those sympathetic, amused looks, as if she were a dull little animal who had just done something stupid and faintly adorable.
“Lady Victoria Varys bears the privilege of her rank. Her family rules in the kingdom of Varys and has done so for hundreds of years. They are the peacemakers and the gatekeepers, and their influence is not limited to her kingdom alone. There has been a sorceress of the house of Varys in every court as long as anyone can remember...”
“But the peasants don't know that,” Kelsie interrupted.
“They can see it in the way she holds herself, her speech, even the trim on her cloak. Victoria is protected from common ire in a way you are not yet protected.”
“Not yet,” Kelsie snorted. “You mean never will be.”
“I would not count on that,” Leo said. “She will impart her airs and graces to you in good time. I think the process has already started, though it is not enough to change the way folk recognize you as one of their own. Until you are a sorceress proper, you need to be careful. You could easily be mistaken for a common witch.”
She could easily be mistaken for one, because in essence, she was one. Lady Varys liked to pretend it was not the case, and Leo was too kind to say it, but Kelsie knew the truth of her condition.
