Her fingers wriggled under a strap of my halter at my back and pulled with a vengeance.
Maybe I should have warned her about my war mount's behavior. I'd been through the portal. No animal even remotely similar to Luvk's war beasts existed on the other side. But she was from an even more distant world. I couldn't hold her to the same expectations of those familiar with what I called life. I'd have to explain everything. Or end up with an earful of Mother's complaints. That wouldn't make for a comfortable position in the Royal Guards to a lower-caste warrior who would never marry out from under his mother's clutches.
* * * *
Aisling didn't care for the dog-horse's smooth bouncing gait. Talk about unexpected. What kind of animal shifted from still to all over the place in a blink? I had to keep a grip on Borun's halter strap to keep my seat. I could hold myself pretty much in position with my knees clamped around the beast's sides. Enough to keep me somewhat stationary. But my thighs almost immediately quivered from their extended strain in trying to hold my body steady. The only way to really hold on easily would be to slide my hands around Borun's supple muscles and grab his halter from the front. Before my fingers broke off in the clench I have from this angle on the back. Too dangerous with the way he looked ready to kill. No. I just couldn't bring myself to slide my hands around Borun's chest after the way he scanned me over during our introduction. What if he thought I was doing something else? I clutched at the leather strap more tightly and tried to find something else to think about.
But how do you not think about anything but the amazing muscled ass pounding into your groin? And those brilliant orange stripes on his back danced like flames, making me dizzy. I turned my head and tried to redefine else.
Another warrior loped his mount up beside them and studied me from head to toe.
Like I was exotic. The animal I rode slowed to a walk.
The curious warrior trotted off.
"Do you need to rest, Aisling?" Goro called.
What would they think of me if I said yes? I studied the dense forest.
"Aisling?"
Dammit. Whether I stay here or return to the Slakens, these people will always think of me as the weak female if I complain. I threw my shoulders back, tried not to look at the dancing flames on Borun's wide back, and met Goro's gaze. "No."
The war dog halted.
What now?
My fingers burned from trying to hang onto the halter strap.
I released my grip on the halter, if only for a moment, to straighten out my poor stiff sore fingers.
Borun slid off in one casual leap and turned his now golden eyes, although I had thought them merely brown the first time he looked at me. Weird. Maybe I was too self-conscious before to really look into his eyes. The only part of his face anyone could actually study. Maybe that's why they wore masks? To make people focus on their eyes.
Even without the standard facial features I'd seen on extraterrestrials to guide one's assessment of a person's mood, I could tell Borun was perturbed in that stare. And what could be so damned hideous about their faces that made them wear those masks? What were Luvk warriors hiding?
"Slide forward into my seat," he commanded.
My heart jiggled a little at the deep tone of his voice. Not good. Was he trying to make the ride easier for me? An idiot wouldn't move. I slid across the saddle.
Borun shot me a final unnerving glance and hopped back into his seat.
Behind me. Pulling my ass and back against his extremely wide chest and snatching up reins I hadn't noticed before. God he just wrapped his body around mine. Am I being claimed as some possession without my knowledge? So much for falling in love as a were-assassin. Goro would explain what transpired the next chance I got him alone because riding like this was too damned intimate by the accusation I'd seen in Borun's eyes. But I had no choice in what unfolded. Either way I rode, I was going to be all over Borun. At least, he chose this route and could stew over the problems that arose from his end. I for one wanted things to go as smoothly as possible.
* * * *
Mother was going to pay for sending me on this errand, Borun thought. I tried to forget about the curves I had one arm wrapped around. Her accursed long soft pure white hair kept rubbing my chest. And she seemed frail or timid. The clans would chew her up and spit her out like a toothpick. Mother and her annoying plans for reigning supreme couldn't worsen any further.
But duty called. There was no other way to transport the female to the palace aside from her clutching at my chest. And the last thing I needed was her hugging me, shoving her curvaceous breasts into my body. I kicked Jonner into a gallop and pushed out my thoughts to my brothers. "Let's make it to the ridge by nightfall."
We rode for hours until I began pitying the female. It wasn't as if her behavior changed. But Royal Guards were nobles. And nobles were reared to respect females. And she just might have needed to relieve herself. Or something. So, I reined in Jonner at a calm high mountain pool and pushed out with my mind. "Keep watch while this female stretches her legs."
Although the delay cost them time. An hour more on their trip really wouldn't matter. I slid off the saddle to land my boots squarely on the ground, reached up to the female's slender waist, and carefully lifted her light form.
She went and touched my wrists with gloriously soft hands, meeting my gaze with a questioning glance.
As if she wondered why we stopped. Or thought her touch set my body aflame.
She wobbled a bit on her legs.
Not used to riding? She'd be broke in before long after one of my half brothers ripped the others to shreds to bed her.
She turned to pat Jonner's neck.
Unwise. "Don't."
She shot me a glance over her shoulder but patted the war beast's brown fur anyway.
She was lucky Jonner didn't bite off her hand for her defiance. Apparently, he'd accepted her in my allowing her to ride him.
"How dangerous is this animal?" she asked while combing through the war beast's ratted fur with her fingertips.
What kind of affect would the truth have on her? Would she cringe at a lifestyle deemed barbarous by the sky demons? "He kills for me."
Jonner turned his nose to where her hand scratched his neck and sniffed her scent.
"I think you're just a big puppy." She scratched behind Jonner's ear until the war beast closed his red eyes in happiness.
If she wanted to fancy herself special, fine. I slid my gaze down the length of her backside, down to her slim long legs cloaked in warrior black, back up to that rounded ass that had plagued me in the saddle. And that long wavy hair as white as clouds.
Beauty.
Absolute beauty my brothers would kill to possess.
She gave Jonner a few firm pats on the neck and stepped off toward where the pool's mercurial surface reflected the sky.
Silently she walked as if her thoughts lingered on every leaf, stone, and faint ripple cutting the water's perspective of mountain capped in blue. But danger lurked beyond that calm reflection of the Starry Sky realm. I dared not allow her to stray more than a few steps. I took a step behind her.
She drank in my world as if she hungered to claim it as her own until she stopped at the water's reflective edge and planted one black boot on a low boulder.
"Aisling?" her commander called.
She snapped back from nature's enthralling spell and spun to Goro's approach. Her gaze fell on my chest and slowly assessed my form in one seductive sweeping caress.
Did she know the significance of her actions? How her assessing glance could be misconstrued as interest? Even worse, not one trace of disgust for a lower-caste male graced her assessment. Nor did her heart beat differently, revealingly. Even though she merely studied me with her eyes, most high-caste females never acknowledged the presence of an orange male.
Her weakness would always be those eyes. Barely blue. All-knowing eyes of the elderly who have had their vision turned inward as time stole away their view of the world we
took for granted. The eyes of those who held some uncanny knowledge about life. Eyes that promised a solution to everyone's problems. But dare any of us buy into the promises in her eyes? She was a foreigner. And females proved full of promises. Rarely did a female's promises carry through with any of her lies.
But Aisling was not Luvk. Her promises had yet to be proven twisted torments.
Her gaze slid up to lock onto mine.
She saw me. The largest Luvk male. Low-caste prince. And she didn't shudder.
Stupid manipulative female. If only time would steal my sight and rip her beauty from my mind. Then I wouldn't bear witness to those she would fool with promises. And a dozen fools accompanied us. My brothers weren't as strong as I was. They would fall under her spell and be forced to share their mate with a harem of bickering outsiders.
But her gaze studied me.
Look away, Aisling. Find another warrior to study.
Goro stole her foolish attention from me.
"Yes, commander?" She picked at one of her thumbnails.
"Please stay near the group." Goro claimed a spot beside her.
Her brow furrowed. "I have no intention of causing problems."
Goro reached out and patted her shoulder. "I never said you did. Let's stay near the warriors until we understand this world better."
Aisling nodded and turned her glorious face back toward the water. "What did your home world look like?"
Goro's heartbeat drilled a moment only to fall silent again.
Did was key to that reaction to her inquiry. Something must have happened to his planet.
Goro faced the water, mimicking Aisling's act of homage to Luvk and thrust his hands under his coat behind his back.
The commander stood as indomitably as any Luvk warrior. "The sun bore down on our world a bit more harshly than it does on earth. I remember green vegetation. But the greens always looked washed out. Blinded by sunlight."
She turned her nose to face Goro in profile. "What is it that you say? To simply be is to burn a thousand times brighter than the sun of your home world. Always strive to 'be' for the greater good?"
Goro graced her with a nod although the song of his heart seemed to waver between sadness and thrashing. "Spoken like a Jennian priest."
She chuckled. "You can't imagine how thrilled I am to be away from Jennian illumination. Titan is so cold. And I'm a tree lover. The Jennian priest's garden was well worth visiting inside that moon, but I just couldn't stomach all the pontificating I was forced to endure just to gaze upon a leaf."
"So you prefer it here, then?" Goro chuckled.
What would she say? I leaned a little closer as if my heightened hearing couldn't detect even the faintest whisper.
She nodded. "Who wouldn't?"
Not the answer I wanted the other warriors to hear.
"Good. We'll pass ruins later today. I'll ask if we can stop." Goro stepped toward me.
A presence pushed into my mind. "Lord Borun, your mother asked that I show Aisling the ruins."
Not Mother's meddling again.
* * * *
By the time Borun's party reached the mountain of the ancients, he finally understood the wisdom in warriors wearing masks. Wise decisions made long ago often made little sense to those still following tradition. More than anyone could imagine. The metal shielded my senses from the floral scent clinging to the Marshal's hair. Albeit, enough of the fragrance managed to root in my nostrils. Just enough to make me rue the day my mother lured my father into her exalted bed. I reined in Jonner and shifted my feet to a firm footing in the grass at the mountain's base.
Everyone knew about the entrance to the ruins. And everyone knew about the Marshal's arrival. But Jonner stood quietly, detecting nothing, the excellent guard he was. So, a break to stretch our legs was timely. I reached up for the Marshal's light form and grabbed her waist.
She studied the territory so vigorously that she didn't even grace the kindness in my helpful attention with a glance.
Females. Always being waited upon hand and foot.
Her gaze finally searched for mine. "Prince Borun, are we almost to the ruins?"
Would she wobble like the last time she claimed a foothold after riding? "Inside." He nodded toward the mountain's dense forested cloak.
A wave of enthusiasm smoothed out the thoughtful creases on her face.
"Shall we go?" she lilted.
Why the interest in history carved into stone? Reading died ages ago with the kings. "We'll wait for Goro and the guards to accompany us."
She nodded once and scanned the surrounding forest, stepping, stretching the creaks out of her limbs.
One by one, the Royal Guards reined their mounts to a halt and descended to take up watchful positions around the ruins' entrance and another handful of warriors entering to scout ahead.
Each of my half brothers took the walk leading into the ruins as an opportunity to measure the Marshal. She was shorter than all of the guards. Vulnerable. Talk about annoying. I crossed my arms over my chest and shot each Royal Guard a threatening stare he couldn't miss.
But who wouldn't study the female? She barely reached my nipples in height. That was tall for a female but still left her trapped beneath the warrior's stares. Weaker.
Goro strode to her side. "Shall we go?" he asked.
Aisling's features bent into exquisiteness with a smile.
But loveliness meant nothing in a female's intrigue with this ridiculous waste of time. Only Mother would show important guests an eroded city buried by roots. Females. I stepped off to the entrance.
Although my half brothers hadn't announced intruders inside the city, anything could happen. Especially if Mother had this excursion planned down to each breath we all took.
The Marshal followed at my heels.
Rarely did a man find a cooperative female. Or she was smart enough to stay with the only Luvk who could possibly protect her from the other warriors?
"What do you think of this place, Aisling?" Goro asked her.
"It's extremely old," she said.
"The Queen told me over a thousand years have passed since the forest reclaimed the city."
"This is a city?" she gasped in awe. "I've seen monuments reclaimed by forest before. But they were smaller. Mayan. An entire city?" her words died as if she was too stunned to continue.
Why the interest in a city's death? It's gone. It means nothing anymore.
A presence pushed into my mind. "Can we show her the Wall of Glory?" Goro asked.
Wasting time to climb halfway up the mount's interior was foolish. But Mother wouldn't understand my refusal to cooperate. "Yes. But we must hurry. The forest certainly crawls with Royal Guards from the seven realms. We risk a fight if we encounter them."
"They'll all have a chance to meet us soon enough. Your mother has summoned the Queens to her palace."
I should have expected as much. Every Royal Guard from the seven realms will be present. Waiting. Panting over the Marshal.
After almost an hour of climbing through dark passageways, I led them to the cavernous Hall of Wisdom where the Wall of Glory's carved stone raced up hundreds of feet on one side of the enormous space. A window still allowed sunlight's glow to penetrate the darkness.
Nothing felt bad. Not one sound other than their footsteps graced the chamber. Not even a hint of an ancient spirit dwelled therein. All was lost. Buried beneath the forest in a crypt of crumbling stone.
The Marshal didn't seem to realize. She walked up to a place where the muted sunlight's glow touched the elevated surfaces of each symbol. Where she could reach the carvings and followed the shadows painted magically with sunlight by the ancients for all to see. She seemed to want to touch the writing, as if it were precious gold, but drew back her fingertips before damaging the images.
What could be hidden in her actions? Fear? Respect?
Goro followed a few steps behind her.
But he merely observed her.
This wa
s such a waste of time. Dangerous. "We should hurry. Or we'll never reach the palace by nightfall tomorrow." The last thing I want is to spend another night out with this Marshal, risking her capture.
Aisling rose from a crouch and turned, intrigue stealing her thoughts from us.
Goro walked back, almost to me, and stopped a few steps away only to face her. "Do you think you can read this wall?"
Read it?
Aisling snapped out of her thoughts, settled a conspiratorial gaze on Goro, and stood stone still. "That's why you chose me for this mission?"
Goro nodded once. "They no longer read their history."
Her suspicious gaze slid to mine.
What thoughts danced behind that beautiful mask?
She blinked away her view of me and scanned the Hall of Wisdom.
Not all was lost to the Luvks here. Truly. One line of princes had passed on the skill of reading to all its sons. But never had reading and writing done a thing for a Luvk even before the sky demons came. Those who could do either wasted time spent elsewhere.
"Do you think you can decipher this code, Aisling?" Goro asked again.
She sighed while studying the walls. "Maybe. But we cross-referenced texts written in various languages back home. Something like the Rosetta Stone made a huge difference." Her gaze locked on Goro's. "I have no idea what these people were doing a thousand years ago. And if I could crack the code, what difference does it make?"
"The Marshals need to know what happened between the Slakens and the Luvks."
Her mask drained of enthusiasm. She took one step, wiped at her brow as if a long stray white hair tickled her temple from where it loosed itself from its tie, and she inhaled. "Let me see if I've got this correct." Her hand fell to her side, and she met her commander's gaze. "You're going to leave me here because you want me to learn a history that occurred over a thousand years ago. And what will this biased history gain the Marshals?"
"Can you do it?"
So much for revealing answers. The commander was as annoying as Mother.
Her gaze slid to mine. "Can anyone still read these symbols, Prince Borun?"
Did I have to tell her? The answer was obvious. I either lie and lose honor or assist with the effort to unite the seven realms. The Marshals seemed to be working toward that goal given what I've just overheard. "One warrior reads some of the writing." And his brother was too insane to bother with.
Feral Fever Page 2
