“Mirhana speaks the truth.” Celeste stepped forward. “The Warloc will not be content with you living free. What do you think will happen when you do not have us as a buffer between you and his evil?”
“I will not be threatened.”
“Aye,” Brock answered. “So you will condemn your people to a lifetime of slavery until the Warloc or his progeny grow tired of you?”
“So be it. As long as we are alive and thriving.” The Drow Queen motioned the guards to continue the ritual.
• • •
The guards held out one of Mirhana’s hands. When Landon stepped forward, against the guards’ restraint, she shook her head. He didn’t like this even if he didn’t know what a blood pact was.
“Drong’ka.” One of the guards moved out from the others at the Queen’s command. His white hair flowed over his grey shoulders. A jagged scar traced down his face from his ear.
The Queen picked up a small silver dagger. “Mirhana and Drong’ka. These two will be bonded.”
“Nay.” Landon strained against the guards. How can she be so calm? Bond with this creature like this?
“It’s not what you think, exactly.” Mirhana’s green eyes watched him.
Did he sense a prickling in the air between her and himself?
“As long as she lives, magic will not be separated from my guard, Drong’ka.” The Queen dragged the blade across Mirhana’s palm. Then she scraped the red soaked blade across the man’s.
“With this blade, our pact is sealed.” He took the blade in his uncut hand.
Both Mirhana and Drong’ka slapped their bleeding palms together. Then Drong’ka licked the blood from the dagger.
As if the blood now rushed through his veins, his legs buckled. Mirhana held onto his hand.
Landon felt sick. How could he marry another, when he wanted to kill this man for touching her and tasting her blood?
“This I promise you.” Blood tinted the Drow’s tongue like liquid fire against his grey skin. “I’ll forever be your servant. After I have done my duty giving your magic to all of childbearing age here, I will come for you. If you do not have a mate by then, I will claim you for myself.”
Mirhana jerked her hand back, but he hung on.
“Our flesh will not part until you accept.”
“Aye, and next I see your face with the intention of taking me as your mate, I will slay you.”
Their hands split apart with sparks raining down upon the stone floor.
“Here are their packs.” A guard dropped the bundles at the Queen’s feet.
“Search them.”
“They are in the coin pouch.” Celeste paused. “I could help you find them faster.”
The Queen gestured her forward. When her hand dug into the coin pouch, she snapped her free hand on the Queen’s arm. Screams broke out, and guards rushed forward.
Removing two of the dragon teeth, she held out her hand to keep the others at bay. “Already you have delayed us. Do not anger me further. With these, I can call aid. Dragons will hear my call and destroy you all.”
The Queen shook her head as a guard notched an arrow.
“We have bled for you. No more.” Celeste stood. One hand gripped the Queen’s arm, the other on the two dragon teeth. “Last night I had a vision. A vision of dark alliances struck between the Drow and the Warloc. You seek to dig up a corpse of your former mate and King. To resurrect him by draining mine and Brock’s life.”
Was this the danger the Queen spoke of yestereve? Landon wondered.
Looking over at the Drows gathered around, Celeste said, “Even then, your Queen will still not produce an heir. She is barren.”
Murmurs rose from them. Some held their hands over their ears as if to block out her words.
“I can heal her.”
The Queen opened her mouth as though in shock.
“You must promise not to harm us. And that we have given enough. Let us go, so we may eliminate the evil that will strangle your race as well.”
“Agreed. I vow, as long as your magic brings me a child, none of you shall ever be harmed by a Drow.”
Celeste gave the dragon teeth to a nearby guard. Then she turned both hands to the Queen.
Even without her garnet dagger, light shone from her hands until it pulsed and grew. It increased until it consumed both women as though in a cocoon of light.
“If you follow your heart and love,” Celeste’s voice rang as if she were far away, “then the seed will take form and you will birth a child.”
The light pulsed twice more, and then dimmed away.
“Thank you for your sacrifice.” The Queen hugged Celeste.
Landon was confused. What had happened? The frail way Celeste moved toward Brock with greenish circles under her eyes halted the words in his throat. Had healing the queen caused that much of a drain on her?
“We must leave now.” She held onto Brock’s hand as if it was the only thing keeping her on her feet.
“You need rest,” he said.
“Now. Must go now.”
The Queen rummaged through Celeste’s pack, and then placed her cloak over her shoulders. “You should not become cold.”
Her actions made Landon worry more at what Celeste had done. A stairwell of carved rocks opened behind them.
“Climb these to the surface.” The Queen nearly skipped as she waved them away. “Your weapons have been returned to the entrance beside your horses.”
Mirhana and Landon snatched up the packs. Brock supported Celeste. She clutched her wool cloak tighter around herself.
Outside, instead of questioning what happened, Landon helped Jeslyn and Gillespie tie the packs down. When they were far from the Drow, then he would ask. For now, it was best to get away from this place quickly. Landon didn’t trust the Drow Queen despite her promise. As soon as they finished packing, they fled. Mirhana rode with Landon, and Brock with Celeste.
She leaned backward against him as they galloped away. He smelled her blood and a spice he hadn’t before and fought his anger at the Drow who had bonded with her.
It wasn’t until miles later that Landon smelled a stronger copper tint of blood in the air. He motioned to Brock to check Celeste. When Brock nudged Celeste, he noticed blood ran down one of her legs.
Chapter Twenty
“Stop.” Landon jerked the reins. The others mimicked his actions.
Celeste did not move. Why didn’t she wake? The others dismounted and came to his aid. It was then that they noticed blood clotted in the folds of her dress. “She’s bleeding.” Brock eased her off the saddle and into Landon and Gillespie’s arms.
“What happened?” Jeslyn pressed forward.
“I don’t know.” Brock dismounted.
“Get me some water,” Mirhana ordered.
“What’s wrong with her?” Landon jerked the waterskin from Shadowdancer’s saddle and then handed it to her.
“Not sure—she’s hemorrhaging.” She drizzled water into Celeste’s mouth. “I don’t know why.”
“You can heal her,” Brock said.
Mirhana didn’t answer him, but her hands hovered over Celeste.
“Why do you wait? Heal her.” Landon heard the tension in Brock’s voice.
“I can’t heal what’s not there.” Her words snapped back. “Give us space.” She waved them away with a hand. “It wouldn’t be decent for a man to see.”
Landon opened his mouth to argue, but her hair fell, shielding her face. If he had not paused, he would not have heard her next words.
“She’ll have to explain what she did and why to you later.”
Landon and Gillespie followed Brock with the horses down to a brook.
Gillespie tugged off his boots, then socks. With a groan, he let his feet dangle in water.
“Why did they keep Jeslyn all night?” Gillespie’s voice brought a squirrel scurrying up a pine tree. “I heard the guards say I was let go for I didn’t have magic.”
“They let Jeslyn
go yesterday.” Landon leaned forward.
“I didn’t see her until this morn—”
“Brock!”
He leapt up at Mirhana calling his name and took off.
Mirhana trudged toward them then flopped down on the ground near Landon. Gillespie closed his eyes as he lay on the grass with his bare feet in the water.
“What happened?”
“She gave away part of herself. A piece that allows a woman to bear a child. Otherwise, the Drow Queen would have killed you, Brock, and Celeste after she got what she wanted.”
“How do you know this?”
“I saw it when I merged my blood with—”
He didn’t want to hear another man’s name upon her lips. Instead of asking any more questions, he turned away and listened to the water babbling over rocks.
“I didn’t get a chance to thank you.” She glanced at her hands and then put them in her lap. “Brock told me that you bargained with the Drow Queen for mine and Celeste’s antidote.”
Jeslyn’s laughter floated in the wind and he wondered how she could laugh when Celeste lay injured. Then again, he couldn’t imagine her giving anything unless there was a reward for her.
He shook his head, thinking how different Jeslyn and Mirhana were. If he had pursued Jeslyn, she would have spread her legs easily for him already. She had said as much when they drank together while she sat on his lap the first night he met her. At the time, he had marked it down as her being drunk. But after what Mirhana said about her flirting with him and Brock, and the time he had spent with her, he knew it to be truth.
If he wanted, he could tell Jeslyn to mount him, and she would not question it. But that did not attract him.
He had always been given everything he wanted. He was used to people trying to please him. It never felt real. He knew if he was an ordinary man, these same people would ignore him.
Yet, here was Mirhana, who thought he was just a man. And she made him fight for each moment with her. It was thrilling and he couldn’t get enough.
Chapter Twenty-one
Landon was glad the morning took the paleness from Celeste’s face. She chewed on flatbread as the others gathered sticks for a fire.
“I’ve never had rabbit this early,” Celeste chided.
Mirhana held up three skinned rabbits. “Thought you may need more sustenance than usual.”
Landon watched Mirhana while she cooked the rabbits over a spit. The days and nights of them being alone were distant. He longed to smell her neck again as she lay in his arms. Even though she did not seek him for kissing or pleasing each other, he missed their talks alone and the closeness of her.
The hope she had given him by coming into his arms willingly that night with the Drow, would never burn away. Even though they only held each other, it was a beginning.
Perhaps it was her penitence to ease her mind that Celeste was not healed, that she apologized to Celeste and Brock repeatedly that her gift of healing was mediocre at best. The witches trained her in herbal remedies, but what Celeste required was more powerful.
“Don’t worry so.” Celeste dusted the crumbs from her trousers. “Truly, I feel better.”
Mirhana blushed when she met Landon’s gaze, but glanced away and scowled. Her black hair once again braided as if ready for battle, hung down to her hip.
Fire crackled as Gillespie tossed in branches of pine. Even though late summer sun bore down on them, Celeste scooted closer to the fire, her cheeks rosy with the heat or fever.
“When do you think Celeste may travel?” Brock asked.
“I wouldn’t push her.” Mirhana shook her head. “Best to wait another day. Then I’ll check her progress.”
If it weren’t for the damn prophecies, Landon would rather they wait a month or two before heading out. Get to know Mirhana better. Delay his marriage to Kavith. Autumn was only weeks away and he had no idea how long at their slow pace before they would reach the coast of the Primora Sea. There was not even a hint of salt water in the air.
He wanted to taste Mirhana’s lips again. It had been so long ago since he kissed her. Waiting for her to say she wanted his mouth on hers drove him to distraction. His eyes were never far from her.
Jeslyn cut off a chunk of rabbit. Her blade flashed in the light, and for a second Landon thought the knife too close to Mirhana’s throat. When he leapt to his feet, all turned to stare at him as if he’d gone daft.
“Sorry, thought I saw something.” Concealing his actions, he stared into the distance. “You’ve not seen or heard from Melwyn?”
“Nay.” Mirhana’s emerald eyes darkened. “When we finish our task, with the prophecies, I’ll visit the Drow again.” With a stray branch, she dug into the ground. “That Drow beast will be rent apart by my sword.” After dusting her hands down her russet trousers, she stalked towards the brook. “I’ll cover our tracks in case anyone follows us.”
Landon watched her go. Alone. Mirhana would be alone in the woods. Despite wanting to protect her, his mind tortured him with thoughts of her mouth on his. He shouldn’t have these thoughts about her. He was betrothed.
It would only be a kiss. All they had was now. Who knew if he would survive this battle with the Warloc and his protégé? Just because he was betrothed, it didn’t mean he had to go through with the marriage.
Once he was married, he would never leave. Even if it was to Kavith or someone else he didn’t love. His heart would close, but he would give the woman whatever she desired. He would never stray from their bed, but his heart would never belong to her—or even himself. It was Mirhana’s now, regardless if she wanted it or not.
Moments later, Landon excused himself and then disappeared behind a cluster of elm and pine trees near the direction Mirhana took.
His mind lingered on the image of Jeslyn and her blade. Was this a vision that would come true? Or was his imagination toying with him from a trick of the light and all the Drow Queen’s talk about him having magic?
Chapter Twenty-two
Mirhana left the campsite to get away from everyone and especially from Landon’s heated stare. Any time he looked at her, she felt warm all over. She wasn’t used to being around this many people for so long. In her centuries of living, the witches had kept to themselves and the only visitors they had were those needing their help.
A human had never affected her like this.
The autumn leaves crunched under her boots. He was handsome for a human. His brown hair mixed with blond streaks hung to his shoulders. He carried himself as if destined for greatness. Even his voice, deep and sexy, sent delicious shivers down her.
His brown eyes when he lowered his dark eyelashes made her forget herself or that others were around them.
When the Drow Queen cut Landon’s arm, she smelled his copper taint of blood and something wild. A twig snapped behind her and she cursed her random thoughts.
Unsheathing her sword, she spun around, bringing the blade up in a fast smooth motion, and underneath the tip stood Landon.
The passion in his eyes caused her breath to catch. She dropped the sword the same time he jerked her to him. His mouth devoured hers with an intensity that made wetness spread in her loins.
She could not be close enough to him. One of his hands brushed her breast through the fabric of her tunic and she wanted to rip the material away and feel his skin upon hers.
His hands were smooth without callouses, but she didn’t care. Without thought, she backed up, bringing him with her until her back hit a thick pine. There he pressed his body into hers and she began to gyrate against him.
She felt him get hard and it excited her even more. When his hands lifted her tunic off her, she sought his lips even more. One of his hands grasped her braid, while the other sought her breast. She moaned against his mouth and tugged on his trousers.
Instead of obeying, his mouth left hers and he bent to take her breast into his mouth. Heat boiled inside her until she thought she would burst. One of his hands massaged h
er breast while his mouth feasted on the other.
Between them, his other hand slipped to her folds and stroked her until she could take no more. She pushed him away hoping he would undress, but with his body heat gone, she forced herself to think. “No.”
His hands stopped from removing his pants all the way. If he kissed her again, she would crave him inside of her and not care about anything else.
“This—” She gathered up her tunic and covered herself with it. “This isn’t like me. I’m not intimate with humans. Not anymore.” Gods, she had to get away or she’d lose herself and her heart again.
“Let me change your mind and taste your mouth again, or the other breast?” He took a step toward her and she saw the lust burning in his dark eyes.
She put her tunic on before he could reach her. “The others will wonder where we are.” Without a glance back at him, she took off back toward the path and heard his chuckle.
What was wrong with her? She was not promiscuous and she knew this would only lead to sorrow when he died and she continued living for hundreds of years. She should have known better than to let her emotions cloud her thinking. And yet … she enjoyed his company and constantly wanted to touch him. Even the sound of his voice made her eager to taste his lips again.
Sure, she had been with humans before. But not like this. Not filled with a passion so strong it eluded reasoning. Besides, none of those relationships had lasted long.
No matter how much she had begun to care for Landon, with the dangers of her mission to annihilate the Warloc and his protégé, she would rather him live with another than die loving her.
Still, it took all her willpower to walk away from him. Even now, she yearned to wrap her legs around him and have him take her against the tree.
Chapter Twenty-three
Landon walked behind Mirhana with a grin spread over his face. She diverged from the path to gather firewood. He sat beside Gillespie.
Celeste was comparing with Gillespie some of Father Morgan’s tortures, those they had shared in captivity from the sickened monks, when Mirhana stomped out of the forest, unloaded the sticks she had gathered into a pile, and sat down across from them.
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