With that taken care of, his hand went to her hair again, pulling the last of the pins out to let it fall all around her. Leisha reached up to kiss him as he pulled the dress open, sliding it down her arms. When her tongue parted his lips, he moaned and pushed the gown to the floor. “How?” he demanded as he went to work on the ties running up the side of her underthings. “How do you do this to me, every time?”
“Me? No,” she assured him, panting now. “This is your fault. Hurry.” Frantically, Leisha struggled with his belt. Finally getting it undone she reached for the laces on his trousers and pushed them down over his hips.
With all of her maddening clothes off, Zaraki picked her up and felt her legs go around his waist, her arms around his neck. Where? What was closest? The table in the middle of the room wobbled precariously when he tested it.
There’s a desk. Behind you, Leisha sent as she covered his neck and shoulders with kisses.
He spun them both around and caught sight of it. Yes, that will do.
When Zaraki laid her down on it, the surface was freezing cold on her back. She shivered and delighted in the sensation of his warm body pressing her down against it. As he bent over her, his mouth hot on her breasts, he caught her small wrists in one hand and pulled them over her head. Pinned to the desk, her legs went around him and she pulled herself to the edge. With his lips pressed to her neck, he slowly sheathed himself in her body.
Leisha loved when he first entered her. She loved the look in his eyes and the rapture in his thoughts as he delighted in their lovemaking. Before she learned not to read too deeply when they made love, it was often enough to shove her over a cliff, into an endless ocean of his pleasure. Now, she knew just to flirt with the fringe of his thoughts. She shuddered, feeling what he experienced as well as her own ecstasy.
“What pleases you?” Zaraki panted, withdrawing himself before entering her again. His free hand stroked her side while the other still held her wrists captive.
It drove Leisha mad. “Everything you do pleases me. Faster,” she urged, her breath coming in gasps.
Her body squirmed under him as his hips rocked into hers. The angle, the pressure, everything felt perfect. Her release came sooner than she expected, and without any helping hands. Zaraki’s smug grin as she writhed and cried out only pleased her more.
Giving her no time to rest, he let go of her wrists and she arched her back so he could slide his hands under her and grab her shoulders. Her body moving under him was almost his undoing as he drew himself deeper into her. “You’re beautiful like this,” Zaraki said against her shoulder, his voice full of lust and his thoughts overflowing with love.
Leisha dragged her nails down his back. “I love the way you feel inside me,” she whispered in his ear. “Harder, please.” He might know exactly what to do to bring her to climax, but she knew the words that would do the same to him.
He thrust himself into her, eyes closed and head buried against her shoulder. Reaching out, she touched his thoughts and felt his release as he spent himself inside her. Greedily, she rode the wave of his pleasure until it dragged her under again.
For a long minute, Zaraki lay panting on top of her, as she smiled and ran her hands through his golden hair. Standing up finally, he offered her his hand and helped her up onto shaky legs. When he reached down for the pile of her clothes, she waved him off. “Leave them.” Taking his hand again, she stumbled towards the small door at the back of the room.
Behind it, they found several small beds, in a neat and tidy chamber. Exhausted and satisfied, they collapsed into one. Leisha yawned and curled against him, pulling the thin blanket over them both. Suddenly he felt her in his mind, a pulsing presence showing him her love and delight with the afternoon’s events. Zaraki thought about ordering servants to pack the desk and bring it along with them.
Later he would make sure to have the three guards rewarded, assuming they stayed at their posts and kept everyone away from the tower for a couple of hours. Leisha deserved a small respite from the invasion. She seemed more volatile recently, quicker to anger, jumping at shadows. He wrote that off as being due to stress. They were all under a huge, vast amount of pressure.
Prices
Hanne watched the fire building in front of her as the tinder caught. Days in the saddle left her exhausted and she wilted, sinking to the dirt, wishing she could sleep in a bed tonight. At least the fire would be warm, even if the ground was uncomfortable. Beside her, Tova sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, her head on arms. The girl was young and had not been a slave for long and now she wept silently. Mute because Von had ordered them to be quiet hours ago.
She wanted to ask Tova if she was all right, but the Chancellor’s order extended to mind reading as well. Until he reversed his command, neither of them could speak nor communicate with anyone. They could not ask for food or water, ask to relieve themselves or if they might be allowed to sleep. Not that Von or any of the other Deojrin cared about their comfort. As long as they could follow orders and did not die from neglect, no one would question their treatment. Who thought to ask a sword what it needed? Who wondered what made a horse happy? And who ever asked what one of the Cursed desired?
Still, the Deojrin could not destroy her compassion. Hanne wanted to reach across to the slight, dark-haired child. She wanted to comfort her and maybe be comforted in return, but that could not happen. The Cursed did not often make friends with each other or confide in one another. Their masters rarely kept any of them together for long, and in the middle of a war, they knew better than to grow attached. Worse, at any time, any moment, their Deojrin keepers could demand to know their thoughts or secrets. So Hanne knew she could never trust that words spoken to Tova’s mind would be kept secret. She understood this was not the girl’s fault, but it made all the Cursed distrustful and suspicious of one other.
Closing her eyes, Hanne thought again about what Edvard had shown her and told her. The Cursed Tahaerin queen, standing proud and defiant in the face of the Butcher. The men who were not slaves leaping to her defense when the Visarl threatened her. What did it mean?
***
Across the fire, Von watched the two women with the suspicion born from years of dealing with the Cursed. He ran through the orders he had given them, to be silent, to be still, to not move from their places until morning. One can never be too careful, he thought. Sloppy orders left open doors that led to rebellion.
Stretching out on his bedroll, he reread the Visarl’s letter. The overture to the lord at Vaja had been rejected. Rickard had agreed to stay out of the conflict, but when the Tahaerin queen refused to fight and continued to withdraw, he would not commit to joining the Deojrin side. Without those pledges, Gerolt had no choice but to take the city to insure there would be no attacks from the rear as they passed by.
Predictably, as word traveled to the other lords in the area, they recoiled in horror and turned back to their queen. Now, they closed their gates and refused to meet with Von or any of his delegation. That would not matter when the Visarl and the army approached.
The Tahaerin withdrawal from their capital had surprised Von and the Deojrin commanders. They expected some sort of fight, some resistance. But once he began meeting with the nobles in their castles and walled cities, Von understood these were a people divided. They did not rush to their queen’s aid, preferring to watch and wait first before deciding how to respond to this invasion. Many of the nobles he had met with professed only a weak allegiance to their queen and their kingdom. So the Cursed queen retreated to build her army.
Given their reluctance to commit, her nobles could be bought, of that he was sure. He simply had to find their price.
Von had been expecting the Visarl’s message when it arrived tonight; he had seen this same tableau unfold a number of times in the past decade. With the nobles in the area alienated, Gerolt’s letter ordered him across the border to Tahaerin’s neighbors to offer the monarchs the chance to ally with the Deojrin in exchange
for peace. Of course, that peace would be fleeting, but by the time the other kingdoms realized it, they would be weakened from infighting and aggressions against the Tahaerins. They would fall to the Deojrin army just as all the others, and the nameless god Von worshipped would have the blood He craved.
So now, he and his men and his two Cursed women traveled north and east, skirting wide around mountains and avoiding the Tahaerin queen with her pitiful army. Stopping along the way, his slaves would gather information in the small villages and towns they passed through. Then they would cross the river that bordered this kingdom and he would find the Embriel king, Andrzej.
Everyone had a price.
Mercenary
Reports from Vaja said the city fell with a whimper and Rickard died nailed to the gate of his castle. Thanks to Leisha’s warnings, citizens that could fled the city ahead of Gerolt and half the guard deserted, leaving their lord to his fate. Most of those soldiers found their way to Savne to join the army. Ani’s spies said anyone taking up arms against the Deojrin met fates similar to Rickard’s, while those that hid in their homes were spared.
It seemed other nearby lords took note of what befell Vaja and now wanted to throw their lot in with their queen. Though they might respond to her requests for men and supplies grudgingly, no one wanted her to abandon them. Wagons of supplies from nearby holdings made their way towards Savne.
Even so, Andelko found himself increasingly unhappy with the progress they made. Several months into the war and he felt unsettled, out of his element. He considered, more than once, giving more responsibilities to Ladvik because at least the former lord had seen actual battles. And he knew how Leisha must feel at times, always having to present herself as confident in her decisions, never showing doubt that might affect others. At least she could share her uncertainties with her husband.
Ani found him one night, sitting on a log at a campfire soldiers had long abandoned, elbows on his knees as he hunched over. She frequently prowled the camp at night, descending from the castle to slink about silently, listening and observing, bringing back information and gossip. With no walls or doors to secure people’s conversations, she feasted from a banquet of hushed words and poorly guarded secrets.
In all her nighttime wanderings, however, she never once found Andelko out of bed, fully dressed and staring at a fire largely reduced to embers. Oddities of human behavior and things out of place were details she would not overlook.
“You’re up rather late,” she said as she stepped into the poor light of the fire.
“Ani?” Looking up, it took his eyes a moment to adjust. “I’m just sitting here thinking.”
She smiled. “I can leave you to it if you like.”
“No, please. Come sit with me.”
Taking a seat near him, she sank down on an upturned log. “What has you so bothered that you’re sitting here alone in the middle of the night, friend?”
He made a face, annoyed either that it was so obvious or that she could read him with such ease. “Ani, do you ever feel like—never mind. I don’t need to burden you and I probably shouldn’t. I’m just tired.”
“Nonsense, we’re friends, Andelko. We can talk. Out with it.”
Scratching at his beard, he looked pained. “Keep this between us, please. I know it’s your job, but please.”
“Of course.” Then she paused to add a warning, one that he likely did not need to hear. “As long as it isn’t anything that would cause me to violate my oaths.”
“No, it’s nothing like that. Yet.” He sighed and leaned back, seeming to dig around for the right words. “I’m just feeling out of sorts. Vaja should never have happened. Rickard should have sent his levies and abandoned the city.” Once he started, his words spilled out in a rush.
“That’s not your problem, Andelko,” she said gravely. “You’re not responsible for making the lords behave themselves. That’s Leisha’s burden.”
He stretched his long legs out in front of him and leaned back. “I guess it’s not just that. Things aren’t going as I hoped they would. We don’t have a clear strategy yet. I don’t know how we’re going to fight an army of killer mind readers. I think, sometimes, maybe I’m not the right man to wage this war,” he said, finally coming to the heart of the matter. “I don’t have enough experience. Everything I know is from a book or my lessons. I’m too young.”
Ani smiled and leaned forward. “Our mighty Lord Constable is having doubts and tremors in his self-confidence?” she teased gently.
“Maybe.” He stared at his hands and then looked away before saying, “Yes.”
“Andelko, we all are.” She reached across to him and put a hand over his. “Leisha is, Zaraki certainly is, I am. You are. Look, she chose all of us personally because she trusts us and sees the skills we bring to the table. Our ages don’t matter. She knows we’re smart. We can think on our feet, and we consult others if we don’t have all the answers.”
“Well, I sure as hell don’t have all the answers right now.” He blew out his breath and stared at the fire for a long minute, listening as it consumed itself. “All right, for instance, my scout captain, Vially, he keeps telling me we’re losing patrols. We’ve been sending them out to harass the Deojrin, see what we can learn.
“But we keep losing some. They’re clearly running into Deojrin. They have orders to kill them and our men should be able to handle themselves. There’s no reason for whole patrols to disappear like this unless they’re all being killed or captured. But that doesn’t make any sense. Someone should be surviving these encounters. The ones that return are the patrols that don’t see any Deojrin, or see them and don’t engage them. I’m missing something and I don’t know what.”
Aniska sat for a long time before a thought occurred to her. “Is it possible that some of the Deojrin patrols have slaves with them?”
Shaking his head, Andelko looked sheepish, thinking he must have misheard. “I’m sorry, I was elsewhere. What did you say?” Her question did not make much sense to him.
“Slaves. Is it possible some of their patrols have mind readers with them?”
Comprehension washed over his face as the implications struck him. “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask Vially. If they do, no one ever thought to mention them. Why didn’t we think of that?”
“Because we’ve never fought an army of black-robed murderers who kill with a thought?” Ani said with a grin, thinking of the difficulty they all faced in reordering their thoughts around this problem. She worried constantly about what information an enemy mind reader could force from any of her agents they captured. Even knowing the location of the royal tent in camp or rooms within a castle could be a vital piece of intelligence. She lost good men because they had no way to stop an enemy mind reader from sensing their presence.
“Really, Ani, that’s brilliant. I’ll bring it up when I meet with the captains in the morning.”
They sat together in companionable silence for a while, Ani pleased to have found a possible solution to a problem and Andelko feeling his mood improve. Finally he said, “So you have doubts, too?”
Glancing up, she made a face. “Of course I do. I’ve never been at war before. We’re not really trained for it. Ostravan methods prepared us for the quiet life of nobles spying on each other, not two armies trying to murder one another.
“And,” she said after a pause, “it’s been hard for me. Zaraki is my oldest and dearest friend. But he’s king now and it’s tilted our relationship. We used to confide more in each other. We could tell each other anything because our oaths demanded we keep each other’s secrets. But now I have obligations to him, and I don’t want to burden him with my problems or for him to lose faith in me.”
Andelko winced. “I can understand. I feel the same about all of you but especially Leisha.”
“She’s a whole other animal, isn’t she?” Ani chuckled. “I crave her approval. How does she do it to us?”
His shoulders shook with laughter. �
�I really don’t know. Maybe it’s the voice or the eyes. Or maybe it’s that I never want her to be angry at me the way she gets when the lords defy her.”
Standing up, Aniska stretched up onto her tiptoes and reached her hands towards the clear night sky. “It’s really late and I’m exhausted. Maybe we can talk like this again? Be confidantes? As long as it’s nothing that would harm Leisha, or Zaraki, or the war effort, then it’s not keeping secrets from them.”
“Ani, I’d really, really like that. I’ll walk back up with you.” He almost said he would escort her back before remembering no one in camp would be foolish enough to tempt fate and attack Aniska. Sparring with the soldiers kept her fresh but also reminded them of the set of skills she possessed. She could move as safely through camp as he could.
As they walked, he saw her frown. “Andelko, we haven’t sworn any oaths to each other, but if you ever tell anyone anything I say, I’ll sneak into your tent and stab you in the throat.”
He scoffed and waved his hand at her waist. “My sword is bigger than the little thing you carry. And we’ve never sparred against each other. It’s a mystery who’s better.”
“Oh, we should!” she said, clapping her hands together. “I’d like to try sometime. Bigger opponents are fun.”
Walking back towards their rooms, Andelko looked down at his diminutive companion. In her mid-twenties now, she still looked like a sprite from the books his mother read to him. A dangerous, well-armed sprite. “We never did get to find out who would win the last fight between you and Zaraki.”
“It’s me,” she assured him. “I’m definitely better.”
***
First thing in the morning, Andelko went straight to his captains. He found Ladvik, Vially and Fillip eating breakfast together around the remains of last night’s fire. When he said, “We have a problem,” they turned their full attention to him. Sketching out the conversation with Ani, Andelko thought they seemed skeptical at first.
As Dragons from Sleep (The Tahaerin Chronicles Book 2) Page 11
