“I learned my lesson. I don’t know how you can drink that stuff. Wine, ale, and mead only for me.”
He yawned and snuggled his face into Daks’s neck. His nose and lips were cold, but Daks didn’t mind. In fact, the world felt just about right in that moment. If only he knew for certain that Shura was safe, and they weren’t in the middle of a hostile kingdom, relying on a Spawn to help them.
AFTER SPENDING the night with Ravi pressed against him, he woke up hard and horny. And thankfully, despite the chilly damp, their admittedly uncertain circumstances, and being out in the open, Ravi seemed perfectly amenable to ignore all that in favor of some fooling around. Slow, sleepy kisses built on one another until they were both panting into each other’s mouths and groping through layers of clothing, trying to have as much skin-to-skin contact without actually undressing or exposing any sensitive bare flesh to the icy fog surrounding them.
They wrestled inside the warmth of Daks’s heavy cloak like puppies under a blanket until they both broke out in breathless chuckles between kisses. Finally, Daks couldn’t take it anymore and rolled Ravi onto his back beneath him. He shimmied down Ravi’s body, ducking his head into the shadows of the cloak. He didn’t need to see the ties of Ravi’s breeches to get them undone.
He would have liked to see Ravi’s face as he slid his mouth down Ravi’s cock, but this time, he’d have to be content with the hot little noises his lover made and the convulsive clutching of Ravi’s fingers in his hair. The poor man fought valiantly not to thrust up into Daks’s mouth as Daks teased and tormented his cock, bringing Ravi to the edge twice before taking pity on both of them.
Ravi let out a little mewl of protest when Daks drew off his cock, and Daks grinned.
“Go ahead, beautiful. Let go,” Daks murmured before kissing Ravi’s crown and sucking him to the back of his throat again.
To get his point across, Daks slid his hands around to grip Ravi’s delectable ass, encouraging him to thrust. Ravi only hesitated a moment before flexing his hips experimentally. After another encouraging squeeze and a hum of approval from Daks, Ravi finally let go and fucked Daks’s mouth, increasing in intensity and speed until he gasped and arched his back off the ground. He flooded Daks’s throat with his release as Daks hung on, swallowing around his crown. At last Ravi collapsed onto the ground again, panting, and Daks quickly undid the ties on his own wool breeches, took himself in hand, and worked his shaft, lifting up to take in Ravi in all his flushed, sweaty, and spent glory.
After all the groping, kissing, and sucking, Daks’s release didn’t take long. He let out a happy groan as he came all over Ravi’s spent cock, belly, and his own hand, while Ravi gazed up at him with dazed, sated amber eyes and flushed cheeks. All Daks wanted to do after that was collapse into his lover’s arms, but Ravi’s warm flush wouldn’t last long, and the result of their combined releases would become very uncomfortable very quickly. Daks tucked his cock away and stretched to rifle through the pack. Once he’d found a scrap of clean flannel, he wiped the mess from Ravi’s body and helped him put his clothes to rights.
Unwilling to get up quite yet, Daks settled next to him again and pulled him close. They lay like that in companionable silence for several minutes before Daks finally sighed and surrendered to the inevitable.
“The Spawn might come any minute, and we need to discuss some things.”
Ravi yawned and nodded without lifting his head from Daks’s chest.
“I’m a little torn right now, to be honest,” Daks continued. “You present a bit of a problem.”
Ravi stiffened, but Daks tightened his arm around him. “Don’t get mad. Hear me out first.” When Ravi relaxed again, Daks pressed on. “Now, I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you would come charging to my rescue after everything you’ve already been through, but it changes my plan.”
“Plan?” Ravi asked, with enough of a smile in his voice that Daks couldn’t stop the rueful grin that split his lips.
“Okay, I’ll give you that one. Planning may not be my strongest attribute, but we’re going to have to make one now, or at least a choice, before that thing gets here.”
“Do you trust it?”
“Hells no. But here’s the thing. If I believe he’s telling the truth, then Shura is safe and well taken care of, so I could take a few days to get you to safety and then come back for her. Or send her a message and wait for her to be well enough to come to us. If he’s lying, Shura needs me now, but that would mean dragging you into an even more dangerous situation than you’re already in, just being in Rassa.” He growled and blew out a frustrated breath. “I should have asked the thing to bring me a message from her, something that would tell me she was all right, but I was too distracted to think clearly.”
“I’m going with you,” Ravi said calmly but firmly.
“Ravi—”
“No.” Ravi sat up, allowing their cloak blanket to fall around his waist as he narrowed his eyes at Daks. “You’re not going to waste several more days traipsing across Rassa because of me. My stupid curse has caused enough trouble. I won’t be the one responsible if something happens to her and you’re not there… not again.”
“More than likely, the Spawn isn’t lying,” Daks argued. “Why would he bother? He could have just killed us outright.”
“You don’t know that. Horse seemed to spook him quite a bit. He wasn’t like any Spawn I’ve ever heard of. Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe he’s something else and he means to lure us to the wizard or something.”
“If that’s true, it’s the last place you should want to go.”
“You shouldn’t go either,” Ravi huffed, “but I know you can’t leave Shura, so we have no choice.”
Warmth spread through Daks’s chest at Ravi’s continued use of “we” and “us.”
“Besides,” Ravi added sourly, “someone has to come along to keep you from doing something stupid.”
Daks grinned. “You say the sweetest things.”
Ravi narrowed his eyes and growled. It was adorable… and sexy as hells. Daks cocked an eyebrow and licked his lips. “Maybe we should stop the talking. We seem to get off track with the talking.”
“Daks, will you be serious!”
“Sorry,” he replied, trying to sound contrite and probably failing. “I am being serious when I say I don’t want either you or Shura in danger, so this isn’t easy for me.”
“You told me to listen to my feelings. That’s what I’m doing. When you walked away from me, my Vision sent me after you. To me, that means together is good, apart is bad.”
“Was it only your Vision?”
The question slipped out of him before he could stop it, and it revealed a level of vulnerability Daks wasn’t ready to contemplate, so he shook his head and waved a dismissive hand. “Forget it. I—”
Daks actually slumped in relief when Horse snorted out a warning, drawing their attention to the giant black bird as it swooped out the sky and transformed into the lithe dark-haired young man from the night before. His relief was short-lived, because watching that transformation was seriously unsettling. Color drained from Ravi’s face, and Daks rolled to his feet and put himself between the Spawn and Ravi.
“You’re not ready to go yet?” the Spawn asked peevishly.
THE JOURNEY to the barbarian encampment was about as pleasant as Daks expected. The boglands were as cheerful as ever, and both he and Ravi were tense with anxiety over what they might be walking into. Privately, Daks questioned his sanity, but he kept following the black stallion Spawn anyway as they trudged along in silence, his hand never leaving the pommel of his sword, should the creature make any sudden moves.
He would have liked to have Ravi on the same horse as he was for some companionship and physical reassurance, to hold him close and murmur stupid, inappropriate things in his ear to distract them both… plus, maybe a little groping. But they needed their mounts as fresh as possible, in case they had to cut and run.
Daks s
potted the lookouts long before they broke from the cover of trees into a large, recently cleared area along a fork in the Bael river. He was actually astonished at the number of buildings the “barbarians” had managed to erect in such a short time. All the rumors they’d heard said the mountain tribesmen had only left their home and invaded Rassa a couple of months ago. But instead of the crude tent city Daks expected, several wood buildings and even one made of stone occupied the space.
Curious eyes followed them as the Spawn horse led the way straight into the newly made village. Very tall blond men, women, and children paused in their work to study the strangers, but Daks didn’t sense any outright malice. He would have scanned the area with his gift as well as his other senses, but with the Spawn so close, he probably wouldn’t be able to sense anything else.
Ravi had drawn the hood of his cloak up as they’d entered the village, and the more people who surrounded them, the more he shrunk into its shadows. Daks felt a pang of regret and sympathy for him. He’d almost forgotten, in their last few days of freedom in Samebar, just how much more open and happy Ravi had seemed. The contrast now was stark.
Daks’s hand tightened on his sword, and he had to force himself to relax his grip and finally release it altogether. He couldn’t fight his way out of this one. With a Spawn, a wizard, and a whole crowd of giant mountain fighters, he wouldn’t stand a chance… and neither would Ravi.
“Daks! Oh, thank the gods!”
Daks started on Horse’s back and swung around. Those tall mountain men parted like wheat before a scythe as tiny Fara sprinted toward them, her gold braid flying behind her. She swung wide around the Spawn horse and skidded to a halt next to him.
“Thank the gods,” she repeated breathlessly as Daks’s anxiety tripled. Any fatigue he might have felt evaporated, and he eyed the people around him warily.
“What’s wrong? Where’s Shura?”
“She won’t listen to me,” Fara cried, her eyes filling with unshed tears. “She won’t let them help her. She’s hurt, and she won’t let them do anything. The tribesmen’s herb woman is the only one she’ll let close, but she needs more than that. You have to make her see reason!”
“Take me to her,” Daks ordered as he swung off Horse’s back, ignoring anyone or anything else around them except Ravi, who joined them a moment later.
“This way.”
She took off at jog, and Daks took Ravi’s hand and followed on her heels. When they entered the long log building, the smell hit him first, a combination of infection and medicinal herbs he wished he could say he didn’t recognize.
Seven Hells!
Shura lay on a small bed nearby, gray and unmoving, and Daks’s stomach flipped and his throat closed. He rushed over and knelt beside the bed, taking her hand in both of his.
“Shur?”
She cracked a glassy eye and smiled weakly. “Took you long enough,” she whispered hoarsely.
Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Daks gave her a grin that probably looked more like a rictus and said, “I had a few complications.”
She studied his face for a second, her smile fading to a frown. “You look like shit.”
“So do you.”
“Daks,” Fara exclaimed, her voice tight with worry.
“What happened, Shur?” Daks said.
“Damned arrow… gut shot. Blighted cowards afraid to come out and fight like men.”
“Fara says you won’t let these good people help you. Why not?”
Daks thought he probably already knew the answer, but best to let her get her objections out of the way first so he knew what tack to take to change her mind.
Shura grimaced, and Fara let out a little mewl of concern as she rushed to hand Shura a cup of what Daks assumed was water.
“Don’t know these people,” Shura croaked after a quick sip that she obviously only took to appease Fara.
“And?” Daks prodded.
She scowled at him. “What and? Not going to let a wizard touch me without my partner here to check him out first, to make sure he doesn’t do anything else to me. Rather be dead than cursed.”
Daks’s stomach twisted. Cigani were always suspicious of magic users and, well, anyone outside of their clans. She wasn’t wrong. You never knew what a mage had up his or her sleeves. If he hadn’t dicked around at the inn waiting for her to contact him, if he’d come straight over as soon as possible, she wouldn’t be half as bad as she was now.
“Well, I’m here now.” He lifted his gaze to Fara. “Get the wizard.”
“I’ll do it,” a tall blond stranger said from the doorway. “Lyuc is out with some of the others, but Tas is here. He can help.”
Daks had been so distracted, he hadn’t heard the man enter, but he nodded and the stranger turned and left.
“Who’s Tas?” Daks asked Fara.
“He’s the rogue brother we heard about on our journey. He was a member of the Thirty-Six.”
Daks grimaced as Ravi stiffened and sucked in a breath.
A pain priest? Great.
“You trust him?”
“They’ve all been kind to us. I believe he has reformed from what he was.”
That wasn’t exactly a stunning endorsement, but Shura was in a bad way, and he’d be present to make sure the guy didn’t do anything shady. He could tell by the look on her face that she was working up the strength to argue, but he glared at her and shook his head.
“You can curse me and my lineage later. Right now, I don’t give a damn about your Cigani pride or nobility, understand? You’re gonna let this man heal you, and I’ll be right here to make sure that’s all he does.”
She narrowed her eyes, but she wasn’t in any shape to do much about it. She’d hate to be healed by magic torn from the pain of others, but when it came to the people he loved, he didn’t give a damn about morality. If he had to pull rank in their dynamic and remind her of her oath, he’d do it so she could still be alive to hate him for years to come.
Movement by the door made them all turn. The lean dark-haired man who entered in front of the blond giant from earlier didn’t look like much in his plain gray jerkin and trousers, but the rock around his neck sent out pulses of energy that throbbed against Daks’s mental shields, so much so he was surprised he hadn’t sensed the thing the second he entered the village.
“I’m Tas. Girik tells me our patient is finally willing to let us help her.”
The man smiled disarmingly, and Daks felt his shoulders relax just a little. He didn’t look like any pain priest Daks had ever seen.
“Where’s your red robes, priest?” Daks asked, poking the bear to see what would happen.
“Daks!” Fara hissed.
The man’s smile vanished, and the blond brute behind him glared and took a step forward, but the priest laid a hand on his arm, stopping him.
“It’s all right, Girik. They don’t know us yet, and the Thirty-Six have much to answer for. As for your question, Daks, I’ve left the Brotherhood for good. Therefore, I will never again wear the red.”
“Good answer.” He glanced at Shura’s pinched expression and sighed. “Last question. Did the person who fueled your stone do so willingly?”
Tas’s smile returned. “He’s not really my stone anymore. Think of us as a partnership. And no one fueled him.” Tas glanced at Girik, and the big man took his hand and gave him a loving smile. “I don’t do that anymore. He fuels himself from the world around us now. No one should ever have to suffer that abomination again.”
On the one hand, Tas’s answers allayed at least some of Daks’s concerns—and hopefully Shura’s as well—provided he could believe them. On the other, the way he referred to the stone opened up a whole new set of questions and worries. What had they gotten themselves into now?
Shura shifted on the bed, and though she obviously tried to stifle it, a hiss of pain escaped her lips.
“Then work your magic, Pr—Tas. She won’t object.”
Daks held her g
aze as he said it, and though he could tell she wasn’t happy about it, she wouldn’t fight him.
“Please,” Fara added pointedly.
Her eyes were overflowing with a mixture of emotions when she turned her gaze back to Shura, and Shura’s face softened as she reached for her. Fara rushed to the other side of the bed and clasped the hand.
“Stupid, stubborn woman,” Fara huffed, though she was smiling.
Shura’s lips curled at the corners until the priest approached. Daks made way for him, seeing how desperately Fara clutched at Shura’s hand. He needed to be able to concentrate on his gift anyway. But something in the intensity of the two women’s interactions made him glance at Ravi, who hovered nearby, pale and obviously frightened. He eyed the former priest like he had the Spawn, but Daks supposed they were both monsters in Ravi’s world, so he couldn’t blame him.
He moved to Ravi’s side and wrapped an arm around his waist, drawing him closer. Though he remained silent, Ravi molded against him. Daks drew strength from their contact, because he really didn’t want to open his shields. He’d never been this close to one of the holy relics before. Hells, even the Scholomagi kept their most ancient and powerful relics buried deep under the school, so no one could get this close to them. He’d be lucky if he didn’t pass out altogether. But Shura needed him.
Drawing in a steadying breath, he opened his senses and swayed under the first onslaught of power. Ravi wrapped his arms around Daks’s middle, shoring him up. After the shock of the initial wave, Daks found could tolerate the feeling, though every hair on his body stood on end and he’d have a massive headache later.
He opened his eyes in time to see Girik and Tas exchange a soft look before the big man swung a warning look in Daks’s direction—not openly hostile, but promising trouble if Daks stepped out of line. The large, shaggy gold hound at Girik’s heels also gave him the side-eye, and Daks lifted his hands in a placating gesture. Glancing at the two men once more, Daks smothered a knowing smile. Guess the priest had forsaken more than one of his vows to the Brotherhood because the looks they were giving each other were anything but chaste. Despite the vague threat posed by the priest’s companions, the thought actually made Daks feel a little better. It made him more human somehow.
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