by T. A. White
Eva wet her lips, her gaze rising to meet his. What she saw there made it obvious he had no intention of keeping that promise. He might tempt, tease, beckon, but he would never follow through.
He had too many responsibilities on his shoulder, his loyalty given to another. It would allow little space for her.
She should leave it alone, but she couldn't. That same part of her that was unable to stand down when she saw a horse being mistreated rose, causing her to tap dance right over the line he'd just drawn.
"Then why don't you?" she challenged.
His eyes filled with darkness as he gave her a look that felt as tangible as a touch.
"Because you're not ready for that. Your innocent Lowland upbringing would have you hating me or yourself, whichever was more convenient," he said, stepping back as boredom settled over his face.
She knew as well as she knew her name that expression was a lie. He hadn't been the only one observing, learning—she had too. And boredom was what he retreated to when he felt people had gotten too close.
Her lips quirked. "You'd be surprised. I'm not as innocent as you seem to think."
It was true. If her parents had had their way she would have been. Women in her village only gave themselves to their husbands.
However, a lifetime of taking care of horses and months with the Trateri who were much freer with their bodies had taken care of any gaps in her education.
She might not be as experienced as Caden, but she wasn't as totally without physical knowledge as he seemed to think.
Surprise flashed and then a heated awareness. He took a step toward her only to stop as a low whistle came from the courtyard gate.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Darius surveyed the wreckage of the once pretty courtyard garden. The place looked like a storm had passed through it, annihilating everything in its path. The pretty spring flowers had been trampled; dirt strewn over the gravel walkways.
The remnants of the wood people were scattered tinder on the ground. Limbs had been severed, torsos dismantled, and heads separated from their bodies.
Even though not a speck of blood had been shed during the massacre, it was a macabre sight. One Eva knew she would be seeing in her nightmares for many months to come.
"Wood people." Darius shook his head. "Now I've seen everything."
"Somehow, I very much doubt that." Caden's expression was grim as he surveyed the carnage. The man who'd looked like he intended to consume Eva was gone, leaving the warrior behind.
"This wasn't on any of the boards," Darius complained, bending and picking up one of the limbs to examine it closer. "I'd like to know why."
Caden nodded. "Bring us the pathfinder."
Before Drake could obey, an irritated voice said from beyond the wall, "Why is it every time something goes wrong you start screaming for me?"
Reece appeared in the gateway.
Darius tossed him the dismembered arm. "I don't know. Why don't you enlighten us?"
Reece caught the arm before it smacked him in the face. Lowering it, he opened his mouth to release a cutting remark then closed it as he took in the remains of the wood people. His expression grew serious before turning pensive. "Woodling spawn. I've never seen one in person before."
"I'd like to know why they weren't on any beast board. I know Shea instructed the pathfinders to share any information they had on possible threats we might encounter here," Darius said. “Is this what killed everyone?"
Reece tossed the arm back to Darius. "These things didn't kill the people of this city, because they are the people from this city. All that remains of them, anyway."
Eva sucked in a breath, her gaze returning to the smaller woodlings. Her earlier guess had been correct. They were children.
Caden's expression froze, his head shifting slightly as he took in the small bodies. They would have been toddlers, or not much older.
Devastation rolled off him. His eyes shut, pain and regret reflecting in his expression before everything shut down. All emotion was wiped away as if it had never been.
His eyes when he opened them were dead, his body stiff as he withdrew.
He seemed so alone, just then. Eva couldn’t stand the loneliness rolling off him, not when he’d done what he’d done to protect her. She slipped a hand into his.
His hand closed hard around hers. She caught the bleak look in his eyes when he glanced at her, the self-recrimination. Seconds later, his mask slapped back into place, but his hand remained in hers.
He'd defended them. If he hadn't, she and Jason might have died. She tried to communicate that to him but didn't know how successful she was when his hand gave hers one last squeeze before withdrawing.
Reece ran his hand through his hair looking more rattled than she’d ever seen him. "They weren't on the boards because they're not supposed to exist. We thought they were eradicated."
"Like the mythologicals were eradicated?" Caden rumbled.
Reece shook his head. "No, the mythologicals were sleeping. They faded from memory. The woodlings have long been a problem, but we thought we eliminated the last carrier."
"What are they?" Eva asked.
"A plague," he said baldly. "Carriers seed their plants in others—humans, beast. Anything living. It's a compulsion. Once they start, they can't stop. They do this." Reece gestured at the city. "They remake every living thing. When they're done, they move on to the next place and start again."
"They're human?" Eva asked.
Reece shrugged. "Maybe once, but I'm not even sure of that. We don't know how carriers are made except by other carriers. This should be impossible. Lainie hunted every last one down while Shea and I were infants. It's how our grandparents died and how my father died. It cost us quite a bit to stamp them out, and the Highlanders don't even realize how safe they are now that they're gone."
There was bitterness in his voice, behind his eyes.
"Obviously one of them slipped through," Darius drawled.
Reece shook his head. "But they shouldn't have."
He waved a hand. "Every living thing would have been turned even if they only meant to turn one or two. It's how they work. They can't stop once they start."
"You're saying it’s impossible for them to hide," Eva guessed, finally seeing where he was going with this.
His nod was weary.
"Somehow, one did," Caden said.
Reece spread his hands, looking as lost as any of them.
Eva glanced around feeling a shiver work its way down her back despite the bright sun shining overhead.
Darius let out a heavy sound as he reached up and rubbed his forehead. "Do I need to worry about my warriors turning into these things?"
Eva felt her heart jolt at that possibility.
Reece shook his head. "It's not airborne. They have bugs about this big." He held his thumb and forefinger apart. "They act like scorpions but they look like flowers with legs. Their stingers insert the seed. Five days later, you get this."
"So, don't get stung by a flower," Ghost said with an unhappy frown.
The Trateri around them shuffled further away from the flower beds. Eva caught more than one checking to make sure their weapons were in place.
"There's a poultice that has been known to draw the seed out as long as the wound is treated within a few hours," Reece admitted. "I can gather some of the herbs and work with your healer to see if we can create enough in case the carrier has lingered."
"I can help," Eva said.
"No, you're going back to the barracks for the night," Caden said before anyone else could speak.
She started to object.
"He's right. You're the one this plan hinges on. Some of my warriors can help Reece. We don't need to risk you getting infected by this seed when there isn't yet a cure," Darius said.
His words were law. Push him and he would not like it. Eva wasn't sure even her position as the Kyren’s intermediary would protect her from retribution.
There w
as a warning in Caden's gaze that told her she wasn't going to win this one. She jerked her head down in a nod.
Caden flicked his fingers at Jane and Drake, sending them to accompany her back to the house Fiona had shown her.
She couldn't leave without one last look at Caden. "Be careful."
*
Caden watched Eva disappear with his warriors.
"That progressed fast," Darius observed. "Not interested, my ass."
"Keep pushing," Caden warned. "And maybe I'll let Fallon know how you and a certain woman, formerly of the Snake clan, have begun to disappear together at night."
Darius narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Fair point."
Fallon wouldn't care that the woman was snake clan, but considering the amount of ribbing the warlord had gotten from his general when he fell for Shea, he'd be more than happy to dish it out in kind.
Caden didn't know if the two's relationship was serious, but he knew Darius wasn't the type to fool around with people in his own chain of command. The woman from snake clan might have lost everything when her clan leader betrayed her oaths, but she hadn't let the moment define her. She’d even managed to land on her feet.
That alone made her a woman worth respecting.
Caden didn't think it had advanced to the physical yet, but he knew that look in his friend's eye. It was only a matter of time.
"Do you think this has to do with what we've been hearing?" Caden asked.
"It's a pretty big coincidence otherwise," Darius muttered, looking over the garden with somber eyes.
The two men traded grim looks.
"Why do I get the feeling this entire city is a trap?" Caden said.
"For the same reason I'm beginning to believe we were lured here," Darius muttered under his breath.
Caden gave him a sharp look.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not casting accusations at your herd mistress. I have a feeling she was just as much misled as all of us," Darius said.
Caden let out a deep breath. "The mythologicals are playing a deep game."
"At least one of them anyway," Darius said.
"But which one?"
There was no answer, but Caden didn't really expect one. Sometimes when spiders wove their webs, the only thing you could do was let them hang themselves with a noose of their own making.
*
Eva yawned and hugged her legs closer to her chest on the small window seat next to her bed. She leaned her head against the cold glass as she watched the moon high above.
It felt weird being under a roof again with four walls surrounding her after months of sleeping outside.
She'd only lasted a few minutes in bed before finding her way to the window and the stars beckoning outside.
This place made her feel penned in, stifled, as she yearned for the freedom of the outdoors, where the only roof you needed was one made of blackness and glittering, icy perfection. Where walls were only in your mind and a mattress made of grass cradled your bones.
Odd, but she'd never felt the loneliness when she was out there. Not like she did tonight where it was an ache deep inside—one that made her yearn for impossible things.
She didn't know if it was because she had gotten used to drifting off with the snores of the warriors echoing in her ears, or if she missed a certain Anateri’s presence as he bedded down a few feet from her, but it was long past the time to visit dreamland, yet here she still sat.
"What are you doing, Eva?" she asked herself.
She didn't know—and that was alright.
She could drift and think in the quiet. It was her time, lonely though it might be.
Humming to herself, she watched the night. She didn't know how long she sat there before her gaze gravitated to the courtyard below as shadows shifted and danced.
She fell silent as she caught sight of Caden.
He looked up just then, his gaze piercing. She held still, not withdrawing or trying to hide. She should do both. That would be the smart move, but she was tired of being smart—of being pragmatic.
What had either trait ever gotten her?
Sometimes it was good to step out of your comfort zone and let life simply breathe through you.
He took a step toward her and then another. Eva teetered on the edge of an abyss, caught between two decisions. Let the inevitable happen or stick to her safe and placid world?
Before she could decide, he disappeared from view. Minutes later there was a knock at her door. She opened it to find Caden lounging against the frame. His fleeting smile made her insides curl, setting her stomach to trembling.
Eva stepped aside, making room for Caden.
Now that the moment was here, nerves fluttered in her stomach.
Caden took in the small room, noting the narrow bed, the window seat Eva had occupied and the small blanket she had dragged over.
He didn't say anything, but Eva didn’t mind. Sometimes words got in the way of what was important.
This moment felt too fragile to fill with inane chatter.
The same isolation and loss she'd read on him after the fight with the wood people still lingered. His back curved, the weight of the day crushing him as he faced the window.
This time it was her turn to provide comfort against the torments his inner demons had brought. She came to stand by his side. He turned to her suddenly, his warm mouth covering hers. Lips softer and warmer than she would have thought moved against hers.
The kiss was sweet. Poignant. Until it wasn't. Until passion rose like an inexorable tide sweeping them up in its wake.
Every frustration, every missed opportunity came to bear. The fire she'd felt from him in the courtyard and the mist came back.
"Be sure," he whispered against her lips.
She wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him down to her. "I am."
They didn't do much talking after that. Their hands explored each other in the silvery moonlight. This was different than the last and only time she'd done this. It wasn't heated fumbling followed by a quick coupling that left her strangely unsatisfied.
Tingles trailed in the wake of his touch. There was heat, but it wasn’t preceded by quick, unsure fumbling. Caden was precise, as focused now as he was when he wielded his sword.
Eva panted at being the focus of all that intensity. It made her feel powerful. Wanted. Needed. It was an aphrodisiac to someone who'd rarely felt any of that.
Tomorrow they might revert to being uneasy allies, but for now, for this moment in time, she was the center of his world, as he was hers.
His gaze holding hers, he reached for her shirt, drawing it over her head with slow movements. Her breath shuddered as the shirt cleared her head; all that separated her from his gaze was a thin band over her breasts.
His lips parted as he drew one finger along the top of one mound, the calluses catching on the soft flesh, rough yet gentle. Eva drew in a shuddering breath as tingles spread.
He frowned, his expression serious yet wondering as he caressed her soft skin. When she could bear the slow exploration no longer, she reached out, grasping the edge of his shirt and pulling it over his head.
Her breath caught.
Even in shadow and moonlight, his body was hard perfection. Chiseled, each muscle rigidly defined as they created a topography her fingers itched to explore.
Scars dotted his chest. Most small, but a couple long. One in particular drew her notice. She traced its edges lightly. The scar tissue was thick and a hairs breath from being directly over his heart. Whatever had made that scar had nearly claimed his life.
Her throat tightened at the visible proof of the life he'd led.
Tomorrow he'd go back to leading it. An existence where tomorrow wasn't promised and where danger and death were courted on a regular basis. A life very different than the one she'd planned to choose for herself.
His hand covered hers, the look on his face vulnerable. "It was a long time ago when I was much less experienced and dumber than I am now.
"
She made a small sound, but didn't comment further.
Love was a choice you made over and over again. You could close yourself off from it as Eva had for as long as she could remember, or you could embrace it.
She didn't think what they felt for each other was quite love yet. It was too soon for such things. But she had a feeling, if she let it, it could blossom into something epic.
"You didn't come to talk about old wounds." She slid him a look from under her lashes.
His smile when it came was decadent. "No, I didn't."
He moved then, picking her up as easily as if she was a feather.
Her legs wrapped around his waist, his palms on her ass as he found her lips with his. Never breaking the kiss, he stalked across the small room and lowered her onto the bed.
Each touch sent them higher until they were a naked tangle of limbs, his body heated and hard against hers.
He kissed along the curve of her neck before moving lower, his hands slow and methodical as they danced along her body. He found every sensitive spot and exploited them. The stretch of skin just over her hip bone, the spot along her ribs, and the one on the side of her breast.
Need rose fast and soon she was twisting to reach more of him, rising every time he withdrew. His chuckle was warm and dark in her ear.
Soft moans escaped her as his hands brushed along her belly and then her thighs before finding the wet heat of her. He played, his touch gentle as he continually missed the spot where she really wanted him.
Finally fed up, she reached down, her hand closing around the hard length of him. His breath caught and this time it was his turn to groan as his hips pushed him harder into her hand.
"Alea na, my heart’s breath. What you do to me," Caden groaned.
The arm next to her head flexed as his hand closed into a fist.
"Turnabout is fair play, warrior," Eva taunted.
His eyes came up to spear hers and the gentle lover was gone, taken by a man as driven to possess her as she was him.
The smile he gave her held a feral edge as he slid down her body, placing his mouth where no man had ever kissed her before. The sound she made was strangled, as sensation shot through her.
