Kailynn swung into the saddle with ease. Nothing like when she had slammed herself into the side of Sera's horse in what seemed to be a lifetime ago. She grimaced and tugged at her grey close-fitting traveling outfit as it scratched and constricted her body. She never would have guessed that she would miss that Mock-Tar Bey-Her dress, but she really did. The bone-deep exhaustion from having danced and cried all night was settling in behind her eyes and into her joints. Alac exchanged a few words with one of the men near him and then urged his horse over to Kailynn's.
"Ready?"
"No." Kailynn couldn't see the old woman anywhere. "I can't leave her without saying goodbye."
"We need to get going, or we won't make the border by nightfall." He put his hand on her thigh while she avoided his gaze. "Kailynn."
At the sound of her name, she turned to face him, her face drawn with sadness and lack of sleep.
"Kailynn, we said goodbye last night." His green eyes were soft and understanding. "She knows. Okay? She knows and she will miss you too."
Kailynn nodded dry-eyed, only because there were no more tears left in her. She clicked her tongue to her horse and started toward the blue-purple mountains in the distance. They rode together in silence for a few paces when they heard it. The old woman's voice raised in the keening wail of a song in their tongue. The tribe responded as she called out her blessings to the sky and earth, thanking them for the Mock-Tar Bay-Her. Every fiber of Kailynn's being knew that if she turned to look back, she would turn back and live with them for the rest of her days.
Home. It called her, begging for her to abandon her mission, abandon this hopeless dream of resurrecting an empire that others wanted from her. Stay. Stay where she was wanted and loved.
Don't you fucking dare! the Ash Queen hissed from her cell in Kailynn's mind.
Kailynn saw herself standing outside the cell of the Ash Queen as the song of her people echoed through the sky and the land.
"Don't ever tell me what to do again."
You will not deny me my destined rightful place on the throne in Valmara.
"I will if I wish."
And doom all those innocents behind you? Do you think Sera will stop until her family is restored? The war is coming. Go. Use me and save them. Or, stay and kill them all.
"I will never need you like that again. You tried to keep me prisoner in my own body!"
You hope you will never need me. There will be a moment child, a moment where you will need something done and lack the will. Then you will ask for me and I might answer. I might not.
"That day will never come."
We will see.
Kailynn gasped as Alac's hand squeezed her knee. "Are you alright? Where do you go when you check out like that?"
Kailynn flashed Alac a little smile, "Nowhere. I was just listening."
Smart to keep me a secret. You might be mildly intelligent after all.
Kailynn willed the Ash Queen back into silence and listened to the old woman's song until it was too far away to hear.
❧
Sera stared at Sven. "There is only one bed."
He smiled wickedly, "I guess we will have to share then."
"Absolutely not!"
His smile widened. "Relax, I wouldn't dream of making a good girl like you do something wicked."
Sera's breathing stopped at her thoughts of what he might think was wicked.
"I'll sleep on the floor." He continued. "Provided they didn't break anything, you should be able to stretch and exercise in a night or two." His half-grin told her that he meant the double meaning.
Sera sat stiffly on the bed. "I need some rest. Please."
"Of course." He approached her and gently gripping her shoulders, he knelt next to the bed, lowering her down onto her back on the furs. His bare, tattooed, muscled arm lay across her chest. His hand barely brushed against her jawline as he pulled his arm back to his side. "Better?"
"I-I can lie down on my own, Sven." Sera stammered out.
Sven pulled a deep fur over her prone body, he leaned down and put his mouth next to her ear. "But wasn't that more satisfying?" His warm breath caressed her ear. Sera's innermost thighs flared with sudden forbidden urges. Her hands clenched against bed to keep herself from touching him.
He stood and walked to the tent entrance.
"Why?"
He paused and then turned around. He was framed by the setting sun in the doorway of the lodge. Gods. He certainly looked like one.
"Why, what?"
"Why are you doing this to me? Trying to get me to forget my bond with The Bard?"
He crossed the distance between them with three strides. "Why are you in love with someone whom you can never love openly? Either love him and be with him, or move on. With me."
Sera snorted, "If I can't be open with a famous bard, how could I be open with a nameless hunter?"
Sven laughed and ducked his beautiful golden head. "You are right of course. So, I guess it would just be for a night that you would never forget. Have you ever been ridden in the moonlight by someone who knew how to touch every part of you with pleasure? Have you made love in a waterfall as the roar drowns out the sound of your release?"
Sera turned her head away to hide the deepening color that was rising in her cheeks. "The Bard is all I want."
Sven chuckled, leaned in to her ear again, his delicious warm breath curling around her flushed ear. "Good girls don't lie. Liar."
Then he was gone, leaving Sera alone gasping for breath as visions of her and Sven intertwined thrust themselves repeatedly into her mind.