[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.” She grimaced as she swallowed.“We were almost safely home when we were attacked by that monster.I never even saw it coming.I was holding my husband’s arm.There was a flash of steel.” A moan escaped her throat.Richard had to force himself to stay in his seat.“My husband’s insides spilled down the front of me.” She gasped back a cry.“The knife that killed him put three slices in my sleeve as it passed.”“Duchess, I understand, there’s no need to.”She held up a trembling hand, imploring silence so she could finish.She pulled up the silken sleeve of her dress to reveal three slices across the flesh of her forearm.Richard recognized the three cuts of a mriswith blade.He had never wished that he knew how to use his gift to heal as much as at that moment.He would have done anything to take the angry red cuts from her arm.She drew the sleeve down, seeming to read the concern on his face.“It’s nothing.A few days and it will be healed.” She tapped her chest, between her breasts.“It’s what they did to me in here that will not heal.My husband was an expert swordsman, but he had no more chance than would I against those creatures.I will never forget the feel of his warm blood down the front of me.I’m embarrassed to admit that I screamed inconsolably until I could tear that dress off my body and wash the blood from my naked flesh.For fear I’ll wake and think I’m still in that dress, I’ve since had to sleep without any bedclothes.”Richard wished she had used words that hadn’t put such an explicit picture in his head.He watched the rise and fall of her silken dress.He forced himself to take a drink of tea, only to be confronted unexpectedly with her lip print.He wiped a bead of sweat from behind his ear.“You were speaking of a condition?”“Forgive me, Lord Rahl.I wanted you to understand my fear, so you might consider my condition.I was so frightened.” She hugged her arms to herself, causing the dress to fold between her breasts as they pressed together.Richard looked down at his tray of dinner as he rubbed his fingertips on his forehead.“I understand.The condition?”She stiffened with courage.“I will surrender Kelton if you will offer me your personal protection.”Richard looked up.“What?”“You killed those creatures out front.It’s said that none but you can kill them.I’m terrified of those monsters.If I side with you, then the Order may send them after me.If you will allow me to stay here under your protection until the danger is over, then Kelton is yours.”Richard leaned forward.“You just want to feel safe?”She nodded with a slight wince, as if she feared he would lop off her head for what she was to say next.“I must be given a room near yours, so that if I scream, you will be close enough to come to my aid.”“And.”She finally gathered the courage to meet his eyes.“And.nothing.That’s the condition.”Richard laughed.The anxiety released its constriction of his chest.“You just want to be protected, much as my guards protect me? Duchess, that’s not a condition, that’s merely a simple favor—a perfectly reasonable and proper desire for shelter from our merciless enemies.Granted.” He pointed.“I’m staying in the guest rooms, off that way.They’re all empty.As one who sides with us, you’re an honored guest, and may have your choice.You can have one right beside mine, if you would feel safer.”She had not even smiled before, in comparison with the radiance that came to her face now.Her hands crossed over her breasts.She let out a huge sigh as if liberated from the greatest of dreads.“Oh, Lord Rahl, thank you.”Richard brushed his hair back from his forehead.“First thing tomorrow, a delegation, escorted by our troops, will leave for Kelton.Your forces must be brought under our command.”“Brought under.yes, of course.Tomorrow.They will have a personal letter from me, and the names of all our officials to be informed.Kelton is hereby a part of D’Hara.” She bowed her head, her dark curls slipping across her rosy cheeks.“We are honored to be the first to join.All Kelton will fight for freedom.”Richard let out a huge sigh of his own.“Thank you.Duchess.or should I call you Queen Lumholtz?”She sat back, her wrists draped on the arms of the chair, her hands pendent.“Neither.” One leg slid upward as she crossed it over the other.“You should call me Cathryn, Lord Rahl.”“Cathryn, then, and please, call me Richard.Quite frankly, I’m getting tired of everyone calling me.” As he stared into her eyes, he forget what he was going to say.With a coy smile, she leaned forward, one breast slipping past the table’s brink.Richard realized he was sitting on the edge of his chair again as he watched her twist a ringlet of black hair around a finger.He focused on the tray of food before himself in an attempt to control his roving eyes.“Richard, then.” She giggled, a sound not in the least bit girlish, but both husky and womanly at the same time, and not at all ladylike.He held his breath, lest he sigh out loud.“I don’t know if I can get used to addressing such a great man as the Master of all D’hara so intimately.”Richard smiled.“Perhaps it will simply take practice, Cathryn.”“Yes, practice,” she said in a breathy voice.She suddenly blushed.“Look at me, going on again.Those painfully handsome gray eyes of yours do make a woman forget herself.I had better leave you to your dinner before it gets cold.” Her gaze lingered on the tray between them.“It looks delicious.”Richard jumped up.“Let me have some brought for you.”She withdrew from the brink of the table, putting her shoulders back against the chair.“No, I couldn’t.You’re a busy man, and you’ve already been too kind.”“I’m not busy.I was just having a bite before I went to bed.At least you could sit with me while I ate, and perhaps share a little of it with me? There’s more here than I can eat—it would just go to waste.”She drew closer to him again, pressing against the table.“Well, it does look sumptuous.and if you aren’t going to eat it all.maybe just a nibble, then.”Richard grinned.“What would you like? Stew, spiced eggs, rice, lamb?”At the mention of lamb she let out a throaty murmur of pleasure.Richard threaded the gold-rimmed white plate across the tray.He hadn’t had any intention of eating the lamb himself; since the gift had awakened in him he wasn’t able to eat meat.Something to do with the magic at the time the gift manifested itself, or perhaps it was as the Sisters had told him: all magic must be in balance.Since he was a war wizard, maybe he couldn’t eat meat in order to balance the killing he sometimes had to do.Richard offered her the knife and fork.Smiling again, she shook her head and with her fingers picked up the lamb chop.“Keltans have a saying that if it’s good, nothing should come between you and the experience.”“Then I hope it’s good,” Richard heard himself say.For the first time in days he didn’t feel lonely.With her brown eyes fixed on his, she leaned forward on her elbows and took a dainty bite.Transfixed, Richard waited.“So.is it good?”In answer, her eyes rolled back in her head and her lids slid closed while she hunched her shoulders and moaned in perfect rapture [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]