CHAPTER 1
The Warning
Elaina opened one eye, looking for the source of the shuffling noise that interrupted the stillness. For a moment she lay tense in her cot, wondering what sort of creature had intruded into her tent. Raccoon, maybe. Or rabbit? Please, not a rat. Suddenly, she remembered who would be in her tent in the wee hours of the morning: Cade had come back. The thought made her lips turn up. The Drethlords were a bit troubling, Dracen exasperating, and the growing camp was a headache. Even so, none of it was a real problem, if he was with her.
"Cade?" she whispered, just to hear his voice.
"Yes?" he straightened at the door of the tent, the warmth of the summer morning sneaking past him.
"Why are you awake?" she murmured, burying her face in her pillow once more.
"It's morning . . ." he pointed out, laughter in his voice. Elaina peered over her pillow to examine the translucent canvas walls.
"No, too dark yet. Two hours more." She declared firmly, cuddling deeper into the linens. "Go back to bed."
"I've already packed it for the day." Now there was a definite chuckle in his tone. Her unwillingness to get up each morning was baffling to him, but he’d let slip once how much he enjoyed watching her sleep. It had been a uncharacteristically sentimental, so she remembered. He, of course, never lounged in bed once the sun hit the horizon. Elaina groaned at the ever-disciplined war lord, but his stoic disregard for sleeping in gave her an idea.
"Fine then, sleep here." She suggested, rolling carefully over to one side of the cot. Elaina put her head down at once, unwilling to wake up any farther and lose precious minutes. Besides, nonchalance was crucial for her little plan. Either he would leave and she could sleep in peace, or perhaps he would actually come over. As the silence lengthened, Elaina forgot she was expecting a response and drifted back towards sleep.
"You're irresistible when you're all messed up and sleepy, did you know?" He said softly.
Elaina rolled over with a smile and lazy stretch that was supposed to be tempting. Probably just awkward. It was hard to move around without tipping her bed over or making it snap shut.
"So come to bed." She offered again, realizing that the words could mean a lot more than she was offering. Eyes closed to feign disinterest, she listened for some reaction to her teasing. He hesitated, then took three quick steps to sit on the side of the cot, balancing out her precarious bed. Success!
But she celebrated too soon—he did not lay down. Impatient, she peeked up at him. Oh my. He stared at her so intently she forgot to be sleepy.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Cade said. He sounded strained, like a man trying to have a conversation while standing balanced on a taut rope.
"Why not?" Elaina murmured, confused and more than a little intrigued. Her curiosity was waking her up, but it could be worth it. Sometimes he said things at the oddest moments, things she would remember word for word for the rest of her life. If this was one of those moments she wanted to be awake. It’s something that’s made him sound like this. So serious for so early in the day! Cade inhaled deeply.
"You're just . . . irresistible." he said at last, as if it had been forced from him. Elaina didn't laugh, though he was seldom so dramatic. What in Arith is the matter with that?
"Irresistible. That’s bad?" she clarified, sitting up—carefully, as always. A dark thought slipped through her mind: What if he's finally realized that he could have any woman in the world, and all this is more trouble than I’m worth? Cade drew a deep shuddering breath. Not a man on a tightrope, a man on thin ice. Her thoughts cast a pall on the bright morning. It felt like a fist had clenched in her stomach. Was he going to leave again, really leave?
"It isn’t bad," he assured her carefully, reading the look on her face. Cade sighed, ran his hand through his dark hair in frustration, then finished quickly, "I only worry I won’t be able to resist the irresistible forever." Elaina arched an eyebrow.
"Then don't," she suggested, leaning toward him. To her surprise, he jerked to his feet. He even took a few steps back for good measure. The cot wobbled dangerously, but she didn’t notice, sinking back into the linens with a sudden chill.
"Cade?" She intended her tone to be playful and teasing, but the hurt had crept in somehow. Truth blast it! She blushed. It seemed to affect him all the more.
Pain twisted his features in a way Elaina seldom saw. Then he came to sit next to her again, gingerly to keep the cot from tipping. Her flash of anger at the blasted bed faded quickly as she waited for his answer.
"I can’t risk you. I’m afraid I’ll hurt you." He said at last.
"You?” Her voice was thick with disbelief. “You would never hurt me." She shook her head. “Never.”
"You don’t understand. When I'm close to you, I can’t think at all. I can’t think about Miranya’s warning. Given half the chance I’d dismiss it." He tried to explain. “I would ignore it, explain it away. So I can't have that chance. I can't lose control that way, I might kill you.” Cade paused, lips set into a thin line. “I would kill you." Shame swam in his eyes,
She gaped at him, mouth open. Not because he said he'd kill her—that she didn't believe and never would. It was the whole premise that shocked her.
He thinks his self control is not strong enough? Him. The Antralian battle lord, the ashendari. The man with discipline to make steel look flimsy? Truth, but he really does want me!
Elaina blushed and tried to wipe away the smile that tugged at her lips. It was all she could do not to giggle like a farm girl, but that would be insensitive with him looking so shamefaced. She didn't suggest that she might have the self control he lacked. All he had to do was smile that slow, crooked smile and she was finished.
Then she realized what risking her life meant: risking his too. Frustration bubbled up through her delight. She'd found the most perfect man in Arith, and he even loved her back, but they still couldn't be together, all because some jealous sorceress’ cursed warning!
I almost wish Miranya hadn’t said anything. Might have been worth it to figure it out on our own . . .That sneaking witch, even after she’s dead she’s still interfering. The foul, lying little—
"What if Miranya lied?" She burst out. Cade blinked at the force of her suggestion, and she used his hesitation to babble on before doubt could take root. “She had no reason to tell the truth, and she was hardly looking out for our best interests."
"You want to risk your life on that chance?"
"At least it's a chance!" Elaina shot back, annoyed by his lack of enthusiasm.
"I'm not going to have a hand in your death, Elaina." Cade objected sternly. “That is the one thing you must never ask of me.”
"And I'm not going to have a hand in yours, either!" she shot back, mind spinning for another way. If Miranya was lying, we could be together! We just need someone else who knows if she told us the truth . . . That’s it!
"I'll ask Dracen. He'll know, one way or the other." Elaina declared. It was perfect. The Brother would know, the whole system of Watchers and Wielders was imported from his homeland of Asemal, after all. That’s where Miranya said she’d learned about it. Elaina let her smile grow. If Dracen has the right answer—!
"Dracen! You're too shy." Cade objected. She set her jaw, and he must have recognized the mule-stubborn expression because his eyebrows rose. No doubt imagining me trying to utter such a question, or the look on Dracen's face if I did. Elaina grimaced at the mental picture. Cade saw her flinch and flashed a rueful grin.
“You’ll never ask.”
“Oh won’t I?” Elaina lifted her chin, jaw set. So he doesn’t think I have the nerve for it, does he? Well! Without another word, she snatched her thin robe, shoved her arms through the sleeves, and marched out into the morning.
Cade stared after her. There goes the woman who swims fully dressed, who refuses to get out of bed until I leave the tent, who would die of mortification if someone chanced to see her in her camisole. Th
at woman is going to march through the camp in her robe to ask Dracen if—!
He knew that the moment he made it a challenge she'd try. Honestly, he had been counting on it. The Wielder was as shy as any Northerner, certainly, but she was stubborn on an entirely different level. Half thrilled, half terrified, he hurried to catch up before she barged into the Brother's tent. It was a crazy idea and an absolutely impossible question to ask with any sense of propriety, but Cade wasn't about to stop her. She is the Wielder after all, I’m just her Watcher. A small voice in the back of his head spelled out another highly convincing reason that had absolutely nothing with any of that, but Cade ruthlessly shoved it down.
"You're asking him now?" he asked once he was close enough to be heard without shouting. No need to give these curious eyes anything more to consider. Everyone we pass already looks stunned to see her awake and rushing the camp in a robe.
He hadn’t been aware that she was capable of walking this quickly. Her smooth reply answered both his question and his thoughts.
"No sense wasting time. The sooner we know . . ." Cade felt his heart hammer in his chest and his breath catch.
"Good grief, Elaina!" he growled, "I thought Northern women were shy!" Her only response was a sly smile that sent his heart crashing against his ribcage again. True spirits!
It didn't take very long to reach Dracen's tent. Cade paused, but Elaina called his name, waited two seconds, and went right in. He darted after her, reaching for her sleeve an instant too late.
"Elaina!" He hissed. The man might not even be dressed! Woman! Her haste was gratifying, though.
Dracen, fully clothed, thank the Neverblind, turned stiffly to face them. One thin eyebrow arched at the two of them while he adjusted his grey cloak with the air of a cat twitching its tail at intruders. His tent was perfectly barren of personal touches. Brother Dracen is a serious man. This ought to be good, Cade mused.
"Brother Dracen," she began, "good morning." The Brother nodded cautiously, eyes flicking over her shoulder to Cade for a moment, then back. For his part, Cade kept his gaze fixed on the far wall of the tent. He felt a little guilty for not helping her, but it was her idea. Besides, I don’t want to push her. If I asked she might feel like she has to . . . follow through, even if she changes her mind and doesn’t want to. And I can’t meet the Brother’s knowing eyes. He could admit that to himself at least.
"You recall the incident with the poison, just before Cade left?" Elaina asked. Cade bit his tongue to keep from interjecting. She always called it the time 'when Cade left' while he referred to it as 'when Elaina commanded me to leave.' It was something they tried not to discuss, since all of the discussions were arguments.
Dracen's eyes lingered on Cade a little longer this time, and he nodded a trifle slower. They hadn't told anyone precisely what had occurred that day, and as far as Cade could tell, time had only made the whole lot of them more desperately curious. Elaina went on, jerking him back the present. He tried to keep his astonishment off his face. She's really going to ask!
"Well, about that time a caster informed us that the Linking makes it impossible for a Watcher and his Wielder to—" and here her courage ran out. Cade was surprised she had made it as far as she did. Just a few words short. A few crucial and impossible words.
"—that is, to erm . . ." she swallowed, waving one hand a little at her side.
Dracen's silent, unblinking stare could not have helped her resolve. Cade watched as her breath came faster and a blush stained her cheeks. He did his best not to be too distracted by it. His best didn’t do very much. It never does, with her.
"Well, she said it would be lethal, since the barriers dissolve . . . to . . .” Elaina stammered. Eyes like winter rainclouds narrowed in what might have been understanding and shifted to fix on Cade. He felt a chill down his spine, as he always did when the friendly Brother reminded him too much of his hateful kin. After a moment, though, he could see the beginnings of droll understanding in Dracen’s eyes.
He knows. He knows, he just wants to make one of us say it. If Cade had been the sort of man to blush, he’d have been as dark as Elaina just then. The flush of embarrassment had crept down her neck and now covered her chest as well. Or all of it that can be seen. Cade pulled his thoughts back from that delightful curiosity just as Dracen prompted,
"To . . .?"
Cade shrugged one shoulder, but that was apparently expressive enough. The Brother shook his head and sighed with the air of a man weary with the predictability of young people. Turning away from them to open the chest at the foot of the bed, he sifted through the contents and pulled out a cream-colored tile with a soft portrait of two people, a man and a woman. It looked out of place in the cheerless room.
"These are my parents." He said handing it to a bewildered Elaina. Cade looked over her shoulder. It was clear that the two people were related to the Brother, they had the same piercing eyes and sharp features that made their son such a formidable presence.
"That was made in Asemal." Dracen continued. "before they left on a mission from which they never returned—overzealous peasants." He took it back from her and settled it carefully into the folded clothes beside a portrait a pretty young woman.
Was he married, in Asemal? Is there someone waiting for him to come home? It was strange to think Dracen had ever been in love. But why else would he carry that picture? Cade eyed the man with startled curiosity.
The Brother cut off his train of thought by shutting the trunk with a snap. Then he explained, "It is a family tradition to serve the Empress as casters." Cade's eyes jerked up sharply. Does that mean—?
"My mother was very close to her, actually. The Empress valued her friendship and skill so highly, she assigned a Watcher to her, unusual though that was for a mere caster." He paused to look them both in the eye,
"That Watcher was my father. It was not uncommon, with Watchers and their counterparts relying on each other, protecting each other—they very often married, in the end. It was generally encouraged.”
Somewhere in those grey eyes was the smallest flicker of warmth as delight lit Elaina’s face. Of course there is, even a glacier would be warmed by that expression on that girl. I wonder if he sees something of the girl in the picture, when he looks at Elaina. Or imagines the daughter the two of them might have had.
Then Elaina wheeled to face him, and Cade forgot about Dracen entirely. He couldn't help taking a sharp breath. Sparks seemed to crackle between them, flashing against his fingertips when he reached out to take Elaina's elbow and steer her toward the door.
Dracen will understand if we don’t thank him or say goodbye. He won’t understand if I take her in my arms right there and kiss her like— Elaina interrupted before he could think of an adequate description.
"You see?" she taunted breathlessly, and he wasn't about to argue.
"Thank you, Brother Dracen," was all Cade managed, but it was certainly heartfelt. Then he practically dragged her along with him out into the bright sunlight. He said nothing to her bubbling laugh while he led her hastily back to their tent, desperate for a thin scrap of privacy.
True spirits, tell me this is not a dream! He begged silently, staring into the sunlight that reflected off the shields to wake himself. Cade deliberately kicked a stone, and reveled in the pulse of pain. Together they marched into her tent. One of the men had already cleared its contents in preparation for the day's move. It was just the two of them in the canvas shell.
Cade could wait no longer. He spun her around to face him, her hands in his. Every touch, every look was driving him mad. There was no lethal web of power, no barrier. She would be his. He would win her over if he had to, now that he knew he could. She’ll be mine. The thought made his pulse jump. All of the sudden he was breathing as if he'd run a league at top speed. .
"We never talk of the garden," he began quietly. Elaina blinked. That was obviously not what she expected. " I know you don't like to think of it, but do you reme
mber what Miranya said about this?" Cade asked, sliding his hand up to the woven grass bracelet around her wrist.
Elaina nodded slowly. It was the traditional courting gift of Antral, made for a lover with a man's own hands. Giving it was a gesture of devotion and an offer of marriage, depending on how or if the woman wore it.
She could reject it, and then the couple was finished. Or she could wear it on her right arm, and it was nothing more than a gift. Or she could wear it on her left, and the proposal was accepted. Then she’d wear it until they wed and the silver and sapphire bracelet of a married woman replaced it.
Cade’s father once told him that they were made of grass to hurry along the process—so the girl would have to get married before the grass wore thin or unraveled, before she could change her mind. At the time, he thought the King had been joking, but now he wasn’t so certain. She’s mine, I want the world to know it right now, today.
"You have always worn it this way, even after you knew." He said, drawing out her left hand, fingertips trailing across her forearm around the bracelet.
Elaina nodded again, watching his hand move across her skin."I put it back on the night I sent you away, I've never been an hour without it." Cade found he could barely manage his next words. Truth!
"Then you know I want you for my wife—and you accept?"
"Yes." She whispered, glancing up at him.
After years of hating the ash-colored stares of the Drethlords, Cade was suddenly sure there was nothing in Arith more lovely than grey eyes.
An exultant smile swept across his face, and this time when she leaned into him for a kiss, he didn’t pull away. He held her so tightly he could feel every line of her body. It did nothing to help his heart. When he finally released her, he was pleased to see she was breathing quickly, even if it was distracting.
“Marry me tonight.” He pressed. His enthusiasm made her laugh, but she nodded, then slipped her arms around his waist. Cade’s buried his exultant smile in her hair. This has to be the happiest moment of my life.
A nameless recruit peeked through the door, and Elaina stepped smoothly out of his arms. Cade clenched his fists to keep from throwing something at the man. Something like an axe. He settled for scowling, but it hardly felt punishment enough.
"Shall we take the tent, Lady Guardian?" the intruder asked deferentially, just as he would have any other morning. Well, perhaps a bit more cautiously, since I’m glaring at him. The man blanched when he saw it, and jerked wide eyes back to Elaina’s glowing face.
Cade could hardly consider that the man had no idea what he was interrupting. How can he not see that this is unlike any other morning? How can he be so oblivious as to have missed the fact that this day is the brightest, most stunning, most spectacular day since the beginning of days? He would have glared at the idiot longer if his eyes hadn’t drifted back to Elaina. My Elaina. My bride. Just as quickly as his frustration flared, it faded into wonder. What is the matter with me? I’m practically giddy. Truth.
Cade shook his head. No number of legends or poems or songs could ever have prepared him for this madness. He was completely out of his mind. He absolutely loved it. Watching Elaina gather herself to answer the man, Cade noticed she was still a trifle unsteady. He suppressed a smirk. At least she isn’t composed either!
Then it occurred to him what her answer meant: packing up, and no privacy until nightfall. Glancing at the cursed fellow, who was now calling over a few helping hands, Cade threw out discretion and let himself do what he'd been wanting to do since he'd woken up this morning. Dragging her close again, Cade kissed her with the passion of every need he’d kept hidden for months.
When they finally broke apart, her startled expression melted into the satisfaction of the cat that got the cream. He shivered, then he turned and strode out of the tent as steadily as he could manage, her fingers interwoven with his. The soldier was staring, but Cade didn't care.
There was a saying in Antral that looking forward to nightfall makes for long days, and the better the night, the longer the day. It was something mothers said to keep their children busy on the eve of feastdays, but for Cade it took on a whole new meaning.
This is going to be the longest day of my life.
End of In Winter's Keeping, Chapter 1.
Expected publication Summer of 2013.
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