His eyes danced with inner amusement when he took my arm in a firm grasp. I tried very hard not to notice his eye crinkles (blast the man, that charm spell must still be lingering) or the heat of his palm against my flesh.
Or the way he strode next to me, his movements not coiled with power like Deo’s, but smooth and flowing, like light illuminating the dark depths of water. There was a sense of power about him, too, but his power felt different. Where Deo was dark, Hallow was light, the power of the land and skies flowing around and through him, becoming a part of him, and reminding me of a brilliant blue gemstone glittering in the sunlight.
“Sit,” Lord Israel said when he strode up to us, gesturing toward a single chair on one side of the table. Two others were opposite.
I bit back an oath, and took the single chair. Israel sat across the table from me and gestured for Hallow to sit, as well.
Hallow hesitated for a moment, then dragged the chair to my side of the table, and plopped it down next to me, sitting down with a defiant air that amused, irritated, and oddly warmed me.
Lord Israel did nothing but raise one golden eyebrow a fraction of an inch. “You will tell me how you came to be in my son’s service, and where he is now.”
“I don’t think I will,” I said simply, shaking away the power of the sun from my hands. I was beginning to see that there was a time and a place for lightweaving, and this was neither. “Tell you where Deo is located, that is. For one, I’m not exactly sure, since I’ve been away for two days now, but mostly because I don’t believe he’d like for you to know.”
“You speak boldly, priest,” Israel said, his words sharp-edged.
My eyes widened.
He laughed at my surprise. “Oh yes, I recognize you. You are Sandor’s little apprentice, the one she said gave her so much trouble. The one who chased after Deo the time we visited.”
I slid a glance out of the corner of my eye toward Hallow, feeling my cheeks warm. Hallow had been looking mildly amused, but that look faded into speculation.
Irritated with myself that I cared what he thought, I cleared my throat and said quickly, “I was a child then, Lord Israel, not to mention the fact that the visit in question was some time ago. Not that I ever fancied him—”
Israel lifted his hand to stop me. “Lady Sandor promised that someday I would desire you for my company. She never told me why, hinting only that you had an ability that was undeveloped, but which, in time, would help our cause.”
“She said that?” I stared at him, unable to believe what he had said. “But ... she always told me that my power was not to be used ... and yet all along, she intended for me to join you? Why didn’t she tell me? Why didn’t she allow me to go any of the hundred times I begged to be released so I could fight? Why did she keep me a virtual prisoner when she told you about me?”
He slapped his hands loudly on the table, causing me to jump in my seat. “I have no time for your foolishness. What Lady Sandor did or did not tell you is of no importance; what I wish to know is why she kept from me the fact that you were a Bane of Eris. How did you come by this power?”
“My lord, I don’t think—” Hallow started to say.
“Silence!” Lord Israel roared.
Hallow’s lips thinned, and I noticed his fingers curling into fists. I wondered if it was to keep from speaking back to his overlord, or if he was trying to stop himself from casting a spell.
“Now.” Israel leaned forward, his fingers splaying across the table. The look in his eyes was almost mesmerizing, and for a moment, I felt just like a mouse cornered by an adder. “Tell me what you know.”
I looked at him, really looked at him. No gray touched his hair, although that didn’t surprise me much. The Fireborn were extremely long-lived, usually enjoying life spans that stretched to a millennium, unless cut short by war or some violent death. Lord Israel had lived a few hundred summers already, but his face was unlined. Still, he exuded power, the sort of power that is earned through hard-fought battle.
Although a flip answer was ready on my lips, I decided on diplomacy. “I know a good many things, my lord, but what you wish to know is not my knowledge to give.”
Lord Israel took a deep breath. I reminded myself that I was a banesman, albeit one who didn’t know well how to use her magic, and that although I owed my fealty to Deo, Lord Israel was a very powerful man. I needed to proceed with caution. “Did Deo seduce you? Is that it? You tumbled into his bed and he turned you into this ... this monstrosity? Or is it that you expect to marry him and one day rule my lands with him? If so, you are ignorant beyond my understanding.”
All ideas of being circumspect were thrown out of the window. I got to my feet, allowing my ire to show. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I have not been seduced or tumbled by anyone, nor do I want to rule anywhere!”
“You are a virgin?” His eyebrows rose high for a moment as he looked me up and down.
Heat flooded my face. I cast another glance toward Hallow, furious with both Lord Israel and myself at my reaction. What did Hallow’s opinion matter to me?
“You’re not that large that you’d be unwieldy in bed. But that’s neither here nor there. Where is Deo? How did you come to be in Genora? He swore he would save his mother, but I did not believe he could raise a company in so short a time. Therefore, he must mean mischief. Is he planning on attacking the Council of Four Armies because I would not allow him to be a part of it?”
I crossed my arms, aware that Hallow rose and stood at my shoulder. “You insult me and then expect me to tell you what you want to know?”
Lord Israel shrugged. “I am the leader of the Fireborn, and the council. Your feelings are insignificant compared to the fight we face.”
“You’re here to fight the Harborym, too?” I asked, unwilling to continue the conversation, but knowing this information would be of interest to Deo. “What exactly is the Council of Four Armies?”
He looked to Hallow and ignored my question. “You called her by name. How do you know this woman?”
“Master Nix was fond of visiting temples when we traveled,” Hallow said after a moment’s silence. “We traveled the breadth of Aryia, and Allegria is an unusual name. It isn’t one you forget.”
I looked at him in disbelief. He deliberately implied we’d met while at the temple, but I would have remembered a man such as him. Which meant he willfully (and skillfully) misled Lord Israel. I wondered why he didn’t mention our meeting at Kelos, and how I, too, sought the runeseeker, but I wasn’t about to ask him.
Not at that moment, anyway.
“I see. Then there’s no reason to keep her alive.”
“She clearly has a good deal of power—” Hallow started to say.
“She is an abomination,” Israel said, his expression one of extreme boredom. “I do not wish to explain to Jalas and Dasa why one of the very monsters we seek to destroy is here in our midst.”
Dasa? Was the queen coming to meet with Lord Israel, too? I wondered if Deo know that both his mother and his former intended would be in his father’s company. I had a feeling he knew nothing about it.
“I am not a Harborym,” I said before Hallow could speak. “On the contrary, my sole reason for being in Genora is to drive them from Alba. What I wonder is that you are here, too. Deo said you had given up on the Starborn many years ago.”
“Deo knows nothing about what is happening here,” Lord Israel said abruptly, leaping to his feet, his eyes glittering like polished amber. “I assume he is in the area if he sent his spy to check on me. Very well, we will take care of him at the same time we destroy the Harborym.”
A little pang of guilt worried me. Had I spoken injudiciously? Israel had to know that if banesmen were here, it meant Deo could not be far behind.
“Destroy the Harborym as you tried and failed to do for so long?” I couldn’t help but ask, and immediately regretted it. I knew better than to give in to my temper’s demands.
“Godd
esses above, grant us your grace,” Hallow murmured, and cast his gaze upward for a moment before he shifted so that he was partially blocking me.
Lord Israel snarled a word I’d never heard around the temple, and slammed his fist onto the table before turning on his heel and stalking away. “Imprison her,” he snapped as he did so.
“My lord,” Hallow called after him, a surprising note of steel in his voice causing Israel to pause and half turn toward him. “Allegria is not your enemy. She has done no wrong—”
“She is a Bane of Eris. Next to the Harborym, they are the biggest threat to peace in Alba. She must be destroyed with them.” He started forward again.
“I am no threat—” I began to protest.
“Let me have her,” Hallow called, surprising me into silence, and causing Israel to once again stop.
“Why?” Israel asked, his face blank of all expression.
Hallow shot me a quick glance. “She has knowledge of magic which you yourself said we do not understand. It will benefit me to learn from her.”
“She is dangerous,” Israel said, shaking his head. “Chaos magic cannot be controlled. My own son proved that to me.”
“The knowledge that she holds would benefit you,” Hallow said smoothly. “If Lord Deo really has mastered the magic—”
“He hasn’t, despite what he claims. Do not believe that because he managed to escape his exile, he has become the antithesis of the Harborym. The magic is using him, just as it will use this priest.”
“Further, I will be responsible for her.” Hallow spoke so persuasively that I stared at him in suspicion. Why was he so interested in learning about chaos magic? While I wanted to flatter myself that he had an instant attraction to me, sadly, I knew it was Deo who held his interest. No doubt Hallow thought he could use me to get to Deo. “I will guarantee that she does no harm to your people. Think of what Lord Jalas would say when we have mastered this power of hers. Did you yourself not say we needed to use every weapon in our arsenal to battle the Harborym? It would be the height of folly to throw away what Allegria has to offer us.”
“Are you insane?” I asked him, unable to keep my tongue still.
Hallow ignored the question, his gaze firmly affixed on his overlord.
“You may keep her until Jalas arrives, but no longer. Her destruction will mark the beginning of our campaign. Until then, I do not wish to see her,” Israel said after a moment, making a quick gesture of impatience before continuing on to his newly reinstalled tent.
“You will guarantee I do no harm? And just who are you, arcanist, to keep me from doing anything I choose to do? Do you forget that I am a lightweaver as well—”
“Be quiet, you fool,” Hallow said, taking my arm and pushing me toward a row of tents. “The guards have good hearing, and the last thing we need is you giving them cause to kill you.”
“Now I know you’re insane,” I said through my teeth, but decided that he was right about one thing—I wasn’t going to announce to everyone just what powers I had. I allowed him to keep his hand on my arm as we wove our way through the tents until we came to one bearing a standard with a flight of swallows. He pulled open the flap and gestured inside. I glanced around, decided that I wanted to get information from him before I made my escape, and entered the tent.
Once I had what I wanted from him, I’d leave. It was going to be just as simple as that.
CHAPTER TEN
Hallow breathed a sigh of relief when he dropped the cloth flap across the entrance of the tent assigned to him, which, luckily, had just been re-erected. Keeping Allegria from being imprisoned had been a near thing, too near for his taste. He looked at her as she brazenly examined his belongings scattered around the tent before turning to face him.
Goddess, but she was a stubborn wench. Even now, she had her chin tilted in the air just as if she were the wife of a wealthy squire, and he a lowly stableboy. Why he went to the trouble of saving her from Israel’s wrath was beyond him.
He shook his head even as those thoughts crossed his mind. There was no mystery why he saved her from imprisonment or worse—she was far too intriguing, and had too much enticing knowledge to be locked away—but why he had risked his own status by guaranteeing her good behavior was an entirely different manner. “I suspect you’re going to be far more trouble than you’re worth.”
She stiffened at the words, and he hastened to correct himself.
“My apologies, that came out wrong. I meant that you were going to cause me more trouble than any knowledge of the magic you wield will benefit me.”
“That’s just as insulting,” she said, her chin rising even farther; then suddenly she was right there in his face, her breath fanning out across his cheeks, the sun-warmed scent of her wrapping itself around him. “You’re no prize either, you know. How dare you treat me like I’m an errant child! Who are you to take charge of me?”
“I had to do something to get you out of that situation,” he explained, trying to control a suddenly rising libido. It had been far too long since he’d availed himself of a tavern wench, one distracted part of his mind commented. “We might have only met once, but I knew if I left you to your own devices, you’d end up clad in chains, or minus your head.”
“You know nothing about me,” she snapped, poking him in the chest. “I am not a child to be rescued. I am not just a lightweaver—I am one of Lord Deo’s elite team, and I bear within me the magic of the Harborym themselves. So the next time you think to rescue me, arcanist, remember that.”
He smiled. He couldn’t help himself; she reminded him so much of Master Nix at his most pompous. “I will admit that the explosion you managed was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. But the chaos magic that you wield—I’ve seen it in the Harborym’s hands, and there it has only the power of death and destruction.”
Her chin dropped, and she held up her hands. “That’s what the containment runes are for. It keeps the chaos magic from using and consuming me.”
“But Master Nix said ...” He stopped, deciding it was not the ideal moment for a lecture on the origin of magic.
“He said what?”
“Something best left for another day.” Hallow was once again aware of Allegria standing so close to him, he could feel her warmth against his chest and belly. “Why did you come here?”
Annoyance flickered across her face. “You have my runeseeker.”
“You followed us all the way here from Kelos?” Suddenly, he grinned. “I apologize for the bubble and slight deception, but it was important that I get Exodius to Lord Israel. Or so I thought—the old man has done little enough since we arrived, saying he can do nothing until he finds the queen’s moonstones. How long did the bubble last?”
“Long enough for the ghosts to begin to return.” She poked him again in the chest before allowing her fingers to spread across one of his pectorals. “They were ... the ghosts ... they were ...”
He felt as if someone had sucked all the air out of the tent. The scent of her, part sun-warmed woman, part something heady like wildflowers, tightened its grip on him, sinking deep into his blood. “They were what?”
“Hmm?” The flecks in her eyes glowed brightly as she spread her fingers wider on his chest, her breath caressing his face leaving him feeling as if he’d drunk a full skin of wine.
He also had an erection that he was willing to bet was as hard as the finest marble.
“Are you really a virgin?” he found himself asking, and was instantly mortified. Could he be more uncouth?
She stopped looking at his chest and met his gaze. “I am a priestess of the Temple of Kiriah.”
Again, his mouth spoke without his brain considering the consequences. “There are many children at the temples I visited with Master Nix.”
She made a face; then a little smile curved her lips.
Her pink, perfectly formed lips.
“There are a lot at our temple, too,” she admitted. “Lady Sandor doesn’t care if the priestes
ses indulge in dalliances so long as it doesn’t affect our work.”
“Ah. A wise woman.”
She was back to looking at her fingers on his chest, sending little tendrils of heat across his torso as her hand stroked downward to his belly. “Yes, it is. Very nice.”
“What is?” Somehow, he seemed to have lost the thread of the conversation. It had to be the flowery scent that clung to her.
“Yes.” She put a second hand on his chest, and for a moment, he felt as if he’d been punched in the belly. The heat from her fingers as they trailed down his chest drove almost all other thoughts from his mind. Without thinking about the wisdom of such a foolish act, he slid one hand into her hair and tipped her face up until his lips just brushed hers.
“Allegria,” he said, enjoying the way the syllables rolled around his tongue.
Her pupils flared, the gold flecks kindling with a light that seemed to glow.
He kissed the edges of her mouth, tentative, asking her without words if she enjoyed it, and rejoicing when her lips parted slightly, allowing him access to the sweetness inside.
She moaned into his mouth, her hands tugging on his hair. And with that, he deepened the kiss, pulling her hips closer to his, enjoying the sweet torment of her body pressed against his now steel-hardened penis.
That all ended when she suddenly slapped both hands on his chest and shoved him backward, leaving his mouth bereft of hers. He was momentarily dazed, wondering if he’d done something wrong.
“You dare!” she said, her voice filled with anger, her eyes glittering like onyx in a sunny stream.
“I’m sorry if you didn’t enjoy the kiss—” he started to apologize, but she snapped an oath that dried the words up on his lips.
“Kiriah’s toes! It’s not the kiss I object to—it’s the spell you put on me before you left me in that bubble. I demand you take it off now.”
“The bubble?” he asked, confused by her use of pronouns.