Shattered Magic (The Chronicles of Arand)

Chapter Eight



Rowan gasped. They had made a plan; now it was in ruins. Somehow Telman knew that she had left. Knew that she was back. And he was coming to…what?

One thing she understood for a certainty, he had more power than she had ever dreamed of.

As he drew closer, she saw the thunder on his features and she felt a wave of hatred blasting toward her, knocking her to the ground. The barrier had made her head ache. This was far worse. She could barely think. Barely move.

“You dared to leave. Now you dare to come back?” he spat out as he stomped toward her and Grantland.

There was no time to plan. And how could she plan with the pain pounding through her head?

Telman was going to kill them, but she wouldn’t make it easy for him.

“You slut. You have lain with this man,” Telman bellowed as he approached.

Grantland cried out, and she knew Telman had turned his wrath on him.

“Pretend you can’t defend yourself,” she whispered to Grantland.

He answered with a mirthless laugh.

“I’m going to fight him with my mind. If I keep his attention, maybe you can strike.”

It was all she had time to say.

As Telman marched toward them, she lay limp on the grass, gathering her feeble resources. She had never used her power as a weapon, but she must do it now.

“Why?” he raged as he drew near. “I would have made you queen of this stinking little village. Queen of Arandal.”

Grantland gasped as he took in the import of those words.

Rowan kept her gaze fixed on Telman. “You frighten me,” she whimpered.

“You can watch me kill your lover. Then I’ll f*ck your brains out before I kill you.”

When he turned to Grantland, she knew she must act.

Gathering all her power, she imagined a spear in her mind’s eye and threw it at Telman, striking him in the chest.

He made a sound of surprise and whirled toward her. “You dare?” he bellowed.

A bolt of energy hit her then, knocking the wind from her lungs. But she gritted her teeth and summoned more power, hurling another missile at Telman. This time she aimed for his leg, and she had the satisfaction of seeing his knee buckle.

“Bitch,” he spat out, his total focus on her. He wasn’t even looking at Grantland, who had edged away and was circling around in back of the evil wizard.

Telman struck her with another bolt, making her heart stop before starting to beat again. He had said he would rape her. It seemed he was mad enough to kill her now. The pain in her head and her chest were almost unbearable.

And then, suddenly they stopped.

She tried to focus on Telman and saw a look of shock on his face.

Then he fell forward, and she saw Grantland behind him, pulling his sword from their enemy’s back.

As Telman lay on the ground, Grantland ran him through again.

Then he came down beside her, gathering her up and carrying her a few yards away before sinking to his knees.

They hung on to each other, panting.

“We did it,” she whispered.

“You kept his attention so I could attack.”

“Now what do we do?”

“Bury him.”

She gave a small nod. She had thought she could go back to life in her village, but after what had transpired, she wasn’t sure she could manage it. She would be living a lie every day of her life, pretending that she didn’t know what had happened to Telman.

She glanced sidelong at Grantland and saw his lips were set in a grim line. She ached to say that she wanted to go back to the world with him. To be with him.

She could have said that to Grant, the man who had made love to her in the cave. She couldn’t say it to Prince Grantland. He had responsibilities back in his own kingdom. But anything they said to each other would have to be postponed. They must hide the evidence of murder.

Raising her head, she looked up and gasped. It seemed it was too late to hide anything. The nine village elders were coming toward them.

They were led by Fryan, the head man who had been one of the first to champion Telman.

“The second disturbance in the shield,” he said. “You broke the rules of the community and left. Then you came back. You must explain yourself.”

She nodded.

His focus shifted. “And who is with you?”

Before she could speak, Fryan looked from her and Grantland to Telman and made a sharp sound. Rushing to Telman, he dropped to his knees and felt for a pulse in the man’s neck.

“What have you done?” he demanded.

She dragged in a ragged breath and lifted her head. “Fryan, we rid the village of a terrible scourge.”

The head man made an angry sound. “You dare to make that claim, when you have killed the man who would have given us back our place in the world?”

“No. Don’t you understand? He was evil. He told me he wanted to rule the village.”

“And rule Arandal,” Grantland added.

He stood, then helped Rowan to her feet. “We have done what needed to be done to protect you.”

“And who are you?” Fryan demanded.

“Prince Grantland of Arandal.”

As he said his name, he heard a collective gasp from the elders.

Fryan’s gaze shot to Rowan. “You killed our leader, and you have brought our enemy to Valleyhold,” he spat out.

“No. He’s not our enemy. He’s different from the others.”

“Silence, foolish girl. They are all the same.”

Telman had tried to kill her, and she had fought him off. Now there were too many elders to fight. Working together, they wrapped her and Grantland in a smothering, invisible blanket. She could barely breathe, barely think. She would have fallen if strong men hadn’t caught her, then started dragging them down the mountain.

* * *

Grantland struggled to stay calm as the men dragged him and Rowan away. He tried to turn toward her, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even grab her hand, but he managed to press his fingers against hers.

He wanted to tell her they’d get out of this, but he suspected that would be a lie. When he tried to drag in air, he felt like he was drowning. Taking shallow breaths helped as he stared through the invisible wrappings that held them fast.

Below the mountainside were neat, well-tended fields followed by houses more substantial than most he would find in Arandal. Under other circumstances he might have been impressed with the prosperity of Valleyhold.

The men herded him and Rowan toward what must be the village square. Off to one side stood a cage made of wood. It looked as if breaking out would be easy, but he suspected that was only an illusion. Probably there were wards around the damned thing like the barrier around the valley—only designed to contain a prisoner.

In this case, two prisoners.

The men took away their packs and tossed him and Rowan inside, where they sprawled on the packed earth floor. Once they were confined by the cage, the bonds around them dissolved.

Grantland dragged in a grateful breath as he moved his arms and legs.

“Hear me,” the man named Fryan said.

While everyone else stepped back, he continued to speak. “The council will meet and decide your fate. Meanwhile, you will be bound here.”

As he spoke, Grantland watched a film form around the cage, making a barrier that was thick and milky looking.

“Wait,” Rowan called out. “Let me explain.”

“We have seen what you have done. You cannot justify your actions.”

As one, the council members turned and walked away leaving the prisoners alone.

Grantland sprang to the bars and shook them, but they stayed in place.

“What do you think they mean to do to us?” he asked.

“Something bad. We have killed a man they honored.”

Grantland snorted. “And you tried to tell them he was evil.”

“But they never understood him.”

“What will they do to us?” he asked again.

“Most likely, kill us. And if they don’t, we’ll probably wish we were dead.”

“Why?”

“They will do something horrible to our minds. Make us simpletons fit for nothing more than working in the fields or herding sheep.”

He caught his breath, staring out at the grassy square. “You said your people were good.”

“In their eyes, we have committed murder. And I have broken many of their laws. Like bringing a dangerous outsider here.”

“For a good cause.”

“You know they don’t see it that way.”

* * *

A flicker of movement caught Rowan’s eye. She looked through the milky barrier to see a girl tiptoeing toward their cage. It was her sister, Willow. The girl stopped and glanced over her shoulder, then hurried forward. When she stretched out her arm toward the cage, the confinement shield made a sizzling noise, and she yanked her hand quickly back.

“Are you hurt?” Rowan asked urgently.

“Just a little.” Willow flexed her fingers, then said, “I was so worried about you. I knew you left to escape Telman. Our parents feared for you, but I didn’t tell them anything.” Her gaze swung to Grantland. “You brought an outsider here. No wonder they were angry.”

“He swore not to reveal the secrets of Valleyhold.”

“And you take his word for that?”

“Yes. But that’s not why the council imprisoned us.” Rowan sucked in a breath and let it out before saying, “We killed Telman.”

Willow looked from her to Grantland in disbelief. “How could you?”

“He was going to kill me and rape Rowan, then kill her,” Grantland said.

Willow gasped.

“Rowan kept him focused on her so I could come up behind him and strike a killing blow.”

“Then you have done us a service.”

“The council doesn’t agree with you,” Rowan answered.

“I know. I was hiding in the shadows and I heard them talking among themselves. I knew they were angry. I knew it wasn’t only because you had run away, but I didn’t know what else had happened.”

Rowan kept her gaze fixed on her sister. “We don’t have much time. Tell our parents that I love them. And what I did was for the good of the village. They won’t want to hear that now, but maybe one day they will understand.”

“I’ll make them understand.”

Rowan swallowed hard. “Don’t try to convince them now. It will only make them angry at you.” She dragged in a breath and let it out. “You should go before someone catches you here, and you get in trouble.”

“I don’t care!”

“Yes you do. You have to live in Valleyhold, and you must think of your own future. They are already angry beyond reason.”

Willow nodded. “I love you,” she said. “I hate what our community has become.”

“I love you, too. Don’t hate our people. Things will settle down. You can have a good life here now that Telman is gone.”

Willow held up her hand, palm out, almost pressing against the barrier. From the other side, Rowan did the same, and their palms would have touched if the shield hadn’t separated them. Tears glistened in her sister’s eyes.

“Go,” Rowan whispered.

When her sister turned and fled, Rowan breathed out a sigh, aware that Grantland had watched the whole exchange. “I pray to Ravina that she’s safe here. I always thought this place was a refuge. I have trouble believing that now.”

“You were right. Things will get back to normal,” Grantland said. “And some day they will realize what we did for them.”

“I hope so.”

“Come here,” Grantland said.

She looked at him, shocked by the tone of his voice.

“What?”

“I’ve been so stubborn. I tried to cut off my feelings for you, but there’s no time for that now.”

He reached for her, and she came into his arms, clasping him to her and sighing as she let her head drop to his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Sorry for getting so angry in the cave. And for hitting you with the rock and cutting you with the knife. Those things were unforgivable.”

“You thought I was a witch.”

“Don’t try to excuse me. I got my ideas of witches from stories I heard. I had no true sense of what it meant.”

She eased far enough away so that she could meet his eyes. “What do you think it means now?”

“That your people are like mine—only they have talents the world fears. But most of the inhabitants of this refuge are only trying to live their lives in peace. Even the council members. They’re doing what they think is right for the community.”

She sighed. “Yes. You’re wise to see that.”

He laughed. “I hated my training for kingship, but mayhap it was not all in vain.”

“You have good judgment.”

“Even when I tied you down and tried to force information from you?”

“Yes. You were trying to protect your people. Like the council members.”

His face contorted. “We make assumptions. Sometimes the wrong assumptions. Unfortunately, I learned that too late.”

When she started to speak again, he shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about politics and government. I want to talk about us. I want to tell you the things bursting inside me. You are the bravest woman I have ever met. No woman from Arandal would dare what you have dared.” He stopped. “Well, my sister might. But she is long dead.”

“What happened to her?”

“The castle was under siege. I think she believed she could bring us help. Mayhap she did.” He tightened his grip on Rowan. “But that was long ago. This is tonight. If we are going to die on the morrow—or if they are going to do something horrible to our minds—I want to spend these last hours with you. I don’t mean because we are locked in a cage. I mean sharing myself with you. I want you to know that I fell in love with you but couldn’t admit it, even to myself.”

“Oh Grant. I longed to hear you say that. I love you so much, but I thought I could never tell that to Prince Grantland.”

“Here with you, I’m only Grant. The man who loves you.” He lifted her chin and covered her mouth with his, sipping from her, then shifting his lips, playing with the tender curve of her ear before stiffening his tongue and probing inside, drawing a sigh of pleasure from her.

“That feels good,” she whispered.

“I have all night to discover what pleases you.”

His hand moved, slipping under her shirt, his fingers spreading across the warm skin of her back.

She did the same, caressing his back and shoulders.

“Someone could be watching us,” she whispered. “I don’t mean the elders. They know this cage will hold us.”

“Do you care who else is lurking around out there?”

“I should.”

“Don’t think about anything but my giving you pleasure.”

“And my giving it to you.”

There was a mattress filled with straw in one corner of the cell. Rowan turned and took his hand, leading him to the crude bed.

They each pulled off their boots, but she was still shy about taking off her clothes in the public square, so they lay down together, still dressed.

She reached for him, snuggling close. She’d been worn out, emotionally and physically. Lying in his arms brought her back to herself.

“Tell me something about your life,” she said. “Something I don’t know.”

“My father expected much of me. I don’t think he ever loved me. I was only a pawn in his game of power. I spent long hours with a tutor. Long hours learning the craft of war, and politics. I was good at the war part.”

“And you have good political sense, too. I can see that.”

When he made a scoffing sound, she went on, “I was luckier. My parents loved me and did their best to see that I wanted for nothing within their power. I thought my future would be happy—until Telman came.”

She didn’t want to think of Telman. Not now. She cupped her hand around the back of Grantland’s head and brought his mouth to hers.

The feel of her lips on his was like a jolt of molten sensuality that sizzled through her body.

Closing her eyes, she kissed him as though they were the only two people in the world, giving and taking from each other because it was what they both craved.

His hand slid down her body and slipped under the back of her leggings, cupping her bottom, caressing her there with lazy strokes.

“That’s nice,” she whispered.

“On this end, too,” he answered, pulling her closer so that she felt the hard shaft behind the front of his leggings.

The layers of clothing were in the way. Each of them rolled to the side so that they could drag off their leggings. He pulled off his shirt, then came back to Rowan, opening the ties down the front of her shirt but leaving the garment on her for modesty’s sake.

Reaching inside, he caressed her breasts, then traced the point where his knife had pierced her skin.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again.

“I understand.”

“I was a lout.”

“You were Prince Grantland, doing your duty, trying to protect your people. Now you’re Grant, the man I love.”

“And the man who loves you.”

He stroked his thumbs across the crests of her breasts, making them harden. When he leaned forward to take one tight nipple into his mouth, she gasped at the warm, wet feeling. As he suckled, he tugged on the other crest with his thumb and finger, the twin sensations amazing her.

He added to the amazement when he slid his hand down her body, dipping into the folds of her woman’s parts, stroking her slick wetness, making her cry out.

She felt his rigid cock pressing against her thigh as he lifted his head, looking down at her. “I want to please you in every way a man can please a woman.”

“You are.”

“Open your legs for me.”

She saw his hard shaft standing out from his body and thought he wanted to enter her now. Instead he raised up, then leaned over her, bringing his mouth to her womanhood.

The intimacy of the caress shocked her, and she tried to pull away, but he held her in place.

“Let me.”

“Men and women do this?”

“Oh yes.”

He stopped talking and brought his mouth back to her core, stroking his tongue through her folds, then circling the small bud that was the point of her greatest sensation.

“Grant, you’re going to make me…”

She felt him smile against her as he continued working her, licking and sucking, driving her higher, then higher still. She cried out as she flew apart into a thousand pieces, then sighed as he continued to give her every ounce of pleasure that he could.

When she opened her eyes, he was smiling down at her.

“I didn’t know about that,” she whispered.

“A nice surprise.”

“What about you…?”

“Plenty of time for me. For both of us,” he murmured as he nuzzled her cheek.

She raised up, looking down at his stiff cock. “What you did to me, can I do something like that to you?”

“If it would please you.”

“I want to do everything with you.” She laughed. “Well, you’ll have to show me what everything is.”

“Why don’t you do some exploring?”

He grinned at her, lying back on the pallet, staring up at her with a look of complete trust in his eyes.

He was fully aroused and so open to her that she almost wept. Instead she bent over him, feeling a little uncertain as she touched her tongue to his shaft, feeling it jerk as though it had a life of its own.

Taking him in her hand to hold him steady, she stroked him with her tongue, then closed her mouth around the crest, sucking away a bead of moisture.

When he sighed deeply, she knew she was doing the right thing. Still sucking, she took him farther into her mouth, moving her head up and down, imitating the motion of sexual congress. When she felt his hips rise and fall, then his body go rigid, she sensed he was on the edge of spilling himself.

But he stopped the motion of her head with his hand. “Let me finish inside you.”

She rolled to her back, reaching for him, and he entered her. She thought he would start to move immediately. Instead he held himself still and looked around him, a strange expression on his face.

“Something’s happening.”