Page 20 of Tides of Shadows

I had usually seen him in loose shirts and courtly doublets, surrounded by ladies who laughed at his slightest joke. I had never seen him thus, intent, severe, all in motion.

They fought with true steel. Four men pressed him by turns, attacking in pairs, and he handled them as if he had done nothing else since boyhood. Half turns, a flash of edge, another sure stroke. At one point he drove one opponent back with a sharp kick that sent the man down with a groan, and to the other Aidenar set his blade at the chest, stopping a hair before it would have been a blood cut.

“Enough for this day,” he said, breathing hard, and I—gods help me—could not look away from the sweat drops sliding down the line of his neck.

He turned slowly toward me, a mocking smile on his lips. “You may breathe now.” He lifted a brow, a pale strand of hair falling over his forehead. Did he ever look ragged?

“You don’t need to stare. I am not going anywhere,” he added.

Heat flamed in my cheeks. The last thing I wished was for Aidenar Cavareth to think I simpered for him.

I blinked hard, turned on my heel, and went to the table where I set down my swords. I gave my hands any task at all, braiding my hair into a thick plait, counting the heartbeats until Kael and Brenn would enter and pull his gaze from me.

He, of course, would not let me slip away. He came unhurriedly, still bare-chested, and leaned a hip to the table beside me.

“Had I known you would train at this hour, I would have stayed longer,” he said in a light tone edged with pride. “Regrettably, duties await.”

Naturally he was pleased with himself, and naturally he was soaking up the attention. He wiped his face with a cloth and watched me from narrowed eyes.

On the islands I rarely thought of such matters. The boys treated me as a sister or a sparring mate. When I was younger I was not comely at all. Only as I matured did my body take on a woman’s shape, and even then I had more to boast of in muscle than in soft curves. As a lord’s daughter I stood beyond the reach of most lads, but also most of them were scared of me…

Yet standing beside sweat-drenched Aidenar Cavareth, my own body betrayed me without shame. It thought of everything it shouldn’t think. I was mortified with myself.

I took up a long, wooden practice staff and began to warm my limbs. I did all I could to wrench my mind and flesh from those forbidden thoughts.

“Think nothing of it,” I said, meeting him with a cool glance, though my voice held a perilous thread of tension. “I have no wish to be part of your displays.”

I heard whispers as his companions gathered their gear.

“She broke Magnus’s nose?” one hissed, thinking I could not hear.

“And he bragged he would have her easily.”

“That is why Aidenar chose Jasmine instead. He leads now.”

“A wise choice. Though with a temper like that, she might be worth the risk. Imagine her in bed…”

Spoken low, with a coarse little laugh, the words struck harder than any blade.

“Shut the hell up!” Aidenar snarled.

My mind snatched the heard fragments and set them together. The meaning was plain.

“What the fuck did you just say?!” I asked.

Before I could think any longer my body lunged, with my full force, intent on taking the half-wit’s head with my staff.

The blow sliced the air past his nose, for Aidenar caught me about the waist and pulled me against him. The squire’s eyes widened, he had not even noticed how close I had come.

At that same moment Kael and Brenn entered the room. They tightened at once, hands slipping to the hilts of their swords. They couldn’t draw them, the Regent’s son stood too close to me, yet their eyes were keen and ready.

“Let me go, Cavareth,” I growled through clenched teeth. I trembled with fury, and at the same time I felt the heat of his body, the scent of sweat and iron. It was absurdly intimate, and my blood boiled even more. The air around me began to churn, unruly beneath my anger.

Aidenar glanced calmly at my guards. “She is safe.” Then he bent to me, his voice low for my ear alone. “I will let you go. But I beg you, do not move.”

“I will take his head, do you understand,” I hissed. “Maybe in your household these ways are normal, but in my code, knocked-out teeth are the least punishment for what he said.”

His silver eyes held mine, stubborn and steady. “Can you trust me, just for a moment?” he asked softly, and there was something in his voice I hadn’t expected.