Diomere's Exile

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Nadia pulled her dark cloak tight around her shoulders and became one of the shadows. Like a stray cat, she perched atop the high wall surrounding a two story house, its windows lit in a cheerful welcome. She’d come early to scope the location where she’d be meeting Lord Cyrene, leery of a trap. Muscles low in her stomach clenched as she remembered their last encounter.

She should kill the man for making her feel this way. She’d thought the dreams left her frustrated, but paled in comparison to real life. The man’s kisses were dangerously addicting. Heat crawled up her neck to inflame her face. She shook her head. But she wouldn’t succumb to them until she knew he felt the same.

Her sisters would laugh and call her a prude. Sex was a natural part of life, nothing to feel shame about, but they weren’t affected as she was by their father’s infidelity. They hadn’t seen it with their own eyes as she had. She’d sworn she wouldn’t bed someone just to slake her lust, which made what she’d almost done with Pell even worse. Despite this chastisement, lust burned through her body as she remembered Gregor’s mouth on hers. Her shoulders sagged. She didn’t want to end up like her mother and trust the wrong man only to have her heart broken.

Unbidden, a memory of a conversation with her mother filled her mind.

“Why did you marry our father?” her eight-year-old self asked.

Her mother gently stroked Nadia’s head and gave her a sad smile. “I let your father’s handsome face distract me from his roaming eye and cruelty to those beneath his class. I ignored my own misgivings, thinking that it would all change when we were married.” Her mother lifted Nadia’s chin and stared into her eyes. “Never lie to yourself as I did. In the end, no matter what your father may claim, the choice is yours. Don’t marry someone who doesn’t earn your respect and trust with his actions. Someone that has all the qualities of a true heartbonded.”

Now here she was faced with something she hadn’t even believed existed, and she was standing in her own way. Did being her potential heartbonded mean he could be trusted as her mother had inferred? She had no idea, and that unknown was what made her wary. Realizing she’d sat on the wall for much longer than she’d intended, she shoved the painful memory aside.

She jumped down into the home’s back garden, onto a stone path surrounded by tall trees and lush flowers. A fountain gurgled to her right. Moving silently over the path, she drew closer to a large window with light pouring from it. A servant set the table for two, while another lit candles. Ignoring the stairs that led up to an elaborate deck, Nadia reached for the handle to the servant’s door.

A sigh of air was her only warning before a strong arm looped around her waist. On instinct, she dropped her wrist dagger into her hand and turned it to shove backward into her attacker’s stomach while stomping down toward his foot. A familiar honey lemon scent filled her nose as a hand clamped onto her jabbing wrist. She jerked her foot to the side, clipping the side of Gregor’s boot instead of crushing it as she’d intended. His breath on her neck shot a bolt of desire through her body. She leaned back into his embrace, basking in the feelings he pulled from her body.

“The sister of a queen does not enter through the servant’s entrance, m’lady,” Gregor whispered, holding her against his hard chest.

She resisted the desire to lean back into him again. “No, but the Shark’s emissary does.”

He released her. She returned her dagger to its place and turned to look up at him. He stared down at her, an indecipherable look on his face.

She lifted an eyebrow. “Your Prince has a proposition for the Shark?”

One corner of his mouth lifted and humor lit his pale gaze. “Indeed.” He gestured toward the stairs that led up the back deck. “Dinner will soon be served.”

Nadia frowned. “This isn’t a social call, Lord Cyrene. If you wanted dinner with Lady Nadia de Quinones, you should have called at the Emerald Mermaid.” She let her face settle into the cold mask of the Shark and watched his gaze sharpen as he studied her face. “The Prince said he had need of the Shark’s services.”

He lifted a finger and traced the scar that bisected her cheek. “Are you honestly going to deny that you feel the same burn for me that I do for you?”

Desire unfurled low in her stomach. She struggled to remain detached. She’d never wanted someone’s hands on her flesh like she did his. That he felt the pull toward the heartbond only added to the fire. His penetrating stare held hers as he slowly pulled her against his hard body.

She held onto her mask by the tiniest thread. “You know nothing about me. For all you know I could be some A’mi witch intent on stealing your soul as your priests preach.”

He smoothed his thumb across her bottom lip, his gaze softening. “Then it’s yours to steal, love.” He locked his eyes with hers. “I know you’re beautiful, deadly with a dagger, and move as silent as a sigh. I know you smell like apples with a hint of vanilla, taste like fresh mint and lime, and your skin feels like the finest satin. I know that I can’t get you out of my mind, that I’m supposed to be using you to solicit the Shark’s services, and that I could care less about the prince, the Shark, or any of my responsibilities.” He leaned down so that their breath mingled. “I know you’re dangerous to me.” His breath released on a sigh. “And I don’t care.”

His words razed her defenses as her body flushed with heat.

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” she said, wishing with everything in her that he was serious.

Gregor picked up her hand and pressed it against his chest, over his heart. “I’m aware of exactly what I’m saying. We’re connected somehow, you and I. I know you feel it, too.”

She surged up onto her toes, wound her arms around his neck, and kissed him with all of the desire that had been churning inside her since their last encounter. Their tongues dueled. Her fingers threaded into his hair. His hands smoothed over her hips, pulling her into his hardness. They stood there lost in each other until he swung her up into his arms and moved away toward the stairs.

She pulled back and met his smoldering gaze. “Wait.”

He stopped and lifted one brow. Unease pushed past the delicious feelings moving through her. She had time to get to know him before just jumping in bed with him like a harlot. What if Gregor is just like your father? Do you really want that for yourself? Nadia closed her eyes and leaned her forehead on his shoulder. Geeta was worth taking a risk, but she still had time to appease the part of her which wanted a friend in her partner. She’d let desire lead her once before and that had been a disaster.

She simply couldn’t repeat that mistake, no matter the stakes. “Put me down.”

His arms tightened, then he was lowering her legs back to the ground. She glanced up, startled that he’d so easily done as she’d asked.

He lowered his head and looked deep into her eyes. “Come inside. Have dinner with me,” he said and smiled as she lifted both brows. “Just dinner.” His smile faded, and he leaned forward until their noses were only a hairbreadth apart. “I. Want. You.” He punctuated each word with a light brush of his lips, then pinned her with his gaze. “I’m not interested in a fling either.”

She closed her eyes and exhaled, her heart pounding a rapid staccato in her chest. “I can’t. I’m here in the capacity as the Shark’s emissary. The two parts of my life must remain separate. There are spies everywhere. The servants are the worst.” She opened her eyes and pinned him with a hard stare. “Can you say with absolute certainty that none of your staff would speak about Lady Nadia de Quinones arriving here by the back door, dressed like this, and leaving the same way?”

His gaze traveled down to her soft-soled boots, up the pants encasing her legs to the blackened and padded metal of her belt and weapons and her dark cloak. Her body tingled as he lingered on her hips and breasts before returning to her face.

He nodded, glanced over her shoulder at the dark garden, then bent his arm and held out his elbow. “A moonlit stroll around the garden then.” When Nadia simply stared at him, he bent and rested his forehead against hers. “Please. I’m not ready for you to leave just yet.”

She slowly shook her head, unable to resist the temptation that was her heartbonded. And why should she? She’d found her nephew. She could be with Gregor and find a way to return her nephew to Diomere.

Gregor smiled, wrapping her hand around his elbow, and led her deeper into the moonlit garden. The voice of doubt whispered that she hadn’t considered everything, but she ignored it and returned his smile.

They walked the garden for hours, trading stories about their childhood antics and laughing at the other’s inventive ways of getting out of mischief. Stories punctuated by his soft kiss to her knuckles or the caress of her fingers along his arm. They eventually ended up together on the bench near where she’d come over the wall, his hand enveloping hers and her head on his shoulder.

“I can say with all honesty that this is one of the best nights I’ve spent in a very long time, Gregor. Thank you,” she said, tilting her head to look up at him.

He brushed a finger along the side of her cheek. “Let me call on you tomorrow. No Shark business.”

She nodded, a smile on her face. “I’d like that. Come for the evening meal. My sister, Arriana, is visiting from Diomere and will threaten me with bodily harm if I don’t allow her to meet you.”

“We can’t have that,” he whispered, before leaning down to brush his lips against hers in a kiss so tender it had the breath leaving her in a soft sigh. Her arms wound around his neck as he sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, deepening the kiss with a sensual slide of his tongue.

Reluctantly, she pulled back, brushing his mouth with hers one last time. “It’s late.” She pulled against his hold and reluctantly remembered her initial reason for coming. “What does your Prince need from the Shark?”

Gregor smiled sadly, then nodded, his gaze hardening as he became Prince Stefan’s man, though he didn’t release her hand. “Stefan needs the Shark and Vromia to distract Prime from any attempts to take Reis’ life. We’re hoping a turf war will buy us enough time to hide Reis until the Dieuroi can be persuaded to remove the price he’s put on his son’s head.”

Nadia frowned, feeling her own face settle into her Shark persona. “You’re asking the Shark to start a guild war for the life of a single bastard prince.”

She would do anything to bring her nephew safely to his mother in Diomere, but she’d prefer to do so without harming so many innocents in the process. She’d have to discuss with Pell the ways in which they could minimize the threat to those who trusted the Shark to protect them.

Gregor shook his head. “Only a distraction. We’re hiring you to take Prime Guild’s attention away from Prince Reis. The Heir is willing to pay handsomely for the Shark’s services in gold.”

Nadia shook her head. “Keep your gold. Payment will be a favor owed by you and cashed in upon request whenever I choose.” Gregor’s brows climbed his forehead, but Nadia kept her face blank. “How loyal are you to your prince?” She stood, pulling her hood back over her hair, and moved to the section of wall she’d climbed earlier.

Gregor followed. “I won’t agree to any favor that will cause me to betray Stefan.”

She turned and lifted a hand to caress his jaw. “I wouldn’t ask you to. This is a favor owed between you and me. Think about it. I’ll expect your answer tomorrow.”

She turned to climb to the top of the wall. Gregor’s hands settled on her waist and she paused. He kissed her neck, then lifted her up. Nadia, ignoring the tingles spreading over her neck, turned her head as movement flickered out of the corner of her eye. When she didn’t see anything, she dismissed it as a tree branch shifting in the breeze and disappeared over the wall without looking back.