A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(82)

“I would appreciate it if you left me the privacy of my mind,” she said.

“I am not in your mind. It is written all over your face,” he said quietly.

Chagrined, she reached out and squeezed an apologetic hand around his. He gave her hand a reassuring pat and then they were coming around a thick copse of trees to find five riders with three empty horses mounted and waiting for them. Dendri guided her to the first horse.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ride astride,” he said. “There are no sidesaddles in Kilt.”

“I know. I am used to it. I will be fine. But Mariah does not know how to ride.”

“I will guide her horse. All she need do is remain in the saddle.”

“She is a smart girl. She will learn quickly,” Ariana said.

“Be prepared, my lady,” he said grimly. “There is a great deal of rough country ahead of us. We will be sore, tired and cold for the duration of this trip.”

“Not unlike the trip we took to get here. I am well aware of the discomforts that await me.”

With that he helped her into her saddle, then did the same for Mariah. Within minutes they were all riding into the wild country that was the temple’s backyard.





Chapter Twenty-Three


Sin began missing her by about an hour later.

“Where is Ariana?” he asked his mother who was sitting with him. “It is late. She should be here by now.”

“Such demands you make of her, my son,” Fatima scolded. “She barely has room to breathe. Give her space. She will come back on her own.”

Sin grinned, knowing that his mother was right. But when she still had not returned by the time Fatima was ready to leave and find her bed, he called for Lindo, who came immediately.

“Find Ariana for me please,” he instructed. “She said she would walk and then take a bath. I imagine it is too dark now to be walking, so perhaps the bath or her rooms. She may have fallen asleep.”

He grinned mischievously as he thought of why she might be tired. Lindo left the room and Sin waited impatiently for his return. Or for Ariana’s. Preferably hers.

Then he heard the shout that ricocheted down the hall just outside his door. Someone was calling for guards. It was Lindo. There was no mistaking the urgency in his friend’s voice. Sin threw back his covers and grabbing for his robe he levered himself out of bed. Walking slowly to accommodate his sore body, he was frustrated by his inability to run to his companion’s side and find out what was wrong. He made it down the hall to the bath, finding the door crowded with the bodies of men.

“Move!” he commanded, his voice booming. The group of men parted and he stepped into the room just in time to see Lindo pulling Mordol’s body out from behind a planter. Sin felt a sickening feeling of dread sink onto him.

“Was he guarding her today?” he demanded of Lindo.

“Yes. He hasn’t been dead long. His body is not stiff. By the way he is without obvious injury, I’d say it wasn’t Ariana who did this. She’s not strong enough to overpower him. Not without using her natural ability…and not even then. I chose him for a reason. He is a very powerful Jadoc. Powerful enough to circumvent her natural abilities. Look, there’s a knife on the ground here.” Lindo stooped to pick it up.

“But you said there was no injury,” Sin said as panic threatened to overwhelm him. Her guard was dead…and she was gone.

She was gone.

“I want every available guard scouring the temple. If they cannot find her then I want them scouring the countryside. She can’t have gotten far. She has no horses…no help…and see if you can find Mariah. She wouldn’t leave here without her. If she has left Mariah behind then, wherever she is, it is against her will.”

“And if Mariah is gone?” Lindo asked.

He already knew the answer even before Sin said, “Then she has left willingly and is likely heading for home. We must stop her before she gets too far.”

An hour later, when neither she nor Mariah could be found he had to face the truth.

She had left him.

Sin couldn’t help the sense of utter betrayal the words left him with. After everything that had passed between them, after everything they had been coming to mean to one another, she had simply shrugged it off and left him.

Perhaps he had been imagining it all. Perhaps he had made it all up in his mind. Perhaps he had been deluding himself all along.

No! Such passion as they had shared could not be felt without leaving a mark of some kind on a soul. If she had left it was because she had felt more strongly about leaving than she had about staying. And if she left it was for the sake of her people, the one thing he knew he could not compete against. The one thing that would rip her from his arms without a second thought. But perhaps there had been a second thought, he thought hopefully. Perhaps it had not been as easy to abandon him as it seemed. Still, she had gone, and thinking she had struggled with the decision was only an exercise in comforting his wounded ego.

The people of Saren had beaten him. As surely as if they had been the victors in a war, they had beaten him. They had won in a competition against him in her heart.

He should not want a woman like that. A woman who thought of him second to something else, but he could not fault her for it. His people would mean just as much to him…only he had put her and her needs above them time and again, that was how much more he loved her. But Ariana was not used to indulging in her feelings. Over the time they had spent together, she had told him that even from a young age much had been expected of her. She had been laden with responsibility at a time when she should have been playing and learning to be a child. He too had had to grow up quickly, so he understood her in that regard. But at least he had had a childhood. Until his father had died he had been given the leeway to be young and as carefree as a Kiltian youth was able to be. Faced with overcrowding and disease, there had not been much in the way of childhood joys. But he had had them all the same.