A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(83)

Ariana’s father, she had told him, had given her lands and peoples to control and be responsible for at the age of twelve. She had never known anything outside of being responsible for the well-being of others. She knew nothing of what it meant to take something selfishly for herself. She did everything, everything, with the contentedness of others topmost in her mind.

Except for him. He realized that. He realized that her decision to become his lover had been a selfish act in her mind. She had taken for herself without regard for anyone else. What she did not understand was that when it came to matters of the heart, there should not be anything else to consider save the other person involved. At least, that was as it should be in his mind. It was why he had risked so much to have her.

As the hours wore on it was obvious they were not very likely to find her. It was also obvious she had had help of some kind. Someone had killed Mordol, and it had not been Ariana. And anyway, he did not think Ariana had it in her to kill an innocent man just for the sake of making her getaway clean. There had been someone far more cutthroat than she was capable of.

Or was he mistaken? Ariana was more than capable of making hard, unpalatable decisions; it was a fact of life for a ruler. But still he knew she would prefer to find a peaceful solution over a deadly one. He had learned that much about her at the very least.

And when they found the hoof prints in the snow of the gardens, they realized it was more than one someone. It was a large group. They were half a day behind them by the time they found the tracks in the snow, and began following them immediately in the hopes that they could catch up in daylight hours, since they had clearly been traveling in the dark of night.

And that was when it began to snow. Not a light snow, but a fast, driving snow. One that quickly obliterated the tracks they were following. Added to that was the fact that the group had ridden through many streams in order to cover their tracks. They knew what general direction they were heading in, and then suddenly they would change direction and go a way out of what should be the normal way to get to Saren as the crow flies.

And Sin was stuck at the temple, unable to ride.

When Lindo returned to the temple defeated in the middle of the next night, Sin knew they would never find her. The only thing they could do was chase after her and reach Saren right on her heels. But odds were they were on guard against just such an arrival and they would be most unwelcome if they tried. He might find himself a prisoner of a foreign court, forced to stand trial for the crimes he had committed against their ruler.

But he could not and would not give up. He could never make the trip in his current condition, the doctor having told him it would take six weeks for him to heal from the injury’s inception date. But he wasn’t about to wait that long. He would give it another week…maybe two. As soon as he no longer felt pain. Then he would travel the barren, cold landscape between there and Saren.

He thought of her out in this cold, on the run and afraid of being caught. She would be pushing herself to her exhaustive limits…all in her bid to escape him. It sickened him to think of it. To think she despised being with him that much. Had she known she would be leaving the last time they had made love? As they had eaten dinner together? Lindo had not been around at all that day, so her thoughts would have been her own. Even so, Lindo had stopped reading her thoughts long ago, when it had become obvious that she wanted to be there as opposed to her just being imprisoned there.

He had not been wrong about that. She had wanted to be with him.

As time wore on, as the interminableness of healing dragged out his ability to chase after her, he began to doubt even that much. Finding himself at loose ends and with no ability to vent his frustrations, he went into his study and opened his ledger to the final pages. The book fell open easily and he realized there was something pressed between the pages. He pulled out the sealed letter, turning it over and inspecting the wax seal. He recognized the imprint of Ariana’s signet instantly and ripped into the letter the moment he did.

Sin,

On the day of this letter, an attempt was made on my life. The guard Mordol was sent to kill me. The only reason I am not dead is because an agent of Saren came in at an opportune moment.

I believe that assassin was sent by the only person who would have anything to gain by my death. Your brother. I do not have proof positive of this, only my instincts. I pray that you get this warning and heed it. I do not think you are safe. If he is willing to kill me to protect his inheritance, he is not above hastening that inheritance’s arrival.

I am sorry to leave you like this. If I could have, I would have said goodbye to you. But we both know you never would have let me go willingly.

In truth, it is not easy for me to leave. Know that. Know that, if it weren’t for the needs of my people, I would have stayed.

Ariana



Sin’s eyes were burning as he read these last lines. She would have stayed. Had it not been for her people, she would have stayed. Those words of the letter meant more to him, had greater impact on him, than the warning of his brother’s potential treachery. But to think he had endangered her life by bringing her there…oh, he had known there was the potential for danger. That was why he had had a persistent guard on her even when he had begun to trust she would not try to escape him. But she had escaped him. At the first opportunity. He had been right. Her people had meant more to her. He was torn between feeling betrayed by that fact and understanding it wholly. Rereading the letter, he walked to his study door and spoke softly to the guard standing there.