Radiance (Wraith Kings Book 1)(12)
Her mouth curved upward. “Thank Bursin for that. I’ll happily pass the title onto someone else. Now, if you all want to name me the ugliest woman in the entire Kai kingdom, then I might have to preen a little.”
Brishen attempted to tame her hair by patting it down with one hand. “You’re considered a beauty by your people. Why weren’t you married sooner?”
She shrugged. “You were the most advantageous for a woman of my rank. My mother was Sangur’s sister. Had it been my father who was related to him, then I would have been a princess. But since I was born to the female line of the royal family, I was simply a noblewoman—too high-ranking to marry off to just anyone but not important enough to pawn off to an heir.”
“So they gave you to a spare.” Brishen said it without rancor. He was the younger of two sons, and his brother had insured the royal succession six times over and counting with his heirs. Brishen’s importance for carrying the line had long ago been diminished. There wasn’t even any requirement that he beget children of his own. His Gauri bride had simply been a good faith exchange between kingdoms—the post script to a document of alliance.
Ildiko continued her exploration of the contours of his face. “There’s a lot to be said for a spare.” She drew a circle on his chin with her fingertip. “Your skin color reminds me of a dead eel I once saw on the beach.”
Brishen arched an eyebrow. “Flattering, I’m sure. I thought yours looked like a mollusk we boil to make amaranthine dye.”
She paused in touching him and stared at her hand. “I am very pink compared to you.”
“Just so, since I’m not pink at all.”
Ildiko’s eyebrows drew together. “Do you eat those mollusks?”
“No. They’ve a bitter taste, and their dye is too valuable to waste them in the kitchens.”
Her relieved exhalation caressed his throat. “That’s good to know. I’m not sure I’d like to be compared to something you ate for dinner.”
Brishen opened his mouth to retort but changed his mind. He hadn’t been completely truthful with her when he told her his people weren’t interested in eating the Gauri. The Kai were an ancient race; the humans a young one. Long ago, on the edges of ancestral memory, when the Kai were more feral and humans less savage, his kind had once hunted hers for food.
He hurried to change the subject. “Why are your eyes bloodied?”
Ildiko started and pressed her hands to her eyes. When her fingers came away unstained with blood, she frowned, obviously puzzled. Her expression cleared. “I think most humans suffer that when they first wake up. Our eyes feel dry and scratchy. It’s temporary.”
She cocked her head. “You and your people are bothered most by human eyes, aren’t you? I can see it in the way you react to some of our expressions. It’s equal to how frightening the Gauri find your teeth.”
No one could accuse his new wife of not being observant. Brishen carefully traced the outline of her cheekbone just below her left eye. “It’s the white part that makes them ghastly. It’s as if they’re attached on strings plucked by unseen hands or some kind of strange leeches that live as pairs inside your skulls.”
Ildiko’s expression pinched in disgust. “That’s horrible! No wonder no Kai will meet my gaze for more than a moment.”
“I meet it all the time. I’m meeting it now,” Brishen countered.
She acceded his point. “True, but I bet it takes the same effort it takes me not to jump every time you smile.”
“We’re growing used to each other. My kin will grow used to you and you to them as well.”
Ildiko sighed. “I hope so. An ugly stranger in a far land with people not of my blood or my kind.” She wrapped a strand of his hair around her finger and tugged gently. “I’ll need your guidance, husband.”
Brishen cupped one side of her face. “You have it, Ildiko. Along with my protection and my patience. I didn’t lie when I said we would manage together.”
Ildiko pressed her cheek into his palm for a moment. She pulled away, and her smile turned impish. “It’ll be hard not to tease your folk sometimes.”
Brishen couldn’t imagine how she might go about such a thing. He had no idea if the Kai and the Gauri even knew the same jokes or found the same things funny. “What do you mean?”
He almost leapt out of his skin when Ildiko stared at him as both of her eyes drifted slowly down and over until they seemed to meet together, separated only by the elegant bridge of her nose.
“Lover of thorns and holy gods!” he yelped and clapped one hand across her eyes to shut out the sight. “Stop that,” he ordered.
Ildiko laughed and pushed his hand away. She laughed even harder when she caught sight of his expression. “Wait,” she gasped on a giggle. “I can do better. Want to see me make one eye cross and have the other stay still?”
Brishen reared back. “No!” He grimaced. “Nightmarish. I’ll thank you to keep that particular talent to yourself, wife.”
She was still chuckling when he helped her rise from her pallet and left the tent to give her privacy to change and ready herself.
It was dark, and the moon hung low when he exited the tent and discovered several Kai staring curiously at him from their places around camp fires. No doubt they wondered how he’d found the courage to bed his hideous wife. No doubt bets had been placed and wagers exchanged over whether he took the easy way and bedded her when the sun was high and the light blinding or the more challenging and swived her as the gloaming rose.