A Warrior's Heart (Shields) (21 page)

Her heart squeezed painfully as she recalled the look in Gabriel’s eyes when he had filled her. She wiped away a tear the fell upon her cheek.

When had things become so complicated? And how was she going to get out of this mess?

Jayna walked to the window of the tower and looked over the land of Stone Crest covered thick with snow. The storm continued to howl keeping both man and beast inside.

It kept the evil at bay for a moment longer.

* * * *

Gabriel felt the night fall around him like a blanket of darkness. He had no need to look out the windows into the storm to see that the moon had risen, he knew it just as he knew the Great Evil crept around the castle.

None of the Shields had suspected anything when he had walked into the great hall. He had told them of Jayna’s confession of lying of being a commoner, of which none of them were surprised.

But the rest...the rest he kept to himself.

Now, he sat with a mug of ale in his hand staring into the fire of the hearth. Its flames danced around the popping wood, yet he didn’t see any of it.
 

All he saw was the glow of Jayna’s skin as his hands moved over her, loving her, kissing her, learning her again. He could still feel the tremors of her climax.

He closed his eyes and relived the moment he had entered her, her tight sheath surrounding him, opening for him. And her hazel eyes watching him, silently begging him to take her.

When his cock began to grow hard, Gabriel opened his eyes and slumped lower in his chair. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Val and Nicole watching him. He briefly met their gaze before looking at Roderick and Elle, Hugh and Mina, and Cole and Shannon. All of them watched him.

“Do I have horns growing out of my skull?” he asked harshly. “Or hooves for feet?”
 

Val chuckled. “Nay.”

“Then why do you all watch me as a hawk watches a mouse?”

Hugh was the first to speak. “Because we can see something bothers you.”
 

Gabriel rose to his feet. “You want to know what bothers me? I’ll tell you. I seduced a woman because we needed information.”

“Did you both enjoy it?” Shannon asked.

Gabriel swung his gaze to the brunette sitting on Cole’s lap. “Aye, if it’s any of your concern.”

She smiled. “What are you more angry with, Gabriel? The fact that we asked you to seduce Jayna, or that you wanted to seduce her?”

For a moment all he could do was stare at her before he slumped back into his chair. “Both. Equally.”

“Has seducing her changed things for you?” Roderick asked.

Gabriel ran a hand down his face. “A lot of things have changed.”
 

He desperately needed to change the subject before they asked the right question and he was forced to give them answers he wasn’t ready for. He looked to the women. “Did you make any progress today?”

Mina shook her head. “None. I don’t know what we’re doing wrong. None of us can remember what we are supposed to do.”

“Maybe we aren’t supposed to know until its time.” All eyes turned to Elle who sat twiddling her thumbs. She shrugged and gave a small smile. “It’s what I’m hoping for at least.”

Gabriel nodded. “You might have the right of it.”

“I called to Aimery today,” Hugh said into the silence. He looked to each of his men. “He never responded.”

“Aimery always comes,” Val argued.

Hugh shrugged. “He didn’t this time. I’m not sure what it means, though I suspect something must have kept him from coming here.”

“But what?” Roderick asked.

“Only Aimery knows,” Hugh responded.

Gabriel leaned forward so that his elbows rested on his knees and blew out a breath. Too many things were going wrong. The feeling in his gut wasn’t a good one, and he feared that all their fighting had been for naught.

Cole rose to his feet and paced in front of the giant hearth. “Call for him again, Hugh. Hell, why don’t we all call for him?”

Together, the Shields called for Aimery. Heartbeats later the Fae commander still didn’t appear.

“Something has happened,” Roderick said tightly. “Aimery would never leave us like this.”

Hugh shook his head, his face weary. “Nay, he would not. Yet, we cannot find the answers since none of us can venture into the Fae realm without aid.”

“We can do this,” Gabriel said as he set his empty goblet on a table and stood. “We’ve battled countless creatures, each stronger than the last. We can do this.”

He met Hugh’s gaze, praying that Hugh would not let his hope dwindle.

Hugh gave a brief nod as he too gained his feet. “We’ve no other choice but to go it alone. The worst of the storm should pass tonight. Cole, you and Roderick will ride out and see if you can discover if the Fae are still guarding Stone Crest.”

“And if they’ve left?” Roderick asked.

“We’ll deal with that as well,” Hugh said. “Gabriel is right, we can do this.”
 

Cole crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels. “We’re sealing our doom, Hugh.”

Hugh turned and looked at Cole. “Aye, but we all knew that when we joined the Shields.”

“You still have us,” Mina said as she stood and took Hugh’s hand. “The Chosen haven’t been hunted for nothing. The Evil knows we can defeat him.”

Gabriel saw the spark of interest flare in the other Shields’ eyes. They were all ready for a battle.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“What in the name of all that is magical is going on?” Rufina demanded as she walked into the chamber where her husband held Aimery.

Neither man spoke, so Rufina walked to Theron and glared at him. “What is this nonsense that I hear of you holding Aimery prisoner to be executed?”

Theron wouldn’t meet her eyes as he turned away. “He killed a white dragon.”

Rufina turned to Aimery who stood in the middle of the chamber. The look of utter despair in Aimery’s eyes squeezed her heart. She walked to the Fae commander and saw that her husband had bound him as well.

“Aimery, tell me what happened?” she urged.

His head bowed slightly. “My queen, it appears as though I was the one that killed the dragon.”

“I don’t believe it.”

Aimery’s head jerked up, and he searched her eyes. “Why?”

She smiled then and rubbed her hand over her swollen stomach that held the future heir to the throne. “We have known each other for countless centuries, my friend. I know you would sooner rip out your own heart than harm a dragon.”

A small smile of thanks pulled at Aimery’s lips.

Rufina turned to her husband then. By his rigid posture and refusal to look her in the eye, she knew he was having a difficult time. With a deep breath, she moved to him and placed her head upon his shoulder.

“Talk to me, my love.”

“I don’t know what to say,” he said, his voice rough with emotion.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that I may very well have to kill my closest friend.”

Rufina lifted her head and turned Theron to face her. “Nay. Aimery says he didn’t do it, and I believe him.”

“I wish I could believe him as well, but I saw it.” His blue eyes held such anguish that for a moment she couldn’t breath.

“You...saw it? You looked into the dragon?”

He nodded solemnly. She clasped her hands in front of her as her mind sorted out the details. It was a great risk to look into a dragon’s last thoughts. It had been known to kill or drive people insane. Only in dire circumstances did anyone dare look.

She swiveled her head to Aimery. “Did you look?”

He nodded gravely.

“Dragon’s breath,” she cursed as she began to pace the small chamber. “Aimery, for the love of magic, why didn’t you leave?”

“Would it not have labeled me a murderer if I had?”

“Aren’t you labeled that anyway?” she retorted and regretted it instantly. “You cannot be here. The Shields need you.”

“I know. They have been calling to me,” he said as he tested the invisible bonds on his wrists.

Theron spun around and stalked to Aimery. “Why haven’t you told me before now?”

“You didn’t ask,” Aimery said between clenched teeth.

“Enough,” Rufina said as she stepped between the two of them. “Aimery, tell me what happened?”

He sighed long and low. “I arrived and sent troops to speak to the people while I went to inspect the dragon. I could tell by the way it landed and its torn wings that it had been in mid-flight. I got no farther before a woman rushed out and said she had seen me kill it. No one asked questions after that as they began to demand my death. I knew I didn’t do it, but I needed to see what the dragon had seen.”

“So you looked into its thoughts,” Rufina supplied.

“Aye. It was me who stood there with an arrow notched and waiting. I knew then that I needed Theron.”

“So he called to me,” Theron said. “I arrived immediately to find a growing crowd around Aimery and the dragon. When he told me they said he did it, I checked the dragon myself and saw just as he had. It was Aimery.”

Rufina rubbed her temples as her head began to ache. “There is something afoot here. What amazes me is that neither of you see it.”

“I know what I saw,” Theron shouted. “How do you think I feel knowing the man who has been like a brother to me, who leads the Fae army, killed a dragon?”

“I didn’t kill it,” Aimery said, though his voice held no conviction.

Rufina took Theron’s hand and led him from the chamber. She didn’t stop until she reached their bedchamber, then she whirled on him as her anger bubbled up.

“What has gotten into you? That’s Aimery back there.”

Theron sank onto their bed and dropped his head into his hands. “You aren’t telling me anything I don’t already know. I’ve been trying to figure out how the dragon was killed.”

That stopped Rufina in her tracks. She watched as her husband raised his head, his eyes heavy with worry. “You don’t think he did it.”

“Nay. At least, our Aimery didn’t do it. Whether that’s our Aimery in there or not, I have no idea and I can’t allow myself to think it might be our Aimery.”

“So you’re holding him until you can discern who is who.”

“Exactly.” He rose and walked to the table near the door to pour himself a glass of Fae wine. “I just pray if that is our Aimery I’ve bound that he’ll forgive me.”

Rufina walked to her husband and wound her hands around him as she pressed herself against his back. “I have no doubt he will forgive you. You are thinking of him, and our Aimery will realize that.”

“Which brings me to my next thought,” he said softly. “No Fae, or friend of ours, would dare to kill a dragon.”

Rufina dropped her arms as Theron turned towards her. “You think evil broke through your walls?”

“I think something used one of our doorways.”

“If it was evil we would have been alerted, Theron. You know as well as I that anytime our doorways are used, we are aware of it.”

“Ah, yes, the doorways we are aware of. But then again, as a Fae, we are able to go from realm to realm without the doorways. The doorways are for humans or others that don’t have magic.”

The full force of what Theron said shot through Rufina turning her blood to ice. “By all that’s magical, Theron. What are we to do? If they kill any more dragons, especially white dragons, then our magic could suffer greatly.”

“I know,” he said as he took her hand and led her to the bed. He sat and pulled her down beside him. “I don’t think they’ll come to kill another dragon. If my hunch is right, this has something to do with the Great Evil. He wants Aimery away from the Shields.”

Understanding dawned within Rufina. “What better way to do that than to have the Fae imprison Aimery?”

Rufina felt the icy fingers of defeat began to crawl towards her. “It’s going to be very difficult to triumph over the evil when we have our boundaries but he doesn’t.”

For the first time that afternoon, Theron smiled. “We have boundaries, but the Shields do not.”

* * * *

Jayna, coward that she was, chose to have her dinner in her chamber. She didn’t think she could face Gabriel, at least not yet. Though part of her wondered if he would come to her that night, if his body would yearn for her as hers yearned for him.

“I’m such a fool,” she murmured as she pushed her food around her trencher.

She had only been at Stone Crest a short time, but she had quickly come to like the camaraderie and laughter at mealtime. She had eaten alone for so long that it had become a habit for her, one that she hated to the very depths of her bones.

A knock sounded at her door. Figuring it to be a servant come to retrieve the food, she bid them enter, and turned to find Gabriel walking toward her.