This Fierce Splendor (46 page)

He shook his head. “This was
your
treasure. You waited a long time for your dream to come true. It was right that you experienced it first by yourself.”

Another gift. She gazed at him, loving him with all her being. “Thank you.”

He inclined his head. “My pleasure, Madame Delaney.” His gaze narrowed on the sky feathered pink and gold above the mountains to the west. “Do you want to go back inside? You have about fifteen minutes until sunset.”

She shook her head. “I think I’d like to walk back to the palace. I want to see
everything
. I want to walk down some of the sides streets and try to imagine the people who lived in those beautiful stately houses. Could we do that?”

He took her hand. “Why not? I’ll come back for the horses later.”

Stillness. The only sound in the entire city seemed to be the click of their boots on the cobbled streets. The houses and public buildings were in amazingly good condition, Elspeth noticed. They could have been built yesterday and yet had an air of timelessness about them. She had noticed that same strange quality in the pyramids of Egypt.

“Where did everybody go?” she asked softly. “There should be bones or something, shouldn’t there? Do you suppose they heeded Sayan’s warning and left Kantalan after all?”

“Perhaps,” Dominic answered. “Even after all this
time there should still be some remains. I took a good look around while you were in the temple and found a few skeletons on some of the back streets. Dogs and horses, I think. But nothing in any of the houses but dust and broken pottery.”

“But if they did escape, why didn’t they come back?”

Dominic shrugged. “Maybe they didn’t want to chance the same thing happening again. If I came back and found all the livestock dead, I might have second thoughts about—” He broke off in mid-sentence.”

Elspeth had stopped dead still in the middle of the street. She was pale, her gaze fixed on the upper story of a large house just ahead. It was an imposing stone house with an upper balcony overlooking the street.

“Elspeth?”

“They didn’t leave.” The words were so low that he had to bend his head to hear them. “The people climbed to the first plateau of the Sun Child to give sacrifices that night. They never left that plateau. They never came back to the city.”

“How do you know?” His gaze slowly followed her own to the balcony. A heavy filigree curtain fashioned of a metal blackened by time and the elements veiled the interior of the house. “What are you looking at?”

“They’re there. Dalkar and Sayan. They’re there beyond that silver curtain.”

A shiver ran down his spine. There was absolute certainty in her voice. “How do you know?”

“How do you know Torres is still following us? I tell you, they’re
there
.”

“Do you want to go inside?”

“No.” She closed her eyes and two tears brimmed and then ran slowly down her cheeks. “Only their bodies are there. What they were and are and ever will be moved on when the Sun Child destroyed the people of Kantalan.” Her eyes opened and she started to walk swiftly down the street, past the house of Sayan, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Perhaps it’s only my
imagination. I want to make camp and eat something, and then …” She wanted to do all the mundane things that made up the ordinary routines of life. She didn’t want to think about Sayan and the love that had tortured and destroyed her. She didn’t want to think about death.

Dominic was beside her, taking her hand again. “Wait for me,” he said. “I’m going with you, remember?”

She drew a tremulous breath. “But how far?”

“All the way,” he said gravely. “I thought you knew that.”

She experienced a showerburst of joy that took her breath away and banished the melancholy that had claimed her. It was immediately followed by intense exasperation. “How would I know?” she asked tartly. “When you never saw fit to tell me. For all I knew, you meant to leave me and go back to Hell’s Bluff or to perdition or to—”

His fingers were on her lips. “Hush,” he said softly. “How could I leave you when I can’t trust you out of my sight? If I turn my back, you’re likely to fall down a mountain or take off for El Dorado.” His words were teasing but his eyes were saying something … beautiful.

Her breath caught in her throat. “That’s not a very good reason for staying with a person. If you have something to say to me, I wish you’d speak out. I’m no mystic who can read your feelings in the flames. I’m not Sayan, for goodness’ sake.”

“Aren’t you?” he asked with a curious smile. “If you want a declaration, love, I’ll try to accommodate you. I love you. I love you more than my family, Killara, or my life. I think you are my life now. Is that enough for you, Elspeth?”

“Oh, yes.” She blinked rapidly to keep back the tears. “Quite enough.” She suddenly hurled herself at him, hugging him with all her strength. “But you certainly took your time about it.”

He laughed helplessly. “Elspeth, you’re like no one else.” He kissed her with a tenderness that caused her
throat to tighten. “And I’ll thank God for that fact for the rest of my life.” His smile faded. “I guess I was afraid it would be bad luck to tell you. Everything I’ve ever really wanted seems to have slipped away from me. I couldn’t take a chance on losing you too.”

She swallowed. “Then why tell me now?”

“I thought you needed to hear it,” he said simply. “I didn’t have the right to protect myself if it was going to keep you from having anything you need or want.”

She gazed at him, something inside her melting helplessly. “Daft. Completely daft, Dominic Delaney.”

“Oh, yes, more daft every day, love.” He pushed her away. “Now, let’s get back to the palace and set up camp. Declarations are all very well, but I never was very good with words.” His eyes were twinkling as he slipped his arm around his waist and turned her toward the palace. “I’m much better with action.”

S
omething cold and metallic was slipped over her head and then arranged carefully to encircle her naked breasts.

Elspeth opened her eyes to see Dominic smiling down at her. His light eyes were glittering with excitement and seemed to hold all the beauty in the world.

She smiled back at him drowsily. “Again?”

He laughed. “I’d be delighted, but not until you tell me how much you like your necklace. It’s the first time I’ve ever given a lady jewels worth a king’s ransom, and I expect at least a polite thank-you.”

Her hand went to her chest and her gaze followed it. “Dominic!” She wore a long chain of diamonds interspersed with large square-cut emeralds. Facets of the diamonds caught the firelight and turned it into a dazzling array of brilliant hues that cascaded down her body. “Where did you get it?”

He nodded toward the palace across the garden. “The royal treasury. That necklace is only a small sample. The room is overflowing with chests of jewels and gold.” His index finger tapped one of the emeralds. “Just one of those stones would buy another Killara. Do you know what I can do with such an enormous fortune?”

“Create the Delaney Kingdom.” A tiny smile touched Elspeth’s lips. “Long live the king.”

“You can laugh, but that’s what a treasure like this
can buy.” He pulled the necklace taut, twisting the diamond chain beneath her breasts to lift them into prominence. “I thought the emeralds would match your eyes, but maybe rubies would be better.” His head bent to nibble teasingly at her rosy-pink nipple. When he lifted his mouth, the nipple was no longer pink but cherry red and distended with arousal. “Do you fancy rubies, Queen Elspeth?”

“I fancy King Dominic.” She took his hand and held it to her breast so that he could feel the erratic pounding of her heart. “See?”

His hand closed on her breast, his thumb gently flicking the nipple he had brought to fiery attention. “I don’t think you’d be so unappreciative if I brought you another of those damn clay tablets with that hen-scratching on it.”

“I didn’t say I was unappreciative,” she protested. “I merely appreciate you more.” She lowered her eyes demurely. “As a proper wife should.”

“There’s nothing proper about you, my love.” He gathered her up in his arms, blanket and all. “As I’m about to prove.”

“Dominic!” She clutched at his shoulders as he began to stride across the garden toward the palace. “Where are we going?”

“The royal treasury. There’s something I want you to see.”

“Couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“Maybe. But I want you to see it tonight.” His eyes twinkled down at her. “Call it a whim.”

Heat tingled through her as she remembered Dominic’s last “whim.” “Indeed?” Her voice sounded breathless even to her own ears. “You could have waited and let me put some clothes on. It appears all your whims involve having me naked as Eve.”

“I thought it fitting.” Dominic was now crossing the moonlit throne room. “Eve should be right at home in the Garden of Eden. You know, I think I’d have liked the people of Kantalan. I went through several chambers before I found the treasury, and every room—no matter what appeared to be its primary purpose—had
some object of artistry or learning in it.” His expression was thoughtful. “Even the treasury. You would have thought the idea of the acquisition of wealth would have been at odds with—” He stopped. “But you’ll see for yourself.”

“You could let me down. You’re always carrying me around as if I were a child.”

“The floors are dusty. I’ll put you down when we reach the treasury. I lit the torches on the walls and tried to clean up the floor a little. At least you won’t be ankle-deep in dust and cobwebs. Its just ahead.” He was mounting the two steep steps leading to the tall brass-studded double doors he had left thrown open when he had hurried back for Elspeth. Then he was within the chamber, setting Elspeth carefully on her feet. He noticed with satisfaction that both the torches on the wall and the wood fire he had lit in the huge copper brazier in the center of the room were still burning brightly, the flames casting leaping shadows on white marble walls and shimmering on several gold and silver chests in the room.

Elspeth clutched the gray wool blanket together at her breast, her gaze wandering over statues in alabaster, silver, and gold, and over plates and vases bejeweled with precious and semiprecious stones. In one gold chest with the lid thrown open she caught a glimpse of long strands of lustrous black pearls, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds.

She shook her head dazedly. “So much. I can’t believe it.”

“Neither could I, but that wasn’t what I wanted to show you.” Dominic placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her so she was facing the south wall. He gestured to the intricate design carved on the white marble surface. “Look.”

“The solar system,” she whispered. “Good Lord. It’s our solar system!” A huge round sun encircled by planets occupied the entire south wall and was executed with superb artistry on the white marble. The relative size and features of each planet were faithfully detailed even to the rings of Saturn. “What
is it doing here? I would have thought this would have been in the temple.”

“Perhaps the royal family was interested in astronomy.” Dominic nodded to the long alabaster bench before the copper, brazier. “Maybe the king liked to sit there among the treasures of the earth and look at the planets. It must have been very chastening for him to know that regardless of how rich he became, he could never fly from this planet to all the others.”

“Da Vinci thought we could fly. I wonder …”

“No,” Dominic said firmly. “I’m willing to accept the thought of you wandering off to find El Dorado or Atlantis as long as I can trail along beside you, but I at least insist you remain on earth.” He arched a brow. “Do you notice anything strange about that rendering of the solar system?”

“Strange?” She frowned, her gaze returned to the wall. “No, everything seems to be in order. What—” She broke off and her gaze flew back to Dominic’s face. “There are
ten
planets circling the sun.”

He nodded.

“But there have only been eight planets discovered.”

“Maybe they knew something we don’t,” he said softly. “Was there a telescope in the temple?”

“Yes, quite a large one in the same room that contains the lodestone.” Her eyes were blazing with excitement. “Oh, Dominic, isn’t it exciting? There’s so much to see, so much to learn. Let’s go there now.” She stopped. Dominic was laughing softly and shaking his head. “No?”

“Tomorrow. There are a few other things I want to show you here tonight.” His smile lingered. “Perhaps not as interesting to you, but I found them fascinating. They caused me to view the people of Kantalan in an entirely new light.”

“What things?”

“Step this way, milady.” He took her elbow and propelled her across the room, around the blazing fire in the copper brazier, to the open golden chest against
the far wall. “Let’s see if we can find something a little more elegant than that blanket for you to wear. If I remember, I saw something in here that will do nicely.” He rummaged in the chest, tossing strands of pearls and rubies carelessly aside. “Here it is.” He pulled out a garment that glittered gold in the firelight. “I think it’s a cloak of some sort. It’s not as heavy as it looks, and it’s lined with silk.” He shook out the folds. “It’s a wonder the silk didn’t rot. Perhaps being closed up in the chest protected it.” He looked up when she didn’t say anything. “Don’t you like it?”