Keeper of the King by Nigel Bennett & P. N. Elrod

Author:Nigel Bennett & P. N. Elrod
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy, Epic, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780671878627
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2002-04-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

“I’ve heard of afterglow, but this is elephant,” Sharon said, sitting up from him some time later. Her movement nudged him to alertness. “I want to be lying with you, but I’m noticin’ the heat too much now.” She drifted away, used one of the built-in seats as a step, and hoisted herself up to sit on the edge of the spa. Water streamed from her fever-red skin and tangled hair.

“Why?” he asked, looking at her, marveling at her.

“Why what?”

“This.” He gestured to indicate themselves.

“Because I wanted to.”

“No more than that?”

“It’s more than enough where I’m concerned. If you’re worried, I don’t pass my favors to just anyone. I had a feelin’ about you. A right one, I’m happy to say.”

A feeling. He rolled that one around in his mind. Could it mean she had a touch of the Sight as well? Possibly. Many people possessed it unawares, especially women.

“Then there’s the other thing,” she added. “There’s nothing like nearly getting killed for driving a person into bed . . . or whatever.” She nodded at the spa. “I’m told that’s how my mum was conceived, with Gram and Gramp going for all they were worth in their basement shelter during the Blitz when he wangled some leave time.”

Richard recalled a similar incident in his own past . . . well . . . lots of similar incidents, actually. She had that facet of human behavior down right enough.

“They moved back to Ireland not long after. Probably wantin’ a quieter place to shag. An’ you’ll be wantin’ to get out of that cauldron yourself before you turn into a giant pink prune.”

“But I like it here,” he protested mildly. Extremes of heat never bothered him much, no more than extremes of cold.

“Ah, but I’m not in there with you now.”

Excellent point. He heaved up and she put a hand out to take his, which had indeed become rather prunelike. Despite this and the shed of water from him, she drew close, body-to-body, and kissed him, making it last. It was more than enough to inspire him to a second celebration, but . . .

Not a good idea. He’d escaped—they’d escaped—the threat of the beast once; he was reluctant to tempt it again so soon. Perhaps later, after he’d fed deeply on undiluted blood, they could—that is, if she wanted to—

“Tell me what that was all about earlier,” she said. “All that ‘I can’t’ stuff? It was a bit of a surprise y’know.”

Oh, yeah, I’d love to do that, to tell you the truth, that I was this far from tearing out your throat and drinking you down, then I could watch you run for your life from this lunatic.

“It’s . . . difficult for me,” he lied, and was about to continue when her gentle fingers on his lips stopped him.

“I know, I know, my darling lover.”

“You do?” His eyebrows shot upward. The Sight again?

“I’ve seen it before. You forget I’m from Ireland.”

He tried to work that one out

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