Chapter 1 - Scene 3

Cosi emerged from the bath to find that Dros had made it to the bed, but no further. He lay on his back, fast asleep, towel draped across his lap. In sleep he looked so like the boy he’d been when they met, vulnerable and peaceful, and so very unlike the serious man he’d become.

Nahl’s long-time companion Gnar curled in the crook of Dros’s arm, her long snowy muzzle tucked under his hand. The ulka mostly pretended to like no one but Nahl, but when Dros was home she rarely left his side. Considering his exhaustion, Cosi decided against waking him, as much fun as that was likely to be. She reached to cover him with the corner of the blanket.

During his months away from home leading their army, Dros got little restful sleep. She considered, as she often did, forbidding him from going back to the front. There were other warlords who could lead their army, without putting him in danger.

He would obey a direct order, she thought, though she worried what that would do to him. So much of his self-worth hinged on his identity as a battleborn warlord that he would probably resent her.

The conceit implied by that course also appalled her. How could her people not hate her if she kept him safe at home while their loved ones died?

Dros convulsed in his sleep, sending Gnar from her cuddled-up position with an irritable flick of her white tail. His tattoos glowed brilliant red, as if his skin was on fire, and then faded slowly. Five years ago, his battleborn power never engaged unless he specifically called it. His control slipped a bit with every battle he took part in, and she’d seen the slow descent for herself in the years Dros had gone to war for her.

How much longer could he fight before he wouldn’t wake from the nightmares? She had never seen Dros as fearful as he’d been on that last visit to his father. When Frogimar had finally succumbed, he spent a year staring at nothing, wasting away though they tried to force feed him, and unable to recognize anyone or speak.

Moving closer, Cosi combed his unbound hair away from his bronze forehead. Would he cut his hair once he no longer went to battle like the warlords of his homeland so often did? She would miss curling her fingers in the sleek black mane, but it was a small price to pay for having him safe by her side, where he belonged. He murmured something that might have been her name, making her smile, and then settled into a deeper sleep.

The best solution was to end the war she’d inherited with her office as quickly as possible, but that was no easy feat. Nahl had worked on little else since her ascension, but the progress had been non-existent. They needed a new plan. She stroked Dros’s hair one last time, and bent to pick up Gnar so she wouldn’t disturb him trying to get comfortable again.

Cosi carried the wriggling Gnar to the library through halls that were eerily quiet. Whenever Dros came home, the staff made themselves scarce for several days. Food would appear at regular intervals, but otherwise there was no sign of the substantial number of people required to run a large reach. She could hardly blame the head of the household for warning them off; Qarn themself had happened upon her or Nahl vigorously welcoming Dros home once too often.

She entered the library and inhaled the scent of old books and ink that would forever remind her of Nahl. The room was warm and the lighting from two lamps subdued. So he was brooding rather than working, or he would have needed more light. Softly backlit, the slender grace of his frame was accentuated. She took a moment to appreciate his quiet beauty, and the dramatic contrast between that and Dros’s rugged power, before calling to him, “Your mistress was sleeping with another man.”

Nahl chuckled from his place at the map table. “She’s wanton.”

“I can relate.” Cosi placed Gnar in an armchair near the fire with a pat.

Gnar gave her a dismissive glance, even for an ulka, and trotted to her master. She looked up at him and made a sad sound, presumably to share how horribly she had been treated. Nahl looked at Gnar for a long moment, then bent to pick her up. He cradled the ulka in one arm like a baby, reminding Cosi why she’d chosen him as her consort; if there was a man better suited to be a father, she hadn’t met him. Endlessly thoughtful and kind, she hoped he would make up for her lack of maternal instincts.

Cosi came to stand beside him, ignoring the ulka’s flat-eared look of disapproval. “We need to end this war. His nightmares are getting worse.”

Nahl nodded. “I’ve been considering just that.” He pointed to a spot on the map with the arm that wasn’t filled with Gnar.

She examined his profile, wondering what had prompted him to reconsider how to end the war. Had he picked up on something from Dros that concerned him? Much as she wanted to ask, she wouldn’t. What they shared was between them, though she cared for them both, and was no business of hers.

The area he indicated on the map was painfully familiar, a forked river valley that was the only break in the otherwise impassable mountain range forming the border between their land and the land of the Samha. She guessed his intention at once. “You mean for me to abandon the Indra.”

A grimace twisted Nahl’s mouth. “We’ve wasted so many lives defending them for a piece of land we don’t even want. They don’t even acknowledge you as their ruler.”

Cosi bristled. This was an old argument she was not eager to revisit. “My mother gave her word that we would protect them.”

“For your mother’s word we have been at war nearly twenty years.” He exhaled a long breath. “When Dros is dead or the nightmares have him, will your mother’s word comfort us?”

She kept careful control of her voice. He was trying to save the life of the man he loved, and she couldn’t fault him for that. “Your solution is to abandon the Indra to extermination?”

His face fell as she reminded him what the course he proposed meant. He was no more capable of sentencing an entire people to death than she was. “It’s the only way I can see to end this. We’ve tried diplomacy. Neither side will give.”

“I won’t leave them to be slaughtered.” Cosi shook her head. “That will not be my legacy.”

Nahl bent to put Gnar on the floor, prompting another glare in Cosi’s direction before she scampered off to find affection elsewhere. “Do you have another idea?”

Cosi tapped the map near the center of the Indra’s territory. “Send a messenger to the Indra. We haven’t had contact with them recently. Perhaps something has changed.”

“They won’t leave the fork of the Trivein.”

“I know, but maybe they’re finally willing to help us defend the area. That might be enough to get the Samha to treat with us.”

Nahl paused with a contemplative frown. “That could work.” He turned toward his desk in a rush to begin, but Cosi caught his sleeve before he moved away.

“Dros wouldn’t want them wiped out just to protect him.”

He seemed uncomfortable meeting her eyes, but he managed after a moment. “I know.”

She reached to touch the side of his face, knowing the contact would let him feel the truth of her words. “I adore the part of you that would protect him no matter the cost.”

His pupils swelled as he picked up more from her than she’d anticipated. The smoldering desire Dros had ignited still simmered under her skin. It was soon enough after she’d stopped the suppressant that indulging herself once more with Nahl shouldn’t matter. She would miss the closeness they’d shared over the summer.

Wrapping her hand around the back of his neck to bring him down to her, she pressed up onto her toes to kiss him. He parted his lips for her possessive assault, groaning into her mouth. She nipped his lower lip before pulling away. “Take me to your desk. I don’t want to ruin these maps.”

Desire and duty warred on his face. “You should find Dros.”

“Right now, I want you.” She tugged his red-brown beard to draw him into another, more fervent kiss. “Hurry before I change my mind.”

Nahl lifted her into his arms. “As the Peacebringer commands.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist and lowered her face to kiss his neck. When he didn’t move fast enough for her liking, she bit him. His hands tightened around her bottom in a thoroughly satisfying manner. He was always so gentle with her that she prized the rare moments when he let his careful control slip.

He set her on the desk and bent to kiss her, his mouth hungry and eager on hers. She palmed him through his thin dressing pants, smiling against his lips when she found him hard and ready. She squeezed him fondly, enjoying his harsh intake of breath.

Cosi tugged at the laces confining him, and then guided him home. He broke from the kiss as he entered her and pulled her closer, gripping her tightly. She tilted her pelvis to give him a better angle, and gasped when he plunged deeper. He pressed her back onto the desk and covered her. His hips moved in heavy rhythm, driving her into the hard surface. She wrapped her hands around his shoulders, fingers digging into the fabric covering his skin.

The tension in her belly mounted as he continued, until she cried out at the bottom of every thrust. Rather than push her over the crest, Nahl slowed his pace, and then stopped entirely. He lowered his head to kiss her. His tongue pressed between her lips to savor her mouth. The kiss went on long enough that his beard began to chafe her. He straightened and favored her with the smile that always took her breath away.

Cosi watched him through slitted eyes as he opened her dressing gown, his fingers brushing her heated skin. She normally had little patience for his teasing, but since this would be the last time they would be together until she conceived, she decided to humor him rather than urge him on. He palmed her breasts as he resumed with long, slow strokes, then let his hands slide along the curves of her body to her hips.

His fingers dug into her thighs and held her legs open as he pulled away. The sudden emptiness was jarring, and she sighed in protest. He knelt, leaning forward to smother a soothing murmur into the soft skin just above her knee. His breath against her skin did nothing at all to calm her. He held her down with one large hand splayed over her pelvis as he kissed and nuzzled his way up her inner thigh at a speed that was entirely too slow for her liking. She flattened her palms against the wood of his desk and tried not to move, though the anticipation tightened something nameless within her.

His thumb parted her heated flesh, exposing her to the cool air. The plaintive sound that rose from her throat was not one she was accustomed to making. The only man who had ever brought her so close to begging knelt in supplication between her thighs. His answering grumble of approval was muffled as he pressed his mouth to her in a searing kiss, the vibration sending a jolt through her. She tensed her legs to spur him, but his lips kept their own unhurried pace as they savored the most private crevices of her body. His tongue slid over her slickened skin. She tried to raise her hips to meet him, but he held her pinned to the desk. He gradually brought her to the brink and held her there.

She squirmed when the sensation became too much to bear. Her breathing grew shallow. She pushed back against the rising pleasure, not wanting to give in yet, but the more she fought the more difficult resisting became. She bit her lip to stifle her moans. His brand of lovemaking was exquisite torture.

At some unspoken signal from her that never came soon enough, he backed away and stood. Clamping his hands around her hips, he pulled her partway off the desk to meet him and impaled her with one long thrust. She cried out, her fists tugging at his shirt to hold him close.

This time when he resumed, he set a hard pace, his desire for teasing quenched and more primal need taking over. Swollen and aching, she felt every inch of him advance and retreat. His onslaught urged her to the peak in what seemed only moments. She clung to the edge as long as she could, and finally, fingers still scrabbling for purchase, she fell, every muscle clenching at once. A groan rising from his throat, Nahl drove home one last time and held her fitted against him.

Once she regained her breath, Cosi wrapped herself around him to hold him in place, wanting to feel the weight and warmth of his body. “You have done your duty admirably.”

With gentle pressure, he nipped her pulse point, sending a final shudder racing through her. He chuckled into her throat. “Anything for my Peacebringer.”

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