Chapter Twelve
Taran
The servants brought me up some toasted bread and some of the hot Lycan tea they all seemed to love around here, and I drank it all down to try and get rid of the shivers that kept running all over me.
I took a hot bath as well, and that helped even more.
I wrapped myself in one of the huge towels they’d kindly left in my bathroom and then lay across the bed, “just to rest my eyes.” I woke up what must have been a few hours later, feeling more energized.
I found myself wondering where the general was, and what he might be doing.
I knew that Janos and Larz were fine and resting in their room—they had ever only really needed each other.
And the minute I thought that, the very idea seemed traitorous, because they had saved me, and they had always been there for me since they took me in.
Yet I had always known that I wasn’t truly necessary and vital to their happiness. They had each other for that.
Or maybe I was feeling a little lonely and sorry for myself.
I needed to shake it off and figure out who it was that was trying to kill me—or maybe members of my family, with little concern for collateral damage.
I found it hard to believe that the collapse of the bridge had only been some kind of accident.
I remembered, in fact, that Prince Vannos had told Janos and me that after his marriage, he had talked the king into updating and widening the bridge.
So the bridge wasn’t nearly as ancient as this castle, and when they’d widened it, surely it had been reinforced and made safer—that was only logical.
What had made it suddenly collapse? Had it been weakened by the violence of the storm? How did that happen?
I suddenly wanted desperately to see and talk to General Vargarra and get his opinion.
Though if I were being truthful, it wasn’t only his opinion that I wanted.
Without hesitating to think it through, I pulled on a big, white robe I found hanging on the back of the bathroom door, eased out of my room and went barefoot down to the other end of the hall.
I knocked softly on his door, not wanting to wake him if he was sleeping, and it occurred to me that I had no idea what time it even was.
I was in luck though, and after only a few seconds, the door opened and the general stood there in front of me, looking even more handsome than usual.
He was still wearing his uniform trousers, though he’d removed his shirt and boots.
His naked chest was broad and muscular and the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
I followed the line of his body down to his well-shaped, high-arched feet.
I found them almost unbearably sexy. I spoke softly, so I wouldn’t disturb anyone who might be close by in their rooms, “I’m sorry to bother you, sir.
But I just wanted to say I owe you my thanks.
Thank you for saving my life and Janos’s life because I think…
I know… that if it hadn’t been for you, we’d both be dead. ”
He was standing there, looking so tall and impossibly handsome and he shook his head. “No, Taran, you don’t owe me anything. I was only doing my job. Trying to keep you safe.”
“I know. I’m nothing special, and you were just doing your duty.”
He shook his head. “You’re wrong about not being special. You couldn’t be more wrong.”
I tried to search his face hoping he’d say more, but he just kept staring at me, not elaborating at all.
“Well, it meant a lot to me. Especially considering how I tried to search your room that first night you arrived and then got angry when you caught me. I said awful things to you, and I-I’m embarrassed now. I just wanted you to know.”
I turned to leave, and he stopped me, putting a hand on my arm. “You don’t have to thank me, Taran. I’m just happy you’re all right.”
For a crazy moment, I thought about how it had felt to have his lips on mine that night he found me in his room.
He hadn’t known who I was then, and he’d thought I was a prostitute and called me that stupid name and thought I was trying to rob him.
But he had also taken me in his arms, and I remembered the feverish heat of his lips and the taste and scent of him as he held me close to him.
How could I forget it? The shocking urgency in the way we’d come together…
He pulled me inside his door and I went willingly.
We half fell, half stumbled backward to the bed, still clutching each other, and he was kissing me again like he’d never stop.
His bed was soft, and I wondered if he hated it, like Larz said all Tygerians hated a too soft bed, but then I gave myself up to the plushness of the mattress, sinking down into it with the hard length of him pressing me even farther down.
He kissed me like he couldn’t help himself, but also like he never wanted to stop.
I could sense the reluctance and even maybe a tiny bit of resentment that he had to have this, that he had to have me, but I knew there was relief and longing too. I knew it because I felt the same way.
His hot mouth was all over me—on my neck, my face, and my hair.
He was saying my name in a soft, persistent voice, like a mantra or a chant I’d heard the priests do in the chapels, and the pressure of his lips on mine was bruising and hard and wonderful all at the same time.
It occurred to me that no matter how crazy it sounded, I must love him because I wanted to stay in his arms forever and never let him go.
The unbearable sweetness of the feeling it gave me made me try to catch my breath and tell him how much I felt for him, but there was no time.
No time for anything but this wild feeling that was consuming me, burning me up on the inside.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he was whispering to me, touching my hair and tangling his fingers in it. “You have to stop this, do you hear me? This recklessness. You’re not being careful with yourself.” His eyes glittered down at me sternly, and I shook my head and laughed a little.
“I’ll do my best, but this time, I swear I didn’t do anything. In fact, you’re the one who put me in danger by trying to make me go across that bridge with Janos. If you’re serious about keeping me safe, I think you need to talk to the ones who are trying to kill me.”
He growled and pulled me to him, holding onto me so tightly I could barely breathe. “Don’t make jokes about this.”
“Believe me, I’m not joking.”
He pulled back to stare down into my face. “I would kill anyone who tried to hurt you.”
“I know…I know,” I said, trying to soothe him and get him to start kissing me again.
Instead, he began stripping off the robe covering me, and I helpfully let him do what he wanted and tried to pull at his trousers a little too, getting in his way in my excitement.
I was unable to uncover the little scraps of cloth he was wearing underneath.
I knew that Tygerians didn’t wear much under their clothing—I’d lived with Larz after all and had even shared close quarters with him and Majesty when I was a small boy.
This tiny bit of cloth he was wearing under his pants and across his hips had hardly more material than one of my terugas.
I slipped my hand inside it, and he reacted violently, pushing me away and staring at me.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to get you naked, so we can make love.”
“Make love?”
“What did you think we were doing? You got me naked.”
He looked down at me like he had no idea how it happened and I had to laugh. His face began to turn a dull red and he began to shake his head, pushing me away. “I admit I let things go too far. I-I apologize, but no. No, we can’t do that. Do this. We can’t make love.”
“I’d like to know why.”
“We would bond if we made love,” he said, looking at me like I was stupid.
“Would that be so bad?”
“It would be permanent for a Tygerian. And sometimes it goes both ways. We have to be careful not to imprint on someone—we mate for life, you know. If we bond with anyone, then it would be really hard, almost impossible, to ever be parted from them. The bond is unbreakable. Once done, the bond means forever.”
“That sounds perfect to me. Are you saying you want to do that with me?”
He looked horror stricken. “No.”
“No? Then why did you pull me into your room and why did you take my robe off? I’m naked, in case you haven’t noticed. And I’m the son of a royal prince. Not really someone you want to ravish and then walk away from them.”
“No, no. I would never…”
“Then tell me why.”
He frowned and looked me up and down hungrily. “You’re too young for me.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-nine cycles. Nearly thirty,” he said, like he was going to shock me.
“Perfect. I’m twenty-nine too.”
“No, you’re not.”
I laughed and made a big cross on my chest. “Cross my heart.”
I got a blank look in return. “What are you doing? What does that mean?”
“It means I’m telling the truth. That’s what Larz says it means anyway. I thought you said you had a human omak, like he did.”
“I did, but mine never did that.”
“Oh. Well, anyway, that’s what it means.
I’m trying to tell you that what I said was true.
I’m twenty-nine years old. And a year on Laltana is one time around our sun.
It’s similar to Earth’s measurement of time, but ours takes a few days more than Earth’s sun—373.
5 days. So I think that might mean I may be technically almost the same or even older than you.
I can never figure that out exactly. I’d have to try to do the math to be sure. ”
“Pah! That’s impossible.”
“Nevertheless, it’s true. So, forget our nonexistent age difference. What else do you have? What other reasons are we unsuitable to be mates?”
“You’re a royal. Prince Larz’s son.”
“Not really. My birth father was a poor trader who died when I was young. Larz and Janos never formally adopted me. Technically, I don’t belong to anyone.”