Fate's Edge

themselves, the wyvern was watered, and everybody agreed that they desperately needed hot showers and beds.
    It was determined that of all of them, Kaldar had somehow ended up being the least bloody, so he cleaned his face, got two suites at the Holiday Inn Express, and snuck the rest of them in through the side entrance. The men took one suite, she took the other.
    It was almost eleven in the evening now, and Audrey had finally washed all of the nastiness out of her hair. She couldn’t smell the blood anymore, only the cocoa butter from the body wash and lilac from the shampoo. Audrey scrubbed her face with a white towel and examined it. No red. Good. She wrapped one towel around herself, put the other over her wet hair, twisted it, flipped the end over, and came out of the bathroom with a towel turban on her head.
    “It’s amazing how every woman knows how to do that.”
    Kaldar sat on the edge of her bed. Well, well. Someone had been hiding lock-picking skills. Or, more likely, he had just asked for an extra keycard for her room and kept one.
    The shower had turned his hair nearly black, and it framed his clean face in casual disarray. He hadn’t bothered to shave his stubble, and he looked like a rogue, a highwayman who had somehow ended up wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans.
    A very sexy highwayman.
    In her imagination, Audrey walked over to him. He gave her one of those wicked looks and stole her towel, sliding it off her to the floor. Kaldar ran his clever hands up her hips, over her sides, to her breasts. Audrey leaned back, letting him caress her. It felt so good. He rose and pulled off his T-shirt, baring a muscled torso. She wound her arms around him. He hugged her to him, his arms strong, his skin so hot it was nearly burning. His lips trailed the line of her pulse on her neck. The memory of the day faded from her head. The visions of blood and gore fled.
    That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Yes, it would. She wanted to forget the ugliness and feel like she was still alive and safe. But then the morning would come, and all of that passion would have to be paid for.
    She pointed at the door. “Out!”
    “Audrey,” he purred.
    “Out. I will let you back in when I’m dressed.”
    He didn’t move.
    Audrey crossed her arms over her chest. “Kaldar. Agent, pickpocket, rapist . . .”
    “Oh, for Gods’ sakes, woman.” He got up and stalked out the door. She locked the dead bolt, pulled on sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt, and unlocked the door. He was still in the hallway.
    “May I come in now?”
    “Yes.”
    He rolled his eyes and went inside. Audrey locked the door.
    Kaldar examined her outfit. She wore plain black sweatpants and a T-shirt with a big black cat on it.
    “When did you get these?”
    She snorted. “I didn’t spend all of the money on those two suits. I also bought T-shirts, sweatpants, bras, panties . . .”
    “White lacy panties?” he inquired. His voice was like velvet. She could’ve sworn there was magic in it, not the magic of the Edge or the Weird but some sort of male magic, the kind that made you fall asleep cuddled up with a big smile on your face.
    “Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”
    Kaldar looked at the ceiling. “I came to ask you why.”
    “Mmmm?”
    “I want you, Audrey. I want you so badly, you are my first thought in the morning and my last at night.”
    Oh, he is smooth.
    Kaldar moved around her, maintaining the distance, stalking. He moved like a sword fighter: strong, sure, but graceful. Funny how she had never noticed it before.
    “You kiss me like you want me, too. You thought about it. You pictured us together, making love.”
    She smiled at him. Kaldar, you slick bandit, you.
    “We’re both adults, we want each other, and there is nothing stopping us. Why aren’t we together?”
    Audrey kept her smile firmly in place.
    Kaldar paused. He was looking at her, at once loving, admiring, possessive, and yearning. She’d been hit with a few come-hither stares in her time, but this one left them all in the dust.
    “Do you think I’d hurt you, Audrey? Are you afraid it won’t be good, and you won’t like it, because I promise you, you will.”
    Kaldar, a man of low self-esteem, unassuming and humble.
    “Help me out,” he said.
    “I don’t think we should talk about this. I think you should go back to your room.”
    “Why?”
    “Because it will make things between us tense and difficult.”
    “Things