Medieval 03 - Enchanted

the brightest
light.
    Even through steel links, Simon sensed the fey
cloth clinging to him. He slid off one gauntlet and gathered up the
errant fabric as gently as though it were a kitten, taking care not
to snag the cloth on his armor. Before he released the dress, he
stroked it with his fingertips. The alluring texture of the weaving
caressed him in return.
    His fingers opened, allowing the cloth to fall. For
a time it clung to his hand. Then it slid reluctantly fromhis fingertips and settled back around Ariane’s
legs.
    When Simon looked up, Ariane was watching him with
a curious intensity. Her lips were parted, her eyes half-shut, her
breath uneven. She looked like a woman who had just received a
secret caress.
    Or would like to.
    Hunger lanced through Simon. In the seven days
since Ariane had awakened, he had been careful not to touch her in
any but the most casual ways. He had overseen her meals, but he had
not fed her medicine from his own lips. Nor had he spent the day
bathing her in her bedchamber.
    He had not spent the nights with her, either. Even
when she gathered her courage and invited him to do just that the
previous night.
    Save your clenched teeth and
endurance for the journey, wife. You will need it. I
don’t .
    Simon knew that the rage he felt at Ariane’s
lack of passion wasn’t reasonable. He also knew that rage
existed just the same. Until he was more certain of his temper in
that regard, he planned to touch Ariane no more than custom and
politeness required.
    While Ariane had stayed in her bedchamber regaining
her full strength, Simon and Erik—often accompanied by Amber
and Duncan—had fattened Stone Ring Keep’s larder with
the fruits of hunting and hawking. When not pursuing stag or
waterfowl, Simon, Erik, and Duncan had hunted much more dangerous
game.
    They had found none. All sign of the renegade
knights had dissolved in the icy autumn rains.
    Nor would Erik permit the hunt to go into the area
known as Silverfells. Because the mysterious fells lay within
Erik’s Sea Home lands rather than those of Stone Ring Keep,
Simon had little choice but to bow to Erik’s edict.
    As though Erik understood Simon’s
frustration, he had offered himself as a partner in the daily
battle practice that Dominic—and now Duncan—required of
hismen. When the two sinewy, fair-haired,
astonishingly agile warriors went at one another with sword and
shield, the other men stood and watched with something close to
fear, whispering among themselves about the duel of Archangel and
Sorcerer, each sun-bright and lightning-swift.
    Yet the vigorous hunts and even more strenuous
workouts with Erik had not given Simon the peace of mind he sought
at night. He still dreamed of scented balm and sultry, yielding
flesh; and he awoke knotted with hunger.
    All that had kept Simon from Ariane’s bed was
pride…and his fear that his hunger would be too strong for
him to control, that he would take whatever mummery of passion
Ariane offered.
    And then he would hate himself for being so
weak.
    Again.
    It doesn’t matter.
Ariane isn’t well enough to put to the test of
passion .
    Is she ?
    Despite Ariane’s protestations, Simon
didn’t see how she could be well. He had never known even the
strongest knight to recover from such a deep wound so swiftly.
    Surely she isn’t healed.
Not completely. There might be something still wounded deep inside
her, something that she is too proud and reckless—and
dutiful—to acknowledge .
    The thought of causing Ariane any more hurt made
Simon cold.
    And so did the thought that she might turn from him
despite her promise.
    Are you fully healed now,
nightingale? If I go to your bed, will you come to me without
disgust ?
    Do you remember the
balm’s sultry enchantment, when you lifted yourself toward my
touch ?
    Night after night the questions had echoed in
Simon’s mind with the same frequency as his heartbeat. He
didn’tknow what he would do if
Ariane’s lush body were offered to him only to be withheld at
the ultimate moment, when her disgust overcame her promise to
him.
    I will endure the marriage
embrace .
    For you .
    Simon didn’t want dry endurance from Ariane.
He wanted the sleek heat of her passion sheathing him. He wanted to
bend down and taste desire consuming her. He wanted the dream that
awakened him each night, sweating and shaking, aching with the need
to bathe once more in the sultry fountains of her desire.
    I will give you all that I
have .
    In the thrall of