Sianim 02 - Wolfsbane

than that. Come to think of it, it meant a lot more than that to her as well. It was just that . . . Wolf had belonged to her for a long time in a way that tied them far more than any goddess could.
    She reached up and tugged at his mask, and he let it fall into her hands.
    “Don’t hide from me,” she said.
    Dropping the cold silver false face on the floor, she pulled his head down so she could kiss him fully.

    Wolf held her while she slept, and smiled. His wife was a manipulative minx; but then, he’d known that for a long time. The difference between her and his father was that she manipulated people for their own good—or at least what she perceived to be the greater good. He wondered when she’d break down and tell him.
    How could she think that he wouldn’t know what she’d done? As soon as the priestess placed the blood-bond between them, he’d realized what it was, had known what Aralorn had tried to do. He was not a well-trained mage in most areas, but black magic he knew well. A blood-bond was well within his area of expertise.
    He sent a caress through the tie the death goddess had placed between them, and Aralorn sighed, shifting against him.
    He could sever it when he needed to. He’d tell her that after she managed to confess her deed—he couldn’t resist the urge to tease her a little and teach her a lesson about trying to manipulate him as she did the rest of the world.
    “If you had known how to find me, you would have come to me when you were told your father had died,” he said softly, and, remembering her face when he’d shown up at Lambshold, he knew it was true. How odd that someone loved him . That Aralorn loved him.
    He pulled her closer and relished the light feeling that had come over him, softening the edge of the inner core of rage that was always with him. He was happy, he thought with some surprise.
    If she thought so much of him, it might be worth the risk of the potential for disaster that clung to him through his magic. Maybe—he kissed the top of her head—maybe they could discover a way to control his magic rather than destroy it with his death.

    Aralorn awoke early and began planning what was best to do. She didn’t know if Kisrah would take his nighttime visitor’s information at face value or if he could tell that Wolf was Cain by some arcane human magic. Wolf said that he needed Kisrah’s help. There was a chance that Kisrah would attack Wolf the first time he saw him. She couldn’t risk it. She needed to talk to the Archmage first.
    She liked Kisrah, but if he reacted badly, she would kill him before he got a chance at Wolf—if she could. She certainly would hate to do something like that in front of witnesses. So she needed a meeting without Wolf and outside of Lambshold.
    Aralorn sat up and waited for Wolf to awaken. She wiggled a little. Nothing. She stared at him. Nothing. She reached her hands toward his side.
    He rolled over and caught them. “If you tickle me this early in the morning, I’ll see to it that you regret it.”
    She laughed. “How long have you been awake?”
    “Long enough,” he growled, completing his roll.

    Sometime later, he said, “Now, what was so important that you woke your husband up before the birds?”
    He liked that word, she’d noticed, liked being her husband and the formalization of their bonds to each other. Given how hard he’d tried to keep a distance from her from the beginning of their association, she found it unexpectedly touching.
    “Wasn’t this enough?” she asked, trying for a sultry tone. It wasn’t a role that she’d ever tried as a spy.
    He bit one of her fingers gently. “Yes. So let us go back to sleep.”
    She bit him back, harder.
    “Ouch,” he said obligingly, but without any real emphasis, so she didn’t feel that she had to apologize.
    “That’s what you get for trying to be funny. We need to go talk to Kisrah.”
    Wolf grunted, then said, “So, what have you plotted for the poor man?”
    Aralorn decided to overlook his attitude. “We’ll need to be careful—don’t you snort at me; I can be cautious when I have to be. I think I will take him on a ride along the trail to Ridane’s temple. Whoever visited him last night told him that you were Cain. I think that until I get a chance to talk to Kisrah, you need to stay out of sight.”
    “Ah,” he said. “You meant I need to be cautious.”
    She grinned. “You’re the one under the death sentence. Is Kisrah still under the