THEY RODE into camp with little fanfare, moving at a fast pace past the outer perimeter and onto the lanes formed by the military lines the Trateri had arranged the tents by. The path was a little more jagged given the obstacles of the soul trees, but they were as straight as possible. Fallon didn’t stop until he was in front of his tent, a structure easily twice the size of anything near it.
It had its own personal bathing area, a luxury only available in the highest ranks. The rest of the army used one of the communal bathing tents that were set up at each camp.
Two Anateri guarded the entrance, snapping sharp salutes when Fallon reined to a halt in front of them. Fallon dismounted, helping Shea down, as the rest of his men rode into the open space in front of his tent. One of the Anateri took his reins and led the horse away.
Shea followed Fallon toward his tent.
“Send for Darius and Henry,” he ordered the other Anateri.
The general and a few of his men dismounted, handing their reins off to others in their party before heading for Fallon’s tent. Shea had really hoped the general would elect to stay behind with those walking, but she wasn’t that lucky.
“Braden, send several of your men to obtain mounts for the ones we left behind.”
Braden gestured and one of his men nodded and left the tent.
Darius came in at a run. His eyes immediately went to Fallon, relief the emotion most present in them. He had the look of a man with the weight of an entire world on him, totally at odds with the easy-going nature he normally presented. He was a tall man with high cheekbones and a broad nose. His light blue eyes were startling against skin several shades darker than most Lowlanders. He was a close friend to Fallon, and one of his most trusted, having grown up beside him. Fallon often left Darius in charge when he had duties elsewhere.
He was also the man responsible for capturing her all those months ago at the village of Goodwin of Ria. Darius had arrived to collect the tithe the villagers owed—wheat and several of their strongest men. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, the villagers had made a deal with the elders from the village Shea served, convincing them to betray their own people and send a select few from Birdon Leaf who could stand as tithe in the villagers’ place. Darius, having recognized her from when she’d saved Fallon, had known how important she would end up being to his warlord.
Fallon and Darius clasped hands, pulling each other into a back-thumping hug.
“We were getting worried,” Darius said, after he’d stepped back. “You’ve been missing for weeks.”
Shea stepped forward. “Have Eamon and his men made it back?”
Darius looked at Shea and nodded. “Yes, they arrived about a week after you left, telling strange stories about a mist capable of whisking people off. We thought they’d gone crazy at first until we lost three patrols under similar circumstances.”
Shea let out a deep breath. That was one weight off her back.
“They’re not stories,” Braden said, his eyes serious as he poured himself a cup of ale from the carafe on the table.
Darius looked over at him. “Braden, I see he finally convinced you to come back. Thought you’d never leave the Outlands again.”
“He can be persuasive when he has a mind for it,” Braden said, with a wry smile aimed in Fallon’s direction.
Fallon raised one eyebrow. “I didn’t have to twist your arm too hard to get you here.”
Braden chuckled. “If I’d known how interesting things were in the Lowlands I would have come much sooner. Who knew there was such danger given its people are so weak?”
Darius clapped him on the shoulder. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad Fallon could lure you from the Outlands. Your leadership will be appreciated given recent events.”
Shea shifted in her seat, wondering if they’d notice if she left. Knowing Eamon and the rest had made it home safely had lifted that sick feeling from her stomach but had also left her exhausted. It had been a long day—one that evidently spanned weeks.
The time jump was a concern. She didn’t think she’d ever lost that much time in the mist before. She would have to think on this. It made her wish that she still had access to the Wayfarer’s Keep, the stronghold of the pathfinder’s guild and where all pathfinders were trained. More specifically, she wished she had access to the library at the Keep. It might have some information that could help her understand what was happening.
She blinked, and her head nodded forward as exhaustion caught up to her. Using her abilities in the mist always took it out of her. This time was no different.
The voices of Fallon and his men were faint as she struggled to keep her eyes open. She didn’t want to show weakness in front of the general. Not when he’d already made it clear what he thought of her.
Fallon, noticing the tiredness tugging at Shea, straightened and turned to his men. Darius was in the middle of briefing him about what had happened when Eamon had returned with no Shea and no Fallon. It had evidently caused quite an uproar. With several patrols missing, Darius had made the decision to recall anybody in the outlying areas until they could get a handle on what was happening. It was a decision Fallon agreed with.
“Braden has sent men to recover those we left behind,” Fallon told Darius. “I want my top advisors here tomorrow morning so we can discuss this new obstacle.”
Darius caught sight of Shea slumped over the table and nodded, understanding why Fallon had called the meeting short.
“Understood.”
Braden opened his mouth to object, but at a sharp look from Darius, closed it and gave a gruff nod.
Fallon waited until the two men had departed before he made his way over to where Shea was tilting in her seat. He caught her and then picked her up and carried her to the partitioned area that hid their bed chamber.
She woke as soon as he swung her into his arms. Her eyes blinking up at his, her face sleep-softened and without the normal shields she hid behind.
“Fallon.”
“I’m here, Shea.”
“I was so scared that I wouldn’t be able to find you.”
His arms tightened around her. It was a fear he reciprocated. They’d been in there longer than Shea had even guessed. Long enough that he had nearly given up hope. It was a feeling he was not accustomed to, having spent his entire life raging against the odds and coming out victorious in the end.
“I know. Me too.”
He set her on the bed and began to disrobe, pulling his shirt off as she watched him with shadowed eyes. As he unveiled a body defined by rigorous training and a lifetime spent at war, Shea took a deep breath. The smile that curved his mouth was pure sin. He recognized that sound, it was one he never got tired of.
He pulled her hips to the edge of the bed and grasped the bottom of the shirt she wore, slowly drawing it up to reveal soft skin stretched tight over lithe muscles. When he pulled the shirt over her head, she stared up at him with a yearning that matched his own.
He’d missed her more than he ever thought possible. This last month had been hard. Every day had been a battle to accomplish what needed to be done instead of saddling his horse and taking the shortest path back to her. If his men ever guessed how difficult he found it to be parted from her, they would write stories of how the great warlord had been ensnared by a beautiful pathfinder from the Highlands.
He ran the tips of his fingers over one smooth shoulder, relishing in the shiver that shook her. She tilted her head back, her eyes steady on his, demanding a kiss. One they both knew wouldn’t end with just that. As soon as they started they would catch fire, consumed by a raging inferno of desire that would burn until two people became one, just to start all over again.
It was always like this. He kept thinking it would eventually abate. That this need inside him would fade, leaving him able to think and reason again. So far it only seemed to grow.
He leaned forward taking her lips in a hard kiss, one that was met with an equal ferocity of her own. She gave as good as she got. Always. It was one of the things he loved best about her. Even before he knew who she was. She’d never bow just because of his position.
He tumbled her into their bed, wedging one leg between hers and pressing it hard against the apex of her thighs. She broke away from the kiss, panting as her hands roamed over his back with just the hint of her nails skating against his skin.
Fallon buried his head in the crook of her neck. She writhed under him, the rough sensation of his unshaven cheek against her sensitive skin driving her crazy. His chuckle was gruff and raspy. He pressed a kiss against her shoulder, one hand going to unlace her trousers. He barely touched her as he ran his fingers delicately over the skin revealed beneath.
She panted and arched up. He parted her folds, dipping into them before withdrawing. He stood, helping her yank off her trousers before doing the same with his own. Both of them bare to each other, he paused to look down at her, burning this memory into his mind, her hair spread across his bed and desire in her eyes.
Sometimes it scared him—the depth of feeling he had for this woman. He didn’t know what he would do if he ever lost her. If the world thought him a monster now, it had better pray that she outlived him.
He crawled onto the bed taking a place between Shea’s legs as he pressed his full body against hers, claiming her lips again for a deep kiss that held a fraction of his feelings. Breaking apart, he pressed a kiss to the side of her mouth, then her chin, her nose and both eyes. The feel of her lips tilting up in a smile softened that hard feeling in his stomach, the one that burned with conquest. She was his greatest challenge, a wild and untamed wind that defied every attempt to master it. He looked forward to the attempt despite the knowledge of his likely failure.
He kissed his way down her body, stopping to pay tribute to both breasts. He pulled one nipple deep into his mouth, biting down lightly as she made a sound in the back of her throat.
Fallon’s fingers circled the folds between her legs, brushing against her clit before sinking inside her. Her stomach stiffened and then loosened. He thrust his fingers in once and then again before withdrawing them to circle that small bud of nerves.
He kissed his way further down her body, pausing when she jerked or shivered to investigate all of her sensitive spots. It was a game he enjoyed, seeing how far he could tease her before she lost patience with him. He blew against her wet curls and smiled as she twisted and turned in his hold.
A glance up her body revealed her bare breasts and a blue-eyed glare that told him she was about at that point where she would try to take matters into her own hands. His eyes were filled with a dark challenge as he pressed a kiss to either side of the spot she most wanted his mouth.
Shea panted as Fallon took his sweet time exploring her body. Need quaked through her as he pressed another kiss against a spot below her belly button before nibbling at the skin beneath. The look in his eyes was intimate, almost more than she could bear, and full of knowledge of the torture he was inflicting on her.
Shea’s eyes flared and she grabbed a handful of hair, tightening her grip until it was just this side of painful. Firm, but not so tight that it would hurt him.
His chuckle was full of naughty things. He knew exactly what he was doing to her. He enjoyed it.
She arched as he speared two fingers into her. A mewl escaped her as he pressed an open-mouthed kiss against her, his tongue stabbing at that bundle of nerves before he began to suck. She moaned, her legs tightening around his head, as desire spiraled inside her. Each wave pushing her closer and closer to the edge, drawing her nerves tighter and tighter. He flicked his fingers up, finding a spot inside that threw her over that edge.
She came with a long moan. The feeling almost too much, as she both wanted to press closer and move away, trying to escape as it threatened to burn her alive.
Finally, when he had wrung every drop of sensation, he rose above her, need and desperation on his face. He pulled her legs up and pressed her knees to her chest before fisting himself in one hand, pumping once then twice. Fallon guided himself inside her, filling her up until she was almost too full.
His gaze was too intimate like this. It made Shea feel like he saw inside her in a way nobody had before. Like he could reach out and touch her inner most self.
He began moving in her, each thrust sending need spiking through her. Her head fell back as it threatened to send her crashing back into the deeps. He grabbed her chin, pulling it down and meeting her eyes with his own. His hand was a searing brand against her skin. It slid down until it lightly circled her neck before coming to rest on her chest. He tweaked one of her nipples and added a twist to his thrust, reaching a new spot inside her.
She jerked, one hand pressing against his chest, her nails digging in just slightly.
He grunted as his thrusts picked up pace. He reached, down circling her clit.
“I’m close. Get there.” Fallon’s voice was rough with desire.
Breathy sounds escaped Shea as sensation quickened and the wave rolled back, bigger than before. Her skin pulled tight, as if the faintest brush of air against it would send her catapulting out of this world.
He thrust deep one last time with a long groan. The wave crested and she gave a strangled shriek as she slid down that deep tunnel of feeling with him.
Spent, he collapsed on top of her, his weight a welcome feeling as they came down from the high. Both panted with the intensity of the experience.
Shea brushed her fingers up and down Fallon’s back in a relaxing caress as she stared up at the ceiling of the tent.
He slipped out of her though he didn’t move from his position, just shifting slightly so his weight didn’t crush her. He turned his head to look at her from where he had buried it in the pillow. “What are you thinking?”
She threaded her fingers through his hair, letting the strands slide against her skin. “That as good as you are at that, it doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for sneaking out of camp when you left.”
His grin was slow in coming as she turned to face him. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
“I’m serious. Once I’ve had a chance to sleep and recover from this escapade, we’re going to have a talk.”
He pressed a kiss against her nose. “Later.”
She made a small sound of assent. Yes. Later. When they weren’t in the postcoital glow. She wanted clothes and plenty of space between them when they had that talk so he couldn’t distract her.
He pushed up, holding his weight above her with just his arms. She looked down his body and smirked. He did look nice like that, all firm and hard—the ridges and planes of his chest and abs on display.
Noticing her glance, he tweaked a nipple as he shifted to the side. She slapped his hand away even as she giggled, a sound she only seemed to make around him when he brought out her playful side.
He drew her into his arms, wrapping her tight. With anyone else she would have felt constricted, but with him she’d never felt so safe or cherished. This was what she’d missed when he’d been gone. The weight of him, the warmth of his body in their bed and the wordless comfort a simple embrace could offer.
Fallon pressed a kiss to the top of her head as he drew meaningless designs on her back. She shivered, the sensation threatening to spark another conflagration, before she settled again.
“I have missed you,” he said.
She shifted against him. She was glad to hear that, even if that was entirely his fault.
“I’ve missed you too.”
“Have you been up to anything interesting while I’ve been gone?”
She frowned against his shoulder before tilting her head back and attempting to pierce him with her best glare. It was missing a huge component since she was currently pressed naked against him, but she tried anyway.
“No, actually, I haven’t because you assigned a woman to me with all the sticking power of a burr. She’s been relentless in trying to train me to be the perfect Trateri woman.”
Fallon stared down at her with a rare expression for him—surprise. It helped allay the worst of Shea’s ire. Until right then, she hadn’t fully believed Daere when she said that Fallon hadn’t planned to change her into a Trateri woman.
“What are you talking about?”
“She’s spent the last few months trying to drill me in the etiquette and behavior befitting the Telroi of the Trateri Warlord. She’s lucky I didn’t feed her to any sleeper vines.”
“Sleeper vines?” he asked in a curious voice.
Ah, that’s right he probably hadn’t been acquainted with them before he headed out.
“They’re a carnivorous plant that camouflages itself among regular vines. When its prey comes near, it snatches the prey and drops it into its flower where it can digest and break the meat down into nutrients for the rest of the plant.”
He moved his head to look down at her in disbelief. She hid a smile in his chest. “Really? You’re not making that up, are you?”
“It’s all true. I swear. I had to save two of your men from one when they wouldn’t listen to reason.”
He settled back. “Next time just let the plant have them. It’ll save me from having to weed the idiots from my ranks.”
Shea made a sound of agreement. Sleep had latched its tentacles around her and was fast dragging her down. Her eyes closed as she relaxed into Fallon, the feel of his hands rubbing her back lulling her further into sleep.
“Wait, where were your guards?”
Exhaustion stole the filter from her mouth. “You didn’t actually think I would listen to that order, did you?”
His chest tensed under her. She opened one eye to peer up at a set of whiskey colored eyes glaring down at her. She closed the eye and snuggled back into him. She was too tired for this conversation.
“Maybe not you, but them, definitely.”
She patted his stomach. “It’s cute how you think they could stop me.”
There was an angry huff above her head. This time she didn’t open her eyes, letting sleep pull her under. A kiss pressed against her ear and then Fallon pulled the covers up over her shoulder.
“You know that’s not why I left Daere with you?”
“What is?” her question was a drowsy murmur.
“I never wanted you to act as a normal Trateri woman. She’s there to provide guidance when you need it—to ease your path when possible.”
“Hmm,” was her only response.
“Sleep, Shea. We can discuss this when you’ve rested.” A short time later she thought she heard him whisper, “What am I going to do with you?”
She had no answer for him as she lost the battle against her exhaustion and fell into sleep’s embrace.