A huge thank-you to everyone who's keeping up with this story - knowing people are reading and enjoying keeps me going! Usual disclaimer in place, as ever.

Chapter Twenty-Six – Trust

Jaiyan drifted, near to sleep, and listening to the soft thump of Valen's heartbeat beneath her cheek. His hands trailed up and down her back, stroking. Her own fingers twisted in the ends of his hair. The silence was comforting, broken only by the rhythm of their breathing, or the bed creaking when Valen shifted to gather her tighter against him. She turned her face into his chest, tasting sweat and warm skin. "Valen?"

"Mmm?"

"I'm not keeping you from shouting out orders at hapless soldiers, am I?"

He laughed. "No. Imloth is perfectly capable of shouting on his own. And if you are, then you are a wonderful distraction."

"Mmm. Good." She wriggled closer until her skin was pressed against his, and his mouth was all of an inch from hers. This close, his eyes were jewel-bright, and all the severity and wariness had melted away. "You have very pretty eyes."

He frowned. "I'm male."

"Men can be pretty." When his frown only deepened, she pouted at him. "Oh, fine. You have very striking eyes."

"Thank you, my lady."

His tail slipped up, winding around her waist, and she sighed. She leaned forward and kissed him. His mouth was warm and inviting, and she felt herself responding. Despite bone-deep tiredness, despite the aches and exhaustion left after Drearing's Deep, and the looming threat of battle, she wanted nothing more than to while the hours away with him in this room, away from the concerns of the city outside.

His hands locked at her waist, pulling her against him. "Jaiyan…"

She ran her hands up and down his back. She kissed him again, and discovered that she was breathing hard and desperately against his mouth. "Valen, I…"

"I know." He rolled over onto his back, taking her with him. His mouth touched her collarbones, then lower, teasingly. When she grabbed his horns and attacked his jawline and throat with her lips and tongue, he laughed. "Slow down," he whispered. "I'm not going anywhere."

Slightly mollified, she let him go and gasped as his hands moved across her, gently kneading. She looked down at his broad, pale chest beneath her, and the spill of his scarlet hair, and swallowed. Gods, how she wanted him.

He pulled her head down to his, and she shuddered as his mouth opened onto hers. He caressed her, exploring the lines and curves of her shoulders and her waist. She sighed against him and let herself go, aware only of him, and his breath, and his mouth as he kissed her.

They made love again, patiently and tenderly, taking the time to explore each other, to learn each other's bodies. He discovered that the soft skin between her hips and her ribs was hideously ticklish, and that she shivered when he kissed the back of her neck. She delighted in following the faint trail of red hair that descended from his navel and mercilessly teasing him. After demanding that he turn over, she took far too much time studying the place where his tail joined his body.

"What exactly is so fascinating?"

"Well, excuse me, but I've never seen a man with a tail before." She lifted his tail up, and he groaned.

"You're making me feel like livestock," he protested.

She leaned forward and brushed her lips across the base of his spine, and then on to his tail. "Oh, really?"

He moaned underneath her. "Wicked woman."

"Oh, poor hard-done-by tiefling." She stroked his tail, and felt another tremor ripple through him.

"Oh, Gods." He flipped over, startling her. In another motion she was flat on her back, and he was kneeling between her thighs. "Jaiyan, I…"

"It's alright," she murmured. "I want you, too."

There had been the flicker of something else on his face, some worry that she might reject him. His mouth met hers and his large frame covered her much smaller one as they moved together, skin sliding against skin and breath coming in short gasps.

Afterwards, she curled herself against his chest and tried to think when she had last felt this simply uncaring, this certain that whatever might happen would be somehow worked out and solved. He was combing his hands through the unbound length of her hair, and he pressed absent-minded kisses against her forehead.

She found bread and cheese, on the table nearest the window. She tried feeding him squares of the cheese and wryly decided that such things were better left to the torrid novels she had unearthed in a half-forgotten corner of Drogan's library. Or maybe this just works better with strawberries and white wine, she decided.

Valen tugged her back down onto the bed. "My lady, would you care to bathe?"

She grinned. "Are you saying that I smell?'

"You smell of me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Can you tell? I mean, is that a tiefling thing?"

"Well," he said, warily, "I probably have a better sense of smell than you. But not as good as a drow's, I'd wager."

"How much better?"

He blinked. "Is it important?"

"It might be, given that I'm sure I read somewhere that drow can smell desire."

He laughed. "I don't think I can do that."

"Oh." Vaguely relieved, she traced a hand across his chest. "So, about that bath..?"

As always, the drow servants had refilled the bath in the adjoining chamber. Jaiyan sank into the water first and admiringly watched as Valen paused to find soap. Her eyes lingered on his chest and arms, then dipped lower as he turned.

"You're staring," he said.

She grinned. "You're good to stare at."

He stepped into the water and sat behind her, his knees on either side of hers and his arms loose around her waist. "My lady is pleased?"

"Mmm. Very." She leaned back against him and sighed.

He scooped up handfuls of water, soaking her hair. He swept the long dark strands back over her shoulders. While he rubbed soap into her hair, she let her eyes close. "That feels wonderful."

He laughed softly. His fingers worked against her scalp, massaging. "You are beautiful."

Her face coloured. Don't be stupid, her mind raged. You're naked, he's naked, you're in a bath together, and you've just enjoyed two rounds between the sheets. How can you possibly be blushing at a compliment now?

He pushed the sodden weight of her hair to one side, and she felt his fingertips ghost across her skin. "How did you get this?"

He meant the three-inch scar that tracked down the middle of her shoulderblade. "My very first orc patrol. They were all very big, very scary, and to this day I am not quite sure how I got out alive. Their leader was a huge brute of a creature, and he sliced right through my leathers and tried to carve my shoulder apart."

His touched just above her hip. "And this one?"

"Clipped by an arrow. It scarred badly because we ran out of healing potions, and Deekin had to sew it up for me."

"Clever kobold."

She turned around and slid her legs around his. She looked down, and noticed again a star-shaped scar halfway up his left thigh. "Where did this come from?"

"Crossbow bolt." His blue eyes were hooded. "Jaiyan, the scars on my back…"

"I know." She leaned forward and kissed him gently. "They don't bother me. I mean, they do because I hate to think of what it must have been like. But I mean that I don't think they're ugly. Because they're not. And you're not."

He laughed helplessly. "I'm not sure that I deserve you."

"Of course you do. Because no else is getting their dirty little hands on you."

His arms wrapped around her waist and hauled her against him. Water slopped up between them, and she spluttered. His skin was slippery against hers, and warm, and deliciously tempting. She tried to press closer, and more water sloshed, splashing over the rim. She shifted again, and her knees bumped the smooth walls of the bath.

"Bed, now," she muttered. "Before we accidentally drown ourselves."

He lifted her and stood in one easy movement. She gripped his shoulders and shrieked. "I never said carry me!"

Valen laughed. He stepped out of the bath, shedding water droplets. With her cradled against his chest and shoulder, he crossed the floor and ignored her twisting against him. "But you're easy to carry."

He dropped her onto the bed, wet hair and water-slicked skin and indignation and all. Before she could say something sardonic, his mouth captured hers and his hands gently swung her arms above her head, pinioning her. Her mind went happily blank, and she found herself unable to care about anything except the feel of his flesh on hers.

Much later, sweating and still trembling, Jaiyan lay in the circle of his arms, already dozing. "Valen?"

"Yes?"

"Will you stay here tonight?"

"You know I will."

She sighed against his shoulder, and smiled when she felt his tail weave around her waist. Her eyes closed properly, and she let sleep claim her, and pull her down into dreams that were free of fear and drow and dripping, dark caves.

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Valen stirred, and slowly realized that he was not in his own room. There was a soft, warm weight pressed against his chest, and he smiled as he looked down. Jaiyan was curled around him, her face half-buried in the crook of his shoulder and snoring quietly. He trailed one hand across her narrow shoulders and down into the dip of her back. She was delicately built, despite her often brash manner, and he found himself enjoying the discovery that he could wrap one hand around both her wrists.

He would have to venture out into the city, and check with Imloth concerning the Valsharess' forces, he knew.

The survival of the Seer and the rebels depends on it.

But right now, with Jaiyan resting in his arms, peaceful, asleep and somehow so very vulnerable, he did not want to move.

The city needs you.

Yes, he thought. But she needs me, as well.

She murmured something inaudible and flopped over. Absently, he touched a thick lock of her hair, kept stroking. Dark brown, and glossy, and warm, he noted. He brushed her hair over his lips and knew that he had to wake her, and explain that he had to leave, had to go to the armoury and the forge, and check the gates and the walls.

He was the general. He had to be out there.

But what kind of man leaves his lover?

He shook himself. Stop it. This is absurd. You're not leaving her.

"Jaiyan?" He touched her shoulder gently. She muttered something and nestled against his chest. "My lady?"

Her lashes flickered, and those soft blue eyes fixed on him. She smiled, and his heart twisted.

The sane part of his mind wondered why he was so afraid that she would reject him. She was here, now, with him. Lying naked with him in bed, and she had not sent him away. Had not hated him, despite his tiefling blood.

You hurt her.

Yes, but she understood, and I did not hurt her after that.

You hurt her.

"Valen?"

He blinked. "Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

"I…My lady, did I hurt you?"

"What?" Her gaze turned bewildered. "You mean…that last time?"

He nodded silently.

"You're foolish, my tiefling." She cupped his face with both hands. "You did not hurt me. You are not going to hurt me. And even if you do, we can talk about it."

He stared down at her, heard nothing but honesty.

"You don't believe me, do you?" She surged against him, kissing him breathlessly. "Do I have to hit you over the head?"

He shook his head. "My lady, I'm a tiefling."

"I know. The horns are kind of hard to miss."

He saw her irreverent grin, and could not quite return it. "My lady, I…"

"You don't regret this, do you?" Something very like panic flashed across her face. "Valen..?"

"No," he said quickly. "No…but I am worried."

She kissed him again, and he tasted the desperation in her mouth. "Not worried enough to go away, I hope?"

"No." He held her lean, wiry frame in his arms, and realized he wanted nothing more than to stay here, and not acknowledge that there might be a world outside this room at all. "No. Not at all."

"Good." She smirked up at him. "Did you wake me up for a particular reason?"

"I have to see Imloth about the city. And the Seer."

"I know," she said, easily. "I'll come with you."

Of course she would. He felt abruptly foolish for thinking anything other. She kissed him, soft and lingering, before ambling out of bed and searching for her discarded clothes. He watched her pull a loose, faded shirt over her head, and swallowed.

He loved her.

She tugged her leggings on, and fumbled with the laces. He found his gaze wandering up to the swell of her breasts beneath the old shirt, and then to her face, creased in concentration as she wrestled with the buckles on her leathers.

"Jaiyan?"

She looked up, her loose hair framing her face. "Yes?"

He stared at her, at her blue eyes and high cheekbones and those bird-boned, agile hands. The words died in his throat. "Ah…never mind."

She grinned. "Then get dressed so we can go see the Seer. You lying there naked is too tempting."

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The guards at the Seer's doors were grim-faced, and stepped aside briskly. Inside, the incense still burned, and the candles still flickered, but Valen sensed the brittle, waiting tension in the air. The Seer sat with Imloth, and her fingers were locked tightly together in her lap.

"Valen. Jaiyan. Please, sit down."

Her gaze moved across him, and he wondered if she could read his thoughts. Jaiyan sat beside him on the divan, her thigh touching his, and he suppressed the urge to wrap an arm around her shoulders, or maybe clasp her hand.

The Seer's luminous eyes shifted from Jaiyan to the tiefling, and a sudden smile lit her face. "Ah," she said, quietly. "May I…congratulate you both?"

Valen felt heat rush into his face. "Seer, I…"

"Don't tell me gruesome details, I don't wish to know." The Seer's smile widened. "Valen, you're happier than you've been since I met you. It's coming off you in waves."

Imloth laughed. "Now that you've humiliated the general, can we continue?"

"How much time do we have?" Valen asked brusquely.

"The scouts think two days."

"And you think?"

"One," Imloth said. "We have until tomorrow morning, I suspect. Drow move fast, and they move quietly, and numbers won't slow them down."

Valen nodded slowly. He had suspected as much; knew it was coming, in fact. Since he had arrived and pledged himself to the Seer, he had understood that the Valsharess would build her armies to the point where she would attack full-scale. He had seen too many battles and too many sieges during his time as a slave, and harshly knew what to expect. "The soldiers?"

"All have swords and armour."

"The gates?"

"Are working," Imloth said carefully. "They can't approach from the river-side, we know that. So I propose we line the walls with our golem allies, archers behind, and wait."

"They wait too long, they'll get restless." Valen leaned his chin on his hands. "Keep them in check for now. Have scouts out there. I want reports every hour. What are we going to use as an infirmary?"

It was a cold question, but it must be asked.

"The temple," the Seer answered. "Nathyrra is overseeing that."

"Good. Healing potions?"

"I've requested that twenty healers stay to care for any wounded. They have spells and potions." A slight frown crossed the Seer's beautiful face. "And good old-fashioned supplies like needles and bandages."

At some point, Valen knew, the potions would be finished, and the spells would run dry. No healer, however skilled, could call forth that much raw power, for that many injured. He looked at the Seer. "Do you think the Valsharess herself will come?"

"I don't know," the Seer said, softly. "I doubt it. She would not want her followers to think she cared so much for a small outpost of rebels."

"We knew this day would come." Imloth pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. He looked exhausted, his eyes bloodshot and his fingers trembling slightly. "Our soldiers know what to do."

"Then remind them," Valen said briskly. "And get some sleep," he added, softer. "We need you rested."

"What are you going to do?" the Seer asked gently.

"Go to the gates," Imloth answered.

"No." The tiefling shook his head. "I don't want you falling off the wall asleep. Stay at the practice grounds if you must, but sleep. I'll take the gates tonight."

Beside him, Jaiyan shifted. "I'll come with you."

Valen stared at her for a long moment. Of course I want you with me. But I don't want you there if the Valsharess' scouts get here quicker. "Alright," he said, conceding. "But at the first hint of anything moving out there, I want you behind the walls with Nathyrra."

He expected that she would argue, and was pleasantly shocked when she said nothing.

"Very well." The Seer clasped her dark hands together. "I will remain here. May Eilistraee keep us safe."

Outside the temple, Valen brusquely packed Imloth off to rest. He turned to find Jaiyan observing him with a raised eyebrow and a wry smile. "What is it?"

"You," she laughed. "You really would have made a good nursemaid."

Around them, the marketplace was almost deserted, save for the occasional soldier running to the practice fields, or Rizolvir and his apprentices, still working at the forge. The merchant stalls had been cleared, and some moved, supplies hidden inside. More drow ran between the temple and the city proper, laden down with bags full of clinking healing potions, or else ferrying arrows from Rizolvir to the walls.

Beside him, Jaiyan shivered and hugged her arms around herself. She could feel the terse impatience in the air as well as him, he guessed. His skin was prickling, and beneath, his blood sang. Mere hours, and he would be awash with adrenaline and howling all the rage he could summon. There would be blood, and the screams of enemies falling and dying.

A battle.

Not a skirmish, not some paltry fight with a handful of drow in a ravine somewhere.

A battle, where the air will taste of blood and your heart will beat so fast it will drown out the drums of the Blood War itself.

"Valen?"

He snapped back to himself. "Yes..?"

Jaiyan peered up at him. "Are you alright? Your face went…strange."

"I'm fine." He drew in a deep, steadying breath. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, but he could still see the tension in her, the rigid set of her shoulders, and the speckling of sweat at her temples.

"You don't fool me, my lady." He tilted her chin up. "Not for a moment."

She pressed her face against his chest, and clung to him, her fingertips slipping against his armour. He could feel her shaking, and suddenly, fiercely, knew he would do anything to keep her from harm.

He reached down and tipped her face up. She was ashen, and her blue eyes were white-ringed. "Oh, Jaiyan." Not knowing what else to do, he leaned down and kissed her, hard and insistent and lingering. "I will keep you safe," he whispered.

Her hands tangled in his hair, and her tongue curled against his as she responded. "You'd better," she muttered.

He laughed and trailed his lips across her forehead and down onto her cheek. His mouth was poised above hers, and he wondered if he could justify spending the rest of the morning in bed. No. Preparations to be made. Battles to be planned. Soldiers to organize. He indulged in another deep kiss and moaned when her fingers wrapped around his horns.

"Boss?"

Jaiyan yelped and lurched away from him. Her cheeks flamed scarlet, and she groaned.

Valen turned, saw Deekin observing them through speculative black eyes.

"Morning, Deeks," she said, unsteadily. "How are you today?"

"Boss." Deekin's gaze flicked briefly to Valen, who was wondering why he too felt abruptly mortified at having been caught kissing in the open by a kobold bard. "Is there something Boss needs to tell Deekin?"