Chapter 88

Seeing that Taeron was dying in Staefyn's arms, Amyr thrust Yori to Quynn and hurried with Shamara and Chaela to Staefyn where he was joined by his mother and Apolo. They had but to join their powers to save him, but they needed Staefyn more than any of them because his healing was stronger than them all. Amyr had no way of knowing what Staefyn would do now that he was captured and his warlord was dead. He should not have doubted Staefyn because his brother did not hesitate before drawing in all their powers and directing the healing spell that coaxed Taeron's heart to beat and forced his body to produce blood to replace what now stained the floor. It was enough to keep Taeron alive.

"What are you doing?" shrieked Xuxa hysterically. "Let him die!"

For just a moment, Staefyn wavered and Amyr knew that Staefyn could not help being torn by the female to whom he was bonded and the brother of his heart. If he left them to go to her, Taeron would probably die and Amyr would not be surprised that his mate's pull was stronger. But Staefyn remained with them, and if anything, the intensity of his magic increased until Taeron moaned softly as he flirted with consciousness. Staefyn was trying to send him into a healing trance, and Amyr was shocked to feel Taeron fighting it. Taeron's resistance was strong, but Staefyn's magic was stronger.

When Taeron finally relaxed, Staefyn's hold on their magic eased and they all fell back drained. Staefyn turned to hold out his hand to Dijana who stood several steps away, watching anxiously. "He is waiting for you, princess. Go rest with him in a place of peace."

She hesitated at first, and then she stepped away from her father and hurried to them. "Is … is he going to be all right?" she asked hesitantly as if fearing the response.

When Staefyn did not answer, Arora told her, "He needs many days of rest." She looked at Shamara. "Take Dijana to him now. He is restless because he is worried about her."

Although Amyr could sense uneasiness in Dijana, she reached out to take Shamara's hand, but Staefyn seized her wrist and placed her hand over Taeron's. When she collapsed beside him, Roehan moved anxiously towards them until Arora put up her hand to stop him.

"Are you pleased with yourself?" snarled Xuxa as Staefyn rose. "You could have killed him! You should have killed him years ago when I demanded it of you!"

Staefyn took a step towards her, but his mother reached out to lay a hand on his arm. "Please, Staefyn, do not go to that woman."

He did not look at his mother and Amyr sensed the waves of pain rolling off them. "I must," he said regretfully. "She is my mate." And he shook off Arora's hand to approach Xuxa.

Before he could, Lord Duo cut him off and Trey moved past him, sword in hand, but Xuxa scurried back from him, stumbling onto the terrace and before anyone could reach her, she had seized Keilana and held the blade of a thin, sharp dagger against the pulse at her neck.

"If you come any closer, I will kill her!"

Amyr was shocked by his father's disinterested shrug. "Why should I care that you kill the last of house Caron?"

"How did you feel, Trey, to discover what Renaeld did to your mate?" Xuxa cackled as she faced him. "I told Renaeld that I would reward him if he brought that bitch low, and I did."

Trey took a step towards her, clenching his sword tighter in his hand, but Staefyn avoided Lord Duo's attempt to seize him and shot past him to go to his father to grasp his arm before he could swing at both females.

"Keilana is my wife," he reminded Trey. "I have made an oath to her and I must protect her." Ignoring his father's surprise, Staefyn shoved him back and turned his attention to Xuxa. "Let her go. I will protect you."

Xuxa was trembling, her eyes wide and darting frantically over the men and women who had come onto the terrace before settling back on Trey. "You took everything from me when you killed my son! So I took yours!"

Amyr could see that his father was furious. "I fought Dillan in honorable combat and he lost. You took an innocent child and destroyed his life!"

"Why not?" The contemptuous gaze she raked over Staefyn infuriated Amyr. "The bragging little brat deserved it! I laughed to see him treating Larya's bastard as if he were a baseborn interloper when I knew what he was, who he was."

"You knew about Larya all along," Trey accused her furiously.

She laughed, the shrill sound evidence of her insanity. "Of course I knew! Dax told me what he had done to her, what he hoped Zeno would do, but he never told Zeno what he did with Virinea's child and I had but to wait until you took your men into the Wastelands to challenge Meridon's tribe. I paid one of your men to find her for me."

"How could you do what you did to my sister, a child?" demanded Trey

"That bitch's mother took Zeno from me! He was going to make me his wife until she seduced him!" She was shaking so badly that she cut Keilana who gasped but dared not attempt to escape. "I wanted her to pay, but that coward Dax sent Virinea away instead of killing her. He never killed anyone I demanded! So I made that whore's daughter pay instead, again and again!"

"My father was never going to marry you," snarled Trey. "He knew what you had done with Dax; he knew that Dillan was not his son and he never forgave you for betraying him."

Xuxa shook her head. "No! He would have forgiven me, but that human bitch took him away from me! Just like Valerya! Valerya took Dax away from me too."

Her crazed gaze fell on Arora. "And you took my son! Trey may have killed him, but you took Dillan! You bonded him!"

Arora's hand flew to her chest. "He demanded that I make the oath to him!"

The older woman was shaking violently. "You were all he could think about, all he spoke about, and he suffered from your absence! He followed you when I told him he should not, and when you returned, he would not rest until he had you! He pleaded with Dax for you, and he begged Zeno, and when he failed, he followed you into the Wastelands."

"My father never would have handed her over to Dillan," stated Trey. "He knew what she was meant to do from the moment he held her in his hands when she was an infant destined for the sands."

Xuxa shook her head vehemently. "No! He was punishing me!"

There was not a person in the room that did not believe Xuxa was insane, and yet Staefyn held out his hand to her. "Please, Xuxa, release Keilana. She has done nothing to you."

Her wide gaze fixed on Staefyn. "You want her," she accused, pressing the point of the dagger against Keilana's skin, drawing more blood. "You couldn't have that red-haired bitch, so now you want this useless female."

"You know that I only want you, Xuxa," he cajoled her with an affectionate smile that he should reserve for a young woman like Keilana, not a woman older than his grandmother. "She means nothing to me."

Amyr could see that his father was disturbed that Staefyn was trying to appease Xuxa, especially since he had already voiced his lack of interest in Keilana's fate. While he did not particularly care for the house Caron female, Amyr would not wish to watch her die at the hands of the hag now holding her life in her hands. He could see that his mother was anxious for Keilana, but there was nothing she could do to help her.

Only Staefyn might be able to talk Xuxa out of killing her, and once he did, if he could, what would happen? Did Staefyn think he could leave with Xuxa? Did he imagine that his parents would forgive the cold-hearted monster? Because he had been bonded to Quynn, Amyr understood how Staefyn felt, how he would do anything for even that woman, but she had used him and now she knew that he could not help her from the fate she would receive on the edge of the emperor's sword. Since he could no longer protect her, she was going to completely destroy him.

Xuxa sneered at Staefyn. "I know she means nothing to you, how could she when you belong to me?"

"I don't want her. I never wanted her." He took a step closer to her. "I would not have given her my oath if you had not told me to do so."

"Then why do you care what I do to her?" Xuxa narrowed her eyes on him. "Are you going to use your sorcery to claim her?"

He shook his head. "I have no sorcery for that, Xuxa. Why would I wish to? You are the only woman I ever think about, the only woman I have ever wanted."

For a moment it seemed as if she were going to relent after his heartfelt statement and she lowered the dagger, and seeing her waver, Staefyn suddenly leaped forward to seize her wrist and break her hold on Keilana. Keilana stumbled away and Amyr sprang to catch her and draw her out of Xuxa's reach. Staefyn was struggling with Xuxa for control of the dagger, both of them stumbling dangerously close to the edge of the terrace, but he was stronger and he forced her to drop the weapon.

"I hate you!" she shrieked. "I have always hated you! I should have fed you poison that day!"

Staefyn pulled her against him and held her struggling body close. "You did feed me poison that day, Xuxa."

No one moved towards them. Amyr held Keilana behind him as he watched them warily, and he saw that his parents were hesitant to approach when he held the viper in his arms.

Xuxa reached up to caress his cheek with her thin hand. "You were always true to me, Staefyn."

He smiled down at her. "Everything I did was for you."

"It was not enough!" She suddenly shoved him and he stumbled back towards the balustrade, and as he tried to get his balance, Xuxa scrambled for the dagger.

Suddenly the cringing serving woman burst into action and dived for the dagger, reaching it before Xuxa. Staefyn could not stop her from plunging the blade into her chest.

"No!" Staefyn cried out as Xuxa stumbled towards the edge of the terrace, gasping to breathe as blood flowed from her body.

Staefyn tried to reach her, to heal her, but Vaedra was screaming incoherently at Xuxa as the two women struggled and careened away from him.

"Vaedra!" cried out Quynn, her voice thick with emotion. "Please stop, Vaedra!"

But the other woman lurched against Xuxa and they disappeared over the edge of the balcony. Staefyn dived toward them, his body nearly going over the balustrade, but he caught himself on the edge with one hand while the other incredibly managed to grip Xuxa's wrist. "Hold on to me, Xuxa!"

"By the gods, Staefyn, let her go!" shouted his father, taking a hesitant step forward.

"I cannot!" Amyr could see tears rolling down Staefyn's cheeks when he turned to look back at them. "I cannot bear to live without her!"

No one was close enough to react when Staefyn released the balustrade and followed Xuxa over the edge. Arora cried out and Trey pulled her into his arms to keep her from going to the edge of the terrace that loomed above the gorge where the canyon beasts had gone after breaking through the gates. Lord Duo reluctantly moved past them, peered over the edge, then looked at Trey shaking his head. Amyr felt sick to his stomach that his brother would sacrifice his life for the wretched woman. She had completely destroyed him as she took her revenge for events that happened long before his birth.

Seeing Quynn's stricken face, Amyr released Keilana and hurried to embrace his wife. She burst into tears against his chest and he held her tightly as she vented her grief. He was ashamed to realize that in the months Staefyn had held her as a prisoner in Guerani Palace, she had come to know him better than Amyr ever had. Staefyn had closed himself off from everyone but Taeron. He had taken Quynn to protect her because he did not think Amyr was worthy of her and that he would only cause her pain.

As he held his weeping mate, Amyr thought that Staefyn had been right. He had not been worthy of Quynn when he seduced her into exchanging vows with him, doing so only for selfish reasons. But his powers had given him the empathy that he had lacked. He regretted that Staefyn had never been able to feel the love that he did for Quynn for any woman, that even his incredible powers could not save him from Xuxa.

He took Quynn back to her chamber and he stayed with her, holding her as Chaela sat nearby with Yori who was in a trance of his own making that Chaela could not breach. Amyr had felt Yori's power in the shaking of the ground that had made the sharpshooters on the roof lose their balance and plummet to their deaths. Yori's power had been augmented by the ancestors who surely wished to help Staefyn, but in the end, even they had failed to save him. Staefyn's voice would join with theirs and the thought made him weep with his wife.

Lord Duo came into the room after a few hours to report that the thralls had been rounded up, that they had been freed of Kai's control with his death and were wandering about aimlessly. Quynn stirred in his arms upon hearing it, and she reached up to unclasp the collar around her neck which came away easily now that Kai was dead. She threw the device across the room and the stones shattered against the wall, and as she touched the scars on her neck, Amyr regretted that she would always have this reminder of what Kai had done.

"Staefyn tried to heal me," she murmured after her hand fell away from the scars. "He kept me safe."

Amyr drew her into his arms. She told him how difficult it had been to rest after Staefyn had brought Dijana to the palace as a reward for Kai. Quynn had feared for them all, not just from Kai, but from Xuxa as well. Staefyn had believed he was doing Quynn a favor by bringing Yori, but he had put her son in danger. Now she cried herself to sleep as Amyr held her, and like her, he succumbed to exhaustion after all that had happened in the last few days.

When he awoke, the suns where shining brightly, so he realized that he had slept through the day and night. Quynn was gone and Yori was curled up against him. Amyr touched him to find out if he was still in a trance, but Yori was only sleeping, so he slipped an arm around his son and drew him close as he dozed. Later he would ask him what he had been doing in his trance.

"Are you going to sleep all day?" Reluctantly opening his eyes, he found his father leaning over him. Now even Yori was gone, so Amyr yawned, stretched and sat up.

He ran his hands through his hair and after rubbing his face, he looked at his father. "I did not realize I was so tired." The truth was that he felt deep sorrow for what had happened to Staefyn and he could not resist the feeling that if he had not been so selfish when he was younger, if he had been a good brother instead of a tyrant, Staefyn would not have fallen prey to Xuxa.

His father sat on the edge of the bed and put his hand on Amyr's shoulder. "He is gone, Amyr, and there is nothing we can do to change it. We all knew this could happen when we brought the army to the Wastelands."

"I was a terrible brother," he admitted with shame.

"And I was an overindulgent father," Trey said with a sigh. "I should have realized that Staefyn needed our help, but I chose to believe the lies he told me."

"He didn't have any choice." If Quynn made the demands of him that Xuxa had made of Staefyn, Amyr would do whatever she wanted.

"I know that, but it doesn't make his choice any easier to bear. Your sisters have been comforting your mother, but I don't know how much they can help after she watched her child die."

Amyr could sense his father's sorrow, but he did not try to comfort him because he knew he would not appreciate that he read his feelings so easily. Instead he said, "I could not believe you would have gladly watched Xuxa kill Keilana. When did you become so heartless, father? "

For a moment his father did not speak and then he said, "Her father committed a heinous act on the woman I love, my bonded mate, and when I see her, I think of what he did. Given the choice between her and saving my son, I would gladly watch that madwoman cut open her throat."

"Her death would not have saved Staefyn and it would not erase what Renaeld did to mother," Amyr told him. "How will you feel in the future when you see her. Taeron has made an oath to care for Keilana, so you may see her often."

"Taeron acted against my judgment, but he was wise in taking Keilana into his house. I am confident that he will be a fair and just ruler when I have relinquished my throne to him."

"Has he returned?" Amyr felt guilty that he had not checked on Taeron whose trance must have been disturbed by Staefyn's death.

"He and Dijana are still in a trance. Larya arrived late last night and she spoke to him, but he did not react. Apolo doesn't know how, but he believes that Staefyn enabled Taeron to remain in the trance without the presence of a Guerani. Shamara entered it on Trynity's behest so that he and Dijana can take some nourishment, but he sent her out, and I gather that he was not very polite about it. Shamara was upset when she returned."

If there were no Guerani in his trance, how was Taeron able to stay in it? Although he wanted an answer to the question, Amyr did not think he would be able to succeed where Shamara had failed when his sister had grown so close to Taeron during her adventurous courtship with Prince Dagan. At the time he had been annoyed because Taeron had been taken from his side, but he had grown wise enough to realize that he had been jealous of their friendship. Perhaps he had even seen the relationship that had developed between Staefyn and Taeron but refused to acknowledge it.

Looking at his father, Amyr was reluctant to ask, "Do you think I should try to convince him to come out?"

"You are his friend and brother by marriage. Need I remind you that it is your duty as his imperial guard to protect him, even from himself?" Trey went to Amyr and put his arm around his shoulders. "We will hold a memorial for Staefyn here tomorrow. I don't think Taeron could forgive himself if he failed to remember the brother of his heart with us."

He had no choice but to do what he least wanted. But he went in search of his mate first, finding her sitting in the beautiful, large garden leading from the master suite intended for his mother that Staefyn had occupied during his stay. When he crossed through the chamber, Amyr was surprised by the simplicity of the furnishings because he would have assumed that Xuxa would have decorated it to her liking, a liking that already precipitated removing everything she had put in the palace. Workers were busy doing so under Larya's direction. She had only paused for a moment in ordering the men to give Amyr a terse demand that he bring her son from the trance so that she could comfort him and be assured that he was well.

Quynn was sitting on a bench toward the back of the garden with Yori on her lap, her head bent to listen to something Yori told her, a smile curving her lovely lips. With the sun bathing her, Amyr could not help but feel that he was the most fortunate of men to have her as his wife.

She must have heard his approach because she looked up, and now she blessed him with the love in her eyes. "I see that you are finally awake," she remarked. "Stryfe checked on you several times, and he said he even poked you with his quill, but you did not respond."

"Where is your brother? Did he arrive with Larya?"

Quynn smiled. "Both he and Larya arrived on Jeshed's back." Staefyn's death had released the spell on Jeshed's collar as Kai's had released Quynn to use her magic.

Imagining Larya on the dragon's back, Amyr chuckled. "And what did Larya have to say about that?"

"That she enjoyed it and told Jeshed that she would be making a list of places she wanted to visit both on Calabria and Dagmaeus."

Amyr smiled. "And your brother?"

"Nagging my father for every detail he can remember from what happened. He is angry that Trey did not allow him to accompany them on their assault, but I think Trey did not want Stryfe to record all the details."

"I suppose your father has selective memory loss," he remarked with a sigh. No one would want it known that the emperor's son had chosen death than life without that wretched female.

"Come sit with us. Yori says that you will be surprised."

Raising his brows in curiosity, Amyr went to sit beside Quynn on the bench and he was about to ask Yori what he meant when he heard the voices on the winds, and he was so amazed that he could not even speak. The ancestors spoke to him, telling him what he needed to hear to soothe the sorrow that he felt over his role in what had happened to Staefyn. He could not hear a single voice, but many voices blended together, and yet he could not hear individual words because they spoke to his heart.

"Staefyn sat here often," Quynn told him as she took his hand and laced their fingers together. "Yori says that if you take his hand, you can help me and our child hear them as Staefyn surely heard them each time he sat in the garden." She laughed ruefully. "I thought he was ogling me through the bushes."

"What good would that have done him?" asked Amyr with a snort.

Quynn smiled although he saw tears shimmering in her gaze. "I should have known better when I did not hear him gagging."

Amyr took his son's hand and he watched the play of emotions on Quynn's face as she heard the ancestors, the surprise and the joy at being included in their number. She blurred in his vision as tears came to his eyes, and she put her head on his shoulder to tell him that she loved him, that they would move on from this sorrowful time in their lives.

They sat entwined for what must have been hours with the words on the winds easing their pain until Amyr reluctantly admitted that he was supposed to be coaxing Taeron from the trance so that he could eat and rebuild his strength. Yori wanted to remain in the garden, but Quynn went with Amyr to the room where Taeron had been taken. He was lying on a bed with Dijana, and along with Quynn's mother, the other Guerani were sitting in the room with them. Shamara was talking with Chaela, and Apolo and Arora's heads were bent towards each other although they did not speak aloud. Lady Trynity was hovering over the pair on the bed.

His mother looked up when he entered the room. "I expected you some time ago after your father told me you would be coming to help."

Amyr glanced at Quynn before responding. "I wanted to see my wife and child first, and they gave me an amazing experience. There is a spot in the garden off Staefyn's chamber that resonates the voices of the ancestors very strongly."

His uncle nodded. "I believe Staefyn drew their presence here with his pain."

The reminder of Staefyn's miserable existence would have saddened Amyr again, but Quynn reached out to squeeze his hand. She had no Guerani power, but her touch comforted him.

Her mother was holding Taeron by the wrist and she looked at him after releasing it. "Taeron needs food, as does Dijana," she told him. "The child will take from her and she will weaken. I don't think Taeron would want that."

"He would not listen to me," spoke up Shamara. "He was rude to me, and he has never been rude to anyone, certainly not to me."

"He is grieving," said Apolo. "He was closer to Staefyn than any of us, closer than any of us can even imagine. He shared everything with Staefyn except the one thing that killed him and I think Taeron is feeling responsible for not protecting him."

"If you think I can help him, I will go, but if Shamara cannot get him to listen, then what hope do I have?"

Arora went to Amyr and put her hand on his cheek. For a moment she did not speak and then she said, "He loves you, too, Amyr. You have gone through much together. You shared with him the thing that Staefyn could not in the bond of love you both have come to have with your mates."

"I will go with you," offered Quynn. "If he does not listen to you, perhaps he will listen to me. I have experience in talking ornery brothers into behaving."

Amyr was not afraid to go alone, but he accepted Quynn's help anyway. So twining their fingers, he sat on the edge of the bed near Taeron who lay still as death, his eyes closed. He noted that all his wounds had been healed, the last healing that Staefyn had ever performed. Sighing, Amyr took Quynn onto his lap, and he reached out to lay his hand over the hands clasped over Taeron's heart.

The arrival in the trance was smooth and they were taken to the pond on Norvana where Amyr had discovered that Taeron had bonded himself to Dijana. But Taeron and Dijana were not there, and when he took a step to leave the pond, Quynn, still holding his hand, prevented him.

"Are you sure we don't have a few moments to enjoy the pool?" she asked with an impish smile. "I know how slow time passes in the real world. What we might do for hours here would only be a few minutes."

As much as he wanted to appease her, he reluctantly shook his head. "I have an obligation to Taeron."

She frowned at him. "What happened to the Amyr I used to know?"

"I caught hell for being with you in Staefyn's trance. I am not going through that humiliating experience again."

Quynn looked at him skeptically. "Did you take some of my mother's libido killing medicine?"

Leaning down to kiss the top of her head he said, "I don't need it. If you want a bonded male slave, then I regret to inform you that my bond to you dissolved when my powers became stronger."

She blew out her breath in an irritated huff. "Does that mean the sex won't be as good?"

Amyr chuckled and drew her into his arms. "If I were not concerned about Taeron and Dijana, I would prove to you how much better it will be."

She turned and fitted his arm around her waist. "Let's look for them. The sooner we send them on their way, the sooner I can have you to myself in this lovely place."

"Norvana is lovely? I did not particularly care for it." His actions on Norvana were at the pinnacle of his shameful, selfish behavior of the past.

Quynn probably understood because she did not argue with him, but as they walked through the wooded area near the pond, he saw Norvana through her eyes and realized how beautiful and magical the planet had been. Yori's powers had surely been enhanced by the same forces that gave Quynn and Taeron magic and had given Carrinda the ability to break a bonding tie. Guerani magic could not break the bond because it was not an illness but the manifestation of a stage of a Calabrian male's life. Xuxa had trapped Staefyn before his powers had emerged and he could not fight it.

They soon found Taeron sitting on the ground with his back propped against an ancient tree's enormous trunk. He held Dijana before him, her back against his chest, and as she rested her head against his shoulder and spoke to him, he splayed his hand on her belly while he smiled down into her eyes as he listened to her.

But he sensed their arrival and the smile faded to be replaced with a frown as he looked up to spear them with his furious gaze. Amyr thought he saw gold in his eyes, but he realized it must have been a trick of the light.

"Why have you come to disturb us?" he demanded with annoyance.

Dijana gave them an apologetic look but she did not speak.

"You need to come out of the trance, Taeron," stated Amyr gently, but firmly.

"Why? I did what they asked of me. Kai is gone, and Xuxa is gone. Staefyn is gone! Your lives can go on as if they had never existed."

Amyr felt the hurt and sorrow that overwhelmed Taeron. What Staefyn had done in locking away his memories had been far kinder than what they did in exposing them. Taeron would never be the same. He had not wielded a sword against Staefyn, but he felt responsible for everything that had happened to him since the day he had led him out of the canyon where he had rescued him only to lead him in the the clutches of a monster.

"None of our lives will go on as they were," Amyr assured him. He nodded to Dijana. "Do you want her to suffer? She has been in this trance with you for almost two days and she needs to eat for the sake of your child. Lady Trynity is worried about both of you." He glanced at the hand that flexed protectively on her belly. "You don't want any harm to come to Caelitha or Dijana, do you?"

Immediately Taeron was urging Dijana to stand. "Go back with Quynn."

"I won't go back without you," she told him with a stubborn lift to her chin. Amyr almost laughed to see Taeron's surprise that she would defy him. The crown prince was not going to have an easy future with this willful Teralonian female.

"Can I at least have a few moments alone with Amyr?" asked Taeron.

"No! A few moments could turn into a few hours and we don't know how long that would be in the world where your body lays in want of nourishment," she said wisely. She looked at Amyr who was marveling at how Dijana had changed since the first time he had seen her. "We only just finished … bathing and came to sit under the tree to rest. He was trying to convince me to eat a spider."

Quynn laughed. "Time usually passes faster in these trances. You must have been … bathing for a very long time."

Dijana rose now and Taeron did not protest, but he looked at Amyr as if he wanted to thrash him for disturbing their privacy. "I am hungry. My mother is probably waiting for me with a bowl of berries and nuts."

"I doubt it," remarked Quynn with a laugh. "This morning I had to fight her for the last of the murkwater spider."

Taeron slipped an arm around her waist and he dangled a spider before her eyes. "This is your last chance, princess." When she made a sound of disgust, he popped it into his mouth.

She shoved him away. "I am not ever kissing you again."

But Taeron grasped her wrist, pulled her back to him and within seconds she was enthusiastically kissing him. That was how they were when they shimmered and disappeared from the trance.

Quynn looked at Amyr with her brows raised. "And my brother is not bonded."

Amyr smiled and took her hand to pull her to him. "Your brother is not here anymore and I recall that the mossy ground under this tree is quite comfortable."

She slipped her arms around his neck. "We should return to the pond where I can heat up the water and we can ... bathe."

"By the gods, I hope I am up to all the … bathing that you have in mind."

Quynn laughed as she hooked her foot around his ankle and dropped him to the ground. Straddling him, she gave him a smile that put him in the proper frame of mind. "I will make sure you are up to it, husband."