Heart Fortune (Celta) Page 4

  Her turn to gasp and groan. She liked the feel of him on her, the slight hair-roughness of his skin as he moved against her, tantalizing, tempting. Seducing.

  Just being with him seduced her. More exciting than any man, the scent and taste and the feel of him. How his rhythm of loving matched hers.

  He murmured nonsense words and she put her mouth on his and he opened his lips and rubbed his tongue against hers. His hands clamped around her butt and she welcomed the squeeze, the familiarity of him mingling with the innate knowledge that they belonged together. She yearned, and even her body understood that soon they would join in more than dreams. Yes.

  Their tongues tangled, stroked and the flavor of him—his energy—mixing, matching, mingling with hers until desire held a scent and a promise of fulfillment.

  He thrust into her, filled her, and she clamped her arms around him, arched with him, to the beat of the fast sex. Yes. Yes. Yes!

  * * *

  Jace awoke near dawn. He’d had another sex dream, and while it had been great, he had to use some energy to cleanse himself and his bedding, which was getting tedious. He sniffed deeply, but his tent didn’t smell bad . . . in fact, his nostrils strained to capture Glyssa’s remembered fragrance, even though his mind knew she hadn’t truly been present. In the dreams he could smell her, the perfume she used, lilac, he thought, and woman. And womanly lust. That was the best.

  He grabbed a robe and headed toward the showers. Spell cleansing was all well and good, but he liked the feel of cool water sluicing down his body. Plenty of water in the area. Plenty humidity . . . from the huge inland Deep Blue Sea and the nearby Fish Story lake.

  As he passed by Andic’s tent, Funa emerged, stretching. Her silkeen robe was a lot thinner than his own sturdy thick cotton. She sent him a sleepy and sexually satisfied smile that yet had a come-hither look, and he forced himself to curve his mouth and gave her a casual wave. Would have been good to have had a real woman in his arms last night, though even the in-person sex with Funa hadn’t been as good as what he’d had with Glyssa Licorice.

  Despite himself, and the nature of flings, he’d remembered more than her name. GrandMistrys Glyssa Licorice, second daughter of GrandLord and GrandLady Licorice, of the PublicLibrary Licorices, an ancestral heritage of duty, obligation, and being trapped in a Family . . . this one not the little-f bad family like his, but a Family, with big expectations.

  Since Glyssa had gone wild in Jace’s arms, he figured that most of her life being a slave to Family tradition and duty and whatever had made her repress her passions. He’d liked the effect in bed, but didn’t think they’d have much in common otherwise.

  A tiny wisp of an idea snuck into his mind about HeartMates. Could Glyssa—No! Stop now. He wouldn’t think of HeartMates.

  He wasn’t ready for a HeartMate, didn’t think he’d ever be ready for those ties. Didn’t really believe in HeartMates, anyway, just legend . . . despite seeing the lovey-dovey Elecampanes.

  Husband-wife love really didn’t exist and families were traps.

  Raz Cherry Elecampane was an actor and had acted himself into believing in HeartMates, and had worn down his more hardheaded wife.

  And, yeah, Jace had felt those bonding dreams during the dreamquests that freed his Flair-psi-magic. He’d even made a HeartMate token, but still didn’t believe in real love between couples.

  Lady and Lord knew he hadn’t seen loving between his own parents . . . his father’s adoration of a selfish woman who gave and withheld affection and sex wasn’t love.

  Nope, he wasn’t going down that road. No permanent woman who would make him beg. Or do the opposite, cling to him. Not happening.

  He stepped into the shower tent, dropped his robe, and let the cool water pound the stupid idea of HeartMates back into a tiny part of his brain . . . or sense into his emotions. He didn’t care where he’d stashed the notion before, but he wanted it gone.

  Along with the tiny bud of yearning for loving and being loved. Another legend. People used each other in marriage. Loving was just a damn lie.

  DRUIDA CITY,

  The Same Morning

  After TransitionBell and before dawn, Laev and Camellia Hawthorn picked Glyssa up at the Licorice house.

  Laev’s sleek new glider held three easily and sped through the night to Southern Airpark. Lepid slept in a basket over Glyssa’s arm. He’d worn himself out running around the library “looking at secrets before we go.” Hopefully not chasing the cats. Though if he had, Glyssa wouldn’t hear about it because her Family had retired before she and the fox had gone to bed. Not that she’d slept well.

  They exited the glider into the night and walked to the waiting airship that had a cockpit for two and a long fuselage for storage. It looked fast. Faster than the fat, ungainly ships she and her Family occasionally took to check out the Gael City Libraries under their direction.

  Glyssa’s steps lagged as she headed toward the open cockpit door, glass wrapped around the whole front of the airship. She swallowed, steadied her nerves. She didn’t like heights, but she would do this.

  Her friends hugged her before Laev helped her with the long step up and into the zoom-ship. She shivered and told herself she was chilled, though the night was warm.

  Laev patted the side of the portal. “This baby will get you to the excavation in half a day. Fast and serviceable.” He looked at the pilot. “All the equipment on board?”

  She lifted a brow at him. “A non-Flaired transport came from Nuada’s Sword with a lot of items. Everything is fine and stowed safely.” The pilot glanced at Glyssa in her traveling clothes, short tunic and narrow-legged trous. No extra material. “Also a giant duffle gear bag from Outside Outfitters.”

  Taking Glyssa’s hand to kiss it, Laev said, “The very latest in camping gear for you.”

  “What?” Glyssa knew her eyes rounded.

  “He had a great time choosing and buying everything,” Camellia said. “There’s also furniture, the new miniaturized sort that becomes full-sized when activated by a Flair spellword.” Camellia sounded disapproving. But then all three of the friends liked beautifully worked furnishings. “So the chairs and tables, cabinets, et cetera, aren’t very sturdy.” She stepped into the airship to hug Glyssa tightly. “Be safe, and—” Camellia switched to mindspeech. Let me know when you are there and all is fine.

  Glyssa hugged her friend back. Doubts spun through her mind and she squashed them. Concentrate on the adventure of it all!

  I will, she replied telepathically. Thank the Lady and Lord that mental bonds had no distance limits . . . at least on Celta.

  Camellia fixed the harness over Glyssa and the basket holding her new Fam, then placed a huge hamper of food and drink “for the trip” in the spacious area around Glyssa’s feet. As Camellia hopped back down, she narrowed a look at her husband. “You did keep the idea of safety uppermost in your mind, didn’t you, for Glyssa’s tent? Didn’t just choose what was the latest and looked the best?”

  He put on an offended expression. “Of course I chose the most secure option.”

  “Time to go,” said the pilot.

  “Keep in touch!” the Hawthorns said in unison, then grinned at each other in delight, leaned in to kiss, Glyssa’s last sight of them as the airship door thunked shut and the airship rose.

  It reassured her that she was doing the absolutely right thing in going after her HeartMate—finding adventure herself.

  Septhours later, they landed without a bump at a cleared area the pilot said was designated for airships.

  Glyssa and the pilot off-loaded her supplies while most of the people milled around the back end of the airship and storage area, moving the equipment from Nuada’s Sword with great care under the gazes of the Elecampanes.

  Suddenly, a shriek came to her ears. “No! Catch that FoxFam!”

  Glyssa whirled, her chest constricting, as she saw Lepid heading for a hole in the ground. “Lepid!” she yelled. He didn’t listen.

 
* * *

  Jace had been sauntering to the airship like the others in camp when the woman stepped out of the cockpit. He stared, stunned. Rumor had it that this ship brought brand-new tech for communications over a long distance developed by the sentient starship Nuada’s Sword, in Druida City. And an Important Personage.

  He stopped, tucked his thumbs in his belt, and stared as he recognized Glyssa Licorice. The librarian he’d been having sex dreams about. A person who he’d never thought would be caught in the wilds of Celta.

  A small animal dashed by him, then a scream came from behind him and he spun in time to see a fluffy foxtail wave as it started down the beam. A young FamFox. Great.

  “Lepid!” Glyssa shouted.

  Swearing and chanting the best damn spellshields to protect himself that he knew, he bounded toward the girder, running fast enough that he felt his hair lift and the sweat on his scalp dry. He got to the beam angling into the ground just in time to see the small fox stop and look over its back, mouth open and tongue loose in a smile.

  “Wait!” Jace yelled.

  Five

  The fox flipped his tail. Catch me if you can! I looove hiding places, and this smells WONDERFUL. Smells all through the camp!

  Which might be why the Elecampane Fams—two cats and a fox—had taken one sniff and never returned. Obviously “wonderful” was in the nose of the sniffer.

  Another twitch of the tail and the fox disappeared into the hole. Jace struggled with temptation for a few seconds. Drew up memory to visualize what he’d seen down there the last time. A small clear area with a metal wall in front, a loose rockslide to his left. Solid wall of rock and debris to his right and behind him, though the top of another wall could be seen. At the end, when they’d opened it up and pulled him out, he’d seen sky.

  With a last prayer to the Lady and Lord and a final test to his personal spellshields—he didn’t think the fox had any—Jace walked down the beam. No trembling under his weight, a good sign.

  When he reached the hole, he sat and scooted downward. “I’m coming.” He kept his voice low, not wanting anything to trigger another landslide.

  He was answered by a series of high, excited yips from the fox below. People shouted, words and maybe his name, but nothing he heard clearly. He slid into the hole, the leather of his trous caused him to pick up speed and he nearly lost his balance. “Coming down!” he said just before he tipped off the beam.

  He landed with bent knees in the gloom at the bottom of the hole. Blinking as his eyes adjusted to the dimness, he saw no sign of the fox.

  Scrabbling sounded to his left. “Are you there . . . Lepid?” That was the name Glyssa had screamed.

  Rock fell from above, striking him on his left shoulder. He jumped to the side, coughed, put his arms over his face, caught a glimpse of a fox butt wriggling through a hole at the top of the rock.

  “Whee!” The fox’s noise accompanied rock sliding on the other side of the left pile. Jace eyed the top where a rectangle of black showed. He could squeeze through it . . . if sufficiently foolhardy.

  I see. I SEE, man!

  Wiping his arm across his mouth even though he’d try telepathy, Jace pushed a mental comment to the fox. What do you see? He heard scratching and clicking that made him think of dancing paws, then a dash away. . . .

  I see storage boxes, I see a hallway. I see more rocks. I see HOLES.

  Envy whipped through Jace. “Come back here at once!” He scrambled for a threat. “Or I’ll ensure you have no treats for a month, a long time.”

  He sensed the fox pausing, ears cocked. Treats? I will get treats?

  Did that mean he hadn’t? Uh-oh.

  Jace’s shoulders tensed. I promise. Come back now so you can tell all that you have seen to everyone!

  So I can tell all that I have seen to everyone! The fox gave a cheerful chirrup.

  Paw sounds running back. Leaps on the other side of the rock– pile.

  Rockslide! Yelps of pain!

  Jace plunged forward into the scree, taking bruising hits against his body, muscling through, snatching the fox just before a big chunk of metal hit red fur. Jace hunched over, turning his head for breath, while the sound of the fall echoed.

  The small, young fox shivered in his arms. You are fast!

  “Thanks.” He coughed at the renewed dust in the air, straightened and pivoted back to see the pile was now no more than three-quarters of a meter high. The rest of the rockfall had spread out into a room that held several round-cornered storage boxlike objects. A shelf with several smaller boxes had netting pulled over it and sealed against the wall. He wanted to run and open a box or two and see what was inside.

  Not his place, and man, he wished it were. Wished he had enough gilt to convince the Elecampanes to take him on as a partner. Then he’d . . . Stupid. Stup! He didn’t have the means, he was just a worker.

  When the dust diminished he noted a corridor leading off the room, a tilted and crumpled sheet of metal bisecting it, some boulders, but also dark space.

  He gritted his teeth. People were shouting down at him.

  “I’m fine,” he yelled up. “We’re both fine!”

  It took fortitude he didn’t know he had to turn away from the beckoning adventure, back to the girder going up. The clear area around his feet was less, since rock had fallen there, too. He scuffed a foot to send some pebbles back toward the piles, making the spot less treacherous for the next feet coming down.

  He didn’t know who’d be the next down, but . . .

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” boomed Raz Cherry T’Elecampane.

  “Yes. Coming up!”

  The fox whined low in his throat, then wriggled and looked up at Jace.

  I found a secret way! I am a hero!

  Jace smiled. He understood that bright and shiny feeling.

  The hole above was bigger now, he could easily see the deep blue sky and high, scarflike white clouds. He kicked at the beam which had fallen to a lower angle, but it seemed to rest solidly against rock. The girder didn’t move. Steadying his grasp on the fox, he began walking up. His work boots gripped the metal through the dust, didn’t slip or slide. He kept a good hold on the wriggling fox.

  This has been very fun! Lepid said.

  As people began to see them, they cheered. He strode faster, grinning. He’d beaten the odds again. He’d cheated death again.

  He was a hero again.

  Just the way he liked it.

  “Thank you so much!” a woman gushed—Glyssa. Her voice tweaked his nerve endings as she broke away from Raz T’Elecampane holding her back in the circle of people watching. Jace didn’t like seeing the man’s hands on her.

  No mistaking her carroty hair tightly controlled in a braid around her head. He would not remember the springy abundance of that hair slipping across his body.

  She flushed when she saw him, glanced aside, brushed at the severely cut tunic and trous suit of dust brown.

  The fox licked Jace under his chin. He enjoyed it, the weight of the animal, too.

  I like you, too, Lepid said.

  All right, the FoxFamiliar could read his mind or sense his emotions. He tightened his inner shields.

  Lepid whined in disappointment. I can’t hear you as much, now.

  “You don’t need to.”

  And Glyssa was there, pale again and breathing hard with fear, followed by Funa Twinevine who eyed him narrowly.

  “Thank you so much.” Glyssa looked up into his eyes and he knew she hadn’t forgotten their sex fling, either. She glanced aside. “GentleSir.”

  His muscles relaxed slightly, glad she was playing this cool. He wasn’t ready to acknowledge their past small affair. If she was here for a while, they’d have to relate out of bed.

  The FoxFam hopped back into her arms and licked her. Jace’s gaze fixed on her moist skin, remembered the taste of that. More than her skin.

  “You’re welcome, GentleLady,” he said.

  She stuck out h
er hand as the young fox climbed up her chest and settled around her shoulders. “Glyssa Licorice,” she said, “and my Fam is Lepid.”

  He took her fingers . . . cool and smooth, and he accepted the sizzle of desire that went straight to his groin as he kept his face stuck in a casual smile. He found himself bowing over her hand, something he hadn’t done since he’d met GrandLady Del D’Elecampane. Some women’s presence simply demanded that. The innate elegance of Glyssa had always called to him.

  A snort came from Funa. Andic walked up to stand next to Jace. He released Glyssa’s fingers as he straightened and let Andic shoulder him aside.

  “Andic Sanicle,” the man said, taking her hand and also bowing. “And surely you belong to the PublicLibrary Licorices, the GrandHouse?”

  She smiled at Andic. “Surely I do. I’m here to help with the recording of these historic events.”

  Another huff from Funa at the statement and Glyssa withdrew her hand from Andic, pivoted to Funa. “And here for my field trip and research to qualify for my FirstLevel Librarianship status.”

  “Huh.” Funa crossed her arms.

  “Hey, Glyssa,” shouted the pilot from long meters away. “Come get your stuff.”

  “Excuse me, please.” Glyssa nodded to them and turned, hurrying back toward the airship and a new, huge two-meter-long duffle bag of licorice red that would take Flair to move. With the coat of arms of the PublicLibrary.

  Jace watched the sway of her body as she walked, supple, energetic, just like she’d been in bed.

  The fox on her shoulders looked back at him, barked, and loosened his jaw in a smile, tongue out to taste the air.

  “As for you . . .” She lifted the fox and as her path angled away Jace saw her making a grumpy face at the kit. “You be more careful, and can you please mind what I say?”

  Lepid gave a sharp bark, though Jace couldn’t think the FoxFam had agreed.