“ We have…visitor,” Jelena said in a low voice, and leaned aside so that Ashinji could see the window. The raven had not moved.
“ What’s this, then! How dare you sit there and spy on us like that! Can’t you see we wish to be alone?” Ashinji pulled a pillow from underneath his head and hurled it at the window. The raven let out an indignant squawk. With a downward sweep of its wings, it launched itself off the sill and disappeared.
Jelena shivered and snuggled close against Ashinji. Something about the way the bird had looked at them- at her- frightened her.
“ What is it, love?” Ashinji asked in a low, concerned voice.
Jelena shook her head, uncertain about why the bird had spooked her so. “That bird…how do you say…Urrr!” In frustration, she lapsed back into Soldaran. “That raven. I don’t know how I know this, but there was something…not right, not natural about it. Ravens don’t just sit on people’s windowsills calmly staring at them.”
Ashinji frowned. “There are many ravens here at Kerala,” he replied in Siri-dar, “all perfectly harmless, but you’re right. It is a little strange. I’ve never had one actually come and sit on my windowsill before now.” He shrugged. “Try not to worry. It’s just a raven. Besides…” His voice became playful. “You have me to protect you from any birds with evil intentions!” He rolled Jelena over onto her back and began to tease her body with his lips and hands, awakening the fire in her still-tender loins.
When he entered her, the pain was brief and swiftly overwhelmed by the ecstasy of union with the man she loved. This time, the soft explosion she had experienced last night became an all-encompassing blast of sensation along every nerve, leaving her wrung out and deliriously happy.
Afterward, she rested in the warm circle of Ashinji’s arms, perfectly content, all thoughts of the raven and its strange behavior banished from her mind.
“ You seemed to enjoy yourself a bit more this time,” Ashinji commented, tenderly stroking her cheek.
Jelena nodded. As before, Ashinji had been gentle and attentive, and her body was learning how to respond properly. “You promised it would get better, and you were right.”
Ashinji shifted his body so that they could lie face to face. “Last night changed everything, Jelena,” he said softly. “There’s no going back to the way it was. In my heart, I am now wed to you, body and soul. All that remains is to make it official. Today, we’ll go to my parents and tell them about us.”
“ Your mother…she knows. I think she is on our side, but your father…” Jelena bit her lip, suddenly afraid of Lord Sen’s reaction. Ashinji’s father was typically a man of good humor, but he had plans for his youngest son, plans that didn’t involve a half-breed kinless girl from Soldara.
“ My father will have to understand. After all, he married my mother because he chose to. Theirs was a marriage of love, not arrangement. I’m the second child, so dynastic considerations shouldn’t play a role in whom I marry since I won’t inherit my father’s title. He may be angry at first, but eventually, he’ll calm down and give us his permission.” He kissed her forehead.
Jelena wished she could share Ashinji’s confidence. “Ashi, please wait to tell your father a little while more. Give me time to find my father…or my family, so I can say to Lord Sen, this is who I am, these are my kin. Otherwise, I have no…honor.” She searched Ashinji’s face for understanding, but she could see that he did not agree with her reasons.
“ You already have the greatest honor in my father’s eyes, beloved. You saved his life. He is obligated to grant you anything that you ask of him,” Ashinji pointed out.
“ I do not wish to get permission from him because of obligation. I wish him to give it freely because he agrees for us to be together,” Jelena responded. “Please, my love. Wait just a little longer.”
Ashinji opened his mouth as if to repeat his objection, then gave in with a frustrated sigh. “I’ll do as you ask, but only for a short while,” he warned. “If my father can’t turn up any leads on your elven family by summer’s end, we’re going to tell him about us. No arguments.”
“ Agreed,” Jelena answered. She stretched and yawned, suddenly reluctant to move, but she knew that she had to report to Lord Sen soon, to find out if he had any messages for her to deliver today. She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Something caught her eye, and she looked down to see a small, irregular scarlet blotch upon the cream-colored mattress cover. She drew in a sharp breath then relaxed in realization.
“ Don’t worry about that,” Ashinji said. He sat up beside her and rubbed her back companionably. “I sometimes cut myself during sword practice. The servants won’t think anything of it.”
The sight of her virgin’s blood brought home the reality of her changed circumstances. Back in Amsara, she had given up hope of ever experiencing the soul-satisfying joy of true lovemaking. At best, she had resigned herself to remaining untouched for her entire life. At worst, she had feared eventual rape by one of several castle louts who had grown increasingly more open and persistent in their intentions as she had grown into young womanhood.
She leaned into Ashinji and he slipped an arm around her shoulder. “I…don’t feel like I deserve you,” she whispered in Soldaran.
“ Don’t ever say that again,” Ashinji chided, placing his hands on either side of her face. “I love you, and that will never change. You are my life. It is I who don’t deserve you.”
He stood up and helped her to her feet. She wiped away the tears that had sprung to her eyes at Ashinji’s heartfelt declaration of love, then bent to gather up her discarded clothing. “Aneko and Kami will know I have been with you,” she sighed as she shrugged into the rumpled chemise. “They will…tease and tease.”
Ashinji pulled on a pair of breeches and came over to help her with the outer gown, tying up the cords at her waist. He smiled. “Let ‘em talk. I don’t care if the entire population of Kerala knows about us.”
Abruptly, his mood shifted, and he spun her around and looked deep into her eyes with a seriousness that frightened her. “Jelena, you need to beware of my brother,” he said in a low voice. “Sadaiyo finds pleasure in anything that hurts me, and I’m afraid that he may try to get to me through you. I don’t think he’s any physical threat to you, but he uses words like they were the keenest of weapons. Don’t believe anything he says. In fact, just avoid him.”
Jelena briefly considered telling Ashinji about her encounter with Sadaiyo the day after the wedding ceremony but decided against it. Not much would be accomplished except that it would further upset Ashinji, and besides, nothing had happened. “I will stay away from Lord Sadaiyo. It will be easy. He never comes to the barracks and I almost never see him except sometimes with your father.”
“ Good. That’s good.” Ashinji ran his hands through his hair and pulled at the rings in his left ear, a gesture that Jelena had come to recognize meant that he felt upset or preoccupied. He forced his face into a semblance of cheeriness. “Are you hungry?
Jelena thought a moment. “Yes, I think I am,” she replied.
“ I’ll walk with you down to the kitchen, then,” Ashinji said. He took her hand. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 28
The raven flew in lazy circles high above the red-tiled rooftops of the castle, its bead-like eyes scanning the landscape below. It had once been a very beautiful bird-sleek and strong-but that was before. Now, it had nearly come to the end of its strength, its life essence depleted in slavery to the alien intelligence that guided its every move.
Hundreds of leagues to the north, deep within his mountain prison, the Nameless One seethed with malevolent triumph. Through the eyes of the raven, he had seen it-the Key, at long last! It burned within its vessel-a cold blue fire-pulsing in rhythm to the beat of the life force that sustained it.