Skylan offered to keep Wulfe with him. He and Aylaen parted with loving looks. Farinn was too busy with his own love song to notice. When Kailani escorted Farinn to his room, which was next to Skylan’s, Farinn was startled to feel Kailani’s fingers twine around his.
“I want to be with you tonight,” Kailani whispered. “If you want me, that is.”
Her hand squeezed his. Her eyes smiled into his. Farinn felt his heart swell with love. He longed to say something clever, something intelligent, but he couldn’t think of a single word. He was as giddy as the night he’d rashly joined in a drinking game with Sigurd and Bjorn.
Farinn must have made his meaning known, for Kailani smiled with pleasure. The guard yelled at her impatiently to come away. Kailani squeezed his hand again and then turned and ran.
Farinn sat down on the bed, but he did not see it. He was floating somewhere far above it in a dream of desire.
For once in his life, the song had gone clean out of his head.
* * *
Farinn watched impatiently for night. Darkness filled his room. He sat waiting eagerly, yet when the knock came on his door, he was paralyzed. He could not move until the second, impatient rapping. Farinn sprang from the bed and flung open the door.
Skylan stood there.
Farinn blinked at him.
“I came to see if you were all right,” said Skylan.
“Oh, uh, yes, I am … um … fine…” Farinn stammered to a halt.
“Are you sure?” said Skylan, regarding Farinn with a slight frown.
Farinn tried to look as though nothing was the matter and apparently failed, for Skylan suddenly laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.
“You sly dog! You were expecting someone else to knock at your door, weren’t you? Someone a lot better looking than I am. What is her name?”
Farinn flushed more deeply and thought he should deny this, but he’d never been good at telling lies.
“Kailani,” he mumbled.
Skylan said with a wink, “I saw her. She is a beauty. Have your fun, lad.”
Skylan left, still laughing. Farinn closed the door. He had never been so humiliated. Desire drained out of him and he thought he would simply crawl into bed and pull the blanket over his head and die of shame. When the knock came again, he almost couldn’t bring himself to answer it. Then he feared that would be rude. He opened the door.
Kailani stood there. She was not wearing her armor. She was not wearing much of anything, just the loincloth twisted around her slender thighs. Her skin was wet and so was the cloth. Her body glistened in the light. She reached out and took hold of his hand. “Come with me! Quickly, before anyone sees us.”
Farinn could not take his eyes off her. Yet he hesitated. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere secret,” Kailani breathed. “Somewhere we can be alone. Just the two of us.”
Farinn was still uneasy. “I can’t leave. The guards-”
“Silly!” Kailani giggled. “I’m your guard.”
Farinn looked back at his bed. “We could stay here-”
“The walls are thin. Everyone would hear us,” said Kailani. “The guard would come to see what was going on. If we were discovered…”
“What would happen?” Farinn asked nervously.
“Nothing would happen to you,” Kailani said.
“I don’t want to get you into trouble…” Farinn started to back away.
“I like being in trouble!” Kailani whispered.
She pressed close to him and twined her arms around him and kissed him. Taking hold of his hand, she led him out of his room and into the center area.
The night was dark. He could see nothing but Kailani seemed to know where she was going. Cautioning him to be silent, she led him through the darkness. He followed her, his heart pounding with the thrill of the adventure and the touch of her hand. She stopped and he bumped into her.
“Where are we?”
“A secret passage that leads out of the tower,” she whispered. “The door is hidden.”
She spoke words that were foreign to him and let go of his hand. Bright light flared, dazzling his eyes, and then it vanished. He heard a creaking sound, as of the door opening, and Kailani had hold of his hand once again.
“Be careful,” she cautioned. “There’s a step. Don’t fall.”
He slid his foot onto the step. Putting out his hand to steady himself, he encountered a stone wall. He heard Kailani whispering again and the creaking sound again; the door closing. He felt her fumbling about in the darkness and then a soft, glowing light flared. Kailani was holding one of the lanterns he’d seen the Aquins carry.
The two were pressed together at the top of a long staircase that plunged almost straight down through the stone walls. The staircase was so long, Farinn could not make out what lay at the end. He looked over his shoulder. The door was indeed hidden. He reached out his hand, touched what seemed to be rock, cold and slightly damp.
“What was this used for?” he asked wonderingly.
“An escape route,” Kailani answered. “In case the palace ever came under siege, which it never has in all the history of our people.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “Now it’s used only by servants or lovers.”
They walked cautiously down the uneven stairs, with Kailani taking the lead, guiding Farinn with a touch of her hand.
“You used a magic spell to open the door,” he said.
He was growing increasingly uncomfortable, perhaps because he did not know any warriors who knew magic. He had never before been in a building with a magic door.
Kailani glanced over her shoulder. Her hair clung to her bare skin. “A simple rune spell. Everyone in the palace knows it.”
She stopped on the step beneath him and looked up at him. Her eyes were wide and beautiful and yearning.
“Don’t worry, Farinn,” she added, guessing his thoughts. “You will be back before morning. You will never be missed.”
Farinn bent to kiss her, slipped, and nearly fell down the stairs. She caught him and they both laughed.
“Make haste!” she whispered, her breath hot on his face. “I cannot wait for our pleasure.”
She began to run down the stairs heedlessly. Farinn plunged recklessly after her, tripping and stumbling and hoping he would not break his neck. He had never before felt like this-wild and bold and exhilarated, as though he had burst free from himself and was soaring toward heaven. The song, his song, crashed and thundered in his head.
The staircase came to an end with an abruptness that caused Farinn to almost pitch headfirst into a stream of water, black and swift.
“Run-off from the rain that falls on the top of the island. We collect it to use for drinking and to water the groves and gardens,” Kailani explained. “From here, we will swim. Take off your caftan.”
She drew near him and her fingers tugged on the buttons. “Let me help…”
Farinn grasped her hands and kissed her. The caftan slid to the wet rock. She laughed and jumped into the water and pulled him in after her.
The current was fast and carried Farinn along. He couldn’t see and he would have been nervous if the water had been deep, but he could touch the bottom with his feet. Kailani swam beside him, twisting and rolling like an otter.
“Enjoy the ride,” she said to him. “There are streams like this throughout the city. The current will carry us through the sluice gate and out into the sea.”
Farinn tried floating on his back and finally let himself relax and revel in the moment. He found pleasure in surrendering himself to the current, letting it carry him along. Kailani set the lantern upon the water and he was amazed to see it float. The light swirled in the eddies and bumped up against them. Farinn was delighted. He would put this in a song, but only a song for himself. No one else would ever hear it. Except, perhaps, Kailani.