Crystal Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

sensed rather than heard her arrival. Even when the familiar light of a perpetual-flame box finally illuminated the cavern, Brace didn't move.
    He sat hunched over, his arms wrapped about his draw-up knees in an effort to conserve his rapidly waning body heat. His total concentration centered on controlling the fierce, wracking shivers. It did little good. His battered muscles seemed locked in endless, agonizing spasms.
    Gods, Brace marveled through his half-conscious haze, what further forms of torment could there be?
    A thick blanket settled about his shoulders, then Marissa knelt before him, tucking the heavy covering more snugly in place. Brace continued to shiver, immersed in his pain.
    She eyed him. It was cold, even in the cave, and Ardane was dressed only in boots and lightweight breeches. Curse him for his weakness! They should have easily reached her stash of supplies this nocte, and the warm, phoca-fur coats she'd brought along for the both of them.
    But that was hardly the priority now. With his lack of clothing and in his battered condition, Ardane was in imminent danger of death. She must warm him quickly.
    Her small hands slid beneath the blanket and began massaging his arms. He groaned at the firmness of her touch.
    She knew she was causing him terrible pain, but resolutely kept on. His eyes clenched shut, his teeth gritted, but he didn't stop her. The effort seemed profitless, though. Ardane's shivering continued and he leaned forward weakly, his head falling to rest upon her shoulder.
    The action, so trusting, so needful, struck an answering chord in Marissa. She stroked his shaggy mane in an unconscious gesture of comfort. Suddenly there was no hated male before her, just another being in great want of assistance.
    Gently Marissa shoved Ardane away, steadying him by the shoulders. "Lie down, atop the blanket."
    "W-why? W-why do you w-want me to l-lie down?" he asked through chattering teeth.
    "You need the warmth of my body. I'll lie beside you and cover you with the other blankets." Marissa pushed at him impatiently. "Now, no more of it. Lie down."
    Brace complied at once, rolling over on his side and opening his arms to accept Marissa's lithe young form. After a few secundaes to ar- range the two other blankets, she settled next to him.
    Her nose brushed a hair-roughened expanse of pectoral muscle. The scent of his sweat and blood-tainted skin was too much for Marissa. She gagged and twisted her head away.
    "Ugh!" she cried. "How foul can one be? You smell worse than a-a subterranean slime weevil!"
    "I-I'd imagine's-so," Brace agreed unsteadily. "B-but let's n-not f-form any p-premature opinions. O-once I've h-had a b-bath, I clean up q-quite nicely. Y-you just m-might find me m-more to y-your l-liking."
    "And the Crystal Fires will freeze solid before that sol dawns! I told you before, I loathe"
    He tucked the edge of a blanket between him and Marissa, then gently but firmly pulled her head back down to lie upon his chest. Already the warmth of her softly curved body was thawing his numbed limbs.
    "Yes, I know. You l-loathe all men. And I'm s-sure there's a legitimate reason for your f-feelings . . ."
    "My reasons are my own."
    Brace smiled and shifted her more comfortably against him. As bruised and exhausted as he was, as stiffly as she lay next to him, it was still so good to have a woman in his arms. It was the first time in monates he'd felt any peace. His eyelids lowered in drowsy contentment. "Tell me, M-Marissa," he prodded huskily. "Partners work best if they u-understand each other."
    "I'd rather not speak of it. Itit is personal and you wouldn't understand. No male could ever understand the pain of unfair exile and subjugation."
    Piercing brown eyes lifted, ensnaring Marissa in their bleak, haunted depths.
    Don't I understand? they seemed to ask. How can you look at me and deny the suffering of my own unfair imprisonment? How can you say I don't understand?
    It was too much to comprehend,