Crystal Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

not," she muttered, grudgingly accepting his apology. She returned to rifling through the bag. "Go to sleep. I'll have a meal prepared when you awake."
    A meal. The image of a fat, long-earred lepus roasting over a fire, its juices dripping and popping in the hungry flames, filled Brace with heady anticipation. His mouth watered. To be able to sleep in peace, then wake to a hearty meal of crisply browned meat . . . Ah, it felt so good to be pampered!
    He closed his eyes for just a moment. For just a moment, and it was all the encouragement his exhausted body needed. He promptly fell asleep.
     
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    Brace's nostrils twitched as a savory smell wafted past. He moved restlessly, mumbled a few incoherent words, then settled back to sleep.
    The scent would not be denied. It teased and tantalized the fringes of his consciousness. Brace grumbled louder and turned toward the smell. His eyelids lifted.
    A fire two meters from him crackled merrily, a small, thick black pot on a crude wooden frame suspended above it. Marissa knelt before the fire, stirring the pot intently. For a long, drowsy moment, Brace watched her.
    She must have found a pool to bathe in while he slept, for her unbound hair fell in damp waves far past her shoulders. The moisture made the riotous tumble of hair seem darker, with a deep rich hue like polished robur wood. He let himself imagine how soft and full her hair would be when dry. Like dark, shimmering bronze flowing over his fingers . . .
    Brace swallowed a savage curse. He was mad to let her delicate beauty seduce him into a course of action not in his best interests. He might be woman-starved, but he had yet to be led by his loins. He'd never had to in the pastfemales always flocked to him. And they would again, just as soon as he freed himself of this determined, fiery-tongued little she-devil and made his way to a safe haven.
    Word of honor or no, she was a fool not to imagine that a desperate man would promise anything, then think nothing of going back on it. Yet, to break his word . . .
    Shame lanced through Brace. Gods, to finally fall so low as to surrender his honorthat deepest, most precious part of him. But he was just that desperate.
    Recapture was out of the question. Another imprisonment would surely mean his death. In light of that brutal reality, what did a few words matter? But the little Sodalitas didn't need to know that just yet.
    He needed a plan, some way to escape her and set out on his own. First, though, he'd have to allow his body time to mend, to rebuild his strength with food and rest. That would necessitate allowing her to care for him with no intention of repayment. Another emotion, faintly reminiscent of guilt, drifted across his mind. Brace shoved it fiercely aside.
    He owed no man, nor woman, loyalty. Not now. Not ever again. With each monate that had passed, locked in that filthy, stagnant cell, with each blow that had slammed into his body, Brace had been forced to relinquish yet another remnant of his humanity. There was nothing left him now but a primal need to survive. No onenothingmattered more than that. He didn't dare let anything matter more than that.
    In the end, his betrayal of her wouldn't surprise her. She despised all men, thought them capable of little else anyway. Why should he bother to disabuse her of such a dearly cher- ished conviction? It served both their purposes.
    Brace smiled grimly. How the mind could twist anything to suit its needs! With a grunt of pain, he levered himself to one elbow and cleared his throat.
    "What are you cooking in that pot?" He lifted his head slightly in an effort to peer inside. "A stew perhaps?"
    Marissa grimaced at the hopeful note in his voice. She turned.
    "A vegetable broth."
    Brace frowned. "No meat?"
    "None. I'm a vegetarian."
    "Well, I'm not."
    She arched a slender brow and smiled. "I'm afraid you are this nocte."
    He fell back with a groan. "I need meat if I'm