Lords Of The Dark Fall - Fabian Read Online Free PDF

circling his magnificent cock. Her husband had been well-endowed, but Fabian, oh my. She worked in the salve, determined not to stare at the bulge tenting the blanket. A perfectly natural thing. Nothing to get so hot and bothered about. Sex was vastly overrated, anyway.
    Oh Tig
, she scolded herself.
He’ll be gone as soon as he’s healed. Don’t get involved. Don’t get attached.
    She measured his beautiful shoulders with her hands, curving her fingers around the smooth, hard muscle, sweeping down to the planes of his chest. His short hair was dark, like his eyes and in repose he’d lost the frown marks marring his forehead. She traced the line of his nose, feeling the slight bump that might have been an old break. Touched the scar where a blade had sliced his cheek. He needed a shave, and a bath. She sniffed, surreptitiously, finding the stench of sweat and man strangely arousing. Fabian muttered and shifted to his side. The blanket slipped. Tig quickly replaced it.
    Man, was Anxur-Jopra ugly
. She laid her forearm against Fabian’s comparing the marks. At least it wasn’t Crolos. Then she would have had to shoot him on sight. You couldn’t afford to be sentimental about these things. Not if you wanted to live.
    Let him sleep. Something told her he’d earned a few hours of peace. He was like a fish tossed from the sea by a rogue wave. Completely at odds with his environment. A man uttering a silent scream only she could hear.
    She left Fabian the lamp, using up precious supplies because no one should wake up in the dark in a strange place. Outside, she heard the long, lonely howl of a desert wolf. No answer tonight. Probably an outcast like her. She’d cried too long into the night for someone special to help shoulder the burdens of this life. She pitied the animal and then she envied it. For the wolf, hope was a well that never ran dry.
    Sleep was impossible. She fought the urge to keep checking on the very unexpected man asleep in her armchair. As a distraction, she climbed to the attic and brought down the rifle. Cleaning it gave her something to do with her hands. Something not nearly as interesting as touching Fabian, but the gentle back and forth of the oily rag, and the memory of her father and brothers doing the same calmed her a little and gave her space to think and plan.
    The craziest of thoughts took root as she worked.
    When he leaves, go with him. Start that new life you’ve always dreamed of.
    Then she caught sight of herself in the folding mirror on her dresser. Candlelight threw shadows into the gaunt hollows of her cheeks. Tangled hair, pale and listless, curtained her face. Her brother’s old work-shirt hung from bony shoulders. Cuffs pulled back over wrists too thin to be hers - surely? A man like Fabian would not want to be seen with this sad-looking creature.
    Methodically, she reassembled the gun. Sighted down the barrel. Fabian had a life to live, and so did she. And hers didn’t involve waiting for a man to show her the way.
    * * * *
    He felt the loss of the bracelets like a ghost limb after amputation. Tight bands tugged at his upper arms, and yet, when he looked, Fabian saw only the pale marks where the sun had not bronzed him.
    How great was the fall of the mighty. Instead of silks and leather, he had only his own skin. No war-horse of the purest breed. Crude pottery instead of silver and gold. A smelly lamp with its mean light, instead of candles that blazed with the light of a thousand suns. The wagons carrying plunder had stretched as far as the eye could see.
    “You’re alive, Fabian.” Tig stopped battering the lump of dough into submission and wiped floury hands on her pants. “You should be singing, not frowning.”
    Fabian unfolded himself from the chair, tugging the blanket around him to spare Tig’s delicate sensibilities. How could a poor little creature like her, be so wise? And so familiar, too. Did she not know who he was? He shook his head. Of course she