Rapture's Etesian Read Online Free PDF

lowered to a mystified slash across the deeply lined forehead of the sixty-year-old Viragonian warrior. “You have a woman bothering you, boy?” he asked in his gruff voice.
    Leksi threw out a negligent hand. “Maybe,” he replied.
    “Define bothering.”
    Leksi blushed. “You know—annoying the hell out of me.”
    “Have you asked her to cease?”
    The blush deepened. “I’ve not seen her in several days, but that hasn’t stopped thoughts of her from plaguing me!”
    Kratos said nothing for a moment then reached up to scratch his weathered cheek. The rasp of his fingers against a beard already thick despite a close morning shave sounded like sandpaper against wood.
    “Well, it’s been a long time since thoughts of a woman have plagued me but let me see if I can remember,” Kratos answered at last.
    Leksi leaned forward. His respect for Kratos Hesar rivaled only that he bore for Konan Krull, the Lord High Commander of the Venturian Forces.
    “You think about her all the time,” Kratos stated. “Can’t get her out of your mind.” He waited as Leksi nodded then told him to go on.
    “You can’t eat,” the older warrior said, and looked down at the food on his friend’s plate. He ran a gnarled sword hand through his thick crop of short salt and pepper hair. “You don’t sleep all that well if at all.”
    Leksi frowned. “Aye, hardly at all.” He motioned the tavern maid to bring them each another tankard of mead, but Kratos waved off the offer of another for himself.
    “Where was I?” Kratos asked. “Oh, yes. Everywhere you look, you see her face.”
    “Aye,” the younger warrior said in a miserable tone of voice. “In the water, in the clouds, even in the damned mirages floating over the sands!”
    “She pretty?”
    “Glorious,” Leksi replied. He slumped in his chair. “With eyes the color of molten steel and hair like freshly minted silver.”
    “Silver?” Kratos challenged, his head snapping back at though he’d been struck. “How old is this woman, boy?”
    “Truthfully, I don’t know,” Leksi answered. “Twenty-four or so.”
    “And already her hair is gray?”
    Leksi shook his head. “Not gray, Kratos, but silver—a rich, gleaming shade unlike any I’ve ever seen. Unbound, I’d wager it would touch her hips.”
    Kratos frowned. “I’ve heard of women who have had something tragic happen to them and their hair turned white, but silver?”
    “I have a notion something evil might well have happened to her,” Leksi agreed. “And that evil was most likely perpetrated by some shithead man.”
    “Um. Go on. Describe her for me.”
    “She’s not too tall but tall enough.” He held a hand level with his chin. “Up to here, I’d say. Slender with delicate hands.” He smiled. “And the cutest little toes a man could suck on all day.” He ducked his head. “Or so I would imagine. I didn’t see them but her boots were small.”
    Kratos’ face crinkled with amusement. “Is that so?”
    Leksi continued without looking up. “She has high cheekbones, long eyelashes, a mouth the color of plump, ripe cherries.” His face turned dreamy. “A long, swan-like neck, creamy shoulders and a small waist I wager I could span with both hands.” He put his hands together to illustrate the size. “Broad hips well-suited for birthing many strong sons and pretty daughters.”
    “Really?” the older man encouraged, his lips twitching.
    “Aye, and long, shapely legs made to wrap around a man’s neck and…” Leksi stopped, his face flaming as crimson as the cherry lips he had just described.
    “And is this paragon of beauty as bothered by you as you are by her?” Kratos inquired.
    Leksi’s shoulders slumped. “Aye, well, that’s just it. She isn’t.”
    “Leading you on, is she? Swishing her ass at you, smiling coyly then flitting away.”
    “Not exactly.”
    “Rubbing up against you as she passes? Accidentally touching you so you’ll respond by touching