The Destroyer Goddess Read Online Free PDF Page B

general?"
    "Well, I, uh..." She licked her lips. "I understand the main, um, requirements." She folded her hands. Being a shallah , she didn't even seem to notice the cut he had made on the left one today. "No one who has lived long in the closeness of a Guardian camp could be unaware of... of..." She unfolded her hands. "And Haydar explained a few things to me." She nodded. "Things which were more specific than I had previously..." Mirabar met his gaze. "Some of them seemed reasonable."
    Now he was amused. "And others?"
    "Others... Well, I'm not sure I believe her. And even if I did..."
    "Yes?"
    "I don't think I ever want to know you that well, Baran," she admitted frankly.
    "Ah. Well." He grinned. "Then I count on you to tell me when our acquaintance is crossing the boundaries of what you deem acceptable."
    "Don't worry. I will." Mirabar's gaze dropped to his thin torso. "Have you been ill?" She caught herself a moment later. "I'm sorry. Perhaps that was rude."
    "According to rumor, I've always been unwell." He tapped his forehead, distracting her from the subject of his physical health.
    Her eyes narrowed, and she reminded him of a cat. "Are you as crazy as they say? Or saner than you want people to know?"
    "It varies," he admitted. 
    Baran took a step toward her and, seeing her nearly jump out of her skin, decided that tonight might be a good time to work at ordinary sanity, if only for a few hours. He wanted this woman to ensure his immortality with a child, one strong enough to stand against Kiloran if need be; and that couldn't happen if she was too wary of him to let him touch her.
    "I won't hurt you," he promised.
    "You're damned right you won't," she growled.
    He smiled, appreciating her spirit. He supposed that kind of fire and fury had kept her alive after her mother abandoned her as a small child and before the Guardians found her and raised her.
    "I know it'll seem strange," he said, nodding toward the bed. "But shall we try acting like husband and wife for a little while?"
    "It's what I agreed to," she said. But she didn't come closer.
    Baran had once known love—passionate, hungry, joyful, uninhibited love. And, since those days, he had occasionally known the confident attentions of experienced women. But he had never before found himself in precisely this situation, and he was at something of a loss.
    Mirabar evidently recognized this. Wearing an expression of such determination that he briefly wondered if she meant to attack him, she started undressing, her gaze fixed on his.
    "Ordinary people do this every day," she said. "So you and I should certainly be able to."
    She dropped wild gossamer garments at her feet until she was naked, and then she came closer, until the heat of her skin warmed his. She was young, smooth, lithe, softly curved, sun-kissed golden and lava-red. Warm and small and more womanly than he would have guessed before now.
    " Sirana ," he said softly, lowering his face to hers. "We may even find it easy, after all."
    "Perhaps you should just use my name," she murmured against his mouth.
    "You wouldn't find it disrespectful?" he whispered.
    She gave a faint gasp of surprise. "Considering where your hands are right now... no."
     

     
    Trying to keep Tansen's mind off the sirana 's wedding night, now in progress farther down the slopes of Dalishar, Zarien had asked his bloodfather to start teaching him to fight. It seemed a sensible precaution, if he was to live among the bloodthirsty landfolk with Tansen from now on. Besides, Tansen wasn't the only one trying to stay too busy for the intrusion of unhappy thoughts and futile memories.
    By night, Zarien had bad dreams about his family's death, about Sharifar's betrayal, and about the vengeance she and Dar might take on him for refusing to bring Tansen to sea. By day, he grieved for the Lascari and nurtured a bitter hatred for the gods. And now, by day and night, here upon the high peak of Mount Dalishar, Zarien could see the distant summit