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eleri relished the evenings when Pendaran bedded down with her for the night. Her lynx, Geetha, was stretched out on the floor watching the two of them through hooded eyes. The cat purred softly while Pendaran sat beside Teleri gently kneading her feet. Being heavily pregnant often meant she turned in early and was fast asleep by the time Master Bei had released Pendaran for the evening.
Lying there in the candlelight she remarked his beauty as her hand lightly traced the smooth arc of his back. Goosebumps pricked his flesh at her touch for the small fire in the grate had not yet warmed the little chamber.
“You could keep your clothes on until you’re done,” she chided him although it really would be a travesty. Teleri decided she was the luckiest woman alive to have snared this wild creature with her rangerly wiles. A mischievous smile curled his lips for he was clearly aware of her musings. There could be no better lover than a mind reader, she decided.
“Since when did you allow your pet mesmer to wear clothes in the bedroom.”
“Enough,” she whispered, stifling a giggle as he pinched her toe playfully, “Lie down beside me, my love.”
She peeled back the comforter and sheets and the two of them lay quietly together, their warmth quickly chasing away the chill of the little room. Curled in his arms, she pressed her cheek against his breast, kissing him softly and pleasuring him with her hands until his breath quickened and he rained kisses over her brow and cheek, finding her lips at last. He rarely spoke while making love but that night he whispered his love for her as if it were a fervent prayer.
That was her first sign that something was wrong. She feared he had drifted into nightmare and raised her face, seeking his eyes as their lips withdrew. He gazed back at her with a strained smile, his fiery hair tousled and untidy as it flowed over the pillow. Teleri raised her hand to smooth it from his face, her fingers lingering to trace his thin mustache.
“Are you going to tell me what is troubling you?” she asked.
“If I may hold you.”
Obligingly she rolled over onto her side and curled her back against his breast. He gathered her against him in a sweet embrace, their hands clasped and his cheek nestled beside her ear. Of course, if he said something that annoyed her, she could not lash out at him and she decided that was by design. He was always thinking ahead.
“I’m going to be gone all day tomorrow and possibly the day after.”
Teleri wondered why he thought this revelation might shock her. She seldom saw him during the day any more. He was far too busy. It was not even unusual for him to work through the afternoon meal.
“Zhou thinks you should know the truth about our work.”
“I assumed being a mesmer was scary enough,” she whispered, “Rhys seldom spoke of his encounters although I know he occasionally walked in dangerous circles. He confessed to me once that he sometimes served as a spy in foreign courts. Is that what you do?”
“No, I am in training to help Zhou with his life’s work. Eventually his art will pass to me and become my life’s work, and I will pass it to my apprentice.”
She stiffened at those words, a thrill of fear shuddering through her at the thought that her son was endangered.
“What is this work that you have never spoken of?”
“Zhou is a demon hunter.”
It made a strange kind of sense. It certainly explained a lot of what had happened over the autumn.
“Then it was no coincidence that you become embroiled in that demon’s net,” she whispered.
“No,” Pendaran replied.
Perhaps because she was a huntress she understood the need for people of stout heart and strong will to stand up to the darkness. In fact, she regarded him with renewed respect. She was concerned for Mabane, of course. He was still very young. His strong attachment to Pendaran was born of a need for stability and a father. She worried sometimes he would do something rash and dangerous to impress Pendaran.
“You are not alarmed?”
“Well, you have a powerful master. I was never so foolish to think he specialized in flower arranging. He has to fund that orphanage somehow.”
Pendaran chuckled and kissed her ear lovingly.
“That’s the puzzling part. He is not allowed to receive remuneration for his work, yet he always has sufficient funds to pay for a wedding party or provide a home for whoever comes begging at his door.”
“You need to talk to his servants more, then,” Teleri chided him, “I hear Master Bei is not above receiving donations to serve his orphanage or guild. And a lot of his guild members were orphans once. Their exploits and adventures no doubt fund much of the comforts in this hall.”
“Zhou told me you were wise,” he said, pausing to kiss her temple, “I have to agree.”
Teleri smiled and squeezed his hands, loving him so deeply she could imagine no sweeter place to be than in his arms. At times like this she wondered why she had ever doubted him or even why she had made crass comparisons between he and Rhys.
“If you have no further use of me, my love, I will sleep now,” he murmured contentedly. A crooked grin lay upon her lips when she imagined how tired she would make him in a few months time. Until their child was born, however, he was getting by with light duty. He chuckled.
“Are you so sure you would wear me out? I quite fancy it would be the other way around.”
“Well now, we’ll have to wait and see,” she laughed.
He yawned and squeezed her against him playfully. She could imagine him closing his eyes now and finding that perfect state of sleep from which no amount of cajoling on her part could wake him. His breathing grew soft and even. She wondered where he went at such times and hoped it was pleasant. Not like those terrible nightmares.
“Pen?”
“Mmm?”
“The nightmares… what are they about?”
She realized the cruelty of discussing them so close to sleep when he stiffened. His breath quickened and he swallowed harshly.
“I’m sorry, my love, please forget I asked.”
“New moon in seven days,” he murmured and she realized he was not fully awake, “I am not your lover. Get off of me.”
Teleri frowned and released his hands, rolling free of his grasp. Everything that Morisedd had told her about Pendaran rose into her mind. Was it possible that during their long hours apart he was not working but was instead seeing other women behind her back? After all, her pregnancy limited her ability to fulfill his needs. And by all accounts, his needs were monstrous.
She sat beside him, watching as he wrestled with his nightmare, his faint cries of protest faded and he grew silent, his face a mask of anguish and disgust.
“Who is she?” Teleri demanded of him.
“Mine,” whispered a woman’s voice, “He belongs to me.”
Teleri screamed at the sight of the ghostly figure, flailing away until her back struck the wall. The strange woman drifted closer, her ivory hands grasping Pendaran’s face and forcing him to sit up. His eyelids fluttered and he murmured a protest but otherwise put up no resistance as the woman’s lips fell over his. Teleri could only stare in shock and horror as the man she loved gave in to the vile woman’s desires.
He gasped for breath when the pale creature’s head jolted upward, her pearlescent gaze turned sharply toward the door.
“No,” Pendaran gasped, “Leave me alone.”
Teleri sobbed, rage and betrayal yielding to grief as the invading woman rose noiselessly, dropping Pendaran as if he were little more than rubbish. His head fell back on the pillow and he awakened, crying out in disgust and dismay. The ghostly figure drifted from existence, passing through the wall and back into the embrace of the night.
“Why did you never tell me?” Teleri sobbed, “I hate you!”
Pendaran stared at her, uncomprehending. Tears gleamed upon his cheeks and he opened his mouth to speak.
“Get out!” Teleri screamed at him, “Just get out!”
Trembling, he staggered to his feet, propping himself against the wall. She heard him vomit into the wash basin and she was overcome with an urge to beat the living daylights out of him. How dare he consort with demons and not tell her! She and her unborn child could have been killed. Mabane was only a room away. How dare he!
The servants were banging on the door now, no doubt the reason the vile spirit had fled. Teleri drew the top comforter aside and tossed it angrily toward him. Without a word, he drew it around his shivering form and departed.
“And don’t come back!” she shrieked at him.
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