Temptress Unbound Read Free

still hope for a different future.”
    â€œDoes he?”
    â€œI don’t know that what he wants has much bearing on what he’ll do,” I said.
    â€œDuty has always been Arthur’s foremost concern. He could never be happy with you, if it meant failing in his duty to the tribe.”
    â€œWhich is why I’m walking circuits around a frozen garden with you, instead of burrowing under the bed furs with him. Please don’t let people know how we’ll call the storm.”
    â€œNo one ever wants to know what I’m up to. You have nothing to worry about.”
    â€œWhen, then?”
    â€œAt the end of Saturnalia. Let everyone enjoy the festivities in fair weather. Does that work with your monthly cycle?”
    I nodded, my cheeks heating, although discussing the timing of my flow was hardly the most intimate thing Maerlin and I had shared or would share. He told me some of what he planned for where and how, and by then I was shivering and begged to finish our conversation later. He would have gladly talked all night, but each word was a thorn prick to my skin. I didn’t want to think about lying with him, didn’t want to talk about it, certainly didn’t want to imagine it. It felt like a betrayal of Arthur, even though I knew that in all the most important ways, it wasn’t. It would be a different type of betrayal were I to shy from this task and leave Skalibur unforged, and the destiny of Arthur and the blade unfulfilled.
    We returned indoors and I shed Maerlin in the chaos. Wine, mead, cider, and beer all flowed freely, and a stable boy had been chosen as Master of the Revels. Servants were waited upon by their betters with much laughter and reprimands for shoddy work as the world turned upside down for this night between seasons. I saw Terix in a corner with the Summer Maiden, who had already abandoned her new king in favor of the fondling hands of the old.
    It was a happy night, but my talk with Maerlin had spoiled my mood and my feet were nigh frozen. I retreated through the villa toward my small room, craving only quiet and a warm blanket.
    I had just stepped into a dim corridor when hands came down on my shoulders, spun me around, and then pressed me hard up against the wall. A man’s mouth came down on mine, swift and furious, with the sweet flavor of cider still on his tongue.
    It ended as quickly, and as he drew back I breathed his name. “Arthur.”
    â€œOne kiss, on a night when rules are upended,” he said, his voice rough and deep, and not wholly sober.
    â€œOnly one?”
    â€œI swore it was all I would allow myself, until you are mine.” He bent his head to the side of my neck, his warm breath sending delicious shivers up over my scalp. He sucked the lobe of my ear into his mouth, released it slowly, and whispered, “I have word that Mordred spends the solstice at Calleva, the invited guest of Horsa.”
    I drew in a breath. “So Horsa may have chosen him for Wynnetha’s hand.”
    â€œMay have. Or may do so shortly.”
    I slid my arms around his neck and felt a bubble of joy rising in my chest. It frightened me; it was so fragile, so tremulous, and yet so beautifully bright. “Then you are free.”
    He gently drew my hands from him, kissed their backs, and then held them pressed against his chest. “Not yet. But gods willing, I soon will be.” He cupped my cheek in one hand, his thumb brushing over my brow. “And when that happens, Nimia—when that happens, you shall be mine.”

2
    â€œI still think he’s using it as an excuse to get between your thighs,” Terix said, riding beside me.
    â€œMaerlin doesn’t think about sex that way. It’s a means to an end, nothing more.”
    Terix snorted. “He’s more clever than I thought, if he’s got you convinced of that.”
    We were riding together—along with the ever-present Bone—to the forge,