A Hero's Bargain by Rayne Forrest Read Free Book Online Page A

they didn’t seem to exist.
    He opened his eyes to find her
watching him, concerned. “I’ll live, angel. I just won’t enjoy it much.”
    He wouldn’t enjoy it any if he
couldn’t eventually get her into his bed, and take her like a whole man. He
formed the image of them coupling in his mind. His penis didn’t even notice.
    Just his luck to find Her now.
    “Do not say that. It’s too soon to
believe that you will not heal. Try to sleep.”
    “What? I don’t get that kiss?”
    Her features rearranged themselves
into what must be the healer’s most stern expression. He pressed his lips together
to keep from smiling at her.
    To his amazement, she leaned over
and kissed his forehead the way a mother would kiss an ill child.
    “Will that suffice?”
    Hardly. “I suppose it will
have to, won’t it?” He tried to press the small of his back to the bed,
grimacing at the pull of sore muscles in his back.
    “Be still. Will you agree to take
something for the pain?”
    To be free of the pain, even for
just a few moments, would be such a relief—if he could trust her not to slip
him something more.
    “I’m alright. I’ll be fine. Just
let me go to sleep.” He patted the bed beside him. “You could take a nap with
me.”
    Her eyes widened. She swallowed,
hard. Was that longing that flashed through her eyes so quickly?
    Or fear?
    The look passed so quickly he
wondered if his imagination had played a trick on him. No, she looked at him
too strangely. Her chin lifted. When she spoke, her voice was calm and strong.
    “Do you have weapons in your pack as
well as medicines?”
    Surprised, his gaze locked with
hers. “Since you are astute enough to ask that, you must know the answer.”
    She nodded, her eyes never leaving
his.
    I’ve never seen eyes so dark. I
could get lost in them. He pushed the thought away. The intuition that had
served him so well—usually—said she was working up to something big.
    “Will you show me how to use them?”
    She had a lot of self-control, he’d
give her that. The only thing that showed of her nervousness was the throbbing
pulse point at the base of her neck. Her heart was pounding and yet he’d never
know it from her cool voice and the still hand that lay gently on his arm.
    He’d remember that if they ever
wagered against each other.
    “It’s better that you not know
them, angel. They don’t belong here on this world.”
    “They are here on this world, as
are you. We have need of them.”
    Ryder’s heart stopped, then twisted
painfully before it began beating again. He was in the middle of something—what
he hadn’t figured out. Whatever it was, he was helpless in it.
    “Oh? Why would you need my weapons?
They’re for self-defense, not war.”
    She was quick to answer. “We are
not at war, not really. And defense is what we need. We are threatened.”
    He looked at her, watching her
closely. She licked her lips. It was the sign he’d been looking for, the slight
break in her nerves.
    “Why don’t you fix me whatever it’s
you can fix to help me sleep? And while you’re doing that, why don’t you tell
me how you’re threatened?”
    She nodded and moved to her
worktable, taking a small strip of cloth and wrapping a few dried herbs in it
before dropping the bundle into a crockery cup. She found a piece of leather
toweling and folded it into a small square to wrap around the handle of her
kettle as she lifted it from the hearth. He caught a whiff of something spicy,
and not too unpleasant, as she poured the steaming water over the herbs. She
pulled a chair next to his bed and sat down holding the mug.
    “This will be ready in just a few
minutes.”
    He nodded. “So tell me what defense
you need. What threatens you?”
    She looked away, staring into the
fire as if lost in a memory. Was she going to tell him that she’d changed her
mind about confiding in him? Saba looked back at him and began to speak.
    “It began over seven seasons of Wae
ago. That is when the