Boyett-Compo, Charlotte - Wyndmaster 1 by The Wyndmaster's Lady (Samhain) Read Free Book Online Page B

her,
    Commander?”
    “Here,” Sierran said, flexing his fingers against the bare mattress, weakly scratching at the material.
    Vargas’ eyebrows shot up. “On the mattress with you?”
    “Aye,” Sierran said then closed his eyes. His head was splitting open with the beginnings of a migraine
    and he was shivering from the cold.
    Vargas frowned and took up one of the blankets. Very carefully, he unfolded it and laid it over the lower
    part of Sierran’s body, covering his legs and waist. “Bring her here, Solarian,” he ordered Mac.
    The Dungeon Master recommenced screeching to the high heavens for no doubt he’d heard the order
    through the small air holes in the top of the windowless box. “Do not touch her, you fiend!” he bellowed.
    “He’s calling me a fiend?” Vargas grumbled as Mac came striding up the platform with the unconscious
    woman draped over his arms. He stared at the girl as she was laid carefully beside Sierran. “Something
    tells me he don’t know what one is yet.”
    Sierran ground his teeth as the wagon started forward with Vargas sitting off to one side of the mattress
    and Mac and Seth sitting on the tailgate with their legs dangling. Pain constantly shifted through him as the
    wagon appeared to hit every rut and bump in the road. He managed, through tightly clenched jaws, to
    ask Vargas where they were headed.
    “We’ve your ship lying at anchor inBowstedHarbor , Commander. We’re going to take you home to
    Zykanthos until you’ve healed.”
    “Did the Federation give you permission?” he asked, his eyelids heavy.
    “Didn’t need none,” Vargas said with a sniff. “We told ’em what we was going to do when we found out
    where you was and they didn’t say nothing. They ain't happy about Thurston's doings.”
    “Stop your posturing, Vargas. We got permission, Commander, and then we took leave,” Mac put in.
    “All of you?”
    “Aye, sir,” Mac agreed. “Every man jack among us.”
    Despite the agony he was experiencing, Sierran smiled. He was tired—his lacerated back paining him
    even more than the cuts on his chest and arms, and he longed for sleep. It had been days since he’d slept
    soundly yet he could not seem to drift off as he lay there. Instead, he turned his head and looked at the
    woman lying beside him.
    Her face was turned toward him and it was perhaps the loveliest he’d ever seen. A complexion that
    looked as soft and fresh as pale honey made the dark sweep of her long hair—curling gently around her
    shapely hips—appear to be even darker. Twin crescents of artfully shaped eyebrows and long, thick
    brown lashes intrigued him and if he had been able, he would have reached out to touch their feathery
    length with a fingertip. With high cheekbones, a pert little nose, and full lips that beckoned a man to have
    a taste, the young woman moved something in his heart that he had not felt in many years.
    “Vargas,” he croaked and his man bent over him.
    “Aye, Commander?”
    “Take a blanket and cover her. Her arms have chill bumps on them.”
    Vargas nodded and reached over to pick up one of the blankets. He stood—bracing himself against the
    roll of the wagon—and straddled Sierran so he could gently lay the blanket over the woman.
    The woman stirred then her eyelids fluttered open. For a moment she lay there staring into Sierran’s
    eyes—her own narrowed in confusion. Then as memory no doubt returned, she blinked and sat up
    hurriedly as though she’d been zapped by lightning. Scrambling to the head of the wagon, she sat there
    trembling with her knees drawn up into the protection of her arms, staring at the men who were watching
    her. “Where am I?” she asked in a wavering voice.
    “You’re safe, wench,” Sierran told her, having to crane his neck to look over at her. She glanced down
    at him and he saw her wince as her gaze lit upon the vicious cuts on his chest. He heard her moan. “It’s
    all right,” he said, feeling an