By My Side ... (A Valentine's Day Story) by Christine Blackthorn Read Free Book Online Page B

to her. There was no anger or
disappointment on his features. There was nothing there. His face
remained void of any emotion. In some ways, that lack of expression
was worse.
    After a moment he continued his
inquisition, only mild interest in his voice.
    "Adrianus chose your
partners?"
    "Only after he failed to bond
himself."
    For the first time in the two
nights he had been carrying her, his stride lost its even rhythm,
the small stumble making her chin collide with his shoulder bone
rather painfully. She tasted salty copper and knew she had bitten
her own tongue. Instinct let her shift her weight, counterbalance
his sudden move in preparation of a fall -- but she never had to
make good of it. He caught his balance and had resumed his even
gait within a split second.
    "Adrianus tried to bond you
with sex himself?"
    The question almost amused her.
Why else would Adrianus have sheltered and fed a human child for
such a long time?
    "Of course. He tried for almost
three years and even when he was forced to allow others access to
me, he still would attempt a bond during the bonding frenzy around
Valentine's Day."
    "When did he start?"
    She felt the anger in his
posture, his every movement, and knew it was not directed at her
but at her guardian. It should have gratified her. It was anger on
her behalf. But she felt the need to make excuses for the man she
had considered her father.
    Adrianus had not done anything
reprehensible in the eyes of the supernatural courts, to be exact
most considered the measures he had taken to protect her as pure
foolishness. She was an ErGer, it was her nature that had forced
the expediency of bonding on Adrianus -- not trying to bond would
have been akin to finding a treasure and leaving it behind for
another to take. Even among humans she had been old enough to marry
when Adrianus had first tried to initiate a bond.
    "I was almost seventeen, long
past the age when many others of my age already had their first
child. It was worse for him than it was for me. He could barely
..." here she searched in vain for the words to express what she
needed to say and finally settled on "... perform."
    "How was it for you?" For a
moment she thought she had misheard the question, that he had not
asked this, but when he turned his head to look at her she saw
concentrated interest in his eyes. Heat warmed her cheeks, her
embarrassment acute. Uncomfortable, she tried to make little of
it.
    "Intensely embarrassing, but it
was not particularly painful or horrible." He looked at her for
another moment before he fell silent again.
    His silence did not last and
before long he was asking her about her interests, her favourite
foods and colours. He kept her talking for most of the eight days
they travelled through the Austrian Alps towards Italy.
    On the ninth day they crested a
mountain path and across the valley the towering walls of a dark
castle stood in a strange welcome. Elena knew, somehow, that this
was their destination. A subtle change in the atmosphere among the
orcs surrounding them, an anticipation of return in the men and an
almost nervous expectation in the women. This was not a ruined
shell, not the dirty remains of a once great house waiting to be
restored -- as the castle outside Innsbruck had been. This building
was a well defended fortress with all the signs of regular and good
repair. A strange certainty rose in her. She felt Reschkar's eyes
on her as they moved towards the waiting gates.
    "You never intended to take
Innsbruck, did you?"
    There was no particular
interest in her voice as she asked the question, nor any ire. He
matched her tone with the same studied casualness as he
replied:
    "No."
    "What did you want in Innsbruck
then?"
    Now she met his eyes and saw
calm gentleness there -- but also steel below it.
    "I came to find an ErGer and
believe me, I would have killed anyone who might have stood in my
way in order to do so."
    Well, that answered the
question. He had known what he had come