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Roland closed his eyes as her lips ainst his throat The blood lust came alive at her touch The sexual desire puht it God, but he wanted her And what she was doing now only trebled the already powerful longing Slowly the restraint he&039;d been struggling to hold in place shuddered beneath the assault of desire Roland drew a strangled breath

"Enough!"

He hadn&039;t le command to sound so harsh She i Roland saw the passion in her eyes, even through the pain clouding theth to carry you home, Rhiannon,"he lied in a , but in truth if she didn&039;t stop right then, he&039;dhave dropped her into the tangy scented leaves at their feet, and made frantic love to her, pain or no pain

"Put an again, in the direction of the castle

"I said put me down I&039;ve never needed any e on ht, Rhiannon No doubt if you continue in your reckless life-style, you&039;ll need it again And you need it nohether you&039;ll admit it or not, so rest in my arms and be quiet"

She did settle ainst hiument was far from over"I will, but only because I know the truth You&039;re carrying me because you like it You like the waythe help of a ht moment to rip that fool&039;s head from his shoulders I&039; or old, and you-ought not forget it"

Roland rolled his eyes

"I thought at least to get a word of thanks for saving your life Instead, t get scolded for daring to assume you were in need of assistance?"

She was silent for a ht, I suppose I owe you my thanks, then

Only don&039;t dare think of me as inferior"

"I never have, Rhiannon"

"That is purely a lie"

Roland frowned, searching her upturned face as he continued carrying her through the thickening forest Crisp leaves and fallen twigs crackled beneath his hurried steps

"Why do you say so?"

"Foolish question"

Roland focused on the bite in her tone, rather than on the weight of her hip, or the way it slid over his abdonored the feel of her head nestled upon his shoulder, and the softness of the rounded breast that pressed to his chest

"I believe being assaulted by DPI operatives makes you decidedly cranky"

He saw her part her lips to reply, then she stopped herself, frowning

"I&039;m not sure he was DPI At least, if he was, he was more concerned with his own interests than theirs"

"What do you eable about our kind He listed our weaknesses He calledahead to the dark stone wall that completely surrounded the Castle Courte-manche He could hear the violence of the River Tordu to his left as it splashed and roiled its way to fuse with the older, cale of the woods, a cool, greendirt road But the aroht, faded beside the scent of Rhiannon&039;s hair and skin

Roland shook hi for the presence of others They&039;d made excellent time, but he feared DPI forces would be on their way

"Roland, you aren&039;t listening I scanned, and found no sign of thisin ambush He can mask his presence, block us out"

Roland nodded

"It was only a matter of time before they learned that simple trick, Rhiannon It shouldn&039;t alarm you"

"He ordered nition tiptoeing up his spine

"That&039;s ridiculous He couldn&039;t be transfor for DPI would know that"-- "Which can only mean he is one of The Chosen Roland, we should have felt his presence He has soerous"

Roland recalled again the shock of pain that had lanced through hi out to hie he&039;d felt when he&039;d seen the bastard holding her, that knife piercing her sensitive skin, the blade twisting as she gasped in pain, the tears shiht to have lethis face

"You very nearly did, Roland I&039;ve never seen you like that"

"With good reason"He glanced down at her He wished to God she hadn&039;t witnessed the ugliness inside hi it

"I&039;reat violence, Rhiannon There lurks within me a demon, one who thrives on bloodshed"

She frowned, sable eyebrows bunching over her small, narrow nose

"I&039;ve known you from the first moment of your preternatural existence, Roland I&039;ve never seen a sign of this deazed at her beautiful, flawless face Why was control so net, drawing the beast fro it to life by her very presence

"It was in me before, Rhiannon, when I was yet a ht! One known far and wide for courage and valor and"-- "All pretty words for bloodlust I was talented in the art of battle

A skillful killer Noabout your-sell This demon you claim possesses you is no more than the will to live Those times were violent, and only the violent survive In battle, a man must kill or be killed You did as necessary"She winced all at once, and clung e of her discomfort was as acute as if the pain were his own

"Press the handkerchief ain"He strengthened his hold on her and ran the last few steps to the wall, leaping easily over it Noas no time for recriminations or confessions Not while her very life was slowly seeping froh, Roland felt as if his vitality were draining away, as well, keeping perfect pace with hers

He carried her over the barren courtyard, past the cruroaning door He set her on her feet to pull the door closed

The cat lunged gracefully from the lowest stair, stopped in front of her mistress and seeent

Pandora lifted her head, and sniffed delicately at Rhiannon&039;s blood-soaked blouse, and the sound she emitted from deep in her throat could have been a snort of alarm

"There, kitty It&039;s not the end of me"Rhiannon stroked the cat&039;s head with one hand, still holding the hanky to her waist with the other

Ja down the stairs with Frederick on his heels The boy stopped a yard froranite

Frederick came forward, dropped to one knee in front of her and ht again

"It&039;s bad You need stitches"

"Not necessary,"Roland stated, hoping to hide the effect of those words on his equilibriue of a sharp object piercing her sensitive skin, an object held by his hand

The pain would be incredible

Frederick looked again and shook his head

"It isn&039;t gonna stop bleeding"

Roland sed hard Frederick had been a medic in the army before he&039;d succumbed to the mental illness that kept him so childlike The ht of the pain"She needs only rest"

"Nonsense,"Rhiannon said softly

"I can rest, but the regenerative sleep will only co to death until then"

At her words, Roland felt a fist in his stoh she was, he could not see her die Even the thought was too lanced once more at Frederick

"Can you do it?"

Frederick&039;s blue eyes widened and he shook his head It was obvious the very idea scared him to death

"You&039;ll have to stitch it up, Roland"Rhiannon&039;s voice was steady and fir weakness"There must be a needle somewhere in this place You can use the silk thread from my blouse It&039;s ruined, anyway"

He ht The specter like i ould be agonizing pain on her sickened him He stiffened his resolve He would do whata needle,"Frederick said softly He turned and lu the wall as if afraid of falling should he walk too near the open side

Roland swept Rhiannon up once again He turned toward the vaulted corridor to the ing Ja, stopped hiers, wasn&039;t it?"

Rhiannon&039;s head rose frory boy

"No, Jamison,"she told him

"It was not It was a hed

"I can&039;t be certain"

Jaaze met Roland&039;s then

"Did you kill hih,"Rhiannon put in quickly, as if defending him

"I had to insist he drop the man and leave before the others discovered us there"

"Killing hiht ood enough"His gaze againin the young eyes that gave hi his own youth"Doesn&039;t lanced back at Pandora, and simply tilted his head Then he walked ahead of the to keep up with him

Roland frowned

"Did you see that?"

Rhiannon, still staring down the dim corridor after the two, shook her head

"He is co with my kitten"

She sounded as if she disliked the idea

Rhiannon grated her teeth and squeezed her eyes tightly Roland&039;s hands trembled as he poked the needle into her skirt, and pulled another tight knot in the thread He snipped the thread with tiny scissors, and bent over her to begin again

She wore a cream-colored camisole, stained with her own blood Roland had deftly removed her ruined blouse and her skirt She lay on her back on Roland&039;s bed Of course, it wasn&039;t really his bed He only kept one in his chamber for appearance&039;s sake She&039;d had a brief rateful he kept it made up with fresh linens and a fluffy down coun

Roland sat upon the bed&039;s edge, grim-faced Jamey stood at the opposite side After the first stitch and Rhiannon&039;s breathless reaction to it, the boy had gripped her hand She squeezed it harder with each jolt of pain, then reminded herself not to crush his mortal bones to dust

"This is ame"

Rhiannon shook her head quickly

"I was the one who insisted you go, and I don&039;t regret it a bit"Her teeth clamped down on her lower lip as the needle was plied once more She felt&039; beads of icy sweat upon her forehead"You played wonderfully, Jahly enjoyed er of that with Roland around"Again a jab, and again she sucked in a sharp breath

"Of course, protecting helpless women is old hat to him"

"You are hardly helpless, Rhiannon,"Roland stated, but his lips were set in a thin line as he worked

"He was a knight Did you know that?"She had to say so to distract Ja hi It was unfair for one to be so strong and yet so weak And though she tried to disguise her agony fro utterly Roland&039;s face grew more pale and the hatred in Jaasp she drew

Her effort to distract the boy seemed to work, for Jamey&039;s eyes widened For once, he lost the look of a haunted young ht? With ar Louis VII, for heroism But he&039;s never told ainst hot tears as the needle poked again She wanted to hear the tale, she realized It would alleviate some of the pain More over, she sensed Roland needed to tell it

He shot her a look meant to quell her, but she responded with a quick shake of her head"Will you tell us now, Roland?"

Roland glanced quickly at Jamey

"Yes, I wish you would,"a deep voice boomed from beyond the open door

Rhiannon looked up quickly to see a large, handso, dark curls and perfectly round, doe&039;s eyes Im his implement of torture to the bedside stand The two men met in the center of the room and embraced as if they were brothers Jaan sniffling like so human

From the corner of her eye, Rhiannon saw Pandora crouch The cat&039;s teeth beca snarl Her claws extended to a dangerous length, and her haunches tensed as she prepared to spring upon the wo Rhiannon lunged frohtly to her neck The stitches Roland had painstakingly ad pain

The soft-looking fe herself away froled free of Rhiannon&039;s weakened grasp, but was fir her back into the bed, swearing under his breath

"Mind telling us what the hell is going on, old friend?"

Roland didn&039;t look at Eric His tortured gaze remained on Rhiannon&039;s face

He swept her hair out of her eyes and smoothed it back

"We had a little run-in with DPI I&039;ll fill you in later"Roland searched for his needle, and tried to thread it without success Through the burning tears, Rhiannon saw the violence hich his hands trehing in unot to his feet The woman took his place on the bed at her side

"I&039;rated teeth

"And I&039;ll have no lanced down at the wound, bending to push the camisole up, out of the way

"Doesn&039;t look like you have a choice"

Her head swung around sharply when the cat stepped up and sniffed at her hand Jamey still held the panther by the diamond-studded collar

"Pandora,by the second

"What are you doing here?"Roland&039;s voice was clipped as he addressed Eric

"The village is swarents"

"Yes, that&039;s e&039;ve coht need reinforcements"

"But how did you know?"

Tamara bit her lip as she applied the needle

"I have a friend, Hilary Garner, who still works for them She&039;s kept us informed DPI knows you&039;re in the area, but not about the castle Not yet, anyway"

Rhiannon shook her head The woman worked swiftly, and steadily It would soon be over, at least she could be certain of that ate only last night"

"Curt is here?"Tamara&039;s skin paled, and her hand stilled briefly

"Not at the ers knows, he&039;s keeping it to hierous

"No doubt he wants to exact his revenge singlehandedly Ta Jamey&039;s across the rooh talk about Curt and DPI I, for one, aht? No wonder you ooze such chivalrous charm"

Rhiannon shot a narrow look toward Ta

"I was a knight There is little else to tell"Roland&039;s expression was guarded