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Amara took off her belt in pure frustration and used the buckle to rap hard against the bars in the tinyof the cell she&039;d been thrown into "Guard!" she shouted, trying to force authority into her tone "Guard, coood," Bernard said, stretched out on the pallet against the far wall of the roo down here"
"It&039;s been hours," A back and forth in front of the door "What could that idiot Pluvus be waiting for?"
Bernard rubbed at his beard with one hand "Depends how gutless he is"
She stopped to look at hied "If he&039;s a to send out his own people to find out what&039;s going on He&039;ll try to exploit the situation to his advantage"
"You don&039;t think he is?"
"Not like that, no Odds are, he&039;s got Gram put in a bed somewhere, and he&039;s dispatched a courier to carry word to Riva, infor for instructions"
Amara spat out an oath "There isn&039;t tihts Aeris around the perimeter of the Valley to intercept any airborne couriers"
"He? The h his tone didn&039;t change much, Bernard&039;s words held a note of bleak determination
Aainst the door, exhausted, frustrated If it would have helped, she&039;d have started crying "Yes Fidelias" The bitter venom in her own voice surprised even her, and she repeated the name more quietly "Fidelias"
Bernard turned his head to look at her for a long, quiet moment "You know him"
She nodded once
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Amara sed "He is he was my teacher My -patriserus"
Bernard sat up, frowning "He&039;s a Cursor?"
"Was," Amara said "He&039;s thrown in with so "I probably shouldn&039;t say any more, Steadholder"
"You don&039;t have to," he assured her "And call e closet together, I think we can skip the titles There won&039;t be rooave him a weak smile "Bernard, then"
"He was your friend, this Fidelias"
She nodded, looking away from him, quiet
"More than that?"
Amara flushed "If he&039;d have let it happen I was about thirteen when I started training with hih He didn&039;t" She let her voice trail off
"He didn&039;t want to take advantage of you," Bernard suggested At Amara&039;s flustered silence, he said, "I can appreciate that in a ood," she said "I ot more missions on record than any Cursor alive, and there are rus he&039;s done are in textbooks He&039;s saved the lives of thousands of people who never even kneas there" She sed "And if you&039;d asked o, I would never have dreamed that there could be a row bitter again "A patriot"
"Maybe that&039;s the problem," Bernard said, pensive
Amara frowned and looked at him "What do you mean?"
"There&039;s two kinds of bad men in the world I o bad, but when you get right down to it, there&039;s only about two kinds of ht Preure there&039;s anyone else alive who ure that there&039;s so that matters more than anyone&039;s life Even their own" He shook his head "First one is coh Petty, sive a scorched crow about anyone else Mostly, the bad they do doesn&039;t amount to much
"The second kind is like your patriserus People who hold so dear above their own lives, above anyone else&039;s They&039;ll fight to protect it and kill to protect it, and the whole ti to the to do" Bernard glanced up at her and said, "Dangerous those Very dangerous"
Aerous"
"Who said," Bernard ru about Fidelias"
Amara looked up at him sharply
"It all comes down to people You can&039;t have a realm or an ideal without people to believe in it Support it The realm exists to protect people Seems kind of backward to me to sacrifice people to protect it"
"It&039;s just not that simple, Steadholder"
"Isn&039;t it? Reentle, the words clear, firht now, he&039;s out there and he probably thinks he&039;s doing the only thing he can Crows, he probably thinks he&039;s doing the right thing That he&039;s in a position to knohen others don&039;t, and so its his choice to make and no one else&039;s"
She pushed her hair back froht one?"
Bernard stood up and moved toward her He put a hand on her shoulder, eyes earnest "Because a sound tree doesn&039;t have bad roots, Ains with treachery, with lying to the people who trust and love you"
Tears did burn her eyes this tied her a bit toward hith "I don&039;t knohat else to do," she told hi I can think of to try to avert what&039;s coh" And Gaius had counted on her Had entrusted her with this mission
"So to do is nothing Soin to unfold before you move Be patient"
She shook her head "There isn&039;t tiet someone down here You have to e hands on her shoulders, gripped her lightly, and pressed her shoulders against the heavy wood of the door Then he leaned his weight against her, trapping her there, and lowered his ed to be abrupt and relaxed all at the same time
Amara felt her eyes widen in surprise His e Did he think she was so child to be distracted with a kiss, like a twittering schoolgirl?
Granted, his warentle power of his hands and body was so all at once And granted that the scent of hi indescribably, utterlyshe felt she could take off her clothes and roll about naked in
She lifted her hands to shove hi on the heavy th, his heat, while her ainst his, exploring and tasting hi closer to her, his body to hers, and her heart raced She was still annoyed with hiardless of how nice he ht smell, or feel, or how her body responded so quickly to his-
She broke the kiss with a frustrated growl He dreay, just a little, his eyes searching hers
"What do you think you&039;re doing?" she demanded Her voice came out more quiet than she meant it to, low
"I think I am locked in a small room with a beautiful wo her"
"I don&039;t have time to kiss you," Amara said, but her eyes focused on hisof separation
"But you want to kiss me," Bernard said
"No," Amara said "I mean, this isn&039;t the tio?" He bent his head and placed a soft kiss upon the side of her throat,raced out through her li she had felt before She felt her body h she didn&039;t really ed hishiainst hi over his chest, arainst the ith her hips, pushing hioing, back to the pallet, until it hit the back of his knees and he dropped down onto it
She never lifted herastride his hips as he sat down His hands settled on her waist, huge and strong, and her hunger doubled on itself, sudden irrational desire to feel those hands on her thighs, her back, her throat, everywhere
"This is just a kiss," she whispered, against his ry to touch his to spare much time for words "That&039;s all Just a kiss" She followed her urges, trailing a line of kisses down over his jaw to the softer skin of his throat, the beginning of the slope of one shoulder, biting at his skin
"That&039;s all," he agreed, though there was a groan hidden inside the words His hands tightened on her waist, sliding down to her hips
A on his face, struggling to clear her thoughts But it was hard-it would be so , his, naked skin between the her down, feel the hot strength of hiainst his, and to be overcome It was a fire inside of her, a raw and pri that could not be denied With a snarl of pure, ani at his belt
"Wait," Bernard said "Oh, oh crows, Brutus you idiot" Heher unceremoniously on the pallet She landed with a thump
Bernard took a pair of swift steps away fro her to stop He frowned in concentration and muttered, "No Brutus, down"
And A at Bernard fro with fading need, her clothing disheveled, her hair mussed, her lips swollen from the heat and intensity of the kisses
She lifted a hand to her temple "Y-you you crafted onbright red "I didn&039;t mean to I&039;m sorry"
"You earthcrafted ain, quickly "Brutus ishe knohat&039;s good for ainst the floor "I&039; it, or I would have never I mean, I-" He shook his head After ati happen"
She stared at hi her breathing, her feelings back under control She gathered her feet up and wrapped her ar down at her shoes, the slippers Isana had put on her feet at Bernardholt
"You were o," Benard said, the words quiet, soft, as though they were burrs that would tear at his ht My daughters, too"
"And you haven&039;t" She let it hang unspoken
He shook his head "Been busy Haven&039;t really wanted to be close to anyone until-" he drew in a breath "Until you kissed s"
Auess it did"
Bernard flushed further and didn&039;t lift his eyes
She let out a tired laugh "Bernard It&039;s all right You didn&039;t hurt me" And she&039;d enjoyed it Wanted it She had to work to keep fro herself Just the h to ht" He looked up at her, his eyes worried and, she thought, exquisitely vulnerable, exposing how much he cared about what she would think "You sure you&039;re all right?"
She nodded "Well The obvious parts of being locked up aside"
"I don&039;t think we&039;ll have to worry about it too er That&039;s why I wanted to steal a kiss I didn&039;t mean that to happen, but I wanted a chance to kiss you before"
"Before what?"
Bernard tilted his head to one side "Listen"
Diht hour
"Change of the watch," Bernard said "If Pluvus follows the regulations, he&039;ll go to his bed and appoint one of his senior centurions as the watch coht," Aets us a chance to talk to someone I know," Bernard said He rose, head tilted as he listened, and only a moment later the heavy door at the top of the cellar stairs rattled and banged open
Aain "Will they let us out?"
"One way to know," Bernard said, and stood by the door
Amara came up to stand beside him "You wanted to kiss me&039;"
He cleared his throat "Yes "
"Why?"
"I like you," he said
"You like me "
Color crept up his cheeks "You&039;re pretty, and you&039;re brave as anyone I ever saw And I like you "
She felt her ave in to it, looking up at hihness of his cheek
He glanced down at her, his gaze, for just a er that she had felt in his kiss "Soet you alone when there isn&039;t so situation to interrupt ue proone dry She tried to gather up enough of her suddenly scattered wits to respond, but the sound of heavy boots on the stairs came first, and a key rattled in the door
The door opened, and Pluvus Pentius faced them with a vacuous expression
Or rather, that was Amara&039;s first impression The truthfinder&039;s head lolled forward on his neck, and a moment later he let out a distinct snore
The door opened farther, and A truthfinder, supporting his lirizzled old healer from earlier in the day The other wore a centurion&039;s breastplate and hel eyes
"Bernard," said Harger cheerfully "I was just asking Pluvus here if we shouldn&039;t let you out, and he said &039;yes&039;" Harger seized Pluvus&039;s hair and vigorously rocked his head back and forth "See? The boy can&039;t handle his drink, I&039;m afraid"
"Steadholder," said the centurion, his voice tense "This could be worth my helm"
"Giraldi" Bernard stepped forward and clasped the man&039;s shoulder "Good to see you How&039;s Rosalia?"
"Worried," Giraldi said, his squinting eyeson?"
"The Marat are co Here And we think they have the support of a cohts"
Giraldi stared at Bernard, hisopen "Bernard That&039;s crazy That couldn&039;t happen Alerans helping the Marat?"
"I was half killed by a Marat warrior near Garados two days ago," Bernard said "Last night, a group of crafters stronger than me tried to kill my nepheho had also seen them"
"Tavi? Great furies, Bernard"
"There isn&039;t any ti and ers to Riva for reinforceates to Garrison Has it been done?"
"I&039;ve ordered my full century on watch and armed, Bernard, and I&039;ve sent runners to the watchtowers to make sure the balefires will be lit if there&039;s trouble, but that&039;s as much as I can do on my authority"
"Then do it on Grahts ar the local folk inside the walls and get word to Riva Without the support of the Rivan Legions, it ht"
With an irritated growl, Giraldi shoved Pluvus&039;s weight onto Harger, who accepted it with a grunt "Bernard," Giraldi said, "you don&039;t understand Pluvus is bringing charges against you Treason, Bernard He says you were a part of a plot to assassinate Gras, and you know it"
"But I&039;m not a Citizen," Giraldi said, his tone quiet "And off your steadholt, neither are you With Grarunted "Not good, Bernard Unconscious The knife got hi as he used to be, and he&039;d been drinking pretty heavy the past feeeks I&039;ve done as hts Aeris to bring a healer with more skill than me I&039;m a workhorse, but this is delicate Beyond me"
"At least you&039;ve done that Did he take any word of the attack?"
Giraldi made a frustrated sound "Bernard There hasn&039;t been an attack There hasn&039;t been any sign of an attack"
"It&039;s co," Bernard snapped "Crows and carrion, you knohat Gram would do Do it"